Experts warn an influx [of returnees] is expected to cause dire shortages of food, water, health care and sanitation in Southern Sudan. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Mr. Georg Charpentier says even when the referendum results are announced, the number of returnees could keep increasing.

Like other Liberian communities along the border, the impoverished villagers in Beo-Garnaglaye welcomed Ivorian refugees with whom they share the same ethnicity, language and ties based on inter-marriage. But aid workers say there is simmering tension as food supplies have dwindled stretching the resilience of the hosts.

The Congo government's ban on trade in conflict minerals has met with little success as trade in North Kivu remains dominated by a mafia network that connect the mines to international markets, a report by the Enough Project said on Tuesday. Many armed groups have benefited from Congo's protracted violence and don't like the possibility of a shrinking market for their minerals, Research Director David Sullivan said in a statement. 'So it should come as no surprise that some of the fastest-moving efforts to trace and audit mineral supply chains are actually being driven by many of the same commercial actors and regional governments that have been indiscriminately purchasing Congolese minerals for years, as documented by UN investigators,' he said.

A deadly spate of sectarian violence in Nigeria's central Plateau State since 24 December 2010, has killed more than 200 people, Human Rights Watch has said. The victims, including children, have been hacked to death, burned alive, 'disappeared', or dragged off buses and murdered in tit-for-tat killings. The Nigerian government should act swiftly to protect civilians of all ethnicities at risk of further attacks or reprisal killings, and allow the United Nations secretary-general's special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Francis Deng, to visit the state, Human Rights Watch said.

Obama’s aim is all too clear: to keep Mubarak in office for as long as possible while fashioning a regime to prop up bourgeois rule and uphold US strategic and economic interests in the region, says this article from the World Socialist Web Site.

A new issue of Refugee Survey Quarterly (RSQ) (vol. 29, no. 4, 2011) is now available. The focus is on terrorism and refugee protection. Contents include:
- Terrorism, Torture, and Refugee Protection in the United States
- Anti-Terrorism Measures and Refugee Law Challenges in Canada
- The European Convention on Human Rights, Counter-Terrorism, and Refugee Protection
- Refugee Protection, Counter-Terrorism, and Exclusion in the European Union
- Counter-Terrorism Measures and Refugee Protection in North Africa
- Complicity and Culpability and the Exclusion of Terrorists From Convention Refugee Status Post-9/11.

Nigerian soldiers opened fire on students in central Nigeria in late January in a fresh round of violence that also saw churches and mosques set ablaze, officials and witnesses said. A hospital official said 24 people were admitted with bullet wounds and one person had died, but the commander of a military task force in the region said only four students were shot and injured when soldiers fired in self-defence.

With no sign at present of an end to the political deadlock in Côte d’Ivoire, the country remains partitioned. The economic repercussions of the crisis are being felt in both south and north. In Abidjan and the south, where Laurent Gbagbo and his administration are still in control, in the face of regional and international condemnation and isolation, prices of key commodities have risen dramatically. In the north - long held by former rebels Forces Nouvelles, and providing the main support base for Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognized as the elected president - livelihoods are being crippled and basic services reduced to a minimum in regions which have been marginalized for decades.

The Summer Course on Refugee and Forced Migration Issues is an internationally acclaimed eight-day course for academic and field-based practitioners working in the area of forced migration. It serves as a hub for researchers, students, practitioners, service providers and policy makers to share information and ideas.?? The Summer Course is housed within the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University.

The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) Student Caucus is pleased to announce that the Annual Student Conference will take place on 29 and 30 April at York University, Toronto, Canada. This event offers graduate and undergraduate students across disciplines with a keen interest in migration and refugee issues the opportunity to present and discuss their research ideas with fellow students, academics, professionals, frontline practitioners, researchers, scholars and all those interested in forced migration issues.

Hopes for an urgent interdict against the Department of Home Affairs’ issuing of fines to refugees and asylum seekers for the late renewal of their permits, and the confiscation thereof, were dashed in the Cape High Court last Wednesday.The application for an urgent interdict was filed by the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) Refugee Rights Project, which is representing eight applicants on behalf of a further 59, on 6 December last year in a bid to force Home Affairs to re-document affected refugees and asylum seekers.

The only South African passenger on the Mavi Marmara, one of the Gaza-bound ships intercepted at sea by the Israelis in May last year, has laid a formal complaint with the national director of public prosecutions about her alleged suffering at the hands of the Israeli army. If the National Prosecuting Authority acts on the complaint of Gadija Davids, a Cape Town-based journalist, top Israeli politicians and soldiers could face arrest if they visit South Africa.

Fighting between government and rebel groups in North and South Darfur in western Sudan has displaced tens of thousands of people and hindered access by humanitarian workers to some affected areas, sources said. 'While the international community remains focused on Southern Sudan, the situation in Darfur has sharply deteriorated,' said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). 'We are seeing a return to past patterns of violence, with both government and rebel forces targeting civilians and committing other abuses.'

The increasingly targeted attacks on gay people in a number of African countries, which are thought to have to led the murder this week of outspoken Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, will contribute to an increase in HIV infections, says Christian Aid. Kato, whose name and photograph recently appeared on the front page of anti-gay Kampala-based newspaper Rolling Stone, under the headline ‘Hang Them’, was beaten to death in his home, Ugandan police confirmed. Nina O’Farrell, Head of HIV at Christian Aid, said: ‘It is vital to defend the rights of specific groups who are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection, including gay people, who also suffer from heightened stigma and discrimination, which in many cases makes them less likely to access to HIV treatment, care and support.'

Refugee Law Courses at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law are organised by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They are supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Migration, the US State Department (Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants in the courses will have the opportunity to interact with practitioners and experts in the field of refugee/IDP protection, who will facilitate various thematic sessions of the programmes. Different learning methodologies are used to encourage participants to apply knowledge and skills acquired in operations in a practical and pragmatic manner. The five general international refugee law courses will be conducted in French, English (2), Spanish and Arabic.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) condemns the excessive use of force and violence against the protests that have started on 25 January 2011 in different governorates to denounce poverty, corruption and police brutality, which led to the death of at least seven protesters and one policeman, leaving hundreds injured and about one thousand protesters arrested.

‘Tensions have risen and possible xenophobic violence is imminent’ in Johannesburg’s Freedom Park, as foreign shop owners have decided to open their shops ‘after over a month of being forcibly closed’, writes Informed Community Member.

Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has released its annual analysis of the cost of crime, corruption, and trade mispricing on developing countries. The report, 'Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2000-2009,' finds that approximately US$6.5 trillion was removed from the developing world from 2000 through 2008. The report shows the annual outflows for each country and breaks outflows down into two categories of drivers: trade mispricing and 'other', which includes kickbacks, bribes, embezzlement, and other forms of official corruption.

Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family, the nation's justice minister has said. Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said the interim government had asked members states to work via Interpol to detain Mr Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia on 14 January. Mr Chebbi said Mr Ben Ali was accused of illegally acquiring property and assets and transferring funds abroad.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has disowned the shuttle diplomacy spearheaded by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to seek the support of African Union to defer Kenya’s case at the International Criminal Court. Mr Odinga, at a news conference in Nairobi, said what Cabinet had agreed on was the referral of the cases involving the masterminds of the post-election violence suspects to the International Criminal Court and not to defer them.