ECONOMY-BENIN: Unemployment Inflames Debate on Illegal Fuel Sales

Government’s attempt to control the illegal sale of petroleum products in Benin is meeting with failure due to widespread unemployment in the country. The products, which include gasoline and diesel, are often smuggled in from neighboring Nigeria.

HEALTH: The Divergence of AIDS, and Sexual and Reproductive Rights

AIDS prevention efforts and initiatives to support sexual and reproductive health would seem to be natural allies. Why is it then that projects to advance these causes so often proceed in isolation of each other?

ECONOMY-AFRICA: IMF Chief Sees a Glimmer of Hope

For Africa to outgrow its economic woes, it will need a heavy dose of financial assistance from the world’s richest countries, says Rodrigo de Rato – managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

ECONOMY-SIERRA LEONE: Fishing Sector Reaps Profits – But at a Cost

It’s another case of natural resources proving to be a mixed blessing. While Sierra Leone’s government gratefully accepts revenues generated by the country’s fishing industry, illegal trawling by foreign vessels is providing cause for concern.

HEALTH-GABON: Water Shortage Hits the Capital

The residents of Libreville’s working-class neighbourhoods, unable to get hook-ups to the city’s water system, are taking matters into their own hands by hooking themselves up to the metres of existing customers.

HEALTH: At Three Cents a Unit, Condoms Often Rare as Hen’s Teeth

‘Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All’, a conference that wrapped up in London Thursday, was awash with statistics on a range of matters. One statistic had particular resonance, however - namely that men in sub-Saharan Africa only have access to an average of three condoms a year.

POLITICS: Darfur Overshadows the Peace Process in South Sudan

The crisis in the Sudan’s western region of Darfur has overshadowed the peace process in the south of the country, where more than 2 million people have been killed since 1983.

HEALTH: Men – Final Frontier for Education on Sex and Family Planning?

It's not as if men are conspicuous by their absence at 'Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All'; quite a few have braved the meeting, even though it must be disheartening to hear the shortcomings of their gender so thoroughly dissected.

RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: Police Dismantle Child Trafficking Syndicate

The Sierra Leonean police have busted what they refer to as the biggest child trafficking syndicate in the West African nation since the end of the civil conflict three years ago.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: The Fires That Burn Too Brightly

At a beach on Akassa Island in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta region, Robert Cole tries to protect the eggs of turtles that come ashore to breed. But, it's not predators or people who collect the eggs that concern Cole: he's worried about gas flares burning around the beach.

HEALTH-NIGER: Battle Against Fistula Moves Ahead

Zeinabou Baba had just about given up on the prospect of living a normal life by the time aid workers arrived in her village of Tera, west of Niger's capital û Niamey.

RIGHTS-SENEGAL: President Takes on Islamic Groups in Death Penalty Debate

A move to outlaw the death penalty in Senegal has ignited a debate about capital punishment in the country.

POLITICS-CAMEROON: A Fractured Opposition Risks Shooting Itself in the Foot

With less than two months to go before the Oct. 11 presidential election in Cameroon, intrigues and accusations have become the order of the day for the country’s political parties.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: Officials Try to Cut Down on Logging

The rapid pace of deforestation in Mali has prompted government to introduce a ban on the logging of live trees during the country’s rainy season, in the second half of the year.

CULTURE-KENYA: The Churches That Aren’t

A curious case involving 13 so-called "miracle babies" has sparked concern about the proliferation of new church groups in Kenya.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: Refineries That Aren’t Worth the Name

It has been dubbed the "paradox of plenty". Although Nigeria is the sixth-largest oil producer in the world, fuel shortages have become a common feature of life in the West African country over the past two decades.

HEALTH-CAMEROON: An Illegal Circulation of Blood

The term "blood money" has come to have new meaning in Cameroon, where certain patients and their families complain that a brisk trade in trafficked blood has led to shortages in hospitals.

HEALTH-MALI: Women Clock Up Success With Maternal Mortality MDG

The small Malian town of Zegoua - population 22,000 - doesn't have a great many "claims to fame". In one respect, however, it has achieved something remarkable.

DEVELOPMENT-GABON: Plugging the Leaks in Small-Scale Fishing

For those who are looking for an easy life in Gabon, small-scale fishing holds little appeal. As a young fisherman, Mathieu Koffi, told IPS, it is "difficult to get credit to buy new equipment, and it's not easy for fishermen to band together in order to limit expenses."

ECONOMY-SIERRA LEONE: Another Round of Mining Difficulties?

Say the word "mining" in the context of Sierra Leone, and thoughts instantly turn to the country's ruinous trade in conflict diamonds. However, the mining of another mineral - rutile - is also the source of some controversy in this West African state.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: Abortion Law Takes a Toll

The fight for human rights in Nigeria has received ample coverage, as has that for fairer distribution of oil revenues – and the battle to curb endemic corruption. But, Nigerian women have another, and often more pressing fight on their hands – for abortion rights.