The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has welcomed the release of an independent report on Togo that examined allegations that members of the Togolese intelligence agency tortured individuals accused of taking part in an attempted coup d’état in 2009. 'Togo’s national human rights commission found that the prisoners were subjected to physical and moral violence of an inhuman and degrading nature,' Ms. Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson, said in a statement.

GRAIN has made available a new data set documenting 416 recent, large-scale land grabs by foreign investors for the production of food crops. The cases cover nearly 35 million hectares of land in 66 countries. The collection of deals provides a stark snapshot of how agribusiness has been rapidly expanding across the globe since the food and financial crises of 2008 and how this is taking food production out of the hands of farmers and local communities.

Recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria signed a Joint Venture Agreement on commercial rice farming with Calvin Burgess, owner and principal promoter of the Oklahoma-based Dominion Farms Limited. Dominion Farms Kenya Limited has consistently been accused by the locals of the Yala swamp basin of land grabbing and have consistently resisted attempts by Calvin Burgess to evict them from their naturally rich, ancestral land.

Africa Today with Walter Turner recently hosted Southern African activist Prexy Nesbitt, who spoke about developments in South Africa. Nesbitt speaks about the origins of his work and his connection with Southern Africa.