POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES
West Africa: In Ghana President Mills is facing intensifying pressure to
sack ministers as some top men in his administration have come under severe criticisms for purportedly neglecting party foot-soldiers, non performance, and in some cases downplaying the party's "Better Ghana" agenda.
In a statement by his spokesperson Nigerian former military leader Gen Ibrahim Babangida has announced his intention to run in the 2011 presidential poll. One of the country's wealthiest men - Gen Babangida has told the BBC he will not buy his way to power. Meanwhile as Nigerians called for credible polls ahead of the 2011 general elections, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar last week questioned the democratic credentials of the former military President Ibrahim Babangida, who he accused of banning him from contesting during his regime.
Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met with US President Barrack Obama at the White House last week, to discuss issues relating to the Niger Delta, oil industry reform, electoral reform and Nigeria's role in global peace.
Lt. Gen. Masanneh Kinteh, current Chief of Defense Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces testified earlier this month as the tenth prosecution witness in the ongoing treason trial of former Chief of Defense Staff Lt. Gen. Lang Tombong Tamba and seven others. Meanwhile the European Union has expressed concern about the negative impact on freedom of assembly and expression in Gambia after the prosecution and imprisonment of the opposition United Democratic Party campaign manager, Femi Peters.
The US has accused two senior military men from Guinea-Bissau of drug running. Air force head Ibraima Papa Camara and former navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, have been named "drug kingpins".
South Africa: According to African Union Commission Chief Jean Ping AU sanctions against Madagascar's leaders are being undermined by the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Zimbabwe's constitution-making process has been derailed after donors delayed releasing funds for the process. This caused the first stage, of deploying outreach programme teams, to be abandoned last week.
Former president Thabo Mbeki has been roped into urgent diplomatic negotiations aimed at securing the release of four South African police peacekeepers kidnapped in war-torn Darfur, Sudan.
According to a military source Madagascar's army has given President Andry Rajoelina until the end of April to offer an acceptable way out of the 13-month political crisis on the Indian Ocean Island. Following the ultimatum Madagascar's leader vowed to disband his internationally rejected government and form an interim body with an ousted opposition leader.
Central Africa: Equatorial Guinea's main opposition party CPDS has accused national security forces of the kidnapping of several exiled Equatoguinean opposition members based in Nigeria in late January, disapproving a form of "state terrorism."
Rwandan President Paul Kagame received last week a delegation from Sweden that included Members of Parliament and officials from the United Nations Association of Sweden. The group, in its 3-day working visit to assess the country's development, held discussions with the President on issues including economic growth, the upcoming presidential elections, human rights and relations with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Hundreds of final year secondary school students have been unable to sit all their national exams due to fighting between a faction of the Mayi-Mayi militia and the armies in the territory of Fizi, South Kivu Province. Meanwhile (DRC) government has also opened a humanitarian corridor to provide safe passage for hundreds of civilians trapped by fighting between the army and rebel militias in Orientale Province, northeastern DRC.
Following a request from the Kinshasa government The UN peacekeeping mission MONUC has announced it will start pulling out from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in July. However fighting for control of the capital of Congo's Equateur province has revived concerns about the strength of Kinshasa's army. Meanwhile ICRC has said that eight aid workers have been kidnapped by armed men in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: Politicians in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria are debating a bill aimed at curbing religious extremism. This Islamic Preaching Bill would outlaw preaching likely to cause a breach of the peace and will also require most clerics to obtain a preaching license.
Meanwhile Nigerian police has been found guilty by a court in Borno sect clashes case. The family of a man who died in police custody in Nigeria during an Islamist uprising last year has welcomed the court’s ruling.
In Cameroon Sex Workers convened an extraordinary general assembly last week to retaliate against the recent administrative decision to ban prostitution in the city of Douala. The band commonly called ‘liberal sisters’ intends to Boycott Labour Day.
South Africa: Last week Zimbabwe marked 30 years of independence from the UK.
