The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says its African science programme may be spared in budget cuts brought on by the organisation’s current financial problems. UNESCO cut its science budget by 31 per cent last December owing to a shortfall in funding, which was a result of the United States freezing its contributions to contest a vote to admit Palestine as a member.

Kenyan fighter jets have stricken several targets in the southern Somali town of Diff, raising fears of potential casualties, Press TV reports. A Diff resident told Press TV that four warplanes launched raids on Monday 5 March and bombarded training camps of Somali militant group, Al-Shabab in Diff, about 20 km from the border.

The Africa Today broadcast for 27 February has interviews with Dr. Nia Imara and Pierre Labossiere of Haiti Action Committee for an update on Haiti eight years after the coup and talks with Nehanda Imara of Communities for a Better Environment on a series of community classes on urban agriculture, the environment, and health.

'Troubled Waters: How Mine Waste Dumping is Poisoning Our Ocean, Rivers, and Lakes' is a new investigative report from Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada that documents how mining companies are using the world's waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic mine wastes. These mine wastes, or tailings, can contain up to three dozen dangerous chemicals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cyanide. Each year, mining companies dump over 180 million tonnes of these hazardous mine wastes into rivers, oceans, and lakes

The Radical History Review seeks submissions for an issue on the global politics of the anti-apartheid movement, 1946-1994. The time frame underlines our sense of the global significance of what we call the Anti-apartheid Era, inaugurated by the postwar United Nations Debates on discrimination suffered by Indians in South Africa and culminating in the post-Cold War transition to democracy in South Africa during the 1990s. As we see it, this anti-apartheid era encompasses the evolution of the United Nations, decolonization, the Cold War, the founding of the non-aligned movement at Bandung, the rise [and fall] of Third World solidarity structures, the US Civil Rights Movements, Left-Leaning Revolutions, human rights politics, upheavals of the global Sixties, and the onset of neoliberal globalization and offers new ways of connecting and contextualizing these various developments.

While genuine historic commitment to transformation and upliftment by South Africa, and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in particular, went 'without saying', it was not clear that the country remained on the path to 'achieving the vision for which so many struggled', said Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.vSpeaking at his inauguration as UWC Chancellor, Makgoba said the fact that economic disparities in South Africa 'remain vast, and are even growing', was 'truly immoral' and a 'scandal'.

'This joint submission examines the gendered aspects of sexual violence in correctional centres, how rape shapes offenders understandings of gender and sexuality, and how it fuels a cycle of violence both in and out of prisons. We also underscore the connection between HIV and sexual violence in prisons, and highlight the specific needs of male survivors of sexual assault, who are largely invisible in our society.'

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Senegalese authorities to thoroughly investigate recent attacks on the media and ensure that the press is able report freely on the country's presidential election results and potential run-off. In a statement, the media rights group said it had documented at least 12 incidents of threats and physical harm against journalists reporting on the campaign, Sunday's vote, and its aftermath.

Nigeria has repatriated around 11,000 foreigners mainly from Niger and Chad over the past six months to curb a growing Islamist insurgency, the Immigration services said. 'The latest number of foreigners repatriated as at this morning is 11,000,' immigration services spokesman Joachim Olumba told AFP, updating an earlier figure.

Egypt's interim government will have to muster all its skills of persuasion to sell austerity measures to a country weary after a year of political and economic strife, if details emerging on Cairo's planned deal with the IMF are anything to go by. Egypt wants the $3.2 billion IMF accord to help it head off a looming crisis. But in return the IMF wants Egypt to cut its budget deficit.

I come and sit here as often as I can. Beside the lake, under my favourite fig tree. To relax, to contemplate. Or if I have a problem, it is a perfect place to search for solution.

Some call it Nyanza,
Outsider named it Victoria.
We know it as Nnalubaale -
We of Buganda.

I prefer to come at evening time, when the lake is quieter - momentary visits of silence. Enraptured always; by the orange of sunset - the canvas of the Creator.

In my sweet reverie,
It's splendour of colour.
Of the yellow-backed weaver,
The paradise flycatcher.

The kingfisher on the branch, dreaming of barbs and dragonfly. The shy situanga, amongst the reeds; one of the most beautiful of antelopes.

Fisherman on the lake,
Fish eagle above me.
Blessed by panorama,
A cinema called Rift Valley.

