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Scientists say about 3,000 years ago some of the rainforests were “abruptly replaced” by savannas – broad grasslands dotted with shrubs and trees. It was thought that climate change was the reason. But now research suggests that climate change alone could not be responsible for the sudden shift -- that perhaps people played a part.

Dr. Germain Bayon, who works for a French research institute, said much less is known about the agricultural history of Africa than either Europe or Asia.

“The onset of agriculture had already an impact on the environment, whereas in Africa, I guess because there have been (a lot fewer ) studies done, the link was not very clear,” he said.

Telltale mud

Bayon and his colleagues have been studying sediment at the mouth of the Congo River.

“Basically, we analyzed the sediment core, which was recovered off the Congo River. Sediments have been accumulating at this site… which provide an integrated record of the particles, which have been discharged by the Congo River through time,” he said.

The sediment tells the story of the Congo Basin climate.

“The climate in Central Africa was much more humid between about 10,000 years ago and 5,000 years ago. And then the climate started to deteriorate. So, it’s only after about 4,000 years ago that the climate started to become dryer and of course the vegetation responded to this climate change,” said Bayon.

That’s when the savannahs started to appear. But Bayon said there may be other major contributing factors, such as erosion and the chemical weathering of soil.

“So, basically, the more it rains in Africa, the more the soils were being eroded. And what we showed is that from 3,000 years ago the weathering erosion signal became completely decoupled from the climatic signal. And this we think is a sign that this event was not only triggered by a change in the climate. And we need to take something else into account,” he said.

Migration of the Bantu

Enter the Bantu people from what is now the border area between Nigeria and Cameroon. Bayon said they brought farming and iron smelting to the Congo Basin. Evidence shows one of the main crops was pearl millet. And that in itself says a lot about the climate.

“Pearl millet to be cultivated actually doesn’t like the warm climate, humid climate. It requires alternating between a dry season and a wet season. It shows that the key factor for introducing agriculture into the rainforest was the establishment of this more pronounced seasonality. This alternates between wet and dry seasons,” he said.

To grow pearl millet and other crops, the Bantu needed open fields. That meant clearing large areas of rainforest. That in turn exposed the land to erosion and resulted in the telltale sediment at the mouth of the Congo River. So, it’s possible, said Bayon, the farmers along with climate change helped the rainforests to disappear.

The period lasted between 1,000 and 1500 years. Then things started to change again. The rainforests began to return. About the same time, the Bantu left for other parts of Africa. The question is: did the Bantu leave because the rainforests started to regrow or did the rainforests regrow because the Bantu left and took their farming with them?

“This, I must admit,” said Bayon, “is something which is a bit puzzling and which is not well known at present, I think.”

Bayon said, however, what the evidence does show is that even 3,000 years ago humans could have a major impact on the environment. It’s now known that agriculture contributes to carbon emissions and that trees help trap that carbon and keep it from the atmosphere. During the Bantu’s stay in Central Africa, there was more agriculture and fewer trees.

Namadou Diop was killed January 21^st in the capital, Dakar, during protests against a court ruling that paves the way for incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade's third term re-election bid.

M23 proponent Alioune Tine says the opposition group will pray and mourn with the Diop family in Nbour, a city in Senegal’s Thiès region.

“It’s important for us to see the family because Namadou Diop is the hero for our struggle, and it is very important for us to go there,” said Tine.

Wade has faced violent opposition to his bid for a third term, despite a two-term limit.  Opposition groups, including political parties and civil society organizations, have demonstrated against a court ruling, which effectively ensures that Wade will represent the ruling party in this month’s vote.

In its ruling, the court agreed that the limit did not apply to Wade because the constitution came into effect after he was first elected in 2000.  But, the opposition insists the ruling sharply contravenes the constitution.

Tine said the death of the student protester is a catalyst for the opposition M23 to continue the fight against what he calls Wade’s constitutional coup d’état.

“It’s a great moment for our resistance against the coup of Mr. Wade.  We are going to Nbour to make demonstrations, to talk to the people, and to get the people ready for the struggle,” said Tine. “We have different programs all over the country to make the people to be conscious of the importance of resisting against the coup of President Wade.”

Analysts say it is unlikely the demonstrations will prevent Wade from representing the ruling party in the February 26^th vote.  But, comparing the country’s political situation to that of Ivory Coast, Tine said the M23 will prevail in its struggle to oppose Wade’s participation in the upcoming election.

“The court of Ivory Coast said Mr. [Laurent] Gbagbo is the president of Cote D’ivoire, but now where is Mr. Gbagbo?  It’s the same problem with Senegal,” said Tine.  “The court violated our own constitution.  They didn’t interpret the law.  They just said there you have it, President Wade, and now we have a great problem like Cote D’ivoire.”

Tine expressed confidence in what he calls the resistance of the masses against the violation of Senegal’s constitution.

“People are resisting all over the country.  It’s very hard for the president to campaign because people are resisting him,” said Tine. “I think soon Wade will dismiss or renounce his candidature.”

South African President Jacob Zuma is set to deliver his annual state of the nation speech in which he is expected to outline his government’s job creation initiatives and infrastructure development at the cost of more than $100 billion over the next three years. What is different about this year, however, is Zuma asked South Africans to tell him this week what they hope and expect from his government using social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. 

Zuma and his government need to create an environment in which job creation can flourish.  Last year he promised his African National Congress government would deliver five million new jobs by 2020.

But in the past year job losses in the private sector have continued, and most new jobs have been temporary opportunities in public works programs.

