POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES
West Africa: ECOWAS has launched an appeal to its European Union partners to help limit the influx into West Africa of small arms and light weapons which has contributed to more than a decade of instability in the region.
Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan last week warned the new ministers not to allow their personal interests override that of the nation. He added that he will not tolerate any form of mediocrity and ministers who fail to measure up to expectation will be sacked. Meanwhile no substantive minister of power would be named for the time being following the decision of the Acting President to take charge of this critical sector.
Lagos Pastor and leader of the pro-democracy Save Nigeria Group, Tunde Bakare, has criticized the recent visits of Muslim and Christian clerics to President Umaru Yar’Adua as “the theatre of the absurd.” He emphasized that Nigerians deserve to know the state of health of their president.
U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, visited Abuja, Nigeria last week on the invitation of the federal government to assess steps taken so far to strengthen aviation security at the nation's international airports.
In Benin former military President General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) declared last week his intention to run for the 2011 Presidential election.
Meanwhile Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos, discussed bilateral cooperation with his counterpart of sGuinea Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá.
The US and some European countries have adopted new laws allowing the prosecution of war criminals from other countries who live in America or some European states. Under this officers from Mr. Charles Taylor's army are amongst those that British Immigration and security services will be searching for in the country for prosecution.
In Rwanda Victoire Ingabire, the controversial leader of FDU-Inkingi, an exiled group trying to register as a political party, has been deposed in a well-orchestrated move by her European-based colleagues. According to sources cracks began to appear in the shaky alliance after Ingabire's Assistant, Joseph Ntawangundi, was exposed as a Genocide fugitive.
South Africa: Bishop Abel Muzorewa, leader of a brief interim administration which paved the way for Zimbabwe's independence elections that swept President Robert Mugabe into power died last week at his Harare home at the age of 85.
South African President Jacob Zuma last week chastised the head of the ANC youth wing, who has stirred controversy with a series of racially tinged outbursts.
Central Africa: On Easter Day, rebels attacked Mbandaka, the capital of the Equatorial Province in the DRC. They crossed the Congo River and headed for the Provincial Assembly, the governor’s residence, and the airport but were eventually driven out by the Congolese army and UN MONUC troops.
Meanwhile the leader of the sMai Mai Kifuafua rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo has said that a new rebel coalition comprising over 17 different armed groups will be unveiled in the eastern part of the country. Didier Bitaki said the various armed groups decided to join forces after President Joseph Kabila’s government failed to fully implement several peace accords.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS
South Africa: The High Court in Western Cape Province, South Africa, originally set 6 April as the deadline for evicting the last remaining foreigners from the Blue Waters safety camp, set up outside Cape Town after xenophobic attacks drove them from their homes in May 2008; the police however a
re yet to carry out the eviction order.
Racial tensions remain high in South Africa following the recent murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche. Meanwhile two suspects have been charged with murder. The charges were announced after hundreds of black and white supporters faced off outside the courthouse west of Johannesburg.
In Malawi the newly formed Anti Gay Movement (AGM) has said that it will conduct a general referendum to give Malawians a chance to choose if they want it or not. AGM Interim Chair, Grandy Chikweza, said that the referendum follows the arrest of the gay couple and the increasing number of gays in the country.
Central Africa: Members of the US Diplomatic corps, officials from the US government and members of the civil society last week joined the Rwandan Community in Washington DC to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Meanwhile Hassan Bubacar Jallow, the Prosecutor of the Arusha-based United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has said that Kenya must arrest and hand over the fugitives for prosecution for their role in the 1994 genocide. The most sought after fugitive among eleven remaining key suspects is Felicien Kabuga, the businessman who owned a radio station which is claimed to have fuelled the massacre of over 800,000.
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: More than 1,500 Ghanaians, mainly from Kintampo, are participating in the third phase of a trial to determine the efficacy of the first vaccine for malaria.
In Niger, Aid agencies are asking donors for US$133 million to help the government feed millions of people at risk of going hungry, adding to $57 million already received or committed, seeking to improve the food security of 3.2 million people.
South Africa: An assessment at the beginning of April indicated that crops have failed in all seven districts of Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe, and an estimated 9,000 tons of maize would be required each month to mitigate the effects of the expected food shortages.
According to a review of 52 African countries’ health spending by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in the continent government spending on health care, as a percentage of national expenses, rose just 0.3 percent from 2001 to 2007, while donor funding of the sector during the same period increased from 15.3 to 20.1 percent,
Central Africa: According to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health about 530,000 children younger than five and more than a million women need urgent nutritional support in the country. Meanwhile according to reports at least 700 children under-five die each day in the five provinces where only 20 percent of children have a varied diet.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
West Africa: As of 6 April, 9800 km of the East African Submarine Cable System (known as EASSy) have been deployed to nine countries along the East African coast, offering more advanced internet and better connectivity to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia.
ABB, the leading power and automation technology group in Ghana, has won an order worth over $13 million from the Volta River Authority, to supply equipment to improve the country’s power transmission network.
Central Africa: A high speed ferry between São Tomé and Cape Verde is planned for operations in June this year following the establishment of a joint ferry company Expresso LDA, which is to operate the new maritime link. §
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re yet to carry out the eviction order. 
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