CULTURE: African Leaders Preserve Manuscripts from 14th Century Mali

In almost a year, the most tangible outcome of the African Union is a cultural project to preserve manuscripts from fourteenth century Mali which are vital evidence of early African literacy and scholarship.

ECONOMY: Southern Africa Counts the Cost of Zimbabwe Crises

The political and economic crises in Zimbabwe has cost the 14-nation Southern African Development Community R18 billion (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in lost revenue in the three years up to the end of 2002, says a new report.

RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: Campaigners Win Major Victory Over Capital Punishment

Human rights campaigners in Zambia have won a major victory when President Levy Mwanawasa recently refused to sign death sentences, and commuted all sentences to life imprisonment.

LABOUR-SOUTH AFRICA: Stakeholders Tackle Rising Unemployment

An emerging market economy with a bent toward neoliberalism, South Africa now wants to amass capital of a different type: social capital, the term used to describe the accumulation of trust and cohesion in a society.

ENVIRONMENT-NAMIBIA: Villagers Grapple With the Worst Floods in 21 Years

Villagers in Namibia's Caprivi Strip are grappling with the worst floods in 21 years, after the Zambezi River burst its banks, submerging 30 villages, killing two people and threatening 25,000 others.

HEALTH: Africa Urged to Fight AIDS as it Fought Slavery and Apartheid

Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda is no stranger to HIV/AIDS, having lost his own son to the incurable disease in the late 1980s.

TECHNOLOGY: UN Pledges to Set the African Virtual Library in Motion

Every computer equipped to play C-Roms or with access to the Internet is a "virtual library," where the world's knowledge can be downloaded for enquiring users.

RIGHTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Gay People Vilified By Politicians – Report

Attacks by Southern African leaders on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people threatens human rights in the region, says a new report by Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Ample Time Needed to Provide Free Anti-retrovirals

South Africans living with HIV and AIDS will have to carry on waiting, while the government decides if it will make anti-retrovirals, drugs which ease the impact of the disease and reduce its transmission from mother to child, freely available in the public health system.

ECONOMY: Southern African Countries Seek to Trade as a Bloc

Southern African economies and the lives of the people will be elevated when the "Made In SADC" label, designating goods produced in the 14-member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), becomes a worldwide recognised assurance of unique quality merchandise, industry and government trade representatives were projecting at a meeting to boost regional exports.

POLITICS: South Africa, Britain Differ on How to Bring Stability to Zimbabwe

While an economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe is the most pressing issue in Southern Africa, it is not on the official agenda for talks between the South African foreign ministry and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who jetted into Johannesburg on Tuesday.

RIGHTS: Africa’s First Cloned Mammal

A South African veterinarian who helped clone a prized dairy cow, the first mammal cloned in Africa, says the technology might rescue the continent's impoverished agricultural economy.

POLITICS: Flags Fly at Half Mast as South Africa Prepares to Bury Sisulu

For this week, the pause in South Africa was almost perceptible as the nation mourned Walter Sisulu, the consort of Nelson Mandela and a quiet revolutionary credited with being the engine of change from apartheid to democracy.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: U.S. Grant for Millions at Risk of Starvation

The U.S. government has granted 114 million U.S. dollars to a consortium of three aid agencies to assist people at risk of starvation in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

MEDIA: Africa Has More “Press Predators" than Any Other Continent

African journalists marked this week's Press Freedom Day with sombre observations about the dangers of information gathering on the continent, and in some cases memorials to colleagues killed while doing their jobs.

HEALTH: South African Government Under Fire For Delaying Release of Global Funds

The South African government delay in facilitating the release of millions of dollars in funding that would provide the desperately needed anti-retroviral treatment is a clear indication that the country lacks the political leadership to provide treatment for those living with HIV/Aids, activists say.

DEVELOPMENT: Think-Tanks Redefine the Scourge of Chronic Poverty in Africa

The scourge of chronic poverty in Africa is being redefined in new surveys and more sophisticated analyses that will help policymakers understand the root causes for constantly impoverished people, and plan effective remedies.

ENVIRONMENT-SWAZILAND: A Fierce Battle over Construction of New Road

Only a week after the Swaziland Environmental Authority (SEA) flexed newly-found muscle and put one of the country's largest manufacturers on notice that it must stop polluting a central river or face closure, the environmental watchdog is embroiled in a fierce territorial battle with the government-owned park system over the construction of a new road.

HEALTH: SARS May Hog Headlines But Malaria Still Major Killer in Africa

-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) may have captured the world's headlines as the most alarming worldwide health problem, displacing AIDS in the news of Africa.

POLITICS: Revolt Mars Plans to Review Zambia’s Constitution

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa faces what is likely to be his first political defeat since assuming power in Dec 2001, with the rejection of his plans to review the country's constitution through a state-appointed commission

HEALTH: Zambia to Vaccinate Five Million Children within a Week

Zambia will embark on a week-long programme to vaccinate five million children between the ages of six months and 15 years against measles, starting on June 7.