The South African economy’s recovery from the global recession has been very slow with growth still below three percent.  December’s unemployment figure of 24 percent is likely to increase this quarter as a consequence of new school and university graduates coming into the job market.

Even before the start of the 2008 recession - during two decades of uninterrupted growth - the economy did not create enough jobs to significantly reduce unemployment nor did it keep pace with new job seekers which have increased exponentially since the end of apartheid.

Many South Africans are frustrated and angry at the apparent inability of the government to create an environment for job growth.  In addition they feel that corruption has become endemic at all levels of government, and many believe that Zuma’s government is characterized by profligate spending and self-enrichment.

It seems unsurprising therefore that hundreds responded to Zuma’s call to share their feelings on Twitter and Facebook. Here is a sampling of what South Africans want their president to know.

Innocentia Mkhize of KwaZulu-Natal wrote" “Mr. President, please address the issue of job creations for people with disabilities, I'm a qualified Chemical Engineer but sitting at home for years not employed. It seems as if both public and private sector are still discriminating against us.”

Nkosingiphile Cofu of Durban wants Mr. Zuma do something about what he described as the appalling and dysfunctional state of education, particularly in traditionally black schools, which produce high school graduates who cannot read and write.  Cofu said to Mr. Zuma. “If we cannot arrest this divide where one [is] very poor and other is opulent we are running a risk of a class revolution. We can avoid that by bridging that divide. Our education is in a mess you can save our future by acting now Msholozi  [Zuma’s clan name - use demonstrates respect]."

Ntlatlapa Bokang is particularly angry with Mr. Zuma telling him: “What do you pride yourself with? corruption, nepotism, undermining the courts and off course protection of information bill.  I always honestly ask myself what do you say to God when you pray! how do you sleep at night when you know too well that your government is failin south africans.”

Thato Nteso pleaded for Mr. Zuma to turn words into actions saying: “We hear of the ways for job creation and skills development in the speech but we see little being done about the matters in regards to youth especially new graduates out of institutions with no experience and still struggling to get employment no matter how many qualifications they have its heartbreaking, having to spend time and money only to come back sit at home with multiple degrees. If something more could be done to tackle that.”

But some people were complimentary and encouraging.

Zolani Ndlela of East London wrote: “We are proud of you as the nation, our father. We wish you a good luck on your speech, qina sizwe [isiXhosa: strength to the people].”

And enthusiastic supporter Sheila Raphunga wrote: “This is one of the million reasons that makes me to be a proudly South African. am an ANC member for life no matter what! Well done Mr. President.”

Photographs on Zuma’s Facebook page show that he keeps up-to-date with his Twitter and Facebook accounts using an iPad.

Long before the birth of South Sudan, the tribes of Jonglei state have waged battles. For hundreds of years, the men of the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes have launched raids to steal each other's cattle, perpetuating a battle of retaliation and revenge.

But in recent times, the pitch of the fighting has grown more extreme.

Amanda Hsiao, field researcher for the Enough Project, based in South Sudan, said the violence has taken on a new dimension.

“The latest attacks in December saw 6,000 to numbers as high as 12,000 youth organized, highly sophisticated, well-armed, moving down to the Murle areas," Hsiao said. "This is something new and this is a very serious threat to the government's authority.”

The introduction of heavy weapons, which made their way into the hands of Jonglei militias during Sudan's civil war, has raised the casualty and death toll from recent cattle raids into the thousands.

Past efforts at disarmament have only complicated matters, said Hsiao.

“These communities are holding on to their guns because that is their means of defense. So in order for them to be convinced of letting go of their only form of defense and in order for them not to be vulnerable after a disarmament campaign the government has to be able to provide security afterward.”

The other crucial element to securing the peace in Jonglei is bringing the warring factions together for negotiations.

That job has fallen on the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) which, with the government's support, began mediation efforts following an attack by the Murle against the Lou Nuer in August of last year.  The SCC had been training members of each tribe in the art of negotiation so that they would be prepared for a join conference.  However, the two sides could not agree on a venue.  The talks finally fell apart with the Lou Nuer attack in December.

Bu the council is working on a new plan, said Reverend Mark Akec, the acting general secretary of the SCC.

“We will continue to carry out reconciliation among the communities because that is the role of the church," said Akec. "Although they fight themselves, we are still telling them please live as brothers, be peacemakers.”

Akec added the new strategy involves short and long-term solutions, including establishing pastors and other watchmen in Jonglei to gather information and to serve as an early warning system for future attacks.  And he said there are plans to provide more work opportunities for the youth, to incorporate women in the community in the peace process and to empower local church leaders.

But asked when the council expects the actual peace talks between the different tribes to resume, Akec said they are waiting for the funding.

“Now we are still working on our plans, to raise funding and all those things to enable us to do the work. Because if we are not getting any funding from the international community and our partners, NGO's, we can not do anything. So we are working now on a plan then we will send it out to the partners, so we are waiting for their response and as soon as we get their response we will start the work," said Akec.

While the council is optimistic that peace talks will work, renewed violence may be on its way.

Last week, the Lou Nuer militia, which calls itself the White Army, announced plans to surround Murle communities, ostensibly to prevent them from launching any attacks of their own.

Humanitarian agencies have been rushing food and aid to Jonglei in the past few weeks to assist some 120,000 people affected by the violence.

Death, not famine, makes the headlines, says UNICEF's Martin Dawes, when asked about food insecurity in the Sahel.

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The charity is calling for nearly $70 million to address the burgeoning crisis occurring in the Sahel territories of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, and the northern regions of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal - some of the driest places in the world.

