POLITICS-TOGO: A Meeting of Rivals

Newly-elected Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe and various opposition leaders were in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Thursday for talks on resolving tensions in their West African country.

EDUCATION-CAMEROON: Teachers Give School System a Failing Grade

In the run-up to examinations, students frequently complain that teachers pile too much work on them. In Cameroon, however, the opposite is true.

TRADE-AFRICA: Debate Over WTO Leadership in the Final Stretch

As the final round of consultations to choose a new director-general for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) wrapped up Thursday, former European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy appeared to be leading in the race to head the body.

POLITICS-TOGO: A Homecoming Marked by Political Uncertainty

A number of refugees who fled Togo because of violence sparked by the country's Apr. 24 presidential election have reportedly started going home.

POPULATION-GUINEA: Aid for War-Ravaged Areas Elusive

Madeleine Gomou, a nurse in the village of Konia-Aviation, finds it all but impossible to do her job.

RIGHTS: For Cameroon’s Pygmies, No Forest Is Impenetrable Enough

With no telephone connection to the outside world, and a single access road that is little more than a forest trail, the village of Lomie might as well be situated at the other side of the earth as far as many Cameroonians are concerned.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Sierra Leone’s Libel Laws Under Fire

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), Sierra Leonean journalists aren't so much celebrating media freedom as girding themselves for a legal battle over press rights.

INT’L LABOUR DAY-KENYA: A Murky Future for Textile Workers

The silence in the room was deafening. Thousands of sewing machines lay unused in one of the production units at Upan Wasana, a textile factory located in Ruaraka, on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

HEALTH-NIGER: A Hundred Dollars Goes a Long Way to Ending Genital Mutilation

"It’s not easy to give up a profession passed down to you by your parents that you’ve been at for years. But once you become aware of the grave harm you do others in this job, you have to quit," says Salmou Himadou.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: All Aboard the ‘Johannesburg to G8’ Bus

Calls for debt relief to be awarded to African countries have become "de rigueur" in non-governmental circles and a good many news publications. But does the matter crop up during dinner conversations across the continent? Is it sufficiently important to crowd out sports talk amongst people riding mini-bus taxis on their way to work?

POLITICS-TOGO: Opposition Defies Official Poll Results

Emmanuel Akitani-Bob, an opposition candidate in the presidential election held Sunday in Togo, declared himself winner of the poll Wednesday. This came a day after the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) announced that Faure Gnassingbe, son of deceased head of state Gnassingbe Eyadema, was the provisional winner.

SIERRA LEONE: Female Circumcision Used As a Weapon of Political Campaign

‘'It is not an easy job. Sometimes I get booed and taunted. At crucial moments I get chased out of places where the practice is much more prevalent,'' complains 34-year-old Ann Marie Caulker, who is championing the campaign to end the age-old tradition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

RIGHTS: Help Is On the Way to Assist Swaziland’s Elderly Financially

Gogo (granny) Dube, a small but spry white-haired woman of 67, has had to raise five grandchildren since her daughter and son-in-law, the children's parents, died of AIDS-related illnesses within months of each other in 2000.

RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: Zero Tolerance for UN Troops Involved In Sexual Abuse

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone may be preparing for the final pullout of its peacekeeping force by the end of the year, but it seems, the mission wants to leave behind a clean record, in so far as sexual exploitation and abuse is concerned.

RELIGION: An African Successor for the “Symbol of Unity”?

Even as Roman Catholics around the world mourn the death of Pope John Paul II, the attention of many is turning to the future - and the question of who will succeed the Polish cleric as Bishop of Rome.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Universities That Aren’t Worth the Name

"Glorified secondary schools" is the derisive term coined by Nigerians to describe their country's universities. Classrooms are overcrowded, with many students sitting on the floor during lectures. Libraries lack books, and laboratories are ill-equipped to conduct experiments.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Putting Research Within the Grasp of Civil Society

In recent decades, the influence of civic groups has grown enormously. Organisations such as Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and the like occupy prominent positions on the international stage, their views appearing alongside those of government in publications around the globe.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Power Cuts Leave Country in the Dark – And in the Grave

Four days after moving into a new house in Sango Otta, a suburb of Nigeria's commercial hub - Lagos - Soji Alawiye, his pregnant wife, two children and another family member died in their sleep. The cause of death: fumes from a portable generator that was left on overnight after a power cut.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: A Mixed Verdict for Commission’s Report

A "decisive first step" towards making poverty in Africa history, an "exercise to cover up the Iraq war": reactions to the report issued last week by Britain's Commission for Africa have been many and varied.

ECONOMY-BURKINA FASO: For Workers, Privatisation Has Little Appeal

More than a decade ago, Burkina Faso embarked on privatisation of the country’s state-owned companies. This process does not appear to have won the confidence of government employees, however – and with another group of public enterprises coming up for sale, their concerns have sharpened.

TRADE: Inching Towards a Conclusion of the Doha Round – Maybe

Officials who attended two days of trade talks in Kenya have given a mixed verdict on the outcome of the discussions. While some described the meeting as productive, others said little progress had been made in resolving problems that have dogged the latest round of international trade negotiations since it got underway in 2001 in Doha, Qatar.