Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has revealed corruption at the heart of the judiciary and ordered a stop to construction of court buildings until an audit is done. He took journalists on a tour of the Milimani courts, opened only in February, but which have in some instances degenerated with collapsed ceiling and malfunctioning locks. The cost of refurbishing the former income tax department building shot from Sh600 million to Sh1 billion and it took eight years to be completed - after a three-year delay.

Cameroon's finance minister and Central Africa's top central banker both said on Monday there would be no devaluation of the CFA franc currency used by 14 states in Africa, denying market rumours. The CFA franc is currently tied to the euro at a fixed exchange rate of one euro to 655.957 CFA francs, with the peg guaranteed by the French treasury.

To gain greater insight on the daily challenges faced by urban refugees, Asylum Access conducted a survey of 122 urban refugees in Dar es Salaam. The results are published in a report, 'No Place Called Home', which unveils a stark reality for this population. For example, only 3 per cent of those surveyed have a permit to live outside refugee camps. The remaining participants live in constant fear of deportation back to countries where they face persecution.

Legislation and practices aiming to safeguard customary land rights are largely failing to give real decision-making authority to communities affected by large-scale land acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa, says a recent report by the Center for International Forestry Research. This has seriously undermined the widely anticipated benefits from the recent surge in land-based investments for food, fuel and fiber on the continent.

Moustapha Kassé
African youth are determined to press ahead for democratic change and have become a new force on the political scene. They form the bulk of the various protest movements and often are the organisers. They are a force to reckon with, notes Moustapha Kasse, but while they reject the political establishment as lacking credibility, they do not have an alternative proposal for the future. Kasse suggests a possible framework of demands they could use to further their aspirations and demands.

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Senegal : In the Republic of illusions, the master has lost his magic
Amy Niang
There is a deep sense of betrayal in Senegal – writes Amy Niang – where an erstwhile liberator has turned executioner and is trying to snuff out the peoples’ desire for liberty. The people feel profoundly let down by Abdoulaye Wade in whom they had placed so much hope and who, at the tail end of his rule, is destroying what little hope remains of leaving a positive legacy.

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Operation Exodus: Europeans are drooling over Africa and the diaspora?
Jean Paul Pougala
While Europe sinks deeper in crisis, Africa is increasingly looking like a top investment destination with so much of its wealth and resources as yet unexploited. The double-digit growth rate in some countries is an indicator that Africa is on the eve of its economic take-off. This is the time, says Jean Paul Pougala, for the diaspora to return and participate in the construction of the future.

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Cameroon: a devious kind of violence in education
Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara
In Cameroon’s extreme north, fathers prevent their daughters from going to school. Aissa Ngatansou Doumara describes the daily struggle to change mindsets that make tyrants out of protectors and prevent young girls from realising their potential.

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The challenge of three billion people in Africa
Maurice Oudet
On October 31 2011, world population hit the seven billion mark according to the UN. Africa, which has the highest birth rate in the world, already has more than a billion people. This demographic evolution is a huge challenge for the world and for Africa writes Maurice Oudet.

A leading US environmental group is opposing the planned purchase of 325,000 hectares of land in Tanzania by an American company. Tanzania’s parliament is debating the government’s willingness to lease the land in the Rukwa and Kigoma regions to Agrisol Energy Tanzania Ltd, which is backed by a consortium of US investors. Opponents charge that the deal amounts to a 'land grab' that would result in the displacement of 160,000 refugees from Burundi, some of whom have lived on the land for 40 years.

The arrival of seven and a half tons of tear gas to Egypt’s Suez port created conflict after the responsible officials at the port refused to sign and accept it for fear it would be used to crackdown on Egyptian protesters. Local news sites published documents regarding the shipment showing that the cargo that arrived in 479 barrels from the United States was scheduled to be delivered to the ministry of interior.

Muammar Qaddafi's daughter has urged Libyans to overthrow their new rulers, possibly violating the terms of her exile in Algeria. In an audio message broadcast on Syria's al-Rai television station, Aisha Qaddafi called for a revolt against the men who overthrew her father, the government she said 'arrived with the planes of NATO'.

Swaziland spends 4.7 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on paying, equipping and barracking the 3,000 soldiers in its army, and now parliament has passed a US$8 million supplementary budget for the force, provoking a rare public reaction in questioning the role or even the need for an army in view of the deepening economic crisis.

