From the 5th to the 9th February EJN is, once again, together with the International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa (IANRA) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) hosting an Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town. This is strategically hosted parallel to the Official Mining Indaba, where the international elite of mining professionals gather each year to build and maintain cross-continental business relationships among various stakeholders in the mining sector.
Christian Aid has just launched the report: 
*By Rebekka Madsen
The leaders of the Regional Apex civil society organizations from the Southern Africa Region, namely the Fellowship of Christian Councils of Southern Africa (FOCCISA), Southern Africa Development Community – Council of Non Governmental Organizations (SADC-CNGO), Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC) condemn in the strongest possible terms their detention and subsequent deportation upon arrival at the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport of Luanda, Angola without any explanation on Thursday 11 August 2011 and the cancellation of their accommodation and planned meetings.
Johannesburg - Southern Africa is facing an "erosion of democracy" caused in part by a failure of regional leaders to live up to their own agreements on the rule of law, civil society groups warned on Wednesday.
Informal cross-border traders embody the spirit of African entrepreneurship. Driven by a lack of formal employment opportunities and succeeding in challenging conditions through sheer determination and a savvy business sense, this army of informal traders make up a crucial but often overlooked part of the continent’s economy.
ACCRA, Ghana--(TWN-Africa-29 June, 2011) - Civil Societ Organisations at the 13th annual strategy meeting of the African Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society (AIMES) which took place from 21 to 24 June in Harare, Zimbabwe have said that there are emerging processes that seek to threaten the mining reform agenda at the continental and regional level.
A meeting of governments, UN agencies and international organizations held in Rome on 18 August ended with a call for a twin-track approach that involves both meeting pressing relief needs as well as addressing the root causes of the problem and strengthening the affected populations' resilience in the face of future shocks.By Peter N. Prove, Executive Director, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
"Feeding the hungry does not end hunger, unless we help people provide for their futures. If donors, development agencies and governments do not attend to the medium and long term, this kind of tragedy will happen again," said IFAD Vice President Yukiko Omura. "We cannot control droughts, but we can control hunger. To do so we must invest in the world's smallholder farmers so that they can feed their communities and their families."
The experience of EAA members and partners underlines these perspectives.
Members of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), an alliance of 80 churches and related organizations around the world, are deeply concerned by the tragic food crisis currently affecting several countries in the Horn of Africa. Many churches and related organizations – in the affected countries and internationally – are directly involved in responding to the emergency situation.
