Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican parliament Thursday unanimously ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Lawmakers from 23 African countries have urged their colleagues in the continent to ensure that enough financial resources are allocated to them pass laws ending female circumcision and to campaign against the practice. Full text...

politics New York- UN (PANA) -- An expert group will meet in Arusha, Tanzania, 6-8 December under the auspices of the UN to discuss strategies to ensure greater participation of African women in politics. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) crusaders are alarmed that despite a vigorous campaign against the vice, over 200 girls in the country's north Rift Valley region alone have in the past week gone through the painful operation which is performed without anaesthesia. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Julio Grieco, the Resident Coordinator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Libya, Tuesday commended the gains made by Libyan women on human rights, which he attributed to enabling legislation. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- The election of Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf of Liberia as the first female president in Africa shows that the principle of equality of representation in the organs of national leadership "is taking root in this continent," says Pan African Parliament president Gertrude Mongella. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Deputy president Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka Thursday called on the South African public to wear a symbolic white ribbon for 16 days from 25 November to 10 December to show their rejection of women and child abuse. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- When he opened the African Union (AU) conference of ministers in charge of women affairs on 14 October in Dakar, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade urged women on the continent to fight and wrest leadership positions from their male counterparts. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- African countries must ratify the protocol on the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) relative to the rights of women in order to accelerate gender promotion on the continent, the president of the 'Femme Africa Solidarité (FAS), Bineta Diop, said here. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has always factored the gender dimension in the design and implementation of its food security strategy, the UN agency said here. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegal has been elected to head the bureau of the Women and Development Committee charged with orienting the policies of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in the field of gender equality. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Equality between men and women has nothing to do with conformity but rather with the issue of human rights and development. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said Friday in Dakar that he would like to see more women involvement in the political arena so that they could gain access to their country's highest decision-making bodies. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade Friday called for the setting up of a Pan-African gender institute to undertake studies on the social, economic, political and cultural disparities between men and women. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The first conference of the African Union on gender opened in Dakar Friday with a strong commitment to implement the official declaration of the continent's heads of state on gender equality and equity in Africa. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- African Union women ministers Friday paid a glowing tribute to President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal for his role in steering a move towards gender parity on the continent. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- An institute aimed at making the voice women heard on economic matters will soon open its doors in Paris, official sources said here Friday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has put a female navy captain in charge of the integration of forces in DR Congo. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Gender experts from African governments Wednesday began examining two documents that the African Union Commission submitted for scrutiny during their meeting in the Senegalese capital in Dakar. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Poverty will not be eliminated from Mozambique while women continue to suffer discrimination, warned the resident representative of the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Petra Lantz, on Wednesday in Maputo. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- At least 15 women from Mali, Niger, Senegal and Burkina Faso are attending a regional conference on the theme "women's participation in politics in Western Africa", which opened Tuesday in Bamako. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The coordinator of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Graca Machel is asking the Kenya government to embrace affirmative action and come up with clear policies that would safeguard the rights of women, children and young persons. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegal's Family, Women and Social Development Minister Aida Mbodj has said in Dakar that the African Union declaration on gender issues is a major act that reinforces the promotion of the gender approach on the continent. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said Monday that women should play a more visible role in government and politics in the country. Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- A senior official of the United Nations said said that the situation of women and girls in Sudan, especially in camps for displaced persons and in the south, remains "very poor" and requires urgent action. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo said here Monday that women were still at a disadvantage in the country. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya is committed to improving the status of women through appropriate legislation and interventions, President Mwai Kibaki has said. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Different South African cultural organisations, including traditional leaders and the African Cultural Heritage Trust, have ganged up in a bid to block the draft Children's Rights Bill seeking to outlaw virginity testing from becoming law. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Millions of women and children worldwide are bound to enjoy a better chance of survival, thanks to a new global initiative announced at an official side event of the 2005 World Summit of the Partnership for Maternal, New-born and Child Health held in New York City on Tuesday. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has called for adequate legislation and programs to better protect women and girls in the Gambia, the local Women's Bureau said Friday. Full text...

Sirte- Libya (PANA) -- Women members of the Panafrican parliament in Sirte (Central Libya) Friday end a two-day meeting during which they have been hearing several presentations on the role of women in planning and decision-making in respect of issues related to the welfare of African populations. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's Children Department, in conjunction with Save the Children Sweden, will set up Children Protection Units at all police stations in the country in order to enhance the handling of children's issues by the police, a senior police officer has said. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberia's ministry of education on Monday began reviewing a draft policy document on the education of girls in the country, a programme having the backing of UNCEF. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- The second Pan-African Young Leaders' summit opened in Ifrane (middle Atlas) on Thursday under the co-chairmanship of Moroccan Prince Rachid Moulay and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) attending a summit in Gaborone on Wednesday have been urged to adopt a protocol to accelerate gender equality in the region. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Transformational efforts by South African business and the public sector, mainly driven by the Employment Equity Act of 1998, has had positive effects on the targeted groups, according to research conducted by Mpho Nkeli, an executive director at Alexander Forbes Risk Services. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry will honour women entrepreneurs who make use of technological innovations to enhance production in their businesses at the 2005 Technology for Women In Business (TWIB) Awards ceremony. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Ahead of the national Women's Day Tuesday, South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) Parliamentary Caucus, Monday paid tribute to women involved in the country's long struggles. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- There are plans for a conference on the appropriation of the African Union Declaration on gender for 12- 15 October 2005 in Dakar, after its organising committee was established here Thursday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- A navy sailor, suspected of being the Western Cape's worst-ever serial rapist, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court for his bail application on Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan juveniles involved in minor criminal offences would now no longer be locked up in police cells, child rights advocates announced here on Wednesday. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- A UN report has noted that despite some progress, Gambia still has a lot of grounds to cover on the elimination of discrimination against women. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Prime Minister Choukri Ghanem has praised Libyan girls for their "excellent" performance in the first phase of the 2005 specialised senior secondary education exam administered across the country. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- The chair of the Center for the Promotion of Women in Politics (CPFP), Emilienne Raoul, has called on Congolese women to begin working toward participation in the 2007 general elections to ensure better representation in the country's political institutions. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Gambian Vice President, Isatou Njie Monday criticised the continuing "unhelpful and negative socio- cultural constraints" that still "undermine development efforts geared towards addressing problems relating to women and girls' health on the African continent. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Cameroonians on Monday observed World Population Day with UNFPA programme officer in the country, Paulette Béat Songué, urging the government to make gender equality visible through equal schooling for girls and boys. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- More than 60 gender experts, 40 of whom are drawn from Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in 20 African countries, will converge in Pretoria, South Africa Tuesday to witness the launch of the New Partnership For Africa's Development (NEPAD) Gender Task Force, according to the official NEPAD Secretariat bulletin. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- Women's associations from Cameroon have been invited to attend in Houston, Texas, the World Women's Congress sponsored by the Global Council of Black Women Leaders Incorporated, grouping African-American business, sources have said here. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Poverty and marginalisation of women and children are some of the major contributors to human trafficking in East Africa, a Kenyan official said here Tuesday. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Women miners grouped under the continental body known as the African Women in Mining Network have appealed to heads of state and government now meeting in Sirte, Libya to support them with capital and equipment. Full text...