Brazil's former president Lula Da Silva's acquittal has been described as a game changer that could reshape Brazil's political future. Last week, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge quashed all corruption convictions against Lula da Silva, restoring his political rights and opening the door to a possible 2022 presidential run. 75 year old leftist leader from the Workers' Party, has not yet confirmed whether he intends to run next year, but he and his defence team view the judge's ruling as a testament to his innocence. The acquittal comes as current president Jair Bolsonaro is facing heavy criticism for his handling of the corona virus pandemic and the struggling economy. According to Susana Caputi, Senior Associate at the South Africa based Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean Studies, da Silva's acquittal did not come as a surprise...

Today marks the 18th anniversary of the African Peer review Mechanism-APRM, which is Africa's most innovative and ambitious initiative on governance, launched by Member States of the African Union who accede voluntarily, for self- and peer-assessment of national governance policies and practices. To mark this important milestone, virtual events will be held today and tomorrow, to raise public awareness around APRM, as the premier African instrument for the promotion of good governance and highlight the involvement of Youth in Governance. For more on this Channel Africa’ Samora Mangesi spoke to Dr. McBride Nkhalamba, Head of Research, Methodology & Development division at APRM.

Schools in Senegal have been shut down, after days of violent protests that paralysed parts of the capital Dakar and are expected to continue this week. At least five people have died in demonstrations sparked by the arrest of Ousmane Sonko, Senegal's most prominent opposition leader. It has been described as the worst political unrest in years in a country widely seen as one of West Africa's most stable. Sonko, who enjoys strong support among young people, was arrested after an employee of a beauty salon accused him of raping her.Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Adolphus Mawolo, Journalist based in Senegal about what to expect this week..

Opposition leader in Niger and former prime minister Hama Amadou has been jailed after being held for questioning for three days over his alleged role in post-election violence. Amadou faces many charges including complicity in demonstrations and property damage, after widespread protests over the results of a presidential election that handed victory to ruling-party candidate Mohamed Bazoum over the opposition's Mahamane Ousmane. Amadou, who finished runner-up in the 2016 election, was barred from contesting the election this time because of a criminal conviction.

Morocco and Namibia have been removed from the controversial European Union's list of tax havens after implementing reforms to bring their tax systems up to the EU's required standards. The EU however says the island nation of Seychelles and Botswana are still on the list. The bloc says countries on the revised list have refused to engage in dialogue with the EU or to address the shortcomings in good tax governance. Since its establishment 2017, the EU tax haven blacklist has drawn criticism from politicians, academics and civil society organizations for being overly political and failing to serve its purpose. For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Chiara Putaturo, EU Policy Advisor on Tax and Inequalities at anti- poverty Organisation -OXFAM.

The threat of a full-blown civil war in South Sudan remains unless the country's leaders can broaden power sharing. This is according to a new report by the International Crisis Group -ICG- released almost a year since the country's formation of a government of national unity. The report titled "Toward a Viable Future for South Sudan" urges South Sudanese elite, religious leaders and civil society to rethink the country's system of governance and create a political system that will work for all ethnic groups.ICG's Senior researcher for South Sudan Alan Boswell has more on the report.

South Africa's 16 Year- Old scientist Talhah Pateliah says he is filled with joy after his multi-purpose motorised robot won him a gold medal at the recent Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair. The robot can be used in a wide variety of fields including search and rescue, agriculture, as well as cave exploration. The 2020 Eskom Event which was held virtually due to Covid-19, is South Africa's most prestigious science fair for learners and it also reaches many parts of Africa and beyond.Talhah -who is a Grade 11 learner, says although his project won him a gold medal, there were many challenges that he faced whilst putting it all together.

The Cyril Ramaphosa foundation has been supporting communities across South Africa by supporting education and small business. Over 1 million people have benefitted from their efforts. CEO of the Foudation, Mmabatho Maboya spoke to Zikhona Miso about how they've been helping their beneficiaries......That was Mmabatho Maboya, CEO of the Cyril Ramaphosa Foudation speaking to Zikhona Miso.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded with rich countries to release their hoards of covid -19 vaccine so that other countries can also benefit. Ramaphosa who is also the chairperson of the African Union, made the plea while delivering an address at the World Economic Forum digital summit on tuesday. Discussing the impact of Covid- 19 on the continent ,Ramaphosa said through its participation in global initiatives, South Africa continues to promote the need for universal, fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. To find out more about vaccine nationalism and its impact on the poor countries, Channel Africa spoke to Candice Sehoma, Access Campaign Advocacy Officer at humanitarian Organization- Doctors Without Borders.

The European Union has agreed to partner with Mozambique in curbing a surge in armed violence attributed to extremist Islamic groups in Cabo Delgado province. The partnership is seen as a key element in bolstering security levels in the country's coastal province. Last year the jihadist group known locally as Al-Shabaab -- which has sworn allegiance to Islamic State but has no known links to the group of the same name operating in Somalia -- attacked four towns including the port of Mocimboa da Praia, which has been occupied since August.For more on the partnership Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Antonio sánchez-benedito Gaspar, The European Union Ambassador in Mozambique.

Africa's Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative has received at least $10-billion in new funding. The funding is set to be used to fast-track efforts to restore degrading land, save biological diversity and create green jobs and build the resilience of the Sahelian people. French President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement at the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity co-organised by France, the United Nations and World Bank .For more on the new funding and its significance, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Chris Magero, Programme Officer at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Former President of The Kingdom of eSwatini's People's United Democratic Movement -pudemo, Mario Masuku, has been described as a pillar in the struggle for democracy, as tributes continue to pour in following his passing. Masuku passed away on Monday due to what was reported as Covid -19 complications. Before retiring from active politics in 2017 he spent several stints in jail as he challenged King Mswati's government. To get a sense of what kind of legacy he has left behind, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Mlungisi Makhanya, Pudemo’s President.

More than 500 South Africa's finest young scientists were honoured at a virtual awards ceremony following successful participation in the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists 2020 online assessments. The assessments allowed participation from South African learners and 80 international learners from countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya. For more on this Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso spoke to Parthy Chetty, Eskom Expo Executive Director.

The first edition of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, has been launched. The award aims to support young entrepreneurs with their pioneering solutions that equip, and protect healthcare workers. Three award winners will receive funding of up to $40,000 to bring their healthcare innovation to life, and benefit from a business mentorship programme. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, and the public health Organisation -'Speak Up Africa, ' jointly launched the award at the just concluded Galien Prix-Forum- Africa session which focused on Youth Leadership.

Ethiopia and the United Nations have reached an agreement to allow aid into government-controlled areas of the Tigray region,where a month of fighting between federal government troops and local forces is believed to have displaced thousands of civilians. For weeks, the UN and other aid Organisations have pleaded for aid access amid reports of food, medicines and other supplies running out. For more on the significance of the agreement, Channel Africa spoke to Saviano Abreu, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs- in East Africa.

Almost 10 percent of African youth have been approached by recruiters of various militia groups as terrorism emerges as one of the biggest concerns for the youth on the continent.This is according to The African Youth Survey 2020, released by the South African-based Ichikowitz Family Foundation. The survey has found that nearly 30 percent of young people identified fighting terrorism and achieving peace and stability as the most important issues that require urgent action for the African continent to progress and move forward.According to Ivor Ichikowitz, Founder Executive Chairman of the Ichikowitz Foundation, action must be taken urgently to avoid the spread of terrorism and its evolution into a much bigger problem.

Funding shortfalls and disruptions to treatment in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic risk tens of thousands more lives being lost to malaria. This is according to the World Health Organization's annual report on the mosquito-borne disease. The UN's health agency says it is concerned that even moderate disruptions in access to treatment could lead to a considerable loss of life. In 2000, African leaders signed the landmark Abuja Declaration pledging to reduce malaria deaths on the continent by 50 percent over a 10-year period. For more on the report, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Melanie Renshaw, Chief Programme Officer at the 'Roll back Malaria Partnership- the world's largest coordinated platform against malaria elimination.

Zimbabwe has seen a surge of attacks by gangs associated with the burgeoning artisanal mining sector, taking hundreds of miners' lives and the police operation to counter this violence led to the arrest of thousands, including perpetrators of violence, but also many who were simply mining without a licence. This is according to a new report by the Conflict research Organisation-International Crisis Group. The report says the violence and turmoil associated with the burgeoning artisanal mining sector in Zimbabwe are disrupting the sector and the government's centralised selling system is leading to lost tax revenue. For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to the Crisis Group's Senior Consultant for Southern Africa Piers Pigou.

Sierra Leone's anti-corruption commission says it is considering issuing a warrant of the arrest for former President Ernest Bai- Koroma after he failed to comply with a summons for questioning. Koroma failed to appear before the country's anti-graft agency at its headquarters in the capital Freetown on Thursday because of what his lawyers said are concerns over his safety. The summons is the latest move in a campaign by Koroma's successor, President Julius Maada Bio, to investigate the previous administration which is alleged to have taken the country to the brink of economic collapse. Koroma denies any wrongdoing and has said the corruption allegations are part of a long-running smear campaign.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Elias Bangura, Journalist in Sierra Leone.

US President Trump is expected to order the U.S.troops to withdraw thousands of troops from Somalia by the time he leaves office in January, using the end of his time in power to significantly pull back American forces from conflicts around the world. The plan is however said to not apply to U.S. forces stationed in nearby Kenya and Djibouti, where American drones that carry out airstrikes in Somalia are based. Somalia has been riven by civil war since 1991, but over the past decade the African Union-backed peacekeeping force has clawed back control of the capital and large swathes of the country from al Shabaab militants.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Hassan Khannenje, Director of the the Kenya based Horn International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Only home-grown solutions can bring about lasting peace in South Sudan. This is according to the delegates who participated in South Sudan's national dialogue which brought together more than 500 delegates from all over the country to collectively analyse the root causes of the problems plaguing the country. Supported by The United Nations Development Programme-UNDP, the conference was the first nationally-owned and countrywide opportunity for citizens' voice and it worked on wide-reaching resolutions designed to strengthen unity in the country.For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Kamil Kamaluddeen, representative of the United Nations Development Programme in South Sudan.

The new report by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation on African governance shows a decline in overall progress for the first time in a decade and this has been driven by a decline in security and the rule of law in some countries. The 2020 edition of the Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance in Africa published this week indicates that for the tenth consecutive year, Mauritius maintains its top position while Somalia remains bottom because of security challenges in parts of the country posed by al-Shabaab militants.For more on the report Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Jay Naidoo, Board member at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

The leader of the Western Sahara's independence movement has vowed to end a 29-year-old ceasefire with Morocco, citing recent Moroccan border operations as a provocation. Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, announced the group will no longer abide by the commitment of the decades-long truce in the area. Morocco, which says it continues to support the ceasefire, announced last week that it would resume military operations in the El Guergarat crossing, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the state of Morocco and the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. For more on this Channel Africa spoke to Dr Mohamed Chtatou, an expert on North African Politics.

South Africa's public health response has been hailed as one of the best in the world. Delegates at this year's BRICS business forum also commended the cooperation between South African government and the private sector which led to the establishment of solidarity fund aimed at pooling financial resources to fight Covid-19 . The forum which was held online focused on business-to-business partnerships in the interests of creating tangible trade and investment opportunities within BRICS countries-which are -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.For more on the key outcomes of the forum, particularly looking at how BRICS countries intend to tackle global health challenges, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Stavros Nicolaou - a council member of the BRICS Business Council, South Africa chapter.

BRICS countries need to increase the level of trade and investment among themselves in order for their economies to recover from the Covid -19 downturn. This is according to the deputy director-general of the South African Department of trade and industry Lerato Mataboge. Mataboge is part of South Africa's delegation participating in this year's BRICS business forum. The Forum is working towards improving relations between businesses in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Hosted by the Russian Chapter, under the theme BRICS business partnership: Common vision for sustainable inclusive development, this year the forum is taking place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Mataboge says the forum is focusing on business-to-business partnerships in the interests of creating tangible trade and investment opportunities.

In an effort to aid parents in checking their children's growth, the global healthcare company Novo Nordisk recently launched an app for growth monitoring called the Growth Journey App. The innovation comes as organizations around the world recently united in the commemoration of the International Children's Growth Awareness Day, to inform parents about the importance of annual and regular growth checks for their children. To discuss this further, Samora Mangesi spoke to Prof Kebashni Thandrayen, a Paediatric Endocrinologist at the Department of Paediatrics at South Africa's Chris Hani Baragwanath Acadaemic Hospital..

The 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health opened virtually *yesterday to provide an opportunity to advance efforts to prevent TB and COVID-19. The five-day conference is reportedly the world's largest gathering of clinicians and public health workers, health programme managers, policymakers, researchers and advocates working to end the suffering caused by lung disease. To discuss this further, Samora Mangesi spoke to Dr Grania Brigden, Director of the TB Department at the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease..

Is Zambia's democracy growing, or merely just political parties increasing ahead of an election? That is one question Zambians are asking themselves and (PACKAGE BY Arthur Sikopo)

As Tanzania gears up for elections later this month, opposition parties are hopeful that they will cause an upset and secure a shock victory in the polls that many observers believe will be closely contested. The East African country goes to the polls on 28 October to elect a president, members of parliament and councillors. (Bubelwa Kaiza, Tanzanian Political Commentator talking to Khumbelo Munzhelele)

South Africa's Transport minister Fikile Mbalula says the March by Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association in Gauteng, is retaliation for his actions in cleaning the rot at the Passenger Rail Aagency of South Africa. In a statement, Mbalula said this was with particular reference to the termination of security contracts that have achieved the opposite of what they were meant to deliver.

The United States has imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda over her investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC's Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division, has also been blacklisted under sanctions authorized by President Donald Trump in June that allow for asset freezes and travel bans. Meanwhile The Court has dismissed the measures as another attempt to interfere with its judicial and prosecutorial independence. For more on the sanctions and what they mean for International Justice Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Ottilia Maunganidze, International Criminal law expert at The Institute for Security Studies. .

Police have been deployed in parts of Ivory Coast to prevent protests against the candidacy of Alassane Ouattara for a third term in the upcoming presidential election of October 31. This comes after Outtara announced he would run for a third term in the upcoming election, a decision which has triggered outrage among the opposition and civil society groups, who have labelled it a "coup" that risked tipping the country into chaos. The opposition claims Ouattara is not eligible to contest the polls because the constitution limits presidential terms to two. For more on Ouattara's candidacy , Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Coulibaly Namago, The ruling-RHDP- party Representative in South Africa .

International leaders have met to discuss aid for Lebanon at a donor conference organised by French President Emmanuel Macron and indicated that aid given to the country should come with reforms. The conference sought to support the Middle Eastern country following an explosion in the capital city, Beirut, that killed more than 200 people. Violent protests broke out following the explosion that many Lebanese people blame on government negligence.For the latest on the humanitarian situation, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Rona Halabi, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon.

Somalia's parliament has removed Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire from his post in a vote of no confidence for failing to pave the way towards fully democratic elections. A whopping 170 of parliament's 178 MPs backed the no-confidence motion, and the ouster was immediately endorsed by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, who appointed Khaire as prime minister in February 2017. Kwezi Mngqibisa, an expert on Somalia, says the ouster of the Prime Minister did come as a surprise..

Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh has stepped down, plunging the North African country into a political crisis as it tries to weather the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. President Kais Saied had asked Fakhfakh to resign as momentum grew in parliament to oust him over an alleged conflict of interest. The country has been hailed for its comparatively successful transition to democracy since the 2011 revolution that ended decades of autocratic rule, despite periodic crises. But many Tunisians are deeply frustrated with the slow pace of reforms. For more on this Channel Africa’s Lulu Gabo spoke to Noufal Abboud, Executive Director of the Nordic Center for Conflict transformation.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, says it deeply regrets the decision made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to sign a decree converting the ancient Hagia Sophia building in Istanbul into a mosque. The agency says the decision was taken without prior consultations. Since a cabinet decree in 1934, the iconic building has served as a museum, but last week Erdogan issued a presidential decree to transfer the management of the building from the Ministry of Culture, to the Presidency of Religious Affairs. The order follows a previous ruling by a Turkish court that annulled the decades-old cabinet decree. For more on this Channel Africa’s Lulu Gaboo spoke to Turkmen Terzi, a Turkish journalist based in South Africa..

Botswana has announced it will begin rationing fuel in a bid to ease a crippling shortage that has seen some consumers rush to stock up. This comes after long queues formed in recent weeks at fuel stations in Botswana's capital, Gaborone, as some ran dry. The shortages have disrupted businesses and threaten to exacerbate the woes of an economy already expected to shrink 13% this year. The southern African country, which consumes about 3.3 million litres a day, normally keeps reserves at 12 days' supply.For more on this Channel Africa's Zikhona Miso spoke to Spencer Mogapi, Deputy Editor of Botswana's Sunday Standard Newspaper.

Malawi's newly elected president Lazarus Chakwera has taken the oath of office, promising a new dawn to all Malawians and telling an ecstatic sea of flag-waving supporters that taking the highest office was an honour. Chakwera , head of the Malawi Congress Party -MCP, and a coalition of political parties united under the Tonse Alliance, has vowed to be president for all Malawians, including those who did not vote for him. 65 year -old Chakwera won the election with 58% of the vote against Peter Mutharika's 38%. For more on Chakwera's presidency and what it means for Malawi, Channel Africa spoke to Professor Ernest Thindwa, Malawian Political Analyst

Sudan's public support for transitional government's reform agenda could collapse if there is no donor assistance to provide economic relief to a suffering population. This is according to the International crisis group think-tank. The groups says if popular frustrations at living conditions grow, the ensuing protests could destabilise a civilian-military government that barely hangs together, with possibly disastrous consequences for Sudan and the region. The report comes after the Sudanese anti-corruption committee said it had confiscated a bank account belonging to ousted President Omar al-Bashir and closed five foreign exchange bureaus used to fund his regime.For more on this Channel Africa spoke to Jonas Horner, Crisis Group's Horn of Africa Project Deputy Director. He says International donors should not abandon Sudan at this critical time.

Libya's High Council of State has warned the Egyptian army against a high-stakes military gamble in the conflict-ridden country. This comes after Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi warned that his country could intervene in Libya if regional rival Turkey and its allied forces followed through on threats to forcibly seize the strategic city of Sirte. The UN recognizes the Government of National Accord -GNA- headed by Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority as Tripoli battles the militias of eastern based commander Khalifa Haftar. Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 when a Western-backed civil war toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed. For more on the latest developments Channel Africa spoke to Dr Mohamed Chtatou, an expert on North African Politics, based in Rabat in Morocco.

While statues of slave traders imperialists and United States Confederate leaders are being torn down, removed or protested against in the English-speaking world, In Belgium demonstrators are demanding the removal of statues of King Leopold 11, from public view . One of the most brutal of the 19th century European exploiters of Africa, Leopold was king of Belgium for more than 40 years, and he is believed to have been reponsible for the deaths of millions of Congolese more than a century ago. Protesters say Leopold has come to symbolize the racism and inequality citizens of Congolese descent have had to endure. For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Professor Idesbald Goddeeris, Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History at KU Leuven research University in Belgium. He says while the campaign to remove Leopold'statues is not new, this time Belgian authorities have no choice but to address the matter with vigour.

As Burundi begins official mourning period for President Pierre Nkurunziza, his mixed legacy has divided the country with some Burundians saying he was a key figure of patriotism who loved the people, while others say he pushed Burundi to the brink of ethnic unrest with his autocratic style of leadership. Nkurunziza died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 55. In 2015, the announcement that he would run for a third term plunged the Central African country into chaos sparking anger as some questioned the legality of a third-term bid.For more on what Nkurunziza's death means for Burundi, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Emery Igiraneza, Burundian Political analyst, and President of Burundi's Patriotic Action Movement.

Ghana's Inter-Party Resistance group against the new voter register says it will disrupt the mass registration exercise should the Electoral Commission proceed with its plan to compile a new voters' register. The group says the election management body is employing crude machiavellian tactics with its plans ahead of this year's general elections. The threats to disrupt the registration process come after the Electoral Commission announced plans to compile a new voters roll, a process that is set to begin in the last week of June and end in the last week of July. The registration of voters was initially scheduled for April but was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Gildfred Asiamah , Research analyst at The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development. He says voter registration has always been a contentious issue in Ghana.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten health and food systems in Africa and around the world, the 2020 Global Nutrition Report has called on governments, businesses and civil society to step up efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms. The report, which is released annually, provides updated data and analysis on the state of malnutrition globally, including Africa, and highlights significant challenges faced by countries in the region, as well as progress made towards tackling them.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Professor Jane Battersby-Lennard, one of the contributors to 2020 Global Nutrition report

Libya's Government of National Accord says at least six civilians were killed and a dozen others wounded in recent attacks which included as many as 80 rocket strikes. The United Nations-recognised government blamed the attacks on eastern based military commander Khalifa Haftar, who has been waging a campaign to take control of the capital since April last year. The attacks came after the UN Support Mission in Libya warned that Haftar's forces may have committed war crimes. For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Hassan Khannenje, Director of the Horn International Institute of Strategic Studies in Nairobi-Kenya.

Congolese citizens and international campaign groups have filed a civil action in Belgium against passport manufacturer Semlex, which is being investigated by prosecutors for possible money laundering and corruption. This comes after the 2017 Reuters report which detailed how the company, which supplies passports to various African countries, won a contract to produce biometric passports in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal between the company and the DRC government is alleged to have greatly increased the price citizens have to pay for passports. Semlex, whose headquarters are in Belgium, however denies the allegations calling them part of a defamatory smear campaign.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Jean-Jacques Lumumba, a whistle-blower in the scandal and co-founder of UNIS, a Pan-African Anti-Corruption Network Organisation.

Israel 's supreme court has ruled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's indictment on corruption charges does not disqualify him from forming a government, paving the way for the veteran leader to remain in power. In its ruling against the opposition the Supreme Court also found that Netanyahu's unity government deal with his election rival Benny Gantz does not violate the law, dismissing arguments that it unlawfully shields him in a corruption trial. For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Professor Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Martin Bwalya speaks on the benefits of the coalition- WEF IFAD AUDA-NEPAD

Martin Bwalya on the need for a 'new normal' on food systems in Africa

The Governing party in Ethiopia's Tigray region-The Tigray People's Liberation Front- or TPLF, has announced it will proceed with elections in the region despite the nationwide postponement of voting. The Horn of Africa country postponed parliamentary and regional elections scheduled for August due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. In a statement it issued this week the party which split acrimoniously from the national Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition last year says the federal government is using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to establish a one man dictatorship".For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to William Davison, Senior researcher on Ethiopia with the International Crisis Group.

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland says the world should not go back to business as usual after the coronavirus. The Commonwealth is assisting its member countries to cope with the pandemic, which includes helping them with vital aspects of debt management, as budgets are revised to cope with huge unforeseen demands. The global body, which is made up mainly of former British colonies comprising 54 countries and 2.4 billion people, says it is keeping the situation under review as the Covid-19 outbreak continues to ravage the world. Baroness Scotland spoke to Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso.

As Italy has seen a slowdown in both new confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths, Italian officials are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the outbreak may be coming to an end. The country has reported more than 600 deaths from coronavirus yesterday, a high figure that is nonetheless lower than the record death toll registered a few days earlier. The country now has the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world.For more on this Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso spoke to Paolo Pezzati, Oxfam Italia policy advisor for humanitarian emergencies.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on the African continent to avoid complacency and secure additional resources to defeat malaria. He made the call after being appointed Chair of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance. Kenyatta says there is a need to establish at least 15 new -End Malaria Councils, and funds which will boost high level, multi sectoral engagement and advocacy at country level while increasing domestic resource mobilization. He takes over the leadership of the continental Malaria association from King Mswati of Swaziland.For more on what to expect from Kenyatta's Leadership, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Joy Phumaphi, Execiutive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance.

Senior judges at the international criminal court-ICC, have authorised an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, overturning an earlier rejection of the inquiry. The probe will be led by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and will look at actions by United States, Afghan and Taliban troops. Bensouda made the request for a probe to the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber in 2017. At the time, her Office cited grave crimes and the absence of relevant national proceedings against those who appear to be most responsible for the most serious crimes.For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Clemence Bectarte, Litigation Coordinator for the International Federation for Human Rights- FIDH.

The International Monetary Fund -IMF, says Zimbabwe may plunge into a humanitarian crisis due to missed economic targets and this can only be averted if the international community provides the much-needed donor support. In a statement following the conclusion of its latest consultation with the Southern African country, the IMF said the macroeconomic stability remains a big challenge. The country re-introduced the Zimbabwe dollar in June last year after abandoning the multiple currency regime that had been in place since 2009. However, since then, the Zimbabwe dollar has considerably lost value. For more on this Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Michelina Chindiya, Zimbabwean Economist. She says it is crucial that Zimbabwe re-engages with the international community in efforts to get out of the current crisis.

Malawi's ruling Democratic Progressive Party -DPP, and the opposition United Democratic Front -UDF, have formed an alliance ahead of elections in May, which the winner is set to achieve a threshold of 50-plus-one majority of votes. This comes after the Southern African country's parliament set May 19 as the date for fresh presidential elections, and after a constitutional court nullified last May's ballot results, which incumbent President Peter Mutharika narrowly won. The leaders of the two parties-DPP's Peter Mutharika and UDF's Atupele Muluzi, say they are driven by common values to improve the quality of lives of Malawians.For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Jimmy Kainja, Malawian Political Commentator and Human rights activist.

Mauritania will take over the rotating presidency of the G5 Sahel, which coordinates the anti-jihadism fight of five countries in the West African region. The handover will happen at the 6th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State of the G5 Sahel, taking place this week in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. The G5 Sahel countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - face a number of challenges, including the growing threat of terrorism and organized crime, as well as climate change. A lot is expected from Mauritania's presidency, as it is the country that has been able to protect itself from terrorist attacks for the past eleven years.For more on this, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Akinola Olojo, senior researcher of Transnational threats and International Crime at the Institute for Security Studies, ISS.

The Ethiopian government needs to strike a balance between the need for stability, a sustainable economic growth model suited to the country's development goals, and the demand for political reform, -in order for the country to realize its full potential. These are some of the recommendations contained in a new report by the Institute for Security studies-ISS. The report explores the potential long-term impact of the reforms that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has introduced, on the future of the country, and presents the country's likely growth trajectory. For more on this, Channel Africa ‘s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Stellah Kwasi, researcher at The ISS and co-author of the report.

Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, who was expected to be charged with the murder of his former wife Lipolelo Thabane, has reportedly skipped the country. The news came as he announced he would step down on July 31 following pressure from his party to quit over the scandal. Lipolelo was shot dead in June 2017 near her home in the capital, Maseru, two days before Tom Thabane took office.For more on this , Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso spoke to Shackman Mugari, Editor of the Lesotho newspaper -The Post.

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says President Donald Trump's administration is working to determine what level of American military forces is needed in West Africa to counter the rise of extremist violence in the region. He was speaking at the end of his visit to Senegal where he kicked off his three nation tour of Africa. Pompeo's trip marks the first by a Trump cabinet official after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Ghana in July 2018. Pompeo’s tour will also take him to Angola and Ethiopia. For more on the visit and its significance , Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Ahmadou Aly Mbaye, economics professor at the Cheikh Anta Diop university in Senegal.

The United States military has switched from trying to degrade Islamic extremist groups in West Africa Sahel region to merely trying to contain them as their deadly threat increases. This is according to a new report by the US government. The quarterly report by the inspectors general for the Pentagon, is the first to be unclassified as the interest in the U.S. military activities in Africa surges. The report comes as security allies in West African region are worried as the U.S. considers cutting troops on the continent to counter China and Russia elsewhere in the world.For more on this, Channel Africa’s Samora Mangesi spoke to Dr. Akinola Olojo, senior researcher of Transnational threats and International Crime at the Institute for Security Studies, ISS.

