Full Coverage: Africa

31.01.2005 Africa has come of age, the Nigerian president told global political and business elites at the World Economic Forum, pledging that all funds raised to solve the continent's problems "will be faithfully utilised," and noting that peace and security must come first. British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a new $85 million anti-malaria contribution at the gathering, encouraging other rich countries to come on board.

31.01.2005 When the Indian Ocean tsunami struck, the people of Hafun lost most of their homes along with their fishing boats - and thereby their livelihoods. Now many are terrified of the sea and need help to overcome their trauma.

31.01.2005 Environmentalists claim a million wild animals are snared annually for their meat, and while the scope of the problem is not fully known, conservationists say it could endanger Africa's wildlife as much the great herd massacres of the 1970s and 1980s.

28.01.2005 The future of Africa took centre stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as some of the world's most influential personalities shared a forum to discuss the continent's crippling debt burden, which now stands at $230 billion.

28.01.2005 Mozambique's most prominent and wanted criminal, the killer of star journalist Carlos Cardoso, "Anibalzinho", has been returned from Canada to Mozambique. The convicted killer escaped from a high-security prison in Maputo in May 2004, and will now face a new trial in the November 2000 slaying.

27.01.2005 Young and old alike will be inspired by the group of African student- and other community leaders speaking at college campuses across the U.S. in February. The "Life over Debt" tour hopes to encourage Americans to get involved in the movements to fight AIDS and cancel Africa's debt.

27.01.2005 The recent UN report on defeating poverty promoted the distribution of bednets as a "quick-win" method of preventing malaria and saving millions of lives. A project in Uganda is taking that idea a step further, developing a successful business model to encourage the distribution of bednets, while making sure the most vulnerable have access.

27.01.2005 Many believe 2005 will finally mark a real turning point for Africa, but will it be another year of "compassionate showmanship" or is a sea change really in store for the continent?

27.01.2005 If U.S. President George W. Bush is serious about re-engaging with the global community and ending genocide in Sudan, he should support a UN move to refer war crimes committed in the country to the International Criminal Court, the grassroots group Citizens for Global Solutions said Wednesday.

27.01.2005 While more than 2,000 business and political leaders from around the globe were arriving in the Swiss mountain resort Davos for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS for Africa, Stephen Lewis, was just landing in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, calling for the cancellation of poor countries debt.

26.01.2005 Ethiopia has made a gesture to accept the boundary commission recommendations "in principle". Although not enough to bring Eritrea to the negotiating table, this may be a gesture to break the impasse.

26.01.2005 The World Social Forum (WSF), sometimes described as the "carnival of the oppressed", is about to get underway in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. While WSF participants debate the problems facing the international community another issue is also likely to come up for discussion, however: Africa’s prospects of hosting the forum next year.

26.01.2005 Media rights watchdogs have long criticised the conditions under which journalists in Zimbabwe operate. Since the start of the year, however, the circumstances of the country’s media have become bleaker still.

26.01.2005 The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), the Open Knowledge Network (OKN) and OneWorld Africa invite Africa-based projects to submit applications for the Yeomans Award for Local Content. This is a re-advertisement for applicants for the African category of the Award.

26.01.2005 A fact-finding mission to Tunisia undertaken by IFEX members has found "serious cause for concern" about the current state of freedom of expression and of civil liberties in the country, including gross restrictions on freedom of the press, media, publishing and the Internet.

25.01.2005 The UN independent expert on human rights, Ghanim Alnajjar, has urged the international community to "remember those affected by the tsunami in the Puntland region of northeastern Somalia where more than 150 people were killed and about 50,000 people have been displaced".

25.01.2005 Google, the world's top search engine, has quietly launched a local version of its website. Since Friday last week, South African web users can search in four local languages: Afrikaans, Sesotho, isiZulu and Xhosa (but spelled "Xhousea"). It is also possible to search only South African sites, instead of the whole internet.

24.01.2005 Opportunity Africa offers a seminar for young people of African descent living in London with aspirations of a career in an international Africa-related context. 8th February in London

24.01.2005 The World Bank is engaged in rebuilding the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Plans for logging massive areas of rainforest appear to be unsustainable and take no account of the interests of people who live there. Join the campaign.

24.01.2005 You pay over the odds for your sugar; you pay tax to subsidise European producers whilst African sugar beet farmers don't stand a chance. Happy? Make your voice heard otherwise British Sugar will do all the talking.