Devastating floods in 2010 that left wells collapsed and crops wrecked, followed by a terrible harvest in 2011and rising food prices across West Africa, have meant hundreds of villages are left with dwindling food supplies.

Malnutrition

UNICEF's Martin Dawes says that over one million children across the Sahel are currently malnourished.

“It’s already a crisis because we have looked at the figures and across the Sahel belt there’s [sic] more than a million children under five who are going to need medical treatment for severe and acute malnutrition," he said. "And this doesn’t also take into account the 1.6 million who will be what we call moderately to acute malnourished. It’s a bad year, there’s been a dip in the production of food, and prices have gone higher. And this is enough to put an awful lot of children from the crisis they face every day where effectively their bodies are being injured, into a deeper crisis where effectively their lives will have to be saved.”

Poor harvest

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In the Sahel regions of northern Senegal, arid fields lie bare and cracked with heat, apart from the occasional crop of hardy onions or cabbages, the only vegetables that will grow.

Villagers told VOA that there is nothing left - the remains of the harvest is either eaten, sold, or rotten.

In the village of Ndoye Diagne, people say they are being forced to sell animals and take loans from local merchants to buy small amounts of rice, oil and sugar.

Villager Jare Fall, 30, has five children. She dredges the remaining water from a well and waters a small crop of onions.

She says there aren't many onions this year and does not have enough food to feed her family. She says she needs another well so she can enlarge her patch of land and grow more food otherwise she will have to borrow.

Famine vs. death

But Dawes says the crisis in the Sahel was signaled early by surveys, and while the situation is not making huge headlines,  governments and charities are already in emergency mode.

“The sad fact is that many people really say that it isn’t a headline when it’s a famine but it’s a headline when there’s [sic] deaths," he said. "That’s not our job. Our job is to warn, to prevent and to try and ensure that the worst consequences of food insecurity does not happen, that communities are strengthened and most critically of all as far as we are concerned, that the indicators of a bad food crisis, which are children, do not die in droves.”

Emergency measures

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Huge quantities of emergency feeds are being bought, such as Plumpy Nut - a peanut-based paste which is a new “miracle” tool to beat famine.

The charity is also building up its emergency response teams and liaising closely with governments.

In northern Senegal, the Red Cross is working to help villages, assessing the needs of individual villagers and providing hygiene and sanitation facilities to help combat other illnesses which come alongside malnutrition.

But both agencies agree that more funds are needed to tackle the crisis in the short term and long term. 

“Basically what will save lives in this crisis is when affected children get the right treatment given by a professional in the right place and there is access to those places so that supplies can continue," added Dawes. "It’s cheaper for us to do it now than it would be to fly it all in in the peak of a really intense emergency.”

Malnutrition has long-term effects including irreversible cognitive effects on development and stunting.

UNICEF says 35% of deaths of children under five have malnutrition as their root cause.

The heady, early days of Egypt's Arab Spring blossomed in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

It's where thousands of Egyptians gathered daily - the square's wide expanse serving as a grand stage for the nation's democratic aspirations.

But as a new spring approaches, a new drama unfolds, just blocks away at the U.S. Embassy.

There several Americans are holed up, charged with undermining Egypt's democratic transition.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri defends the case against them, despite the risk of losing U.S. aid because of it. "Egypt will abide by the law and implement it. Egypt has known civilization for thousands of years, so it can never go back because there is or there is not aid," Mr. al-Ganzouri said.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Aaron Snipe says the Obama administration is deeply disappointed.

“The government of Egypt's decision to charge these Americans will have consequences. We think that we must remain engaged because we value this relationship with the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government. We've got differences, for sure, and there are some real challenges that we have got to overcome,” Snipe said.

Most of the Americans were in Cairo supporting an electoral process to choose new lawmakers following the uprising against Mr. Mubarak. U.S. officials say they were supporting elections, not specific candidates or parties.

But Egyptian Judge Sameh Abu Zaid says that's not true. "The activities were mainly political and concerned the training of political parties and rallying voters' support for one candidate or the other," Zaid said.

Prime Minister al-Ganzouri says the foreign groups interfered in Egyptian affairs. "What is happening has, to a great extent, a methodology, and there are those who are directing it, and I don't know why it is thus being directed. Is it for the purpose of toppling military rule? If so, what happens after that?," he said.

Brookings Institution visiting fellow Khaled elGindy says holdovers from the ousted Mubarark government are using the charges to distract from popular discontent in Cairo. “They have tried to pin the blame on outside influences, foreign agendas, and, basically, ginning up (creating) these conspiracy theories.  And so, over time, eventually they have had to put names and places on these conspiracy theories, and the convenient scapegoats are these NGOs, who, frankly, have been working in Egypt even before last year's uprising,” elGindy said.

U.S. officials say the case has broad implications for relations between Washington and Cairo - not only military assistance, but support for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as well as efforts to end the violence in Syria.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says at least 30,000 people have been displaced in northern Mali, where Tuareg fighters have launched a renewed rebellion against the government.

A Red Cross official said Thursday people are fleeing northern Mali in "large numbers," and some are living in "dire conditions" with no shelter, food or access to water.

Tuareg rebels on Wednesday forced government soldiers to retreat from the town of Tin Zaouatene along the border with Algeria.

Tuareg rebels have clashed with government troops in several northern towns since launching their rebellion on January 17.

A team from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS traveled to Mali's capital, Bamako, on Thursday to assess the humanitarian situation in the north.

