Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, who suffered a stroke last year, has announced he will run again in elections next month. He apparently wants to die in office and the clique around him will not let him go

In Canada, the rhetoric of multiculturalism fails tremendously to open up conversations around equity and anti-oppression where Black people are concerned

Every time Kenya’s security forces launch an operation in the bandit-ravaged arid north, they leave behind broken limbs and raped women. That has been the story since the colonial days. And no one has been held to account for the horrendous human rights violations. In Isiolo, the victims of state terror cry for justice

Squeezed between rising economic costs of education and living standards, and low motivation for academic studies in a socially intolerant environment, authorities have been struggling to lure foreign students into educational institutions in post-communist Russia for more than a decade now.

Fifty years after Lumumba was assassinated and the passing of Nelson Mandela, Africa’s strategy must now emphasize intellectual and economic freedom. The necessary liberation must now be secured through incisive independent knowledge founded on strength of character, courage and fearlessness

What problems is an anti-gay law supposed to cure? How would people in a country benefit from the mass imprisonment for life, or even execution, of homosexuals? The punitive laws targeting persons merely for their sexual orientation are grossly unjust and should be resisted

Homophobia is on the rise in Africa, in significant part due to donations provided by US-based conservative evangelical organizations. US organizations intending to support the LGBTI rights struggle in Africa need to reflect carefully on a number of important factors

On 20 December 2013, the Ugandan Parliament passed the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’, which is now law. The law not only broadens the criminalisation of adult consensual same-sex relations, but lays down prison term for anybody defending LGBTI rights as well as health and sexual education providers. LGBTI rights defender Clare Byarugaba explained the context and potential consequences of the Bill. Watch

The young man begs to be identified only as Tanaka Tarambwa — a name he is confident no other man has because society has ‘largely labelled homosexuals as outcasts who do not deserve a place in society.’

Kenya is a secular state, a country that can be described as a state with many nation, a diverse country with many strengths and varieties, different ethnic groups, races cultural expressions, literature and art, traditional celebrations, social and moral values all of which demand and are entitled to recognition, respect, safeguards, promotion and are reconciled with the need to develop a sense of national unity “Kenyannesse”.

Not all priests have joined the cacophony of homophobia in Africa. Instead an honest and open national dialogue in Nigeria and the rest of the continent is necessary. A priest expresses his misgivings of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013 signed by the Nigerian President

Theologian Masiiwa Ragies Gunda from Zimbabwe argues that LGBTI people are being attacked from the pulpit by politicians who are deflecting from other societal ills. The essence of being Christian is missed when homophobic diatribe is used to deny the humanity of LGBTI people in society

A trend is forming from African nations – which already criminalize same sex acts, albeit, through laws inherited from colonial masters – to further put in place legislation that amplify, further criminalize and increase punishment for same sex acts

It is intriguing that even faiths whose adherents never sit around the same fire seem to converge on a vehement denunciation of LGBTI persons. Narrow interpretations of the scriptures are responsible for this bigotry. For sustainable peace, believers should instead learn to embrace the ‘other’

With the advent of the pervasive information and communications technologies, communities advocating sexual and gender minority rights can learn useful lessons on how to deploy these technologies to further the cause

As these three sad stories show, refugees and asylum seekers who happen to be gay are subjected to the double stigma and violence of homophobia and xenophobia in the Rainbow Nation that has some of the most progressive inclusive laws in the world

Does creating conditions for all members of the society to access health, including homosexual people, of necessity undermine religious and moral aspirations of the Kenyan society? Is criminalization of homosexuality a theological necessity? There are options for resolving this seeming fundamental misunderstanding between the religious leaders and homosexual persons

In post-apartheid South Africa, sexual violence has become a socially endorsed punitive project for maintaining patriarchal order. Black township lesbians have not benefited from legal protection because of important weaknesses in the justice system. These need to be addressed

Few remember that Germany once had several African colonies.
Berlin is seeking to revise its constitutional restraints on its pacifism and absenteeism in military engagements by increasing its troops to Mali. It seeks no longer to remain on the side-lines of world politics

A debate has started about the code of conduct that will define the preservation of public liberties. The courageous Edward Snowden has achieved his goal to a large extent. His action should also contribute to a reflection on whistleblowers and their protection

The type of federalism being promoted in Somalia is a foreign initiative meant to abort national reconciliation and institutionalize social fragmentation

In the 1990s, Muslim fundamentalists in Algeria declared Jihad against the entire society, killing some 200,000 people. In 1994, a widely acclaimed producer of a popular TV show was lucky to survive an assassin’s bullets

Karuturi Ltd, the Kenyan flower production unit of Karuturi Global, is in financial collapse and been put under receivership. One of the world's most infamous landgrabbers is in its deepest trouble yet.

