Many of you will be familiar with Sokari Ekine who has been writing the Africa Blogging feature on Pambazuka News since 2005 as well as contributions to our C& A and book reviews. Her blog Black Looks has been submitted for this year's BOBs awards under the category of "Best Blog in English". We at Pambazuka believe she deserves our support and if you agree you can vote for Black Looks .

As the world meets to find ways of mitigating the impact of climate change, Nigeria, like other African nations which are at the receiving end of the effects of the global climate change, is counting its losses from the impact of the phenomenon.

Kenya's main political groupings, the Party of National Unity (PNU) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) continued to wrangle over the constitutional powers to be given to future President and Prime Ministers of the republic.

The African Human Rights and Peoples Court based in Arusha, Tanzania, has said that it was incompetent to examine a request to suspend the judicial proceedings in Senegal against Chad's former president Hissein Habré.

MISA-Zimbabwe has been following with particular interest the seemingly contentious issue of shortwave radio stations within the context of the ongoing SADC mediation process.

An high-profile former Nigerian minister has gone to court to challenge the international arrest warrants issued last week on corruption charges. As a close ally of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Abuja Minister Nasir el-Rufai used to be one of Nigeria's most powerful people.

The killing and rape of hundreds of opposition supporters on September 28, 2009, by Guinean security forces are likely to amount to crimes against humanity. Accountability for the attacks is key to addressing Guinea’s ongoing political crisis, which deepened following a December 3 shootout involving the country’s coup leader and his aide de camp, both implicated in the September violence.

United Nations humanitarian agencies are providing emergency supplies and other forms of assistance to Kenyan Government officials as they respond to an outbreak of cholera in the northwest of the country that has left at least 26 people dead.

Former Argentinian Environment Secretary Romina Picolotti and Center for Human Rights and the Environment co-founder Jorge Daniel Taillant have authored a new piece laying out the case for the World Bank to determine its energy agenda on a human rights based approach.

International assistance is vital to prevent the Central African Republic (CAR) from falling back into political crisis and potential new fighting as it prepares for elections next year after a decade of violence and conflict between Government and rebel forces, the top United Nations official for the country has warned.

Negotiators worked through Tuesday night without a positive outcome on providing financing for poor countries, commitments on emission reductions or a legally-enforceable treaty. NGOs were definitely not happy with the move to limit their access to the conference during the last few days.

Amnesty International deplores the continuing failure of the South African authorities to investigate impartially and fully human rights abuses which occurred during and after armed violence at the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement (Kennedy Road) in Durban last September. This despite repeated calls since October for an independent and impartial commission of inquiry into the surrounding circumstances and extent of the violence and its aftermath.

Kenya's assistant Minister for Trade Omingo Magara, who is a top leader of the ruling Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), lost his parliamentary seat this week after a petition against his 2007 parliamentary victory succeeded, following months of trial.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ordered a probe into the disappearance of millions of shillings meant to finance the free primary school initiative, which attracted over seven million children previously locked out of school.

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.