ECONOMY-SIERRA LEONE: Is the Sparkle Being Restored to Conflict Diamonds?

As members of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front go on trial this week for atrocities committed during the country's civil war, the world is once again reminded of the toll that the trade in blood diamonds has taken on this West African state.

ENERGY: Electricity Transforming Rural Senegal Into 21st Century

Large-scale electrification programmes are bringing Senegal's interior villages into the 21st Century and creating a ''technological revolution''.

POLITICS: An African Army, for Africans?

As the third annual summit of the African Union (AU) draws closer, the spotlight is falling on the organisation's newest branch: the Peace and Security Council, and its proposed standby force.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Women Charting the Continent’s Future

"We must congratulate Rwanda for achieving 48.8 percent of women representation in parliament. This is the highest in the world. It means gender parity is no longer a dream but a reality in Africa," said Lulu Xingwana, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, to thunderous applause from over a thousand women who gathered in the capital, Pretoria, this week.

LABOUR-NIGERIA: “You Do Not Stop Workers Through Laws”

"Leaders come and go, but there will always be workers' unions." This is the philosophical view which Elder Linus Ukamba, Senior Assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), has adopted towards plans by President Olusegun Obasanjo to dismantle the union federation.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Reversing the Medical Brain Drain

The flight of nurses and doctors from South Africa - and other African states - has long been a source of concern for the governments of these countries. And, the advent of AIDS has sharpened fears about the effects of this migration.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Pregnant Women Beware

A decade after the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, maternal mortality continues to plague Africa. Delegates to a meeting held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, recently heard that of the 585,000 deaths caused every year by obstetric complications, many occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

ECONOMY-AFRICA: Be Careful What You Wish For

The 79-member grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries known as the ACP bloc wrapped up its latest summit in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, this week, with delegates expressing a willingness to kick start stalled global trade talks.

EDUCATION-AFRICA: Breaking the Link Between Pregnancy and Dropping Out

Teenage pregnancy has often dealt a mortal blow to the educational aspirations of girls in Africa. But, laws compelling schools to re-admit these young mothers could hold the key to solving this problem.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: A Visionary Plan For Preventing Blindness

It is 08.00 in Iba Town - a suburb of Nigeria's southern economic hub, Lagos - and people have defied heavy rains to start lining up outside a mobile clinic that treats eye disorders. The queue will ultimately include hundreds of peasant farmers, fishermen, traders, school children and senior citizens.

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: “I Don’t Have Any Case to Answer Before This Court”

"I will be defending myself because as far as I am concerned, I don't have any case to answer before this court," said Sam Hinga Norman, Monday.

RIGHTS-BENIN: Polygamy Somewhat Out of Bounds – If Not Out of Fashion

The merits of monogamy and polygamy have come under vigorous discussion in Benin recently, with the passage of a law that encourages the first - but tolerates the second.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Freedom of Information Bill Proves Elusive

In recent decades, Nigeria has acquired the unhappy reputation of being one of the world's most corrupt states. It would also earn a high ranking in a list of the most secretive nations.

REFUGEE DAY: Pending Asylum, a Cat and Mouse Game With Police

A man who wishes to be identified as Soyu Mokili has discovered that the streets of South Africa's main commercial city, Johannesburg, are not paved with gold in the way he expected.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Upbeat on Globalisation, Although Southern Africa Lags

Africans feel relatively positive about globalisation and the United States, although the enthusiasm for both is markedly weaker among Southern Africans and Tanzanians than among people in other parts of the continent, according to a major survey of seven sub-Saharan African nations.

EDUCATION-LIBERIA: Civil War Leaves School System in Tatters

The Day of the African Child, celebrated Wednesday, is a sober occasion for Liberia, where fourteen years of intermittent civil war have undermined the education system on which many of the country’s children depend.

ENERGY-BURKINA FASO: To Get Electricity, Try People Power

Wendemi Yanogo owns a small dairy just outside Burkina Faso's capital. At present, she earns about 50 cents for every litre of milk that she sells in Ouagadougou. By next month, however, Yanogo hopes to see the profits from her business double - after the small town she lives in, Tanghin Dassouri, gets electricity.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Arab Leaders Steal the Show At G8 Summit

Kenyan civil society activist Edward Oyugi says Africa's relations with the developed world amount to the continent holding out a begging bowl. But, African leaders insist they have a partnership with wealthy nations - one based on investment in return for good governance.

POLITICS-WEST AFRICA: The Presidents With Too Much Staying Power

The concept of amending constitutions so that national leaders can remain in office for extended periods of time has come under increasing criticism in recent years.

RIGHTS-KENYA: A Disturbing Trend in Female Genital Mutilation

A society free of female genital mutilation, also referred to as female circumcision, appeared somewhat distant this week after a group of women’s rights activists accused medical personnel of carrying out the practice.

HEALTH-MALI: Guinea Worm Continues to Take a Toll

In 1994, authorities in Mali launched a programme to eradicate guinea worm – a parasite that can grow to a length of almost a metre inside the human body, later emerging through a blister in the skin. While the programme was very successful in its first six years, a troubling resurgence of guinea worm was reported last year in the central Mopti region.