The United Nations refugee agency last week urged the Zambian Government to halt the expulsion of refugees and asylum-seekers to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after 36 individuals were recently sent back.
According to a report released by Human Rights Watch, the government of Angola has not done enough to combat pervasive corruption and mismanagement. Even though the oil-rich country's gross domestic product has increased by more than 400 % in the last six years, Angolans are not seeing their lives improve accordingly.
Central Africa: Rwanda’s Media High Council earlier this week suspended Umuvugizi and Umuseso for six months on the grounds the two weeklies violated Rwanda’s media laws and provoked public order. The editor of Rwanda’s Umuvugizi independent newspaper has termed the decision as politically motivated.
According to a statement issued by the defense ministry the army has rescued nine women abducted by the Lord's Resistant Army (LRA) in the ongoing operations against the rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR). The women included Ugandans, Congolese and Central Africans.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) earlier this month where both rebels and the national army have been accused of mass rape. The visit follows a new report, commissioned by Oxfam and conducted by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative that shows a shocking pattern of rape in Eastern Congo.
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: According to a recent official report in Cameroon projected from the results obtained from the third Population and Housing Census of November, 2005 and based on the average demographic growth rate of 2.6%, the country’s population as of January 01, 2010 stands at 19,406,100.
South Africa: Delegates from 42 countries in Africa, which along with Asia is the most vulnerable continent to disasters, held a United Nations-backed meeting last week in Nairobi to discuss ways to make their communities and citizens safer.
According to South Africa’s water minister the country will increasingly use desalinated seawater to meet growing demand for drinking water in coastal towns facing the worst drought in 150 years.
A new report by Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council (NAC), showing a dramatic rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among people aged 15 to 24 in the capital, Harare, has health experts worried that the country's success in reducing HIV could be unraveling.
Central Africa: In Rwanda the 2nd phase of the Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) Food
and Nutritional Interventions Project (US$16m) project was launched aimed at tackling food insecurity among people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
West Africa: In Ghana inflation continues its downward trend as the figure for March dipped to 13.3%, down from 14.2 %in February; the ninth monthly fall in a row. Meanwhile Some 60 companies from Ghana participated at the 5th Abuja International Trade Fair last week.
The last president of West African Bar Association (WABA) Mr. Femi Falana insisted in statements last week that the former Nigerian Military President Ibrahim Babangida has a case to answer in a $12.4 billion oil windfall scam. The report stating that the past Nigerian leaders stole more than $89.5 billion from the national purse over a period of 38 years, from 1970 through 2008, has cast a shadow on efforts by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to attract fresh foreign investment, which was part of his agenda in Washington. Meanwhile 80 persons, foreigners and Nigerians, including four former Heads of State and two of their wives, as well as former Governors and Ministers -the top echelons of the country's political and military establishments, including technocrats - have been indicted by the United States law enforcement officials over a N27 billion Halliburton bribery scandal.
According to news reports a top official of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission [RMAFC] in Nigeria State governments in this country may not be able to pay workers' salaries in the next two months when the $3.2 billion currently left in the Excess Crude Account is shared out.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the World Bank to support Nigeria's efforts to revamp its infrastructure and overcome the challenges of power generation. Meanwhile Nigeria's already unstable oil production might be affected by news that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has shut down the SPDC Joint Venture-operated East Area (EA) oilfield offshore in the Niger Delta as a precaution to enable repairs on equipments.
South Africa: Zimbabwe's Cabinet has postponed the regulations for dom
estic and foreign companies to submit plans to hand 51 % of shares to black Zimbabweans.
Central Africa: Last week the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) celebrated the opening of its new regional parliament in Malabo, the Equatorial Guinean capital, with the presence of all presidents of the Central African region.§
sack ministers as some top men in his administration have come under severe criticisms for purportedly neglecting party foot-soldiers, non performance, and in some cases downplaying the party's "Better Ghana" agenda.
estic and foreign companies to submit plans to hand 51 % of shares to black Zimbabweans. 
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