politics

Somalia's hard-line Islamist rebel group, al-Shabaab, has ordered the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to halt all operations and leave the failed horn of Africa state.

In a press statement, al-Shabaab maintains that the agency's food distribution has negatively affected local farmers. The group also accuses the WFP of handing out expired food and of harbouring covert political aims like offering assistance to Ethiopians.

The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) has rejected the African National Congress Youth League's semi-retraction of statements issued to intimidate whistleblowers.

The ANCYL in Mpumalanga changed a threatening statement they issued, in which they warned whistle-blowers to ‘book an early grave’.

Provincial secretary of the league, Isaac Mahlangu, points out that, "When we said machine gun, we were talking about the same tool that these campaigners use to attack us - the media."

Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria have declared that they reject the perpetration of lawlessness by a clique and decried suggestions of take-over of power by the armed forces following the continued absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on medical grounds.

They point out that, "We note the vacuum created in the day-to-day running of government due to the president's failure to transmit powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as constitutionally stipulated.

1. The Political Environment

1.1. Grace before the meal
The very essence of “politics” is the human intercourse about how we are governed, where we are going, what our context is, where we find ourselves among broader humanity, and the essential and ever-changing debate about how best to divvy up limited resources.

The Rwandan minister of gender and family promotion, Jean d'Arc Mujawamariya, has urged the civil society organisations (CSOs) to be vigilant and identify loopholes in the Child Act by promoting and advocating for the protection of children's rights.

Mujawamariya says that the government of Rwanda had many achievements in terms of domestication and implementation of the African charter on the rights and welfare of the children.

Rwandan lawmakers have criticised the Dutch government's aid policy that mainly looks at funding NGOs and commits a small portion to direct budget support.

The members of parliament (MPs) say such money that is sent to NGOs is normally unaccounted and could be missued by the beneficiaries.

The Committee of Citizens, a NGO, has challenged former Task Force on Corruption chairperson, Max Nkole, to deny that he had written letters to the Republican vice-president asking that the case involving former president, Frederick Chiluba, be dropped.

The organisation’s executive director, Gregory Chifire, says that Nkole should in the next seven days publicly admit that he had written several letters to the vice-president asking that Chiluba's case be dropped because of lack of evidence.

Under a controversial new law, Ethiopia's beleaguered civil-society groups are facing an awful choice: Surrender almost all of their funding, or surrender their work on human rights and democracy.

Across the country, civil-society groups are closing offices, laying off staff and cutting back their activities because of a new law that imposes tough new limits on any group that gets more than 10 per cent of its funding from foreign sources.

The prestigious African President of the Year Award 2009 has been bestowed upon President Jacob Zuma.

Speaking at the African Consciousness Media Leadership Awards ceremony in Johannesburg, Zuma said that, "As we accept these awards, it is proper that we pay special tribute to our African elders who fought for freedom and independence."

"These leaders fought for the unity of the African people," said Zuma.

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Movement has urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to take decisive action in ensuring the Global Political Agreement is fully implemented in Zimbabwe.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Movement spokesperson, Sydney Chisi, says that there are alarming levels of political violence across the country. Chisi argues that Zimbabwe is now facing a bigger story of boiling political insecurities.