SOUTHERN AFRICA: Blind, Translucent, Vulnerable – And Important For Your Health

An unexpectedly rich variety of organisms can be found in groundwater, a source that more than 37 percent of people in Southern Africa are dependent on, according to the Southern African Development Community's Water Sector Co-ordinating Unit. And, an Australian scientist visiting South Africa believes these tiny animals should be studied more intensively to monitor the quality of groundwater.

RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: Cyberspace Casts Light on the Lives of Death Row Inmates

"Can governments solve urgent social or political problems by executing a few or even hundreds of their prisoners?" asks Benjamin Mawaya, sweltering on death row in Zambia’s Mukobeko high security prison in Kabwe, 150 kilometres from the capital of Lusaka.

MOZAMBIQUE: Agriculture Input Fairs – A Chance to "Live in Dignity"

Despite a chain of misfortunes, 75-year-old Gonçalves Mandlate faithfully works his plot soon after sunrise each day, hoping that his life, and those of the five grandchildren who live with him, will improve.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Unequal Water Resources Present a Challenge

Water resources are unevenly distributed throughout the countries of Southern Africa. The region boasts of some of the world’s largest lakes and rivers, but is also a land of vast deserts.

WORLD POPULATION DAY: Enlightened Men Prescribed for Maternal Health

What is a common factor in ensuring that women do not marry too young, do not have more children than they can cope with, do not die giving birth - and contract HIV in smaller numbers? Men.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: The Cycle of Violence Continues

Pius Ncube, the outspoken Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe, has urged President Robert Mugabe to step down - this as the country faces deepening political and economic woes.

ENERGY-SOUTH AFRICA: Putting Sunshine in Your Taps

Solar water heaters offer people the chance to save money, increase the security of the local and national energy supply - and cut down on greenhouse emissions said to cause climate change. Yet, roofs throughout South Africa are noticeably bare.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Slowly Does It

A gradual approach to pan-African government has won the day at the annual African Union (AU) summit that ended Tuesday in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, where a stormy debate on this issue continued into the night.

AFRICA: Regional Integration No Path to Continental Government, Says Gaddafi

The final leg of the 2007 African Union (AU) summit kicked off in the Ghanaian capital of Accra Sunday, with a three-day gathering of the AU Assembly - comprising heads of state and government.

SOUTH AFRICA: "You Cannot Keep People Away From Settling in Cities"

Population issues are in the spotlight at present with the recent release of the United Nations Population Fund's annual report - and World Population Day, to be commemorated Jul. 11.

Q&A: "Species Are Moving Southwards"

For South African author Leonie Joubert, global warming is a grass roots issue - literally.

DEVELOPMENT-MOZAMBIQUE: An MDG Temperature Check Gives Mixed Results

Only about 30 percent of Mozambicans think that their quality of life has improved since 2000, the year when the international community agreed on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while about 42 percent believe life has not changed.

DEATH PENALTY: Concerned Zambian Activists Look Beyond Moratorium

Zambian anti-death penalty activists are expressing anxiety over the fragility of the country’s current moratorium on executions, as the courts and lawmakers continue to resist formally banning state executions.

MALAWI: Judges and Lawyers Bring Relief To Condemned

Malawi's death row prisoners are breathing more easily after three High Court judges unanimously agreed in a test case that the courts are not bound to sentence anyone to death for murder, as this would be a violation of that person's human rights.

AFRICA: “If You Want More Development, Include Women in Decision-making”

The '8th Triennial Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting' (8WAMM) has closed with an acknowledgement that gender equality is central to democracy, peace and economic growth; ministers also called for greater efforts to achieve parity between men and women.

G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Floral Kingdom as Vulnerable as It Is Biodiverse

Climate change is threatening the Cape Floral Region, a World Heritage Site in South Africa's Western Cape province, say environmentalists.

Q&A: “It Was Thuggery. State Thuggery”

There has been widespread anger at the police beating earlier this month of Law Society of Zimbabwe President Beatrice Mtetwa and three other lawyers: Terence Fitzpatrick, Colin Kuhini and Chris Mhike.

DEVELOPMENT: Keeping Civil Society on the Straight and Narrow

A few years ago, this IPS correspondent posed a question at a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, about whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be held more accountable for their actions. Afterwards, the key speaker at the event pulled me aside, and issued a polite rebuke for my "dangerous question".

RIGHTS-ANGOLA: Beauty Is in the Eye of the Evictor

The Angolan government forcibly evicted 20,000 poor people, including small-scale farmers, and destroyed 3,000 homes between 2002 and 2006 in the capital, Luanda, "to facilitate development and 'beautification' in the public interest".

Q&A: “You Have to Work Nine to Ten Times Harder Than a Male Farmer”

As activists focus on the challenges facing workers this May Day (May 1), Martha Moside is calling for attention to be paid to the situation of female subsistence farmers in South Africa.