MINURSO, the Western Sahara mission, is the only UN peacekeeping mission established since 1978 not to have a human rights mandate, although UN Security Council Resolution 1979 recommends the establishment of such a mission. Horrendous human rights violations by the occupying power Morocco are widespread.

Besides giving a good general description of what it is like to grow up in a mud hut in the rural African countryside, with barely enough money to eat or to attend school, the book also describes the unique culture and political setting of Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

Ailing Swazi opposition leader Mario Masuku is in prison since May in Africa’s only absolute monarchy, where even mere expression of support for the opposition is considered by the regime as engaging in “terrorism”. Progressive forces throughout the pan-African world must demand the release of this man and many other Swazi prisoners of conscience.

What was the real intention behind Morocco’s decision to hold an international forum in occupied Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony? Peter Kenworthy judges it to be a legitimization of Morocco’s occupation by both the occupier and the attending heads of state and international figures.

A life-sentence in prison, torture and no medical treatment is the price Sidahmed Lemjayed and 22 of his fellow Saharawis have had to pay for fighting for independence and against the exploitation of resources in their homeland, Western Sahara.

Africa Contact urges Crabs Montana Forum to move its forum in March from Africa’s last colony, Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. Other organisations deploring the holding of the forum in an occupied territory include the African Union and Western Saharas exile government.

A Norwegian state owned engineering company earlier this year chose to reject a deal for salt from Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara because they found that it would be in violation of their human rights standards. But a Danish company is doing the opposite.

Swaziland’s Suppression of Terrorism Act is a “flawed” and “inherently repressive” piece of legislation, according to Amnesty International. Mlungisi Makhanya, who has been charged under the act for wearing a t-shirt, is challenging it in court.

Eradicating violence and discrimination against women in Zimbabwe is an arduous task that demands hands-on training and mobilization in the rural areas where the violence is most prevalent. Not by a well-meaning Western NGO, mind you, but by the women themselves.

The Saharawi people have for over 40 long years managed to establish a functioning society in the refugee camps in the Algerian desert, near Tindouf. They are ensuring the survival of their people and for the time when independence is won