The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a long and ugly history of discrimination against Black people. The Department’s new Secretary, Tom Vilsack, recently said “Some folks refer to USDA as the last plantation.” Across the South, White local and regional USDA managers routinely denied Black farmers critical farm loans and disaster assistance—aid that was easily granted to White farmers. This federal assistance often meant the difference between a thriving, economically viable farm and foreclosure.

An earlier Indian Ocean network conference in Johannesburg in January thisyear explored ‘Print Cultures, Nationalisms and Publics of the Indian Ocean’. At the Goa conference, the aim is to develop further agendas for transnational research, transcending the points of reference provided by national historiographies. An important focus will be the dynamics of port cities, places of transit, and networks of migration, trade and communications, whose interconnectivities criss-cross the histories of empires, colonies and nations.

The Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU], an NGO working on providing specialist assistance in research and advocacy in the field of human rights , democracy and governance, has released a video and written report documenting political and human rights violations against women in Zimbabwe. The documentary, ‘Hear Us – Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political Violence Speak Out,’ and accompanying report, “Putting it Right: Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Zimbabwean Women,” present the findings of RAU’s study and call for action on the issue of politically motivated violence against women.

The Harper government must report in a national public database all the pollution being produced by mining companies, a Federal Court judge has ruled. The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), created in 1993, details all the industrial and commercial pollutants released into the air, water and land in Canada. Since 2006, NPRI has also required that all pollutants released during mining activities must be reported. Some of the waste found in tailings and waste rock — including mercury, sulphuric acid and arsenic — is deemed toxic by law and must be reported in the NPRI.

The T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) seeks to hire an outstanding individual to serve as its first Executive Director based Abuja, Nigeria. The Foundation is a new, independent foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life of the people of Nigeria. The trustees seek a dynamic and creative leader with impeccable integrity to further establish the foundation, and develop and implement strategic grantmaking programs.

At recent meetings of the Group of 20 and the International Monetary Fund, world leaders have gathered to discuss the global economic crisis. Unfortunately, it seems that many still believe they can solve the problems of the poor with sentimentality and promises of massive infusions of aid, which often do not materialise. We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.

Kenya has been challenged to exploit the opportunities found within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in an effort cushion the country from the imminent challenges posed by the ongoing global recession, Kenya’s Trade Minister Amos Kimunya said last week.

A third of the World Bank’s support for health, nutrition and population programmes over the past decade has been unsatisfactory, the multilateral agency’s own evaluation unit has concluded. Out of $17bn (€12.9bn, £11.5bn) in support to countries, only two-thirds had satisfactory outcomes, with many projects marred by inadequate risk assessment, weak monitoring and evaluation, and lack of accountability, said its Independent Evaluation Group.

For over 27 years President Mubarak has ruled with an iron fist. With protests and strikes forbidden, activists are finding new ways to fight for democracy. Through Facebook, protestors can now find a voice.

On 8 April, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana acted on her threat to reclaim redistribution farms that were not being used. In the fifth such repossession, the minister moved onto a Gauteng farm with a group of officials, reportedly telling a tenant: “Do you know who I am? I am the minister of land affairs and this is my house. Pack your bags and get out of my house right now.”

The heads of state of the East African Community (EAC) met in Arusha to discuss the reports from national consultations on the rapid formation of the East African federation in Rwanda and Burundi, the common market protocol and is expected to come up with a joint position on the proposed African Union Government. Prior to the heads of state summit, Tanzanian negotiators had differed with their peers from other EAC country members on three issues included in the draft protocol, namely: national ID documents, access to and use of land as well as permanent residence. Furthermore, airlines in the region have expressed their impatience over delays in instituting a single EAC visa, a move that would boost tourism in the community.

African foreign ministers met for an extraordinary session in Sirte, Libya to deliberate on the process of transforming the African Union Commission (AUC) into a Union Authority, focusing on the key ministries that would constitute the new authority. The ministers adopted a report on the creation of an AU Authority to replace the existing AUC and agreed on the structures, the plan of action for the Authority and on the number of Authority ministries, but decided to present to the heads of state and government issues regarding foreign affairs, security and defence. However, research from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) argues that the transformation should offer an opportunity to institute some of the recommendations called for by the Audit Report, in particular those concerning the Commission’s independence and capacity.

Elsewhere, the chairperson of the AUC Jean Ping, appealed to all member states of the pan-African organisation and its partners to ‘refrain from any action likely to endorse illegality in Madagascar’ and urged them to support the AU position as expressed by the peace and security council of suspending the country from the AU. During a seminar hosted by the African security analysis programme, lssaka K. Souaré ‘noted that to date the AU has been consistent in its application of its policy’ towards unconstitutional changes in government by way of a military coup d’état but that there appeared to be no coherent position with regards to the other forms such as those seen in Zimbabwe and Kenya. He further suggested that ‘the AU should not only be reactionary but should also begin with the condemnation of undemocratic governments or those abusing the democratic process’.

