ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: Maize Production (Almost) a Success Story

Zambia is poised to have a maize surplus this season but it is still unlikely that the food will reach many of the 58 percent of Zambians that are classified as extremely poor.

POLITICS: Africa to Get Its Own U.S. Military Command

For the first time in its history, Africa is poised to get its very own U.S. military command.

SWAZILAND: Keep School Doors Open to AIDS Orphans, Vulnerable Kids

AIDS orphans aren't the only children suffering in Swaziland. Those who have lost one or both parents to the epidemic have it rough, but so do tens of thousands of other Swazi children vulnerable to food shortages, scant medical care, and unsettled home life.

SOUTH AFRICA: High-Profile Murder Sparks Debate on Violent Crime

The murder of a world-renowned historian has jolted South Africa into confronting the reality of escalating violent crime, which is destroying the country's social fabric and hurting its international image.

DEVELOPMENT-MALAWI: Do the MDGs Matter?

In a country such as Malawi, where the ramifications of HIV/AIDS, perennial hunger and illiteracy are all too clear, one would expect that the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be familiar to many people.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Rainy Season Brings Mixed Blessings

This year's rainy season has brought some mixed blessings to farmers and aid agencies operating in Southern Africa, which experienced a spell of drought and famine last year.

SOUTH AFRICA: Avocados, Diamonds at Core of Anti-Israel Trade Campaign

A call from a South African trade unionist for national supermarket chains to stop importing avocado from Israel could ultimately lead to the banning of all imports from the Jewish state, if unions and human rights activists have their way.

NAMIBIA: Environment Plan Slow to Take Off

The Namibian government has adopted all the right policies to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Seven on sustainable environmental practices, but its good intentions have floundered at the implementation stage.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Debt the Illegitimate Legacy of Africa’s Dictators

As the World Social Forum (WSF) draws to a close in the Kenyan capital Thursday, calls on international finance institutions to cancel debts owed to them by poor countries have grown ever louder.

ECONOMY-MAURITIUS: Globalisation “Gobbles Up the Plankton”

‘‘How much do you open, at what pace, and what measures do you take as a government to help local enterprises to restructure?’’

SOUTH AFRICA: UN Terror List Hangs Over Two Cousins

Two South Africans are fighting the U.S. plan to put their names on the United Nations Security Council list of suspected terrorists alleged to have ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: From Turning Pages to Downloading Them

Piles of fast-selling newspapers on many a street corner, with early morning queues of commuters killing time reading and discussing the day's top stories... This scene from the 1980s and 1990s in Zimbabwe is now a distant memory, recognisable only to older urbanites.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: Sachs Says It Is Possible to Meet MDGs

World renowned economist and director of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Project, Jeffrey Sachs, is a harbinger of good news. During his visit to Nairobi, capital of Kenya, in mid-January he emphasised that it was still possible to meet the MDGs before 2015.

MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: Last Independent Voice May Disappear

The last of Zimbabwe's independent media voices would disappear if the publisher of the country's two remaining private newspapers loses his Zimbabwean citizenship, warn civil society activists and journalists.

SOMALIA: The New Frontier in the War on Terror

Somalia has become the new frontier in the war on terror, joining the unpopular club of Afghanistan and Iraq, a situation that is worrying the rest of Africa.

DEVELOPMENT: Business ‘Ignores’ Human Rights

From Iraq to Nigeria, multinational corporations are ignoring human rights, entrenching a culture of abuse and impunity that is difficult to eradicate, a leading anti-apartheid activist warns.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Pregnancy Is a Dangerous Pursuit in Zambia

"Being pregnant in Africa is like having an unknown disease," says Zambian mother Alice Tembo, referring to many of her compatriots' lack of basic knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: A Tale of Budget Crunches and Midnight Oil

With just days to go before the seventh World Social Forum (WSF) kicks off in Nairobi it’s all systems go amongst the organisers, who are preparing to welcome thousands of delegates to the Kenyan capital for the Jan. 20-25 gathering.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Poverty in Botswana Persists Despite Growth

Despite Botswana’s high rate of economic growth over the past two decades, it is unlikely that the country will halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015. However, significant progress has been made towards halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: The Importance of Giving the WSF an African Flavour

This year will mark the first occasion on which an African country, Kenya, is serving as sole host of the World Social Forum (WSF) - a gathering which had its beginnings in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre seven years ago.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “We at the WSF Don’t Have an Agenda”

As many as 150,000 delegates from more than a hundred countries are expected to attend the upcoming World Social Forum (WSF), to be held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, from Jan. 20-25. And, expectations for the meeting appear as varied as the nationalities that will pass through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport en route to the Moi International Sports Centre.