DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zambezi Stakeholders to Take Action

Stakeholders in the Zambezi River Basin are holding their annual meeting this week with the aim of matching their needs with a commitment to action.

HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE: Ensuring that a Jail Sentence Is Not a Death Sentence

Like most other Southern African countries, Mozambique battles a high HIV prevalence rate, with those in need of anti-retroviral medication experiencing difficulty obtaining it at the best of times.

ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: Conflict Looms Over Revision of Mineral Tax

The Zambian government's recent move to increase the mineral royalty tax could meet with resistance from foreign mining companies in the copper-rich country. This may bring mining interests in direct conflict with ordinary citizens who feel they are benefiting neither from the higher international copper price nor from privatisation.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Solidarity With Developing Nations – At a Cost

As concerns continue to be expressed about the departure of African medical professionals for wealthy countries, South Africa says it is not recruiting health workers from developing nations - something that also reflects the country's own experience of the medical "brain drain".

MAURITIUS-ECONOMY: Helping the Sugar Industry Regain its Sweetness

The Mauritian government has embarked on a campaign to transform its sugar industry as international sugar prices plunge, leading to a loss in the country's foreign exchange earnings.

DEVELOPMENT: Report Details Toll Taken by Lack of Water, Sanitation

The 2006 Human Development Report, 'Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis', focuses on the ongoing problems that surround provision of potable water and sanitation. The document is being launched Thursday in Cape Town, South Africa, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

RIGHTS-MOZAMBIQUE: Citizens Become Judge, Jury and Executioner

With a lack of faith in the police seeming to have escalated in certain suburbs of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, citizens have lately resorted to taking the law into their own hands, and meting out rough justice to alleged criminals. This has resulted in a body count of over 20 since August.

DEVELOPMENT: Ireland Offers Malawi Aid After HIPC Compliance

Malawi's compliance with the requirements of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative has opened the door to a commitment by Ireland to increase aid to the Southern African country.

DEVELOPMENT-LESOTHO: Pension System Works, Despite IMF Scepticism

Twenty dollars seems a meagre amount, but it has brought an end to backbreaking toil and food insecurity for many of Lesotho's elderly.

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.

BOTSWANA: Unemployment Surges as Government Plans Fail to Take Off

Botswana is still widely cited as Africa's economic success story, but fears are emerging of a reversal because of soaring unemployment and the sluggish implementation of government plans.

ZIMBABWE: Government Accused of Persistent Human Rights Abuses

"I was arrested a dozen times," notes Tapera Kapuya, a student leader at the University of Zimbabwe between 2001 and 2002, who says he was the target of both police and the Southern African country's intelligence agents.

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.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: The Prospect of Unity in the Fight Against AIDS

A few minutes before the deputy president of South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, stepped into the conference hall, a participant burst into song. Soon she was joined by her colleagues in welcoming the guest of honour.

POLITICS-DRC: “The Winner Will Have to Share His Gains”

Citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will go to the polls Sunday to choose their first democratically-elected leader in over four decades amidst deep divisions in the Central African country.

ECONOMY-NAMIBIA: A Range of Woes Underpins Unemployment

One of the most pressing issues facing Namibian officials at present is the country's high unemployment rate. According to the latest 'Namibian Labour Force Survey', which was presented to parliament earlier this year, 36.7 percent of the country's population is currently unemployed, up more than three percent since the previous survey in 2000.

ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: Making Debt Relief More of a Relief

While Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa won another term in office during last month's general elections, matters that plagued him in the course of the campaign are unlikely to dissipate now that polling is complete - particularly a sense that funds freed up by debt relief are not tangibly improving the lives of Zambians.

EDUCATION-NAMIBIA: “No Wonder Our Pass Rate Is So Poor”

"God looked at my work and he was pleased. But when he looked at my salary, he wept," says the computer-generated poster in Norbert Booi's office at A. Shipena Secondary School, a government school in Windhoek's oldest suburb, Katutura.

HEALTH-DRC: Turning Brain Drain Into Brain Gain

How can Congolese doctors and nurses living in Belgium exchange information with colleagues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)? This was the central question at a roundtable convened by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Belgium's capital, Brussels, recently.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: No Ivory Sales Now Doesn’t Mean None Later

Concern about ivory sales in Southern Africa is persisting among environmental groups - this after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) granted Japan stockpile buyer status earlier this month.

ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: China’s Growing Presence Met With Resistance

Votes cast for presidential contender Michael Sata in the recent election suggest a growing discontent among Zambians over the effects of increased Chinese involvement in their country.