China has never denied that its Africa policy has its own strategic interests. However, one of the most outstanding features of China’s policy is its aspiration to promote South-South cooperation and to achieve the renaissance of Asia and Africa. Unlike the former colonial masters, China’s engagement provides Africa with new development opportunities

Malcolm X was convinced that racism against Black people was a global problem. He campaigned in Europe, Middle East and Africa against the scourge. At the Second Annual Summit of the OAU in Cairo 50 years ago, he made a direct appeal to African leaders for solidarity in ending the plight of African Americans under US national oppression

The seemingly bizarre performance by the deaf signer at Nelson Mandela’s memorial is a manifestation of disorder in South African society. Service delivery protests and the shadow of Marikina haunts the nation, among many other socio-economic and political ills

At least $10 billion is believed to have not been remitted to the national coffers by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. A Senate committee is investigating the scam and civil society want the probe completed and stern action taken on perpetrators

It was in 1926 that “Negro History Week” began and has evolved into “Black History Month” and for some “African Liberation Month.” For many Africans and Diaspora Africans African history must liberate us mentally, economically, and politically from imperialism and neo-colonialism

With its eight chapters and more than a dozen rare photographs of Zanzibar, this book is a well-researched study by a respected author of long-standing. It outlines the dramatic history of Zanzibar and its anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles

In a strange twist, the World Bank’s biggest ever hydropower project is now set to serve the interests of mining corporations rather than the people of DR Congo

As the African National Congress celebrates 20 years in power this year, many people may not know that the anti-apartheid liberation organization had close links with the African American civil rights movement. ANC should continue to support liberation struggles around the world

Chinese investment in Africa has increased at an unprecedented level during the past two decades. Known as the ‘weapon of mass construction’, China’s footprint in Rwanda is no exception. Still recovering from the devastating 1994 genocide, the country urgently requires infrastructural investment to rebuild what was destroyed, and develop the future. The myth, however, looms larger than the reality

In this exclusive and wide-ranging interview with MOSES MAGADZA, BEAVEN TAPURETA, a well-known Zimbabwean poet says, inter alia, that too many people all over the world continue to turn their noses at writers, perpetuating the mistaken belief that they are essentially unemployed people. He says far from being part of the lumpen proletariat, writers are full-time workers and unless and until they are regarded as such, their rights would continue to be violated. Tapureta is the founding Director of Win Zimbabwe, an organisation that networks Zimbabwean writers through the internet and through workshops and readings. He was one of the key staffers at Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ) when it folded a decade ago. Tapureta is a trained journalist.

Oakland, CA – In a historic move, the US Congress has taken a stance on land grabs-related human rights abuses in Ethiopia. The 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill contains provisions that ensure that US development funds are not used to support forced evictions in Ethiopia

For a generation now, predatory policing, the war on drugs and the prison state have been government's most frequent intersection with young black Americans. The gossip before this year's State of the Union was that the president would now do by executive order all those good things Republicans have blocked him on the last 3 years. Does that include reining in or rolling back the prison state? Should we hold our collective breath?

Muslim Human Rights Forum calls for an independent inquiry into the causes of the extreme violence at Masjid Musa and other places and the putting in place of civil and legally acceptable measures of detecting and dealing with manifestations of violent extremism from any quarter be they religious or secular, state or non-state actors

There are many lessons to be learned from the events of 1964 in the Southern states of America when many activists campaigned for political rights for black people. Among them was the valliant Fannie Lou Hamer. Many of those rights are being eroded today in America

China may view the Japanese leader’s recent tour of Africa as an attempt to contain its own influence in Africa. Japan is focusing on developing trade with Africa, particularly Mozambique’s natural gas. How will China adjust to a new competitor?

The new book are many more or less thinly veiled criticisms of the fictional Soshangane society - and by extension Swaziland - and the absolute monarchy that controls everything from the economy to the definition of culture

Zambia is not over-populated. On the contrary its small population is an economic disadvantage. A sensible population policy should let the country’s population grow to about 20 million people, after which the government can institute appropriate population control measures

Given the history of nation-building in Africa, the violent conflict in South Sudan is not entirely surprising. To end it and lay the ground for lasting peace, the protagonists together with regional players and the international community need to isolate and boldly address the deep-rooted causes of the conflict

There is no nice way of stating an ugly truth. As at this writing, the entire continent of Africa, from Cape to Cairo and all points in-between, is under the rule of mendicants enabled by a coterie of intellectuals who are either in profound denial or otherwise think there is something inevitable about Africa’s begging ways in world affairs.

The FAO draft principles have little local basis and less community future. That is why they are very likely to be employed to obscure the power imbalances that exist to deepen industrial control of the means of agricultural production - and that is why these will not be acceptable as a measure of food growers' and food consumers' rights

The hype around the ANC manifesto launch on the Sat 11th January had hardly died down when a mere two days later three protestors lay dead in the streets of Mothotlung

President Kiir has several times in the past pledged not to take South Sudan back to war. He needs to demonstrate this now by doing everything in is power to end the current bloody crisis