AGRICULTURE-TANZANIA: Benefits of Cutting Out the Middleman

The Common Fund for Commodities plans to spend more than $100 million over five years helping farmers in the developing world to process their crops for added-value exports.

SOMALIA: Famine Looms as Aid Workers Flee

By December this year, aid agencies estimate that the number of displaced and hungry people in need of life-saving aid in Somalia will swell to 3.5 million—nearly half the country's population. Yet, as drought and conflict conspire to worsen the crisis, the humanitarian space to deliver food and other essential assistance in this conflict zone has all but vanished.

Q&A: How Not to Resettle IDPs

Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Return Home, in Kiswahili), designed to help about 350,000 IDPs living in camps across the country go back to their homes and farms has achieved its primary objective, at least according to the Kenyan government. Officials claim that most of the camps are closed and only 30,000 are living in the few that remain, but these numbers are disputed by independent analysts.

RIGHTS-SUDAN: ICC Indictment Sparks Hope, Fear

The indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on 10 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide has greatly encouraged some Darfuri human rights activists. Other observers in Sudan fear it will provoke a backlash from the government, further worsening the situation in Darfur.

DEVELOPMENT-MAURITIUS: Water – Waste Not, Want Not

The 1.2 million-strong population of Mauritius presently enjoys plentiful piped potable water from the 2000 mm average annual rainfall that falls over the island annually. But large amounts of water are wasted, and with growing demand from new development, the island's water security may come under pressure in the near future.

RIGHTS-KENYA: Commission To Challenge Silence on Sexual Crimes

No sooner did Kenya's Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence begin public hearings last week than it was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand.

Q&A: Family Planning In Its Infancy in South Sudan

With few roads and almost no health and education infrastructure for the estimated 10 million people of South Sudan - an April census has yet to release any results - health care workers have an enormous task ahead of them.

HEALTH-SOUTH SUDAN: Welcome New Attention to Maternal Care

A vast pregnancy has swollen the tiny woman walking South Sudan's shining new maternity ward clutching two pieces of paper stapled together. She looks no more than 16, wide-eyed with recent pain.

POLITICS-KENYA: Civil Society Scores Victory Against Corruption

Two days after publicly vowing to die rather than resign, Kenya's powerful finance minister, Amos Kimunya, announced he was resigning to allow an independent investigation of corruption charges against him.

RIGHTS-ETHIOPIA: New Media Law, New Threat to Press Freedom

A new media law - six years in the making - has been passed by Ethiopia's House of People's Representatives. Its preamble declares that "the proclamation removes all obstacles that were impediments to the operation of the media in Ethiopia." But an analysis by Ethiopian journalists finds it actually clears the way for government to continue to harass and persecute the messenger when the message is not in line with the whims of the rulers.

AGRICULTURE-TANZANIA: Higher Crop Prices Bring Farmers No Joy

The six-foot tall corn stalks on Kastul Baha's homestead are the envy of his pastoral village in northern Tanzania. Baha was one of the fortunate farmers this crop season with $35 to buy a package of fertilizer to apply over his half-hectare field. He expects to more than double output to 10 bags of corn compared to four bags last year.

CULTURE-ETHIOPIA: Debate Swirls Around Fate of Holy Sites

Carved into the rugged mountains of northern Ethiopia, the eleven churches of Lalibela have for centuries remained among the most stunning visions a traveler can encounter.

RIGHTS-SEYCHELLES: Problems In Paradise

Annette* is a small, lively woman in her early sixties. Married to an abusive husband - who once threw boiling water on her, landing her in hospital - she was not repeating the story with her alcoholic and drug-addicted son. Just as her husband was growing older and calmer, her son was getting increasingly violent.

SOMALIA: Fighting for an Education

"I like to study, even though there is fighting everywhere in Mogadishu," says Bashir Gedi, a 15-year-old student in the Somalian capital. "Education is more important for me because if I can get an education, then I can help rebuild my country."

RIGHTS-KENYA: Doubly Displaced

The Kenyan government says Operation Rudi Nyumbani - Return Home in Kiswahili - is almost complete; most of the camps for internally displaced people are closed and the remaining IDPs will be resettled within a week or two. But the hastily implemented programme is being called into question by Kenya's civil society and human rights activists.

HEALTH-KENYA: Malaria Rises to Highland Areas

The end of June marks the start of the malaria season in East Africa. After the long rains, conditions in lowland swamps and coastal regions are more conducive for mosquito breeding. But in recent years malaria has also appeared in the highland areas where it was previously unheard of.

Q&A: Ethiopia's Urban Poor Cannot Afford To Eat

Ethiopia, a nation of 80 million people, has been the site of famine and drought throughout its tumultuous history. Arising from a myriad of causes and often shepherded along by political instability, the country's 1984-85 famine, for example, left over a million dead and served as the impetus for the fund-raising concerts of Live Aid in the United States and the United Kingdom.

POLITICS-ETHIOPIA: A Tangled Political Landscape Raises Questions About U.S. Ally

When it was announced last month that the ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had swept local polls in this vast Horn of Africa nation, few expressed surprise.

SOMALIA: Dire Situation for Internally Displaced

The United Nations estimates that well over 700,000 people have fled their homes in the Somali capital Mogadishu since clashes between insurgents and Ethiopian forces backing Somali government troops began in Mogadishu in February 2007.

UGANDA: Hopes For Final Peace Falter

When he was 10 years old, Alfred Bogomin fled Paicho village in northern Uganda along with his family to escape from the Lord's Resistance Army rebels. After 20 years in a displaced persons camp, he returned to his ancestral home last month.

EDUCATION-KENYA: Students Pour In, Teachers Drain Away

Six hundred teachers have left classrooms in Kenyan schools for better paying jobs elsewhere in just the past six months, according to the Head Teachers Association and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT). That is about three teachers leaving the service every day.