KENYA: ICC Suspects Cautious at ‘Heroes Welcome’

Two alleged organisers of violence around Kenya’s December 2007 elections delivered impassioned speeches during a raucous political rally in Nairobi on Monday, just days after an International Criminal Court judge advised them to refrain from inflammatory language.

KENYA: Feisty Politician Enters Presidential Race

Martha Karua fears nothing and no one, and when her adversaries look back at her long track record in politics, they must get nervous. This previously staunch supporter of Mwai Kibaki resigned as justice minister in 2009, and will challenge all comers for the presidency at the head of her own party next year.

SOMALIA: Manifestation of Stealth Trusteeship

Somalia is currently under what James Fearon and David Laitin of Stanford University call "a neo-trusteeship system". Various external powers, while disagreeing among themselves, make the important decisions for the Somali people.

UGANDA: Sun Smiling on Renewable Energy Initiative

Clementine Auma was still living in a displaced person's camp in Gulu district when she acquired the treasure she's gone into the house to fetch. She re-emerges from her home with a white box in her arms: a solar oven.

AGRICULTURE: Malawian Cotton Farmers Ecstatic Over High Prices

An ardent listener to the radio, small-scale cotton farmer Mercy Kaduya from Chikhwawa in Nsanje in southern Malawi has just heard on the international news segment that cotton prices have hit a record high on the international market.

KENYA: Sustainable Energy in the Heart of the Slums

Talk about foul foundations: the Katwekera Tosha Bio Centre is built on the stuff that goes into toilets. This community centre in the Nairobi slum of Kibera goes well beyond solving sanitation problems - it is a model for green energy, a meeting place for locals, and turning a profit for its operators.

Q&A: Studying Kenyan Farmers’ Efforts to Adapt

Climate change has become an important part of the development agenda. In Africa, farmers and consumers alike are feeling its effects on productivity and food security.

KENYA: Women Hold the Key to Rural Prosperity

John Kyalo Mulwa couldn't support his family from his six hectare farm, so he quit farming to open a bar. But he turned the land - and decision-making on it - over to his wife. Turns out she's a better farmer than he ever was.

UGANDA: Bicycles at the Heart of Empowerment Scheme for Rural Women

The bicycle has become a symbol of hope for hundreds of women in Uganda who have been trained in repairing one of life’s favorite transport modes.

Manufacturing in Africa Can be Profitable – And Developmental

Investing in adding value to raw materials is crucial for the development of the African continent.

Integrating HIV Care with Broader Maternal and Child Health

From the outside, little has changed at the Maternal and Child Healthcare Clinic: pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers wait patiently on wooden benches. A chorus of infant call-and-response betrays the less long-suffering approach of their children to the wait.

Investment in African Economies Shifting Away from Raw Materials

Local and foreign investment on the African continent is slowly moving away from agriculture and raw materials to manufacturing, services, communication and tourism, despite poor infrastructure and low skills levels.

KENYA: Community Turns Garbage Into Energy Source

A community-based organisation in the Kenyan slum area of Kibera set out to clean up garbage and deal with waste water; Ushiriki Wa Safi ended up creating a community cooker that turns waste into an energy source.

AFRICA: Pneumonia Vaccine Rollout Will Protect Millions

The Kenyatta International Conference Centre resembled one big nursery with parents and their crying babies. Hundreds of parents with their infants thronged the Centre where they received their first shot against pneumonia, and not even their tears as the shot broke through their skin could dampen the smiling faces of their mothers.

KENYA: Budget Too Small to Cover Health Needs

Professor Anyang Nyong'o might have guessed that a trip to the United States for treatment for prostate cancer would provoke a furore: he is the Minister for Medical Services.

Tanzania Biofuel Project’s Barren Promise

An ambitious project to produce clean energy for the Netherlands and Belgium has degenerated into a controversial abuse of natural resources in Africa.

WOMEN’S DAY: Reflecting on Struggle for Equality in Kenya

"It is yet another significant day in the life of women across the world in the struggle for gender equality and equity. It is for this reason that women look forward to marking yet another International Women Day," says Janet Kanene, a gender studies university student.

KENYA: Profiting From Better Sanitation

She contributed towards building toilets for her community; in return Teresia Wasuka is getting a home to call her own.

SOMALIA: Rising Human Cost of AU Mission

On Feb. 19, the morning after Uganda's presidential elections, Michael Muhamuza called home and spoke to his cousin and his brother; a regular check-in with the family.

SOMALIA: New Partners for Peace Needed

The four-year old African Union Mission in Somalia is fighting a desperate defensive action in support of a transitional government that is "corrupt and inept", according to the International Crisis Group

KENYA: One Woman’s Turbulent Journey to Success

Mount Elgon in Western Kenya is one of the most marginalised regions in the country. It is so marginalised that it is the only area where not even an inch of tarmac road has been constructed.