Non-profit organisation, ONE, has called on African leaders attending the 33rd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to reflect on the root-cause-targeted approaches to the so called 'silencing the guns' by prioritizing youth employment. According to One, current efforts correctly place emphasis on prevention of illicit flow of small and light arms into and circulation within the continent, disarmament, peace building initiatives, mediation and military responses. While these approaches are significant to 'fight the fires' of conflict, it has become imperative to prioritize a strong economic push in a renewed approach to "silencing the guns" that targets the foot soldiers of conflicts - the youth. Interim director at One, Edwin Ikhuoria spoke to Samora Mangesi on the line from Abuja in Nigeria..

At least 20 civilians have been killed by unidentified gunmen in northern Burkina Faso, in the latest violence to rock a region plagued by a deteriorating security situation. The attack comes a week after 39 people were killed when militants attacked a market in Silgadji town. Burkina Faso borders Mali to the northwest and Niger to the east, with all three Sahelian countries struggling to contain increasingly frequent attacks on civilians and army positions. For more on this, Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso spoke to Dr Akinola Olojo, senior researcher of Transnational threats and International Crime at the Institute for Security Studies, ISS..

France and five West African states recently agreed to combine their military forces under one command structure to tackle the jihadist threat in the Sahel region, with Paris committing an extra 220 troops. This was announced at the G5 -Sahel summit held in the French town of Pau last month where French President Emmanuel Macron met leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, known as the G5, to discuss the push against the militants in the Sahel, an arid region just below the Sahara desert. The new structure, named 'Coalition for the Sahel', brought the G5 states, French forces and any future troops under a single command.For more on the summit, Channel Africa's Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Mr Aurélien Lechevallier, Ambassador of France to South Africa. He began by asking him about the key priorities for France, with regards to relations between Paris and the African continent.

The United Kingdom Foreign secretary special representative for Climate change Nick Bridge says the UK is privileged to host the 26th session of the United Nations Climate change conference- COP 26, later this year. Bridge was in South Africa to further engage with key South African partners about the significance of COP26 and also gearing organisations to be more ambitious with their climate mitigation efforts.Channel Africa's Khumbelo Munzhelele caught up with Nick Bridge, and he began by asking him about the UK's approach in the run-up to the conference.

Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame has announced that Rwanda is considering scrapping visa fees for citizens of the Commonwealth, as well as the African Union and La Francophonie member countries. He made the announcement in London, while speaking about Rwanda's transformation journey. Two years ago the east African country started a global visa-free policy for all travellers in which all visitors could enjoy 30 days visa on arrival. However, citizens from some countries were required to pay a fee where applicable.For more on this , Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Channel Africa’s Correspondent in Rwanda Sylvanus Karemera.

Nigeria and five other West African countries have rejected the use of 'Eco' as the region's common currency. The rejection might result in a face-off with the Francophone countries of the ECOWAS region, which have unilaterally adopted the use of the 'Eco' currency by renaming the French- backed CFA franc. The Eco, like the outgoing franc, will be pegged to the euro and it will eliminate the requirement for members to lodge half of their reserves in the French treasury. Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea rejected The 'eco' currency plans in a joint statement at the end of a West African Monetary Zone meeting of ministers of finance and governors of central banks in Abuja, Nigeria.For more on this , Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr. Ndongo Samba-Sylla: Senegalese development economist.

Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar has rejected calls for a ceasefire by Turkey and Russia and announced a continuation of his military offensive in the country. Haftar's forces launched a major offensive to seize the capital-Tripoli, seat of the United Nations -recognised Government of National Accord -early last year , and a number of casualties have been increasing since. His announcement comes after Turkish and Russian leaders called for a January 12 cease-fire while European Union officials intensified diplomatic efforts to cool tensions in the North African nation by holding talks with its prime minister Fayez al-Siraj. For more on the crisis, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Noufal Abboud, Executive Director of the Nordic Center for conflict transformation.

Algeria’s Constitutional Council has confirmed Abdelkader Tebboune as the new president of The north African country for the next five years — despite mass protests challenging his election last week. Tebboune won the vote in the first round with 58% of the vote. The election was the first vote since the military ousted long-serving leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April after weeks of demonstrations against attempts to extend his two-decade rule.For more on Tebboune’s win and what it means for Algeria, Channel Africa’s Zikhona Miso spoke to Dr Mohamed Chtatou, an expert on North African Politics.

Polls have closed in Algeria where a contentious presidential election, boycotted by tens of thousands of protesters nationwide was held. It is the first vote since former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced out after a two-decade-long rule in April in the wake of nationwide peaceful protests. The polls have been deferred twice since the unprecedented leaderless protest movement, commonly referred to as the Hirak, erupted in February.For more on the significance of the polls , Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Zoubir Yahia, Expert on Algerian Politics.

An Algerian court has sentenced two former prime ministers to long jail terms amid a huge corruption investigation. Ahmed Ouyahia was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Abdelmalek Sellal to 12 years. The two were accused of abusing authority in a car manufacturing embezzlement scandal and were the allies of long-time President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned amid mass protests in April. Protesters have continued to call for sweeping reforms, accusing leaders of the governing party of widespread corruption and repression ahead of presidential elections, to be held tomorrow.For more on this , Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Noufal Abboud, Executive Director of the Nordic Center for conflict transformation.

Over 1 million Namibians headed to the polls - to elect a new president and members of parliament. The elections came against a backdrop of discontent over a lagging economy and massive unemployment. President Hage Geingob is vying for re-election after his first term was marred by a recession that stirred anger against the ruling- South West Africa People's Organization-SWAPO, which continues to bask in the legacy of the liberation struggle.For more on this Channel Africa spoke to Panduleni Nghipandulwa, Project Coordinator for The Namibia Institute for Democracy.

More than 30 Ethiopian children are to benefit from lifesaving heart operations and cardiac catheterization from 'Save a Childs Heart', an Israeli-based international non-profit. The SACH's team have been working around the clock in the week-long mission. Simon Fisher is Executive Director of SACH..

The Association for Alcohol Responsibility and Education or Aware-dot-Org in South Africa has launched a campaign which aims to address the scourge of underage drinking in the country. The campaign, underpinned by the message 'Underage drinking starts long before it begins. You can stop it' is built on the insight that many people's first exposure to alcohol is usually at a young age and is generally enabled by parents or other caregivers. Research shows that South Africans are the sixth-largest consumers of alcohol in the world, with children as young as ten-years-old already drinking. More from the Campaign ambassador and South African musician, Kabelo Mabalane. That's Kabelo Mabalane, a South African musician and Ambassador of the Aware-dot-Org's underage drinking campaign talking to Elizabeth Lediga.

South Africa is this month observing the National Disability Rights Awareness Month, which aims to increase awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities as equal citizens among society. Some people with disabilities in the country continue to be excluded from the mainstream of society and are sometimes prevented from accessing fundamental social, political and economic rights. Zukiswa Nzo is Senior Manager for Strategy and Research at the National Council Of and For Persons with Disability, NCPD..

United States report has accused Iran of being the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism in its annual report on global terrorism. The report has also identified Kenya as the country which suffered most terrorist related attacks throughout 2018, and it comes as militants in northeast of Mali killed more than 50 soldiers in an attack on a military post. For more on the report, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Akinola Olojo, Senior researcher in the Transnational Threats and International Crime Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.

In another historic step for humanity towards a world free of polio, an independent commission of experts has certified that type 3 of the wild poliovirus had been eradicated globally. Following the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2, experts say this news represents a historic achievement for humanity. For more on this, Elizabeth Lediga spoke to Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi, senior virologist at the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for Africa...

Ever wondered about the process that follows after winning large sums of money? With Lotto being the most popular type of gambling in South Africa. Channel Africa's Nhlanhla Mahlangu spoke to Khensani Mabuza Corporate Relations Executive at Ithuba Holdings - operators of the South African National lottery to find out about the process..

The quality of education and training provided by African countries has worsened since 2014, leaving many of the continent's growing population of young people ill-prepared to enter the job market. This is according to the new African Governance report by Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The Report, which uses data from the Ibrahim Index of African Governance , the most comprehensive survey of its kind on the continent, found that enrolment and access to education was particularly low in the tertiary sector.For more on this, Channel Africa spoke to Jay Naidoo, Mo Ibrahim Foundation board member.

Retired academic, Kais Saied is set to become Tunisia's next president after a landslide victory in Sunday's vote. The Electoral Commission announced that the former law professor secured 73 percent of votes in the run-off election. He was up against media mogul, Nabil Karoui who had campaigned from prison after being arrested on charges of money laundering and tax fraud. Exit polls suggested that Saied benefited from huge support among young voters. Tunisia's Electoral Commission says 55 percent of those registered to vote cast their ballots.For more on what Saied's presidency means for Tunisia, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dr Mohamed Chtatou, an expert on North African Politics

Pope Francis has opened a highly contentious three-week summit in the vatican that could potentially clear the way for some married men to become Catholic priests. The meeting -- which focuses on environmental and religious issues in the Amazon region - will take up the question of whether some respected married elder men could be ordained to help overcome a shortage of priests in remote areas in the region. Currently indigenous Catholics in remote parts of the Amazon can go months without seeing a priest or having a proper mass. For more on some of the controversial proposals on the agenda, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Reverend Father Patrick Rakeketsi, Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference Associate Secretary General..

As the festive season draws closer, South Africa'a Steyn City Foundation is gearing up to host yet another annual "Delivering Happiness to Diepsloot". The Johannesburg north estate development is neighbour to the disadvantaged community of Diepsloot. The initiative is part of Steyn City's Corporate Social Investment project. For more on this, Thuto Ngobeni spoke to Group Head at Steyn City's Marketing and Events, Tammy Menton...

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation-FAO, has donated 180 tonnes of multi nutrient blocks to the Namibian farmers affected by drought in the Omaheke region. The blocks contain proteins, trace minerals and provide energy to the livestock that are struggling to keep alive. Namibia, like many countries in Southern Africa, is reeling from an El-Nino inflicted drought which has left farmers counting loses as both crops and livestock have been destroyed while the government has confirmed that more than 400 000 families need food subsidies until the next harvesting season.For more on this , Channel Africa spoke to Farayi Zimudzi, FAO’s representative in Namibia.

More than 300 chiefs representing Liberia’s rural and traditional bloc have called on the president to set up a war and economic crimes court as part of measures to fight impunity that has impeded the growth of Africa’s oldest independent republic. In their statement, released at the close of a week-long gathering in the capital, the chiefs expressed disappointment over the government’s handling of millions of U.S. dollars since George Weah assumed the presidency. This includes $104 million in newly-minted local banknotes and $25 million withdrawn from the Federal Reserve accounts for infusion into the economy to strengthen the local currency. For more on this, particularly what should be done to stimulate Liberia’s Economy, Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to James Otto, from Liberia’s Sustainable Development Institute.

Sierra Leone has become the latest African country to announce a new visa policy that gives visa on arrival for all African nationals and other selected citizens from across the world. Although many were expecting the government to waive or abolish visa charges as in other popular tourist destinations in the region, such as The Gambia and Senegal, this is seen as a good step, which could lead to more people traveling to the West African country. The Sierra Leone government is losing an estimated $100 million in revenue every year, as a result of low tourist numbers.For more on this, Channel Africa spoke to Adeyemi Paul, Sierra Leonean Journalist.

The third-smallest sovereign state on mainland South America - after Uruguay and Suriname - is GUYANA. Situated on South America's North Atlantic coast, Guyana is bordered by Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, and Suriname to the east. It is ALSO the only English speaking country in South America. Five years ago, in 2014, Guyana established a High Commission in Pretoria, the first full diplomatic mission on the African continent since the closure of the country's diplomatic office in Zambia, in August 1991. But allthough Guyana's official presence in South Africa is fairly new, relations between the two countries actually span decades. CHANNEL AFRICA'S Jenine Coetzer recently ran into Guyana's High Commissioner to Pretoria - Dr Kenrick Hunte - and asked him about the history and current ties ......

The 2019 edition of Moshito music conference and exhibition has been launched in South Africa. Now in its 16th year, the event has positioned itself as a Africa's premier platform for the music industry businesses, organizations, small enterprises, artists and musicians to engage the business of music. This year's edition will take place from the 4th to the 7th of September at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, under the theme: "Inzalabantu - Unchained". For more on this, Nhlanhla Mahlangu spoke to Stanley Khoza - Moshito Director and Treasure-General..

As countries marked World Ranger day yesterday*, South Africa's Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Barbara Creecy says wildlife crime and poaching remains a major concern. The country celebrated World Ranger Day in Skukuza at the Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga. Creecy says winning the battle against poaching requires a collaborative effort with other role players The park is one of the 19 national parks in the country and due to its size and the population of wild animals it has been the main target of poachers from within South Africa and neighbouring countries prompting rangers to up their game by using choppers, dogs and the latest combat technology to fight the crime. More from Minister Creecy.............

The eThekwini Municipality in South Africa has described the reintegration process of hundreds of displaced foreign nationals as a resounding success.

South Africa's National Youth Development Agency and Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu Scholarship and National Heritage Council will on Friday unveil 500 youth, who have benefited from the scholarship. NYDA Chairperson, Sifiso Mtsweni, made the announcement at the home of struggle icon Mahlangu in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria.

South Africans can expect brighter days ahead as Eskom confirms plans to avoid load shedding in winter. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gorhdan says there is now a better understanding of Eskom's electricity supply issues and that there should be no load shedding from this point on.

The South African medical aid scheme, Profmed, says many people don't really know how much cancer treatment costs and what the impact on personal finances will be.Even though the medical scheme will cover some of the expenses related to cancer, there are limits. Ultimately, a patient's chosen medical aid plan will determine the coverage they can receive for cancer. Cancer diagnoses in South Africa are becoming more prevalent. The most common cancers include breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer and other soft tissue cancers. More from Craig Comrie, PROFMED Chief Executive Officer...

The Juwa opposition party in the Comoros says it does not recognise last Sunday presidential elections. People in Comoros took to the polls in the islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago's presidential elections, where incumbent Azali Assoumani is widely expected to win a new term in a vote that rivals say has been hijacked. The opposition alleged that irregularities at several polling stations amounted to a "coup d'état" and called for public "resistance". They claim some independent candidates did not receive the necessary documents to access polling stations and that some polling stations had opened earlier than the official time. They accuse the incumbent President Assoumani of hijacking the ballots in order to be declared the winner. More from Aboubakar Aboud, spokesperson for the Juwa party..

Somalia has expressed its concerns following the abrupt withdrawal of Kenya Defence Forces from the only remaining camp in Jubaland saying the move will expose the country to Al-Shabaab threats. Kenyan troops have reportedly started withdrawing from Somalia after moving out of their command centre in Busar, north of Jubaland. The Kenyan government has not provided reasons for the troops withdrawal, but there are reports that the withdrawal is due to a funding problem for The African Union Mission in Somalia-AMISOM. Despite the militants being driven out of the Somali capital Mogadishu several years ago, they've managed to regroup in rural areas where they continue to launch attacks. For more on this, Channel Africa's Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Kwezi Mngqibisa, Co-ordinator of Somalia project initiative at The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of disputes-ACCORD.

Os principais partidos da oposição na Argélia pediram nesta segunda-feira a aplicação do artigo 102 da Constituição para declarar o presidente do país, Abdulaziz Bouteflika, inelegível para o pleito marcado para ocorrer em Abril. Egna Sidumo, pesquisadora em relacções internacionais e políticas externas junto do ISRI, Intituto Superior de Relacções Internacionais de Moçambique, elabora...

Africa's great will once again gather for the African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg South Africa on Friday. Now in its seventh year, the event seeks to honour persons that have dedicated themselves to the upliftment of the African continent and have impacted the continent positively. It celebrates Africa's finest business, political and diplomatic leaders who are contributing to the continent's growth and development. Past recipients of the African Leadership Awards, include former President of Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba as well as former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf amongst others. More from Hawa Charfaray CEO and Founder of Training Excellence.

Medical experts say there continues to be an alarming threat to the health and wealth of many nations posed by antimicrobial resistance, commonly known as antibiotic resistance. Globally, some 700-thousand deaths annually and serious economic damages result from infections caused by resistant bacteria. According to the World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance is the ability of a microorganism like bacteria, viruses, and some parasites to stop an antimicrobial such as antibiotics, antivirals and antimalarials from working against it. More from Professor Adrian Brink, an Associate Professor for the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at the University of Cape Town..

As South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is to deliver a State of the Nation Address tomorrow*, pensioners are calling for an increase to what they say will be a living wage pension and a 13th cheque. This year's State of the Nation Address takes place against the backdrop of a deepening economic and social crisis in the country. Here's Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group's Julie Smith...

The Mozambican Government awarded the musician Moreira Chonguiça the Medal of Merit Arts and Letters.The Arts and Literature Merit Medal is awarded to value Mozambicans who, for their creative work in the artistic or literary field, have contributed to the growth of arts and letters. Interview with Moreira Chonguiça…

Renowed musicians Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Ed Sheeran, Tiwa Savage and Cassper Nyovest are some of artists who performed at the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 held on the 2nd of December at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Responding to late global icon and former South African president Nelson Mandela's call to end extreme poverty, artists and leaders were joined by 100,000 Global Citizens who took action on the Global Citizen social advocacy platform to earn their free tickets to the festival at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.Vilakazi restaurant owner Sipho Tshabalala hosted some of the VIPs.

A new report by the International Food Policy Research Institute, shows that urbanization is associated with lower rates of child stunting but higher rates of obesity among women in Africa. The study shows that over the last two decades, African countries have experienced their highest-ever rate of urban growth, on the back of growing economies. International Food Policy Research Institute's Associate Research Fellow, Mulubrhan Amare has been speaking to Siphumelele Zondi...

Tomorrow is Black Friday. Long queues at the break of dawn and online shopping will be the order of the day, as the annual shopping craze kicks off. According to the 2018 Black Friday survey conducted by My Broadband, 81 percent of those surveyed said they are planning to shop on Black Friday this year, with the majority revealing that they are planning to spend no less than three-hundred-and sixty Dollars or five-thousand South African Rand. According to a recent study by World Wide Worx, online shopping makes up only 1-point-4 percent of total retail revenue in South Africa, significantly less than the global figure of 13 percent. More from Head of Financial Education at Old Mutual, John Manyike...

South Africa's ''Tourism KwaZulu-Natal'' organisation is currently exhibiting at the World Travel Market in London. The exhibition comes hot on the heels of the inaugural direct British Airways flight on October 30th from Heathrow to Durban's King Shaka International Airport. Several European tour operators and travel agents recently visited KZN ahead of the Durban Direct flight to see what the province had to offer their customers. Here's Keith Matthews, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal manager in charge of Europe...

Two years ago, a doctoral proposal was written in isiZulu language, leaving even the body of academics in South Africa completely shaken, sending much-needed shockwaves through the education system. Experts say the use of African indigenous languages as languages of teaching and learning assessment could change the lives of indigenous language-speaking learners for the better, thus providing them with a platform to benefit from the fruits of South Africa's hard-fought freedom and democracy. Professor Pamela Maseko from the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa deliberates further....

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Foreign Direct Investment- FDI, into the african continent rose in 2017, with South Africa and Morocco as leading investment destinations. This is according to a report by the global accounting firm, Ernst and Young. The report shows that last year the continent attracted more than seven hundred FDI projects, which was up six percent from the previous year, in line with a recovery in the continent's economic growth. Countries that have experienced a major uptick in FDI include Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.Ernst and Young Africa team leader Graham Thomson explains.

A man who was part of the South African apartheid loyalists called - Boeremag- which attempted a coup in 2002 and planned to assassinate former president Nelson Mandela, says he is a changed man. 45-year-old Kobus Pretorius is a prisoner at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre in Bryanston‚ north of Johannesburg. Pretorius says his time behind bars has forced him to question his upbringing. Kgomotso Mophulane filed this report...

With cautious optimism, scientists say there are promising early stage clinical findings that advance the development of DNA vaccines to prevent HIV infection. This has been demonstrated by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). This is the world's largest publicly funded collaboration facilitating the development of vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS. The network made the scientific presentation of its findings at the HIV Research for Prevention conference underway in the Spanish City of Madrid. Jane Rabothata is attending the conference and filed the following report…

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, marked in countries across the world to help to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of the disease. As the month draws to a close the Playing for Pink Ladies Invitational Polo event will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday. The event seeks to raise awareness and funds for Reach for Recovery, a non-profit organisation facilitating the support and care of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, those currently undergoing treatment, as well as those in remission. More from Edith Venter, CEO of Edith Unlimited, organisers of the event.:

To millions across the world, the UN is the most powerful instrument we have to achieve a more equal, more humane, and more inclusive world. These were the words of the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, recently at the UN general assembly in New York. As we today mark UN day, annually observed on the 24th of October, we reflect on some of the work of this global body through its various agencies. One example is the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, which promotes the rights and wellbeing of the world's children. Here's Chief of Child Protection and Social Policy of UNICEF South Africa, Mayke Huijbregts ...

Winners of Africa's biggest award for the youngest entrepreneurs- Anzisha Prize - will be announced later today in South Africa. The Anzisha prize hands out over a hundred-thousand US Dollars every year in funding, to the top 20 of the continent's brightest entrepreneurs. Here's Josh Adler, Manager for the Anzisha Prize.....

With HIV still a global burden that has so far claimed 35 millions of live since it began in the 1980's, scientists are still battling to develop an effective HIV vaccine. Gathering in Madrid, Spain health experts and delegates around the world are deliberating on the advances around vaccine development and the challenges that remain. The HIV Research for Prevention conference opened yesterday, and will for the next few days reflect on how best to deal with the complex HIV epidemic, in the midst of no cure. Shedding light on the purpose of the conference and latest vaccine trials is Georgia Tomaras, a professor in Surgery at Duke University in the US

The Data Services Market Inquiry public hearing held in South Africa's capital Pretoria ends today*. Hosted by the country's Competition Commission, the Inquiry seeks to evaluate features in the market creating high data prices. This, as there are numerous complaints of high data prices restricting the advancement of lower-income communities. The Inqury has heard that South Africans pay seven times more for data than consumers in other African countries. Here's Executive Director of a community advocacy organisation - Amandla.mobi - Koketso Moeti...,

Fieldworkers from Statistics South Africa visited farms across the country yesterday, to begin data collection for the 2017 Census of Commercial Agriculture. The census is aimed at determining what exactly is being farmed to assist potential investors in making informed decisions as well as understand issues of food security and research. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke joined the fieldworkers and tells us how it went...

Today marks World Day Against the Death Penalty. Rights group, Amnesty International, says prisoners under death sentence must be treated with humanity and dignity and held in conditions that meet international human rights standards. The organization is launching a new campaign to pressure five countries, to put an end to inhumane conditions of detention for prisoners sentenced to death. Here's the rights group's Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty International's Advocate on Death Penalty...

Scores of projects aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism in West and Central Africa are doing important work in tough conditions, but lack long-term funding and hard evidence of how best to confront terrorism. These are the findings of a research by the Institute for Security Studies. Researchers from the institute surveyed 133 projects in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger. The projects operate in some of the world's most challenging areas, rife with poverty and insecurity, and where weak or corrupt governments have failed to deliver basic services. More from Isel Van Zyl, ISS Researcher and co-author of the report..

Today the world marks International Teachers' Day, to honour and appreciate the contribution teachers make to education and development across the globe. Award-winning principal of Sunrise View Secondary School in Rustenburg, South Africa's North West Province, Agnes Rasesemola earlier joined us on the line to talk about her journey in this noble profession.

The Kenyan government has taken over the responsibility of providing lunches to the 1.6 million school children in the country, from the World Food Programme. Since the 1980s, school meals have been the joint responsibility of the WFP and the ministry of Education. The government has not set aside about 24 million US Dollars, which will directly finance the programme. Martin Karimi is from the World Food Programme in Kenya...

Police collude with and take bribes from gangsters, hence it is difficult to fight crime. This is according to one of the Johannesburg's Westbury community protest organisers Carol Sallie. Residents have vowed to continue protesting until their demands to rid the community of crime are met. Police minister Bheki Cele is expected to visit the area today. Sallie explains..

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has suspended all its aid activities in Beni and surrounding areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This, due to a deadly attack on Saturday, where over a dozen civilians were killed in the territory already fighting an Ebola outbreak. The NRC will consider a resumption of activities by at least Friday, if security conditions allow. Kimberly Bennett is the NRC's Advocacy Manager in the DRC.

Tomorrow, the world marks Rhino day. Rhino populations across the African continent are threatened by a global poaching crisis. The illegal wildlife trade is now the fourth largest criminal industry after drugs, arms and human trafficking. Rudi de Louw, Head of SAP Co-Innovation Lab in Africa elaborates...

The remains of former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, have arrived in Ghana for the start of the three-day state funeral organized by the government of Ghana. Annan, who was the seventh UN Secretary General, died in Switzerland last month at the age of 80. His remains were received by the Ghana Armed forces and the President Nana Akufo-Addo before they were moved to the Accra International Conference Centre where members of the public and some dignitaries will be paying their last respects before his burial on Thursday. Ghanaian Journalist, Willie Graham, has more...

Lifesaving refugee programmes are shutting down in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, while Europe and the USA continue to reject migrants, and reduce funding to support refugees. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says if more funding is not found, malnutrition will rise, schools will close, and water-borne diseases will break out. For more on the budget cuts hitting East Africa's aid sector, here's NRC's regional director, Nigel Tricks...

A recent study by the South African University of Cape Town suggests that one woman in every three in the country bleaches her skin. The worrying trend is also being perpetuated by celebrities like actresses who acknowledge that they are using skin lightening procedures. The products used range from skin-lightening pills, creams and injections. In a bid to shed light on the less spoken about health effects of some of these products - DMK -a skin care company - has been running an educational drive. Mathapelo Mpati, is the Product Trainer at DMK..

The Committee to Protect Journalists and other civil society groups have written to the UN Human Rights Council urging them to address the deteriorating situation for human rights, including press freedom, in Tanzania during the upcoming 39th session of the council in September. Since 2015, journalists and bloggers in Tanzania have been targeted with harsh legislation by government. CPJ has also spoken against Ugandan security personnel arresting and assaulting journalists covering electoral unrest. For more on this, Kgomotso Mophulane spoke to Neville Meena - Executive Secretary of the Tanzanian Editors Forum...

The funeral of multiple award-winning South African rapper Linda Mkhize popularly known as ProKid is scheduled for this coming sunday. The 37-year-old rapper died last week after suffering severe seizures. The rapper was a major force to reckon with in the country's music industry and hugely considered a legend of the Hip-hop genre. Kandas Kandawire, a social worker at non-profit organization, Epilepsy South Africa, speaks about the condition, its causes and how it can be treated...

South Africa will need political will to be able to meet Copenhagen's 2009 pledge to reduce the country's carbon emissions by 34 percent by the year 2020. This is according to Dr Chris Ettmayr, Renewable Energy manager at East London's Industrial Development Zone, in the Eastern Cape province. South Africa last year unveiled proposals which enables companies to offset as much as 10 percent of their carbon emissions by investing in projects that help conserve the environment and create jobs. Ettmayr talks about the scope of the South African renewable energy strategy. That's Dr Chris Ettmayr, Renewable Energy manager at East London's Industrial Development Zone, in the Eastern Cape province. He was talking to Kgomotso Mophulane.

In an effort to provide South African learners with social entrepreneurship skills, the department of education has recently hosted the 9th annual Youth Citizens Actions Programme Championships, giving learners a platform to showcase innovative and sustainable projects, which address social issues. Although South Africa's school nutrition programme currently feeds over 9 million learners across the country, most learners say schools do not provide enough food. Eastern Cape's Solomon Mahlangu high school, which is one of the winners of the competition, focused on food security projects. Olwen Carson, Social worker and Mentor of the learners at Solomon Mahlangu says they are happy to have won...

