Representatives of several humanitarian NGOs have called on the international community to raise FCFA 160 billion (US$ 368 million) in a bid to help impoverished people in the 15 ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) member countries and Mauritania.

Guinea’s capital is on edge following a botched assassination attempt on the head of the ruling junta, with residents bracing for further violence between out-of-control army factions. Pickup trucks carrying heavily armed soldiers moved through the quiet streets of the normally bustling city searching for suspects in the attack, with shops open only part-time and most residents staying indoors.

Uganda's government should reform the country's election laws to improve accountability for election-related crimes and reduce the risk of violence in the upcoming 2011 elections, Human Rights Watch has said in a report.

The discovery of oil in Chad was supposed to allieviate poverty and human suffering, but it's only enriched Western Oil companies and the local dictators.

Three Rwandan peacekeepers from the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were killed and others wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen while collecting water in the north of the strife-torn Sudanese region.

Twelve students from Fort Hare University in South Africa have expressed fears about returning home to Zimbabwe, saying they will be sent to prison for supporting the MDC.

The growth of cellphone use, particularly in the developing world, is providing health experts with a new channel of communication to provide family planning information.

Twenty-two developing countries have agreed to cut tariffs on manufactured goods in a bid to boost South-South trade in the absence of progress in the Doha Round.

The first round of the Ivorian presidential election will take place between the end of February and the beginning of March 2010, the Permanent Consultation Framework (CPC) on the Ivorian crisis announced here Thursday evening.

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has been re-elected for a second term after winning 76.4% of the vote in last week's poll, official results show. Mr Pohamba's governing Swapo party got 74% of the parliamentary vote, maintaining its two-thirds majority.

Guinea's military government should immediately release or bring specific charges against the human rights defender Mouctar Diallo, Human Rights Watch has said.

The major IFIs have appealed to the governments meeting at Copenhagen to come to a comprehensive agreement on climate change mitigation, pledging to use their own resources to contribute. Some are critical, however, of how ready these institutions are to tackle the issues involved.

Although tobacco use is not as prevalent in Africa as it is in other regions, that will change unless immediate action is taken, the United Nations health agency has warned as it announced a new tobacco control effort for the continent.

South Africa’s top scientists and researchers have come out in support of health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi after the furore over Home Affairs supplied AIDS death statistics he quoted recently - which may have been incorrect.

A generation of children free from AIDS is possible, according to the Children and AIDS, Fourth Stocktaking Report released by UNICEF in partnership with the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA). However, the authors note the world is not yet on track to meet targets for prevention, treatment, care and support.

Mauritian experts are helping set up cogeneration systems to feed the hunger for electricity in Tanzania, Zambia and elsewhere. An example of how appropriate technology can be applied to problems common to countries in the global South.

People in the West throw away millions of old computers every year. Hundreds of thousands of them end up in Africa, where children try to eke out a living by selling the scrap. But the toxic elements in the waste are slowly poisoning them.

The Ethiopian government has re-opened the trial of four major newspaper publishers in connection with the 2005 post-election violence in the East African nation. The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) has successfully lodged an appeal against the Ethiopian Supreme Court's decision to pardon the four publishers, Siday, Zekarias, Fasil and Serkalem, in connection with the 2005 elections.

A group of Nigerian farmers is suing Royal Dutch Shell, claiming that the oil firm polluted their land in the Niger Delta region. The four farmers allege that oil spilt from the supply lines of a subsidiary of Shell contaminated fish ponds and farms, ruining villagers' livelihoods.

HIV/AIDS is an major issue in our times that is having diverse effects on the lives of women the world over and most especially in Africa. In 2007, an estimated 3.3 million people were living with HIV, 2.7 million people infected with the virus, and AIDS deaths also estimated at 2.3 million (UNAIDS, July 2008).