Civil society leaders in South Sudan are closely watching a legal battle unfolding in Sweden, as prosecutors investigate an oil company accused of involvement in massive human rights abuses here. James Ninrew vividly remembers the day Sudan’s military attacked his community, which had the misfortune of living above vast oil reserves consigned to a consortium led by the Swedish oil giant, Lundin Oil. 'They used helicopter gunships to bomb houses,' he said. Such accusations form part of the basis of a report that has recently prompted Sweden’s public prosecutor, Magnus Elving, to launch an investigation that could lead to a criminal case against Lundin Oil.

At least five activists affiliated with the youth group Girifna were arrested Tuesday (29 November) afternoon in Omdurman, a city in Khartoum State. A member of the group, identified only by initials ME for fear of victimisation, said that among the arrested were leaders and founders of the group.

Despite broad agreement that international development cooperation must become effective in order to achieve its objective of closing the rich-poor gap, the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), which kicked off on 29 November in Busan, South Korea, may fall short of marking a genuine 'turning point' for the effectiveness agenda. Some 3,000 delegates including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, high-level government officials from around the world and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are attending the Forum.

International climate negotiators were at odds Tuesday 29 November on how to raise billions of dollars to help poor countries cope with global warming. Details of the tussle over the funding emerged as the UN's weather agency reported that 2011 was tied as the 10th hottest year since records began in 1850. Putting the final touches on what's known as the Green Climate Fund is a top issue at the 192-party UN climate conference.

Since Saturday, 19 November, more than 12 makeshift hospitals have been established in Tahrir Square and floods of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals have swarmed in to offer their services, writes Amani Massoud in relation to the voluntary medical effort to treat those injured in clashes against military rule. 'The swiftness and efficiency with which the hospitals are established and managed bears little resemblance to the make-shift hospitals characteristic of the initial uprising in January. Nine months of experience that followed the beginning of the revolution has made hard-core emergency medics out of young doctors.'

'As a movement we are struggling to build a society in which there is an economic system where human beings come before profit and a political system in which leaders take direction from below. We are struggling to build a society in which there will be a fair distribution of land and decent housing for all. But we are alive now, our children are growing now. We are living in the rain and with shack fires now. Therefore it is clear that we also have to take direct action to struggle for what land and housing we can get right now even as we continue the long struggle for a more democratic and just world.'

Corporations have colluded with governments to capture climate change negotiations for their own interest. At the start of the ‘Dirty Energy Week’ in South Africa, participants called for real commitment to heal the Earth. More than 100 community, union and NGO representatives gathered on 23 November to kick of the ‘The Dirty Energy Week’ gathering, organised by the South African based environment justice NGO groundWork, together with 14 national and international NGOs and community organisations. On the eve of the UN negotiations, they gathered to discuss climate proofing communities and cleaner energy solutions.

The facts in much of Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa present a harsh reality: only 28 per cent of all health centres have the required supplies and equipment to offer basic emergency obstetric care, while 32 per cent of hospitals in the districts have the supplies, equipment and staff to offer patients caesarean sections. Challenges for midwives with transportation, improper or non-functional medical equipment and lack of doctors and supporting medical staff are ongoing, says this article, which profiles a dedicated Ugandan midwife.

'Abahlali welcomes the world in our country, our province and in our city. We also welcome progressive delegates to our homes, our settlements and our flooded shacks. Last night after heavy rain some of our shack settlements were flooded leaving shack dwellers, stranded, hopeless and with all their belonging swept away through floods. We have had enough shack fires already. We have had enough rat bites. We have had enough electricity disconnection. We have had enough of being excluded from the rest of our society and today the storm, the full force of what extreme weather does to the poor, proves itself to the world during the first day of the Conference of the Parties.'

Visit for news and event information about COP17, currently taking place in Durban, South Africa.

This study provides a simple cost-benefit analysis of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between African countries and the European Union. It compares the costs of signing an EPA - measured as tariff revenue losses, versus the 'gains' of signing an EPA - measured as duties African countries would avoid paying if they were to export to the EU market under the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme. The paper shows that even with this simple cost-benefit analysis (looking only at one dimension of the costs), for most African countries, the tariff revenue losses are higher than the duties at the EU border if there is no EPA.