'Media reforms are inevitable, they are by public demand,' says the MDC Information & Publicity Department in response to permanent secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity George Charamba's announcement that the government has no intention of issuing broadcasting licences. 'Zanu PF wants to refuse these reforms and continue with its propaganda agenda on its failed policies and rampant corruption that is now in the public domain. By maintaining the status quo and denying the entry of private broadcasters, Charamba and his masters are desperately trying to prop-up Zanu PF’s declining grip through the airwaves ahead of elections expected next year.'

Guinea’s veteran opposition politician Alpha Conde was declared the winner of the presidential election on Tuesday last week, as losing candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo called for calm after deadly clashes. News of Mr Conde’s victory came after a tense day in which violent clashes left at least one person dead and several wounded, and allegations of election fraud from Diallo.

Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom has backed a proposal by Dr Kizza Besigye that a portion of oil revenue should be dedicated to fighting poverty in the oil-rich region where the resource has been discovered. Besigye, the candidate for the four-party opposition Inter-Party Cooperation coalition, on Monday promised that his government will give Bunyoro region its fair share of oil revenue if elected president. Besigye’s proposal flies in the face of the ruling NRM party’s position, which considers the oil as a national resource and offers no affirmative action for Bunyoro.

NGO Gender Links has welcomed the appointment for the first time of a woman, Monique Oh San Bellepeau, as vice president in the Republic of Mauritius. After nearly four decades of independence and two decades of Republic, her nomination is a strong sign that gender equality is high on the agenda of the present government. It is also a victory for gender activists and Mauritian women at large, as well as for women in the region.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has launched a national programme to improve living conditions in the oil-rich country's informal settlements and slums, local media said Tuesday. According to a UNICEF report published in June, 87 per cent of Angola's urban population lives in shanty towns and just 42 per cent of people have access to water, down from 60 per cent in 2001.

Zambia has fared badly in the Open Budget Survey (OBS) coming out second from the bottom of 94 countries that were surveyed. Presenting the findings of the OBS, Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) executive director Alexander Chileshe said Zambia ranked among the bottom two that failed to uphold transparency and accountability for their national budgets. He observed that Zambia did not give room for citizens and even parliament to have a say on how the budget was being implemented.

Malawi’s economy needs a strong and vibrant public sector that can craft helpful and significant policies if the country is to register sustainable economic development, a political science associate professor has said. Presenting a paper titled ‘The role of a strong public service in an economy: Lessons and Opportunities for Malawi’ during the third economic seminar jointly organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) and the Economic Association of Malawi (Ecama), Blessings Chinsinga, an associate political professor at the University of Malawi, described the public sector at the moment as too weak to lead the way to prosperity.

A 'forgotten emergency' has left tens of thousands of pastoralists in Djibouti needing food and nutrition assistance as well as longer-term coping mechanisms, according to the UN. The tiny Horn of Africa state is the subject of a US$38.9 million appeal for food aid ($16.2 million), agriculture and livestock ($6.5 million), health and nutrition ($7.4 million), water and sanitation ($2.4 million), and emergency preparedness and sanitation ($6.4 million).

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a Geneva-based international housing rights watchdog, has released a 'report card' examining the impact of Zambia’s land reform processes on women. The report, 'The Impact of National Land Policy and Land Reform on Women in Zambia', was released together with the Women's Land Link Africa (WLLA), a joint initiative of organisations dedicated to improving women's land and housing rights in Africa. The key finding in the report is that Zambian women’s enjoyment of land rights in both rural and urban areas is hampered by male-dominated structures and patriarchal decision-making mechanisms.

Nigeria’s main militant group said last week it had seized seven oil workers in a raid on an ExxonMobil facility and threatened a major attack while claiming the military fired rockets at one of its camps. The offshore raid was the latest such incident in recent months in the Niger Delta, the heart of the country’s huge oil industry, and the military warned of action at the weekend, saying residents near militant camps should clear out.

The signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) prevented Zimbabwe from continuing to spiral out of control and helped to establish a measure of political and economic stability, says this research report from the Institute for Democracy in Africa. 'However, major concerns remain, given the intransigence of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) specifically over honouring its responsibilities outlined in the GPA...The international community has three options: maintain the status quo, completely lift restrictive measures, and the calibrated lifting of restrictive measures tied to six benchmarks.'

A consortium of South Korean companies will seek a minerals-for-infrastructure deal in Democratic Republic of Congo that could be worth $1 billion, Congolese and South Korean officials told Reuters. The proposed deal - involving refurbishment of a copper mine and construction of an Atlantic deepwater port - would bolster South Korea's bid to secure long-term access to metals while speeding Congo's development, South Korean ambassador to Congo Kim Sung-chul said.

The ruling ANC will appoint two independent researchers to investigate the nationalisation of mines, its secretary general said on Monday. 'The NEC (national executive committee) has resolved to appoint two senior researchers and a project manager to investigate successful models that could be considered on the role of the state in mining,' Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Johannesburg.

About 800 South African commercial farmers have already signed land deals to expand production in Mozambique, ahead of a conference next week to discuss other possible opportunities in the Gaza province. South African farmers have received new land offers to grow crops in over 20 countries.

Ivorians preparing for a tense presidential run-off on 28 November are hoping the fragile peace of the first round on 7 November will hold, but fear it could easily crumble as cracks begin to emerge. Having been repeatedly postponed, the long-awaited elections have so far gone relatively smoothly. International observers have broadly praised the conduct of voters and political parties. Gbagbo took 38 per cent of the vote in the first round, with former prime minister Alassane Ouattara winning 32 per cent.

The exit of multinational British Petroleum from the Tanzania market faces stiff opposition from its workers who want to know their fate before any transfer of assets is made. According to sources in the petroleum sector, workers are up in arms accusing management of ignoring their pleas for a negotiated settlement.

Victims and other affected parties are working on a short deadline to engage with the process that could see up to 149 persons convicted of murder, robbery and theft, pardoned through Special Presidential Pardons. While the Department of Justice has published the names of 149 convicted persons who have been recommended for a presidential pardon, victims affected by these crimes have not been directly informed. The South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) has sought to make victims aware of the process and to inform them of how they can engage with the process to make sure that their voices are heard.

Cuba has announced plans to build biolarvicide factories in Brazil and several African countries in a bid to tackle malaria and dengue fever. Biolarvicides are biological products that are added to water to kill mosquitoes at the larval stage. Labiofam - the Cuban laboratory in charge of the project - has been producing two biolarvicides, Bactivec and Griselesf, since the 1990s.

President Ernest Bai Koroma has promised not less than 50,000 acres of land anywhere in the country to CHICASON group companies. The company would be involved in manufacturing, and mining oil and gas as part of its business expansion in Sierra Leone. 'My country is moving from a frontier state, I will give CHICASON not less than 50,000 acres of land anywhere in the country. I will serve as arbiter between the habitants and CHICASON. My government is supporting the private sector and Nigeria deserves our support,' he said.

An Angolan minister has told the BBC that a convoy carrying Chinese mine workers was attacked in the region of Cabinda this week. He said that two soldiers guarding the workers, contracted by Angola's state oil company Sonangol, were killed. A faction of the Cabinda separatist movement Flec has said it carried out Monday's attack.