The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), based in Entebbe, Uganda, has been recommended to host the Secretariat of the African AIDS Vaccine Programme (AAVP), after a very close competition involving a total of eight applicant institutions located in seven countries in Africa.

Zimbabwe's ruling political party has been accused of launching a "widespread and systematic campaign of rape and sexual terror" aimed at intimidating opponents and voters in the troubled African nation, according to a new report released here.

South African ex-Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, criticised for questioning whether HIV causes Aids, has died aged 69 from liver disease. Her critics dubbed her "Dr Beetroot" for her advocacy of healthy eating rather than drugs to fight HIV.

The Angolan government should ensure freedom of the press as host of the Africa Cup of Nations, Human Rights Watch has said. The football tournament will take place January 10 to 31, 2010, in four coastal towns in Angola, including in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda, site of a long-standing separatist insurgency.

Nearly three years from the signing of a peace agreement in Côte d'Ivoire, emergency operations are slowing but humanitarian needs remain, aid workers say. More funds are needed to support the transition from humanitarian to development.

In his op-ed featured on All Africa, Frank Muramuzi of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists analyzes the World Bank’s disastrous approach to energy lending, focusing specifically upon large hydropower projects in Uganda.

Tribal violence in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sent 84,000 people fleeing across the border into the Republic of the Congo since last month, with the United Nations refugee agency reporting that supplies to assist the displaced are running low.

The African Civil Society have condemned the proposed appeal by PM of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi with French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. In proposing such an appeal, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is undermining the bold positions of our negotiators and ministers represented here, and threatening the very future of Africa.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an arm of the UN, the global food crisis is worsening. In 2009, over 1 billion people were undernourished globally, up from 873 million in 2004-2006; the accelerating growth and urbanisation of the world’s population, which is predominantly taking place in the developing world, is increasing the pressure on food resources and provoking food security fears.

Ethiopian authorities have released former opposition politicians, jailed for causing mayhem after the 2005 general elections, but the fate of an influential former party leader, Birtukan Mideksa, remains unclear.

Niger's president, Mamadou Tandja, on Wednesday opened the campaign for 27 December local elections and urged his compatriots to turn out in their numbers to elect their representatives for the 266 local councils.

A lot has happened since the 44th and first African American US President was sworn in. Some scholars, like Prof. Issa Shivji at the University of Dar es Salaam, argue that the issue now is not Obama’s presidency and what it portends to Africa, but rather the emergence of new ‘hegemonic’ powers in global political and economic governance.

A Western Sahara activist expelled by Morocco has been allowed to return from Spain after maintaining a hunger strike for 32 days. Aminatou Haidar, 42, left Lanzarote airport in the Canary Islands on a small, private plane after a deal was reached, details of which are unclear.

Opposition parties in Namibia have launched a court challenge to the results of last month's election. President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his Swapo party won a landslide victory with more than 70% of the vote.

Many governments' policies toward migrants worldwide expose them to human rights abuses including labor exploitation, inadequate access to health care, and prolonged detention in poor, overcrowded conditions, Human Rights Watch has said, in advance of International Migrants Day, on December 18, 2009.

The World Bank and China are discussing setting up low-cost factories in industrial zones in Africa, that the Chinese will build. A nice little idea that’s maybe meant to help could end in a new regime of industrial slavery.

People across the world leave their homes, families and countries in search of work and education, and to escape poverty, discrimination and conflict. Many risk everything, even their lives, for security and a chance to earn a living. At every step, they are vulnerable to exploitation, fraud and human rights abuses.

United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suspended logistical or other support for units of the National Armed Forces (FARDC) when there are sufficient grounds to believe their operations would violate human rights, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

AMERA-Egypt is pleased to advertise the vacancy of Psychosocial Team Leader. The job of Psychosocial Team Leader is full-time for 35 hours per week, and s/he works under the day-to-day supervision of the Deputy Country Director. Its purpose is to develop affective and adequate programming, manage the operation and effective delivery of the psychological and social services for refugees seeking asylum in Egypt.

At the opening of the Copenhagen conference on climate change, twenty UN human rights experts, including Olivier De Schutter, stated that a “weak outcome of the climate change negotiations threatens to infringe upon human rights”. The Special Rapporteur warns that only climate policies deeply rooted in a human rights regime can guarantee minimized impacts upon the most vulnerable.