Full Coverage: Africa

29.04.2005 Marginalised groups are the most affected by human rights violations. In the impoverished Northern Cape province, an inquiry concludes that the Khomani San community have been subjected to neglect and mistreatment by local authorities.

29.04.2005 The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is launching a new ICT for Development partnership for preparing concrete strategies towards improving access to ICTs through boosting economic competitiveness of developing nations.

29.04.2005 Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to let rival candidate Alassane Ouattara run in elections in October, reversing his stand that a referendum be held to decide the issue and paving the way for rebels to return to the negotiating table and bring an end to the country's three-year conflict.

29.04.2005 The April 19 conference of NEPAD, the partnership of African countries working to improve governance and encourage foreign aid and investment, was poorly attended and did not release key reports as promised. Professor John Stremlau of South Africa's University of Witwatersrand counsels patience, however, noting that several African states are making positive strides on the path to greater accountability.

28.04.2005

28.04.2005

28.04.2005 Will African governments have the capacity to regulate the use of GM crops in the face of US companies eager to penetrate new markets? The experience of Tanzania and nicotine-free GM tobacco is discouraging.

28.04.2005 Under proposals for UN reform, Japan and Germany are strong candidates for permanent seats on the Security Council. Aid promises may be one way to win valuable votes from African countries. Oxfam is unimpressed that poverty is becoming a political football.

28.04.2005 Charles Taylor, the former despotic ruler of Liberia nicknamed the "Murderer of Monrovia," is already manipulating the country's elections set to take place in October to avoid standing trial for war crimes, writes Douglas Farah, a former West Africa-based U.S. journalist.

28.04.2005 To date, 400,000 people have died in Darfur as a result of the government-sponsored genocide, says Africa Action. The Washington D.C.-based group is collecting 400,000 signatures for its petition calling on President Bush to assert U.S. leadership to prevent the mounting death toll. Here is how to sign on.

28.04.2005 LOME, Apr 27 (IPS) - Emmanuel Akitani-Bob, an opposition candidate in the presidential election held Sunday in Togo, declared himself winner of the poll Wednesday. This came a day after the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) announced that Faure Gnassingbe, son of deceased head of state Gnassingbe Eyadema, was the provisional winner.

27.04.2005 Despite the criticism aimed at many water privatisation schemes across Africa, Senegal has provided a successful model of a public/private partnership in water management. Senegalaise des Eaux, a subsidiary of the French firm Saur, the fourth largest water company in the world, has contributed in reconstructing Dakar's ailing water system, with the government claiming that the city's needs are met until 2015.

27.04.2005 There are fears that the annual pilgrimage of over a million Muslims to Touba, a town affected by a serious cholera outbreak, may cause the disease to spread to neighbouring countries.

27.04.2005 A bargaining session Monday in Nigeria, where both parties agreed to form a government of national unity, did little to pre-empt violence in the tiny West African country of Togo Tuesday once the ruling party was declared the winner of the weekend's elections. The opposition has urged the country's five million people to resist, and tensions remained high overnight.

27.04.2005 As Robert Mugabe celebrates the 25th anniversary of independence in Zimbabwe, concerns are rising that endorsement of the recent election results by President Mbeki of South Africa may dampen donor support for the entire continent.

26.04.2005 Confusion seems to be reigning in Togo after Sunday's hastily organized presidential election, which was supposed to determine a legitimate successor to Gnassingbe Eyadema, Africa's longest-serving ruler who died in office in February. But both sides have claimed fraud, and while the parties nominally agreed to a government of national unity Monday, Tuesday's announcement that Eyadema's son won the poll has sparked fresh violence.

26.04.2005 EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson demonstrates his old mastery of presentation in telling West African cotton producers that the EU cotton trade regime "has no distorting effect on the international market". The response is not recorded.

26.04.2005 Nigeria is in financial crisis and close to default on its international debt. The recent IMF spring meetings provide a reminder that headline promises of debt relief are more selective than they sound. Nigeria does not fulfil IMF conditionality and is excluded from the HIPC debt initiative.

25.04.2005 Africa Malaria Day's major celebration will take place Monday in the capital of Zambia, where recent projects have provided millions of children with insecticide-treated bednets to protect against the disease. Impressive projects have raised the intensity of the fight against malaria across the continent, says Unicef, refuting an editorial from the Lancet medical journal that the World Health Organizations' campaign against malaria has been ineffective.

25.04.2005 Hospital equipment in Africa often fails in the simple task of diagnosing malaria. And many fever sufferers choose to make their own diagnosis. On Africa Malaria Day, Daniel Nelson questions the presumption that malaria funds should be targeted on research and treatment.