"Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leaders and other civic society leaders were arrested for protesting on 18 November 2003 and we are therefore calling for a stayaway to be held on Thursday 20 November and Friday 21 November 2003."

This 52 page research report from the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) aims at discovering possible linkages and interfaces between electoral systems, democracy and political stability in the SADC region, with a special focus on Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

The United Nations has protested to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after being prevented from inspecting a plane it suspected of bringing weapons into the volatile east of the country. "MONUC (the UN Mission in the DRC) has protested vigorously to the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of Congo for having prevented its verification assignment in Kamina," it said in a statement.

The United Nation’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland declared that the United Nations, donors and the Ugandan government have “done too little” to address the humanitarian situation in northern Uganda. Following a two day visit to northern Uganda where he visited Kitgum and Gulu districts as well as IDP camps, Egeland told the press that he was “shocked” by what he saw and that he did not know of another “place in the world where such a bad situation has so little international presence and so little international relief.”

The Democratic Alliance has strongly rejected the majority view of Parliament's ethics and members' interests committee "that Deputy President Jacob Zuma be cleared of all charges" regarding his alleged non-declaration of benefits.

You are invited to attend an evening briefing hosted by the Zimbabwe Advocacy Campaign which will be addressed by the regional spokesperson of the 'Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition' with a response from a representative of South African civil society on their position on transition and democracy in Zimbabwe.

The big question facing the G-8/OECD is this: do they share Nepad's value system of a genuine new partnership based on mutual accountability and trust? Is the industrialised north willing to experience structural adjustment in agriculture, textiles, footwear, clothing, coal, steel or whatever, for the sake of Africa's development? There needs to be agreement on criteria against which to evaluate partners' performance. And there needs to be a set of benchmarks to see whether Nepad is making a real difference, says this editorial from South Africa's Business Day newspaper.

The Ethiopian government should engage with civil society and give them a voice in shaping the future direction of the country and begin a nationwide debate on land reform, said Barbara Stocking, Director of Oxfam Great Britain following a seven day tour of the country.

In the 42 years from 1960 to 2001, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa received $445 billion in official development assistance from all sources, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s online database. Can anyone honestly say that the aid-receiving countries of sub-Saharan Africa are a trillion dollars better off than they were in 1960? Most are all but entirely dependent on aid and are hopelessly in debt, though most of the debt was incurred on highly concessional terms. The reasons are endlessly debated, but surely there can be unanimity on one point: there has been a gross, and chronic, misallocation of resources and a gigantic opportunity cost.

The World Bank and IMF's debt relief framework, the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative is increasingly criticised for not providing sufficient debt relief to enable low-income countries to achieve debt sustainability. This paper from Cafod, posted on the web page of the Southern African Regional Poverty Network, argues that the key weaknesses of the HIPC Initiative stem from its use of an inappropriate analytical criterion when making debt sustainability analyses. The paper, therefore, proposes an alternative approach more suited to countries that are highly vulnerable to economic shocks and beset by widespread and deeply entrenched levels of poverty.

Members of the government of national unity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been told to stop all electioneering until officially cleared to go ahead with their campaigns, an official of the High Media Authority told IRIN on Tuesday.

The Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has blamed President Olusegun Obasanjo for the alarming level of corruption in the country. Musa, who spoke with reporters in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, said the president's refusal to listen to advice from party leaders and interest groups was responsible for the increased spate of corruption in the country.

Kenyan cabinet minister Karisa Maitha is at the centre of a fresh storm involving a questionable payment of Ksh117 million to an insurance company by the Nairobi City Council, and a failed attempt to have the financially-strapped civic authority pay another Ksh28 million to a broker.

In one of the most brutal operations in recent days riot police in Harare swooped on the demonstrating ZCTU leaders and activists and arrested 50 people.

"All of a sudden, the men took out grass slashers and knobkerries from their overalls and started to attack me. Three other men appeared from the corner of the security fence where they were probably hiding behind the thick hedge. They were holding what looked like containers. The attack continued and I tried my best to dodge and block. It appeared that the men had not planned well as, everyone was in very close contact and they appeared to be getting in each other's way in their attempts to find a killing blow. At one stage though, a pick handle caught me on my left shoulder and I staggered, landing on the ground with my right hand. As I struggled to get up, a can of petrol was poured over me and it spread all over my whole body. With petrol splashed in my eyes I could hardly see but I heard one of them calling for the matches."

1 loaf bread $2,800
1 dozen eggs $3,500
2kg sugar $2,000
500g powdered milk $18,000
1kg mince $25,000
2kg chicken portions $20,000
750ml cooking oil $7,500
1 packet cerevita cereal $8,000
2 litres mazoe orange $10,000
4 pack toilet rolls $3,500
1 packet of 5 tomatoes $1,000

What we saw today is something very inspiring. We witnessed a new spirit in the workers of Bulawayo; the spirit of defiance and a new readiness to make the ultimate sacrifice. We saw the spirit that breeds martyrs and heroes of the struggle.

Emmanuel Karisa Maitha, the besieged local government minister, leads the pack of at least four cabinet ministers key donors want dismissed before lending to Kenya can resume. The government denies that there are any such conditions from donors, but other sources indicate that Maitha's fate is sealed, and his sacking could come as early as this week - in time for the IMF board meeting scheduled for 22 November.

The threat of a damaging split within the Commonwealth loomed on Monday after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe insisted he was determined to secure an invitation to a Commonwealth summit of leaders next month.

A UN General Assembly committee has adopted a draft resolution to strengthen the UN refugee agency's capacity to carry out its work more effectively by removing the time limit on its mandate and encouraging other UN partners to include refugees in their plans. On Thursday, member States of the UN General Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved and adopted by consensus the draft resolution on the outcome of the "UNHCR 2004" process, an initiative to help the agency better position itself to carry out its commitment to refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other persons of concern.