The South African Agricultural Research Council has carried out an investigation on the potential effects of genetic modified Bt Maize. Professor Rasheed Adeleke - Head of Microbiology and Environmental Biotechnology research group soil programme at the Agricultural Research Council says according to the research when it comes to their investigation despite the popularity of genetically modified crops, there could be heating or unknown adverse impacts on the ecosystem functioning......

South Africa's Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition is celebrating a milestone this year. The annual gathering of musicians and the entertainment industry is turning 15 years this year. Its purpose is to allow the industry to engage on the business of music. It has become a premier destination event for music practitioners around the world to come together and share best practices in the music business. It will kick off on the 5th of September. For more on this, Channel Africa's Nhlanhla Mahlangu spoke to Dr Sipho Sithole Chairperson of Moshito..

As South Africa marks national Science Week, the fraternity is mourning the loss of renowned academic and cardiologist Professor Bongani Mayosi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. Mayosi allegedly committed suicide due to depression. National Science Week seeks to promote science as an important discipline for learners in primary education. Shadrack Mkansi is a manager of Science Awareness at the South Africa Agency for Science and Technology Advancement....

Patriarchy is still a problem across the continent, in some cases manifesting itself as female genital mutilation or cases of child marriages. This is according to the PAN African Women's Organisation as this month South Africa marks Women's month. The start of the month has been marked by countrywide marches over the scourge of violence against women. PAN African Women's Organisation- PAWO's Chrispin Phiri....

Over forty percent of primary school learners have experienced sexual violence in an intimate relationship. This is according to a new report by the Human Sciences Research Council - HSRC- in partnership with Grassroot Soccer and Soul City Institute. The ''Sexual Violence in Schools in South Africa'' report reveals that such violence would normally occurs in classrooms, sports fields or in bathrooms. Dr Ingrid Lynch, Lead Researcher at HSRC says society needs to stop shying away from the fact that primary school learners have sex...

At least 15 presidential candidates will be fighting it out this year during the harmonised elections in Zimbabwe scheduled for July 30.For the first time since 1980, Robert Mugabe's name will not be appearing on the ballot paper following his resignation in November last year. Meanwhile, his successor, Emerson Mnangagwa, will be contesting against Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, Joyce Mujuru and other lesser known candidates.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD and Mozambique on Tuesday signed a financial agreement worth 62-million US dollars; this will assist almost 300-thousand rural people engaged in agriculture, fisheries and small and medium-sized enterprises in ten provinces to improve their access to national and regional markets. Limited access to agricultural markets by smallholder farmers in rural areas represents one of the most important challenges confronting developing countries. Through this initiative, IFAD also plans to assist the beneficiaries to become credit-worthy. The organisation's Representative and Country Director for Mozambique, Robson Mutandi, elaborates..

Motlanthe says former Presidents should use their privileged access to sitting presidents to be champions for the marginalised, like the youth.

With the South African government catering to just 400 000 unemployed young graduates, street children and those without skills continue to face neglect and a grim future.

As Sunday marks Fathers' Day, a joint-study by the Human Sciences Research Council and the South African Race Relations Institute, says nearly 60% of children in the country have absent fathers.

The FIFA World Cup football tournament has officially kicked off in Moscow in Russia and over the next month, 32 countries will compete in the big event expected to draw round half-a-million visitors to the 11 cities hosting the different matches.

As Sunday marks Fathers' Day this Sunday, a joint-study by the Human Sciences Research Council and the South African Race Relations Institute says nearly 60% of children in the country have absent fathers. This year, Detergent product -OMO- is calling on society to re-imagine parenthood and celebrate progressive families, as part of the brand's Father's Day digital campaign. The digital series celebrates all parental figures who take an active role at parenting duties including grandparents, same-sex families and aunts. Hlubi Mthimkhulu is a father of a 5 year old raised in a same-sex relationship...

Experts estimate that by 2022, the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods will reach about two-point-eighty-one-trillion US dollars. The rise of the internet and the lack of regulations has enabled digitally savvy counterfeiters to jump on the bandwagon and accumulate scale. 20% of Instagram App posts for luxury brands, are said to feature counterfeit or illicit products. Paul Ramara, Partner at Law firm- Spoor & Fisher explains....

In an effort to empower the youth this month, a number of programmes have been lined up to equipt unemployed youth on how they can take control of their lives. One of them is the Youth Career Summit that is scheduled to take place from this thursday in South Africa's coastal city of Cape Town. Hosted by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, the summit will focus on mentorship programmes for both enterprenuers and those seeking employment. Razaan Bailey heads up the Youth@Work programme..

Today marks World Day against Child Labour, annually observed on the 12th of June. The day was launched in 2002 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. According to ILO, seventy per cent of child labour worldwide takes place in agriculture. Jacqueline Demeranville is an expert with the Food and Agriculture Organisation....

Final preparations are underway in Singapore for this Tuesday’s highly-anticipated summit between United States President, Donald Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Both leaders arrived for the talks, which could see North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal in return for economic help and security guarantees. The summit will be the first meeting between Trump and Kim, it’ll also mark a turnaround of relations between the two leaders after a long-running exchange of furious threats and insults. Channel Africa spoke to Johh Stremlau, visiting Professor at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, about what to expect from the historic summit.

A report by Reputation Matters, which surveyed 15 African capital cities and analysed their reputation in a pilot project as sustainable along a rane of criteria, the city of Tshwane emerged as the city in South Africa perceived to be the most committed to sustainability. The Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Councillor Solly Msimanga, talking about the survey says the research a pilot project was carried out ahead of the currently Sustainability Week meeting taking place at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of South Africa's International Conference Centre in Tshwane.

On the programme this week, the world marks International World Peacekeepers day; Zimbabwe President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, announces July 30 as election day. And, Libyan rival factions agree on a declaration that would create a political framework to pave the way for elections in December, to end the country's seven-year-old conflict.

Although aid to education grew by about one-point-five-billion US Dollars between 2015 and 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa has received a smaller share of the financing for seven years in a row. The new Global Education Monitoring Report from the United Nation's Education, Science and Cultural Organisation - UNESCO says this is often because aid is usually not used where its needed the most. The USA, UK and World Bank has been recorded as the three largest single donors, which accounted for almost half of aid funding to basic education around the world. More from Manos Antoninis, Director of the GEM Report....

On Africa News Round-Up, Channel Africa brings you a weekly dose of stories making headlines on the continent:South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, gives President Cyril Ramaphosa a nod for his first 100 days in office.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies expands its operations in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.And, heavy rains leave hundreds of people dead and thousands more displaced across various parts of East Africa.

As we mark Africa Day, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is emphasising the need for Africa to come up with its own solutions to problems faced in the continent. Specifically, WFP says Africa needs to devise effective ways to improve the nutrition of its populations. Hunger and food insecurity continues to plague the lives of millions around the world, but mostly in Africa and Asia. Jane Rabothata reports...

Africa's first cryptocurrency ''ATM'' has recently been re-opened and rebranded in Johannesburg, South Africa. The machine originally launched in 2014, is available to the public and allows users to purchase digital currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin with South African Rand and withdraw money. Worldwide in Europe and Asian countries, businesses are rapidly expanding their acceptance of cryptocurrencies in day-to-day, peer to peer and business transactions. Daniel Cappiello, Vendibit senior block chain consultant explains...

This Friday the 25th, which marks Africa Day, Executive Director of United Nations Women Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will deliver a lecture at the 9th annual Thabo Mbeki Africa Day Lecture in South Africa. The theme of the lecture is 'Gender Equity, a necessary paradigm shift for Africa's development'. This forms part of the many celebratory events that will be held on that day across the continent. More from Thami Ntenteni, Spokesperson at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation...

The 18th edition of African Utility Week starts today in South Africa's coastal city of Cape Town. More than 7000 energy and water professionals from around the globe will meet to discuss the challenges, opportunities and success stories in these industries on the continent. South African Minister of Energy, Jeff Radebe, alongside the Indian Minister of Commerce, Shri Chaudhary are expected to address the meeting. Evan Schiff is Africa Utility Week Event Director..

More people around the world are choosing to visit original and ethnic countries away from their daily busy urban life. This due to the proliferation of technological advances in their own spaces. Nicknamed “the Switzerland of Africa” because of its highlands, the small Kingdom of Lesotho has found itself to be one of the most sought after countries in the Southern African region. The Sani Mountain Pass, situated between South Africa’s Kwa-Zulu Natal Province and Lesotho is increasingly becoming one of the favourite destinations. What makes that area stand out? Selinah Ntobong is part of a media team that participated in the launch of a 7-country Southern Africa Media Expedition. The first stop was the Sani Mountain Pass. She caught up with the Chief Executive officer of the Sani Mountain Lodge, Khapametsi Maleke and she had this to say..

Today marks World Intellectual Property Day. In South Africa it comes at a time where fashion brand MaXhosa by Laduma Ngxokolo has filed a legal action against global clothing giant Zara after it allegedly stole a signature design. A pack of socks by Zara emerged on social media earlier this week bearing a similar print to that of MaXhosa, modern Xhosa-inspired knitwear collection. Retailer Zara has confirmed that they will be removing the socks from their online and retail stores. More from Prof Sadulla Karjiker of the University of Stellenbosch..

Low income earners such as domestic workers and labourers are said to not know and exercise their rights of employee health and wellness. This comes as today marks International Workers Day. Experts say this is due to the lack of regulation on the informal working sector, which means workers are often exploited. More from Proffesor Gina Görgens, of the Department of Industrial Psychology at the South African University of Stellenbosch ....

East African countries are now looking to smart grids for cost-effective ways to deliver electricity. A smart grid is an electricity network that integrates the actions of all users connected to it, to deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies. Global engineering company Black & Veatch is of the view that solving the funding challenge in Africa can unlock many new projects. Webb Meko, Business Development Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at the organisation explains..

We feature entrepreneurs who have benefited from Eskom Business Investment Competition which launched in 2008 by the Eskom Development Foundation in an effort to boost enterprise development and this week we find out more about E-Waste Africa. Channel Africa’s Zanele Jambane visited E-Waste Africa which is a multi-award winning, legally compliant and environmentally ethically light bulb recycler and filed the following report:

Listeria is the name of a bacteria found in soil and water, and some animals, including poultry and cattle. It can be present in raw milk and food made from raw milk. The bacteria can also live in food processing plants and contaminate a variety of processed meats. John Nyambi, chair of the South African Institute of Environmental Health says the listeriosis bacteria adapts to various conditions in the environment.

A war of words is building up in East Africa over who controls the Blue Nile.

The opportunity for private sector involvement and access to renewable energy projects in Africa has taken centre stage at the 10th African Energy Indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

Aid agencies are warning of a worsening crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Norwegian Refugee Council says millions are in need of emergency aid. Many of those in need of assistance are fleeing the country. In the past two years, more people have been displaced in DR Congo than any other country in the world. Armed conflicts are spreading in various parts of the DRC. The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga (byarr-uu-HANG-guh) is in the DRC and has been to see some of the violence there..

South African Police Minister Fikile Mbalula says Interpol has been asked to help track down three people who are being sought in connection with the Estina farm project in the Free State Province. Eight associates of the wealthy Gupta brothers appeared in court in Bloemfontein last week on charges that include fraud and money laundering for their part in the project. Mbalula says the three are being sought in China, Dubai China and India. Joseph Mosia reports...

Nelson Chamisa is the interim President of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC-T following leader Morgan Tsvangirai's death on Wednesday. Chamisa was elected by an emergency meeting of the party's National Executive Council in Harare to lead the party for 12 months. Meanwhile South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and former President Thabo Mbeki have also sent their condolences to the Tsvangirai family and the people of Zimbabwe. Nthakoana Ngatane reports

As South Africa marks the National Epilepsy Week this week, experts believe increased awareness could go a long way towards addressing the many challenges faced by people with the condition. According to the non-profit organization, Epilepsy South Africa, about one in every 100 people has epilepsy in the country. Epilepsy is a chronic condition in which a person experiences recurrent seizures. Also referred to as 'fits', seizures are caused by a sudden increase of excess electrical activity within the brain. Seizure signs and symptoms may include temporary confusion, a staring spell, uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs. Kandas Kandawire is a Social Worker at the non-profit organisation, Epilepsy South Africa..

Child Soldiers International says global efforts to end the use of child soldiers are still being gravely under-resourced by the global community. On International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers yesterday, the organisation called for UN member states and governments to put the issue of child recruitment back on the global agenda and provide the necessary resources to prevent the practice. More than 300 child soldiers were recently released in South Sudan. Programme Manager at Child Soldiers International Tim Moleneux explains..

The Rwandan government and the UHCR have kicked off the countrywide program of screening refugees currently in Rwanda. The move will see over a 150-thousand refugees from DRC and Burundi issued with electronic Identity card that would allow them get access on basic needs such as health, banking and employments. Refugees have expressed their appreciation and said the process has been long overdue. Sylvanus Karemera report from Kigali..

Kenya's Chief Justice David Maraga has warned the country's state officers against defying court orders hours after the country's authorities deported a lawyer charged with treason following opposition leader Raila Odinga's swearing in ceremony last week. Kenyan lawyer Miguna Miguna was arrested on Friday. He was granted bail but the police kept him in custody until his deportation to Canada. While the Kenyan government says Miguna lost his citizenship when he denounced his citizen ship, the lawyer said the government was out to quash the opposition. Sarah Kimani reports.

Zimbabweans have received with mixed feelings some media reports that former President Robert Mugabe and Joyce Mujuru could be forming an election pact ahead of this year's polls. In an unprecedented move, former Mugabe's deputy, Joyce Mujuru met her former master at their Borrowdale home where the 94-year-old former leader apologised. According to reports, the call came as a surprise considering Grace Mugabe was firmly behind Mujuru's ouster in 2014, leading to some factional fights between G40 and Emerson Mnangagwa's led Lacoste. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

Two weeks ago, sixteen Syrians, including several children - died trying to get across the mountains from Syria into Lebanon. They used a route taken by many thousands before them, but they were caught in an icy blizzard and froze to death. There were few survivors. But one little girl did make it out alive. The BBC's Middle East correspondent, Martin Patience reports:

South Sudan has slammed the African Union and The United States for calling for all-out sanctions against those blocking the peace process in the country. African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki said during the continental body's annual summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that it was time for sanctions to be imposed on individuals blocking peace. Faki's remarks came just days after the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said South Sudan's government was an unfit partner for peace. Oil-rich South Sudan has been wrecked by civil war since 2013, when troops loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with troops loyal to then-Vice President Riek Machar. Since then, the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, slashed oil production and driven about a third of the population of twelve-million from their homes. According to Jada Natana, Ambassador of South Sudan to South Africa, sanctions will only make the situation even worse..

South Africa and South Sudan have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in Defence. The agreement will see the armies of the two countries conduct joint military exercises, as well as training and capacity building. South Africa's Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa -Nqakula., said the agreement will pave the way for the formation of defence committee, which will meet regularly and advice on areas of co-operation. Her South Sudan counterpart Kuol Manyang Juuk said the agreement will strengthen relations between the two countries. Sarah Kimani reports..

The 30th Summit of the African Union's head of state and government has concluded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. African Union Chairperson and President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame has hailed the two days-long summit of leaders held under the theme -Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa's Transformation as successful. Channel Africa's Nhlanhla Mahlangu has more from Addis Abbaba.....

The UN's children's agency UNICEF has told the BBC there is a very real risk of famine returning to the country, because of the conflict. Children are among those worst affected. The BBC's Anne Soy begins her report in the capital Juba....

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says he regrets stopping the death penalty in his country. His remarks come few days after he has warned that increasing crime in Uganda will force him to revise his position on executions. Addressing the annual judges conference in the Capital, Kampala, Museveni said he had been too lenient to criminals, and this has resulted in Ugandans thinking that they can cause harm and get away with it. For more on this, Channel Africa's Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Professor Kasaija Apuuli from Makerere University, about what the resumption of the death penalty would mean for the country..

Representatives from 55 African states have begun drafting agenda items for consideration during the upcoming African Union Summit. The ambassadors who make up the Permanent representative Committee of the African Union are holding a two-day meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Coletta Wanjohi has more

1-point-6-billion US dollars is urgently needed to save and protect 54 million lives from an unprecedented drought in Somalia. While the East African nation averted famine last year, with the international community's help, the United Nations Office, OCHA, warns that long-term solutions for drought and displacement must still be found. OCHA launched the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia yesterday, which is an extension of last year's famine prevention efforts. For more on this issue here's the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq..

One-point-six-billion US dollars is urgently needed to save and protect fifty-four million lives from an unprecedented drought in Somalia. While the East African nation averted famine last year, with the international community's help, the United Nations Office (OCHA) warns that long-term solutions for drought and displacement must still be found. OCHA launched the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia yesterday, which is an extension of last year's famine prevention efforts. For more on this issue here's the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq:

Liberians return to the polls next week for a run-off election to replace President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first African woman to be elected a Head of State. The vote will mark the end of an era as her legacy will be tied to UN efforts to build peace in the aftermath of two civil wars between 1989 and 2003. That's according to Farid Zarif, head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which concludes its mandate in March after 15 years there Zarif spoke with Doug Coffman about the Mission's support ahead of the 26 December election and its imminent departure from the West African country.

Convicted South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius wants his 13-year murder sentence to be reviewed. Pistorius has filed papers with the Constitutional Court to appeal his sentence. This after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), last month increased his 6 year sentence to 13 years and five months in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. More from Lawyer at Alexander, Montano Attorneys, Cliff Alexander.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has applauded South Africa for passing a bill to implement a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, a move that will seek to reverse the alarming numbers of diabetes cases and other Non-Communicable Diseases associated with obesity. South Africans are among the top ten consumers of sugary drinks in the world, and research has shown that drinking just one sugary fizzy drink a day increases one's chance of being overweight by 27 percent for adults and 55 percent for children. To find out more on this, Elizabeth Lediga spoke to WHO's Dr Leo Nederveen.....

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government says Human Rights Watch used hatred to produce a fake report against the authorities. The report accused the DRC government of recruiting former M23 rebels to quash protests against President Joseph Kabila in December last year. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa..

The 3rd meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly ended in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday. Delegates at the Assembly whose theme was #Beat Pollution, adopted a number of resolutions for member countries to work towards a free pollution world. To find out more on this, Wandile Kallipa spoke to Alf Wills, Deputy Director General at the South African Department of Environmental Affairs........

Somalia's leaders are committed to ensuring a safe and sustainable future for the country's people, but no-one should be under any illusion that this may take a long time, a senior UN official said on Tuesday. Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and head of UN Mission UNSOM, has been speaking from the capital Mogadishu, where a security and humanitarian conference is under way. Amid plans to draw down troops from the African Union Mission (AMISOM) stationed in Somalia and boost Somali forces, Mr Keating told Daniel Johnson how political leaders have shown their willingness to continue military reforms.

Today marks 4 years since the passing of former South African President Nelson Mandela - and the Nelson Mandela Foundation will mark the day with the opening of an exhibition titled UNTHREADING MANDELA. UDM Leader Bantu Holomisa is expected to deliver a key note address, and the day will also kick start the centenary of his birth, that will culminate on his birthday on July 18, 2018. Nthakoana Ngatane reports.

Through the provision of voluntary medical male circumcision, South Africa has managed to avert 650-thousands new HIV infections among men. Research has proven that this can reduce the risk of female-to-male sexual transmission of HIV by as much as sixty per cent. As one of the countries with the largest HIV prevalance in the world, South Africa has over 7-million people living with HIV and about 300-thousands new infections annually. In 2002 a study was designed in Orange Farm, south of Johanesburg, to measure the effectiveness of circumcision in reducing the rate of HIV infection. Ditaba Tsotetsi filed this reports...

Today, the 1st of December marks World Aids Day. This day is meant to raise awareness and encourage the fight against the scourge of HIV/Aids in the world. UNAIDS together with the South African Minister of Health Dr. Aaron Motswaledi has launched a report in Cape Town, South Africa, the report looks at the latest estimates of the number of people living with HIV who have access to the life-saving antiretroviral therapy globally as well as in South Africa the country with the largest Aids epidemic in the world. In 2016 alone South Africa saw about 270-thousand new infections and almost 110-thousand AIDS related deaths. But HIV and AIDS is not just about numbers but is extremely personal. To tell us about having the virus, here is Ntimbwe Mpamba Person the Longest person living with HIV in Africa, he has had HIV for 34 years..

Family is assumed to be a protective structure, but this is not always the case. That's the view of Harry Cook, Data Management & Research Specialist for the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in Geneva, speaking in reference to new statistics that show child victims of human trafficking are often coerced by family members. The Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC), initiated with the help of IOM, is the world's first human trafficking portal to include multiple agency contributions. Mr Cook spoke with Natalie Hutchison about how this data can be used to strengthen counter-trafficking interventions.

South Africa's newly crowned Miss Universe has moved into her new apartment in New York City after winning the crown in Las Vegas on Sunday night. 22-year old Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters beat out runners-up Miss Colombia Laura Gonzalez and Miss Jamaica Davina Bennett. She became only the second South African to win the Miss Universe Pageant after Margaret Gardiner's win in 1978. Our United States Correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease caught up with the Sedgefield native for a conversation on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in the Big Apple, and he began by her about the moment Miss South Africa's name was called in the final round.

A new Regional Migration Data Hub for Southern Africa for the International Organization for Migration will be launched later today in Johannesburg. The hub aims to enhance capacities of governments to generate accurate data to better inform policy development. The misreprsentation of migration data often leads to the stigmatisation of migrants. Charles Kwenin, Regional Director for IOM Southern Africa Region Office elaborates...

Promoting young people's access to land was among the objectives of a four-day conference held in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this month. The event sought to deepen knowledge about land policy on the continent and to support the African Union's declaration of 2017 as the Year of Youth. This marked the second time the conference has taken place, hosted by the African Land Policy Centre; a joint initiative of the AU Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the African Development Bank. Ernest Cho spoke to UNECA's chief land expert, Hubert Ouedraogo.

South African ministers of environmental affairs, Edna Molewa, and Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana as well as Tourism, Thokozile Xasa, are hosting the joint meeting of the Southern African Development Community ministers responsible for environment and natural resources, fisheries and acquaculture as well as Tourism in Pretoria. Albi Modise, chief director of communications at the South African Department of Environmental Affairs explains..

Brand South Africa says it welcomes the results of the 2017 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance which saw South Africa retain its rank of six out of fifty four countries assessed in the index. Every year the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance assesses the performance of all 54 African countries in categories such as human rights, the rule of law, sustainable economic opportunities and human development. Brand South Africa's Petrus De Kock says since the dawn of democracy, and regardless of the economic challenges in recent years, South Africa has been making steady progress on human and social development..

Celebrations in Zimbabwe's capital Harare went well into the early hours of the morning after the resignation of their president of 37 years. Thousands of residents spilled onto the streets of the capital city - following the announcement that Mugabe had handed in a resignation letter to Parliament's Speaker. Noma Bolani has more from Harare.........

Zimbabwe is facing a constitutional crisis and Zimbabweans have to hold both President Robert Mugabe and the entire ruling ZANUPF accountable. These are some of the sentiments expressed by various opposition parties in the South African Parliament. Others want the 93 year old leader to step down and welcomed his imminent impeachment as Mercedes Besent tells us..........

As thousands of Zimbabwean nationals around the world expressed their disappointment that President Robert Mugabe did not resign last night, some Zimbabwean nationals at the Beit Bridge border post in South Africa's Limpopo Province came out in his defence. In his much awaited national address last night, Mugabe did not resign as expected by others. He assured the country that he is still in charge. Some Zimbabweans say he should be allowed to finish his term while others are saying he must resign. Some are blaming him for the 1983 Matebeleland mass killing in which thousands of Zimbabweans were killed. Rudzani Tshivhase reports from the Beitbridge border post....

During the high-level debate in the UN General Assembly, more than 80 per cent of world leaders mentioned climate change in their speeches: an indication of the "urgency" of this issue. That's according to the man overseeing the UN body in which all 193 member states have equal representation. UN General Assembly president Miroslav Laj?ák is in Bonn this week for the latest global conference on climate change, known as COP23....

Services were paralyzed on Wednesday in some areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following demonstrations by civil society groups. Police are still deployed in several areas of the country's towns including the capital, Kinshasa and UN police say they were informed about some illegal arrests and continues to monitor the situation. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa...

The Russian government has confirmed that discussions are still ongoing with South Africa around the controversial nuclear deal. The nuclear energy plan is expected to cost South Africa about one trillion rand. Economists and politicians from across the spectrum including the ANC expressed concerns over the costs of the deal particularly at a time when the country's economy is struggling. Last month speculation that the deal is about to be signed went up after a south African government delegation visited Russia. Amos Phago reports.

In an effort to reduce the economic costs of smoking on health care, South Africa's Department of Health will early next year present to cabinet its plans to abolish dedicated smoking areas in restaurants, bars, casinos, beaches, parks and other public places. The proposal is part of the department's fight to amend the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act. The changes will also include a uniform packaging for all cigarette and vape brands and the removal of smoking advertisements. According to the National Council Against Smoking, plain-packaging" which has been implemented in five or six countries across the globe including Australia, has proven to lower the number of smokers, as well as prevent non-smokers from picking up the habit. Director of Health Promotion at the South African Department of Health, Vimla Moodley explains..

The number of South Sudanese forced to flee their country could approach the three million mark by the end of next year, unless brutal civil conflict stops.That's the stark assessment of Arnauld Akodjenou, the UN Regional Refugee Coordinator for South Sudan, with Refugee Agency UNHCR. So far, he has been to four of the six countries which are hosting South Sudanese refugees, including northern Uganda, which has taken in more than a million. Speaking to Alex Agole, he described some of the harrowing first-hand stories he's heard of women raped in front of their own children, and men in refugee camps now drowning their sorrow in alcohol and drugs, without hope.

A section of political leaders on the Kenyan Coast wants the Coastal region to be separated from Kenya and be its own independent country. Addressing the media on Friday, the politicians said the region is still marginalized by the government, and that it is time for the region to stand on its own. This is the second attempt of succession after the Coastal separatists group, the Mombasa Republican Council sued the Kenyan government for what it alleges as historical injustices in the region. Diana Wanyonyi reports from Mombasa..

The president of the South African Football Association Danny Jordaan, has denied the allegation of rape levelled against him by former ruling ANC MP and artist Jennifer Ferguson. In a statement released by Jordaan's lawyer, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi yesterday, the SAFA president denied raping Ferguson in a Port Elizabeth hotel 24 years ago. Samantha Marie has more....

Former president of Ghana John Mahama says if Africa is going to compete in the 21st century global economy it is important that it gets the education of its people right. He was speaking at a business forum hosted by the African Presidential leadership Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The forum was attended by five former African heads of states including Zambia's Rupia Banda, Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete and Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan amongst others. It sought to advance the conversation around Africa's educational challenges. More from former Ghanain president John Mahama.

Representatives from 144 countries are meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, this week to ensure that future generations will have access to food and agricultural products that originate from plants. The nations have agreed to conserve and share the genetic materials of 64 crops- for example, for use in research or breeding-in line with a UN treaty that came into force in 2004. Kent Nnadozie oversees the governing body for the treaty, which he described as a "flagship" achievement of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He has been speaking to Murielle Sarr.

More needs to be done to increase awareness around the plight of refugees on the continent. This is according to the South African Congress of Non Profit Organizations, otherwise known as SACONO. The body will be hosting a dialogue in Johannesburg this weekend on the challenges that displaced women and children face in conflict zones. Channel Africa spoke to Lindiwe Khoza, Ambassador of the international Women's peace group in South Africa, co-organizers of the event, and Gaudence Uwizeye a representative of the Rwandan community in South Africa, about the purpose of the event and the first-hand experience of living the war..

