Perhaps Africa's World Cup began in earnest on Jun. 16, when a despondent green and gold-clad crowd began leaving the Loftus Versfeld stadium even before the end of South Africa's heavy defeat to Uruguay. Migrant African fans felt the first touch of cold post-tournament reality. In their final game on Jun. 22, Bafana Bafana, as the country's national team is known, went on to shine brightly for an hour against a pathetic France, but despite taking a two-goal lead, faded at the finish to make an unwelcome mark in the record books as the first host in the World Cup's 80-year history to fail to make through to the second round.

Four hundred sixty-five refugees from different nationalities are detained in various police stations at Sinai. Within the framework of the EFRR’s follow up on the cases of detained refugees in Sinai police stations, a committee was formed by the foundation. The committee is made of 4 lawyers who have visited north Sinai governor.

Souréba, 3, is as light as a bird. Resting on her mother’s knee, the little girl seems indifferent to the noises and movements around her. When her mother, Habsatou, tries to give her some therapeutic food on her finger, the child turns away from the brown milky mixture. She is emaciated and has lost her appetite.

At least 12 people either died in landslides or drowned in rising waters following the torrential rains that fell in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital, Thursday, according to the National Civil Protection Office.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reshuffled cabinet ministers, dropping four and re-assigning several others to new portfolios. The changes affected only ministers from his party, which formed a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe last year to end years of bitter wrangling.

The trial of Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and eight councillors on allegations of criminally defaming businessman Philip Chiyangwa in which five journalists will appear as witnesses, was on 22 June 2010 moved to 23 September 2010 by Harare magistrate Olivia Mariga.

A court in Kenya has ruled that prisoners will be allowed to vote in a referendum on a new constitution. It is the first time that prisoners in the East Africa nation have been given the right to vote. The ruling applies only to voting in August's referendum, but correspondents say it may lead to further concessions for future elections.

The winner of Guinea's hugely significant upcoming presidential election should urgently focus on rebuilding the rule of law and holding human rights abusers to account, Human Rights Watch has said. The first round of voting is scheduled for June 27, 2010.

The MSMGF is pleased to announce the launch of our newest policy brief, HIV Prevention with MSM: Balancing Evidence with Rights-based Principles of Practice. This document details the current context for the development and implementation of HIV prevention efforts targeting MSM, provides an overview of available MSM-specific HIV prevention strategies, and offers a look at recent guidelines from global health institutions.

Experts in renewable energy have met in Accra, Ghana to discuss how policy-makers can support the harvesting of abundant renewable energy and thus open the door for sustainable African development. The workshop organized by the World Future Council Foundation, in Hamburg, Germany, in cooperation with the Energy Commission of Ghana brought together representatives from utilities, regulators, industry and civil society from ten African countries who are determined to expand their cooperation under the umbrella of the African Renewable Energy Alliance (AREA).

Public hearings for a new constitution continue to be blighted by the endless persecution of people taking part, or those known to be aligned to the MDC. There were reports that 3 MDC activists were abducted by state security agents in Chief Svosve’s area in Mashonaland East province. Eye witnesses say Rodreck Shamu, Temba Masimara and another person identified only as Makunyadze, were abducted by a group of armed men driving a white double-cab CAM truck. Worryingly for the MDC the whereabouts of the activists remains unknown. The party says the three were targeted because they had been instrumental in mobilising MDC supporters in the area to participate in the outreach meeting

KwaZulu-Natal’s health department is using a plastic device in its mass male circumcision drive that speeds up the procedure but has significant side-effects in adult men. Doctors who spoke anonymously to Health-e, expressed concern about the department’s use of the Tara Klamp (TK), a disposable device designed to stay on the penis for around seven days until it falls off with the foreskin.

Once Africa had few international connectivity options bit now it has a widening number of choices from new fibre connections (notably SEACOM and TEAMS in Q2, 2009) to cheaper satellite connectivity (03B Networks in 2010). Therefore this report has been expanded to look at the interplay between fibre and satellite prices and the speed at which the market is making transition to increased fibre use.

For Pambazuka readers in Tanzania and East Africa at large, Dar es Salaam's Soma Book Cafe now stocks a range of titles. Soma's details are as follows:

Soma Book Cafe
53 Mlingotini Circle, Regent Estate
Kinondoni
Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA
Tel: 00 255 022 277 2759
Website:

This one week course gives an introduction to Project Cycle Management emphasising project formulation. Crucial in proper project planning is a thorough analysis of objectives that the project intends to achieve. This course enables participants to employ clear, sequential planning methods such as the logical framework.

The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Refugee Law Project have the pleasure in announcing the launch of a paper on the current situation of Rwandan refugees in Uganda entitled "A Dangerous Impasse: Rwandan Refugees in Uganda". The launch will be held on Monday 28th June 2010 at Hotel Africana starting at 3pm - 5pm.

One of the most important vehicles by which CODESRIA has sought to mobilise national-level research capacities and to channel these into organised reflections has been the National Working Groups (NWGs) which it has encouraged African researchers to organise autonomously on priority themes of their choice. NWGs have been supported by the Council in over forty African countries and have resulted in some of the most interesting studies on politics, economy and society in contemporary Africa.

Louis Michel, the Belgian former EU development commissioner and current prominent Liberal MEP has shocked his home nation and its one-time central African subjects by calling King Leopold II, the Congo's colonial master responsible for between 3 million and 10 million deaths, a "visionary hero."

Boubacar Boris DIOP

Wazir Mohamed

Fodé Roland Diagne

As criticisms of President Obama’s war and economic policies mount, the group that first questioned his intentions regarding the concerns of the black community is holding a national Congress to define a black agenda to serve the interests of black people.