POLITICS: Blair Bids Farewell to Africa

Opinions appear divided about outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's legacy concerning Africa - this as the leader ended his last official visit to the continent Friday. The five-day trip took him to Libya, Sierra Leone and South Africa.

Q&A: “We Want Everybody to Come With a White Flag and Talk Peace”

Reports that a remote-controlled bomb was used to attack an Ethiopian army vehicle Wednesday in Beledweyne, central Somalia, have served as another reminder of the volatility plaguing this Horn of Africa state.

POLITICS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Battling Through the Details of a Peace Agreement

Signing a peace accord is one thing. Putting it into effect is quite another, as Ivorians are discovering.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: ”Extreme Water Events” Predicted

In Africa, 25 countries are expected to experience water scarcity or water stress in the next 20 to 30 years. This translates into 16 percent or 230 million of Africa's population facing water scarcity by 2025, and 32 percent or 460 million people living in water-stressed countries by that time.

ZIMBABWE: “Mbeki Needs to Move from Quiet Diplomacy to Open Mediation”

A debate is underway among analysts and civil society activists about how South African President Thabo Mbeki should proceed in fulfilling the mandate given to him last month by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to continue mediating between Zimbabwe's government and opposition.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Bullets Fly Around Plans for Reconciliation

Prospects for a national reconciliation conference planned for Somalia appeared increasingly dim this week, as the capital - Mogadishu - was left reeling after clashes said to be the fiercest in 15 years.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: “This Dictator Must Be Brought Down”

Zimbabwe's outspoken Catholic archbishop, Pius Ncube, has volunteered to lead peaceful, mass protests to remove President Robert Mugabe from power, as Cardinal Jaime Sin did to unseat dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines more than two decades ago.

POLITICS-MALAWI: ”Two Elephants Trampling the Grass”

The African adage that ‘‘when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers'' is currently particularly apt in Malawian politics.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Forced to Choose ”Which Rights to Violate”

Images of tiny, malnourished African children, some scavenging for leftover food, have continued to grace the covers of brochures, posters and video clips of aid agencies since the devastating famine that claimed more than one million lives in Ethiopia 22 years ago.

Q&A: “It’s the NGOs Who Provide the Figures, And They Lie”

A report alleging rights abuses in the western Sudanese region of Darfur has sparked tensions in the United Nations Human Rights Council, currently in session in Geneva, Switzerland.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Conference Plans for a Chaotic Capital

Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi appealed Wednesday for some 42 million dollars to secure his country's capital, Mogadishu, and to fund a reconciliation conference in the war-torn state.

ENVIRONMENT-CHAD: Rats, Where There Once Were Elephants

Leaving the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, isn't what it used to be.

DEVELOPMENT-SUDAN: Oil Boom Causing Land Prices to Skyrocket

Sudan's oil reserves paired with a dearth of water make it a nation of fierce battles for land - most notably in Darfur and southern Sudan where, for centuries, squabbles over rich terrain have ignited into brutal conflicts.

POLITICS-UGANDA: Rebels’ Shrinking List of Peace Mediators, Venues

The focus is now on South Africa, after Kenya turned down a request from a Ugandan rebel group to host the stalled peace talks with the government of President Yoweri Museveni.

POLITICS-SUDAN: “I Am Staying Because This Is My Home”

In recent weeks, violence has flared again in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, forcing the largest-scale evacuation of humanitarian workers since aid operations in the war-torn area began in 2004.

WEST AFRICA: From Desertification, to Migration, to Conflict

It has been three years since Brahima Ouédraogo, a small-scale farmer from Burkina Faso, arrived in a little village in the Tabou region of south-western Côte d'Ivoire with his family, in search of arable land.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Darfur in Crisis, Still

Almost four years after conflict broke out in Darfur, calls are being made for greater efforts to resolve the predicament in this western region of Sudan.

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.

POLITICS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Another UN Resolution, Another Controversy

For Siméon Konan of the non-governmental organisation Initiative for Peace (Initiative pour la paix), based in Côte d'Ivoire's financial centre of Abidjan, efforts to bring peace to the West African country leave something to be desired - a recent United Nations Security Council resolution on Côte d'Ivoire notwithstanding.

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.

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.