CLIMATE CHANGE: From Dirty Fuels to Clean Technology

Tomorrow’s polluters are today’s emerging economies. To develop without retracing the polluting steps of the West, requires green technology, an expensive option for Africa.

CORRUPTION-AFRICA: A Crime Against Development

Corruption is preventing the world from reducing extreme poverty, from averting child deaths and even from fighting epidemics like HIV/AIDS. And it will have a devastating effect on the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals if not tackled directly by each national government.

RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: ‘Justice Prevailed’ – Says News Editor Acquitted of False Charges

Chansa Kabwela faced a five-year jail sentence when she sent photographs of a woman giving birth, without medical assistance while in the country’s largest hospital, to government officials.

POLITICS-NAMIBIA: SWAPO Wins

The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation party (SWAPO) has won legislative elections in Namibia, with voters also giving incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba a second five-year term in office.

GENDER: Zimbabwe Basket Fund Takes Off

A basket fund aimed at increasing the economic participation of women in Zimbabwe, has been relaunched after a start which faltered due to the delayed appointment of the new government earlier this year.

SOUTH AFRICA-RIGHTS: Push To Protect Sex Workers During World Cup

As the 2010 Soccer World Cup approaches, calls for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa have been renewed.

HEALTH: Raising the Recommended CD4 Count for ART

Newborn babies in South Africa will now be treated for HIV, regardless of their CD4 count. President Jacob Zuma announced several new measures which focus on expanding the country’s anti-retroviral (ARV) programme, especially in terms of mother-to-child-transmission, and for those with both TB and HIV.

Q&A: Africa – High On Political Empowerment, Low On Education

"It is clear that there are huge discrepancies within Sub-Saharan Africa, but overall the region is doing extremely well in terms of political empowerment," says Saadia Zahidi, head of the Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in a telephone interview from Geneva.

AFRICA: Campaign to Unite Against Malaria Kicks Off

Growing up in Cameroon, Joseph-Antoine Bell and his friends used to think that by playing football they could get rid of malaria.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Lots of Drugs, No Takers

Martha* knows that her two young sisters and her need medicine. She also knows where to get it – a clinic a few yards away from her home in Glen Norah, a high-density suburb in the Zimbabwean capital.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Herdboys at Risk to Contract HIV

In the scorching heat of the midday summer sun, a teenage boy’s sharp voice can be heard vividly as he continuously summons his cattle. Glad in his shabby-looking rag that used to be a blanket and black gumboots, the only thing that occupies his mind is his herd, his everyday companions, nothing else.

Q&A: Even Island States Can Make Plans to Improve Food Security

Eric Mangar deplores the fact that Mauritius, despite being a net food importer, has failed to learn its lessons from the food crisis. The island state is pursuing "business as usual" without taking steps to improve food production on the local front.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Growing Up with HIV

Sixteen-year-old Andela Milambo* wants a husband. She is not looking for love, but for someone to share the burden of living with HIV. She wants to be able to take her medicine without having to hide, to discuss the recurring herpes with someone who understands.

POLITICS-NAMIBIA: Born Frees Make their Mark

"It was like writing my first exam. I was nervous and didn’t want to make a mistake. I must have checked the ballot 10 times."

NAMIBIA: Waiting at the Polls

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has again suspended the observer status of a human rights watchdog it accuses of lying about mistakes on the voter’s roll.

SOUTH AFRICA: Legal Victory Offers Little Relief For Sex Workers

More than seven months after the Cape High Court ruled in favour of the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), interdicting the police for harassment and arrests, sex workers are losing the daily battles against police and criminal elements on the streets.

POLITICS-NAMIBIA: SWAPO’s Dominance Challenged

"Man RDP!" sighs Martha Hamukoto, sitting on the steps of a Windhoek office block. She is lamenting the breakaway faction, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP).

POLITICS-NAMIBIA: ‘Parties Totally Don’t Care About Women’s Rights’

Gender activists foresee a drop in female parliamentarians after Namibia’s general and presidential elections on November 27 and 28. It’s a trend that jeopardises the region’s goal of 50 percent female representation in politics by 2015.

GENDER-SOUTH AFRICA: ‘There Is A Sense Of Vindication’

Born in a squatter camp in Orlando East and raised by a single mother; working in a factory while completing secondary school by correspondence; arrested and banned by the apartheid government: South Africa's ambassador to Italy is an example of the long road her country has travelled.

SOUTH AFRICA: ‘Shoot to Kill’ Comment Shocks Judge

In more than 34 years as a judge, he has not been as deeply concerned by anything as he was by the recent comment of a South African deputy minister of police that police officers should shoot and "kill the bastards".

ZAMBIA: Electoral Commission Accused of Bias

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is once again under fire from opposition political parties and some civil society organisations, which accuse it of bias in favour of the ruling party during elections.