ECOWAS Communications Director Sonny Ugoh told VOA that his group hopes Mali's government will engage with the Tuareg rebels in order to resolve the crisis.

"It will be in the best interest of the sub-region, and Mali, for the insurgents to dialogue with the government of Mali," said Ugoh. "That way their concerns behind the rebellion will be addressed."

Tuareg rebels say they are seeking independence from the southern-based government, which they say has ignored Mali's impoverished northern desert region.

Hundreds of ethnic Tuaregs recently returned to northern Mali from Libya, where they fought alongside troops loyal to ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Tuareg nomads are present throughout the Sahel region of Africa.  Both Mali and Niger have battled Tuareg uprisings in the last decade.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

The World Bank says regional trade barriers are blocking African countries from billions of dollars in potential earnings. It says it’s easier for those countries to trade with other parts of the world than with each other. The World Bank has released a new report – called De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration.

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“The Africa market is split into many individual country markets and many of those countries are small. And bringing those markets together would bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market. And the book is about barriers that ordinary traders face every day in trying to get across borders that are fragmenting those markets,” said Paul Brenton, the bank’s trade practice leader for the African region and co-editor of the report.

Traditional markets stagnant

He said there are great opportunities for opening new markets.

“For example, in agricultural products, Africa has enormous potential to produce and sell more agricultural products. But barriers to trade are limiting that potential. There’s also potential in manufactures (sic). As Africa grows and middle classes emerge, there are plenty of opportunities for manufactures to be produced locally. But again, they’re not emerging yet. And there are also plenty of opportunities for trade in services for people, for professionals – doctors, teachers – to be able to sell their services across borders,” he said.

Africa’s traditional markets of Western Europe and the United States have been “stagnant” due to the global recession.

“There are new markets and they’re very close. And it seems obvious that Africa should be exploiting its own markets as they grow, but often it’s much harder for Africans to trade with each other than it is for them to trade the rest of the world,” said Brenton.

Border blockages

The World Bank official said trade barriers in Africa often occur right at the border.

“There are a lot of agreements on regional trade in Africa on paper. And the real challenge is implementation. So what we find at the borders is a real lack of implementation of these agreements. In part, that reflects issues of governance. So if you go to the border of the DRC with Rwanda, you find there are 17 agencies at the border, each trying to get some money off traders as they cross the border and, even worse, harassing them in some cases. Now, there should only be four agencies at the border,” he said.

Trade barriers can affect consumers, as well. For example, the South African supermarket chain, Shoprite, spends $20,000 a week on permits just to sell products in Zambia alone.

“If a firm has to spend a lot of resources on paperwork, on getting the necessary permits and licenses, if their trucks spend a long waiting at the border because the processing of these documents takes such a long time, then that’s passed on to the consumer in terms of high prices. This is an important issue, particularly with regard to food at the moment,” said Brenton.

The World Bank recommends simplifying border procedures; using cross border mobile banking to improve access to finance and eliminating expensive import and export licensing procedures. It also calls for reforming regulations and immigration rules to allow a free flow of goods and services between countries.

The bank currently invests more than $4 billion in regional trade integration in Africa. Much of that goes to improving infrastructure, such as transportation and energy projects. That investment is scheduled to increase to $5.7 billion by July of this year. More of the funding is expected to be directed to regulatory issues.

At least 15 people were killed in the attack and dozens more wounded, including Somali parliament members. The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility.

Abdihakim Egeh, Somalia’s deputy Interior National Security minister said the bombings will not prevent the security progress that he said is currently taking place in Mogadishu.

“First of all, on behalf of the government, I’d like to send our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in that cowardly act from yesterday in Mogadishu, and I’d also like to wish [a] speedy recovery to those who were injured in the act as well,” he said.

Lack of good governance has made Somalia almost ungovernable for decades.  But Egeh said Somalis, especially those in capital Mogadishu, have started to rebuild their lives, thanks to relative security.

“After our government liberated Mogadishu, people are coming back to their houses; they are coming back to rebuild their destroyed businesses and houses, and, it’s really depressing to see something like this [Wednesday’s bombing],” Egeh said.

Egeh credits Somali security forces and African Union peacekeepers for their role in bring relative stability to Mogadishu.

“I can assure you that the streets of Mogadishu are becoming safer and safer every day, and I’d like to take this moment to thank our security forces for making this possible,” Egeh said.

Egeh said the Transitional Federal Government has reached out to al-Shabab, but the Islamist group has not responded in kind.

“Our doors are open to anyone who is willing to talk to us about bringing Somalia back to what it used to be,” Egeh said.

“The team comprises an officer of the ECOWAS standby force, a political affairs specialist and a humanitarian affairs specialist,” said Sonny Ugoh, communications director for ECOWAS, “because we want to holistically look at the issues of security, politics and issues of the humanitarian challenges arising from the [conflict].”

The U.N. refugee agency said at least 22,000 people in northern Mali linked to a Tuareg rebellion have fled to neighboring countries to avoid the fighting.  The U.N. body estimates 10,000 people have arrived in Niger, with many sleeping out in the open.  It estimated that another 9,000 fled to Mauritania and 3,000 more to Burkina Faso.

The rebels launched a new rebellion on January 17^th clashing with government forces in several northern towns.

Ugoh said the sub-regional bloc’s team’s report will determine the organization’s next line of action to help contain the security and humanitarian crisis.

“[They] will get a sense of the reality on the ground… and then be able to make an assessment as to what has happened and how we need to respond,” said Ugoh. “We will also talk to the stakeholders, as much as possible, so that we are able to come to a reasonable sense of the reality on the ground.”