A piece of South Africa's heritage that should be in the country's governmental archives is on sale in one of Europe's leading autograph and manuscript auction houses. This is a handwritten letter by Black Consciousness Movement founder Steve Biko on 29 October 1973, listed in UK auction house International Autograph Auctions' catalogue. Biko an anti-apartheid activist and writer was killed in Pretoria in 1977. For on this issue, Jane Rabothata spoke to Cuan Hanhdiek of the South African Heritage Resource Agency..

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma's executive powers took a center stage at the Pretoria high court in the so-called State Capture review case. Lawyers representing president Zuma argued that he has exclusive powers to establish commissions of inquiry while on the other side opposition parties lawyers and that of the public protector insist that such powers can be fettered. The president is challenging remedial actions of the public protector's state of capture report on grounds that she does not have powers to instruct the head of state. Former public protector Thuli Madonsela recommended president Zuma establish a commission of inquiry to be headed by judge to further investigate allegations of state capture. Amos Phago reports.

The state of emergency in Mali due to expire on October 31st will be extended for another year. The decision for the extension was announced after a cabinet meeting, and it comes as a delegation of ambassadors from members of the UN Security Council is visiting the region. The UN delegation's 5-day visit to Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso comes in response to a plea by Malian foreign affairs minister Abdoulaye Diop earlier this month to the UN Security Council for the creation of a new international regional security force to fight terrorism. For more on this, Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Andrea de Georgio, a freelance journalist based in the Malian capital Bamako..

Head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the decision to rescind the appointment of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as goodwill ambassador was done to uphold the high values of the WHO. Human rights groups reacted with outrage at Wednesday's appointment and Tedros said he was also pressurised by several governments. Mugabe has been blamed for the deterioration of Zimbabwe's economy, where over 90 percent of the population is without a job. The BBC's Andrew Harding reports....

Experts from academia, governments and a wide-ranging stakeholders in education from Sub-saharan countries say there is a need for collective curricular that is friendly to the African context. Speaking in Kigali Rwanda they say there is a need for concrete partnership between universities and private sectors, if communities in the respective region are to be better served. Sylvanus Karemera reports from Kigali..

Further doubts have been cast on Kenya's preparedness to hold a re-run of the presidential election next week. The original vote was nullified because of irregularities. The chairperson of the electoral commission Wafula Chebukati has said his attempts to reform the organisation have been blocked by colleagues so it would be difficult to guarantee a credible ballot. The main opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has already pulled out of the re-run, says the election should be called-off...

The Food and Agricultural Orgnisation reports that the number of people who go hungry has risen for the first time in a decade, to more than 815 million. The announcement coincides with an appeal by Pope Francis to governments to tackle migration caused by food insecurity linked to climate change and conflict. FAO's Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett explains how the agency and its partners are working together to address the root causes of rural migration...

No country is "immune" from the scourge of modern slavery and the path that many of its victims take can be similar. That’s according to Siddharth Kara, Author of the recently launched "Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective". The senior fellow at Harvard University describes it as the "dark underbelly" of economic globalization, with private sector companies exploiting free labour to maximize profit. He estimates that a total of 31.2 million people around the world are enslaved.....

The United Nations has called on African states to legislate laws that will end harmful cultural practices against women and girls such as Female Genital Mutilation. The call was made at the start of the two-day Pan African Parliament Conference on Women at the Gallagher Estate north of Johannesburg. The conference is offering a platform to review women's issues in Africa and ensure ongoing monitoring and evaluation of gender focused programmes. Our Senior Political Correspondent Tshepo Ikaneng has filed this report...

Thousands of people at Mocimboa da Praia, north of Mozambique, are living in fear following an attack that left 17 people dead including three police officers. The attacks are believed to be politically motivated, but Home Affairs Department spokesperson, Inacio Dina, has refuted those reports. More than 50 people have been arrested since the attack a week ago. Abongile Dumako reports..

South African law prescribes that prior to a mining company prospecting or building a new mine, it should engage with the community and those that will be affected by the project before and during mining activities. Public partipation helps the community understand the company's plans to mine in the area, how to manage harm to the environment and what benefits the community will receive for accepting the risk. One of the key findings of a report by graft watchdog, Corruption Watch, points out to a lack of systems in place to ensure that meaningful consultation is taking place. According to the report released in Johannesburg on Tuesday, supposed consultation sessions often end up as tick-box exercises between mining companies and traditional leaders, who frequently profit at the expense of local communities. Our reporter Selinah Ntobong attended the launch of the report and spoke to Amanda Shivamba, Programme Researcher at Corruption Watch..

At least seven people have died and 68 others injured when a tanker exploded near a petrol station in Ghana's capital, Accra. The explosion has once again kicked off a debate in the West African country about the location of gas stations in residential areas. As with previous incidents, residents believe the location of gas stations worsened the damage of the explosion over the weekend. In June 2015, a blast at a petrol station near a busy downtown Accra intersection killed at least 90 people, who were sheltering there from heavy rain and flooding. According to Kweku Segbefia, civil society activist in Ghana, authorities are still working around the clock to determine the cause of the explosion.....

The annual Desmond Tutu International Peace lecture will be held at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town Today. The lecture on "Civil War or Civil Peace" will be presented by globally recognised conflct management specialist, Advocate Vasu Gounden. Gounden has sat on several commissions investigating the impact of violence in post-apartheid South Africa. The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation says its fitting for Advocate Gounden to deliver the lecture. Chris Mabuya reports.......

Social activist, Graca Machel and late South African President Nelson Mandela's wife, says South African politics has become more about the individuals than issues currently facing the country. She was delivering the 3rd Annual Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Development Trust lecture at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape Province. Machel says the challenges facing the country are not prioritised. Mcebisi Ngqina reports...

There is no "silver bullet" to resolving the stark income disparities in sub-Saharan Africa. That's the view of the chief economist for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Africa, Ayoduele Odolusa, who points to the "Tree of Equity" in its latest report which outlines policy changes needed to promote income equality on the continent. The report reveals that despite solid economic progress over the past 25 years, poverty is still very high when compared to other developing regions. Odolusa told Natalie Hutchinson that nurturing what he calls "the seed of equity" will yield optimism for the future.

Kenya's Electoral Commission on Tuesday met opposition leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto for consultative talks ahead of fresh presidential elections due later this month. After the talks, the opposition said the electoral commission has not met its demands that it says will guarantee free elections and called for protests on Friday, while the ruling party said it was satisfied with the preparations for the polls but said it would not stop parliament from reviewing the electoral laws. Sarah Kimani reports.

The World Health Organization says it is rapidly scaling up its response to an outbreak of plague in Madagascar that has spread to the capital, Antananarivo and port towns. The disease has so far infected more than one-hundred people and claimed the lives of several people in just a few weeks. Plague is endemic in the island country, where around four-hundred cases of mostly bubonic plague are reported annually. For more on this, Amanda Matshaka spoke to WHO's Christian Lindmeier..

The Central African Republic (CAR) is facing a multifaceted array of problems that do not have a single clear solution. That's the view of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, head of the UN Stabilization Mission there (MINUSCA), who took part in a dialogue in New York this week about continuing violence in CAR.Rebel groups which control large areas of the country have displaced more than half a million people and left hundreds dead. Onanga-Anyanga said the "deeply disturbing" state of the nation requires an effective political response and strong national leadership. He spoke to Alban Mendes De Leon and began by talking about how MINUSCA is helping dozens of victims of sexual exploitation, abused by UN peacekeepers

Millions of students in low- and middle-income countries face a "learning crisis" that is widening inequality, destroying opportunity and strangling economic growth. That's the stark conclusion of the recently published World Development Report 2018, which calls for greater action through "concrete policy steps" worldwide. UNRadio spoke to its lead Authors Deon Filmer and Halsey Rogers....

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Insecurity in different provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo has forced thousands of people to seek asylum in neighbouring countries. People fleeing the recent violence and insecurity in the Kasai region in the central DRC have been granted asylum in Angola, while those forced out by armed groups and other conflicts in Tanganyika and Kivu in the Eastern side are streaming into Zambia. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports..

Labour experts attending the Zimbabwe-South Africa Social Dialogue on labour in Harare, say undocumented migrant workers in South Africa, are currently posing a headache for the labour bodies. Whilst it would be the intention of the South African government and labour unions to have migrant workers adequately represented on labour disputes, the workers are hard to track. In the absence of representation, most migrant workers are treated like slaves, receive paltry wages and are ill treated, as cheap labour. These are some of matters the two countries would be discussing in Harare during the bilateral information exchange workshop on labour law reforms and social dialogue. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

Police in Kenya on Tuesday fired tear gas on hundreds of President Uhuru Kenyata's supporters who held demonstrations outside the Supreme Court, to protest against a ruling, which annulled his election victory. The court in a majority ruling nullified the presidential election results over irregularities and illegalities in the results tallying process. The court ordered fresh elections within sixty days. Chief Justice David Maraga says threats against the judiciary have increased since the ruling. The protests come ahead of a detailed ruling on why the polls were annulled. Sarah KIMANI REPORTS.

A row has erupted in Kenya over whether or not national examination dates should be changed to pave the way for a new date for fresh presidential election. Already the election is scheduled to be held on the 17th of next month. However, due to latest reports that the French company that supplied voter kits requires at least five weeks to configure them, the country's electoral commission may be compelled to announce a new date. James Shimanyula reports..

Spanish police say they're detaining dozens of migrants every day in the port of Bilbao, and are working through the night to stop large groups of migrants attempting to stowaway on UK bound ferries. Authorities in Spain say the number of migrants appearing is increasing as the route becomes more popular, and camps around the port are growing rapidly. The camps have only started to appear in recent weeks, and authorities fear a repetition of what happened in Calais. The BBC's Gavin Lee sent this report from Bilbao..

Women are still a minority in most of the armed forces around the world and that is a privileged position. That's the view of Lieutenant Colonel Katie Hislop of the United Kingdom who is the only female commander at the UN Mission in South Sudan. She heads the UK contingent which is responsible for a few engineering projects in the country, including a new hospital in Bentiu. The hospital will serve UN mission personnel, thus freeing the nearby Médecins Sans Frontières,MSF International hospital to treat more civilians. Lieutenant Colonel Hislop speaks about the hospital conditions and her experience in South Sudan...

South African President Jacob Zuma's legal counsel has conceded that former National Prosecuting Authority,NPA head, Mkotedi Mpshe, acted irrationally when he dropped the charges against the president in 2009. This concession was made at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein where Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority were challenging a high court ruling that he face corruption charges. Mpshe dropped the charges after listening to recordings between his predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka, and former Scorpions boss, Leonard McCarthy, discussing whether the indictment against Zuma should be served before or after the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane. Teboho Letshaba reports from Bloemfontein...

A protracted legal tussle involving South African President Jacob Zuma, the Democratic Alliance and the National Prosecuting Authority is underway at the Supreme Court of Appeal. The President is applying for leave to appeal a High Court ruling which found that the decision by the NPA to drop charges against him, was irrational. In April 2009, the NPA withdrew 783 fraud, racketeering and corruption charges against President Zuma based on the so-called spy tapes. The charges stem from the 1999 Arms Deal. Teboho Letshaba reports..

Kenya's electoral commission failed to meet top officials from President Uhuru Kenyatta's ruling party and Raila Odinga's opposition group as had been planned. The commission was expected to brief the two sides on the election timetable. This development coincided with the official opening of Kenya's new parliament by Kenyatta despite the absence of opposition members of parliament. The members argued that they would have attended parliament if a new president had been sworn in. Meanwhile, a member of parliament in Kenyatta's party and a senator in Odinga's political outfit, have appeared in a Nairobi court and denied charges of making hate speeches. Their case comes up for hearing in the third week of January next year. James Shimanyula reports..

Residents of Fochville near Caltonville in South Africa's Gauteng Province, say their are living in fear after reports of five lions on the loose in the area. A land and air search has been launched to capture the predators. However, some of the community members say they are afraid to go out at night and even during the day. Wildlife experts are also worried that the longer the lions remain free, the hungrier they will become. They could then pose a danger to people. Zebilon Maine reports.....

Chinese investment in countries like Ghana has mostly been welcome. But there's one trend which is proving controversial. Slot machines have become very popular in rural parts of northern Ghana. They're Chinese made, very basic but also very popular in the West African country. And now there are concerns about school children in particular becoming addicted to this form of gambling. It's a quick way to make money but the authorities are struggling to deal with the problem. The BBC's Thomas Naadi reports from Salaga, in northern Ghana:

Directors of 3 UN agencies have visited Ethiopia to analyse the drought situation in the country. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, the International Fund for Agricultural Development President Gilbert Houngbo and the World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley, travelled to the Somali region of Ethiopia where pastoralists have been greatly affected. Channel Africa's Colleta Wanjohi has more

The BRICS group of five major emerging economies have called for a reform of the United Nations and tougher measures against terrorist groups, while denouncing North Korea's latest nuclear test. The heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have gathered in China for the group's 9th summit held under the theme 'Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future'. The five have also pledged to work together to improve global economic governance to foster a more just and equitable international order. Channel Africa spoke to Sanusha Naidoo, Senior research associate at the Institute for Global Dialogue about the significance of the summit, and some of the key issues discussed..

Chinese President XI JINGPING says emerging and developing economies should seize the opportunity presented by the 'Industrial Revolution" to promote growth through innovation. He was addressing the BRICS business forum at the coastal port city of XIAMEN yesterday. South African President Jacob Zuma has joined his counterparts from China, Brazil, India, and Russia for the annual meeting to discuss new strategies to accelerate trade, investment and technology integration. The five BRICS member states have a combined GDP of an estimated 16-point-6 trillion US dollars, which represents 42 percent of global population, and about 25 percent of the world's GDP. Tshepo Ikaneng is in XIAMEN and has filed this report..

It has been established that former Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister, Mothejoa Metsing has fled the country, raising fears of instability in the Mountain Kingdom, after the recent arrest of former Defence Minister, Tseliso Mokhosi. Mirriam Mulopo spoke to Metsing who explains about the current political situation in his country..

Hundreds of Zimbabweans marched in Harare on Wednesday in a show of support for first lady Grace Mugabe who evaded assault allegations in South Africa by claiming diplomatic immunity. The march, organised by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, came two weeks after Grace was accused of attacking a 20-year-old model at an upmarket Johannesburg hotel. Channel Africa's Simon Muchemwa has more from Harare......

Residents of a camp for internally-displaced people in he camp bSouth Sudan have worked with the UN in the country to cut incidents of crime in ty half.The Protection of Civilians site (PoC) in Bentiu which was established by the UN peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, currently accommodates 115-thousand people, all of whom have fled their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. Francis Yiribaare of Ghana is the UN Police Coordinator for the PoC site.Daniel Dickinson met him in Bentiu and asked him to describe the security challenges in and around the POC.

Reports from South Sudan say dozens of United Nations planes that had been grounded at the Juba international airport for three days, have now been officially allowed to resume flights. The grounding of the planes followed a three-day row between the Juba government and the UN over who had exclusive rights to control the airport. The UN had stationed soldiers of its Rapid protection Force at the airport - a unilateral action that angered the authorities.. James Shimanyula has more

A long running corruption investigation could bring down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is the subject of police inquiries into allegations of bribery and fraud - claims he has repeatedly denied and described as politically motivated. Earlier this month he held a rally of his own right-wing Likud party, to address the claims. The BBC's Middle East Correspondent Tom Bateman has been following events and sends this report..

International human rights experts monitoring Burundi have seen "no sign of positive evolution" in the country since June. That's according to Fatsah Ouguergouz, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, who has expressed concern over allegations of human rights violations and the restriction of certain freedoms. The Commission will present its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in September. It is based on the testimonies of Burundian refugees in neighbouring countries and in Europe, as well as of people who remain in the East African country, which has been in turmoil since April 2015 following the President's decision to run for a contested third term. Ouguergouz spoke to Alpha Diallo.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari returned home on Saturday from three months of medical leave in Britain where he received treatment for an unspecified ailment. Buhari's leave, which began on May 7 and was his second this year, left many in Nigeria questioning whether he was well enough to run the country. The refusal of officials to disclose the nature of the ailment has led to speculation about the illness. Channel Africa's Collins Nosa Atohengbe reports from Lagos

Around 7.7 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) face acute hunger; a 30 per cent increase over the last year, two UN agencies warned this week. A new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) found that the number of people requiring urgent humanitarian food assistance rose by 1.8 million, from 5.9 million. Hunger is on the rise due to escalating and prolonged conflict and displacement in central and eastern DRC, mainly in the Kasaï and Tanganyika regions, where there has been widespread violence. Jocelyne Sambira has the story.

Young people can do anything they set their mind to, a delegate from Kenya said during the 20th Session of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations. Winnie Michaels delivered this message on the margins of the conference which was held on 12 August, International Youth Day. Nearly one-thousand young leaders, changemakers and entrepreneurs from more than 100 countries were in New York for the event. Joseph Msami asked Michaels and Miss Tourism Kenya, Mourine Soro, what advice they had for the young people in their country.

With hundreds reported to have died following mudslides and extensive flooding around the capital of Sierra Leone, UN agencies are joining in with the rescue and recovery effort. Access to water, food and medical treatment, together with widespread homelessness are expected to be immediate concerns for thousands around the capital Freetown, which

The Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition rally has warned the country's electoral commission to name the date of the elections at the end of September, otherwise, an operation to oust President Joseph Kabila will start on October 1st. As a reaction, the Commission said it will call the electorate as soon as voter registration is concluded. Meanwhile the United Nations mission in the DRC believes there is no other solution for peace in that country but to hold elections according to last December's agreement. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa..

Sporadic protests have erupted in parts of Kenya, particularly in areas that strongholds of opposition leader Raila Odinga. Unconfirmed reports say several people have died but acting interior minister Dr. Fred Matiang'i is adamant that nobody has been killed and no live ammunitions have been use don protestors. The situation remains tense in the East African after the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta retained his seat as head of state. Our East African correspondent Sarah Kimani reports..

A "zero tolerance approach", preventing protection camps in war-torn South Sudan from being militarized, is the best way to keep civilians safe. That's the view of the head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the country (UNMISS), David Shearer. He was speaking in Bentiu, in the north of South Sudan, where around 115,000 people are currently living in the Mission's largest Protection of Civilians site, or POC. Last month, 22 armed men in civilian clothes were taken into custody by Mongolian peacekeepers after they tried to shelter from fighting by breaking into the camp. Daniel Dickinson spoke to Mr Shearer in the middle of Bentiu camp, and asked him to describe the scene.

Two football fans have reportedly been arrested in Senegal in connection with a stampede which killed eight supporters attending a cup soccer match in the capital Dakar last month. One of those arrested is the chairperson of the Ouakam supporters' club who allegedly failed to help authorities identify fans who triggered the stampede. On Friday, the Senegalese league declared the Dakar-based outfit wholly responsible for the tragedy which occurred after Ouakam fans threw stones and other objects at rival Stade de Mbour supporters during Senegal's League Cup final on July 15. Aboubacar Jalloh Assistant Editor at the African Press agency has more on the arrests..

State Owned Enterprises are supposed to be the pride of any nation in a functioning democracy. There has been a decline of proper and effective management of SOE's in South Africa costing the SA government millions of rands to keep them afloat. Entities like the SABC and SAA have found themselves requesting for government guarantees as a result of overspending. On the other hand the minister of finance Malusi Gigaba has been under increasing pressure to steer South Africa's economy away from further credit ratings downgrade. To help us analyse the current position we have Themba Godi: Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Public Accounts in South Africa, Cheryl Carolous Veteran Politician and a former Member of the Board of the South African Airways, and Professor William Gumede: Director of the Programme for the Management of Public Enterprises at the Wits School of Governance :OUTROThat was the Director of the Programme for the Management of Public Enterprises at the Wits School of Governance, William Gumede, and you also heard from Themba Godi: Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Public Accounts in South Africa, Cheryl Carolous Veteran Politician and a former Member of the Board of the South African Airways.They were speaking to Benjamin Moshatama…

Following the outbreak of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza H5NB virus in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe and South Africa, SADC Secretariat, in collaboration with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, organised a regional technical meeting to assess the preparedness, response capacities and actions of member states to the recent outbreaks of HPAI in the sub-region. For more on this, Wandile Kallipa spoke to Doctor Patrick Otto, FAO sub-regional Livestock officer for Southern Africa..

Does Africa's biggest economy need a new national airline? The Nigerian government has approved nearly five million dollars of funding to help create one. The last incarnation, Nigeria Airways, collapsed 14 years ago under the weight of massive debts. The government's also dismissed speculation that two existing but ailing airlines, Arik Air and Aero, will be merged to form Nigeria's new national carrier. They were both taken over by the state within the past year. The BBC's Ijeoma Ndukwe reports from Lagos..

With over twenty million people reliant on aid, Yemen is the world's single largest humanitarian crisis. The war-torn nation is currently in the grip of a deadly cholera outbreak. Experts of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expect the current number of suspected cholera cases to at least double by the end of 2017 to over 600-thousand. ICRC president Peter Maurer is currently on a five day visit to Yemen to discuss the humanitarian situation with country's officials. More from the ICRC's Ralph El Hage.

The family of late South African President Nelson Mandela, has called on the executors of his estate to get to the bottom of controversy surrounding the publication a book called MANDELA'S LAST YEARS. The book which was authored by Mandela's doctor Vejay Ramlakan had to be pulled off shelves just days after it was published. This is after his widow Graca Machel threatened legal action against Ramlakan‚ arguing the book breached patient-doctor confidentiality. Amos Phago has more

The United Nations wants a solution to the crisis at East Jerusalem's Temple Mount to be resolved before Friday prayers this week fearing an escalation in violence that has shaken the city for more than a week. Israel's installation of metal detectors at entrances to the holy site - also known as Haram esh-Sharif - after two Israeli policemen were shot and killed by Israeli-Arab attackers on July 14th, has provoked violence including the stabbing to death of three members of the same Israeli family. The renewed violence prompted a meeting of the Security Council Monday after three Palestinians were also shot dead in clashes with Israeli forces; as the UN urges de-escalation and for the status quo of the Temple Mount to be maintained. Sherwin Bryce Pearse has more

The British public relations company Bell Pottinger is still feeling the heat over a divisive campaign it ran in South Africa on behalf of a controversial business family. The firm has just been ordered to give evidence at a hearing in London next month, after it was accused of stirring up racial hatred to distract attention from corruption allegations against the Guptas and their close friend President Jacob Zuma. The BBC's Andrew Harding has been investigating what Bell Pottinger did, and looking at the far bigger political scandal lying behind it all..

Globally, the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents are improving, even in the poorest nations. The transformation is due to interventions promoted by one of the most successful global multi-stakeholder partnerships in history, Every Woman Every Child. This massive public-private effort, was launched by the United Nations in 2010. For more on this, Siphumelele Zondi spoke to Health economist and Executive Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Helga Fogstad...

Teenage pregnancies are a big problem among school girls in Kenya with parents and teachers trying to find a way of tackling the issue. And one area in western Kenya may have identified a major cause...motorcycle taxi operators. This is because most of the girls in the areas surrounding Kakamega town walk long distances to school, and so taxi operators have been giving rides to the girls in return for sexual favours. The community has now bought bicycles for the girls. The BBC's Muliro Telewa visited a school in western Kenya..

Hunger is rising sharply across the East Africa region following the third season in a row without sufficient rain to grow crops. That's according to a new alert from the Food and Agriculture Organization ,FAO, which says that crops are scorched, pastures dry, and thousands of livestock dead. Rural families in the affected areas need urgent and effective support said FAO, and the plight is being made worse by an invasive pest called the fall armyworm, which is eating its way across the continent. Sandra Ferrari asked Alessandro Costantino, an FAO economist based in Rome, for more details.

Kenyans have backed the decision by the country's salary and remuneration commission to reduce salaries for state officers including the president, his deputy and the members of parliament. In a raft of reforms announced on Monday, the commission said the move would cut the country's ballooning wage bill by 35 percent. Kenyans although skeptical that the new guidelines will be implemented say the decision has been too long coming. Sarah Kimani reports..

ANC and South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says public sector corruption threatens the sovereignty and the economy of the country. Ramaphosa was addressing delegates at the SACP 14th National Congress currently underway in Boksburg, on the east Rand. The ANC is embroiled in a fiercely-contested leadership race ahead of its national elective congress in December. Tshepo Ikaneng has compiled this report..

Several South African political parties are calling for Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's head. They also want her to be held personally liable for the legal costs of a review application to challenge her remedial action involving the Reserve Bank and Parliament. This follows her announcement that she would not oppose the application by the Reserve Bank and Parliament to set aside her remedial action. It instructed parliament to amend the Constitution in order to change the Reserve Bank's mandate. The EFF, UDM, ACDP and DA have accused Mkhwebane of gross incompetence, saying she is not fit to hold office. Abongwe Kobokana reports.

A plan has been unveiled to protect unaccompanied refugee and migrant children from violence and abuse as they head to - and travel within - Europe. The proposals are contained in a document called The Roadmap - the work of the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Rescue Committee. A key recommendation includes gaining the trust of youngsters who often have no one to rely on, leaving them at the mercy of traffickers, as the UN Refugee Agency's Diane Goodman explains...

South Africa has lauded the adoption of a first ever historic and legally-binding treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. After three weeks of final negotiations in New York, a majority of UN member states voted in favour of the draft treaty, a process that was entirely boycotted by all nuclear weapons powers and a majority of NATO members. The new treaty, which will open for signatures later this year, covers a full range of nuclear weapons related activities, prohibiting the undertaking by any State party to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports..

The United Nations has announced that the historic Centre of Vienna has been added to the list of World Heritage in Danger because of a planned high-rise building. The World Heritage Committee is responsible for monitoring the conservation state of conservation of these so-called natural or man-made "wonders of the world" and deciding which places go on the list. Typical threats that lead to danger listing include armed conflict, natural disaster and pollution. On the line from Poland, Isabelle Anatole-Gabriel, the Chief of Europe and North America Unit at the World Heritage Centre in UNESCO explained to Jocelyne Sambira the significance of this move.

The ANC has proposed at its policy conference that the South African Reserve Bank be nationalised. Although the party says it respects the independence of the central bank, there has been a general agreement that the bank being in private hands is a problem. The proposed recommendations will be taken to branches for further decisions and final decisions taken in December at the national elective conference. Amina Acram reports

Zimbabwean war veterans are bitter with President Robert Mugabe's failure to deal with Minister Jonathan Moyo, over social media attacks against senior party officials. Professor Moyo the country's minister of higher and tertiary education is known for his Twitter posts in which he is allegedly picking fights with almost everyone in the ruling party. Simon Muchemwa, has more from Harare..

Peacekeepers from the UN Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, are helping to provide a much needed sense of security to displaced people in a small town in the north of the country. Unlike many displaced communities in other parts of South Sudan, these people are not fleeing the conflict which has troubled Africa's newest nation for over three years; instead they are refugees who have fled across the border from Sudan, just 30 kilometres to the north. Daniel Dickinson reports from the town of Bunj.

Newly appointed special Envoy to Burundi Michel Kafando has completed a three-day visit to the country. Kafando met with several leaders and his key role is to mediate an end to a deep and sometimes violent political crisis that began in April 2015. Kafando was appointed last month and is the fourth UN envoy to be named since June 2015 after the Burundian government objected to his predecessors. Bernard Bankukira reports.

