As civil society organisations we are profoundly disturbed by the nature, content and potential impact of the homophobic stance taken by Jerry Matjila, South Africa's representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on the 16th of June 2010. This stance is the latest in a string of problematic actions by South African representatives in international forums such as the UN.

“Pilgrimages,” a new project of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College and Chimurenga, will send 14 African writers to 13 African cities, and one city in Brazil, for two weeks to explore the complexities of disparate urban landscapes. The writers will create 13 nonfiction travel-writing books about their trips that will capture each city as South Africa hosts Africa’s first World Cup. At the same time, the continent will be on display—to itself and to the world—to a greater degree than at any time since independence.

Mamadou Goïta

Samba Diouldé Thiam

Football is by far the most popular sport throughout Africa. More than a sport, football in most African countries has deep political, social and economic ramifications. Yet, the game that garners this position is explicitly the men's game. What of the women's game? African women are playing football. In some nations, officials, both in sport and political realms, have actually prioritized the development of the women's game.

The situation in Jamaica and the Caribbean is connected to the plight of the black urban poor in the US and the relationship between former colonial powers and black Africa, writes Keith Noel.

As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup finals, public and scholarly discourses have largely overlooked the consequences of interactions between global sport, professional leagues, and grassroots football. Yet analysing this dynamic is important because it challenges bold claims made by the Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and South African boosters about the 2010 World Cup's capacity to deliver economic, political, and social benefits to the nation-state.

Africa's continued struggle for political and economic independence in many ways mirrors the very own struggles of communities in the U.S. that are now being tabled at the 2010 U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. Africa advocates and progressive foreign policy observers were pitching that message Thursday in introducing the "From Detroit to Dakar 2010" project, even as leaders of the powerful G8/G20 nations geared up for their meeting this weekend in Toronto, Canada next door.

Potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei led thousands of people on Friday in an anti-torture protest that analysts said was significant for joining disparate groups in a common cause. Around 4,000 people, representing varied political views, and many ordinary citizens greeted ElBaradei, 68, the former nuclear inspector, as he visited the port city of Alexandria to offer condolences to the family of Khaled Mohammed Said, an Egyptian who rights groups say was beaten to death by police.

The first study to quantify the effects of human migration on malaria incidence on a global scale has been published — and could lead to more effective strategies for eliminating the disease, say scientists. Prompted by evidence that eliminating malaria in a single country is not possible if there is a steady influx of infected people from neighbouring countries, researchers mapped rates of migration and malaria transmission within and between global regions.

The world's largest antiretroviral (ARV) programme may be operating in the dark most of the time, according to a long-awaited review of the HIV/AIDS national strategic plan (NSP) released by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). Some of the news is good. SANAC's preliminary draft shows that since the NSP's inception in 2007, reported condom use has almost doubled, treatment coverage among adults living with HIV has almost tripled, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services among HIV-positive pregnant women has reached 76 percent.

As South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup what does the competition, football and sport in general have to contribute to development? As the spotlight shines on South Africa there is intense media scrutiny - and more than a little hype. At the same time development organisations globally are using the competition as an opportunity to promote their programmes and campaigns.

With the theme “Maternal infant and child health and the development of Africa” the forth coming 15th Afican Union (AU) summit scheduled for 25th to 27th July in Kampala Uganda is meant to find solutions to reduce on the high maternal deaths in Africa. Uganda has been chosen as the host for the 15th African Union summit because of her effort and contribution towards the fight for peace and stability on the continent. Uganda sent troops to Somalia to contribute to the peace in that region and she a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Sahrawi refugee Fetim Salam Hamdi has been portrayed as a slave in a poorly translated documentary film. But Ms Hamdi insists she is a free woman and now goes to court to stop the film's screening. The Australian documentary film "Stolen", shot in the Algeria-based refugee camps housing over 100,000 Sahrawi refugees last year, portrays the Ms Hamdi as a slave.

At least 85 journalists fled their homes in the past year because of attacks, threats and possible imprisonment, with especially high exile rates in Iran, Somalia and Ethiopia, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its annual survey, released on 20 June to mark World Refugee Day. Since 2001, more than 500 journalists have fled their homes, and 454 remain in exile today. But life in exile is precarious and only the beginning of a new set of struggles.

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Executive Secretary Tomáz Salomão on Thursday criticised the European Union (EU) for trying to “impose” a preferential free-trade agreement on countries in the region. Last year, the EU signed an interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland to facilitate the free movement of goods between the two regions.

The ritual is familiar, as leaders of the G8 countries gather for their annual meeting, this year in Canada, and followed immediately by the parallel meeting of the expanded G20 countries. Although they take backseat to major power debate on their own responses to global economic crisis, previous commitments to the development of Africa are to be reviewed and, in part, renewed. But even the upbeat spin from the G8's own evaluation cannot conceal the fact that fulfillment of commitments has at best been "a very mixed picture."

Kenya has announced plans to establish a regional carbon emissions trading scheme to steer Africa's carbon market. This would hopefully position the country as the continent's carbon credit trade hub, finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta said in his budget speech to parliament earlier this month (10 June).

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has escaped drastic cuts despite a tough austerity budget, but in a new report the National Audit Office has told the government it should get better value for aid to overseas primary education, and take "a tougher, clearer stance" on costs and performance. Andrew Mitchell, the new development minister, said there would be a spending review.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Ronnie Shikapwasha has cautioned the Media Liaison Committee (MLC) to exercise sincerity when dealing with media issues. Reacting to comments from the MLC spokesperson Amos Chanda, that government had no role in the facilitation of study tours for the media to learn how media regulation was being implemented in the region, Shikapwasha said that his statement was deliberately misunderstood.

UNHCR and other leading agencies in the protection of internally displaced people (IDP) have launched a new handbook that will help field workers to more effectively protect the rights of IDPs around the world. The ground-breaking "Handbook for the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons" was presented at a ceremony in Geneva organized by the Global Protection Cluster, an inter-agency working group.