The spirit in which Parliamentary Service Commissions in democratic countries exist is that of providing parliamentarians with the requisite support and resources to undertake their duty to citizens. The history of the Parliamentary Service Commission in Kenya is replete with impropriety in resource utilisation, reports Transparency International.

By age 15, Annonciata Nduwimana was an accomplished fighter for Burundi's opposition Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and knew how to kill in battle. "My father was killed, accused of sheltering rebels. We [her mother and two elder brothers] then fled to Bujumbura to seek safe haven," she said.

Rival ethnic communities in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo have clashed many times over the years, but most recently over fish, observers say. More than 200 people have died and another 150,000 have fled to the neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC) since October 2009, when fighting erupted between the Lobala and Boba clans in Dongo, Equateur Province.

The Second Feminist Leadership and Movement Building Institute is a week-long course designed to strengthen feminist leadership, strategies and collective power for social transformation in Africa. The Institute which will take place in Kampala, Uganda from 10 – 15 April 2010, and is the second institute convened by CREA and Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA). The first institute took place in Entebbe, Uganda in 2008.

Interface is a new journal produced twice yearly by activists and academics around the world in response to the development and increased visibility of social movements in the last few years – and the immense amount of knowledge generated in this process.

At the moment Jon Qwelane is in the middle of controversy for being appointed Ambassador to Uganda. Before focusing on the present, let us rewind to the 1980s when Qwelane was a reporter for the Star. At that time a fake priest, Ebenezer Maqina, purporting to represent the Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo), who later disowned him, repeatedly claimed attacks by United Democratic Front (UDF) supporters. He was awarded honours by cities and similar recognition.

The Horn of African region remains the locus of some of the long-running wars and local conflicts which are becoming sources of domestic turmoil and regional instability. Specially, the years 2010-12 will be extremely critical for the sub-region.

Ethiopia’s recent history is punctuated by famine. Severe droughts, on-going conflicts and stagnating agricultural growth have been reproducing widespread food insecurities for decades. Compounded by cereal prices doubling over the last year, many people are struggling to meet even their most basic food needs. Concurrently the World Food Programme has had to reduce emergency food rations due to the high global food prices.

Against the backdrop of continued widespread gender discrimination worldwide, the European Union (EU) has urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to "urgently" speed up the creation of the proposed new U.N. agency for women.

Cancer control programmes - Up to 40 per cent of all cancers could be prevented through changes in lifestyle and improved prevention and screening policies, the WHO Regional Office for Europe said ahead of the World Cancer Day on 4 February.

The African Union has weighed in again on the vexed question of Western targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and other officials of his former Zanu PF administration, Harare sources said.

A ruling by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights condemning the expulsion of the Endorois people from their land in Kenya is a major victory for indigenous peoples across Africa, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, and the Endorois' lawyers have said.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned today the continued harassment and intimidation of the reporters of the Plateau Radio and Television Corporation (PRTVC) by soldiers in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Three reporters of the media house were molested by soldiers in Jos on Thursday, January 21, 2010, while on Sunday, January 24 PRTVC reporters were again repeatedly manhandled by soldiers in the exercise of their duties.

Egyptian border police shot dead two African migrants who tried to escape into Israel through the Sinai border, bringing the number of migrants killed this week to four. Police sources say they refused orders to stop. They were a 26-year-old Eritrean and a 27-year-old migrant of unknown nationality.

One of Nigeria's most politically turbulent states goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new governor in a vote seen as a test of the country's ability to hold credible national elections in 2011. vThe governorship vote in southeastern Anambra state is the first in a cycle of state and federal polls culminating in presidential elections next year.

The peace agreement which ended years of war between north and south Sudan could unravel unless immediate steps are taken to salvage it, two key former diplomats say. "Today, five years after the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between North and South Sudan, there is a real threat of an all-out war returning to Sudan and still no permanent resolution to the Darfur conflict," Lt-Gen Lazarus Sumbeiwyo and John Danforth warned.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) seeks a full-time Program Officer in its New York office to work jointly with the Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) and the Law and Health Initiative (LAHI).

Comparative African Perspectives on China and other emerging powers in Africa is a research project initiated by FAHAMU, the network for social justice issues. China’s deepening engagement with Africa is receiving increased attention from the global media, public- and private sectors as well as academic research. This should however not overshadow the activities of other emerging powers in Africa, including India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. This call therefore seeks to develop an African perspective by strengthening the civil society voice in the discourse surrounding the engagement between Africa and these emerging powers.

The government seeks to create a land bank which businesses and investors can tap into and has sent out a second appeal to Kenyans to offer their property for sale. The move follows investors’ growing appetite for land to build houses, warehouses and put up businesses.

Nigeria's long-drawn political impasse, caused by the failure of President Umaru Yar'Adua to transfer power to his deputy while on a prolonged medical treatment in Saudi Ara bia, may soon be over, if assurances given Thursday by one of his aides are anything to go by.