The Moringa tree, famously known for its medicinal purposes and nutritional values to human health, is a tree native to northern India, but today it is common throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa. In Kwale county on Kenya's south coast - a private developer growing a Maringo plantation on some 8 and a half hectares, has been a major contributor to the country's economy. Our reporter Diana Wanyonyi visited the farm where the Moringa Export Processing Zone operates on, and filed this report…

The Central African Republic is still scarred by a bloody conflict that raged from 2013 to 2015 when a power struggle between rival militias descended into sectarian violence. Even now, security remains precarious in the CAR and outbreaks of violence continue. In the last 6 months, clashes between new coalitions of armed groups have displaced 100-thousand additional civilians. These people experienced war at close range-- many witnessed atrocities and lost friends and family members. They lost their homes and livelihoods. As a result, huge numbers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the country has few resources for mental health. Indeed, there is only one psychiatrist and two psychologists. They work in the country's sole mental health ward in the capital, Bangui. Here's BBC Reporter Brenna Daldorph..

The Board of Health Funders of Southern Africa will convene in South Africa's city of Cape Town in July under the theme: "Private Sector Embracing Universal Healthcare". With the country's government progressing towards implementing the National Health Insurance, a single fund to cover all people no matter their income, the four-day meeting will explore new territories and identify areas in which the private healthcare sector can become involved in the implementation of universal health coverage. Dr. Clarence Mini is the Acting managing director of the Board of Health Funders' of southern Africa..

More international support is needed for Somalia so that scores of citizens who left the country decades ago can return home. That's the hope expressed by Ambassador Mohamed Affey, Special Envoy for the Somali Refugee Situation with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and other countries in the region are hosting some 900thousand Somalis, many of whom fled civil war nearly 30 years ago. He elaborates...

A young mother who escaped conflict in South Sudan is grateful to have found shelter and safety at a UN-run refugee camp in neighbouring Uganda.Akwi Gairi fled Eastern Equatoria state last month, with her small children and a baby on her back, after her husband was killed. Uganda is hosting more than a million refugees from countries like South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is placing a strain on resources. The government and the UN are this week hosting a "solidarity summit" in the capital, Kampala, to drum up support for refugees and the communities hosting them. Jocelyne Sambira met Gairi at the Impevi camp reception centre in northern Uganda where she's been living for almost a month.

It's all eye on the South African constitutional court this morning. The highest court on the land is expected to make a ruling in an application brought by the United Democratic Movement that a secret ballot be allowed during a vote of no confidence debate against president Jacob Zuma. The application is also supported by a number opposition parties and civil society groupings. Amos Phago reports.

A film featuring Syrian refugees that's inspired by their harrowing experiences - as well as lighter moments - shows how successfully integrating them is possible with a little compassion. No Monsters In Berlin, tells the story of an Indian immigrant in the German city who forges a bond with a Syrian journalist forced to flee his country's conflict. The award-winning feature was presented on the sidelines of a global debate on migration at the UN in Geneva, in partnership with the UN Together campaign against xenophobia and discrimination. Co-writer and star Mala Ghedia explained the film's key message to Daniel Johnson.

Kenya has "neglected" the "blue economy opportunities" presented by taking care of the ocean in the past, and must be a better steward in the future.That's according to Kenyan environment, water and natural resources minister, Judi Wakhungu, who led the east African nation's delegation to the historic UN Ocean Conference.She said Kenya had to increase the amount of coastline that was under protection, and help preserve livelihoods.

South Africa's ruling ANC Youth League has thrown its weight behind former AU commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to succeed president Jacob Zuma as ANC leader when the governing party elects new leadership in December. The consensus was reached during the League's national executive committee meeting over the weekend. It was earlier reported that the League was divided over a preferred top six list. Amos Phago reports.... .

Just as people with disabilities represent a diverse cross-section, society must come up with diverse and inclusive solutions that protect their human rights.That's the opinion of UN human rights expert Catalina Devandas Aguilar, speaking ahead of the start of a three-day meeting to take stock of progress since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in 2006.Mark Petimezas sat down with Ms Devandas Aguilar, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, ahead of the event, which begins on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York.He began by asking her to define what progress really means.

Kenya has launched a helpline for women to report cases of gender based violence during the campaign and electioneering period. Using the toll free line, women running for political office, their campaign teams as well as voters will be able to report any cases of violence meted against them. The helpline is an initiative of Kenya's Gender ministry, the National Police Service, United States Aid Agency, USAID and Health Assistance Kenya, a local NGO. Kenya goes to the polls in August this year. Sarah Kimani reports..

Prime Minister Theresa May is facing calls to quit after her election gamble to win a stronger mandate backfired, throwing British politics into turmoil and potentially delaying the start of Brexit negotiations. Prime Minister May conservatives remain the largest party; however the party is losing seats. Results so far suggest that May's party could struggle to retain its overall majority in Parliament. Here is UK Prime Minister Theresa May

To mark the UN Ocean Conference, one African recycling company, has been raising awareness of marine , together with UN agencies on the Kenyan coast this week. Sam Ngaruiya, is Chief Executive of the recycling company, Regeneration Africa, and he's been down at the beach in the coastal town of Watamu, talking to Newton Kanhema of the UN Information Centre based in Nairobi. As the wind howled around, Sam explained to Newton that his company pays for the plastic rubbish, and turn it into useable products, creating a win-win for the environment.

Residents of Burundi's capital Bujumbura have hailed East African leaders for supporting to Burundi despite sanctions imposed by the European Union. In a march organized in the capital this weekend, marchers, mainly members of the ruling party, called on all EAC members to remain united against the EU sanctions against Burundi. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura .

There is no time for complacency" in the fight against AIDS, the UN Secretary-General warned in his latest report on halting and reversing the global epidemic. Delegates at the UN General Assembly held a debate on Thursday on how to reinvigorate the international AIDS response in order to fulfill a promise to end the scourge by 2030. According to UN estimates, more than 36 point 7 million people are living with HIV globally, while more than 18 million are on life-saving treatment. Jocelyne Sambira has the story.

Statistician General Pali Lehohla says South Africa's justice system is not doing enough to reduce crime. Lehohla released the 2016/2017 crime survey data which indicates most crimes are committed in people's homes. The survey shows that white communities are more likely to report crime than black communities. Phanuel Shuma has more from Pretoria

United Nations health experts say smoking "threatens us all" and, increasingly, the planet's poorest communities. This as today marks World No Tobacco Day. In an appeal to more Member States to put in place firmer tobacco controls, the World Health Organization says such action could reduce massive environmental damage, too. Up to 40 per cent of coastal and urban litter comes from cigarette butts. More from head of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative Dr Vinayak Prasad..

Former treasurer general of South Africa's ruling ANC, Matthews Phosa, has warned National Executive Committee member who are supporting President Jacob Zuma to stay in power that they are running a risk of people loosing confidence to the movement and the leadership. Delivering the O.R Tambo memorial Lecture at Sekakene village in Limpopo Province, Phosa reiterated calls for Zuma to resign. Rudzani Tshivhase has more

Trade between South Africa and the rest of the continent has increased by more than 400-billion rand since 1994. This was revealed by International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane when she delivered her budget vote in Parliament yesterday. International human rights violations, controversies over South Africa's foreign policy and even the outcome of the Nquthu by-elections in KwaZulu-Natal province came up during the debate. Mercedes Besent reports..

As scores of countries marked the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula on tuesday, advocacy groups used the opportunity to call for world leaders to do more to end what is often described as one of the most serious and tragic injuries that can occur during childbirth. Fistula is a childbirth complication due to obstructed labour. An estimated two million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab region, Latin America and the Caribbean are living with this injury, with some hundreds of thousands cases occurring every year. Dr Akinyele Dairo, Practice Manager for Sexual and Reproductive Health for the UN Population Fund, UNFPA in East and Southern Africa Region sheds some light on what Fistula is..

There were over 31 million new cases of internal displacement caused by conflict, violence or disaster in 2016 and the Democratic Republic of Congo ranks as the top country for displacement cause by conflict. These are among the findings of the Global Report on Internal Displacement launched in New York - a research document produced by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council. And while conflict remains a huge driver, the vast majority of new displacements are associated with disasters, often related to extreme weather. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

South Africa's Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Luwellyn Landers, has called on Africans to ensure that the mineral resources in their different countries benefit them more than outsiders. Landers has also called on them to embrace their Africanism and not to be ashamed of it. He raised this during the "Africa day" celebrations at the Mahikeng campus of the North West University which was carried out under the theme of "Internationalisation and Social Cohesion." Sisi Segalo was there ...

South Africa's governing, African National Congress in Parliament says it wants an Ad Hoc committee to be established to among others, look at doing away with anonymous donors or funders. Its chief whip, Jackson Mthembu says they want the committee to consider a model for the public and private funding of political parties. He says the 150-million rand, from the Independent Electoral Commission, to be proportionally divided among 13 parties in Parliament, is not sufficient. Zalene Merrington reports..

Violence and abuse against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people,LGBTI, has to stop, including in the workplace, UN staff said on Wednesday. UN-GLOBE, the group representing the organization's LGBTI workers, made the appeal on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia,IDAHOT. The day is held on 17 May to commemorate the World Health Organization's decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. UN-GLOBE's call has the support of UN Geneva Director-General Michael Møller, as the organization's Gurchaten Sandhu explained to Daniel Johnson.

Human Rights Watch says Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic have sexually exploited or abused at least 13 women and girls since 2015, including at least one rape, and threatened some victims to remain silent. The Ugandan military had been deployed in the country since 2009 as a part of the African Union's Regional Task Force to eliminate the Uganda rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army but recently announced it is withdrawing its troops. Lewis Mudge, Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch, specifically focusing on the Central African Republic says the number of women abused is much more than the number that was interviewed by Human Rights Watch..... He spoke to Gosego Dingake......

The United Nations warns that by next month, more than 5 million people in Nigeria's northeastern states, will be facing severe food shortages. Aid agencies say they need more than a billion dollars to help people who have fled their homes seeking refuge from Boko Haram militants over the past eight years. The BBC's Jimeh Saleh visited the refugee camps to see how people are coping.

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa defended his decision to apologise for the killing of mine workers in Marikana in August 2012. Ramphosa was answering questions in parliament. He also defended the position of his party to toe the party line if it has to vote against a Motion of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma. Mercedes Besent tells us more........

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has challenged fellow African leaders to respect national borders which colonialists left. Mutharika's speech, which he delivered at the opening of the 14th Ordinary Session of Pan-African Parliament in South Africa this week, was a veiled reference to the border row between Malawi and Tanzania over ownership of Lake Malawi, which is called Lake Nyasa in the eastern African country..........- with Tanzania claiming part of the lake. The dispute is being handled by former presidents of South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique, Thabo Mbeki, Festus Mogae and Joaquim Chissano, respectively. To discuss this further we have on the line our Malawian correspondent George Mhango.....

South Africans can look forward to more efficient and comfortable rail travel. President Jacob Zuma yesterday launched the New Metro Full Train Service aimed at revitalising the rail industry. The programme is part of the government programme to refurbish and build new rail infrastructure. The President has urged citizens to look after their trains and other rail infrastructure, condemning incidents of vandalisation of trains. Tshepo Ikaneng has more.

The situation at Coligny in South Africa's North West province, still remains tense following yesterday's violent protests. Three houses were torched, and several journalists assaulted and had their cameras damaged by some farmers. This is after two men, Phillip Schutte and Pieter Dorewaard, who are accused of killing a 19 year old boy, Matlhomola Mosweu, were released on bail of five thousand rand each. The accused say Mosweu jumped off their bakkie, while they were taking him to the local police station for stealing sunflower. Patrick Dintwa reports ...

Young people from thirteen African countries have spoken out against what they call exclusion from the policy table. At the Regional conference on higher education in Djibouti, they have called for more consideration by government when national planning is done and implemented. Channel Africa's Coletta Wanjohi has more............

Twenty million people are at risk of starving to death. For the first time in living memory famine has simultaneously gripped three countries on the continent - Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria -and Yemen in the Middle East. The looming humanitarian crisis is part of the discussions taking place at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban. Non-profit and civil society organisations have called for greater political will on the part of Africa's leaders in increasing investments in agriculture and ending conflicts which exacerbate the effects of drought. Senior Political Reporter Busi Chimombe reports...

Last November, rains failed for the third year in a row in some parts of Somalia, resulting in a drought that has put millions at risk of famine. The International Organization for Migration has been on an assignment to document the impact on people and the efforts to assist them. Muse Mohammed, a Multimedia Officer with the International Organization for Migration elaborates..

US President Donald Trump has pledged to get tougher on organised crime - and is focusing on the notorious gang MS-13. Trump has argued that violent crime in America is largely caused by illegal immigration. He has promised a new era of justice with several executive orders aimed at reducing crime and expanding immigration enforcement. The country's Attorney General Jeff Sessions carried President Trump's message to Brentwood, in the state of New York, where MS-13 has made headlines for their brutality. The BBC's Nada Tawfik reports.

When responding to violence committed by terrorist groups, governments must ensure that they are not failing to respect international human rights standards. That's the message from UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, speaking to reporters in Geneva on Monday. Dianne Penn reports on his wide-ranging press conference on concerns in various parts of the globe.

The music of the 1950s Jazz Epistles represented freedom! So says pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim as he prepares to take the stage in New York later tonight to celebrate Freedom Day. In a concert billed as an international reunion for some of the surviving band members, Trumpet great Hugh Masekela was forced to withdraw at the last moment after falling and injuring his shoulder. But another South Africa great, Dorothy Masuka, will open tonight's show, ensuring as one does in this business, that the show must go on. Sherwin Bryce-Pease caught up with the icons during their separate rehearsals for tonight's showcase....

Renowned South African writer and struggle icon Wally Serote, who received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the University of Johannesburg yesterday has expressed his concerns about the political climate in this country. Serote there are many sacrifices that the people of South African made to gain this freedom and he has warned the ruling ANC not turn a blind eye on that. He says the ruling party needs to be saved. Horisani Sithole reports...

Hundreds of Burundians took to the streets of the capital Bujumbura this past weekend to protest against the request by the facilitator in the inter-Burundian dialogue to grant immunity to suspects in the 2015 failed coup plot to allow them to participate in the talks. Protesters asked for the suspected 2015 coup plotters to be extradited to Burundi to face justice. During the protests, demonstrators slammed Rwandan President Paul Kagame for his alleged involvement in the Burundi crisis. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura.

South Africa's finance minister believes there are many possibilities for the country's economy to grow. That was his message after arriving in Washington yesterday to participate in the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. And despite the whisperings of economic policy changes down the road, Malusi Gigaba believes the focus will rather be on properly implementing existing policies that have been slow to deliver required dividends to the majority of South Africa. Correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease looks back on the opening of the high level segment of meetings in the United States capital, that included a strong focus on issues globalization in a climate when protectionism and some country's looking inwardly are dominating the global economic narrative.

Seventeen new mass graves have been found in an area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that's seen months of clashes between government soldiers and local militia, the UN said on Wednesday. In a call for an independent investigation, the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, said that DRC troops were reportedly responsible, after clashes with Kamuina Nsapu members in Kasai provinces in late March, which claimed at least 74 civilian lives. The development in the vast and resource-rich country comes amid ongoing uncertainty linked to President Joseph Kabila, whose second term in office ended last December. Here's OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell speaking to Daniel Johnson.

West African migrants are being bought and sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya. Trafficked people passing through Libya have previously reported violence, extortion and slave labour. But new testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the trade in human beings has become so normalised that people are being traded in public. Leonard Doyle - Director, Media and Communication Division at the International Organisation for Migration explains about migrants being bought and sold in Libya............

Warring parties in South Sudan are being urged by the most senior UN official in the country to show restraint in the face of an escalation in violence and to remember their responsibility towards protecting civilians from conflict. Fresh fighting has broken out between Government and opposition forces in a number of locations including Raga in the west of South Sudan, Waat in Jonglei to the east and in the area of Wunkur and Tonga in the northern Upper Nile region. It follows recent fighting in Pajok and a week ago in Wau town and the surrounding area which led to the displacement of thousands of people. Daniel Dickinson, the Spokesperson for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has been speaking to Jocelyne Sambira about the situation in the country and how the clashes are affecting civilians.

Russia has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for the Syrian Government to fully comply with an investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Idlib Province last week. The resolution, introduced by the United Kingdom, France and the United States required the Syrian Government to provide the joint-UN and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons investigators with detailed air operations and immediate access to relevant airbases where its believed the chemical attacks may have been launched. 10 countries voted in favour of the draft, three abstained including China with Bolivia joining Russia's veto. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

South African cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro, popularly known as Zapiro, has defended the use of rape as a theme in his latest cartoon about state capture. The cartoon depicts a rape scene where President Jacob Zuma is buckling up his trousers, as one of the Gupta brothers prepares to "rape" a woman depicted wearing a South African flag, with State Security Minister David Mahlobo, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini and The New Age editor Moegsien Williams pinning her down. Shapiro explains his motive for the cartoon...

Some 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled into Uganda after a recent attack on Pajok town in South Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has confirmed. The UN received reports of fighting between Government troops and opposition fighters there last week and is trying to follow-up on reports of civilians killed in the area. The majority of residents of Pajok are from the minority Acholi ethnic group. Jocelyne Sambira has the story.

South Africa's former Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan and ruling ANC Treasurer General, Zweli Mkhize, were snubbed by ANC Youth League supporters during the memorial service of the late ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada in Durban. The two had their speeches interrupted as youth league members sang pro Zuma songs. ANC Provincial Chairperson Sihle Zikalala condemned the use of memorial and funeral services to purge each other and talk about party internal problems in publi. Meanwhile Gordhan called for unity in the ANC and warned against what he says is the use of to influence certain views. Vusi Makhosini reports..

A youth activist from Ghana is urging African governments to prioritize the sexual and reproductive rights of the continent's young people. Asenam Amuzu represents a non-profit called Dance4Life which empowers young people to protect their health and promote safe sexual choices. Ms Amuzu is taking part in the latest session of the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD), which concludes this Friday in New York. She spoke to Joseph Msami about her work and the importance of participating in the UN meeting.

When considering how terrorists sometimes abuse the asylum system, it must be remembered that refugees are "often" their first victims. That was the warning from Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, at the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. He was one of the panellists speaking at a briefing of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee on Wednesday.Matthew Wells reports.

South Africa will this Friday appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court, ICC, to argue why the court should not make a finding of non-compliance against the country for its failure to arrest President Omar Al Bashir when he attended an African Union Summit in South Africa in June 2015. In December 2016, the ICC issued a decision to convene a public hearing under Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute to discuss issues relevant to its determination of whether to make a finding of non-compliance by South Africa. To this end, the ICC has invited South Africa to make written and oral submissions at that hearing, which is to take place in The Hague. Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh is the executive director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre..

The newly appointed South African Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba, says there a number of positive milestones that South Africa has achieved and that it would not be prudent to think that changing a single individual could cause a ratings downgrade. Gigaba responded to questions about the latest developments in the country which saw former finance minister Pravin Gordhan fired by President Jacob Zuma and the impact this could have on the country's sovereign rating. The minister was addressing the media at the South African Revenue Service offices in Pretoria where the outcome of the revenue collections for the 2016 to 2017 financial year was announced. Morafe Tabane

Malawi's Special Law Commission has recommended wide sweeping changes to electoral laws that would see, among others, the country adopting the 50+1 system for electing the president. George Mhango has more from Blantyre

Leader of South Africa's main opposition party, DA,Mmusi Maimane says President Jacob Zuma's decision to fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas is an "act of complete state capture. And UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says the main target of the reshuffle was the National Treasury, and the rest of the Cabinet did not make any sense. President Zuma stepped back from appointing controversial former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe as finance minister, despite strong rumours linking him to the position. For more analysis on this, Aldrin Sampear and Palesa Chubisi spoke to Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe......

The funeral service of South African struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada has reflected the unhappiness of some in the ruling ANC about the party's current leadership. The 87 year old Kathrada was buried at the West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg yesterday. Last year Kathrada stirred up controversy when he wrote an open letter to President Jacob Zuma asking him to step down following the Constitutional Court ruling on Nkandla. And yesterday former President Kgalema Motlanthe got a standing ovation after reading out excerpts of that letter. Ntebo Mokobo reports..

There is more turmoil in the education field in Cameroon. Teachers in the country's eight French-speaking regions have joined their colleagues on strike in its two English-speaking regions. Francophone teachers say they are owed salaries from as far back as seven years. "No pay, no school" were among the signs some of the hundreds of teachers from Cameroon's secondary schools were holding Tuesday at their rally outside the Ministry of Finance in Yaounde. Channel Africa's Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaounde..

The Former Chairperson of the African Union,Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says the international community must put more pressure on the United Nations to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in the middle east. Dlamini-Zuma delivered a Palestine solidarity lecture in Rustenburg here in South Africa, as part of the annual #IsraeliApartheidWeek campaign. Flanked by the Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver Surty and the Minister of International Relations - Maite Nkoana Mashabane, Dr Dlamini -Zuma emphasized the ruling party's commitment to the end of the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. Itumeleng Kgajane reports.

Following successful elections, the longer-term objective for Somalia and the international community "has to be" to prevent famine from "ever happening again. That's the view of the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, UNSOM, Michael Keating. He was at UN Headquarters in New York to address the Security Council on conditions in Somalia, which despite major political advances, still faces major challenges from drought, and the extremist militants of Al-Shabaab. He told Council members Somalia was experiencing a "moment of both tragedy and hope. Alban Mendes de Leon spoke to him after the meeting.

Interim Chief Executive of South Africa's power utility Eskom ,Matshela Koko, has signed a new 5 YEAR electricity sale agreement with the Republic of Namibia's Nampower The signing took place on the sidelines of the Southern African Power Pool meeting in Lesotho's capital Maseru. Koko says this deal brings Eskom closer to its vision to contribute 1 poit 5 percent of GDP and be independent of the fiscus. Nthakoana Ngatane reports from Maseru:

The New York Police Department has stepped up security near British missions to the United States, as a precaution after the terrorist attack near the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday. This as the White House immediately offered its full support to the British Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice. London Metropolitan Police have confirmed that four people died, including a police officer and the assailant, while at least 20 people have injured. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Rural women can be "powerful economic agents" but policy makers should recognise their needs in order for them to "unleash" their potential, an expert from the UN food agency has said. Hajnalka Petrics is a Gender and Development Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Petrics was at UN Headquarters for the 61st Commission on the Status of Women. She spoke to Lucy Dean about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - CEDAW and the role of FAO in implementing it.

The poor have gotten poorer in South Africa over the last three years, as economic growth has declined steadily. The IMF's Senior Resident Representative in South Africa, Montfort Mlachila- has presented an economic outlook for sub-saharan Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He listed contributing factors such as tighter financing conditions, high unemployment levels, drought and political instability. Minoshni Pillay reports...

South African Constitutional Court Judges of were left frustrated after South African Social Security Agency, SASSA, and Cash Payment Service,CPS, representatives failed to answer key questions about the social grant payment debacle. The debacle is due to a deal between social security agency SASSA and CPS whose contract will end on March 31. This led non profit organisation Black Sash and other organisations to approach the Constitutional Court for intervention into the matter. Pearl Magubane has more....

An original and personal vision of what development means to Africa has been unveiled in a new exhibition at the UN in Geneva. With artwork from all 54 countries on the continent, organizers of the Light of Africa show claim it's the first time such a feat has been achieved. Curator Jean-Michel Champault, from UN partner African Artists For Development, walks Daniel Johnson through the collection; get ready for some surprises…

South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, removing her from office over a graft scandal involving big business that has gripped the country for months. Park becomes South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office. A presidential election will be held in 60 days, according to the constitution. Journalist Jason Strother spoke to the BBC from Seoul........

The Food and Agriculture Organisation is of the view that women in rural areas can play an important role in fighting hunger and malnutrition and poverty. Brave Disale, Director of FAO's Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division, says in developing countries, women make up 45% of the agricultural labour force. Disale explains how improving women's access to services and technology can help them increase their yield and as a result, lift people out of poverty.

The United Nations says humanitarian crisis in Nigeria's North East may linger, if it is not tackled within the next eighteen months. The UN Security Council stated this during their visit to Nigeria, and is asking the international community, and the Nigerian government to redouble their efforts. The team went through communities affected by Boko Haram insurgency and the camps housing internally displaced people in the city of Maiduguri which has witnessed series of attacks by suicide bombers in recent times: Collins Atohengbe reports

The third East African Community Legislative assembly kicked off in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Monday, without some of its members. Five Burundian members to the house skipped the sitting with regional house speaker Daniel Kidega threatening to take some measures. Channel Africa's Sylivannus Karemera has more from Kigali

The South African parliament's public money watch dog, SCOPA says it's angry about the resignation of the newly appointed Director-General of Department of Social Development Zane Dangor over the South African Social Security Agency debacle. Dangor tendered his resignation on Friday but is still expected to serve three months' notice at the Department. There has also been reaction from some political parties to Dangors' resignation. Mercedes Besent reports..

South African telecoms giant MTN says it made a two-point-six billion rand loss last year -- the company's first - after receiving a huge fine in Nigeria. It says financial results for 2016 reflect the most challenging year in the company's 22-year history. Overall performance was hindered by lower than expected growth in South Africa and Nigeria - as well as the depreciation of the rand against the dollar and the continued impact of a 13 billion rand fine by Nigerian authorities. MTN was fined for failing to disconnect unregistered mobile accounts. The mobile company says it also faces tariff declines and a strict regulatory environment. Amina Accram reports..

The American government has promised to help Kenya in fighting radicalisation and terrorism among the youth. This was said on Monday during the launch of the Kwale County action plan on Countering Violent Extremism, on Kenya's south coast region. The action plan comes as a result of the emerging large numbers of youths who have been recruited to join Al shabaab militia in Somali. Diana Wanyonyi reports from Mombasa..

People in South Sudan are "living in fear" because of ethnically-based killings and other violations such as rape, arbitrary arrests and kidnappings, the Director of Human Rights at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan has said. Eugene Nindorera, who is also the representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the African country, was recently in New York to brief Member States on the situation of there. The violence has continued unabated since forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to then Vice President Riek Machar started fighting again in July 2016. The violence has now spread from the capital, Juba, to the oil-producing Unity State, to previously unaffected areas like the Greater Equatoria Region. Nindorera explains...

South African anti apartheid struggle veteran, Kwedi Mkhaliphi says the late PAC founding member, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe's life should be equally celebrated as that of the late president Nelson Mandela's. Yesterday marked 39 years since the death of PAC founding member, Robert Sobukwe. Sobukwe played a vital role in the fight against apartheid, after breaking away from the ANC and instigated a revolt against pass laws. He spent six years on Robben Island. After his release, he was confined to house arrest in Kimberley, where he died of Lung Cancer. The Northern Cape Provincial Government is now in talks with the National Heritage Council to turn Sobukwe's house into a museum. Reginald Witbooi reports

UN Under-Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien, says about 1 point 5 billion US Dollars is urgently needed to deliver humanitarian aid to people living in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. Extremists, including those belonging to the Boko Haram terrorist group, have destabilized much of the Lake Chad Basin, triggering a humanitarian crisis. O'Brien has been speaking to Jocelyne Sambira about how chronic poverty, a changing climate and violent conflict have been affecting the region. He began by explaining what "Lake Chad Basin" means and why it's on the "brink of catastrophe".

Acting South African national police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane, says the ongoing public spat between him and police watchdog body, IPID, is not good for the image of the South African Police Service and the country. Phahlane was briefing parliament's police oversight committee. He is being investigated by IPID over his expensive lifestyle. Police top brass were also grilled by MPs over the Rosettenville instability in Gauteng Province. Zalene Merrington reports...

The United Nations Children's Fund,UNICEF, says its facing serious challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo. About two million children are suffering from malnutrition in that country and the number of internally displaced people increase daily due to the presence armed groups in eastern part of the country. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa.

