In the issue, you will find progress on the controversial purchase of radar for Tanzania and an exclusive media investigation linking Tanzania’s politicians to money laundering. There is also an article on corruption and poaching in Tanzania and an exposure of how some government agencies may be flouting the law to engage in questionable commercial dealings.

Reporters Without Borders has awarded its 2010 Press Freedom Prize to two symbols of courage, the jailed Iranian journalist Abdolreza Tajik and the embattled Somali news radio station Radio Shabelle. 'This year we are honouring a courageous journalist, Abdolreza Tajik, and a beleaguered radio station, Radio Shabelle,' Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. 'These laureates work into two countries, Iran and Somalia, where reporting the news is a constant battle.'

The Foreign Minister of Djibouti, in talks with the US Embassy, called President Issaias Afwerki of neighbouring Eritrea 'a lunatic'. He also revealed Eritrea opposes any real Somali peace talks. According to US Embassy wires leaked by Wikileaks, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf in April 2008 widely distrusted the government of neighbouring Eritrea.

The man widely recognised as winner of Ivory Coast's disputed presidential poll has said incumbent Laurent Gbagbo must concede power to allow for talks. A spokesman for Alassane Ouattara said he did not oppose dialogue but no talks could take place until he was recognised as president by everyone. The African Union has suspended Ivory Coast while Mr Gbagbo stays in office.

A driving force of the UN-led negotiations for years has been the effort to attract the private sector, offering more and more opportunities for business in the still nascent 'green economy'. The inclusion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems among the financeable mechanisms for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases is one example of that trend. But many environmentalists and scientists believe that the carbon market is getting ahead of itself. 'It is a further way of moving away from renewable energies, moving away from mitigation, to some kind of technology that would not solve the problem,' Nigerian Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), told Tierramérica.

The world's governments agreed on Saturday to modest steps to combat climate change and to give more money to poor countries, but they put off until next year tough decisions on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The deal includes a Green Climate Fund that would give $100 billion a year in aid to poor nations by 2020, measures to protect tropical forests and ways to share clean energy technologies.

Recently launched was a 'bespoke, low-bandwidth version of Skype for use in 120 hardship locations served by UNHCR staff members around the world'. Many newspapers and blogs picked up on it, including Guardian Tech, Mashable, and the LA Times. Many friends directed me to it, knowing that I am always interested in tech developments in Africa. Unfortunately, 'bespoke' (I had to look it up) means designed and produced for particular customers. So that means this version of Skype is only available to UNHCR staff. It will not be available to anyone else for the foreseeable future - even if they live in places with slow Internet access.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation in association with SOAS and the Centre of African Studies-University of London is organising a Summer School in Mozambique in April 2011 on the topic of ‘Governance and Development in Africa’. The residential school is for 25 participants who are policy makers, academics, researchers or civil society representatives from any African country who will gain, through this training, new ideas and knowledge on the broad issue of governance and development.

In this 90-page report, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment. Israel should halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin. Both countries should respect the rights of persons seeking asylum.

Southern Sudan should arm the local Arrow Boys militia to protect civilians in Western Equatoria State (WES) against possible attacks by remnant Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters during January’s referendum on secession, say local leaders. 'We’ve told the government, "Let [the Arrow Boys] be trained and armed, and they will defeat the LRA, and when the LRA dies, the Arrow Boys will give back the weapons",' Western Equatoria governor Joseph Bakosoro told IRIN.

'Serious challenges now strongly surround the legitimacy of the People's Assembly if it is formed according to the announced results of the parliamentary elections held on November 28 and December 5,' says this statement from the Independent Coalition for Elections' Observation. 'The elections were full of widespread violations that brought Egypt at least 15 years back. The elections were held in a political environment characterised by restrictions on public freedoms in a manner that does not allow for free and fair elections.'

The latest UNESCO figures show just five out of ten Liberian women over the age of 15 can read or write. For men it is six out of ten. The West African country now has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, ranked in the bottom fifteen according to UNESCO. 'Standing before you, my name is Erica. I am nine years old. I go to the Christian Ministry Fellowship international school,' says Erica proudly. Erica is among a new generation of students in Liberia who are being taught to read using new techniques not seen in West Africa before.

The parliamentary elections in Egypt have seen the large victory of the ruling National Democratic party (NDP), amidst massive frauds reported by election monitors and the withdrawal of the main opposition parties in the run-off. According to prominent Egyptian political analysts, the NDP’s candidate selection process was marred by internal discord and suffered lack of sophistication, as the party allowed almost 800 candidates for 508 seats, with many candidates competing against each other in 'open constituencies', while preventing party members whose candidate applications were unsuccessful from leaving the NDP to run independently.

The urgency and importance of all humans having a right to food security was spelled out by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that 'everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food...' Inhabitants of Bamako, Mali do not yet benefit from these rights. Mali is amongst the one of the poorest countries in the world. With a population estimated at about 1,8 million people, Bamako the largest city and capital of Mali and it is currently believed to be the fastest growing city in Africa.

The government of Djibouti permitted the controversial private US security firm Blackwater 'to operate an armed ship from the port of Djibouti' and to 'use lethal force against pirates'. The permission was given in February 2009, it is revealed in a cable from the US Embassy in Djibouti, published by WikiLeaks.

As nearly 200 delegates gather at the Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico, writer Dennis Martinez points out that Indigenous peoples and their advocates have no official seat among nations, and yet have experienced the worst impacts of climate change. To solve the problem, delegates of the wealthy nations have a climate-mitigation plan of choice - carbon offsets embodied in a program called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). But for healthy and stable ecosystems, Martinez finds that it fails to measure up to an overlooked method: continued indigenous stewardship.

Three projects fighting malaria and tuberculosis in Mali have seen their international funding suspended as government found 'evidence of misappropriation and unjustified expenditure'. This was reported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's dominant financier of programmes to fight these diseases.

The WikiLeaks Cablegate affair is making it clear to governments that they cannot so easily control what is secret and what is not, said Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), the world’s longest-running online progressive network founded in 1990. If governments respond rationally, they will realise that it is cumbersome and expensive to keep information secret in a connected networked world and that they should only incur this expense when really necessary, she elaborated.

More than 20 million people will be vaccinated between now and the end of the year in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger as a mass vaccination campaign using a new conjugate vaccine unfolds across West Africa. Manufactured in India, MenAfriVac offers health authorities a powerful weapon against a deadly disease. Meningitis is an infection of the membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal column. It is most prevalent in a region known as 'the meningitis belt', which extends across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the role of Sudan‘s $35 billion in external debt obligations – both for a unified Sudan and a possible Southern secession. First, it examines Sudan‘s existing debt dynamics and the potential eligibility for traditional debt relief and multilateral debt relief initiatives. Second, it outlines potential options for dividing Sudan‘s external debt obligations in the event of a Southern secession.