The sub-regional bloc’s mission report and recommendations are expected to be presented to ECOWAS’ Immigration and Security Council, which consists of foreign ministers of member countries in the region.  The ministers are scheduled to deliberate on the report at their meeting scheduled for February 15^th to find ways of resolving the security and humanitarian challenges Mali faces.

“We expect that instructions will come from the meeting as to how best we can respond to the crisis,” said Ugoh.

Ugoh said ECOWAS is encouraging the government to engage the Tuareg rebels to resolve the ongoing crisis.

“It will be in the best interest of the sub-region, and Mali, for the insurgents to dialogue with the government of Mali.  That way their concerns behind the rebellion will be addressed,” said Ugoh. “There is always a virtue in engagement, and I think dialogue will be the best solution as they talk as Malians to address their common problem and find a common way forward without necessarily creating a crisis.”

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Campaigning in the West African state of Senegal is officially underway, with rivals of incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade pledging to unite to force him to withdraw his candidacy in the February 26th elections.  Although Senegal's constitutional council has declared Mr. Wade's candidacy valid, his opponents say his bid for a third term is illegal.  Our reporter speaks to some Senegalese who'll be voting in a couple of weeks in Washington.

Twelve years is enough, says veteran opposition leader and presidential candiddate Moustapha Niasse.  

And another candidate, former foreign minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, says Mr. Wade should not even be allowed to be on the list of legitimate candidates.

“Today the Senegalese people should be debating what the candidates have to offer, but here we are debating on the constitutional coup d’état that just took place," said Gadio.

Gadio is referring to the constitutional council's decision to validate President Wade's candidacy.  The constitution allows presidents only two terms, but Mr. Wade says the measure does not apply to him, since he was elected before it took effect.  Mountaga Gueye works for the Senegalese embassy here in Washington.

“When we organized in 2002 and built a new constitution," said Gueye. "It’s through that constitution that he is now finishing his first term.”  

Washington businessman Khaly Thiam disagrees. He is a spokesman for candidate Moustapha Niasse.

“In March 2007, he [Wade] announced himself that he couldn’t be a candidate, that he’s blocked the constitution to only two terms," said Thiam.

Thousands of people demonstrated late last month in Dakar after Senegal's highest court ruled that Mr. Wade could run for a third term.

But Ahmadou Bamba Seydi, an economist, says people have little to gain by burning the country down.

"We do have the right to express ourselves, we have the right to say no to anything we feel is illegal, but it still has to be done in a responsible and mature way," said Seydi.

Neneh Barry is an international consultant based in Washington.

“President Wade was approved by the highest court of Senegal to run for office and we have to respect that," said Barry.

Both the United States and France have called on Mr. Wade not to run again. But Ndiouga Dieng, a pharmacist says it's the wrong message.

"Senegalese people are very open-minded and they will not let anybody push them into putting chaos in their country," said Dieng. "I hope the U.S. and the European community and the rest of Africa will help us keep the stability in Senegal."

With only a few weeks left before election day, campaigning is in full swing.  A candidate must win at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second round.

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South Sudan depends on northern pipelines to send its oil to international markets. The south cut off its oil trade with the north after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million worth of oil. Khartoum says it took the oil to compensate for unpaid transit fees.

An African Union panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki put forward a proposal to settle the dispute in which South Sudan would pay the north some $5 billion over the next five years to make up for the lost revenue.

South Sudan rejected the proposal. Toma says he supports that decision.

“I believe in that, because given the provisions that were drafted by the AU and trying to peruse through them I have the feeling that South Sudan as a nation was being cheated," said Toma. "Its sovereignty was being tampered with and it was being reduced [from] an independent country to a dependent country.”

South Sudan also faces enormous development challenges. The United Nations estimates that only a quarter of the population is literate and about the same percentage has access to health care.

Some traders, like Dayo King, think the nation may still be too fragile to sacrifice so much of its economy.

“This is still a country that has just begun, in fact was trying to do development just from the start, so if there's no oil maybe when the oil even stops maybe like one week it affects people terribly," King said.

Others like Simon Gatdier Yieh support South Sudan at all costs.  Having witnessed years of war, Yieh says the south, as an independent nation, is in the right to stand up to Khartoum.

“The people of the Arab side like Omar al-Bashir they've not forgotten the war; it's not good," said Yieh. "So we're very happy for our president to shutdown the oil because oil belongs to the south. It does not belong to the north.

The government of South Sudan is preparing to announce austerity measures to reduce spending in order to make up for the economic shortfall.

But with so many people in the country lacking basic services, and many others kept alive through emergency humanitarian interventions, any significant cuts could be painful.

Eight opposition candidates opened their campaigns ahead of Senegal's first-round presidential vote under a single banner and a single agenda.

"Respect for the constitution at the start of this campaign necessitates the repeal of the candidacy of President Abdoulaye Wade," said presidential candidate Macky Sall.

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The recent rally at Obelisk Square in Dakar marked a drastic shift from earlier gatherings there.

Violent protests broke out in Dakar and elsewhere after the constitutional council gave  Wade the green light to seek a third term, despite a limit of two he enacted during his first term.  After his re-election in 2007, Wade said he would respect the limit.

"I blocked the number of terms, so it is not possible. I tell you sincerely that I cannot run for a third term," he said.

Now he is pressing ahead and the opposition is pushing back.  Leading the way is the June 23rd Movement, or M23, that takes its name from the day tens of thousands took to the streets in protest when Wade proposed a constitutional referendum that would have enabled him to win the presidential election with just 25 percent of the vote.

