A coalition of Guinean opposition parties has said it will not take part in December's presidential election. Opposition leader Mamadou Ba said the government was planning to rig the poll in favour of President Lansana Conte and warned of civil unrest.

As the U.S. Congress approves $87 billion for the U.S. occupation of Iraq, long-standing promises by rich creditors to provide debt "relief" of some $49 billion for 42 countries remain unfulfilled, and largely off the radar screen for policymakers. Yet debt remains a crippling burden not only for the 34 African countries that qualify as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), but also for major African powers such as Nigeria and South Africa. A new issue of the AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the summary of a new report on Debt and Destruction in Senegal by Dembe Moussa Dembele, director of the Forum for African Alternatives.

A United Nations investigative team has abruptly dropped its corruption allegations against seven Canadian mining firms operating in the Congo. "Resolved - no further action required," is how the team now labels its files on the seven, as outlined to the U.N. Security Council last Thursday in a report that offers almost no explanation.

A London-based lobbying firm has become the focus for an international criminal investigation into allegations of corruption by western engineering companies over a huge dam project in Africa. The allegations include whether promises of bribes were made to Ugandan MPs by agents acting for a Scandinavian consortium over the building of the $580m (£342m) Bujagali dam on the river Nile. It is the largest private finance project in east Africa and one of the World Bank's most prestigious developments on the continent.

The proficiency of Nigeria’s drug traffickers and fraudsters has earned the country an unhappy reputation – that of being a money-laundering haven. Since coming to power three years ago, the Obasanjo administration has made efforts to tackle this dismal situation, however. A new law, the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, was put on the books in May.

Cameroon's prime minister has called on citizens to help President Paul Biya fight corruption by denouncing offenders in a nation rated as one of the world's most corrupt countries.

A bombardment of litigation against community activists is scheduled for this week beginning 3 November. In what is being dubbed 'Hammer Week' by the legal team representing the accused, 16 residents of Soweto will be placed on trial in separate cases for fighting for the basic provision of water services. Each of the seven cases refers to the uprising in Phiri, Soweto, in early September this year against Johannesburg Water's installation of prepaid water meters.

A discussion group [email]Northernlightnet@yahoogroups.com has just been started. The prime target of this discussion group is the northern region of Uganda (Pambazuka News 130: Northern Uganda's Brutal War). All Ugandans, other Africans and interested members of the international community are all encouraged to join this discussion group. The situation in the north is so complicated that it requires an exclusive focus if lasting solutions are to be found.

Thanks for this news (Pambazuka News 130: Northern Uganda's Brutal War). Do however note the following: The response of the Teso political leadership when the LRA attacked this northeastern area was of actively mobilising the population to oppose these rebels, hence the formation of the Arrow militia. They also publicly denounced this incursion. Such a response has never occurred, to date, in Acholiland, leading many to believe that the LRA has a given level of support in the later area. Secondly, though a tenacious and vicious group, the LRA seems to have over extended itself when it attacked Teso, about 400 kilometres from the Sudanese border, where they get their supplies and are moreover amidst a hostile population. And the rebels causality rate, including some of their top commanders, has been high. A main motive to invade Teso was to replenish their food stocks, medicines and recruits through abductions.

NARC and the so-called New Deal MMD government in Zambia seem to be birds of a feather! (Pambazuka News 129: Issues in Democracy and Human Rights in Kenya) Zambia is still plagued with electoral malpractices and wanton violations of the Republican constitution. MMD causes parliamentary by-elections galore by wooing opposition MPs to defect to it. These by-elections are damn expensive. MMD dishes out money and other gifts in the affected constituencies to win the elections and they do. Also the buying of dubious Voters Cards including of the dead registered voters is rife. Fake voters are moved from other areas to guarantee votes. The litany of illegal manoeuvres is endless. Yet MMD as a party is known not to earn any money from any economic activity. The money must be plundered from the exchequer. And this is supposed to be a government of laws!

This government has an unconstitutionally appointed Vice President. The people were played a number. Shortly after he was appointed, a politician sued contesting the constitutionality of his nomination to the National Assembly and appointment as VP. The opposition in parliament moved a motion to impeach the President for unconstitutional acts. The VPs appointment was not debated because the matter was sub-judice. By and by a deal was struck whereby the seemingly vigilant lady MP was made to eat humble pie and withdraw her suit. Now the VP is sitting pretty without challenge to his unconstitutional holding of office.

Thank you for your consistent work on controversial and often under-reported issues. I look forward to receiving your newsletter in my inbox.

After delays and confusion, Mozambicans finally get to go to the polls on 19 November to vote in municipal elections. But in a country where 40 percent of the population still survives on less than one US dollar a day, what do the elections mean to people who have to struggle so hard to make ends meet?

Support for opposition candidate Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla is growing in the campaign for Mauritania's 7 November presidential election. His unexpected popularity has prompted aides of President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, to admit privately that the incumbent head of state may get less than 50 percent of the vote and be forced into a second round-run off two weeks later.

A new survey carried out by Transparency International-Kenya reveals that 59% of Kenyans consider corruption to be the number one national issue. The survey sought to determine public opinion on the current state of politics in Kenya, corruption in the government and judiciary, the government’s performance and anti-corruption initiatives undertaken by the government. This is according to an article in the latest edition of Adili, TI Kenya's electronic newsletter. The full article and newsletter can be accessed by visiting the URL provided.

The corruption trial of Zambia's former president Frederick Chiluba, which was due to open last Thursday, has been delayed because of technical objections posed by his lawyers. Chiluba's lawyer John Sangwa told the magistrate's court that the former president has not been furnished with adequate details of the case to enable him to develop his defence.

The World Bank and IMF continue to drive forward policy reforms in developing countries with almost no prior analysis and public discussion of the likely impact of those reforms on poverty, says a joint briefing by a consortium of NGOs in response to the World Bank's Draft user's guide to poverty and social impact analysis.

Most people in Zimbabwe have a desire for a change to the status quo, favouring concurrent presidential and parliamentary elections, according to a survey by the Mass Public Opinion Institute. For the majority of people, the solution to the problems facing the country lies in dialogue, says the survey.

One hundred and twenty five companies and individuals have been listed in a report for having contributed directly or indirectly to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A United Nations committee investigating the plunder of gems and minerals in the DRC said: "Illegal exploitation remains one of the main sources of funding for groups involved in perpetuating conflict." The DRC has reserves of gems, cobalt, copper, gold, timber, uranium and coltan, a component for electronic chips in cell phones and laptop computers.

Vice-President (V-P) Moody Awori has told a regional New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Eastern Africa Region Council of Ministers meeting in Nairobi, that African leaders must rise up and provide leadership in development processes on the continent and play a leading role in safeguarding the well-being of their people.

African leaders have approved a three-year timetable for integration of the institutions of the continent's development blueprint into the governing and administrative structures of the African Union. They originally adopted the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in 2001, but with the old Organisation of African Unity in the process of transition to the AU, the institutions set up to promote the plan have remained distinct, linked to the AU only on an ad hoc basis.