By Ntandoyenkosi Ncube

Informal traders in the SADC region sell a wide range of goods: wood and stone carvings, clothes, furniture, electrical goods and doilies. / Ntandoyenkosi Ncube/IPS

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 19 (IPS) – Support for regional trade is one of the cornerstones of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). But the focus has been on large [...]

By Nasseem Ackburally*

Women's rights organisations want political parties to nominate one female candidate for every three candidates in the next election. / Nasseem Ackbarally/IPS

PORT-LOUIS, Feb 18 (IPS) – Sandhya Boygah considers herself a victim of male-dominated politics. In 2007, she was asked by her party, the ruling Labour Party, to step aside and allow [...]

By Noël Kokou Tadégnon*
LOME, Feb 17 (IPS) – Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, head of the opposition Democratic Convention of African Peoples party, is Togo's first female presidential candidate.
But she has withdrawn from the electoral process.

Adjamagbo-Johnson and two other main opposition candidates in Togo's presidential elections said on Monday, Feb. 15 they have withdrawn from preparations for [...]

By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
KAMPALA, Feb 17 (IPS) – As the East Africa Community (EAC) gradually moves towards a political confederation, women’s rights groups from the five member states are pushing for an East African Protocol on Gender and Development to bridge the gender gaps within the integration process.

The protocol, which is currently in draft form, [...]

By Pavol Stracansky
VIENNA, Feb 17 (IPS) – With hundreds of thousands of girls and women believed to be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Europe, rights groups have mounted a campaign to get EU leaders to stop what they see as a barbaric and dangerous procedure.

FGM – an umbrella term for procedures involving [...]

By Fulgence Zamblé

Across West Africa, imports of frozen chicken parts forced many local producers out of business. / Nicholas Reader/IRIN

ABATTA, Côte d'Ivoire, Feb 16 (IPS) – Ivorian poultry producers are enjoying strong growth thanks to the imposition of a tax on imports of poultry products from the European Union and South America.

Five years ago, [...]

By Loris Schumann
NEW YORK, Feb 15 (IPS) – Bashe Abdi Yousuf, a U.S. citizen, was a young businessman in Somalia when he was detained, tortured, and kept in solitary confinement for over six years. Aziz Mohamed Deria, also a U.S. citizen, lost his father and brother when they were abducted and killed by officials and [...]

By Cam McGrath
CAIRO, Feb 14 (IPS) – Not long ago an editorial like the one that appeared in the independent Al- Dustour newspaper this week might never have made it into print.

In his weekly column, entitled 'Fraud for the benefit of Egypt', chief editor Ibrahim Eissa accuses Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of systematically and meticulously [...]

By David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Feb 14 (IPS) – A European Union (EU) aid programme tasked with nurturing the private sector in Africa has become the focus of high-level diplomatic discussions after almost half of its staff were abruptly dismissed.

Seventeen of the 42 people working at the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) in Brussels were [...]

By Claire Ngozo

Free primary education is not enough to get children like these into classrooms: poverty forces many children to work rather than attend school. / IRIN

LILONGWE, Feb 13 (IPS) – He fishes by night and sells his catch by day. He's the breadwinner for his family of six. Maliko Malombe is nine [...]

By Aimable Twahirwa

Only 10 percent of Rwanda's sexually active youth use condoms. / Julius Mwelu/IRIN

KIGALI, Feb 13 (IPS) – Eighteen-year-old David Kimenyi* is sure he infected his girlfriend with HIV. They had unprotected sex many times, even after he discovered he was HIV-positive.

"I am afraid that I would have infected my girlfriend with [...]

Analysis by Servaas van den Bosch

Banana vendor in Nairobi: creating – and funding – adaptation strategies to protect food security is an urgent priority for Africa. / Julius Mwelu/IRIN

WINDHOEK, Feb 11 (IPS) – Countries are quietly signing up to the Copenhagen Accord, but commitments on emissions cuts and funding remain unclear.

"We have to decide [...]