In what is being promoted as the first partnership of its kind, millions of mobile phone owners in Africa and the Middle East will soon have free access to Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia. Wikipedia is available for free on the internet, but to access it, mobile phone users have to be enrolled in a data plan that can be costly for most people, especially in low-income African countries

Imagine you are in Yokadouma, a rural community in eastern Cameroon with little electricity and inaccessible roads. You have an old, inexpensive mobile phone with which you can only make and receive calls. The good news is that it is now possible for that phone to be smarter — to send and receive e-mails, check a Facebook account and chat online, even without internet access

Senegalese state media report that President Abdoulaye Wade has acknowledged defeat in Sunday’s runoff presidential election, and has called his opponent Macky Sall to congratulate him. Unofficial results being announced by the media show Mr. Sall with a huge lead over Mr. Wade. Mr. Sall’s supporters are celebrating in the streets of Dakar

The Carter Center has condemned the seizure of power in Mali by elements of the military and has therefore called for the immediate and peaceful return to constitutional order

The ECOWAS Observation Mission to the March 25, second round Presidential election in Senegal arrived in Dakar on Tuesady, March 20. A statement from ECOWAS Commission said Former Togolese Prime Minister, Koffi Sama, who headed a 150-member ECOWAS Mission to the first round Presidential election in Senegal on Sunday, February 26, would lead the mission of 100 observers

Zimbabwe has one of the world’s largest diamond fields, but revenues are not making an impact on the economy. The country’s finance minister is warning the government will have to virtually shut down if projected revenues do not make it into the treasury

The ongoing agitation in Africa triggered by the “Arab Spring” demonstrates yet again the importance of good political and economic governance for the continent’s development. Through their street demonstrations, Africans are expressing their will to reassert control over their own destinies. They are struggling for dignity, freedom, genuine social justice and access to economic opportunities

For some African countries, there is cheery news in the 2011 Human Development Report.* Published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), it ranks countries according to three measures of human development: life expectancy, education and income. In both Kenya and Nigeria extreme poverty has declined due to improvements in water, sanitation, health and other living standards, while Ghana has made steady progress and is now ranked as having medium human development

Three blades — each the length of a tennis court — revolve atop a wind energy tower reaching 50 metres into the sky, equal in height to a 17-storey building. There are four such turbines whirling in the hot, dry and windy landscape near the town of Darling in South Africa’s Western Cape, generating 7 gigawatt hours per year of green energy

There is clean energy in the ground in Kenya — a lot of it — and Kenya has already moved to start tapping the Rift Valley’s vast steam reserves. The government hopes to generate about 27 per cent of the country’s electrical power from geothermal sources by 2031

Sudanese President Omar Omar al-Bashir Saturday condemned the International Criminal Court for ordering the arrest of his defense minister. Mr. Bashir addressed the crowd during a rally in Khartoum, accusing the ICC of trying to undermine a symbol of the country’s armed forces. He then said he and his minister would defend the dignity and pride of Sudan

Two U.S.-based filmmakers have made a riveting documentary looking into the struggles and activism of Uganda’s embattled gay community. The film is called Call Me Kuchu. Kuchu is the name used in Uganda to describe members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community

The African National Congress (ANC) has expelled Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the party’s youth league, for sowing divisions within the party and putting the party’s standing with South African citizens at risk. Malema may appeal the decision but must do so within two weeks