CORRUPTION-SIERRA LEONE: Anti Graft Now in the Hands of Civil Society

The fight against corruption in Sierra Leone has taken on a new face. Government and civil society are now working together to stamp out rampant fraud.

MALAWI: Surplus Crop, But We Are Starving – Farmers

In a country where maize crop surplus fills the national storehouses to capacity, farmers Ida and Montfort Salijeni and their four children have turned to wild tubers for food.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Suppressing ‘Enemies' of the State

In the wee hours of one Saturday morning, Mary Serumaga was woken up by a disturbing phone call. Her younger brother Robert Kalundi Serumaga had just been abducted by four unknown gun-wielding men the previous night.

UGANDA-RIGHTS: Bride Price: You Feel You Are Family Property

John Owor is a paid spokesperson for brides and grooms. His job is to represent one of the parties during traditional marriage negotiations, which involves the payment of a bride price.

SIERRA LEONE: Banned Opposition Radio Station Goes to Court

Sierra Leone's largest opposition party has taken the country's media monitoring body to court for banning its radio station.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Uganda Women Seek Gender Recovery Plan

After two decades of war during which thousands of children were used as child soldiers and many women raped, northern Uganda’s recovery plan is to be spent on building roads rather than helping the country’s most vulnerable.

MALAWI: Non-Voters Denied Farm Subsidies

Gina Champiti, a widowed mother of eight children aged between three and 12 did not register to vote in the May presidential and parliamentary elections. This is going to cost her her livelihood.

ETHIOPIA: Ethnic Federalism Could Lead to Election Violence

Criticised as system of dividing and ruling people according to their ethnic groups, Ethiopia’s federalism has just become a bone of contention.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Ugandan Court Asked to Declare Bride Price Unconstitutional

Deborah Awori could not stop her husband from selling their 14-year-old daughter away in marriage using the time-honoured tradition of asking for a "bride price".

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Airwaves Changing Lives of the Physically Challenged

In the past physically challenged Theophilus Ayim would have been kept behind closed doors by his family because they feared he would be scorned and ridiculed by the community.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Women Score Victory Against Gender-Based Violence

Women are celebrating a hard-won victory for gender rights after intense public protests led to today’s re-arrest of the country’s police boss – a self-confessed wife-killer.

HEALTH-AFRICA: South Sudan At Risk from Blindness

In the war-devastated South Sudan, a region with a population of over eight million people, Yeneneh Mulugeta is the only permanent ophthalmologist.

ZAMBIA: NGO Bill Still Inspires No Confidence

As the Zambian parliament resumes, civil society organisations (CSOs) have come out strongly to oppose the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Bill, which seeks to regulate their operations.

MEDIA: African Journalists Reject EU-sponsored Observatory

A project to create a Pan-African Media Observatory (PAMO), sponsored by the European Union in cooperation with the African union, has been rejected by numerous African journalist organisations.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Women Press for Domestic Violence Bill

"Man forces wife to breastfeed puppies," screams one headline. "Police boss shoots wife," shouts another; and a third: "Man batters wife over meat". These are typical headlines in Uganda’s newspapers today. Women daily report surviving different forms of violence in their homes: physical, sexual, emotional or even economic abuse.

ZAMBIA: Conservation Agriculture Gaining Ground

Not even the least alert of drivers can miss the sign along the busy road 30 kilometres south of Lusaka: "Look, Conservation Farming Pays!"

SIERRA LEONE: Radio Stations Banned

Two Sierra Leonean radio stations have been stripped of their licences. The national regulatory body, the Independent Media Commission (IMC), says the stations failed to comply with the country's media code.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: ‘Our Mission is To End Impunity’ – Moreno Ocampo

On a visit to Uganda, Luis Moreno Ocampo, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has again called for joint action by governments in the region to arrest the top commanders of Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

U.S.-AFRICA: 'Mutual Partnership and Mutual Respect'

"We must start from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans," U.S. president Barack Obama told Ghana's parliament. And the keys to that future, as outlined in his speech, include democratic elections, accountability, good governance and strong institutions.

RIGHTS: No Safe Haven for Ugandan Girls

A year ago, a mother in Kashari County took the law into her own hands and castrated a man she caught raping her seven-year-old daughter.

ENVIRONMENT-TANZANIA: Villagers Fearful After Mine Water Discharged Into River

Water from a storage pond at Barrick Gold's North Mara mine in Tanzania is seeping through containing walls, leading local villagers to fear their water sources are contaminated.