Agriculture remains one of the main pillars of the South African economy that is yet to be fully transformed. That's the view of the country's deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Bheki Cele, speaking on the sidelines of the Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project Economic Summit in New York. The event marking its 20th anniversary is the brainchild of civil right's leader Reverend Jesse Jackson with the aim of radically transforming economies and creating new growth paths for the previously and currently disadvantaged. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The decision by The Gambian government to remain in the International Criminal Court has been commended by human rights groups as a victory. In his first major foreign policy decision, The Gambian President Adama Barrow's administration confirmed that the west African country will remain a member of the International Criminal Court , overturning his predecessor- Jahyah Jammeh's decision to withdraw from the tribunal. Jammeh had cited the court's focus on prosecuting only Africans as a reason for the withdrawal. West Africa Director of Human rights organization-Article 19, Fatou Jagne, tells us more about the significance of The Gambia's decision to remain in the tribunal........

Malawi's power utility, the Electricity Supply Corporation, ESCOM, is to add 70 megawatts of power to the national power grid through the use of solar power supplied by Independent Power Producers, IPPs). Escom has since held a pre-bid meeting with interested Independent Power Producers IPPs on what is expected during the pending bidding process and . George Mhango reports

Societies need to "commit" to their young people in order to fight violent extremism effectively, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador said. Deeyah Khan is the UN Cultural Organization UNESCO's Goodwill Ambassador for artistic freedom and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. For her film, Jihad: A story of the Others, Khan spent two years interviewing active and former Islamist extremists from Europe and North America to find out what makes young people vulnerable to radicalization. Speaking to Lucy Dean, she called for greater compassion from individuals and societies to ensure that young people are not "left behind".

Government says the South African diamonds and precious metals regulator is in talks with the mining qualification authority to establish a cutting and polishing qualification. The World federation of Diamond Bourses pointed out in 2013 that the country's diamond cutting and polishing industry was in distress. There are currently less than 600 skilled cutters and polishers as opposed to 4-thousand-500 over twenty years ago. Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane explained the initiative to the Young leaders Forum at the 2017 Mining Indaba in Cape Town. Amina Accram reports

2017 "must be a year of decisions", where political deadlock in Libya is broken in order to restore "basic services" to the people. That's one of the key messages delivered by the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, Martin Kobler.The UN brokered the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement in December 2015, which aimed to establish a single Government of National Accord, after several years of fighting between rival factions. Kobler says views are converging between different political groups, but there needs to be a breakthrough this year, with the unified support of the international community.

Despite being on the defence militarily in several regions with territory under its control shrinking, terrorist group ISIL still appears to have sufficient funds to continue fighting. That's among the findings presented to the UN Security Council and contained in the Secretary General's fourth and latest report on the threat posed by the group. The report has found that ISIL is adapting in several way to increased military pressure while it has expanded its areas of attack to countries neighbouring Iraq and Syria while continuing to encourage followers father afield to perpetrate attacks. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

South Africans will have to fork out up to 14 percent more for medical aid this year. Most open medical aid schemes will charge their members substantial increases because many more people checked into hospital last year, increasing medical inflation. It has also emerged that medical aid schemes have been detecting millions of rands in fraudulent transactions with Discovery nailing down 400 million rand worth of these last year alone. Angela Bolowana has more

More than 200 million girls and women around the world are victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that the UN says is spreading, along with global migration. For the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, today, new guidelines have been published by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help health professionals tackle the problem. But it's not uncommon for the health workers to carry out the procedure themselves, as WHO's Director for Reproductive Health and Rights Ian Askew tells Daniel Johnson.

Only half of state facilities in South Africa designed to provide abortions are actually delivering the service. This is one of the findings presented in Amnesty International's Barriers to Safe and Legal Abortions in South Africa research briefing released today*. The research was done in collaboration with the University of Cape Town's Women's Health Research Unit. Today marks 20 years since the adoption of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act - CTOPA. Louise Carmody, Maternal Health Researcher at Amnesty International says the briefing highlights three primary barriers to safe and legal abortions in the country - the failure to regulate conscientious objection‚ inequalities in access to services for poor and marginalised communities and a lack of information on sexual and reproductive rights...................

Chief executive officer of South African company Country Bird, says the company will lose 1600 jobs if the current crisis in the poultry industry is not addressed. Marthinus Stander says the company is currently in talks with the North-West Provincial government to save the company's operations there. If this is successful the anticipated job losses could be saved. Cheap chicken imports from different countries particularly in the EU have been blamed for the latest crisis in the industry. Morafe Tabane reports..

The fighting that erupted in July in Juba South Sudan has reversed all the gains that have been made and now the country is back to square one. According to former Botswana President; Festus Mogae who is South Sudan's Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission chairperson, the situation remains fragile. Mogae was speaking to the SABC on the side-lines of the 28th AU summit where the south sudan conflict is amongst top Agenda items. Africa's youngest nation has been rocked by civil war caused by political squabbles between president Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. Senior political journalist Amos Phago reports.

The UN Security Council has met behind closed doors to discuss Israel's approval of a new wave of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. The move announcing more than 3000 new units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is viewed internationally as a violation of a Security Council resolution passed in December with a highly controversial United States abstention. But with President Donald Trump's pick to be UN Ambassador approved by the Senate Tuesday, it remains unclear what action the Council can take to enforce the resolution given the strong objections by Republicans to former administration's abstention in the Council chamber last month. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The outgoing chair of the AU Commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma called on African states to commit to ensuring the empowerment of young women and men. She was addressing the 9th Pre-Gender Summit in Addis Abba Ethiopia. The summit discussed challenges facing the youth on the continent as well as was possible interventions. It has emerged that young people are likely to be unemployed as they become adults and with millions joining the labour market every year. Accelerated job creation is required to avert this situation. Amos Phago reports.

Commentators are doubtful that former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh will ever return to his country. This is despite the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, the UN and the AU declaring in a joint statement yesterday that Jammeh will only be leaving the tiny west African country temporarily. He left the Gambia on Saturday for exile in Equatorial Guinea after protracted negotiations with the Presidents of Guinea and Mauritania. New President Adama Barrow had insisted that Jammeh must leave the country following his inauguration in Senegal last week. Busi Chimombe looks at what the next move for the Gambia will be..

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tanzania on Sunday for a two-day official visit, where he is expected to meet with his counterpart John Magufuli and other local officials. Erdogan was welcomed at Julius Nyerere International Airport by Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, and Yasemin Eralp, Turkish ambassador to Tanzania. Gabriel Zakaria has more from Dar es salaam....

US President-elect Donald Trump will enter the highest office in Washington on Friday sharply critical of the U.S. intelligence community which he has accused of spreading fake news, compared them to Nazi Germany while only recently conceding that Russia carried out cyber attacks that might have undermined the result of the Presidential election last year. US Correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease sent us this recap.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

The Lesotho High court has ordered the release of the youth leader of opposition Alliance of Democrats - Thuso Litjobo - from custody, after his family applied for a court order to see him, and for his immediate release. Litjobo told the high court that police questioned him about defaming the head of police in the capital Maseru - when he said on a local radio station the officer seems to be actively taking sides in politics. Nthakoana Ngatane

The Democratic Republic of Congo's ruling majority has expressed optimism with the dialogue facilitated by the the country's Bishops, and say the discussions won't fail. The statement follows the talk's suspension on Saturday, to allow them travel to Vatican for a private meeting with Pope Francis. Discussions are scheduled to resume on Wednesday. More from Jean Noel Ba-Mweze in Kinshasa.

Parliament's Adhoc Committee had a hard time to extract answers from South African Broadcasting Corporation Board Chairperson, Mbulaheni Maguvhe. Members of the Committee asked him various questions ranging from communication regulator ICASA, the walkout from the inquiry and about decision that required board approval. Mercedes Besent tells us more......

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has officially been sworn into office at the 9th Secretary General of the United Nations. He will assume full responsibility of the organisation on January 1st. At a ceremony in the General Assembly that also passed a resolution acknowledging the tireless efforts and paying warm tribute to the incumbent Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary General-elect pointed to a world where decisions were increasingly driven by fear and called for the reconstruction of relationships between people and their leaders around the world. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

African societies have yet to understand what "autism" means according to Uganda's Ambassador to the United Nations. Dr Richard Nduhuura says generating awareness about autism across the continent, was an important step towards removing stigma surrounding it. The disorder affects the nervous system, making social interactions and verbal and non-verbal communications difficult. Dr Nduhuura, who was one of the organisers of an event discussing Autism in Africa, recently held at UN Headquarters elaborates..

The Congolese diaspora has called on authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to allow Congolese citizens to have more than one citizenship. The DRC constitution stipulates that no Congolese can keep citizenship of another country. Now a group of Mps has written a letter to President Joseph Kabila asking him to get involved. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze has more from Kinshasa..

Cameroon has dispatched ministers, politicians and lawmakers from the English speaking north west and south west regions to their areas of origin to try and broker a peace agreement as the central African state faces one of its worse protests since the advent of multi party politics in 1990. Opposition parties have also deployed high profile officials to support the protesters. Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaounde..

The government of Cameroon says its security forces did not abuse protesters during clashes in two regions last month. Students and professionals in English-speaking parts of Cameroon were denouncing what they call the overbearing influence of the French language in the bilingual country. The United States has expressed deep concern about the situation.The United States ambassador to Cameroon Michael Hoza has called for dialogue in solving the unrest. Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaounde..

As Kenya prepares to hold general elections in August next year, political leaders from two major rival parties - Jubilee and Cord - have started campaigning in different parts of Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta - who has already indicated that he will run for a second term for the presidential seat - says he will retain power. Diana Wanyonyi has more

Women civil society groups in coastal Kenya have joined other women in different parts of the world in celebrating 16 Days of Activism, with the aim of raising awareness and condemning gender based violence against women and girls. In Mombasa, women from Non-Governmental Organisations and what is known as "merry - go rounds groups" gather in different places in both rural and urban areas to sensitise communities on the need of not violating the rights of women and girls, sexually or physically. Diana Wanyonyi reports from Mombasa..

A senior aide to Burundi's president Pierre Nkurunziza was injured in an attack that also killed one of his bodyguards. Monday's assassination attempt on Willy Nyamitwe, a senior communications officer for Nkurunziza, occurred in the Kajaga suburb of the capital Bujumbura. The Government of Burundi says Rwanda is behind the incident. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura...

The United Nations has warned that the Central African Republic's "economy of war" and chronic suffering are among the biggest threats to the country's fragile recovery. With nearly half the population in need of humanitarian assistance, nearly 400 million US Dollars needs to be found to aid recovery efforts.Here's Daniel Johnson's report from Geneva...

Senior UN official says the extent to which violence is embedded in society means that uprooting it is everyone's job, lamenting that violence against women and girls continue to be a low priority on the international development agenda and urging more action - and more funding - to end the pandemic of such violence now. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a UN Women-hosted event at UN Headquarters in New York to raise money to end violence against women and girls, and kick off 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. The campaign begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Predictable and sustainable financing is needed to sustain African Union-led peace operations over the long term, the UN Security Council has heard. That's the message delivered by Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union or AU. The UN and AU often team up to deploy "boots on the ground" in hot spots like Darfur, Somalia, Mali, the Central African Republic and Burundi. Jocelyne Sambira reports.

The deteriorating security situation in South Sudan has made it the most dangerous country in the world for humanitarian workers. The Director of Operations for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who recently returned from a visit to the war-torn country, confirmed that 67 humanitarian workers have been killed in South Sudan since the civil war broke out in December 2013. John Ging's remarks follow UN warnings just days earlier of the potential of genocide in the country. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

A team from the UN's mission in Darfur,UNAMID, has been selected as finalists for the annual Secretary General Awards, after carrying out an emergency life-saving operation. The mission's Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Liaison section carried out the operation in February 2013, in response to inter-communal violence in the troubled North Darfur region.The team members are finalists for the Courage award, for staff who uphold UN values "in a physically dangerous environment. The humanitarian situation in Darfur remains dire with over two million displaced across the region, since the conflict began in 2003. Setyo Budi spoke to Zurab Elzarov, the officer in charge of the section, about their work and the challenges they still encounter

South Africa's ruling ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe, has called on ANC members to refrain from divisive behaviour ahead of next year's national elective conference. Mantashe also says corruption, state looting and factionalism within the party are contributory factors to weakening the ANC. He was speaking at the cadres forum held in Mahikeng in the North West Province. Patrick Dintwa attended the meeting and compiled this report ...

Corruption remains the "biggest challenge" for Liberia as it continues its recovery from a brutal civil war; that's according to the Police Commissioner of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission there.UNMIL has been supporting the West African country since 2003 following the end of the conflict, but as long-term peace and stability returns, the mission has been drawing down and handing security responsibilities over to national authorities.Daniel Dickinson spoke to Police Commissioner Greg Hinds at UN Headquarters in New York. He began by asking to what extent UNMIL has been a UN police and peacekeeping success story.

South Africa's former public protector Thuli Madonsela says she made the decision to make her interview with president Jacob Zuma on allegations of state capture public, before she left office. She says this was not to try and prove that the state had been captured, but rather to prove that she did give the president a chance to respond to the allegations. Madonsela says at the time, Zuma had already told the nation that as the public protector she treated him unfairly by not affording him the opportunity to respond to the allegations around state capture. MorafeTabane reports.....

Former South African Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, has refused to comment about the alleged leaking of an audio recording of her discussion with President Jacob Zuma. Madonsela was one of the recipients of the Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha Award in an event held in Durban last night. The audio recording carried recordings of her meeting with the President when Madonsela was doing her investigation into the alleged State Capture. The audio recordings were allegedly leaked to one of the TV stations. Meanwhile Madonsela says she is unshaken by the utterances of the ANC Youth League when they accused her of being the puppet of the DA. Vusi Makhosini reports....

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta says his country will not renege on its decision to withdraw its troops from South Sudan and disengage from the war-torn nation's peace process. Kenyatta says the United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon's decision to fire the Kenyan commander-in-charge of the UN Mission for South Sudan amounts to using an individual as a scapegoat. A special UN investigation released on Tuesday, blames the Lieutenant- General Johnson Ondieki for a "lack of leadership" in UNMISS. Kenya has more than one-thousand soldiers in South Sudan and is a mediator to the country's peace process. Kenyatta explains...

A leading group of South African's in the UK have launched a petition to scrap visa's for South African's visiting Britain. The Royal Commonwealth Society in partnership with the South Africa Chamber of Commerce is calling on the British government to do away with visas, saying they are time consuming and costly. Visas were only introduced in 2008 due to UK concerns about security. Dan Whitehead reports from London...

The Zimbabwean authorities are pinning their hope on the Bi-lateral talks taking place with their counterparts currently taking place in Harare for special permits to be renewed. This follows announcements by the South African Home Affairs office, that all Zimbabweans working and staying in South Africa should renew their special permits before December this year. The permits expired three years ago and the South African government renewed them and after negotiation with Zimbabwean authorities. Zimbabwe and South Africa are currently locked in talks ahead of the South African leader's visit to Zimbabwe later this week. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

Support to the International Criminal Court (ICC) must remain "strong" and countries should retain their membership. This is an appeal by the president of the court, Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi to UN Member States. Last week, three African countries - South Africa, Burundi and Gambia, announced their intention to withdraw from the Court. Jocelyne Sambira has the details.

Head of the UN food agency in Somalia says that more than five million people in Somalia do not have enough to eat and over a million require life-saving aid. The World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners are stepping up efforts to help communities cope with a severe drought exacerbated by El Niño weather conditions. The ability of communities who have lived through four successive poor rainy seasons has been "stretched to the limit". Laurent Bukere has been speaking to Jocelyne Sambira about his concerns regarding the deteriorating food insecurity and what his office is doing to avoid a full blown crisis.

South African President Jacob Zuma says the growing tension within the ranks of the ruling ANC has the potential to derail the party's mission to remain the custodian of the country's democratic gains. The President was speaking at the ceremony to commemorate the 99th birthday of the party's late stalwart Oliver Tambo in Benoni East of Johannesburg. Tshepo Ikaneng reports...

The first major day of this year's matric exams appears to have gone smoothly in all South Afircan provinces with the exception of the Eastern Cape where exams were delayed due to protests. Over 800-thousand full time and part time matriculants started their exams in earnest yesterday, writing English Paper One. The Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, says she hopes for an improved national pass rate. The pass rate has been on the decline over the past couple of years. Last year's results dropped by five-percent to 70-point-7 percent, from 75-point-8 percent in 2014. Wisani Makhubele has more.....

The government of Cameroon has called on the public to donate blood to assist with the treatment of 600 people wounded in Friday's train crash that killed at least 80 people. The passenger train was travelling from the capital Yaounde, to the port city of Douala when carriages flipped over at high speed. To cope with the emergency, at least 20,000 sachets of blood are needed, which officials hope to secure through the appeal. Moki Edwin Kindzeka reports from Yaounde.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has accused the judiciary and other agencies of undermining efforts to root out corruption, addressing a campaign pledge from his 2013 election and one which he is likely to be challenged on in next year's vote. Despite pledges four years ago to crack down on corruption, critics and opponents say the government has been slow to pursue top officials, adding that only top convictions will break what they call a culture of impunity. Sarah Kimani has more from Nairobi

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has welcomed the recent release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls who were captured by Boko Haram. UNFPA also commends the Government of Nigeria on its commitment towards the liberation of more girls and other survivors who have been abducted. The agency has prepositioned counsellors to provide urgent psychosocial support to the girls and reproductive health care for those who may require it. For more on this issue, Thato Tholo spoke to Beatrice Mutali, UNFPA Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa region....

The legal team of convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius have launched a scathing attack on the state's application to appeal the six-year sentence imposed on the Paralympian. In the opposing papers filed at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, Pistorius' attorney Andrew Fawcett has argued that it is an insult for the State to allege that the trial court misdirected itself by over-stating the personal circumstances of his client while under-emphasising those of the deceased and the seriousness of crime. Pistorius was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's day in 2013. The State has described the sentence imposed on Pistorius by the Pretoria High Court as "shockingly lenient" and that the SCA should intervene. Teboho Letshaba reports...

The government of Lesotho has launched a campaign to localise its Textile manufacturing industry that produces 100million garments a year, but remains dominated by foreign owned firms. Minister of Trade and industry Joshua Setipa promises subsidised factory shells and lines of credit to Basotho. Nthakoana Ngatane has more

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

It's official - former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is the Security Council recommendation to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations. The Council adopted a recommendation formally nominating Guterres to the General Assembly that must now take up the final step in confirming Guterres as Ban Ki Moon's replacement. South Africa has welcomed his nomination. For more on this, Sherwin Bryce Pearse spoke South Africa's Ambassador to the United Nations Jerry Matjila.........

South African President Jacob Zuma has called for unity among workers of the world during these tough economic times. Zuma was addressing the 17th congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions underway in the city of Durban. The WFTU is an international trade union federation of more than 100 countries with a membership of more than 92-million workers. The conference is attended by union representatives from Latin America, Asia, Africa, the US, and Europe. President Zuma called on union representatives to deliberate the phenomenon of the acquisition of small companies by bigger companies - saying this tendency often leaves workers out in the cold. Vusi Makhosini reports.....

Children are "the worst of the worst-off in the world", according to new joint study carried out by UNICEF and the World Bank. Martin Evans, is the UN Children's Fund's senior advisor on poverty, and he says they are twice as likely to be "extremely poor" when compared to adults. The report follows on from the World Bank's flagship study Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality, which found that around 767 million people globally were living on less than 1.90 US Dollars per day, in 2013. Rosemary Musumba asked Mr Evans about the background to the report.

Kenya's foreign affairs and international trade minister, Doctor Amina Mohammed says she's honoured to have been nominated to contest the post of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. The African Union postponed the election of a new chairperson as a result of the non-attainment of the two-thirds majority by all the three candidates fielded for the position. Current chairperson, Doctor Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is not running for a second term. It's unclear if Dr. Mohammed will be the candidate for the East African region as Uganda's Specioza Kazibwe is still in the race. Sarah Kimani reports...

One of the great sporting contests in the world, the Ryder Cup, gets underway today at Hazeltine in Minnesota in the US. But the talk about the rookies in the European team and the struggle the Americans have in playing together has been overshadowed by an article written for a golf web-site by the brother of one of the European players. Pete Willett, the brother of Masters champion Danny, has made some crude comments about American fans. Janet Whitton reports....

Six international and national human rights groups say Guinea has yet to deliver justice for the grave crimes committed on September 28, 2009, at a Conakry stadium. That day seven years ago, more than one-hundred-and-fifty peaceful protesters were massacred by security forces and more than one-hundred women were raped. Hundreds of injuries and widespread looting were also documented. Clémence Bectarte, lawyer at the International Federation for Human Rights explains what happened on that day..

While delegates from different countries continue to debate whether they should legalise rhino horn and ivory trade --- animal rights organisations say no ban should be lifted. Government ministers and environmentalists are meeting in Sandton, north of Johannesburg for the next 10 days, to look at the progress done and the challenges to protect animal and plant species. Horisani Sithole has more...

Kenyan journalists based in the coastal region have participated in a peaceful demonstration to push the government to investigate and give detailed reports on cases where journalists have died, were kidnapped or were threatened by unknown persons. Our reporter Diana Wanyonyi in Mombasa, was present during the demonstration and filed the following story..

Zimbabwe's former deputy president Joice Mujuru has vowed to fight against government to allow citizens in diaspora to be allowed to vote. Mujuru was speaking during her party's political rally in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria here in South Africa. Mujuru was there to drum up support for her newly formed party Zimbabwe People First in the build up to the 2018 elections. She urged all Zimbabweans in South Africa to go home to register to vote while a solution to ensure that they are able to vote in south Africa is being sought. Amos Phago reports.

Amnesty International has reported what it describes as a chilling crackdown on dissent amidst election delays in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the report, the DRC authorities have overseen a systematic crackdown on opponents of President Joseph Kabila's attempt to stay in power beyond the constitutionally mandated second term. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa..

A court in Mombassa on the Kenyan Coast has postponed the plea case of three women accused of harbouring terrorists who attacked a police station on Sunday. The women who are Somali citizens appeared in court but the prosecution could not argue the application to have them remanded since they do not understand English or Swahili. Diana Wanyonyi reports from Mombasa..

An American Human Rights Group has accused South Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir, as well as senior army officers of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers over the past ten years. But the Juba government and Riek Machar, are yet to respond to the accusation, James Shimanyula reports.

Kashmir authorities bracing for Eid imposed public restrictions ahead of the Islamic festival. But separatists warned that scheduled protests will continue during the three sacred days to add momentum to their struggle against India's control of the troubled Himalayan Valley. Rana Sen reports..

The UN has not received the right support from its Member States and the Security Council over the last year to adequately fulfil its role in creating peace across the world. That's the assessment of Mogens Lykketoft who steps down Today as the 70th President of the UN General Assembly. Conflicts in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan and the humanitarian crises created in their wake have dominated the work of the UN during the last 12 months. Joshua Mmali asked Mr Lykketoft if the public perception that the UN is not doing enough to halt crises around the world was fair.

South African President Jacob Zuma says his Chinese trip has been successful. He has concluded his five day visit to the People's Republic of China where he attended the G20 Summit in Hangzhou with leaders of the world's most industrialised countries. He then moved to Guangdong province for the Investing in Africa Forum where he witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between rail company PRASA and its Chinese counterpart Communication Construction Ltd. The agreement will see the construction of a rail alternative to Moloto Road between Pretoria and Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga. Ntebo Mokobo has more

The United States has echoed the United Nations in welcoming and supporting the engagement of the African Union in facilitating a peaceful resolution to the post-election crisis in Gabon. The AU earlier expressed a willingness to send a delegation led by current Chairperson Chadian President Idriss Deby to Libreville after deadly riots last week sparked by disputes over the election results. Provisional results handed incumbent President Ali Bongo victory by less than 6000 votes with opposition leader Jean Ping claiming fraud. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports now that the UN has urged all parties with disputes to formally launch those with the Constitutional Court by *today's deadline!

South Africa's Home Affairs Department says it's yet to decide what action it will take against American pastor, Steven Anderson who is expected in the country later this month. Anderson made headlines for praising the killing of 49 people at a gay night club in the US. Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba met with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) and the Human Rights Commission Pretoria who are petitioning against the pastor's visit. Phumzile Mlangeni reports.

The Christian world rejoiced when Pope Francis proclaimed Mother Teresa a saint, bestowing the Catholic church's highest honour on the Nobel laureate. And, for the poorest of the poor in India's city of Kolkata, the diminutive nun remains a real-life angel although she carried silently the cross of her critics and skeptics. Rana Sen reports

Rwanda and Benin are set to strengthen bilateral cooperation following a three day visit to Rwanda by Benin President Patrice Talon which began on Tuesday. Sylivanus Karemera reports from Kigali..

The UN's Middle East Envoy has rebuked continued Israeli settlement activity and demolitions by questioning how such activity was bringing the parties closer to a negotiated peace. Briefing the Council via videolink from Jerusalem, Nickolay Mladenov told Council that the recommendations of the Middle East Quartet's report almost two months ago continues to be ignored, including by a surge in Israeli settlement-related announcements and continued demolitions. This as the Palestinian envoy expressed frustration at the theoretical positions proffered without implementing practical steps to remove what he called the "obstacles to peace. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports:

The UN's Humanitarian Chief has expressed his anger to the Security Council over what he called the callous carnage in Syria which he described as moving from the cynical to the sinful. In a wide-ranging update on humanitarian access into Syria, Stephen O'Brien described the city of Aleppo as the apex of horror, warning that close to 300-thousand people in the city's east have almost entirely been cut off from vital aid. The UN is pushing for a ceasefire or at least a 48-hour pause in the fighting to allow in trucks of supplies it says are ready to move once security assurances are provided. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

According to a report launched by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) the number of refugee children in detention centres in twelve countries fell by fourteen per cent over the past two years. The study details achievements made by countries that have adopted a UNHCR strategy aimed at ending the detention of asylum seekers and refugees. Some of the counties were Canada, Hungary and Zambia. However, the report shows progress has been mixed in ensuring alternatives to detention are available, or that conditions meet international standards in cases where detention is necessary and unavoidable. Mamadou Alpha Diallo asked UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler what's behind the drop in numbers.

South Sudan's leaders "should not accept impunity" when it comes to violence against aid workers and humanitarian facilities. This according to UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Eugune Owusu. He has condemned a recent brutal attack at a hotel in the capital, Juba, in which a local journalist was killed and several civilians were raped and beaten. The incident, committed by men in uniform, occurred during renewed clashes last month between government and opposition forces. Owusu spoke to Lwak Nelson about the attack and the challenges faced by humanitarian workers in South Sudan.

Sixty health workers in Bentiu, South Sudan, have been trained in how to address the large numbers of injuries or deaths resulting from conflicts or natural disasters. The training was conducted by Ghanaian peacekeepers with the UN mission in the country, UNMISS. Jacob Ruai spoke to the Senior Medical Officer with the Ghanaian battalion, Dr Rilwany Sulley. He explained why training in handling mass casualties is valuable in a country like South Sudan.

Three days of national mourning has started yesterday in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a Saturday night's killing of at least 36 people in Beni. The Congolese government has condemned the incident and called on the international community to assist in the volatile eastern DRC. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa..

South African President Jacob Zuma cannot be blamed for the poor performance of the ANC in the local government elections as this is the collective responsibility of the party's leadership. This is the conclusion of the ANC's National Executive Committee meeting that ended on Sunday evening in Irene, Tshwane following a four day assessment of last week's poll. The ANC has announced a number of measures it says it will be putting in place to arrest its electoral decline and says it is preparing itself for the formation of new municipalities -even if it is to sit in the opposition benches. Busi Chimombe report.

