On 17 May 2012, Trans Support Initiative Uganda (TSI-U), a Transgender and Intersex Organization in Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. 'We take this day to remember all the injustice, violence, discrimination and murders that have already occurred to colleagues, relatives and friends. It has not been long since we lost our very own David Kato because of homophobia, Aunt Victoria from Tanzania because of transphobia, the denial to access of medical services more especially HIV/Aids drugs to people like Beyonce and the closure of human rights workshops denying already marginalized people access to information.'

The African Union Commission, in collaboration with South Africa, will hold the first Global African Diaspora Summit on 25 of May 2012 in the southern African nation. The summit will coincide with the African Day. 'The African Union recognises the fact that the African Diaspora, found in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and various parts of the world are an integral part of the continent,' the commission said ahead of the summit.

Thousands of people rallied Saturday in a demonstration by the opposition Unita, to celebrate a surprise court victory that forced the national elections chief to step down months ahead of polls. Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a photo of Unita boss Isaias Samakuva, with many wearing caps in the party's trademark red and green, thousands sang and danced in a plaza in the Angolan capital.

Brazilian diversified mining major Vale has confirmed that its portfolio includes investments of $7.7-billion in projects in nine African countries. Speaking at a recent seminar on Africa hosted by Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank (better known by its Portuguese initials, BNDES), Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira reaffirmed the importance of Africa in his company’s strategy.? He highlighted that Vale continued to be interested in the continent and specifically cited coal and copper as sectors in which Vale continued to make investments in Africa.

UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet has announced the members of her Global Civil Society Advisory Group that will facilitate regular consultations and dialogue between civil society and UN Women. The establishment of UN Women Civil Society Advisory Groups at the global, regional and national levels was announced earlier this year at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

This special program of Africa Today is on the case of the Angola 3 - Herman Wallace, Alert Woodfox and Robert King. Woodfox and Wallace have served more than 14,500 days in solitary confinement in the Louisiana Prison System. A discussion on the issues of incarceration and solitary confinement with Robert King of the Angola 3, Marina Drummer of the Angola 3 Support Committee, Everette Thompson of Amnesty International and Professor Allen-Bell.

While the National Transitional Council government heads to elections, local militias threaten to launch secessionist movements and others refuse to demobilize. As preparations intensify for elections on 23 June for a parliament that will write a new constitution, much of Libya is still under the control of local militias.

Ghana’s Immigration Service is getting tough with illegal immigrants drawn to the country by the robust economic growth and its stability and has now set a deadline to start flushing them out. Most of the illegal immigrants are said to have entered the retail business and gone into illegal gold mining whilst others have targeted oil services, irking many locals who accuse them of stealing their jobs.

The South African government decided last week to draw attention of consumers that products they buy labeled “Made in Israel” could have been made in illegal Jewish settlements mushrooming the occupied Palestinian territories, a press release issued by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said. It said that after more than a year of joint work between Palestinian and South African organizations, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies announced he will forbid false and misleading labeling of settlements products.

Africa's impressive growth during the financial and economic crisis of the last five years will be put at risk unless action is taken to combat rising inequality, according to the annual health check on the continent from a panel led by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The report from the Africa Progress Panel found that African countries were growing consistently faster than almost any other region, with booming exports and more foreign investment. But it warned that there was a contrast between a growing yet still relatively small middle class and the Africans left behind after a decade of buoyant activity.

The UN has found asylum-seekers increased by 20 per cent in 2011. The Guardian UK has mapped the countries where asylum-seekers are coming from and the countries they are going to.

On 10 May 2012, Egypt's first ever presidential debate took place between two presidential candidates, Amr Moussa and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. The debate was three hours long and the candidates were asked questions on various topics such as human rights, health plans, the economy, foreign relations, sharia law, and the role of the military. Both Egyptians and Arabs around the region were tweeting the candidates' replies - a summary of the tweets is included in this post.

La Via Campesina has called on all the peasant organisations of the world and their allies to organise actions in the month of June. 'The advance of the capitalist system that has reached unprecedented dimensions in the past two decades is resulting in crises that are of equally unprecedented dimensions. The financial, food, energy and environmental crises are phases of the structural crisis of capitalism, which has no limits in its search for more profits. And, as in other structural crises, it impacts the peoples of the world and not the elites.'

The twelfth volume of Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries is published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group. The publication also provides some information on the broad development trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 53 African countries.

Large-Scale Land Investments are violating human rights and undermine food security in Ethiopia.

The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process relating to former rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) is back on track: More than 1,000 already disarmed fighters of the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) led by Jean Jacques Démafouth began to be demobilized on 12-13 May. APRD says 1,431 disarmed ex-combatants were demobilized on 12 May in the northern-central prefecture of Nana Gribizi in the presence of the Central African Armed Forces; representatives of the Mission for the Consolidation of Peace Central Africa (MICOPAX); Jean Jacques Démafouth in his capacity as senior vice-president of the DDR Steering Committee; and CAR Disarmament Minister Gen Xavier Sylvestre Yagaongo (second vice-chairman of the committee). The process is due to take a week to complete.

Activist Zackie Achmat writes about the recent showdown between Cosatu and the Democratic Alliance on the streets of Johannesburg: 'Cosatu’s counter-demonstration was an elephant dealing with a mosquito by stamping on it instead of snorting. Cosatu conceded the moral high-ground to the DA. The federation’s power and the moral force of its leaders particularly Zwelinzima Vavi has protected our society and politics from an uncontrolled slide to corrupt authoritarianism and courageously addressed the ANC government’s betrayals of democracy and social transformation.'

Journalists in Mali are accusing the military authorities of illegally tapping their telephones as a means of silencing critical opinion in the country. The accusation followed the arrest and subsequent detention of Birama Fall, managing editor of Le Prétoire, a privately-owned Bamako-based bi-weekly newspaper on May 12, 2012. The authorities had illegally listened to Fall’s phone conversation with a former government minister over civilian deaths during the recent counter coup attempt. Fall was, however, released after two hours without charge.

New data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) titled, 'World Health Statistics 2012 Report' has focused on the growing problem of the non-communicable diseases burden. According to the report, one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure, a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease; while one in 10 adults has diabetes. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, said: 'This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.' And although no new case of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) was reported in the last two weeks in Nigeria, the country accounts for 56 per cent of global cases recorded in 2012.

‘I’ve dedicated my entire life to documenting queer lives. I wanted to make sure I document (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) lives. All my major projects are gone.’ -Zanele Muholi, Cape Town