The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has minced no words but directed the Malawi government to institute a liberalised exchange rate regime as a way to manage the overvauled local currency, the Kwacha. This is contained in a report titled ‘Liberalization of the foreign exchange regime for current account transactions and exchange rate flexibility’ on Malawi by IMF’s Mission chiefs Etibar Jafarov, Nadia Rendak and Kelly Eckhold with Morten Jonassen Norges Bank.

The Republic of South Sudan (RoSS) is going through a major displacement crisis. The country is playing host to tens of thousands of refugees who fled fighting in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States. In addition to this, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced due to violence within South Sudan itself. The country also has to contend with a large influx of southerners returning from northern cities. This crisis could soon become overwhelming for the world’s newest country – a country already struggling to deliver security and basic services to its citizens.

Pointing to a scarred bald patch above his ear, Lise Dide shows where shrapnel grazed his head when his village in Sudan's Blue Nile state was hit in an air strike. 'The plane came when I was asleep. I was still in my bed, I did not hear the sound,' he said in South Sudan's Doro refugee camp, set up just three weeks ago some 40 km (25 miles) from the Sudanese border. Dide is one of more than 80,000 Sudanese that have sought refuge in South Sudan from clashes between government forces and insurgents on the northern side of the poorly-marked and tense border, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, 9 December, OUT, represented by Webber Wentzel Attorneys, was successfully admitted as amicus curiae in the sentencing phase of a hate crimes trial in the Germiston Magistrates Court. The success of OUT’s application is ground breaking on at least two fronts, firstly OUT is the first organisation to be successfully admitted as amicus curiae in a criminal trial in the magistrates courts; and secondly, this is the first time an Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) rights organisation will be leading expert evidence to ensure that sentencing in homophobia-motivated crimes takes into account the hate element in the commissioning of these crimes.

In recent years, Malawian women have made significant gains in their struggle for full gender equality. Women are increasingly represented in national politics, for example. Malawi’s May 2009 federal election saw the proportion of female Members of Parliament rise from 14 per cent to 22. And though a minority, it is not difficult to find women’s names among the ranks of corporate board members.
Yet women in Malawi remain disproportionately affected by poverty.

The embattled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been given another lifeline in politics after Limpopo province nominated him to serve on the ANC's powerful provincial working committee. Malema and his cohorts were suspended two months ago by the ANC's national disciplinary committee (NDC). The Mail & Guardian has further learnt that the ANC provincial conference will resolve that the issue of Malema's suspension needed political solution as opposed to the NDC processes, which the ANC Youth League has claimed were driven by political agenda to deal with Malema and weaken the youth league.

Given the limited resources available to transparency and accountability practitioners, making smart choices about which tech trends (Mobile, Mapping, Social Media, Video etc.) to follow and which to ignore is more important than ever, says this article on which presents some common sense advice for making the right choices.

This report discusses the availability and quality of health services in two provinces of Angola (Luanda and Uíge) and reports how households perceive the level of quality and utilise the existing services. In addition to quality indicators such as the availability of drugs, equipment and other supplies, the report explores the competence of health workers in diagnosing common illnesses.

Cabinet responded to rejection of its latest offer to striking doctors by freezing wage increases across the public sector until Salary Remuneration Commission is constituted. It also ordered a raft of expenditure cut-backs in Government, targeting low-priority areas such as foreign travel, purchases of vehicles, office furniture, printing, and advertising.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in conjunction with the Rory Peck Trust recently hosted a conference in Nairobi to improve assistance to the region's journalists in exile. Around 50 participants, including representatives of international and regional human rights advocacy organisations, press freedom groups, and journalists in exile, gathered at the Fairview Hotel to consider better strategies for emergency assistance.

A warplane bombed a Somali village held by al-Shabab fighters near the border with Kenya on Tuesday, killing several civilians, a Somali military official said. It was not immediately possible to identify who carried out the attack in the village of Hosungow, which is near the area of Dhobley - itself under the control of Somali government and Kenyan troops, as well as a militia allied to Somalia's government.

Trees are dying in the Sahel, a region in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, and human-caused climate change is to blame, according to a new study led by a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. The study was based upon climate change records, aerial photos dating back to 1954, recent satellite images and old-fashioned footwork that included counting and measuring over 1,500 trees in the field. The researchers focused on six countries in the Sahel, from Senegal in West Africa to Chad in Central Africa, at sites where the average temperature warmed up by 0.8 degrees Celsius and rainfall fell as much as 48 per cent.

South African authorities have announced the launch of a criminal probe against international news agencies The Associated Press and Reuters for installing cameras outside the home of anti-Apartheid figure Nelson Mandela, according to news reports. 'We call on the authorities to drop investigations that criminalize legitimate newsgathering activities that neither invade privacy nor endanger the security of Nelson Mandela. The National Key Points Act, in its current form, is an affront to the democratic constitution modeled by Mandela,' CPJ Africa advocacy coordinator Mohamed Keita said.

Mumia Abu-Jamal has been moved out of administrative custody and transferred to disciplinary custody at SCI Mahanoy after news that the prosecutor would no longer seek the death penalty. Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters gathered in Philadelphia to mark the 30th anniversary of his arrest for the killing of a white police officer. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, called it to the event to make his first public remarks since the prosecutor’s decision was announced. Read his comments on the Prison Radio blog.

Although Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in February 2011, the uprisings in Egypt continue. While the uniting rallying cry may have been against dictatorship, the struggle in Egypt that took headlines across the world in early 2011 reflected deeper social, political, and economic problems. The key demands of the revolution have still not been met. The continuation of military rule and the promise of more neoliberal economic policies lead many to believe it will be a long battle. Protestors in Egypt are hopeful, however, as people all over the world revolt against an economic system that benefits the few at the expense of the many. This short documentary looks at the economic factors that led to the revolution, the reality of living under military rule, and brings up questions over the legitimacy of the current elections.

The death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by fighters in October, may have been a war crime, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [ICC] has said. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said: 'I think the way in which Mr Gaddafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes. I think that's a very important issue.' Moreno-Ocampo's comments came a day after the former Libyan leader’s daughter, Aisha Gaddafi, called on the ICC to investigate the death of her father and brother at the hands of Libyan fighters.

Responses to climate change tend to focus on scientific and economic solutions rather than addressing the vitally significant human and gender dimensions, says this pack from Bridge. For climate change responses to be effective, thinking must move beyond these limited approaches to become people-focused, and focus on the challenges and opportunities that climate change presents in the struggle for gender equality, says the pack, which hopes to inspire thinking and action.

A study in the Czech Republic has found a link between exposure to certain air pollutants and an increase in DNA damage for people exposed to high levels of the pollution. They found that breathing small quantities of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), called benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), caused an increase in the number of certain 'biomarkers' in DNA associated with a higher risk of diseases, including cancer.

This report from the International Social Security Association identifies, synthesises and interprets the most important recent developments and trends in Africa in social security. A key observation is that extending effective coverage for essential cash benefits and health care remains the continent’s major social security priority and greatest social policy challenge – but rapid extension is possible.

Unions representing civil servants in the country have given the coalition government up until the end of December to review their salaries, or face crippling industrial action in the new year. The unions are demanding a minimum salary in line with the Poverty Datum Line, which is pegged at US$540. Tendai Chikowore, the chairperson of the Apex Council that represents civil servants, said they had a meeting with government representatives on Friday: 'It was clear that they (government negotiating team) had not been given the mandate by Treasury giving them the parameters within which to negotiate,' she said.