One of the underlying principles of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is that it should complement and support regional integration initiatives. However, the signing of the Interim EPA (I-EPA) by some member states, and not by others, has generated uncertainty within the region.

The Vice Chancellor of the Dakar-based Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Abdou Salam Sall, said Thursday in Dakar that African universities might set up a Master's degree programme on the theme of the United States of Africa in a bid to contribute to the continent's political integration.

If violence is not natural, and not ingrained in our genetic makeup then the question is, what the root of violence is (violence, which is gender based). Gary Barker has done lot of research in this area and he has an answer. He is associated with International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) as Director, Gender, Violence and Rights. He strongly advocates for the engagement of men in ending gender-based violence (GBV).

Two months after a new round of devastating violence broke out in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian government has offered amnesty if all militants turn over all their weapons and renounce violence by October, and the militants have offered a 60-day cease fire after a key militant leader - Henry Okah - was released from prison earlier this month. These actions should be good signs that the region is taking its first tenuous step toward peace, however most experts believe that the region is not close to any such reality.

More than 130 civil society and human rights groups from across Africa have issued a statement calling upon African states that are parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reaffirm their commitment and their obligation to cooperate with the court. The statement follows a decision by the African Union (AU) at its summit meeting on July 1-3, 2009 that its member states "shall not cooperate" with the ICC in the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

In early July, Rwandan officials announced a new programme that aims to strengthen women's economic capacity by providing more access to credit and enabling them to start income generating projects. Rwanda's central bank has been given the responsibility of identifying beneficiaries - the sole criteria being that the projects should be aimed at women's empowerment.

More than 600 children in prisons throughout Rwanda will have access to legal assistance under a new programme launched by the Ministry of Justice and supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Legal Aid Week brings together the courts, the national police and lawyers with prison officers to clear the backlog of children’s cases around the nation, as well as conduct a survey of minors and conditions in prisons, according to a news release issued by UNICEF.

The Skoll Foundation is accepting applications for the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. The Foundation seeks social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive change in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. Within these issues, we are particularly interested in applications from social entrepreneurs working in five critical subissue areas that threaten the survival of humanity—climate change, nuclear proliferation, global pandemics, conflict in the Middle East and water scarcity.

The Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting are unique among journalism prizes worldwide in that they were created specifically to honor cross-border investigative reporting. The contest is open to any journalist or team of journalists of any nationality working in any medium. Entries must involve reporting in at least two countries on a topic of world significance. Granted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the awards include two $5,000 first-place prizes, along with five additional $1,000 prizes. The awards will be presented at the 6th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 2010.

Although they need each other, the relationship between the media and civil society has not been at its best in post-apartheid South Africa, and both parties would do well to cultivate a more professional and respectful relationship. This was the assertion of Theo Coggin, chief executive of Quo Vadis Communications, during ‘Breakfast on the second floor’, a function held by The South African Institute for Advancement (Inyathelo) in Cape Town. Coggin, who worked as a journalist in the 1970s and 1980s, has extensive experience in both the corporate and NGO sector.

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has passed the second and final reading of a bill on domestic violence against women, but with a clause tacked onto the end to placate the howls of rage from some male quarters that the bill was "unconstitutional" because it "discriminated against men". Some of the press has waged a relentless campaign against the bill. The private TV channel, STV, and the daily paper "O Pais", owned by the same company, have been particularly insistent that the bill violates the constitutional clause on equality between the sexes, and should be "more inclusive".

A criminal charge of "disturbing public peace and spreading false news" brought against Madiambal Diagne, managing editor of the Quotidien newspaper in 2004 was on July 20, 2009 dismissed by an Appeal court in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Sanou Mbaye

When the film Blood Diamond came out in 2006, people were startled at the alleged origins of the precious stones from areas of bloody conflict and began asking whether the jewels on their fingers cost a human life. Will consumers soon find themselves asking similar questions about their cell phones and computers?

Africa has been "gravely affected" by the global economic downturn and its growth rate will halve this year due to collapsing commodity prices and a decline in donor funding, a new report has said. The 2009 African Economic Outlook finds that after half a decade of above 5 percent economic growth, the continent can expect only 2.8 percent growth in 2009. The annual report covers 47 of the 53 African countries and is a key document that influences government policy and donor spending.

On 29 to 30 July 2009 Khumbulane Magagula, Johannes Mahlangu and Themba Mvubu will reappear at the Delmas Circuit Court on the charges of robbery with aggravating circumstance, rape and murder of lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane, whose body was discovered with multiple stab wounds on 28 April 2008 in Kwa-Thema, Ekurhuleni. The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project together with partner organisations plan to have hundreds of activist and supporters from Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Delmas picketing outside and following the proceedings inside the Court.

EISA and the UN Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) are implementing a project on Development of Sustainable Voter Registration Methodologies. The project is funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It aims to promote development and awareness of sustainable and cost effective voter registration models, particularly in developing and post conflict countries. It will do this by analysing the relative costs, sustainability and effectiveness of low, medium and high tech approaches to voter registration.

In the last four days approximately three thousand houses have been demolished and the same estimated number of Angolan families has been forcibly evicted in the (commonly called) Bagdad neighbourhood, in the Sector 5 of M’Bonde Chapéu, in the Kilamba Kiaxi municipality of Luanda.

Thousands of people in Harare face mass eviction from their market stalls and homes. Most of the targeted people were victims of the 2005 mass forced evictions that left about 700,000 people without homes or livelihood or both. Four years on, the authorities now want to forcibly re-evict some of these people.

South Africa’s bilateral investment treaties should not be read in a way that conflicts with its human rights obligations under its own constitution or under international treaties that it has signed up to. Four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have joined together in seeking to assist the international arbitration tribunal in interpreting the relevant South African mining legislation in light of the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.