There's no place I'd rather be than here. To see a Goliath Heron, prominent on his throne. The spotted-necked otter; the swimming supremo, a connoisseur of crustaceans.

Being a farmer,
This water's everything to me.
The source of my health,
The gift of fertility.

So I think of Katonda, the Creator. And of Mukasa, guardian spirit of the lake. I thank and praise them, for what they continue to give me.

I go to Bubembe Isle,
The shrine of Mukasa.
To say thank you for banana,
For sugar cane and cassava.

I speak through a priest or priestess, who we have titled mandwa. They are members of the Njovu clan, whose totem is the elephant.

I give thanks for nile perch,
And also tilapia.
For the white-sand beach,
And the woodland savanna.

This shrine we call ekiggwa. The residence of the sacred drums. A place of pilgrimage, it's balm of beauty.

The stork and the ibis,
Buffalo and crocodile.
I have a little time now,
So I think I'll sit awhile.

These moments are very precious to me. And when I leave, I feel refreshed, renewed. Walking home, smiling at the thought, of bouncing around with my son.

Whether from Uganda, Tanzania or Kenya; we the people of the lake, are blessed by what Katonda has given us, guarded over by Mukasa.

© Natty Mark Samuels, 2012.

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At least five Somali-owned shops in Khayelitsha were forced to close recently as the Zanokhanyo Business Association enforced a 2008 agreement that no new foreign-owned shops should operate in the township following the May 2008 xenophobic attacks. The two Somali-owned shops in Harare that stayed open were looted. David Mohamed, owner of Brothers shop in Harare, said he lost all his stock to the thieves.

Uganda is to set up a new camp to cope with a influx of refugees from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the government has said. At least 100 people a day are now crossing the border to escape an upsurge in violence, Uganda's refugee minister told the BBC. Women said they had been raped by armed militias, who broke into their homes at night and stole food and property. Up to 3,000 people have fled since DR Congo's chaotic elections in November.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that it would deliver its first-ever verdict, a judgment in the war crimes trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese accused of participating in the recruitment of child soldiers. 'The verdict in the trial of Mr. Dyilo will be made in open court on 14 March. His trial started in January 2009 and the closing statements were presented by the parties and participants in August last year,' ICC said in a statement.

Reporters Without Borders says it is disturbed by Morocco's recent newspaper censorship and attempts to suppress online free expression. Distribution of the leading Spanish daily El País was again banned on 26 February while two netizens have been given jail sentences in the past few weeks for criticizing the king on social networks.

Two weeks ago the Institute for Race Relations published a letter from Yorshire academics protesting that a contract for housing asylum seekers had been awarded to G4S. The company responded to its critics and in reponse to this, the group have released a further letter. 'We sent our original letter because of sheer outrage that a vast private sector security company feared and distrusted by asylum seekers should be considered as suitable to manage asylum seeker housing. We could see immediately that such a contract would mean up to 900 asylum seekers in Yorkshire facing eviction and displacement over the next few months.'

The World Development Movement has warned that the UK’s new drive to provide aid to Somalia is looking like a ‘cynical’ attempt to grab its oil, rather than being aimed at ensuring a better future for people in one of the world’s poorest countries. A report in the Observer newspaper on Sunday revealed that UK officials have been engaged in secret negotiations with Somali leaders to secure access to the country’s immense oil reserves. The revelation came after the UK announced a large aid package for Somalia, and David Cameron hosted a conference in London last week on the development of the war torn state.

Côte d’Ivoire’s national commission of inquiry investigating the 2010-2011 post-election violence should extend its mandate by six months to August 2012, Human Rights Watch said. The extension would better ensure an impartial and comprehensive investigation into crimes committed by all sides, Human Rights Watch said. In meetings with Human Rights Watch, Ivorian civil society representatives, United Nations officials, and diplomats highlighted serious problems with the commission. They cited its failure to include representation from pro-Gbagbo groups and to consult sufficiently with civil society, and said the commission appears to have rushed its work.

The government will soon table a Contract Farming Bill in parliament, seeking to enact a law to protect smallholder farmers and rural communities against exploitation by private investors. Principal Legal Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Audax Rutabanzibwa said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that among other things, the law will clearly state the kind of crops to cultivate and nature of relationship between private investors and rural farmers.

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