POPULATION-NIGERIA: ‘We Want Recount”

Nothing seems to stir up emotions more than census in Nigeria. That's why some Nigerians are still contesting the results of the 2006 census, announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo late last month.

NIGERIA: Vice President Fights for His Political Life

‘'Military democracy,'' this is what Nigeria's vice-president Atiku Abubakar calls the electioneering process that is supposed to produce a successor for president Olusegun Obasanjo in April.

NIGERIA: Oil-Hungry China to Help Revamp Railway

China is extending a hand into the Nigerian transport sector in a deal to help the Nigerian government put back on track the country's foundering railway system.

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.

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.

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.

NIGER: “The Capital Does Not Only Belong to the Rich”

The new year is looking much like the old for certain residents of the "Pays-Bas" shantytown in Niger's capital, Niamey. Four months after seeing their homes demolished in the name of safety and security, they are still waiting for resettlement at an alternative, developed site promised by authorities.

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.

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.

RELIGION-CUBA: Afro-Cuban Brotherhood Vindicated

A recent episode of a Cuban television detective serial portrayed the Abakuá secret society in an unusually favourable light, after more than a century of discrimination and calumnies in Cuba against this sect of African origin.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: From the Burkinabe Countryside to Italian Tomato Fields

For Mady Daboné, Europe beckons. "Staying here...is misery," the 30-year-old from the village of Begdo in eastern Burkina Faso told IPS, adding that several of his friends were already abroad. "I have about twenty of them in Italy and Spain. They have all done well, even though they suffered at the beginning."

HEALTH-BURKINA FASO: Wells and Toilets Make Bad Neighbours

Alexis Kaboré, a resident of the suburb of Pissy in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, is not connected to the potable water network of the National Office of Water and Sanitation (Office national de l'eau et de l'assainissement, ONEA): he simply can't afford to do so on his salary, even though the costs of the link have come down.

WEST AFRICA: From Desertification, to Migration, to Conflict

It has been three years since Brahima Ouédraogo, a small-scale farmer from Burkina Faso, arrived in a little village in the Tabou region of south-western Côte d'Ivoire with his family, in search of arable land.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Rural Women in Need of a Helping Hand

From morning, Thérèse Allangba starts checking on members of the Cooperative of Women Farmers of Marahoué (Coopérative des femmes exploitantes agricoles de la Marahoué, COOFEEAMA), based in Bouaflé, capital of the Ivorian region of Marahoué. These women work in teams of five to supply leading markets with food.

BENIN: Cotton at the Heart of the Economy – and of Desertification

Cotton production forms a key part of the Beninese economy. However, Armande Zanou-Aivodji - point person for desertification in the Ministry of the Environment - says this production is also leading to soil degradation in the West African country. IPS talked to her about this concern, and the dangers posed by desertification in general.

ENVIRONMENT-WEST AFRICA: The Arteries of the Niger River Clogged

The Niger river snakes through nine countries in West Africa before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. It is an epic 4,200 kilometres in length, provides sustenance to millions of people - and has trouble brewing at its source.

DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA: Burnt Alive, as History Repeats Itself

"The location, the timing all made a perfect situation for this kind of tragedy," said Bode Olufemi of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate of non-governmental group Friends of the Earth – this after walking through the distressing aftermath of an oil pipeline fire that broke out in Nigeria’s financial hub of Lagos, Tuesday.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: On the Eve of the Nairobi Gathering, a Glance Back

Almost a year ago, IPS interviewed a cross-section of people in Mali to gauge expectations for the African leg of the 2006 World Social Forum (WSF), held in Bamako. Certain interviewees were sceptical about whether the meeting could effect political and economic change; others proved more hopeful. So, were their expectations realised?

DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: Price Snags for Cotton Farmers

Some call it "white gold"; but, the ever-falling price of cotton means that this nickname may end up being more ironic than complimentary. In Burkina Faso cotton producers are, for the first time, facing the prospect of a third consecutive drop in the price of the commodity.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM-CAMEROON: NGOs Long on Vision, Short on Detail?

As the countdown to the 2007 World Social Forum gains momentum, anti-globalisation activists from around the world are no doubt rolling up their sleeves for spirited debates on the flaws in the current economic order. In Cameroon, however, such debates are already underway.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Togo and Benin End the Year in Darkness

For the neighbouring West African nations of Togo and Benin, most of the past year has been plagued by power cuts that have been an inconvenience at best - and a source of financial hardship at worst.