The president dropped the idea in the wake of massive protests.  But his spokesman says few Senegalese actually oppose Wade seeking a third term.

"The Senegalese are not in the streets.  The day that the Senegalese are in the streets, no power can resist them," said presidential spokesman Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye.

Recent protests in Dakar have drawn about 10,000 people, in a metropolitan area of nearly 3 million.  Political analyst Abdoul Lo says there is not the same urgency there was on June 23.

"What happened on the 23rd of June was that Senegalese people were sure that there was no alternative.  This time around, the constitutional court has made its decision, but people still have the feeling that there is an alternative, which is the vote on the 26th of February," said Lo.

The number candidates will splinter the opposition vote, but the coalition alleviates some voters' concerns.

"All of the candidates have their supporters and they will vote.  But if there is a second round, the coalition will move to support whomever won the first round," said Awa Ka, a Macky Sall supporter.

However, Lo says that M23 and voters underestimate the stakes for Wade.

"No matter the result of the elections, he will do whatever necessary to stay in power because, for him, it's vital," said Lo.

President Wade says that he wants another term to finish his infrastructure projects.  But Lo says that, during his 12 years in power, the 85-year-old president has made many enemies and murky deals that could mean trouble if he loses.

The Kenyan military has raised the number of its soldiers killed in Somalia to 15. Among them is Yusuf Koriyo. Koriyo was killed on December 22, 2011 at Gerinle village, which borders Kenya.

Family in need

Fatuma Aden received the news that her husband was killed by a single bullet that hit his chin when his military convoy came under attack from al-Shabab. That day Koriyo was the only soldier killed in the attack.

Fatuma is now left with the burden of raising her 11-month-old girl. She said the last time she received any assistance from the government was in December.

She says when her husband died, soldiers sent her some money.  But she says December was the last month the family received money and that was Yusuf's salary for that month.

This is where Kulmiye Koriyo, a brother-in-law, comes in. He has been providing assistance to Fatuma and her daughter with basic needs.

“We normally offer anything she needs," said Koriyo. "She has a small kid, she don’t take food. She needs milk and clean water; we have to provide them. It is a must because since I am his cousin's brother, any assistance they require from my side I have to give them.”

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In October last year, Kenya's defense force launched a military campaign intended to destroy al-Shabab after a wave of kidnappings on Kenyan territory. Al-Shabab has denied responsibility for the kidnappings.

Worrying for sons

The death of Yusuf Koriyo has left many families in Garissa worried about their sons on the frontline. Mohamed, who prefers to give just his first name, is from one such family. He has a brother serving in the military, stationed on the road between Tabta and Qoqani Somalia's Lower Juba region.

He says as a young man growing up in northeastern Kenya he wanted to join the military but his perception has changed since the death of Yusuf Koriyo and how Koriyo's family has been treated by the Kenyan government.

“My perception has changed," he said. "Before, each and every youth, it was a career most of us wanted to join:  the military to defend the country.  But so far you can imagine [the] military is only thinking about you when you are present in your country. Their interest is when you are working. Once you die they completely forgot about you.”

Kulmiye Koriyo agrees there is nothing to be proud of in being a Kenyan soldier after how his brother-in-law's family was treated. 

“My sister-in-law, she was not happy at all," added Koriyo. "If someone passes like a month ago and the salary ends like that its inhuman, unfair. I suggest it’s not good being a [in the] military since this is what they do if somebody passes away. That is the end of his life and his family. It not a good job.”

Discouraging treatment

Koriyo warns such treatment will discourage other families, and make them urge their sons to resign from their duties.  

Mohamed says his mother is disturbed to see her son on the battlefield and hopes she has the power to get her son back.

“Our life has completely changed," he said. "He was the sole bread winner of our family.  We have not communicated to him for the last two months. We don’t know if he is alive or wounded or they are hiding [something] from us. We don’t have access to him in terms of information, communication and even the care of his family and we are really scrambling here and there. We [are] trying. Our best well-wishers are also helping us. You can imagine one morning you wake up and have nothing.”

As the battle rages on inside Somalia, Kenyan forces have taken control of several towns in the last two weeks. The families hope their sons and husband come home alive, and that the government will look for ways to address their problems.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said the judge found the 62-year-old Boley "removable.”

His deportation order came after a trial in which U.S. immigration officials said Boley's Liberia Peace Council burned to death and massacred captives in the 1990s.

But, former TRC chairman Jerome Verdier said Boley could be a free man after he returns to Liberia because the country is a colony that harbors perpetrators of atrocities.

“I don’t have the full understanding of the legal reasons why he’s being removed, but it is my understanding that he was being held for immigration violations and that his records during the crisis in Liberia also put him in a very unfavorable condition.  But, he’s going home to Liberia where there are others who have been accused of human rights violations in Liberia, and he's ’going to be a virtual free man in Liberia, just like the others,” he said.

Boley testified in 2009 before the TRC about his alleged role in the civil war as leader of the Liberia Peace Council (LPC).

Verdier said, despite overwhelming evidence, Boley told the commission that the LPC he founded was not a warring faction.

“Basically, we had a litany of allegations against him and the Liberian Peace Council, which he organized and headed.  But, he strenuously argued before the commission that he was not part of the peace council, that that was a different peace council that committed the atrocities,” Verdier said.

He said virtually all alleged perpetrators who testified before the TRC denied they committed any atrocities.

