No sooner had Mariness Luhanga announced her intention to contest local elections in Mzimba district in northern Malawi, than she was summoned to appear before a village court on allegations of insulting men.

The attempt by Congo and Rwanda to end the deadly conflict in eastern Congo by a secret presidential deal and military force is failing and must be changed fundamentally by the Kinshasa government and the international community.

The Democratic Republic of Congo government's two-year military campaign against rebels in the east is failing and has sparked widespread abuses by both insurgents and the army, the International Crisis Group said.

Women in the Sudanese region of Darfur have been raped with impunity since the start of the conflict there in 2003. Now a campaign to reform the rape law is gaining momentum in the country, promoted by Alliance 149, a national coalition born in late 2009.

It is not about feminism, it is about business. Member states give us money to implement projects, and if I implement a project that only affects 50 percent of the population, that is bad business." Agnes Marcaillou, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs.

28 October 2010 - The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a Geneva-based international housing rights watchdog, today released a “report card” examining Uganda's national land policy and land reform processes and their impact on women.

The United Nations envoy for Somalia today strongly condemned the summary execution of two young women who had been accused of spying in the central town of Beledweyne by the Islamic militant group known as al-Shabaab.

The two, who were reportedly just teenagers, were killed by firing squad on Wednesday in front of hundreds of residents in the town, according to media reports.

Ekhlas Garang one of the thousands of Sudanese women who believe in national unity. Reports Zuleikha Abdel Raziq

As South Sudan self-determination referendum deadline nears, the Sudanese political arena becomes blusterous and dominated by intensive activities overwhelming emphasizing the merits of unity and hazards of Sudan partitioning.

A military solution championed by Rwanda and DR Congo for restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has failed and the region risks deteriorating, the International Crisis Group warned Tuesday.

Juba - Kajo-Keji MP Mary Kiden has urged Southern Sudanese women not to underrate the upcoming referendum because “it is about life and death”.

Addressing female lawyers at Sahara hotel in Juba this Tuesday the MP said, “we cannot waste a single minute because this is all about the future of our nation.”