Southern Africans consumes more than a fifth of the world’s maize output.

It’s like telling Italians to stop eating pasta.

But Zambia’s vice president Inonge Wina insists the staple in Southern African countries should be ditched in favour of more nutritious foods.

Her country and many of its neighbors are in the grip of drought that has severely reduced maize production.

The climate-change related crises has led to 1,7 million Zambians – that’s 18 per cent of the population – suffering severe food insecurity.

The UN-linked Relief Web says 40 percent of  Zambian children under five years are stunted.

Wina advises Zambians to eat more millet, sorghum, cassava and sweet potatoes

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His lawyers say even if he’s found guilty of the witness tampering charges he’s still facing the punishment would be less than the decade he’s already spent behind behind bars.

Jean-Pierre Bemba’s return to the DRC poses problems for President Joseph Kabila who appears to be preparing to contest elections later this year.

Having the MLC leader in jail has suited Kabila because Bemba is more popular in Kinshasa.

Bemba was acquitted on appeal Friday by the International Criminal Court, who said he could not be held criminally liable for crimes committed by his troops in the Central African Republic in 2002-2003.

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They say this will send a strong message that the international community will not enable fighters who have shown a complete disregard for the laws of war

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Thirty human rights groups including Oxfam, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said in a letter to the UN Security Council effectively backing a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to place an arms embargo on South Sudan and to ratchet up sanctions on individuals accused of hindering the peace process.

The letter points out that during five days of fighting between forces loyal to the president and the vice president, civilian neighborhoods and U.N. compounds were shelled.

Ban says fighting in South Sudan has stopped for the time being but there’s  a real danger of it restarting.

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Addressing the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, Victor Bockarie Foh says beating the deadly virus shows the need for an African rapid reaction medical presence.

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Victor Bockarie Foh says Sierra Leone understands how terrifying the Ebola outbreak was in his country and neighboring Guinea and Liberia.

So it has made peace with fellow Africans shunning the victims or being slow to come to their assistance.

He says the Pan African Parliament can play a role in building continental unity to prevent a recurrence of this.

For says Sierra Leon has ratified legislation to give the PAP lawmaking powers.

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