Land policy could help control sleeping sickness

BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Refugees face mounting pressure to go home

DAR ES SALAAM/BUJUMBURA, 24 February 2012 (IRIN) - Pressure is mounting on tens of thousands of Burundian nationals who fled to Tanzania during the civil war in the early 1990s to return home, despite their reluctance to leave. Burundi’s civil war ended in 2005 but it remains in a state of acrimonious political deadlock, with widespread reports of assassinations and human rights abuses since elections in 2010. full report

AFRICA: AU wants peace, security and bigger global role in 2012

WASHINGTON, 12 January 2012 (IRIN) - The African Union (AU) has unveiled an ambitious wish-list of priorities for Africa that would give the continent a stronger global voice, boost democracy and encourage peace and security. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: Durban or bust - the Trans-African Caravan of Hope

KAMPALA, 2 December 2011 (IRIN) - Brandishing a plea for developed countries to make good their promises to reduce carbon emissions, 300 farmers, youths and activists took the scenic route to the COP17 conference in Durban, travelling more than 7,000km from Burundi in 17 days, through 10 eastern and southern African countries, aboard a convoy of buses draped in various national flags. full report

FOOD: Rumpus over GM food aid

JOHANNESBURG, 18 October 2011 (IRIN) - Genetically modified (GM) food aid bound for Africa has long been a bone of contention among governments, scientists, activists, consumers and aid workers. full report

Analysis: Mixed responses to mixed migration in Africa

JOHANNESBURG, 28 September 2011 (IRIN) - Abdul worked as a journalist in Somalia before death threats from Al-Shabab militia drove him to leave his native country and head for Mozambique where friends told him he would receive help at Maratane refugee camp in Nampula Province. full report

HEALTH: Keeping a measure on malaria

NEW YORK, 22 September 2011 (IRIN) - The African Leaders Malaria Alliance has launched a scorecard to improve the fight against malaria on the African continent. “This,” said Agnes Bingwaho, Rwanda’s Health Minister, holding up the laminated scorecard, “is something that will help Africa make progress.” full report

MOZAMBIQUE/TANZANIA: Horn migrants beaten, deported, imprisoned

MTWARA, 19 September 2011 (IRIN) - Near the coastal town of Mtwara, Tanzania’s border with Mozambique is marked only by the River Ruvuma which is wide and relatively shallow at this point just before it drains into the Indian Ocean. Young men loll in small, wooden boats checking their cell phones and waiting for passengers to ferry across to the other side, but business has been slow in the last two months since groups of migrants desperate to complete a journey that began thousands of kilometres to the north stopped arriving at the river’s banks. full report

TECHNOLOGY: Making the most of mobiles

LONDON, 7 September 2011 (IRIN) - It is not often a technology guru will say, “Forget the internet!” but Ken Banks, founder of Kiwanja.net, advocates going back to basics – using mobile phones rather than the internet, and pretty basic phones at that. full report

In Brief: Measles outbreak reported in Zanzibar

STONE TOWN, 26 August 2011 (IRIN) - The first measles outbreak in five years on Zanzibar’s main island has prompted health officials to mount a two-day emergency immunization of 10,000 children under five. full report