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie organised ‘The Commonwealth Ministerial Debt Sustainability Forum’ at the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. for finance ministers from some 53 African and Caribbean countries to compare notes on how to deal with the global financial turmoil in developing countries. Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies (G20), acknowledging that the global financial crisis has a top-heavy impact on poor countries, had earlier promised to avail hundreds of billions of United States dollars to those countries as part of a $1.1 trillion plan to rescue the world economy. African leaders who met the United Kingdom Prime Minister, the host of the G20 summit, delivered a strong message that the international community had to honour their commitments ‘to increase aid, improve trade access and agree to a fairer, more flexible system of managing international financial affairs’ to help the continent protect the development gains of recent years. The AU ministers in charge of commerce, during their fifth ordinary session on the global economic and financial crisis on trade and development in Africa, highlighted the need to place African economic development at the centre of international efforts to stabilise the ailing financial sector and to build strategies towards the recovery of the global economy. The AUC, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa organised a two-day workshop at the AUC headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to analyse trends and difficulties encountered by countries with the aim of seeking solutions and accelerating the progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

In other news, a Pan African delegation of farming leaders, national parliamentarians and civil society organisation representatives travelled to Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and London to engage their European peers regarding the Economic Partnership Agreements and the European Common Agricultural Policy, instruments that risk having disastrous consequences on African small scale farmers. Also, African trade ministers have reiterated their position that all development-oriented partnerships between Africa and the European Union (EU) should be geared towards the attainment of the objectives of eradication of poverty, achievement of sustainable growth and deepening of Africa’s integration into the global trading and economic systems. The AU and the EU have jointly launched a new ten million Euro initiative called ‘Better training for safer food in Africa’ to help African states improve their food safety systems for the benefit of their populations and economies. Agriculture ministers of the G8 and G5 met for a two-day conference in Italy to discuss the global food crisis and develop concrete proposals to address food security. Finally, African journalists are invited to join the Twenty Ten project, which is inspired by the 2010 FIFA World Cup and being organised on the African continent for the first time.

Support Gaddafi's good intentions: Christine Kaluma

Fully aware most Congolese want to remain Congolese: Herman J. Cohen

New book on Joseph Kony and the LRA: Peter Eichstaedt

Migingo is a way of avoiding more serious issues: Devapriyo Das

Cameroonians shamed by corruption: Mckingsley

Concerned about South Africa's future: Edi Jarju

Zumababwe!: Charles Sondergaard

A special court in Sudan sentenced a further 11 men to death on Sunday. The alleged members of the Darfur-based armed opposition group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), were found guilty of involvement in an attack against the Sudanese government in Khartoum on 10 May 2008. The attack is reported to have killed over 220 people.

Teresa Barros’ problems started last year with the death of her baby. "Our youngest daughter died," Barros (38) explained. "My husband blames me, and now he drinks a lot and picks fights and makes confusion." "My family won’t do anything. They said my other children need their father, and I must stay with him. But it’s desperate, I can’t go on like this," she added.

A United Nations-backed workshop aimed at identifying ways for West African farmers to limit the damaging effect climate change has on their livelihoods has kicked off in Burkina Faso. West Africa, home to 43 per cent of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa, is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world.

The making of a new constitution is slowly turning into one big fight. That our country needs to revitalise itself is in no doubt, and the fact that it needs a constitutional overhaul is also a well known fact. But the road to constitutional reform is full of landmines, and more will be planted if threats by the National Constitutional Assembly and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions are to be taken seriously.

Poor countries, including Kenya, are to receive financial support to develop and diversify exports when the ongoing trade negotiations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are concluded. WTO members have pledged to assist Least Developed Country (LDC) members in addressing their supply side capacity constraints, as well as the challenges that will occur due to increased competition as tariff rates used to protect their economies drop, once the Doha Round is concluded.

This AfricaFocus Bulletins contains excerpts from two World Malaria Day articles on recent initiatives against malaria, one by Sue Mbaya, Africa Advocacy Coordinator for World Vision, based in Nairobi and one by UNICEF on Children & Malaria. And, from an article about the UN Foundation's "Nothing but Nets" initiative to mobilize individual contributors for supplying bednets.

This guide presents advocates with a collection of popular online services that can be used for advocacy quickly with little to no technical support. There are services for publishing photographs and video, for setting up a campaign blog or for using mobiles to communicate in a group. An amazing amount of functionality and tools are available simply by connecting to the Internet and opening up a web-browser. You don't need to have a lot of technical expertise to try some of these. You also don't need much money, these services are offered at low- to no-cost.

Four Southern African states will be covered in the new financing decision by the European Commission, under the food facility package for developing countries. Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zambia will be among the 23 developing countries that will benefit from a support valued at € 194 million to projects and programmes aimed at boosting agriculture and improving the food security situation in the selected countries.