Verdier expressed disappointment that Boley could be a free man after his deportation because he said the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has refused to implement the recommendations of the TRC.

In its final report released in November 2009, the TRC recommended the prosecution of scores of former warlords and battlefield commanders who were believed to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during Liberia’s civil war.

The report also recommended the exclusion from political activity for 30 years Sirleaf and other Liberians, who were believed to have supported the war effort through financial donations.

Verdier said Liberia, under Sirleaf, is a land of impunity because she lacks the political will to implement the TRC recommendations.

“Liberia seems to be a colony that harbors perpetrators.  Second to that, there is no political will to take action on the TRC report, apparently because the people in authority, the current regime, do not have the political will to take action on the TRC process.  So, what we have is a land of impunity.  So, if Boley goes home, he joins his peers,” Verdier said.

Verdier said Liberia is never going to heal from war wounds unless there is a mechanism that can bring about justice for victims as well as perpetrators.

But, John Fru Ndi, leader of the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) said ELECAM has failed to address concerns about the voters register, despite repeated appeals by opponents of the ruling People's Democratic Movement (RDPC).

“Cameroon is the last country to give in to what the opposition demanded piecemeal.  We are talking of a biometric registration,” said Fru Ndi. “They are going to open the register for new people to register but, of course, the biometric system will not be put in [place].  They will still register people handwritten before they will transfer into the computers.”

Opposition groups claimed the electoral body refused to correct any discrepancies in the voters list in the run up to last October 9 general presidential election.

Fru Ndi said both the government and the electoral board refused to implement any suggestions he said will ensure the country’s electoral system is credible.

Opposition groups rejected the re-election of President Paul Biya after accusing the electoral body of “scientific rigging.”

“This caused Cameroonians a lot of problems because, during the inauguration of Mr. Biya, no foreign head of state came in,” continued Fru Ndi. “The presidential election last year brought a lot of shame to Cameroon.  Cameroonians wanted to react, but we told them to hold on because, in the world of turbulence, there is no need to go through bloodshed.”

Fru Ndi expressed frustration with ELECAM after saying the electoral body failed to learn from the experiences of other countries he said organized credible elections.

“Ghana did it; next door Benin did it.  Nigeria with biometric registration registered 70 million people in two weeks.  We are not talking about something that is out of reach,” said Fru Ndi. “It’s just because Mr. Biya said Cameroon is Cameroon and Cameroon has nothing to learn from anybody, and that tells you that he has to be the head of state for life.”

Fru Ndi said it is unlikely the electoral body will correct what he has called the blatant errors in the voters list.

He attributed Cameroon’s inability to attract “massive foreign” direct investment to poorly-organized elections.

“Businessmen cannot come to do business in Cameroon because things are kind of blocked and because of bad governance, because any investor coming in will want to know the governance and other things.  And, if all these things are not corrected, I don’t think the country will get the credibility that she deserves,” said Fru Ndi.

"I’m with the women along the sea who sell the fish," she said from Dakar. "I’m doing a tour of the coast and talking to fishermen and those who sell the fish, because without them the country cannot properly feed itself."

Sidibe said that as the only female candidate, she would be a staunch advocate for women’s rights if she were to be elected, but most importantly she would strive for equality. “I will do a lot for women, because I know the importance of women in family and society in general. But I will not just be for women, I will also work for men and an equal society.”

Sidibe stressed the role that women must play in conflict resolution – and added that role must be made stronger. “In Africa most of all, women play an essential role in peacemaking and are the first victims of violence," she said. "They must be at the negotiation table."

She added womens’ health is a pressing issue, because if they are not healthy, they cannot work nor take care of their families.

Sidebe is one of 13 opposition figures facing current President Abdoulaye Wade in the West African country’s upcoming election. She has joined the other opposition candidates in denouncing the candidacy of Wade, who is running for his third term despite a constitutional two-term limit. Wade argued that the term-limits were introduced after he was already in office and so cannot be applied to him retroactively.

Riots in the normally peaceful capital erupted after Wade’s candidacy was declared legitimate last month.

Aid workers say more than 140,000 people have been displaced by the ethnic violence in eastern Jonglei state, which has caused an unknown number of deaths in recent months, estimated at the several thousand.

The most recent attack, in which two herders were killed by an alleged cattle raider, was reported Sunday in the state's Bor county.

An armed Nuer and Dinka youth militia group calling itself the White Army has issued an ominous warning saying that next month it will start new operations to contain rival Murle youth.

Militias from both ethnic groups have attacked and counter-attacked each other since South Sudan broke away from Sudan and became independent last year.

J. Peter Pham, the Africa director at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, says historical rivalries between the cattle herding communities, which had been dormant for a while, suddenly exploded. "The thought of independence, the dream of having their own country kept the various disparate factions together long enough to achieve it and they achieved it relatively smoothly but now comes the hard part which is building a state where there has not been one before," he said.

Ethnic militias were often used and paid by rival sides in Sudan's long civil war.  Without that revenue and with the realization their new country would not be providing them new opportunities, some of the militia groups have conducted cattle raids as a substitute.

Jonathan Temin from the United States Institute of Peace says there seems to be a multitude of factors behind the violence. "The availability of small arms and light weapons certainly makes these kinds of raids more deadly. Another factor here that does not get discussed too often is dowry.  There has been a significant inflation in dowry prices, the prices that a man has to pay in order to get married and because of that inflation men need more cattle in order to get married and that can drive some of the cattle raiding that were are seeing. Then there is also politics which pervades everything in South Sudan," he said.

