The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD) is a resource for conducting research and analysis on various forms of social and political unrest in Africa. It includes over 6,000 social conflict events across Africa from 1990 to 2009, including riots, strikes, protests, coups, and communal violence.

Libyan armed forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have cleared 'armed gangs' from the oil-rich town of Brega in the east, an army source told state television on Sunday. 'Brega has been cleansed of armed gangs,' the military source was quoted as saying. The report could not immediately be verified. State television has in the past issued false reports claiming territory. But the claim comes amid a string of setbacks for the rebels who have lost several cities in the east to pro-Gaddafi forces. Brega's fall into the hands of Gaddafi loyalists would deal a further blow to the opposition's morale and momentum.

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants escaping political turmoil in north Africa arrived on the southern Italian island Lampedusa in the Mediterraneanrecently. So far, none of the illegal immigrants were believed to have left from Libya, but Italian officials fear an exodus from its former colony if the situation worsens. The new arrivals on Lampedusa come on top of a previous wave of refugees who flooded the island five days ago, when around 350 migrants from Tunisia arrived by boat overnight.

The promotion, protection and realisation of human rights still do not regularly factor into the behaviour of Commonwealth members of the UN Human Rights Council, both domestically and at the Council, says a new report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative called 'Easier said than done'. The findings of the report said there was an alarming lack of adherence by Commonwealth countries to the domestic human rights commitments.

The Israeli government is employing Eritrean asylum seekers to help build a border fence designed to keep out other migrants seeking to enter the country from Africa via the Sinai Peninsula. A man who gave his name as August, one of four Eritreans working for a contractor along the fence route, said he had sought work for a long time before he was told a construction job was available near Eilat.

The Ethiopian region of Gambella is home to Africa’s second-largest mammal migration, with more than a million endangered antelope and other animals moving through its grasslands. But the government has now leased vast tracts to foreign agribusinesses who are planning huge farms on land designated a national park. Unreported, an environmental tragedy is unfolding in a remote corner of Africa, on the borders of the newly-designated state of South Sudan, that could imperil the second-largest mammal migration on the African continent.

Representatives of the parties to the Western Sahara dispute, Morocco and the Frente Polisario, have wrapped up another round of talks, during which both sides continued to reject each other’s proposal as a sole basis for future negotiations, United Nations envoy Christopher Ross said. 'The proposals of the two parties were again presented,' said a communiqué read by Mr. Ross, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara at the end of the two-day meeting, held in Malta. 'By the end of the meeting, each party continued to reject the proposal of the other as a sole basis for future negotiations,' it added.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has apparently failed in his mission to the United States. Soon after Mr Musyoka met in Washington on Wednesday (09 March) with Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, a State Department official told the Nation.co.ke that 'we do not support a UN Security Council resolution to defer the ICC Kenya investigation'.

Darfur rebels attacked a Sudanese army supply convoy in the insurgents' mountainous Jabel Marra stronghold, leaving at least 17 people dead, the military said. No one was immediately available for comment from the rebels group named by the military - a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) loyal to Abdel Wahed al-Nur which walked out of peace talks in 2006 and has refused to return.

The first issue of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration (OxMo) is now available. This new student-run publication offers 11 short essays, personal accounts and academic articles. Titles include:
- The Politics of Social Exclusion: Asylum Support Provisions in the UK's Draft Immigration Bill 2009
- An Epic Journey towards a Refugee Visa
- A Culture of Disbelief or Denial? Critiquing Refugee Status Determination in the United Kingdom
- 'Come, we kill what is called "persecution life"': Sudanese Refugee Youth Gangs in Cairo'.

Why are Africa’s leading regional bodies not stepping up to protect and defend refugees and migrant workers in Libya, asks Nunu Kidane.

The lack of media coverage on Côte d’Ivoire doesn't mean the situation has improved, writes Sokari Ekine, in this week’s review of protests across the continent, which also features Egypt, Libya, Mauritania and Zimbabwe.

The Advanced Diploma in Child Protection in Emergencies aims to address the gaps in child protection in emergencies staff capacity, as identified in the recent scoping study carried out on behalf of the CPWG in October 2010.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has two ironclad reasons to issue arrest warrants for George W. Bush and Tony Blair, according to this article. Firstly, they are accused by the United Nations of being co-conspirators in kidnapping and torture; and, secondly, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have no intention of prosecuting their former leaders.

Since 1992, 34 journalists have been killed in Somalia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. This doesn't take into account journalists who die in car accidents, but only instances where deaths are work-related. In 2010 two Somali journalists were killed as a direct result of their work, Sheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey, who worked for state-run Radio Mogadishu, was gunned down near his home, and Barkhat Awale, director of Hurma community radio, was killed by a stray bullet from nearby fighting. No Somali journalists have been killed this year - so far. Death is the most extreme example of the many dangers facing journalists in Somalia. Already this year, two journalists have been captured by militia groups, although both have been released.

Tunisia's interim authorities have disbanded the country's feared state security apparatus, notorious for human rights abuses under the ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Seeking to assert their authority and gain legitimacy in the eyes of protesters who forced Ben Ali to flee in January, the authorities appear to be attacking the remaining vestiges of his 23-year rule, one-by-one.

Lead poisoning linked with illegal gold mining has killed a further 400 children in northern Nigeria since November, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said. Reuters reports that the latest figures suggest the death toll from the crisis in the northern state of Zamfara is rising after the United Nations said lead poisoning in the region had killed at least 400 children between March and October last year.

ECOWAS member states should announce that members of the unrecognised Gbagbo government and his entourage are 'persona non grata' in their territory and break all economic and financial ties with public or semi-public companies, particularly in the oil and energy sectors, controlled by that regime. This is according to a report from the International Crisis Group. Côte d’Ivoire is in crisis after Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down after he lost the November 2010 presidential election.

Sex workers and civil society groups across Africa took to the streets on Thursday (03 March) to demand access to health care services and an end to the violation of their human rights. Several African countries held marches including Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to mark International Sex Workers' Rights Day. In South Africa, people marched in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mussina. The march was led by the Sex Workers' Education and Advocacy Task Force (Sweat) and Sisonke Sex Workers Movement, which are organisations that seek to ensure human rights for sex workers.

Thousands more refugees are fleeing an escalation of political violence in the Ivory Coast, reports children’s charity Plan International. Unofficial figures suggest that up to 40,000 people have crossed the border into neighbouring Liberia. 'The number of refugees entering Liberia has increased dramatically in the last week, due to an outbreak of fighting in our neighbouring country, Ivory Coast,' says Mohammed Bah, Plan International’s Country Director in Liberia.