Reporters Without Borders says it is relieved that three employees of the opposition weekly 'Al-Midan', who had been arrested on 2 February 2011, were released on 12 February. But it is very concerned about the three who are still being held. The detainees have been beaten and subjected to torture, including electric shocks and sleep deprivation. They were arrested because of the coverage that 'Al-Midan', the Sudanese Communist Party's mouthpiece, gave to street protests on 30 January.

The price of rice, the staple food in Madagascar, has doubled in the past two years, forcing residents in the capital, Antananarivo, to halve their consumption. 'At almost 2,000 ariary (US$1) a kilogramme, rice has become a luxury item,' Tiana Randrianirina, a rice seller at the main market in the capital, told IRIN.

As further protests in Djibouti are announced, government is cracking down on civil society and the opposition. There are fears foreign police forces may be used against protesters. Since 29 January, Egypt and Yemen-inspired protests have been noted in Djibouti, calling for Djiboutian President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh to respect the country's constitution and not seek a third term in office in the upcoming April elections.

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, could have as much as $400 million hidden away out of reach of prosecutors, according to leaked US diplomatic cables. A leaked cable sent from US officials in the United Nations in October 2007 reported the concerns of Stephen Rapp, who was the Special Court for Sierra Leone prosecutor at time, about Mr Taylor's alleged missing millions.

The conference will highlight what happens to a people and its environment when land access falls into the hands of speculators. What landlords and land speculators do is to hoard land by holding onto them for many years without developing them, hoping that someday they can be sold at a very good profit.

On 21 December 2010, a third landmark resolution calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty received unprecedented votes at the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA), reports Penal Reform International. 109 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 41 voted against, 35 abstained, and 7 were absent. This is a significant vote in that it reaffirms the continuing trend towards international abolition, PRI says.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers....

Article 19 has new legal positions available, one in London with a focus on ICTs and one in Nairobi with a focus more generally on media. Click on the link to learn more.

Gay Kenya has announced their February 2011 newsletter issue. The last issue focused on security of gay persons, which was further brought to fore with the killing of prominent Uganda gay rights activist, David Kato in late January. David Kato begins this issue, with the editorial and feature story focussing on him.

Boys and girls should not sit in the same classroom, radical Islamist group Al-Shabaab has ordered. All lectures must also stop at ten minutes to noon, while teachers must inculcate in their students the importance of Jihad (holy war), said a senior official of the group which controls most of central and southern Somalia.

The rebel group that terrorised Ugandan civilians for more than two decades, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), could continue to haunt the people of Central Africa if the Ugandan government fails to properly support demobilisation efforts, according to a new report. Compiled by the Washington-based Enough Project, 'Too Far From Home: Demobilizing the Lord's Resistance Army' tables the many challenges facing ex-combatants attempting to lay down their weapons, in what has become Africa's longest running armed conflict. The report shows the Ugandan government is complicating attempts to rehabilitate rebels by pressuring former combatants to fight with the army, sometimes without pay, and not adhering to the country's amnesty laws.

Since the discovery of copper deposits in Zambia during the 1930s, copper has spelled both doom and boom for the country’s social, political and economic activities. This paper looks at the current mining contracts (development agreements as they are officially called) entered into between the Government of the Republic Zambia (GRZ) and the different mining companies working in Zambia. The assumptions on which the bargaining theory is based are questioned in the light of the evidence emerging from the Zambian situation.

African women's rights activists have called on governments on the continent to enforce the texts, conventions and protocols they signed on the protection of women's rights. The associations, from the Gambia and Senegal, are holding a panel discussion on 'Gender and the Media: what approaches for more visibility of the actions conducted by women in the media'. Organised by the Inter-African Network for Women, the Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV), the meeting was aimed at identifying major constraints to women's access to decision-making positions and the improvement of the image of women in the media.

'The rebellion of the poor has been spreading from town to town, from squatter camp to squatter camp, since 2004. Last week it arrived in Grahamstown. There is no third force, political party or communist academic behind our struggle. It is oppression at the hands of the African National Congress that has driven us into the rebellion of the poor. We are in rebellion because we are being forced to live without dignity, safety or hope.'

Thousands of workers of the Mahalla Textile Company held a strike last week demanding better wages. According to the Center for Trade Union & Workers’ Services (CTUWS), 24,000 workers took part in the protest. The workers from the morning shift had joined their colleagues from the night shift and gathered in front of the company’s headquarters, where they announced their strike.

Born out of the optimism at the new millennium that Africa’s time had come, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a tool designed to promote good governance on the continent, is built on the belief that the continent does not lack ideas to advance its development, but that states have struggled to live up to their principles and implement their policies. The APRM rests on the fundamental belief that good governance is a precondition for taking Africa out of its spiral of conflict, underdevelopment, poverty and increasing marginalisation in a globalised world. Looking in the rear-view mirror almost a decade after the APRM was first conceived, Grappling with Governance: Perspectives on the African Peer Review Mechanism explores how this complex process has evolved from theory to practice in a variety of contexts. In a combination of case studies and transversal analysis, multiple voices from different African civil society actors - mainly analysts, activists and journalists - examine the process from their specialised perspective. The chapters tease out what can be learned about governance in Africa from these experiences, and the extent to which the APRM has changed the way that governments and civil society groups engage. The book is available for purchase on

The African Women's Development and Communication Network is looking for a suitable candidate to fulfill the position of Programmes Manager. The position offers possibility of gaining experience working for a lead African women's regional organisation in a stimulating, multicultural and dynamic environment.

There have been clashes between police and opposition protesters in Lafia in north-central Nasarawa state. Witnesses say police fired tear gas and shot in the air to disperse the crowds who were burning tyres in the streets. The unrest follows the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan's convoy in Lafia earlier this week while he was campaigning for April's election.

Talks to have private universities absorb some government sponsored students have stalled, reports the Daily Nation. The drive started last September when suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto invited heads of private universities to a meeting on increasing access to higher education. Ruto said expanding university education 'would give the economy the much needed human capital to drive its long-term growth strategy in line with Vision 2030'.

Italian authorities are struggling to cope with a crisis on the tiny island of Lampedusa after thousands of migrants arrived from Tunisia. A holding centre designed for 850 people is reported to be overflowing. More than 4,000 migrants are said to have arrived there in recent days.