French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a three-nation tour of Western Africa, pledged to break from his predecessors’ “neo-colonial” policies and forge business ties in the region. “We are still being reproached for neo-colonial interference,” Sarkozy said in Brazzaville, the capital of Republic of Congo, where he stopped after visiting the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. “I’ve already started bringing things back toward greater transparency and common interests.”

Some of the most controversial issues stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide will be addressed at a symposium in Kigali, co-hosted by the University of Oxford, on 3 April 2009. The event entitled, ‘15 Years after Genocide: Where Now for Rwanda?’ will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the genocide and feature provocative presentations by leading policymakers, academics and journalists on a range of key issues affecting post-genocide Rwanda.

More than 100 CAR refugees crossed the volatile border to south-eastern Chad over the weekend, joining over 6,800 others who began arriving earlier this year in two sites near the remote Daha village registered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Another 2,500 new arrivals are sheltering just across the border in the Chadian village of Massambaye, 125 kilometres east of Daha.

Around one-quarter of deaths in people with HIV worldwide were caused by TB in 2007, the World Health Organization said today. Around 450,000 people with HIV died of TB in 2007, WHO estimates, and there were 1.4 million HIV-positive TB cases. HIV-positive people are around 20 times more likely to develop TB than HIV-negative people in countries with a high HIV prevalence.

African trade could fall by up to 25 percent in 2009/10 from last year’s commodity-driven highs, senior executives from the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) said yesterday. The Cairo-based Bank has 33 African shareholders, and finances and promotes intra- and extra-Africa trade. “Last year was a very good year for Africa because of very high commodity prices... that got total African trade close to $800 billion”, Okey Oramah, Vice President of the trade finance bank, told Reuters in Cape Town.

Angolan refugees in Zambia’s Western Province have resisted voluntary repatriation despite their country's political stability and the on-going national economic reconstruction, the UN refugees agency report has revealed. According to the voluntary repatriation intention survey conducted by United Nations High Commission for Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Zambian government at Mayukwayukwa Refugee Settlement, results showed that only 251 had expressed interest to repatriate out of the 10,000 in the camps.

The National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), led by military junta head Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, arrested three former ministers of the late President Lansana Conté on 23 March for allegedly embezzling national funds, but human rights officials say the nature of the arrests shows impunity continues

The Casablanca court of appeals in Morocco should overturn two suspended jail sentences and fines of an independent newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. On Monday, a court in Casablanca sentenced Managing Editor Ali Anouzla and Publishing Director Jamal Boudouma of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula to two-month suspended jail terms each and a fine of 200,000 dirhams (US$24,190) for "defamation" and "insulting the judiciary," according to local news reports. Anouzla said his lawyer will appeal the ruling as soon as he receives a copy of the decision.

U.S President Barrack Obama has reversed a decision by his predecessor George Bush to ban the supply of contraceptives to seven African based family planning organizations. The ban had initially disrupted the supply of family planning materials by Marie Stopes International to Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Moroccan authorities want to strictly confront all practices and suppress all brochures, books and publications that seek to undermine the country's religious and ethical values. A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on March 21st revealed the full scope of the government's agenda: to "preserve citizens' ethics and defend our society against all irresponsible actions that mar our identity and culture".

With its emphasis on gender equality, the South African constitution is regarded as a great example for many other developing countries. Yet, despite laws intended to protect the rights of women like the Sexual Abuse Act and the Domestic Violence Act, women in the country still suffer indignities at the hands of police and in court. Lisa Vetten, a policy analyst at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, an organisation that protects the rights of women, has been fighting for the rights of women for most of her life.

The war of attrition between Finance minister Tendai Biti and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono intensified this week, raising fears it could disrupt the smooth operation of monetary and fiscal policies unless quickly resolved. Biti this week took the fight deep into Gono’s territory after he told cabinet that the central bank boss ran a parallel government structure at the height of his power which gobbled 45% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

When three attempts to cure Abdulhakim*, 42, of tuberculosis failed, the father of nine living in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia, took his doctor's advice and tested for HIV - the result came back positive. His family's reaction was predictable: his brothers stopped grazing their goats and sheep alongside his, and many of his relatives wouldn't touch him. "My wife and children are the only ones who have stood by my side," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Friday criticised Western powers for holding back aid to Zimbabwe while President Robert Mugabe was still in power."This is very unfair to the Zimbabwean people. Because here is Mugabe, he is a factor. He is there. He leads a party that has been in government for over 20 years," Zuma told Reuters in an interview.

Girls living in Moroccan towns are five times more likely to remain in school as their rural peers. The national attendance rate is around 60%, but is only 16.5% for girls in isolated areas. Given that the distance between rural girls' homes and schools is the primary reason for the disparity, an innovative residential programme may be the solution to keeping girls in school for more than just six years of primary education, organisers recently told a Rabat forum.

Vice president George Kunda on Friday charged in parliament that the government was aware of some people who had married to hide their homosexual activities. Answering a question from Chadiza MMD member of parliament Allan Mbewe during the vice president’s question and answer session, on what government was doing to curb homosexuality in the country, vice-president Kunda said the laws available were stiff enough to punish such people.

Some lie awkwardly splayed on the stairs while others sleep in a neat row outside a church in Johannesburg from where Zimbabwean refugees will soon find themselves having to relocate again. The Methodist Church, in the city centre, has long been a popular destination for thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing their country's political and economic woes and more recently a devastating cholera crisis.

For the past year, Karen Awuor*, 15, has had a new daily ritual– taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. She discovered she was HIV positive during an unintended pregnancy that forced her to drop out of school; her baby died after just four months. “When I was in class seven, I got into a relationship with one of my teachers; he promised to pay my school fees if I agreed to be his wife,” she told IRIN/PlusNews.

More than 180,000 ex-fighters in Sudan’s decades-long north-south civil war will be assisted to return to civilian life as their ongoing demobilization enters a new phase, the United Nations mission in the country (UNMIS) has announced. The mission said in a press release that reintegration is the last and most crucial phase of the multi-million dollar scheme for the process known as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) called for by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which in 2005 ended the 22-year conflict.

One of Africa’s largest countries, DRC, has taken the first towards creating a fibre link to its neighbours and the outside world. A little-noticed announcement was made at the end of last month by the Vice-First Minister for Reconstruction that gave the green light to start construction work on a fibre optic link from the capital Kinshasa to the coastal town of Muanda. Russell Southwood looks at the potential impact on the country’s connectivity.