Temin says politicians trying to gain standing in the new South Sudan have also caused the situation to deteriorate, by using divisive ethnic arguments to drum up their own support.

United Nations peacekeepers and South Sudan's security forces have been criticized for not doing enough to stop the ongoing confrontations. Officials from U.N. agencies, the government in Juba and local Jonglei communities all say they are working hard to help victims of the recent violence, as well as prevent new major outbreaks.

Amir Idris, a Sudan expert at Fordham University in the state of New York, says it is important to put the focus on local power-sharing and development, rather than blaming the rival communities.

"If we do so, we begin to demonize these two communities, the Nuer communities and the Murle communities.  And there is nothing wrong with their culture and traditions, but certainly there are some political and economic issues that need to be addressed by the government of South Sudan and the international community to stop these kind of military confrontations, otherwise this cycle of violence will continue," he said.

South Sudanese immigrant leaders living in Canada and the United States have started a cross-ethnic organization called the Jonglei Peace Initiative to try to help end the violence as well.

In a statement, they also said development projects for all Jonglei communities were urgently needed.

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The World Economic Forum and The Boston Consulting Group have identified six steps to help poor countries cash in on their mineral deposits. The recommendations are based on the advice of 400 experts from NGOs, governments and mining companies.

Learning from the past

“Historically, there have been so many cases where countries, who have lots of minerals, have systematically not developed those correctly. They haven’t done them in a socially or economically, what we call, responsible manner,” said Alex Wong, World Economic Forum’s senior director.

He said the “six steps” or “building blocks” can help prevent history from repeating itself.

“What’s happening now with the commodity price cycle that we’re in and the emergence of several countries onto the global stage - such as Mongolia, Guinea, Peru – these are countries who are now, for the first time in a way, having the opportunity to develop their mineral resources and using it as a major way for their countries to grow economically. So, it’s actually an incredible moment where we don’t want to make the same mistakes that have been made in the past,” he said.

Poor, yet mineral rich, countries face a number of challenges in developing their extraction industries. These include not having the expertise, skills or resources at hand to develop the industries. Another issue may be a failure to get local communities and civil society involved in the process. And often the negotiating process has not been transparent.

“So, people actually don’t understand what are the terms of the agreement. They have, therefore, mismatched expectations and lack of communication, which then obviously causes lots of tension and misunderstanding,” said Wong.

Doing what’s right

Wong said the recommendations help create a climate of trust, which can lead to all the stakeholders benefiting from the mineral wealth.

“First of all, promoting capacity building and knowledge sharing. And that includes making sure everybody understands how to do it. How to develop these mineral resources in a responsible manner. Making sure people understand the costs and benefits associated. The second category of actions is around collaborative processes, processes both at the national level and at the local level. So that you have mechanisms and processes for people to be included in the discussions and have a feeling that they’re part of the negotiations and the outcomes,” he said.

The final category of recommendations concerns transparency and dispute resolution.

Wong cautioned there is not an immediate return on investment for mineral rich countries, as there may be for oil-rich nations.

In for the long-term

“In mineral development, in particular, it’s especially challenging because governments don’t actually often get their revenue that comes from the process of extracting their minerals until a good 10 to 15 years later in some cases. And whereas oil is probably a little more immediate because you get stuff under the ground, you ship it out and the government’s seeing revenues,” he said.

Wong said there’s been a good initial response to the Framework for Advancing Responsible Mineral Development. It highlights 22 successful projects in such countries as Mongolia, Liberia, Ghana and Chile. He says a second initiative promoting responsible mineral extraction is the World Bank-led Extractives for Development initiative, or E4D.

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The report says since the last quarter of 2011 various militias have been intruding on camps located about 90 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital of Goma. The main camps affected include Nyanzale, Mweso and Birambizo in the Masisi territory.   Civilians are constantly being threatened by the militia, and are accused of collaborating with one armed group or another.

Celine Schmitt is a UNHCR spokesperson in Kinshasa, DRC.

“We’ve heard reports for example, in December last year, that seven internally displaced people were beaten to death because they had refused to take part in forced labor for one of the rebel groups in North Kivu.  We received reports of IDP’s being tortured and we are alarmed by this situation,” said Schmitt.

She said the violence is affecting humanitarian operations in the region and is preventing workers from assisting and protecting people at the camps.

“For example only eight of the IDP camps out of 31 are accessible to humanitarian workers without military escorts,” said Schmitt, who added workers too are at risk of being attacked because they are going to these areas.

The UNHCR has appealed to provincial authorities to increase security in the area.

“We are working in close cooperation with provincial authorities to make sure they secure the areas and ensure we can access them, and ensure IDP’s are protected,” said Schmitt.

Schmitt said authorities in North Kivu have police securing the camps, however there are only 40 police officers deployed to secure six of the 31 camps in the province. There are almost 79,000 displaced Congolese in North Kivu.

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China is a major investor in Sudan and had appealed to Khartoum to help secure the workers' release.

During the January kidnapping, 17 Chinese workers managed to escape, while another one disappeared.

China's Xinhua news agency reported on Monday that Sudanese authorities handed over the body of the missing worker, who was killed following the attack.

China's growing economic involvement in Africa includes oil drilling and road projects in insecure areas often considered too dangerous to operate in by Western companies.  

Sudanese officials say China has more than 100 companies and 10,000 personnel working in the country.  

China is also the largest buyer of Sudanese oil and has tried to help the two Sudans settle a bitter dispute over oil revenue. The south took over the bulk of Sudanese oil production when it became independent in July, but relies on northern pipelines for export.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.