Four days of intense rains in Niger’s northern Air Mountains and desert towns at its base have affected 7,000 households, damaged 3,500 homes and caused widespread livestock and agriculture losses mostly in the commune of Agadez, according to local officials. Agadez commune is one of 15 communes in Agadez region.

The Nigerian government will not extend the 60-day amnesty offer to the country's oil militants when it expires 6 October 2009, according to President Umaru Yar'Adua. "Those who refuse to take advantage of (the) amnesty will be on their own after October 6, 2009," the President said at the opening of the 2009 Chief of Naval Staff Annual Conference in Uyo, capital of South-east Akwa Ibom state.

The International Monetary Fund has given Zimbabwe a windfall of more than US$500 million (Sh39bn) after almost a decade of financial restrictions imposed on the economically troubled country. This follows the injection of US$283 billion into the global economy to boost member countries dwindling foreign exchange reserves due to recession.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress has condemned as "racist" a decision by Canada to grant a white South African man refugee status. Brandon Huntley, 31, had told officials in Canada he could not return to South Africa after seven different attacks. They included three stabbings, which he said he had suffered as a result of his skin colour.

This resource guide introduces some of the best literature on the causes, characteristics and impact of state fragility and the challenge of aid effectiveness and lessons learned from international engagement in these contexts. It highlights the major critical debates that are ongoing within the international development and academic community in relation to understanding and responding to fragile situations.

The Jubilee Debt Campaign and Bretton Woods Projects, NGOs that are part of the Put People First platform, had their accreditation for the G20 finance ministers’ meeting revoked by HM Treasury. The UK also barred two members of Put People First from attending the G20 London Summit in April with little notice. Representatives of both organisations had received notification of accreditation on Friday, 28 August. Both received emails late on 2 September saying “Unfortunately your accreditation has been withdrawn by HM Treasury.

A former senior official of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who has been charged with war crimes will remain in custody ahead of his trial, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided.

A delegation of Abahlali baseMjondolo leaders from Durban narrowly escaped assassination this Sunday by local councillor warlords in Tin Town, Dinizulu township, eShowe. Abahlali have been receiving calls daily from Tin Town shack-dwellers, excluded from an uMlalazi municipality housing project called Sunnydale, constructed by Umpheme Development Ptd (Ltd). Tin Town shack-dwellers are now undergoing mass forced eviction and being left homeless.

A national committee against high food prices during Ramadan has called for protests and sit-ins in a number of Moroccan regions, starting with one in Berchid on September 11th, and another in front of the parliamentary building, said committee member Muhammed Ghafri. "A public protest organised by the campaign committee seems appropriate at this time of year, which coincides with summer, Ramadan, the start of the school year and the economic crisis, as we're faced with constant price rises," said Abdessalam Adib, the co-ordinator for the campaign against the rising cost of living.

Government’s refusal to pay the salaries of thousands teachers, while looking to recruit thousands more, has plunged the schooling system into crisis. With the new academic year poised to start, government and the national teachers’ union are still odds about payment for almost 3,000 teachers who have not received their salaries for over a year.

The headling in Cape Verde's bilingual A Semana on August 13, (http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article44442 or read "Clinton's visit to Cape Verde ignored by American media." And if coverage was sparse, historical perspective was even more strikingly absent. Search for mentions of "Hillary Clinton" and "Amilcar Cabral" on the web, for example. Apart from a few mentions of her landing at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport, the only reference one is likely to find is a Fox News attack on Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones, because of his affiliation with an organization which once praised Amilcar Cabral in its newsletter.

Ethiopian troops have crossed into neighbouring Somalia and seized control of a town from Islamist fighters, witnesses say. Hundreds of troops reportedly entered the strategically important town of Beledweyne.

The first 'node' of a Pan-African University (PAU) — a continental network of institutions training postgraduate students and promoting research — could open its doors as early as February next year, an African Union (AU) official has confirmed. The node at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa would be the first of five hosted by existing institutions across the continent, said Jean-Pierre Ezin, AU commissioner for science, last week (28 August).

The special session of the African Union's Conference on the examination and resolution of conflicts in Africa opened in Tripoli, Libya. This special session presided over by the chairman of the African Union, the Libyan Guide Mouammar Kadhafi, will examine the crisis and conflicts occurring in some parts of the continent, such as Somalia, Darfur and the Great Lakes region. Twenty-seven African heads of state attended the opening session.

South Africa wants long-running power sharing negotiations in Zimbabwe to move ahead more quickly, a senior member of South Africa's ruling ANC said. Thandi Modise, deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress, said her country wanted to see a recovery in Zimbabwe that would allow millions of Zimbabweans who have fled economic meltdown in their country to return home.

ERA monitors visited Sabon-Barki community and Gyel District, both in Jos South LGA of Plateau State on August 5, 2009 in response to the growing call by impacted communities for a remediation of the ecological disaster and dislocation wrought on their environment and livelihood by nearly a century of tin mining and the failure of government at the federal and state levels to address the problem.

Women, their children strapped to their backs, defy the mid-morning sun and converge on the Primary Healthcare Centre, located on the outskirts of Farasinme village, the Badagry West Council Development Area of Lagos State. Most of the women, and a few men, have trekked to the centre, about one kilometre from the village, for free diabetes and hypertension screening and eye tests. They have come here for a free health service, initiated by the Lagos State Government, offered from time to time via various local government offices and health centres in the region.

Plans to link Europe to what would be the world's biggest hydroelectric dam project in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo have sparked fierce controversy. The Grand Inga dam, which has received initial support from the World Bank, would cost $80bn (£48bn). At 40,000MW, it has more than twice the generation capacity of the giant Three Gorges dam in China and would be equivalent to the entire generation capacity of South Africa.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said he is frustrated with the unresolved disputes with President Robert Mugabe which he said were still pushing the development of the country down. Tsvangirai and Mugabe who entered into a government of national unity early this year have continued to disagree of several issues which have forced donors to fail to commit funds.

The International Criminal Court could decide to take over trials of key poll chaos suspects after meeting a government delegation at the end of September. An official of the court made the revelation on Sunday as two Cabinet ministers and assistant ministers vowed to shoot down a Bill that is meant to set up a local tribunal to try the suspects.