EDUCATION-CAMEROON: Poverty and Culture Conspire to Deny Girls Schooling

Of the 71 pupils in Daouda Soulé's class, only 18 are girls. "Last year there were about 20 girls, but even some...who were promoted to the next grade dropped out and are at home, although primary school is free," the teacher at the Central Public School in Garoua, northern Cameroon, told IPS.

CULTURE-CAMEROON: Little Unity in Diversity

For some time now, the sporadic eruption of inter-ethnic conflict in most of Cameroon, sometimes with tragic consequences, has prompted concern about the future of this Central African country.

RWANDA: Controversy Over Plan to Join East African Economic Community

Rwanda and Burundi may be sworn in as new members of the East African Economic Community (EAC) when the grouping holds its next summit, Nov. 30, in the Tanzanian financial centre of Dar-es-Salam. The regional organisation presently comprises Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and is headquartered in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.

POLITICS-DRC: Electoral Officials Get Tough on the Rumour Mill

As ballots are counted from Sunday's historic vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rhetoric from candidates and false poll results circulating via e-mail and text messages have prompted warnings from electoral officials. Authorities fear a repeat of first round election violence related to news of results.

DEVELOPMENT: Belgium Increases Aid to Rwanda

During the next four years, Belgium will provide Rwanda with about 168 million dollars worth of development aid. This sum is to be spread among various sectors, with agriculture and health receiving priority. About 74.4 million dollars has been allocated for the development of agriculture, and some 48 million dollars for the health sector.

POLITICS-DRC: Congolese Mark the Final Lap in a Watershed Election

Two people were reported killed and three injured when police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shot at supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, one of two candidates in Sunday's run-off presidential election. The supporters were said to be protesting ballot stuffing in the northern city of Lisala.

POLITICS-DRC: “The Winner Will Have to Share His Gains”

Citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will go to the polls Sunday to choose their first democratically-elected leader in over four decades amidst deep divisions in the Central African country.

HEALTH-DRC: Turning Brain Drain Into Brain Gain

How can Congolese doctors and nurses living in Belgium exchange information with colleagues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)? This was the central question at a roundtable convened by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Belgium's capital, Brussels, recently.

RIGHTS-DRC: A Glimmer of Hope for Children Working in Katanga’s Mines

Each day, thousands of children risk their lives by working in mines in the Katanga province of south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - something a coalition of organisations is trying to address.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: The Toll Taken by Illegal Migration Remembered

About a year ago, headlines were dominated by the latest tragedy to befall African migrants who try to enter Europe illegally. According to rights group Amnesty International, at least 11 were killed over the space of a few weeks as thousands of Africans tried to scale fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla.

POLITICS-UGANDA: UN Official Takes the Temperature of the Peace Process

Efforts to bring peace to northern Uganda have been highlighted over recent days during a visit to Africa by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland.

POLITICS-DRC: Disillusion at Post-Election Clashes

An outbreak of hostilities in Kinshasa appeared to be drawing to an end, Wednesday, as United Nations officials and diplomats worked to restore calm to the Congolese capital in the run-up to a second round of presidential elections.

POLITICS-DRC: Now For Round Two

Three weeks after their landmark election of Jul. 30, citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo are bracing for another poll: the run-off vote between President Joseph Kabila and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, that will decide who is to be the next head of state in this vast Central African nation.

ECONOMY: For African Cotton Farmers, More Crops Equal Less Pay

François Tani - a cotton grower in Koumbia, western Burkina Faso - has cleared extra land this year for cultivation, bringing the total number of hectares he is farming to 28. But, he's under no illusion that a larger harvest will bring him more money.

CULTURE-CAMEROON: Celestial Solutions for Material Problems

Crumbling campuses, inadequate equipment, a lack of bursaries: the problems facing Cameroonian students are numerous - and they're not only compromising the education that students receive. These difficulties have also laid the ground for sects and religious groups to flourish on campuses.

POLITICS-DRC: A Three-Week Countdown

Vote counting is underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which held landmark general elections Sunday.

POLITICS-DRC: “An Opportunity for Congo’s Ordinary People to Express Themselves”

When voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) go to the polls Sunday, they will be participating in a general election for which the words "epic" and "historic" seem scarcely to do justice.

RIGHTS-RWANDA: Justice Eludes Many 1994 Genocide Survivors

Fear and intimidation have slowed the progress of reconciliatory justice for survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that claimed the lives of over 800,000 people.

RIGHTS-CAMEROON: Legislation Against Child Trafficking Only a First Step

For 13-year-old Helen Angwa, days are long, beginning at 05.00 and continuing to about midnight. The hours in between are spent on ceaseless work for a restaurant owner who bought her when she was just nine.

POLITICS-DRC: Challenging Times for Election Observers

General elections that loom at the end of the month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) present considerable difficulties to all involved - not least local and foreign observers.

ECONOMY-CENTRAL AFRICA: Profits to Be Had in Becoming a Banana Republic

It's a tale of two countries, and competing groups of female sellers. The account of the banana trade between Cameroon and Gabon is also an illustration of how difficult regional economic integration can be.