A wave of mysterious poisonings has hit hundreds over the last two days in Angolan schools, but police have yet to identify the toxin that has sown panic in the country, officials said on Friday. About 300 students from both public and private schools have been hit by symptoms that include vomiting, headaches, sore throats and sometimes suffocation, said Renato Paulata, director of a public hospital in Luanda.

A report by US-Africa Command (AFRICOM) says despite the Botswana government's significant achievements since 1966, Botswana's prosperity and political stability are more fragile than is frequently recognised. Dated June 2011, the report says three current realities form the core of this fragility: a population that is highly-dependent on social welfare programmes provided by the state; a state that is heavily reliant on a single commodity (diamonds) that is highly sensitive to fluctuations i...read more

Liberia’s leading opposition party has called for a comprehensive boycott of the national constitution referendum set for 23 August 2011. The Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) made the declaration after the official announcement of the date of the referendum, which falls just ahead of the presidential polls in October this year. Among the things the referendum seeks to ratify is an amendment to Liberia’s constitution to the effect that changing an aspect of the constitution relating to ele...read more

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) says that it is outraged by the way that the country's media has targeted homosexuality in its reporting on the case of a police officer accused of sodomising his brother’s ten-year-old son. 'There has been a trend in the media to equate sodomy with rape,' said the organisation. 'This is alarming because it promotes the dangerous myth that homosexual men are automatically rapists and abusers of children.'

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Libya since the crisis began in February 2011, but European policy has shown a lack of hospitality. Following a meeting in Cecina (Italy), a coalition of Euro-Mediterranean migrants’ rights organisations, decided to charter a flotilla which will undertake maritime surveillance so that assistance is finally provided to people in danger. The participatory organisations call on European bodies and governments on both sides of the Mediterranean to establi...read more

West African health experts are calling for governments to take the prevalence of hepatitis B and C more seriously, and to act to reduce the cost of treatment as part of more effective control of the disease. The hepatitis B virus is responsible for more than 80 percent of liver cancers in Africa, said the coordinator of Senegal's National Programme Against Hepatitis, Aminata Sall Diallo, during an international meeting held in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from 27-29 July.

Just Budgets aims to support civil society organisations, Southern governments and donors to track
donor and government commitment to gender equality thus promoting accountability to the poorest citizens.

COVAW (K) is looking for persons to fill one (1) available position for a Legal Intern for a term of six (6) months beginning August, 2011. The intern will be required to conduct client interviews, draft pleadings, undertake case management, undertake comprehensive research on varied legal issues to back legal briefs and/or advice to clients and the Organization, accompany Programme Officers to field work activities, draft reports and attend meetings on behalf of the Organization if need arises.

Human Rights Watch is seeking a part-time (24 hours per week) Office Administrator to be responsible for providing a high level of professional day-to-day support to ensure the smooth and efficient running of HRW’s South Africa office. The position reports mainly to the NY-based Associate Director of Financial Operations, and will also have a dotted line to the South Africa Director.

Despite 12 years of reform, Morocco’s universities continue to fall short of expectations, with students complaining that the training they get does not meet the demands of the job market. Professors in this North African country of 32 million people echoed their students’ grievances, adding that Moroccan universities are poorly managed and riddled with corruption. 'The kind of training provided by universities remains poor and does not meet any of the educational, pedagogic, academic and int...read more

Pages