Opportunities when African writers meet on the same pages at the continental level are few and sometimes, decades apart, especially when this congregation is within Africa itself. For young, un-established writers, this kind of opportunity and the chances that it offers are even rare.

Kwani Trust is pleased to announce such a congress with the launch of this Africa-wide short story competition. The official narrative of ‘inherent’ goodness, indigenous beauty and widespread historicism has now been running on empty for a while. So we seek newer stories that reflect our day to day lives both private and public: the stories and narratives exchanged in schools, colleges, public transport, offices, churches, pubs, streets, suburbs, estates, trading centres, valleys and hills; stories told through song and dance, paint and brush, word and phrase, lens and shutter – stories now being told by a new generation, spurred by new imaginations, revealed by new narratives and expressions.

This call-out is unique for targeting writers under the age of 30, on a continent in which young people virtually have no international airing. It is an important, historical opportunity that opens the way for new directions in African writing to emerge, an exciting vent which is likely to throw up endless surprises.

Published authors will be paid a fee of $100.

Submission guidelines for short stories on new African writing

Deadline: 30 June 2010

A fresh controversy is brewing ahead of a 4 August referendum on a proposed new constitution for Kenya, following the illegal alteration of the draft document to empower the country’s spy agency to curtail person freedoms. Kenya’s Attorney-General Amos Wako has admitted that the country’s spy body, the National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS), had approached his office to insert a new clause, empowering the agency to curtail personal freedoms on national security interests.

Heavy shelling rocked Somalia’s capital today, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, as rebels fired mortars at the country’s lawmakers meeting for the first time this year, medics said amid a chaotic session that saw the Speaker ousted.

Madagascar's leader Andry Rajoelina has said he will not stand in elections to be held later this year, in an attempt to end the country's political crisis. Mr Rajoelina, 35, who seized power in March 2009, has been facing pressure to find a solution to the deadlock.

Niger's military government has started an unprecedented drive to distribute free food to one million of the nearly 10 million of its population facing hunger due to failed rains last year, it has announced. The United Nations said late last month donors had only covered a third of the $190 million aid needed to stave off a possible famine in the West African state, which consistently ranks among the poorest nations in the world.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has accused Ethiopian politicians of resorting to threats and intimidation against many Ethiopian journalists in lead up to forthcoming next general elections envisaged for 23 May 2010. “Election times are always a risky period for journalists in many African countries at a time where media have a crucial role for the consolidation of democracy,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “Ethiopian political leaders must respect media as an independent watchdog of the democratic process with the sole duty to inform the citizens,” he added

The semi-autonomous African archipelago of Zanzibar will hold a July vote on whether to change its constitution to allow rival parties to form coalition governments, after a decade of bitter party politics.

Donorland has been littered with pilot projects over the last ten years that took interesting technology and ideas and sought to make them work in the unforgiving African context. All too often they had little idea of what potential users actually wanted and once the funding ended, the water closed over them and that was that. There is now a second generation of ICT4D projects that seem to have learnt the lessons of these early failures.

Governors of Central Banks in the East African Community (EAC) have commended the growth rate of regional economies, saying this has played a major role in keeping the countries stable despite the global financial crisis. The Governors from all five EAC partner states were speaking on Monday during the 13th meeting of the Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC), held in Arusha, Tanzania.

Survival has urged the World Travel and Tourism Council to withdraw Wilderness Safaris from the list of nominees for its annual awards. Wilderness Safaris has been nominated for the Council’s annual Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, to be announced on the 26th May, in the ‘Global Tourism Business’ category which recognizes ‘best practices in sustainable tourism’.

Amid growing concerns over the impact of the economic downturn, the International Labour Office (ILO) warned in a new study that efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour are slowing down and called for a “re-energized” global campaign to end the practice.

Ethiopia’s prominent newspaper, Addis Neger, whose editors fled to Europe months back, citing government harassment, will soon be back in circulation following the launch of the paper’s online edition in Europe. The Ethiopian publication said it would begin news coverage of Ethiopia, focusing on religious and political affairs for its Ethiopian readers.

Sudanese security agents detained opposition party leader Hassan al-Turabi and seized a print-run of the movement’s newspaper, supporters and family members said. Turabi, who was close to Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al- Bashir before a bitter power struggle and split in 1999-2000, was arrested in his house late Saturday, a month after his Popular Congress Party (PCP) contested national elections

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said his case against perpetrators of Kenya's post-election violence is "unstoppable". Luis Moreno Ocampo said his investigation would last about six months and he intended to prosecute up to six suspects in two separate trials.

As the World Bank reviews its energy strategy and the deadlines for its clean energy targets approach, this paper questions what the World Bank counts as clean energy and whether it reports on its energy lending in an accountable way. The concerns set out below demonstrate the need for a far more rigorous and transparent approach, subject to independent monitoring.

The date for Kenya's referendum on whether to adopt the proposed constitution is set for August 4th. Interim Independent Electoral commission Chairman (IIEC), Ahmed Issack, announced the date during a breakfast meeting organized by UNDP on Friday.

Almost half a million (419 144) children in South Africa are growing up without both parents, a Human Science Research Council study has revealed. This is one of the findings from a study, “The Health of our Children in South Africa: Results from a national HIV prevalence population survey”, released in Cape Town on 13 May.

A group of Ugandan human rights organizations called on the Ugandan authorities to commit to improvements to protect human rights as part of their campaign for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. In a letter sent to the Ugandan government yesterday, the organizations, as part of a wider international coalition working around the Council elections, called for national legislation to comply with core human rights treaties.

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index provides a tool that will measure and detect changing trends in relation to stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV. In the initiative, the process is just as important as the product. It aims to address stigma relating to HIV while also advocating on the key barriers and issues perpetuating stigma - a key obstacle to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support.

Human rights groups are expressing outrage over a decision to proceed with the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, named after and funded by the controversial president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Obiang first suggested the award to the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation's executive board in a speech in 2007, promising three million dollars to UNESCO over the next five years, which would come from the Obiang Nguema Foundation for the Preservation of Life. It was approved by UNESCO's executive board in 2008.