RIGHTS-KENYA: Ensuring that “X” Marks the Gender-Friendly Spot

On the face of it, women in Kenya have a powerful tool at their disposal for dealing with politicians who fumble over the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an international set of objectives that tackle gender inequality, amongst other issues.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Remember Darfur

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has renewed calls for the international community to press for peace in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

POLITICS-KENYA: Church Leaders Reject Draft Constitution

Religion is playing a major role in undermining Kenya's draft constitution. Christians and Muslims, who have lived peacefully for decades, have now suddenly found themselves at loggerheads over the document.

POLITICS-SUDAN: John Garang’s Successor Faces Formidable Challenges

The death of Sudanese vice president and former rebel leader, John Garang, on July 30, has cast doubt upon the strength of a January peace agreement that ended 21 years of civil war between north and south Sudan.

POLITICS-KENYA: Referendum Set to Become Constitutional Battleground

The seemingly endless wrangle about Kenya's proposed constitution has continued in recent days, with non-governmental groups expressing concern over the terms of a referendum on the draft that is scheduled to take place in November.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Newspapers to Some, Scavengers to Others

Concern is growing over the prospects for press freedom in Uganda - this after claims by President Yoweri Museveni that the media were compromising security.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Garang’s Death Sparks Violence – and Speculation

Chaos ruled the streets of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, earlier this week as citizens from south Sudan set off homemade bombs and engaged in gunfire with police and armed forces. This followed news that vice president and former rebel leader John Garang had died.

POLITICS-DRC: “Stronger Commitment” Needed for Peace

Ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has underscored the difficulties of bringing lasting peace to this vast Central African country.

RIGHTS-KENYA: In the Aftermath of a Massacre

He describes himself as an old man, and one ignorant of many things in life - especially "women and the ways of Waq (God)". But Huka Kanchoro, a wizened Borana elder, knows that he holds a position of influence in the northern Kenyan district of Marsabit.

AIDS-KENYA: Needed – More Meds for Kids

For those Kenyans who have contracted HIV, getting access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) is seldom an easy matter. In the case of children, however, the situation is even more problematic.

POLITICS-KENYA: Countdown to the Constitutional Referendum

Civil society groups in Kenya have set their sights on an upcoming referendum in a bid to prevent government from pushing through an altered version of the country's draft constitution.

POLITICS-KENYA: Protests Against a “Mutilated and Unpopular Constitution”

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, Tuesday to protest against parliamentary efforts to alter a draft constitution that was endorsed last year by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC): a group comprising government representatives and members of civil society.

POLITICS: Africa’s Big Men Cling to Power

Most people in this tiny West African nation of Benin seem pleased that President Mathieu Kerekou has given up plans to run for another term of office in 2006. But they are wondering if he has done so voluntarily.

G8 SUMMIT: London Blasts Spark Speculation and Sympathy in South Africa

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized nations wrapped up their summit in Gleneagles, Scotland this week, amidst images of bloodstained commuters crying and struggling to get away from the scene of blasts that occurred in Britain’s capital – London.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Sirte Looks to Gleneagles

The African Union ended its annual summit this week with an appeal for substantially more aid from the West and demands for two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.

G8-SUMMIT: “We Are Making Good Progress, Considering Where We Came From”

Demands for good governance and tough action on corruption could eclipse calls for increased aid to Africa when the Group of Eight (G8) leaders meet this week in Scotland for their annual summit, African academics and civil society groups fear.

TECHNOLOGY-KENYA: On the Way to Getting Wired

In 1961, there was just one to be had. By 1985, that figure had increased to 1,800 - and at the beginning of last year, it stood at about 520,000, according to government figures.

POLITICS: Burundi’s Peace Process Comes to the Crunch

With a local election under its belt, and legislative and presidential polls scheduled for the next two months, Burundi is entering the final stretch of a lengthy and difficult peace process.

REFUGEES-KENYA: Contraceptives – Both Needed and Scorned

As the international community marks World Refugee Day, a Somali woman's tale of how she helped fellow refugees terminate pregnancies has highlighted the shortcomings of reproductive health care in refugee camps.

REFUGEES: After the Struggle to Arrive in South Africa, a Struggle for Education

The effort to combine work and studies is taking its toll on Desiré Rwamagana, a Rwandan refugee who lives in South Africa’s commercial hub – Johannesburg.

HEALTH: A Wind of Hope in Kenya’s Desert

Madonna's 1980s hit song 'Like a Virgin' blasts incongruously from a giant silver speaker in the corner of a bar deep inside Isiolo - a dusty town on the edge of Kenya's northern Kaisut desert, filled with tough nomads and their herds of emaciated animals.