Ethiopian military forces have crossed back into Somalia, four months after leaving, witnesses told the BBC. Their reported return comes as Islamist militants continue to seize towns from the fragile Western-backed government. One resident said he saw Ethiopian troops digging trenches in Kalabeyr, a town 22km (14 miles) from the Somali-Ethiopian border.

Life has not been the same since she lost her parents four years ago and the little property they owned grabbed by her immediate relatives. For her, every day has meant living for herself and her two younger sisters. With no property and or education, Fatima Hassan took her best friend’s advice, Amina Ahmed, and together they begun a journey that has forever transformed her life. Their names have been changed though because if known to the community, their lifestyle could lead to dire consequences, even death.

ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association publishes the third edition of its report and map on State Sponsored Homophobia based on research by Daniel Ottosson. The report is a collection of legislation criminalising consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex in private over the age of consent.

Despite a lull in clashes between Government forces and insurgents in the Somali capital, the number of people who have fled Mogadishu in the past 12 days has climbed to 45,000, the United Nations refugee agency has reported.

Repeated promises by the unity government to reform the repressive media environment in Zimbabwe are proving hollow, with no evidence of any action being taken to ensure media freedom. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday said there have been “significant improvements in media freedom in the country,” during an announcement on the outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement. But improvements, in the form of pledges, are not translating into action.

The Ghanaian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the interconnection of fibre optic networks with Burkina Faso to enhance communications between the two west African neighbours. The Ghanaian communications minister has said the signing of the MOU is in line with the commitment of ECOWAS member states to foster economic integration.

Botswana’s government sent trucks full of police and wildlife scouts into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) to confiscate goats from Bushmen who have returned to their ancestral homes. The Bushmen, whose goats had been confiscated in 2002 when they were unlawfully evicted from the reserve, only received their livestock back in recent weeks.

As the country prepares for its presidential elections in October, government has agreed to meet two members of Lesbian, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO) in court on their demand to have section 164 of the Penal Code, which criminalises homosexual conduct, declared unconstitutional. Prisca Mogapi, a transman and Caine Youngman who is gay, through their representative Uyapo Ndadi, served the Registry of Society department with a statutory notice last month.

As the very grave health condition of the 73 years old Gabonese President Omar Bongo is confirmed, speculations over his succession are growing in numbers. Will it be a family affair as in Togo, or will it be a coup like in Guinea?

Growing insecurity in eastern Chad is limiting aid workers’ access to refugees and displaced Chadians, aid workers say. Rebels and government troops recently clashed in eastern Chad and armed banditry – long a problem in the region – is on the rise, including the fatal shooting of a UN-trained national policeman on 13 May.

African ministers of finance, planning and economic development have scheduled a meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 6-7 June to discuss measures required to deal with the global economic crisis, a UN think-tank said here. The Addis Ababa-based UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said on Thursday the meeting would explore ways of dealing with the effects of the global economic crisis through enhanced fiscal planning and ways of raising funds internally with in Africa.

The Malawi Electoral Commission on Wednesday said declaration of results of the general elections had delayed because of confusion about where to send the final results, according to its chairman, Supreme Court judge, Justice Anastazia Msosa. She said returning officers from the constituency levels were sending the results directly to the Commission's tally centre instead of the constituency centres.

, Njonjo Mue’s and what really happened in the

Amid concerns on the safety of genetically-modified cro ps and the cost of acquiring GM seeds by the largely peasant African farmers, the debate over the acceptability of biotechnology continues to rage in Uganda, just it does in most parts of Africa. Supporters of biotechnology said it offered Africa the best chance of guarding against food insecurity because it enhances agricultural productions.

Guinea-Bissau's Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared Pedro Nfanda to contest the 28 June presidential election. This brings to 13 the number of candidates who want to succeed President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, who was assassinated on 2 March. The candidacy of Pedro Nfanda, a lawyer, had initially been rejected by the Supr eme Court because the policy-making committee of the Environmental Protection League (LIFE), on whose ticket he was standing, had not taken action to replace the governing body of the party after its chairman had died

Wsftv.net was created especially to showcase videos featuring activities from the World Social Forum Global Day of Action on 26th january 2008. Wsftv.net has also continued to collect and promote videos related to WSF themes and principles charts.

Nigeria's oil militants, routed from some of their key bases in the oil producing Niger Delta, have vowed to strike back at the military as well as the oil industry as the military offensive in the region continued Thursday. Against allegations that the offensive, launched on Friday, has targeted innocent civilians and razed palaces and traditional shrines, the region's largest militant group - Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) - said: ''We promise to pay back the oil industry and the government the same measure of destruction that was meted out to the innocent civilians by this cowardly act.''

The UN refugee agency says the number of people fleeing the Somali capital in the last 12 days has now risen to 45,000 despite the lull in fighting in the war-ravaged nation. A statement from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said a significant proportion of the displaced are heading towards the Afgooye corridor, southwest of Mogadishu.

It was just a small loan worth the equivalent of $100, from a local microfinance bank. But it enabled Mojamah who had just come back to her home in Kenema, Sierra Leone, after the country’s civil war, to set up a dressmaking business to support her family of six. In neighbouring Liberia, Amelia, a single mother with five children, got a loan of $83 to help expand her work crushing rocks used to build roads. The loan worked so well she applied for another, worth $200, so she could hire workers to help meet the growing demand for roading material, as Liberia rebuilt itself after the war.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, former leader of the ruling military junta in Mauritania, who is contesting the controversial 6 June election, says the vote would not be postponed. General Aziz, who resigned his position as President on 15 April to contest the election, told a press conference in Nouakchott that the 6 June date “is a choic e made by the Mauritanian people at the end of the ‘nationwide days for concerted action’ held in December 2008 and January 2009”.