President of Zambia Michael Sata and the ruling Patriotic Front party must halt their violations of civil rights and threats of violence against the political opposition or face international legal action, says the Coalition for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CDDR). According to a letter from the CDDR addressed to President Sata, Minister of Justice Wynter Kabimba, Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito, and Inspector-General of Police Stella Libongani, the ruling party has abused state institutions in a campaign of persecution against opposition parties and political figures, alleging that their rights to freedom of expression and free association have been violated.

Government troops and unidentified rebel forces clashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Sunday, military officials said. Heavy weapons fire could be heard after 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) at Sake in North Kivu region, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of the city of Goma, officials and residents said. A regional military official confirmed the fighting to AFP but could not identify the rebels.

While tens of thousands of Congolese refugees have fled to Uganda and Rwanda since April, a smaller but significant number of frightened civilians have been fleeing from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and seeking shelter in Burundi. Some 6,000 Congolese - mainly from South Kivu province - have crossed the border since January and sought asylum in Burundi, with 4,334 of them arriving between April and September.

Internal displacement is not only a humanitarian, human rights or peace-building challenge, but also a development one. Development actors are relevant players to prevent internal displacement, to respond to it and to support durable solutions for IDPs who got displaced due to conflict, violence or natural disasters. Human rights-based approaches to development initiatives to support for example livelihoods, strenghten local governance, address housing and land issues or to alleviate food insecurity of IDPs will also ensure the displaced people's rights. This publication on the development challenge in addressing internal displacement in Africa by NRC/IDMC in collaboration with the Nordic Trust Fund, explains the relevance of human rights for development initiatives in displacement situations.

Hanging from the door of a mini-bus taxi as it jerks and jinks through traffic, 16-year-old Gires Manoka calls out the van’s destination to potential passengers as it crosses Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One pedestrian asks the fresh-faced teen if he shouldn’t be in school instead of working. 'I was in grade seven last year,' Manoka replies, 'but I had no one to pay my school fees. I got no choice but to hustle; this work keeps my family alive.'

Violent protests have erupted in Kisumu, western Kenya, following the murder of a prominent local politician. A senior police officer, who requested anonymity, told the AFP news agency on Monday that three people 'died from either burning or suffocation after teargas was lobbed into a hardware shop they were hiding in'.

Tackling the global climate crisis could reap significant economic benefits for both developed and developing countries, according to a new report. The impacts of climate change and a carbon-intensive economy cost the world around US$1.2 trillion a year - 1.6 per cent of the total global GDP (gross domestic product), states 'Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of A Hot Planet'.

'Their attitude to workers, trade unions and economic and social rights is even more hostile than that of the National Democratic Party,' Egypt’s now-dissolved former ruling party. That is the verdict of Kamal Abu Aita, head of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), on the performance in power of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The MB withdrew its earlier support for a new law on trade union freedoms,Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Abu Aita was particularly critical of the behaviour of the MB’s labor minister, Khaled al-Azhari, charging that there was evidence he had been actively inciting employers and management against protesting workers in various institutions.

A coalition of international non-governmental and farmers’ organisations has urged Nigerian and other African leaders to guarantee transparency in the management of large-scale land transactions and freeze acquisitions, which do not conform to rules, regulations and the framework of the land declaration of the African Heads of States and Government of 2009. Nigeria, in particular, has over the years, been offering land to lure foreign investors to the economy, at heavily discounted rates, usually without requisite consultations with small land owners and farmers.

There have been considerable efforts by women to have chance in Ghanaian politics. Ghana Decides, a non-partisan project which aims to foster a better-informed electorate for free, fair and safe 2012 elections using social media tools took a personality profile look on parliamentary candidate Agnes Chigabatia. Ghana Decides is an initiative under Blogging Ghana, a Ghanaian blogging community.

The World Bank has produced its 2013 list of the best places in the world to start and run a business, ranking the UK in 7th place, below the US in 3rd and Singapore, which retained the number one spot. Germany could only manage 20th place and France secured a lowly berth at number 34 out of 183 countries ranked this week. This Guardian UK blog post notes that critics argue the World Bank rankings promote a neo-liberal agenda of privatisations, welfare cuts, limited employment rights and low wages to please and entice foreign multinationals.

Amid the doctors’ strike in Tanzania policy analysts met in Dar es Salaam recently, and they said that the on-going crises at the major hospitals are due to poor budgetary allocation, and to mismanagement of funds by some leaders in various Government circles. The analysts say the low budget allocated to the health sector is against the Abuja Declaration on Health Equity. They warned that the health sector is deteriorating fast, and it needed financial intervention.

Police in South Africa say they have fired rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades in clashes with hundreds of striking Anglo American platinum mine workers who barricaded roads outside Johannesburg. About 12,000 Amplats workers in northwestern Rustenburg who were dismissed early this month for going on an illegal strike were given an option to return to work on Tuesday morning if they want their jobs back.

Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Luuq, in Somalia's southern Gedo Region, say their overcrowded settlements are desperately short of basic needs, from shelter to clean water. 'The majority of the population here in these camps are women, children and elderly people who fled from recent battles and droughts in Bay, Bakool and lower Juba. There has been no basic human needs provision for the last months, the condition of the camps is deteriorating as there is no shelter, food or adequate health attention, and it's the raining period,' said Ali Mohamed, leader of one of the makeshift camps in the area.

This weekend’s edition of the weekly newspaper Semanário Angolense ended up in a bonfire. Last Saturday morning, Media Investe, the company that owns the Angolan weekly Semanário Angolense, decided to censor the edition, of October 27, because it included an almost full version of the speech of the National Union’s for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) leader, Isaías Samakuva, on the State of the Nation.

Kingwa Kamencu broke down in tears as she spoke about the state of the nation’s roads during a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, last year. It was during that same conference last September that she announced her plans to run for president. The 28-year-old Kenyan woman had just returned to the country for holidays from Oxford University, where she recently obtained two master’s degrees on a Rhodes Scholarship, one in creative writing and the other in African studies.

An award-winning doctor, renowned for his work for women who have suffered sexual violence, was 'evacuated' from a town in eastern DR Congo a close aide told AFP. Gynaecologist Denis Mukwege's whereabouts were not immediately known. Rights activists have called on the DR Congo government to protect the doctor.

Amid warnings that land deals are undermining food security, the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has compared 'land grabs' in Africa to the 'wild west', saying a 'sheriff' is needed to restore the rule of law. José Graziano da Silva, the FAO's director general, conceded it was not possible to stop large investors buying land, but said deals in poor countries needed to be brought under control.

The people of Bodo are living in an intolerable situation. Their human rights to food, health and livelihood have been undermined by corporate pollution, but they have not been able to get justice in Nigeria. They have now taken their case to the UK courts. This Amnesty International blog post reports on the latest claims by Shell which obfuscate its responsibility to clean up the mess.

Reporters Without Borders says it is deeply concerned by death threats received in e-mails by the journalists Baboucarr Ceesay and Abubaccar Saidykhan, against whom charges of conspiracy and inciting violence were dropped earlier this week. 'The conditions that journalists face in Gambia have deteriorated to alarming extent,' Reporters Without Borders said. 'Since August this year, Yahya Jammeh, a predator of freedom of information, has been increasing judicial and administrative pressure on journalists working for independent news organizations.'