Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Health authorities in Tanzania have identified gender inequality and creeping poverty as prime causes for the high rate of HIV/AIDS cases among women in the country. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Women account for 52 percent of Burundi's seven million inhabitants, with over 80 percent of them living in poor rural areas, Social and Women Affairs Minister Romaine Ndorimana has said. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The African National Congress Women's League's (ANCWL) has announced that its national executive will hold an urgent meeting to discuss the participation of women in the Millennium Africa Recovery Plan and the New Africa Initiative. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Women members of parliament from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Monday started a one-week workshop in Lusaka to work out a strategy for enabling more women to be elected to parliaments of their countries. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The participation of woman in local governance is dependent on the improvement of their daily living conditions, according to Senegalese Industry and Craft Minister, Landing Savane. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- World-renowned South African singer Miriam Makeba, on Thursday inaugurated a French-language primary school in Pretoria, named after her. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, president of the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) Friday opens a four-day Nation Consultative Conference in Johannesburg. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Thursday hailed the "excellent relations" between France and Tunisia as he appointed female lawyer Faiza Kefi ambassador to Paris, the Tunisian News Agency (TAP) reported. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- More than 60 percent of African women are illiterate, an official from the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights affirmed in Brazzaville, Wednesday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria would next year host a world summit on the trafficking of women and child labour, a top government official hinted Thursday. Full text...

N'djamena- Chad (PANA) -- There is a workshop underway to implement Forum Vision 2010 which calls for reduction in maternal and infant mortality in Chad, rated among the highest in the world. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The chances of an average African girl getting a reasonable school education are very slim. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwean women parliamentarians Monday buried party differences and formed an all-female caucus in the House to push for greater rights. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- A study carried out by the National Pedagogic Institute (IPN) has shown that most women displaced by the war in DR Congo have little hope in the future. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African Government has appointed Monhla Hlahla chief executive officer of the Airports Company of South Africa. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Unlike the common belief that women were the main victims, a study has shown that about 20 percent of men and 15 percent of the women in DR Congo fall victim to sexual harassment at their workplace. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- A nationwide campaign is under way in the Democratic Republic of Congo to encourage couples to register their marriages. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- When 17-year old Agneta Nyangeta (not her real name) was driven into prostitution by her mother to supplement their livelihood in the city, her life became another grisly Tanzanian statistic. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Two South African women in their mid-sixties Monday flew in a single-engine plane from the US into Lanseria airport in Johannesburg. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Over 200 Tanzanian women are participating in a weeklong regional informal sector exhibition starting Monday in Nairobi, Kenya. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- A three-day women's conference opens in Lusaka Monday to formulate a strategy aimed at boosting their effective participation in coming Zambian elections. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- In the face of increasing cases of early pregnancies among secondary school girls in Cape Verde, the government has hinted it would take measures to curb the phenomenon. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The sixth edition of a project initiating young Benin girls into active and professional life, began Wednesday with about 40 girls on roll. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The European Parliament Thursday resolved to fight female genital mutilation in Africa by including projects opposed to the practice in programmes supported by members of the European Union. Full text...

Conakry- Guinea (PANA) -- Guinean females working in the mass media are determined to dismantle male dominance of the profession, an official with a female journalists' organisation said in Conakry Wednesday. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- A national workshop is underway in Niamey advocating the restitution of a study on the repudiation of women. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The First Lady of Burkina Faso, Chantal Compaoré, is in Brussels to take part in a debate on female genital mutilation (FGM) organised by the European Parliament. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- A two-day UNESCO-sponsored women's conference to evaluate the "Women, higher education and development" project ends Tuesday in Paris, France. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Leaders of a Kenyan women group have petitioned parliament to impose death sentences on rapists. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The 2000 Regional Human Development Report for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has acknowledged some progress in efforts at empowering women within the sub region. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The National Women's Lobby Group (NWLG) has called on political parties in the country to support women vying for decision making positions in line with the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) 30 percent requirement. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The Zambia National Women's Lobby Group, a gender advocacy non-governmental organisation, has begun a project which targets corruption because effects of the scourge are more severe on women and children than men. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- The Women's Action for Development (WAD) Executive Director, Veronica de Klerk, said Wednesday that women need to equip themselves with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform erstwhile "men only" jobs. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- A Johannesburg High Court Monday reinstated the embattled Chief Executive of South Africa's Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), and ordered her employers to pay her outstanding salaries and legal costs. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Observers have warned that unless women's specific needs were addressed, efforts towards their post-war rehabilitation in Somalia and Rwanda are unlikely to make any meaningful impact. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- A four-woman team of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) arrived in Kigali Saturday to assess the impact of the armed conflict on women and their role in peace-building and conflict resolution. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A Kenyan Women's organisation has hinted of immediate plans to launch a countrywide sensitisation campaign against child abuse in the country. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- A UNESCO director in the division of higher education, Komlavi Francisco Seddoh, Wednesday urged African governments to invest in women's higher education if they hoped to tap women's potential in complimenting on going efforts to achieve rapid development. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- UNESCO Higher Education director Komlavi Francisco Seddoh has urged African governments to invest in women's higher education with a view to making the best of women's potential in the drive for rapid development. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Five years after the Zambian government recognised the need to remove impediments to girls' education, observers maintain those hurdles were still alive and standing in the way of the intended progress. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberian education minister, Dr. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- At least 500 gender activists from eastern and central Africa are to attend the Annual Gender Studies Conference (AGSC) in Dar es Salaam from 10-13 September. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopian women staged a rally in Addis Ababa Wednesday during which they called for the introduction of capital punishment against rapists and other people engaged in sexual harassment. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The African National Congress Women's League on Wednesday mobilised hundreds of community members and women in support of a march called by the Ministers Fraternal in the Southern Cape town of George. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Cyprienne Zinsou, a victim of child trafficking has finally re-united with her parents in Benin after 23 years. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Lithemba Resources, a new company led by black women aimed at the minerals and energy sector, has been launched in Johannesburg. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- A Briton suspected of paedophilia has been arrested by the Ethiopian police in Addis Ababa. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- A 34-year-old Malawi woman now faces murder charges after allegedly pouring hot water on her housemaid, who later died in hospital. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- In a move to focus on the multiplicity of violence against women, the World Court of Women Against Racism would convene in Durban side-by-side with the forthcoming World conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Thirty-year-old Amina (not her real name) has a deep scar on her mind which she would have to live with for the rest of her life. Full text...