Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Women, who constitute 52 percent of the population in the Democratic Republic of Congo have complained of being side-lined in the forthcoming national dialogue. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- A workshop highlighting national and international instruments against the trafficking and exploitation of women and children is afoot in Bamako, Mali at the behest of the African Coalition against the Traficking of Women (ACTW). Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- An international seminar focussing essentially on "Gender, population and development in Africa", entered its second day Wednesday in Abidjan with an aim to specify the role of women and their integration in society. Full text...

Oshakati- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's Oshana regional governor Clemens Kashuupulwa has spoken out against poor representation of women in decision-making bodies, charging that it was an unfair practice that needed revision. Full text...

Keetmanshoop- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's Keetmanshoop Women and Child Protection Unit (WCPU) says it received 24 complaints of violence against adult women and 12 against minors during the first half of this year. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Women are better on the wheels, the saying goes, but their genre has hardly featured among the world's renowned chauffeurs. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's Businesswomen's Club Tuesday paved the way to support for women on the business trail. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- A list of finalists for the 2001 Businesswoman of the Year contest was announced Monday by the Businesswomen's Association (BWA), organisers of the most prestigious award for women achievers in South Africa. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Fifteen female pupils began a three-day computer training in Windhoek Monday jointly organised by the Forum for African Women Educationists in Namibia (FAWENA) and the Information Technology Learning Academy (ITLA). Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- African leaders who cite human rights charters ratified by their parliaments as key achievements in advancing the status of women should be advised to reconsider their policies. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The Director of Public Prosecutions is facing public criticism from the media after his office entered a "nolle prosequi" in court to withdraw a case against a prominent businessman accused of raping a university student. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- A UNESCO-sponsored International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa (CIEFFA), opened Monday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- The lack of accurate data on children in Africa poses problems for UNICEF to plan for their welfare, a demographer at UNICEF headquarters in New York, Edilberto Loaiza warned Friday in Banjul. Full text...

Mekhe- Senegal (PANA) -- The pumping of underground water has raised morale among Keur Gora villagers in the northern Senegalese district of Mekhe, under threat of desertification. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Some six years after Family Life Education (FLE) clubs were introduced in the country, social welfare authorities in Senegal's Tamabacounda region have reported a marked decrease in the number of pregnancies among school girls as well as the drop out rate. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Participants from 20 African countries attending a week-long African Congress on Girls' Science Education is urging governments to include gender issues in their schools' science, technology and mathematics syllabuses. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- South Africa's Foreign Affairs minister Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma has averred that unless women were part of the endeavour, there can be no African Recovery unless women. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Women of the Democratic Union of Teachers (UDEN) in Senegal have circulated a petition questioning the dominant right of the husband over children born to wedded couples. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegal is committed to fighting against any form of intolerance towards women, the country's Minister for Social Development and National Solidarity, Aminata Tall, said here Tuesday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South African foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will this week address a meeting of Femmes Africa Solidarité - the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa - and the African Women Committee on Peace and Development Consultation in Dakar, Senegal. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- A conference seeking the empowerment of rural women in Namibia through training in skills that would render them independent and professional has been slated for 16-17 August in Ongwediva. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- UNESCO has expressed concern that many education systems still remained systematically biased against girls so much that the negative attitudes and experiences are being reflected in the generally low attainment and achievement levels for girls as compared to boys. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- African women say they plan to make a debut in regional and continental politics at the forthcoming summit of African leaders in Lusaka, Zambia. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Women activists in Malawi are pressing for enactment of a law that would make marital rape a criminal offence. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The National Union of the Associations of Muslim Women in Africa (UNAFEM) has criticised a controversial new marriage and family code proposed by the Malian Women Advancement Ministry. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Efforts at stopping Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Kenya may not succeed without a law against the practice, pressure groups have argued. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The Benin section of the Association of Women in Law and Development (WILDAF), an organisation defending women's rights, would Wednesday in Cotonou reward some 36 school pupils who through drawings depicted violence against women and girls. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The empowerment of women, particularly black women, remains a priority for the South African government, transport minister Dullah Omar said following the appointment of Sakhile Nyoni as new general manager of operations for the South Africa Civil Aviation Authority. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- There are some 93 women including 13 teenagers among 3,600 prisoners currently detained in the Abidjan Prison, the ruling Ivorian Popular Front-run newspaper, Notre Voie reported Wednesday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- An official at Burundi's Ministry of Social Action and Women Affairs has called for efforts to increase the representation of women in the country's decision-making bodies. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- African women entrepreneurs from 12 countries have gathered in Cotonou for a three-day brainstorming on achievements and prospects of female-owned business in Africa. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Ministers responsible for women's affairs and gender in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have expressed concern at the resistance shown by some member states to include more women in decision-making roles. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- When Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders met in Blantyre, Malawi, in 1997 they agreed on the promotion of gender equality as one of their "highest goals. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Deputy Chairperson of the Namibian National Council Margaret Mensah Thursday stirred a hornet's nest in the male-dominated House of Review when she proposed the legalisation of prostitution in the country. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberia's justice ministry announced that rape topped criminal cases in 2000, but the weird nature of rape cases may be even more scaring. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa has embarked on measures to enhance the rights of children as enshrined under the country's constitution. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- The government of Niger has set heavy penalties of six months to three years imprisonment for persons found guilty of practising female genital mutilation, according to a revised criminal code draft. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The first international summit on women entrepreneurship in Africa is scheduled to be held in Cotonou from 30 May to 1 June on the theme "women entrepreneurs in Africa : achievements and perspectives. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- "Say Yes To Children" is the slogan of the world-wide campaign UNICEF recently launched for the children of the world. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- African first ladies concluded a two- day forum in Bamako Tuesday with a call to involve all actors in efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- First ladies from several west and central African states have strongly condemned the ongoing violence and humiliation against Palestinians particularly women, children and the elderly. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Malian First Lady, Adame Ba Konare, Monday emphasised the urgent need to sharply reduce neonatal and maternal mortality in Africa. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A survey by a Mauritian non-governmental organisation, SOS Women, has revealed that eight out of 10 Mauritian women are battered by their husbands. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- In a second case of its kind within a week, a South African judge has questioned whether a child rape victim knows what it means to speak the truth under oath. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- A Sudanese student recently interrupted writing her secondary school certificate examinations to deliver a healthy baby boy at a hospital before returning to the school to complete her examinations, press reports said Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A Magistrate's court in Kenya's western Kisumu province had allowed a 60-year old man to divorce three of his five wives who stripped before him in public. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Women delegates from 53 African countries are taking part in a conference on peace and development in Tripoli, Libya. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- As part of the programme to disseminate and implement the recently adopted national gender policy, the Zambian government has simplified and translated the document into seven local languages. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- As part of the programme to disseminate and implement the recently adopted national gender policy, the Zambian government has simplified and translated the document into seven local languages. Full text...

Tsumeb- Namibia (PANA) -- The Association of Local Authorities of Namibia this week ended its 52nd annual congress, electing the former mayor of Tsumeb, Helen Nkandi Shiimi as president of the body. Full text...