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Much attention has been focused on China’s growing presence in Africa. But Iran too has been seeking expanded ties on the continent. Just this month, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad expressed Tehran’s readiness to expand all-out relations with African countries. “The Islamic Republic of Iran sees no limits for the expansion of ties with African countries,” and sharing its experiences with them, Ahmadinejad told his Kenyan counterpart in New York. “Iran has always sought to boost ties with African countries in all arenas,” Ahmadinejad added.

Counsel for seven journalists including Gambian Press Union (GPU) executives, accused of defaming President Yahya Jammeh on July 8, 2009 asked the Banjul High court hearing the case to free their clients because the charges preferred against them were “invalid” and “defective”.

The Darfur Rehabilitation Project and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works presents Blue Tales, Other Narratives and Beyond: The Art of Khalid Kodi, New Works of Story Telling, Saturday July 11, 2009 from 3-7PM at the Church of the Covenant, 310 East 42 Street, NY (between 1st and 2nd, next to Tudor Hotel). The exhibition is open to the public and features small and large scale paintings, drawings, and mixed media on paper. Sudanese food and music will be shared for this very special inaugural benefit /art sale. A portion of the proceeds will support the Darfur Rehabilitation Project and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works.

Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks from her jail cell in Israel. She was taken into custody along with twenty others, including former US Congress member Cynthia McKinney, when the Israeli military boarded their ship in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza

A group of forty-one (41) Congolese refugees and asylum seekers (men, women and children) have this morning finally fled Namibia for their lives to an undisclosed destination through the neighboring Republic of Botswana. The group includes 23 children between the ages 1 and 17. According to NSHR’s latest information, the group is stranded, without food, in ‘no[wo]man’s’ land between Namibia and Botswana, some 300 kilometers east of the Namibian capital of Windhoek. NSHR has appealed to the Government of the Republic of Botswana to “accord them all the necessary assistance on humanitarian grounds”.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court, hearing the case of torture brought by Gambian journalist Musa Saidykhan against operatives of the Gambia's notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA), dismissed preliminary objections raised by the Gambian government, the defendant in the case. According to the Community Court, Saidykhan is a citizen of West Africa and the court is mandated by the ECOWAS protocol to hear human rights violation cases brought before it.

Urban Voices International Arts Festival 2009 promises again to deliver the most original, diverse and cutting edge spoken word for the South African aficionados of the arts. “As always, the Southern African Arts Exchange has scouted far and wide across the world, searching for the most talented and relevant poets for the South African audiences”, says Roshnie Moonsammy, executive director and founder of Urban Voices and its mother body the Southern African Arts Exchange (SAAE). The Urban Voices Poetry Festival takes place in three cities, Joburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2009 Human Rights Defenders Tulip award. Anyone can submit a nomination. The nomination form can be found on this page. Nominations must be received by 23 August 2009. Established in 2008, the Human Rights Defenders Tulip Award is an initiative of the Dutch government. It is awarded to acknowledge “persons who have shown exceptional moral courage in protecting and promoting the rights of fellow human beings.”

On the occasion of the annual consultations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with non-governmental organisations (Geneva 30 June), Fahamu asked the Africa Bureau to respond to the report ‘Coercion and Intimidation in the Voluntary Repatriation of 37,000 Burundian Refugees from Mtabila Camp, Tanzania.’

A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers.

The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) hereby solidarise with workers in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in their current struggle to end illegal deduction from their salaries by the Prof. Michael Faborode-led university management running to over N400 million.

The and Cutting Edge Art & Culture Works is presenting 'Blue Tales, Other Narratives and Beyond: The Art of Khalid Kodi, New Works of Story Telling', on Saturday 11 July in New York.

On Sunday 28th June President José Manuel Zelaya, who was constitutionally and democratically elected by the Honduran people, was taken hostage by soldiers led by groups belonging to the country's oligarchies. The Organisations of La Via Campesina of Central America issued a statement in response to this.

Nigeria’s E.C. Osondu has won the 2009 , described as Africa’s leading literary award, for ‘Waiting’ from Guernicamag.com, October 2008. The chair of judges, New Statesman Chief Sub-Editor Nana Yaa Mensah, announced E.C. as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held on Monday 6 July at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the prize.

Today, almost 15 years after Nelson Mandela took office in South Africa, the U.S. requires a comprehensive new Africa policy that builds upon affirmative general principles and fosters multilateral African-led solutions to create a stronger foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship.

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The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), Osun State hereby call for the immediate implementation of the long-awaited Teacher’s Salary Scale by the Oyinlola government.

he United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IOM are joining forces to tap into key technical expertise among the Somali diaspora in a bid to help rebuild key governance foundations in parts of the country. Somalis with professional expertise in policy and legislation, human resources management and public financial management living in North America, the UK and Scandinavia will be targeted for temporary return for an average period of six months to provide on-the-job peer-to-peer training in their respective fields in northern Somalia initially, including Somaliland and Puntland.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General has highlighted the benefits of investing in agriculture, which she stressed is the key to a brighter future for Africa and its people. “Since time immemorial, agriculture has been the cornerstone of development in every region, not just in Africa,” Asha-Rose Migiro told participants at the African Union Assembly in Sirte, Libya.