Catholic Church leaders and the UN representatives in South Sudan have expressed concerns over the killings of innocent civilians in the country. According to independent and official estimates, violence has resulted in the death of more than five hundred people in South Sudan over the past two months. James Shimanyula has more

South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission,IEC, has declared this year's local government elections as free and fair. About 26-million prospective voters went to the municipal polls which were fiercely contested. For the first time in the country's post-apartheid history, about 200 political parties and over 61-thousand candidates participated in the polls. Tshepo Ikaneng has more..

South Sudan's parliament opened yesterday, as dramatic political and military events continue to rock the country. Already President Salva Kiir, has sacked six cabinet ministers that were very close to absent Vice-President Riek Machar. And now, Mabior Garang, son of the founding father of South Sudan, says if the international community fails to deploy neutral peace-keeping troops to the country, he will team up with Riek Machar to storm the capital Juba, and bring down President Kiir's government. James Shimanyula reports..

Former chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa - Brigalia Bam - says watching South Africa's democracy evolve through the election process has been one of the greatest joys of her life. Bam visited the IEC's results centre at the ICC in Durban. This is South Africa's fifth local government election. Minoshni Pillay reports...

The representative office of the South Sudan opposition in Ethiopia has refused to accept Taban Ndeng as the replacement of Riek Machar as first Vice president of South Sudan. Taban has been sworn in by president Salva kiir after the absence of Riek Machar for days. Colleta Wanjohi reports..OUTRO

Former African Heads of State have highlighted the need for good governance, implementable policies, selfless leadership and centred antigraft administrations for Africa to unleash its potential to achieve sustainable development. The leaders were speaking at the annual African Leaders Forum which took place Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Dan Ashby reports from Dar es Salaam.

The Malawian government is under pressure to bring back 57 children who were transported to South Africa against their wish. The children who were rescued from alleged human traffickers in the South African town of Rustenburg‚ are being cared for by the North West Province department of social development. Three Malawian nationals who were transporting the children are in police custody. George Mhango reports from Lilongwe..

The security and humanitarian crisis brought on by the Boko Haram terrorist group across Africa's Lake Chad Basin has "devastated" the region's economy. That's according to Jeffrey Feltman, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefing the UN Security Council on Wednesday. Matthew Wells reports.

Africa's oldest republic, Liberia, today marks its 169th anniversary of independence. Although some Liberians have said there is liitle to celebrate in the face of econonic difficulties, the country's ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremiah Sumanteh says while there are some challenges, Liberia has made remarkable progress under president Ellen Johnbson Sirleaf. Channel Africa's Jane Rabothata reports

The Democratic Party will begin the four day process of formally nominating its presumptive Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees later today as the political focus shifts from Cleveland to Philadelphia for Hillary Clinton's crowning achievement. But while Democrats were hoping for a smooth-sailing event following the at times chaotic showing from the Republicans last week, the chair of the Democratic National Committee was forced to resign after leaked internal emails showed that officials plotted against presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in favour of Hillary Clinton - a claim long made by the Sanders campaign. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD says Africa needs to tackle illicit financial flows which are hampering development on the continent. In its report on economic development in Africa for 2016, UNCTAD says over the past 30 years, the continent lost 854 billion dollars in illicit financial flows. It maintains that this is roughly equal to all official development assistance received by the continent in that time. Morafe Tabane reports…

Thousands of supporters of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe marched to the ruling ZANU-PF party's headquarters yesterday, in a show of solidarity following anti-government protests this month. On July 8, a 'stay away' protest movement led by church minister Evan Mawarire shut down most businesses, government offices, schools and hospitals in the biggest act of public defiance against 92-year old Mugabe in a decade Many of those marching in support of Mugabe were members of the ruling ZANU-PF. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

Chairperson of the African Union's Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, Festus Mogae, says the humanitarian situation in South Sudan has reached crisis levels following fresh clashes in the country last week. In an interview with Sarah Kimani, Mogae says a joint summit on South Sudan on last Saturday agreed to set up a commission of inquiry into this latest violence with the aim of holding to account those who will be found responsible for the conflict which left more than 270 people dead. Mogae says the region will send in more troops to boost the capacity of the more than 12,000 troops currently in the country. The troops mandate will also be enhanced to make it possible for them to deal with any outbreak of violence...

Rwanda has made it clear it will not arrest President Omar al Bashir. The Sudanese President is among the African leaders expected to attend the 27th AU summit in Kigali. The International Criminal Court in the Hague is seeking to arrest President al Bashir for allegedly committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Sylvanus Karemera reports from Kigali..

Outgoing African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says the violence in South Sudan is unacceptable. Dlamini-Zuma was speaking at the opening conference of the 29th Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council in Kigali, in Rwanda yesterday. From Kigali Sylivanus Karemera reports from Kigali

.Bernie Sanders has begun to make the case for why former rival and democratic presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, must become the next president of the United States. After a bitter primary season and a competitive showing from his campaign, Senator Sanders officially endorsed the former Secretary of State and First Lady at their first joint rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Before endorsing her, the Senator from Vermont pointed to an insurmountable pledged delegate and Super Delegate lead that has poured cold water on hopes for a contested Democratic Convention in Philadelphia later this month. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Lack of free movements of goods and labour across the African continent is a challenge hampering economic growth and development. Larger economies have been called upon to simplify interconnection amongst nations if the continent is to thrive. From Kigali Sylivanus Karemera reports

Yesterday marked 100 days since Faustin Archange Touadera was sworn in as president of the Central African Republic. Although there has been some level of political stability and peace in the country, CAR refugees in neighbouring countries are still reluctant to return stating that the disarmament and peace process is not assuring enough. Moki Kindzeka visited refugee camps and reports from Cameroon, home to 300 000 C.A.R refugees.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a memorial for victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda upon his arrival in the African nation yesterday. Netanyahu laid a wreath at the mass graves of some of the more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis who were killed by ethnic Hutu extremists. Sylvanus Karemera has more from Kigali..

Today marks the 52nd anniversary of Malawi's independence from British rule. However, as the country continues to pass through economic hardships - its ruling Democratic Progressive Party has reportedly called off this year's independent Day Celebration. The only event for the day will be a National Service of Worship at the Bingu International Conference Centre in the capital Lilongwe. Malawians have welcomed the move taken by government do desist from spending huge sums on money on celebrations while millions of citizens need food. Thuto Ngobeni reports..

A protest by Zimbabwean taxi drivers against a police crackdown turned violent yesterday, when residents joined in and hurled rocks at police, who fired teargas to disperse the rioters. Zimbabwean taxi drivers, along with owners of taxi firms, accuse police of seeking to raise money for their operations by imposing hefty fines on their vehicles, which they say impacts on their business. Officials say 20 people have been arrested in Harare for staging violent protests in the eastern suburbs. Simon Muchemwa reports Harare..

Political solutions need to be found to "unlock" the crisis of displacement in Africa. This according to a UN Special Rapporteur,Chaloka Beyani who focuses on the human rights of internally displaced persons, or IDPs. Protracted conflict and insecurity has caused millions of people to flee their homes in South Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Unlike refugees, IDPs remain in the own country. Daniel Dickinson asked UN Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani why there are still so many IDPs across the continent.

The owner of the Sodwana Bay Guest House in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province - Andre Slade- says his racial policy against blacks is God's law. This after the leaking of an email in which Slade said the establishment does not accommodate black guests and government officials because they are not biblically classified as human beings but servants to white people. KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Sihle Zikalala, led a delegation of tourism officials and community members to investigate allegations of racism at the lodge and laid criminal charges against the owner. Nhlanhla Nxele reports.....

There is no crisis at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC. This is according to the public broadcaster's board which denied reports that employees are in revolt against management. The board has also denied widespread unhappiness among staff. According to some reports, journalists have threatened a news blackout if COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng does not reverse the suspensions of three senior reporters. The suspensions were followed by the resignation of Acting CEO Jimmi Mathews yesterday. Angela Bolowana reports...

South Africa's National Treasury says that the country's President Jacob Zuma should not have to pay back money for the ground floor of the Nkandla visitors centre, because this is being used by the police and is a security-related component. In its report to the Constitutional Court, Treasury found that the President is liable to pay back just over 500-thousand dollars. Candice Nolan has the details....

Zimbabwe's former Vice President Joice Mujuru says she was fired for for challenging dictatorial tendencies within the ruling party. Mujuru says Zanu PF is no longer attentive to the grievances of the majority. Zimbabwe economy has been spiraling downwards and there is growing disenchantment among citizens over corruption. Mujuru is canvassing for support for her new political party which is set to challenge Zanu PF in 2018 elections. Shingai Nyoka reports..

This week on Change your Game: We look at How to the foster the culture of entrepreneurship in Africa with Wendy Van Schalkwyk who is the Chief Executive Officer at MI-Ashanti International and also an international Masters of Business Administration student and currently completing her IMBA dissertation on the topic: How to reduce the failure rate of start-up entrepreneurship in the 21st Century. And for the first time in Africa, Crowdsourcing Week in partnership with Innocentrix, is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa for two days of dynamic sessions, panels, workshops and networking. We speak to Simon Hill the Chief Executive Officer at Wazoku an innovation software company and also Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD based in the United Kingdom (UK) and Lunda Wright the Co-Founder at Thundafund.Leadership 2020 presents the 2016 instalment of the Billionaire Generation Convention taking place over 4 consecutive days. Leadership 2020 invites Entrepreneurs who are Born To Lead to register for this life changing experience. The Convention is designed to concentrate the focus on what is of critical importance to Entrepreneur's in Africa. We speak to Sibusiso Leope popularly known as DJ Sbu. And we also find out more about the Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2016 with Gary Shearer Director of The Saville Foundation. UK-based NGO, Teach A Man To Fish and their partners, the Saville Foundation recently launched the Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2016. The competition opened on 16 May and will close on 15 July 2016 and is open to all countries in Africa.

The use of force by private security firms is a "fact of modern life" but it should be subject to far greater controls and accountability. This is according to a top UN human rights investigator. Christof Heyns, who's the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings and the right to life, was speaking at the Geneva assembly where he presented a new report. In recent months Heyns has also visited Ukraine and Burundi. He elaborates....

Uganda yesterday joined the rest of the World in celebrating the World Refugee Day as the country struggles with the large number of refugees from its neighbouring countries. The refugees say they are still facing a lot of challenges in that country. Our correspondent Tonny Singoro reports from Kampala..

Liberia has come a long way in the last thirteen years and is now ready to manage its own security. That's according to Farid Zarif, Special Representative to the Secretary General for the UN's mission in the nation, UNMIL. The peacekeeping mission was first deployed in 2003 to help the West African nation stabilize and rebuild its institutions after the end of a civil war.UNMIL will be withdrawing most of its military and police personnel on 30 June, leaving responsibility for maintaining security with the Liberian government. Zarif has been speaking with Juma Delu about the upcoming transition.

Mali will host the 2017 France Africa Summit, aimed at tightening ties between Africa and France. Mali a conflict region is determined to prove that it is getting safer by inviting Africa to its capital Bamako. Colleta Wanjohi has more

South African President Jacob Zuma has called for an end of politically motivated killings and violence in Kwa Zulu-Natal Province. The President was delivering a keynote address at the launch of the ANC's provincial local government election manifesto in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. The province has experienced a wave of killings of high profile politicians due to disputes arising from the finalisation of candidate lists of those who will contest the August 3rd municipal polls. Tshepo Ikaneng reports....

Following a report by Human Rights Watch, the United Nations has told journalists that it will follow up, and further investigate, atrocities carried out by Congo Brazzaville troops in the Central African Republic, from 2013 to 2015. Some of the atrocities were allegedly carried out by the Congolese soldiers while they served with the UN Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in CAR, MINUSCA, which falls under the auspices of the African Union, the AU. A report released earlier this week by the rights group said a grave exhumed near a peacekeeping base in Boali in CAR, uncovered the remains of 12 people allegedly detained by the peacekeepers in March 2014. But now after more than three years of the worst crisis in its history, the Central African Republic starts a new chapter under President Touadéra. Lewis Mudge, Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch says the odds are good that this situation of stability will continue..

A United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV and Aids has opened in New York with a call on the world to fast-track investment over the next five years so ensure that ending the epidemic is achieved as part of the Sustainable development Goals by 2030. In an exclusive interview with SABC News, the Executive Director of UNAIDS lauded the progress make in curtailing the spread of HIV, often invoking South Africa as an example, but has warned against complacency that risks eroding gains leading to rebound in the epidemic. UNAIDS believes the world will require at least 26 billion dollars annually by 2020 to stop the epidemic by the SDG deadline. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

A new study on anti-microbial resistance shows that if the problem is not tackled with sufficient resources, the financial cost of no action to the globe could reach a staggering cumulative 100 trillion dollars in economic output. The Report titled: Tackling Drug-Resistant Infection Globally, also warns that 10 million lives could be lost every year to drug resistance diseases by 2050 - citing Tuberculosis, AIDS , Malaria or Cancer as examples. South Africa's Minister of Health warned that inaction would again see the developing world bearing the brunt of anti-microbial resistance if public health systems, particularly in Africa, are not strengthened. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The World Food Programme, WFP, has warned that it is struggling to feed more than a quarter-million Burundi refugees who have fled to Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN agency says it requires 57 million US dollars during the next six months to feed the 265-thousand Burundians currently living in refugee camps. Jane Rabothata reports..

United States President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon have led tributes from across the world after the death of iconic boxer, humanitarian and philanthropist Muhammad Ali. The man - originally known as Cassius Clay - and generally considered the greatest heavyweight in the history of the sport died on Friday in a Phoenix, Arizona, hospital after being admitted earlier in the week with respiratory difficulties. Despite being a polarizing figure, Ali had legions of fans and admirers around the world, among them former South African President Nelson Mandela, as he battled debilitating Parkinson's disease for much of the remainder of his life. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports..

The UN Secretary General has expressed outrage at the latest terrorist attacks carried out against peacekeepers in Mali. One peacekeeper from China was killed and a dozen UN personnel injured when an improvised explosive device was detonated at a UN Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission, MINUSMA camp in Gao, in the country's southeast. In a separate incident, one civilian contractor from France and two security guards from Mali were killed when the camp of a UN contractor was attacked by unknown assailants. Ban Ki-moon has subsequently asked the Security Council to add just over two thousand-500 peacekeepers to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. For morePaul Melly, Associate Fellow in the Africa Programme at the Chatham House think tank in the UK, says the additional troops will make a difference in helping with the security situation in Mali..

A Ugandan court has issued a production warrant to Luzira Prison authorities to bring main opposition party leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye, to court to face treason charges. Besigye was due to appear in court in the capital Kampala on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing. State prosecutor Lino Anguzu told the court, however, that Besigye could not be brought to court due to unspecified security threats. Besigye, was arrested in May after participating in an alternative presidential inauguration ceremony, just a day before Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was officially sworn in on May 12. Tonny Singoro reports from Kampala..

With Zimbabwe's elections just two years away, five opposition parties have formed the Coalition of Democrats or CODE. It will work together to challenge long time leader President Robert Mugabe. The group says its ready to work with any progressive political party that is unhappy with the state of the country and opposed to the current government. But the country's main opposition party led by Morgan Tsvangirai and People First's Joice Mujuru are not yet on board. Shingai Nyoka reports from Harare...

Zimbabwe's central bank will start circulating local bank notes in October....but the country will continue to use the dollar and other foreign currencies and will not be returning to a domestic currency abandoned in 2009. However, Zimbabweans are worried that introducing bond notes to ease dollar shortages could open the door to rampant printing of cash, as happened in 2008 when inflation hit 500-billion percent, wiping out savings and pensions. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya described the local notes as vouchers meant to boost exports and generate foreign exchange and dismissed talk of a return to the local currency as unfounded rumours. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

A High Court in Kampala, Uganda has sentenced five men to life in prison for their involvement in two bombings that killed 74 people in Uganda in July 2010. The attacks, carried out by the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, took place at a popular restaurant in Kampala where large crowds gathered to watch a FIFA World Cup match. TONNY SINGORO has more from Kampala

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have fired shorts in air and used tear gas to disperse opposition protesters in the capital Kinshasa, and in some other towns. Opposition leaders called on supporters to protest against poor security situation in Beni in the eastern DRC. They are also protesting against the Constitutional court ruling allowing President Joseph Kabila to remain in power if no election is held this year. Jean Noel Ba-Mweze reports from Kinshasa..

Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean youths marched in the capital Harare in honor of President Robert Mugabe. 92 year old Mugabe has been at the helm of the country since independence in 1980, and youths in his party say he is an exemplary leader who is respected on the entire continent. As a result ZANU PF youth wing organised a march yesterday that coincided with Africa Day in his honor. Simon Muchemwa, reports from Harare.........

At least three people have been killed in Kenya and dozens of others sustained multiple injuries after police were involved in running battles again with supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga in the country's three cities. James Shimanyula reports..

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been angered by opposition leader Raila Odinga-led demonstrations, that have been held in the capital Nairobi over the past three weeks, leading to looting of business premises and violence. Despite the President and his deputy's plea to stop the demonstrations, Raila Odinga is preparing to lead the fourth protest today, to push for the removal of the Electoral commission. Odinga accuses the commission of colluding with President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, to rig next year's presidential election. James Shimanyula reports..

A South African rifleman was among 129 fallen UN peacekeepers honoured by the United Nations with the posthumous awarding of the Dag Hammarskjold medal for the fallen military, police and civilian personnel killed in 2015. South African National Defence Force soldier Toto Tom Malashe was killed when his unit was ambushed while escorting a logistics convoy as part of their deployment with joint AU-UN mission in Darfur, Sudan. This was the 12th time in the last 13 years that the UN has honoured the passing of more than 100 blue helmets who lost their lives in the line of duty. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Kenya's Opposition leader Raila Odinga has vowed to continue with demonstrations until the Independent Electoral Commission commissioners leave office. Odinga has repeatedly claimed that the commission is colluding with President Uhuru Kenyatta's ruling party, Jubilee, to steal next year's Presidential election. But the government has challenged him to produce evidence to prove that indeed the presidential election is to be stolen as oure reporter James Shimanyula tells us....

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies fears that the number of starving people in Southern Africa due to the drought may rise from 31-point-six million to 49 million people by the end of this year. Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe have all declared a state of emergency. The Federation has also expressed concerns that armed conflicts such as the one in Syria may overshadow African drought at the World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey next week. Horisani Sithole has more...

The head of official export agency of the United States Government says American exports to Sub Saharan Africa remain low and points to an opportunity for export growth to the region. The President of the U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT Bank was speaking with journalists during a roundtable discussion in New York just after his return from the World Economic Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. Fred Hochberg says the bank wants to signal to buyers in Sub Saharan Africa that they stand ready to fill financing gaps that currently limit the purchasing of big-budget American products and services to the region. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged investors attending the World Economic Forum in Kigali, Rwanda to invest in South Africa's infrastructure. Ramaphosa was speaking during a panel discussion on infrastructure investment. He told delegates at the forum that South Africa still has a large number of infrastructure projects. Tshepo Mongoai reports….

South African President Jacob Zuma begins his state visit to Uganda by attending Today's inauguration of Uganda's president-elect Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. President Museveni will be sworn in for a fifth term in office. Julius Mugambwa reports from the capital Kampala

Liberation movements say they are concerned by what they call attempts by western countries to effect regime change within the southern Africa region. These parties include the South Africa's ANC, Tanzania's Chama-Cha-Mapinduzi, Frelimo of Mozambique, Swapo of Namibia, Angola's MPLA and Zimbabwe's ruling Zannu-PF. They met at the holiday resort of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe over the past weekend to take stalk of political developments in their respective countries. Ntebo Mokobo reports.

Crimes of sexual violence during South Sudan's brutal civil war have been "so bad" that they need to become a key focus of the reconciliation effort. That's the verdict of the UN Special Envoy on wartime sexual violence, Zainab Bangura. More than two million people have been displaced in the world's youngest country over the past three years of fighting, and tens of thousands killed. A new unity government has been formed, and a fragile peace deal is in the process of being implemented. Bangura explains..

As South Sudan transitional government marks one week in office today, the United Nations wants President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, to move with speed to fully implement the peace agreement that the two leaders signed in August last year. James Shimanyula tells us more.

Uganda has banned live media coverage of opposition protests against the re-election of President Yoweri Museveni. The opposition Forum for Democratic Change, FDC, has called for a "defiance campaign" against the 71-year-old leader extending his 30-year rule. Security forces have sealed off the home of its leader Kizza Besigye, who described February's vote as a "sham". The government says media organisations could lose their licence if they cover the protest. Stephen Kafeero, Reporter with the Daily Monitor in Uganda elaborates..

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has slowed "markedly" over the past year , according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Fund's latest regional economic outlook is predicting another difficult year for the region due to what is being described as "multiple shocks." More from the IMF's Céline Allard, who co-authored the report .... .

At least 78 Zimbabweans have died of malaria this year alone. Half of the Zimbabwean population is at risk of contracting malaria each year whilst transmission is generally seasonal, starting from around November to the end of May. In Zimbabwe malaria accounts for between 30 to 50% of outpatient attendances in the moderate to high transmission districts, especially during the peak transmission period. During a media field visit to Kariba, one of the worst areas affected by El Nino recently, medical experts expressed concern. Simon Muchemwa reports from Harare..

"Ground-breaking" resolutions on peacebuilding have been adopted by the UN in an effort to streamline its approach to tackling conflict. This is according to UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, who says the resolutions aim is to reduce the high human cost from so many simultaneous security and humanitarian crises. The UN is looking beyond post-conflict peacebuilding to embrace the concept of "sustaining peace," which encompasses all stages of a conflict. Fernandez-Taranco, explains why this is new architecture for peace is historic.

The United Nations has confirmed that it is trying to facilitate the return of South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar to the country's capital Juba. International frustration at the delays in the return of the country's First Vice President-designate has been growing as the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity is seen as a critical step in moving the peace process forward. While the UN would not confirm when it hoped to have Machar on the ground in Juba, there was cautious optimism after the arrival of his Chief of General Staff accompanied by over 100 staff and soldiers aligned to the opposition in the capital on Monday. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

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South Africa and Namibia have committed to working together to strengthen political and economic ties. This emerged during a meeting between South African President Jacob Zuma and his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob. Pretoria and Windhoek were discussing mutual challenges in implementing resolutions of the Southern African Customs Union's 2011 summit. SACU was established more than hundred years ago to set a common tariff rate on all goods imported from outside the member states. Amos Phago reports..

South Africa's high level government delegation led President Jacob Zuma has arrived Namibia for a round of talks relating to the Southern African Customs Union. SACU is the customs union established to set a common rate of tariff on all goods coming in from outside the member states. While member states including Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho have indicated the political will to make the union's plans a success, several factors have made progress to move at a snail's pace. The challenges will come under spotlight as Zuma meets with his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob today. Senior political journalist Amos Phago is Namibia and has compiled us this report.

Official results are yet to be released from the April 10 presidential election in Chad, but opposition candidates are already saying their count shows the country is headed to a run-off. They say they will not accept any other results. It is the latest sign of tension as President Idris Deby seeks his fifth term in office. Channel Africas Moki Kindzeka reports from the capital Ndjamena.

Some Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa have handed over a memorandum of demands to the Zimbabwean Embassy in Pretoria. They are demanding to be granted the right to vote in the Diaspora in the upcoming 2018 general elections. Phumzile Mlangeni reports.

A Constitutional Court in Kenya will today begin hearing witness testimonies in a case filed by survivors of sexual violence during the 2007/8 Post-Election Violence. Eight survivors - among them six women and two men - filed the case in 2013, seeking an apology, compensation and reparations to the victims of the atrocities committed during the violence. Sarah Kimani compiled this report..

The African Union has threatened to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, unless its raft of demands are met. At a meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday, African foreign affairs ministers welcomed the termination of the case against Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua Sang. They however made several demands including immunity from prosecution for sitting heads of state and senior government officials. They also want the powers of the chief prosecutor trimmed. Sarah Kimani reports..

The process of selecting the next Secretary General of the United Nations begins in earnest later today (Tuesday) in New York when the first candidates in the running appear before an informal dialogue of the General Assembly. Thus far eight candidates have been nominated by their respective countries for the UN's top job, with six from Eastern Europe. The President of the General Assembly has hailed the process as potentially game-changing in selecting Ban Ki Moon's successor. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has refrained from announcing that they will appeal the decision to dismiss the case against Kenyan deputy president William Ruto.Judges at the ICC threw out the case on Tuesday for lack of evidence. Our Europe correspondent Jack Parrock reports.

South African MP's return today to begin the second session of parliament after a two week break. But a lot has happened in the meantime. The Constitutional Court has found that parliament had failed to carry out its duty to hold the executive to account regarding the Nkandla matter. So their first and only sitting for this week will include a debate on whether to remove the president from office. Joseph Mosia reports..

South Africa' s National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete says parliament respects and appreciates the guidance which the constitutional court has given the National Assembly on how to deal with reports of Chapter Nine Institutions. Mbete who was accompanied by Natioal Council of Provinces, Chairperson Thandi Modise, briefed the media in Parliament on the implications of the constitutional court ruling on the Public Protector's report on Nkandla. Mercedes Besent tells us more.............

There is urgent need to sustain momentum towards achieving peace in South Sudan, the Security Council heard on Thursday. Although the country will celebrate five years of independence in July, it has been mired in political turmoil and violence for roughly half that time. Conflict between government forces and armed groups has pushed more than two million people out of their homes, with some 200,000 civilians seeking shelter in UN-run protection sites. It has also generated a humanitarian crisis, with half the population-some six million people-requiring humanitarian assistance. Dianne Penn reports.

The authorities in South Sudan have announced that rebel leader Riek Machar will arrive in the capital Juba next week to prepare for the formation of a transitional government of national unity. Machar is expected to become the country's Vice-President while Salva Kiir, retains the presidency in a thirty-member cabinet. Already more than fourteen hundred specially trained police and military security personnel loyal to Machar as well as his forty-five bodyguards have arrived in Juba, to be followed by more than three thousand soldiers. James Shimanyula reports:

The General Secretary of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, says state capture by business is a threat to the party. Mantashe was speaking ahead of what is expected to be a heated National Executive committee meeting that will discuss the issue. However there is division over the Gupta family's influence on the governing party and state. This comes amidst revelations that the family offered ANC members cabinet posts and pressured ministers on key policy decisions to suit their business ventures. Angela Bolowana reports on the differing views within the ANC ahead of its highest decision making body's meeting between conferences..

Only four in ten Africans enjoy reliable power supply, according to findings from the Pan African research network Afrobarometer. While North African countries are able to reach almost all their citizens in East and West Africa the grid only reaches a fraction of the population with unreliable and poor supply. The research group warns that a dark continent is one of the barriers to economic growth. Sarah Kimani has more from Nairobi

The United States of America has ended the long-running trade dispute with South Africa. President Barack Obama has withdrawn an order to exclude South Africa from part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA. It means South Africa will continue to have duty-free access to US markets, bringing important benefits to both countries. Nick Harper reports from New York..

The second anniversary since the killing of 640 people allegedly by military in the Giwa region in the Borno province of federal state of Nigeria was marked yesterday. To commemorate the killing of innocent civilians Amnesty International staged worldwide protest action including picketing outside Nigerian embassies around the world. In Pretoria a handful of demonstrators picketed outside the embassy before handing over a memorandum of demands. Neo Makwiting reports.

