POLITICS-BURUNDI: One Rebel Group Signs Peace Accord, Another Stays Out

South Africa believes it has notched up yet another Africa conflict resolution success with the signing in Pretoria on Sunday of the final details of a power-sharing agreement between Burundi's transitional government led by President Domitien Ndayizeye and rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza.

/UPDATE/TRADE: Stakeholders Seek To Restore Diamond’s Integrity To The Market Place

Since the discovery of diamonds some four thousand years ago, connoisseurs have marvelled at the four "c’s" of the stones: their cut, colour, clarity and carat. Derived from the Greek word "adamus" which means unconquerable, diamonds indeed seemed unstoppable, generating an industry worth some 70 billion dollars a year.

MEDIA-AFRICA: Financial News Remains Disconnected From the Masses

Economies determine the fates of nations and their people, and yet economic news remains disconnected from the masses of people who need to know developments that touch all their lives, concluded an assembly of African economics editors this week.

TRADE: Stakeholders Seek to Restore Diamond’s Integrity to The Market Place

The mission the Kimberley Process has set itself is huge: to stop the illegal trade in gems by drawing governments and the global industry together like a cleaver in the path of the war diamonds. This week it was time to assess how well its weapon is being wielded.

/REPEAT/ECONOMY-AFRICA: Making Gambling a Safe Bet

Love it or hate it, the gambling industry is making inroads on the African continent. If not closely monitored however, it could bring with it a host of evils such as money laundering and fraud - not to mention gambling addiction.

CULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: Protestors Build Global Solidarity

The T-shirt, the poster, the billboard. Traditionally the weapons of protest and of solidarity are remarkable for their ability to cross oceans with similar messages, as displayed in an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art gallery.

MEDIA-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Journalists Find They Are the Main Story

The media in Southern Africa is in the spotlight. News reports and publications are resounding with stories of media oppression, threats to press freedom as well as sensational headlines around accusations of plagiarism and unethical journalism.

TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Police Losing the Battle Against Marijuana

Malawi police are losing the battle against crafty marijuana smugglers, who have evaded a nationwide clampdown by transporting the popular narcotic in hearses, coffins and ambulances, with the support of some rogue government officials.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki’s Popularity Improves Among Urban Voters

"A liar" and "inhuman" was how popular South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys described President Thabo Mbeki. But, according to surveys, the popularity of the president has increased ahead of elections next year.

ECONOMY-SOUTH AFRICA: More Poor Households Than During Apartheid

What has freedom brought? It is almost 10 years since apartheid ended and government has published its draft review of its first decade in power to hold up a mirror to its own performance.

RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Women Candidates Vow to Promote Social Agenda If Elected

In this week's parliamentary elections, the number of women legislators increased by 150 percent in a country where women candidates had complained that it is difficult for them to be taken seriously as representatives or as authority figures because of their gender.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Greatest Cheers for New College Confined to State Media

Never had the rural outpost of Lupane received so much attention, not even when it was declared the capital of Zimbabwe's Matabeleland North province four years ago.

FINANCE-SOUTH AFRICA: Banks Agree to Extend Services to Poor Areas

South Africa has world-class financial architecture but faces the conundrum that the majority of the poor do not have access to these globally competitive financial services.

CULTURE-MALAWI: Women Still Harassed for What They Wear

One morning Maria Lucas (not her real name) was walking across the busy Haile Selassie road that pierces into the heart of the commercial hub, Blantyre, when she was seized by a gang of unruly street vendors.

EDUCATION: 39 Years After Independence, British System Still Wows Zambians

Martin Mubanga's parents have changed his schools twice this year, because his class got too large, 15 pupils.

ECONOMY-MALAWI: IMF Resumes Lending

Local economists have welcomed Monday's decision by the International Monetary Fund to resume aid to Malawi, but warned government to keep its promise of fiscal discipline through cutting over-expenditure in non-priority areas such as foreign travel.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Without New Constitution, No Chance for Opposition

Zimbabwe's main constitutional change pressure group has taken its campaign to a level, demanding that the next general election be held only under a new democratic constitution.

POLITICS: Zimbabwe Could Overshadow Commonwealth Agenda

Don McKinnon hopes that December's Commonwealth summit in Abuja, Nigeria will not be dominated by Zimbabwe, but it appears that circumstances might override that wish.

POLITICS: Regional Powers South Africa, India Forge Closer Relations

This week South African president Thabo Mbeki paid a high-profile state visit to India when he took along 11 cabinet ministers to bolster a relationship increasingly important for the country's South-South diplomacy.

RIGHTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Basic Lessons for Potential Legislators

Non-government organisations seeking to have their issues better understood by potential lawmakers are instructing candidates in this week's parliamentary elections about social welfare and health matters the members of parliament (MPs) must know about once in office.

TRADE: South African Investors Pulling Out of Zambia

Over 2,000 Zambian workers have been left in the lurch as the South African franchise shop Supreme Furnishers was liquidated by a Lusaka High Court this week.