Africa

Tunisian police fired teargas on Monday at a rally by hundreds of people protesting at the lack of political reforms since the overthrow of President Ben Ali in January. Columns of smoke could be seen rising above an area in front of Tunis cathedral where protesters gathered for a demonstration at the same time as an authorised one called by the General Workers’ Union.

Families in Nisisioken Ogale, near a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline, are drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above UN World Health Organization guidelines.

While politicians in rich countries have been rescuing powerful “market lord”–private corporations and banks that have unleashed the global financial crisis or strongly contributed to it– for the sake of receiving their ‘electoral blessing’, the prices of grain and milk in the drought-hit Horn of Africa have risen to record highs.

The Ouattara government has repeatedly promised to break with the past, when security forces were above the law. Yet rather than create an army likely to respect the rule of law, Ouattara has promoted commanders who were in command when atrocities took place and should be investigated, not rewarded.

While millions in East Africa are caught in the cobweb of a devastating drought that has spread its tentacles across Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the government in Addis Ababa is snatching some of Ethiopia’s most productive farmland from local tribes and leasing it to foreign companies to grow and export food.

Heavy clashes have erupted in the Somali capital of Mogadishu after African Union troops launched operations against the militant group, al-Shabab. The AU says it is trying to protect famine relief efforts from al-Shabab, which has reportedly tried to block the delivery of aid after initially denying that a famine is taking place. At least 6 people were killed in the violence

The head of the Libyan rebels’ military operations against Col. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed in a targeted assassination. Abdel Fattah Younes was shot dead on Thursday as he headed to appear before a rebel-organized judicial committee.

According to United Nations, there have been no progress in Libya talks until now.

Mr. Pierre Galand, the international coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, confirmed at a Cape Town press conference on Thursday that the Tribunal´s third session will be held November 5-6 in Cape Town, South Africa. The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is an international people’s tribunal to promote peace and justice in Palestine and the Middle East.

Africa Youth Camp – promoting a culture of peace – is a project of World without Wars and Violence that aims to strengthen coordination among groups campaigning on issues of peace, non-violence, nuclear disarmament, small arms control, terrorism and human rights in Africa and the Middle East.The event will constitute a twelve day Africa Youth Peace Camp meeting in Nigeria.

South Sudanese population estimated in 9 million people, is overwhelmingly young, rural, poor and uneducated; only 4% of its vast arable land is cultivated; half the population does not have access to safe drinking water, and only one person in five uses a health-care facility in their lifetime.