Members of the UN Security Council are negotiating a draft resolution that would tackle the escalation in sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers, particularly in Africa. Council is expected to receive a briefing from the Secretary General when it meets on the matter today, but it's unclear if the resolution will be ready for a vote. The negotiating text is in response to a new UN report issued last week detailing the 69 allegations of SEXUAL abuse by blue helmets in 2015, with almost two dozen in the Central African Republic alone. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Panic has gripped Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, after a confidential letter from the country's defense minister leaked to social media stating that Boko Haram terrorists had arrived in the city. The letter from Joseph Beti Assomo to top military officers called for vigilance and additional deployment of troops to ministerial buildings and public areas, such as markets, churches and schools. Channel Africa's Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaounde.

South Africa's ruling ANC has defeated the DA's vote of no-confidence in President Jacob Zuma in parliament. The party has also vowed that no such motions will ever succeed in future .During the debate on the motion, DA Leader Mmusi Maimane accused Zuma of selling the country out by putting his interests ahead of those of the country. Joseph Mosia reports...

South Africa is poised to have a brilliant tourism year in 2016. Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom, says the sector is rapidly picking up as result of many factors. He highlighted the end of Ebola, the deteriorating Rand and advances in Visa facilitation as some of the reasons for the sector's progress. The minister was speaking at the launch of a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft by Comair Limited - part of British Airways fleet this week. Comair fly's both domestically and internationally, Amina Accram reports

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has announced that he will enter Juba before the end of this week. The announcement follows Machar's telephone conversation with United Nations Secterary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who has just returned to New York after concluding a one-day visit to South Sudan. James Shimanyula reports..

Reports from South Sudan say the death toll at the United Nations IDP camp has risen to twenty - with more than seventy people undergoing treatment for serious injuries. The deaths occurred when youth belonging to two ethnic groups fought at the camp using machetes, knives and guns. As James Shimanyula reports, security has been beefed up at the camp - home to nearly fifty thousand Internally Displaced people..

At a tumultuous time, Boutros Boutros-Ghali helped the United Nations find its footing in a new global landscape. So says UN Chief Ban Ki Moon speaking at a special General Assembly plenary to honour the life of Africa's first and the UN's 6th Secretary General who passed away on Tuesday. UN Flags at UN installations have been ordered lowered to half-mast while a Book of Condolences has been opened in New York. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Zimbabwean authorities say the crew and the plane transporting South African Reserve Bank notes will only be released once the investigations have been completed. The plane owned by an American based Western Global Airlines was compounded by Zimbabwean authorities after a dead body believed to be a stowaway and millions of South African rands were found on board. Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa Isaac Moyo says government will leave no stone unturned - as Tshepo Mongoai reports…

Opposition parties in South African parliament have torn into President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address. They were taking part in a debate in Parliament on the State of the Nation Address which President Zuma delivered last week. They've expressed concern about government's handling of the economy. Zalene Merrington reports..

Ugandans vote in presidential, parliamentary and local elections on 18 February, in the third polls since the restoration of multiparty politics in 2005. President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to extend his 30-year rule and, is vying against seven opposition candidates for a fifth term - he faces his toughest challenge yet. Candidates include his long-time rival Kizza Besigye and former prime minster Amama Mbabazi. From fights between government-funded "crime preventers" and opposition supporters to blasts of teargas and bullets at rallies, the campaign season has already been marred by violent incidents. Meanwhile Human Rights Watch says Uganda's human rights situation seriously undermines the prospect of free and fair elections and the ability of Ugandans to exercise fundamental human rights such as free expression, assembly, and association. Maria Burnett, senior researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch..

The Appeals Chamber of the Hague-based International Criminal Court, has ruled that previously recanted recorded statements of five prosecution witnesses cannot be used as evidence in the trial of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto and former vernacular radio talk show host Joshua arap Sang. James Shimanyula has more..

Thirty five white commercial farmers have lost land in Zimbabwe between January and February, according to the Commercial Farmers Union. Farmers in three provinces of Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and Bulawayo were the worst affected in what experts believe is the last supper mentality ahead of President Robert Mugabe's retirement or death. Experts fear of the worst in Zimbabwe this year due to food shortages, but land invasions could worsen the plight of citizens as agricultural activities are being disturbed. Simon Muchemwa has more from Harare.........

France is testing the waters in the United Nations Security Council in lieu of a possible text to strengthen international efforts at a political solution in Burundi. Speaking ahead of closed-door consultations with the Secretary General's special advisor on Burundi Jamal Benomar, France's Ambassador they want Council to consider a possible resolution to help the resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue and ensure the promotion of human rights in that country. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic Alliance still want the Constitutional Court to declare the conduct of the country's President Zuma and Parliament unlawful. This even after the President agreed that he is bound by the Public Protectors report and that he was mistaken in dismissing it as a mere recommendation. The Public Protector said that Zuma must pay back money for non-security features at his Nkandla home. Candice Nolan has more.........

The much anticipated Constitutional Court hearing into the powers of South Africa's Public Protector is set to get underway this morning. The marathon hearing before the highest court in the land is expected to settle the dispute over whether the country's President Zuma is oblidged to pay back money for non-security features at his Nkandla home. Candice Nolan looks ahead to the arguments before the court.....

South African Businessman Tokyo Sexwale says he is pushing on with the race to be Football World Governing body FIFA's next president despite a decision by the Confederation of African Football's decision to endorse Bahrain Football Association's President Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa. Sexwale says the continent needs a person who understands what ails football in Africa and he is that man. Sarah Kimani spoke to him in Rwanda, she began by asking him if he is disappointed that CAF did not endorse him..

Children born with albinism in Tanzania are said not able to freely and comfortably conduct day-to-day activities such as attending school due to attacks tendency on people with albinism in Tanzania and other parts of Africa. Superstitions abound about people with this condition: for example, it is believed that their body parts are potent charms to bring fortune and good luck. Some believe that drinking blood of people with albinism will imbue them with super strength. In fact, people with albinism merely suffer from a genetic pigmentation deficiency that means their hair, eyes and skin have little or no colour. AL-Shymar Quigir is an activist and former Member of Parliament of Tanzania with albinism, told Channel Africa despite the government efforts to fight against Albino killings, she believes there is still hope one day the battle will be won. Gabriel Zakaria reports

Kenya has asked the African union to draw a roadmap for the withdrawal of African countries from the International Criminal Court. President Uhuru Kenyatta says that the African countries are not gaining positively from being signatories of the Rome statute, instead they are being witch hunted by the International Criminal Court. Colleta Wanjohi reports:

The impact of drought on the meat quality in South Africa depends on which figures one uses of the beef that is available on the shelves of feed lot origin and the rest will come from pasteur. Doctor Phillip Strydom, programme manager for meat science animal programme institute of the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa says that the portion that is coming from pasteur is not always consumed fresh and in a form meat it is mostly in meat products like sausages and other kind of processed meat..

Local residents in Badhadhe, southern Somalia, say that the Islamist militants al-Shabab have retaken the district following the withdrawal of the Kenyan forces, operating under the African Union peacekeepers. Kenyan forces have pulled out from two military bases in Somalia, including one attacked by al-Shabab 11 days ago. Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies, Dr Jakkie Cilliers, elaborates..

United Nations Security Council delegation has arrived in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, and is expected to hold a press conference in the afternoon. For more on this, we earlier spoke to our Burundi correspondent Bernard Bankukira on the line from the capital Bujumbura........

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Today* Amnesty International and African Resources Watch, Afriwatch, are launching a new report exposing child labour and other abuses in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. While the impact of "conflict minerals" in eastern DRC is well documented, this report is the first comprehensive mine-to-consumer product analysis of cobalt, also essential in powering new consumer technologies. The report is based on evidence collected at mines and interviews with miners and traders in DRC as well as the analysis of company materials. It traces cobalt from the artisanal mines to Chinese and South Korean manufacturers who supply lithium-ion batteries to global multinationals responsible for half the world's smartphones and the rapidly-growing electric car market. The report, coming days before the World Economic Forum, exposes the need for transparency. Without this, multinationals can profit from human rights abuses like child labour without checking where and how the raw materials in their products are mined. Lauren Armistead is Amnesty International's Business & Human Rights Campaigner and she says child labour in cobalt mining is one of the worst forms of child labour..

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Africa is lobbying for more access to duty free global markets for agricultural products, the removal of agricultural subsidies for rich nations, and domestic support to cushion exports from domestic markets from competition. The continent's trade ministers say success for them at the ongoing ministerial conference in Nairobi will mean achieving a trading system that levels the playing and helps developing countries lift people out of poverty through trade. Sarah Kimani reports from Nairobi

Dozens of people were killed during Friday's clashes in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the worst outbreak of violence in Burundi since a failed coup in May. Friday's clashes were condemned by the United States, which like other Western powers fears the Central African nation could slide back into ethnic conflict. Sherwin Bryce Pease has more

Ratings Agency Moody's says it will closely monitor any potential policy implications of the move by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma to remove Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene as the country's finance minster. It says fiscal policies are an important factor in its assessment of a country's credit profile. The agency cited earlier this week that lack of sufficient capital inflows into the country will affect the rand negatively. Morafe Tabane has more on this ...

A senior UN official has warned that sending military troops to Burundi will not solve the political crisis facing the country. The Secretary General's Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide was speaking ahead of the newly established International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and its Prevention to be marked annually on the 9th of December. The UN Chief recently recommended a beefed up UN team on the ground in Burundi to promote political dialogue between the parties. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The critical situation in Burundi has dominated discussion of a joint African and European parliament assembly in Brussels. Some European politicians are calling for sanctions against the Burundian government over president Pierre Nkuranziza's controversial 3 term in office. Jack Parrock reports.

The conditions may be harsh but for thousands of refugees from neighbouring Yemen, a UN camp in Djibouti represents a safe haven. The UN Refugee Agency,UNHCR, has registered nearly 6,000 Yeminis now in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, since violent conflict broke out at home in March. Matthew Wells reports on the Yeminis facing an uncertain future in Markazai refugee camp.

Lawyers representing the SADC Commission have told the Lesotho High Court that it does not have jurisdiction to hear a case in which Lieutenant Colonel Tefo Hashatsi wants the Commission nullified. The Commission investigated Lesotho instability and the death of former commander Maaparankoe Mahao. The court granted an interdict for Hashatsi not appear before the Commission when it summoned him a second time in October, but his full application for the findings of the Commission to be thrown out is now in session. Nthakoana Ngatane reports from Maseru

Chairperson at the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini - Zuma says Africa is hoping the international community will pursue a strong agreement at the climate change summit in Paris, France which will help the continent adapt to changes in weather patterns. Around 1 - hundred and - 50 heads of states and government have been meeting in the French capital at the UN COP21 summit. It's hoped world leaders will agree a universal deal which will keep global temperature rises to below two degree Celsius. Dlamini - Zuma explains...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended that the U.N. Security Council authorize a stepped-up U.N. presence in violence-wracked Burundi to promote a political dialogue but stopped short of calling for a full-fledged U.N. peacekeeping force. At least 240 people have been killed in Burundi since protests began in April against President Pierre Nkurunziza's ultimately successful quest for a third term. Sherwin Bryce Pease has more

Former Central African Republic President Francois Bozize, is determined to return to his home country to contest the December elections. Bozize was speaking to the SABC in Uganda - as Pope Francis called on fighters waging a civil war in his country to lay down their weapons and seek reconciliation. Deputy Politial editor Mahlatse Gallens reports....

The UN Refugee Agency,UNHCR, says that more than 10 million people across the world don't have a nationality and are considered 'stateless', leaving them unable to access their basic human rights. The South African Parliament together with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, yesterday *, hosted the first of a two day conference looking at the role Parliaments can play in preventing statelessness. With more than 150 delegates from all over the world, the UNHCR is hoping that the conference will inform and inspire appropriate legislation and practical solutions to bring an end to statelessness. Esley Philander has more.

The South African Parliament has heard that socio economic circumstance and crime are the main causes of violence against foreign nationals. This came out in a report compiled by a joint ad hoc committee of Parliament, established to investigate the causes of xenophobic violence, that broke out in various provinces earlier this year. The report was adopted by the National Assembly, with most opposition parties not supporting it. Zalene Merrington reports...

The UN Secretary General has expressed serious concern about the dowing of a Russian military jet by the Turkish Air force after the aircraft allegedly violated Turkish airspace along Syria's border. Ban Ki Moon, reacting some hours after the incident, urged all relevant parties to take urgent measures with a view to de-escalating tensions. In a letter, Turkey's Ambassador to the United Nations confirmed to the Security Council that his country's military had taken down the plane after it allegedly ignored 10 warnings to leave the area. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

The African Union has commemorated 25 years since the adoption of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child, with a sincere expression that African states need to do more to protect the African child. Colleta Wanjohi HAS MORE from Addis Ababa

Central African Republic refugees in eastern Cameroon are insisting on leaving refugee camps due to difficult living conditions, saying they are being poorly fed, and their children lack school and humanitarian assistance. But the government of Cameroon has been arresting refugees who leave the camps. Moki Kindzeka reports..

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

A major migration summit involving more than 50 African and European leaders has ended in Malta - with the signing a significant new fund to help African countries tackle the crisis. It's hoped the 1-point-8 billion euro pot of money will lead to improved opportunities in African countries and reduce the number of those wanting to leave. But as Dan Whitehead reports, there are fears the money may not be enough..

The UN Chief has warned against proposed cuts in development assistance from some of the world's wealthiest countries primarily over the refugee crisis facing large parts of Europe. The Secretary General's statement comes just days ahead of the G20 Summit in Turkey this weekend. In a statement, Ban Ki Moon called for enhanced international development assistance as the world builds towards realising the post-2015 development agenda. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

Competition law experts say that high fines imposed on colluding companies have failed to deter cartels that are operating globally. Professor Joseph Harrington of the University of Pennsylvania in the US, says there are no signs that higher fines and rising conviction rates are discouraging cartels. Harrington was speaking at the 4th Brics International Competition Conference currently underway in Durban. Tshepo Mongoai reports from Durban…

Business will be high on the agenda when South African President Jacob Zuma interacts with his counterpart during an official state visit to Germany today. South Africa is Germany's biggest trading partner on the African continent but this is the first time these two world leaders have met bilaterally. Jack Parrock reports reports from the German capital.

Fresh from a political crisis during which South Africa played a key role, the government of Lesotho is in South Africa to solicit a more active role by Pretoria in their domestic affairs. Lesotho's deputy prime Minister is meeting with the minister in the presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, Jeff Radebe, in Pretoria. Phumzile Mlangeni reports..

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

The UN Security Council has expressed deep concerns about the security situation, and the persisting political impasse in Burundi, marked by lack of dialogue among Burundian stakeholders. The Council backed the African Union decision to investigate human rights abuses in Burundi, and said it was ready to take action over the continuing violence in that country. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura...

Only a "political settlement" between the Sudanese government and armed opposition will allow millions to return home in Darfur. That's according Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Security Council Edmond Mulet. Mulet briefed members on the stat e of the joint United Nations and African Union operation in Darfur, UNAMID. Matthew Wells reports.

A surge in attacks has been reported against people with albinism in several African countries in the run-up to national elections, a UN human rights expert has warned. Ikponwosa Ero, the first UN independent defender of the rights of persons with albinism, whose skin, hair and eyes lack colour because of a genetic disorder, has called for political parties to distance themselves from such violations. Ms Ero said that people with the condition live in constant fear of attack, sometimes by their own relatives. Meanwhile, aid worker Mafalda Soto Valdes explained how people with albinism (PWA) face more danger from a natural source, the sun, which causes skin cancer and results in less than two per cent of PWAs living beyond 40 years old. Here's Daniel Johnson's report from Geneva.

With Tanzania's elections just days away, the main opposition party, Chadema, says it has uncovered election irregularities that could compromise the outcome of the polls. Chadema claims that the voter's roll has been manipulated to benefit the ruling party. Sunday's election will be the most tightly contested in Tanzania's history and the opposition hopes to end the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi's 54 years in power. Shingai Nyoka reports

The South African Government has conceded that while its political relationship with Cuba is stronger that ever, much work remains on strengthening business ties. Deputy International Relations Minister Luwellyn Landers was speaking in Havana as Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Cuba to lead the second government and business delegation to the country in five years. Cuba's economic re-emergence is being buttressed by the updating of its socialist model and the easing of relations with the United States, despite the continued existence of the decades long economic embargo. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports from Havana.

South Sudan's Non-Governmental Organisations Forum, comprising three-hundred local and international aid agencies, have expressed great concern and fear due to insecurity surrounding the country's oil-producing Unity state, north of the capital Juba. The NGOs concern follows reports of renewed heavy fighting in Unity State, where government troops and rebels are battling for exclusive control. James Shimanyula reports..

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Podcast featuring interviews, reports, analysis and statements.

Burundi's ruling party has accused the European Union of ethnic bias after it slapped sanctions on four senior officials, blasting the move as a "provocation". Last week the EU slapped a travel ban and an asset freeze on four Burundi officials, accusing them of blocking efforts to resolve the political crisis in the central African country, prompting a furious response from the ruling CNDD-FDD party of President Pierre Nkurunziza. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura..

Burundi's foreign minister Alain Nyamitwe, has denied that the country's human rights record is deteriorating, following an upsurge in arrests and civil unrest. Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described that bodies were being found in the streets of the capital "almost every day" - some showing signs of torture. The country has been wracked by unrest this year, after a failed coup. Protests began, when the president decided to seek a third term, which demonstrators said was an unconstitutional move. He subsequently went on to win re-election. Nyamitwe explains government's recent actions..

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, has denied being a "traitor" to Africa. Many African countries have called for a mass removal of signatures from the court's founding document, the Rome Statute. For more on this, our correspondent, Jack Parrock, spoke to Bensouda in the Belgian capital, Brussels

Senior UN officials have warned a high level meeting on migration in that unilateral policies would not address the challenge of international migration. On the margins of the General Assembly in New York, the UN Secretary General convened a high-level meeting that included some the worst affected countries by the migration crisis that has gripped Europe, mainly from North African and the Middle East. And while there was a lack of consensus on what was forcing people to move, the calls for burden sharing appeared unanimous. Sherwin Bryce-Pease reports.

South Sudan's President has been urged by the UN Secretary-General not to "betray and disappoint" international hopes for peace in his country. Political infighting in the world's youngest country has led to the deaths of thousands of people over the past two years. The recent signing of a peace agreement has renewed hopes for the future. UNRADIO's Dianne Penn reports....

Malawi's high court in Lilongwe has said it will call former president Joyce Banda to answer a case in the assassination attempt of former budget director Paul Mphwiyo in 2013. This comes amid legal arguments that Banda knew something considering that all key accused people point their fingers at the former president to having knowledge of those who planned the assassination attempt. The shooting unearthed the public plunder of public finances at Capitol Hill where public officers defrauded government of close to 200 million US dollars for the work they never did. For the latest on this, here's our reporter in Malawi, George Mhango........

Zimbabwe's vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa who is also the leader of government business in the House has apologized to Parliament for the administrative blunder in which President Mugabe re-read last months' State of the Nation Address during the opening of the parliament Tuesday. The speech was officially withdrawn from the records and the correct text tabled. The mistake which the President's office has put down to a secretarial mix-up has given the opposition ammunition against the 91 year old long time ruler. Shinghai Nyoka has more

The beatification of Blessed Benedict Daswa of South Africa, has been used as a platform to call for an end to violence and senseless killings linked to witchcraft and witch hunts in South Africa. A call was also made for the strengthening of families, in honour of Blessed Daswa. Daswa has now officially been named a "Blessed" after the beatification service at his home village of Tshitanini in Limpopo Province yesterday. Thousands of people came to the rural village to witness the making of a blessed. Thabile Mbhele reports…

The International Monetary Fund,IMF, says it will be at least three years before Zimbabwe can start accessing loans from international lenders and needs to deepen economic reforms in the medium term to strengthen its ability to repay debt. The southern African nation owes foreign creditors 9 billion US Dollars, and has been struggling for five years to recover from hyper-inflation, and widespread food shortages. Simon Muchemwa, has more from Harare....

South Sudan's warring factions have again accused each other of violating a ceasefire which formed part of the peace agreement signed last month. Here's Channel Africa's James Shimanyula with more

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR says Austrians and Germans have offered trainloads of refugees an "incredible outpouring of welcome", marking a possible turning point in the migration crisis. UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, has been at Vienna railway station since the weekend to monitor conditions for refugees arriving from Hungary. Most of the refugees who've fled conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq aim to seek asylum in Germany, but according to Fleming, "there can't be a German solution to a European problem".....

The World Food Programme, WFP says lifesaving airborne aid deliveries to remote communities in Sudan may have to stop at the end of the month as a funding shortfall bites. In an appeal for nearly ten million US dollars to keep the UN Humanitarian Air Service running in the gigantic sub-Saharan country, the WFP says the needs are greater than ever after recent fighting displaced an estimated two-hundred-thousand people. The oragnization's Bettina Luescher explains why it's important that the air service continues to operate....

One person was killed while several others were injured in the violence that occurred in Burundi's capital Bujumbura. According to police spokesperson, police exchanged fire with a gang of criminals who tried to destabilize some neighborhoods in the capital. 15 people were then apprehended in a massive search operation yesterday. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura...

The National Assembly in South Africa has rejected a motion by opposition party, the Democratic Alliance which is calling for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to impeach President Jacob Zuma. The motion, brought by DA leader Mmusi Maimane, followed the failure of the government to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as directed by the North Gauteng High Court. Joseph Mosia reports...

Africa's richest man, Nigerian Aliko Dangote, will build a cement plant in Zimbabwe, a major boost for the southern African country that is desperate for foreign investment. The billionaire, whose business empire includes Dangote Cement, also told journalists in Harare after meeting Zimbabwe Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa that he aimed to invest in coal mining and power generation. Shingai Nyoka has more

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar says he will not renegotiate with the government as President Salva Kiir suggested when he signed the peace agreement on Wednesday. Machar says that concentration should now be put on how to implement the peace agreement. Channel Africa's Coletta Wanjohi spoke to the Riek Machar in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The atmosphere of silence has engulfed battlefields in South Sudan, hours after President Salva Kiir bowed to mounting International pressure and signed a peace agreement. The agreement had already been signed by President Kiir's principal rival Riek Machar in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. James Shimanyula reports.

Lesotho's Prime Minister Pakaditha Mosisidi has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with exiled opposition leader and former Prime Minister Tom Thabane to facilitate his return to the country. Thabane and two other opposition leaders, members of the army and lawyers fled the country saying they feared for their lives earlier this year. A fortnight later former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao was killed, prompting SADC to establish a commission of inquiry. Prime Minister Pakaditha says the agreement offers Thabane a government even though he is not entitled to it, it also offers him the police security that he initially requested around the clock. He says the Lesotho government hopes that Thabane will come home as agreed. Tom Thabane, Lesotho's former Prime Minister had this to say..

Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has signed a memorandum of understanding with exiled opposition leader and former Prime Minister Tom Thabane to facilitate his return. Thabane and two other opposition leaders, members of the army and lawyers fled the country saying they feared for their lives in May. A fortnight later former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao was killed, prompting SADC to establish a commission of inquiry. The government has now also re-gazetted the terms of reference of that commission following a resolution of the recent SADC summit in Gaborone Botswana. Nthakoana Ngatane reports from Maseru:

Burundi is winding up the controversial electoral process today by conducting village council polls. The Government of Burundi has called on all citizens to remain vigilant to thwart whoever might want to disturb the exercise. Bernard Bankukira reports from Bujumbura.

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn-in yesterday in a surprise ceremony in the capital Bujumbura. In his speech, President Nkurunziza gave himself a two-month deadline to restore peace and stability in the central African troubled nation. Bernard Bankukira has more from Bujumbura.

Eritrea is aiming at creating a modern, private sector-led economy. Attaining this objective is, however, compromised by an inadequately enabling investment and business environment, United Nations sanctions, and overall weak macroeconomic conditions. Real GDP growth is projected to increase by one-point-one percent next year due to increased investments in the mining sector. Izak Khomo spoke with Eritrea's ambassador to South Africa, Salih Omar Abdu and first asked him about the history of the country..

The United Nations human rights office, OHCHR, has expressed concern over recent events in a coastal city in Libya involving militants claiming allegiance to ISIL. Fighting erupted in Sirte after a local iman known for his vocal opposition to ISIL, was killed earlier this month while apparently resisting abduction by the terrorist group. The district was reportedly shelled by ISIL forces during the fighting, killing several civilians.Rupert Colville, Spokesperson at the OHCHR talks about the incidents...

Malawi president Peter Mutharika has fired two of his senior cabinet ministers and reshuffled others. However, Mutharika has maintained the 20 Cabinet ministerial list, he promised when he took oath of office in 2014. George Mhango has more from Blanyre.

South African President Jacob Zuma has arrived at Botswana's capital Gaborone ahead of the SADC leaders summit which resumes this morning. Botswana President Ian Khama is set to become the next regional economic bloc leader when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe vacates the position tomorrow. Tshepo Ikaneng reports from Gaborone....

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the northern territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Katanga province since armed groups from the ethnic Batwa, or pygmy, and Luba communities launched attacks on one another two years ago. Dozens of villages have been burned to the ground, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced.In its report on the conflict, released this week, Human Rights Watch called for DRC authorities, with United Nations support, to improve protection, investigate and prosecute those responsible for atrocities, and address the communal tensions and discrimination, which it said appeared to have sparked the fighting. Anneke Van Woudenberg, Deputy Director, Africa Division at Human Rights Watch says extensive reseach was coducted for the report..OUTROThat's Anneke Van Woudenberg, Deputy Director, Africa Division at Human Rights Watch speaking to Gosego Dingake.

South Sudan religious leaders have expressed their disappointment over peace talks that are reportedly faltering in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa despite the approach of August seventeenth deadline for the signing of a permanent peace pact. The push for the pact to be signed is spearheaded by the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development, IGAD, the Djibouti-based East Africa regional trade and security bloc. James Shimanyula reports..

The SADC Commission of Inquiry into Lesotho says it is walking a tight rope and will be led by facts not opinion. Members of the commission were sworn yesterday. The Commission was established by the SADC Double Troika last month to probe security in the country, following the death of former army commander Maaparankoe Mahao. Nthakoana Ngatane reports from Maseru..

The war on rhino poaching in South Africa, particularly in the Kruger National Park continues to score several successes, despite the soaring number of incursions with poachers on the ground. It is estimated that at any one time, ten groups of poachers enter the park every day. The South African National Parks says about four-thousand-three-hundred poachers entered the park last year and eight-hundred this year. The park's special operations unit says they remain hopeful and committed to fight against poaching, Selinah Ntobong compiled this report..

The leaders of Nigeria and Cameroon pledged on Thursday to improve the exchange of intelligence and security cooperation along their border in a bid to tackle Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Concluding his first visit to Cameroon since he was elected in March, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya voiced support in a joint statement for a planned multinational task force to fight Boko Haram, which has sworn allegiance to Islamic State. Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaounde.

US President Barack Obama arrives in Kenya today. Expectations are high in the land of his father that he will come to the East African Nation with good tidings. Our Nairobi Coresspondent Sarah Kimani takes a look at what Kenyans want from Obama's visit.

US President Barack Obama arrives in Kenya tomorrow for a four day trip of Africa. It's the first time he's visited his father's homeland since taking office and is likely to be the last time he visits the continent as president. He will be attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, before going to Ethiopia, as our US correspondent Kate Fisher reports

The controversial presidential poll in Burundi took place yesterday despite the withdrawal of major opposition candidates. As the government is accused of exercising intimidation against opposition members, some say they went to vote because it's their right, while others say they decided to go to vote by constraints. Bernard Bankukira spoke to some of the voters in the capital Bujumbura..

Newly elected Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari is in Washington to meet President Obama and other senior US Administration officials. The fight against Boko Haram and tackling corruption were top of the agenda when the two leaders met at the White House yesterday. Kate Fisher reports from Washington

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