Sahelian governments and local and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing the regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal in northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region as the lean season gets underway. Altogether some 284,000 Malians have fled the north according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 107,000 of them thought to be displaced within Mali; 177,000 in neighbouring countries.

As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria, the atmosphere of despair is telling. The air is dusty, the wind is fierce and unrelenting, the plants are wilting and the earth is turning into sand dunes. The sparse vegetation is occasionally broken by withered trees and shrubs. The lives of herders, fisherfolk and farmers are teetering on the edge as the lake dries up before their eyes. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called the situation an 'ecological catastrophe', predicting that the lake could disappear this century.

At UNCTAD XIII recently held in Doha, a united front of the BRICS, the G77 and China, supported by intense NGO lobbying and a highly publicised letter from former senior UNCTAD staff (including several from the Caribbean), successfully resisted efforts by the Global North to retsrict the agency’s critical work linking trade, development and the global financial and economic crisis. Was it a victory for the South, or a draw? Visit the page through the link provided for three perspectives on the meeting:
- Victory for the South by Deborah James
- Draw at Doha by Vijay Prashad
- South wins battle for new UNCTAD mandate by Martin Khor.

We are pleased to announce that the May 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now .

In this issue:

- Pending questions: UNHCR Recommendations regarding the Cessation Clause for Rwandan refugees
- Asylum victory on appeal: Immigration Judge placed ‘unreasonable expectations’ on applicant to demonstrate the motive behind violence against her
- UK detaining Sudanese asylum seekers with an aim towards deportation
- Understanding psychology can make asylum decisions fairer
- EU resolution against human trafficking in the Sinai
- Hungarian asylum process condemned by the UNHCR
- Thai NGO collecting signatures to petition for a Refugee Act
- The Moroccan Arab Spring: Protecting migrants rights in theory and practice
- Campaign for access to detention centres in Europe
- Engaging with our readers
- Refugees in Egypt: Between rights and responsibilities
- Publication profile: Migration Information Source

Also in this issue: Deportation news; Country of Origin and legal news; Resources; Publications; Vacancies; Courses, conferences and seminars; Calls for papers; Links.

As always, we welcome feedback and suggestions.

Sylvia Tamale chooses to raise her voice on issues like the right of sex workers to earn a living, the right for adults to enjoy adult entertainment and leisure like ebimansulo (striptease shows), and the recognition of human rights for marginalised groups such as sexual minorities and refugees, addressing the injustices in the law. Her arguments? That as long as these minorities’ activities do not infringe on the freedoms and rights of others, they should be granted their right to freely do as they please.

As a member of a small team of country-based researchers, the field researcher will work closely with the research coordinator to deliver timely, fact-based and first-hand experiential findings on the impacts of large-scale land deals on rural women.

When the Western Sahara report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was watered down this year, from an April 6 to an April 11 'final' version, the first questions were directed at Morocco. But on April 16 a senior Ban administration official told Inner City Press the larger hypocrisy is France's, and sell-out of the UN is by Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).

A new asylum seeker process has been established in Israel, but a new report from The Hotline for Migrant Workers notes in it's conclusion that the picture emerging from the analysis of the new system 'is bleak'. 'It would seem that a system that was established not with the declared goal of providing protection to refugees, but rather with the intent of enabling the deportation of as many people as possible as quickly as possible, is a system that is bound to be unfair and degrading.'

The deportation of a man to Cameroon has been temporarily halted after he refused to board a flight from London to Paris, the BBC has been told. Campaigners say Ediage Valerie Ekwedde's life is at risk, because he is gay, and should not be removed. Mr Ekwedde fears persecution in Cameroon but the UK Border Agency found 'no credible evidence' he was gay.

The price for Uganda Land Alliance’s (ULA) investigations into cases of land grabbing has been set-so high that once paid, it will become extremely risky for anyone attempting to question the vices of land grabbing and forceful evictions of innocent citizens. Government has given ULA two weeks within which to among other stern conditions; provide evidence of land grabbing or else have her permit revoked; and to make an apology to the President and government ministries. The above conditions were contained in a damning 19-page investigation report on the works of ULA, produced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Rights groups in Kenya have warned of a potential miscarriage of justice after the government moved to have the cases of four people charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) transferred to a region tribunal which has no experience in handling such crimes. Two of the suspects, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former higher education minister William Ruto, are likely candidates in a forthcoming presidential election.

On April 26, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international law for aiding and abetting rebels from 1996-2002 in Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war. Immediately after the verdict, announced on the eve of Sierra Leone's 51st Independence Day, emotions ranged from excitement to disappointment, showing the complexity of the case.

In a special co-production by SOAS Radio and Pambazuka News, our presenter Robtel Pailey was in the Hague, interviewing Brenda Hollis and Stephen Rapp, current and former chief prosecutors of the Special Court for Sierra Leone; Courtenay Griffiths, Taylor’s defense attorney; Sharon Taylor, Taylor’s daughter; Hawa Momoh and Abu Duffae, Sierra Leoneans who witnessed the verdict with anticipation; and A. Fasu Kanneh, a Liberian resident in the Hague who worked with Taylor in 1980s Liberia. We discuss whether or not Charles Taylor’s verdict is an indication of selective justice, as argued by the defense, or a victory for international justice, as argued by the prosecution.

A concerted funding effort is needed to achieve basic services for all, says this Occasional Paper from the Municipal Services Project (MSP). 'One untapped source for renewed funding of public services is the large pools of public capital accumulating in Public Pension Funds and Sovereign Wealth Funds. At present, they invest heavily in the private sector to maximize returns but under appropriate conditions, such funds could actually realize greater long-term returns from investment in public service provision while avoiding the politically controversial and contradictory practice of using public sector funds to support privatization.'

Hundreds of representatives of free media are getting ready to go to Rio de Janeiro, in June 2012, to help to prepare the Peoples’ Summit at Rio+20, a parallel event to the UN Conference on sustainable development. They will work to spread the voice of the people gathered at the Summit, who instead of talking about the management of the environment by economic power, will speak about the ways for the environmental and social justice.

Can regional integration offer a way out of the current economic, climate, food and energy crises? In this video documentary, activists from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe argue that regional integration is the only viable response to these crises.

A recently posted YouTube video provides a glimpse of the thriving resistance of the Palestinian people, and the depravity of the Israeli military. In the video, a young Palestinian woman climbs over an Israeli military water cannon, effectively neutralizing the vehicle, while defiantly waving the Palestinian flag atop the water canon. Sadly, the video also shows Israeli occupation forces attacking protesters with pepper spray, aimed directly (and deliberately) into their eyes and from close range.

The European Union has slapped an assets freeze and travel ban on six coup leaders in Guinea-Bissau. It said a ban on entering the EU and the assets freeze targeted "six persons that threaten the peace, security and stability of Guinea-Bissau. Their names will be listed in the EU Official Journal on May 4.

When President Museveni signed the controversial Land Amendment Bill into law protection from illegal eviction was guaranteed. However, participants debating the issue of land grabbing in a public policy symposium in Kampala last week, cited state house, police, the lands ministry, investors and government officials among the key drivers of land disputes and illegal evictions.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete has sacked six ministers amid allegations of government corruption. He has been under pressure to deal with the scandal following a report by a body overseeing public finances. The inspector of the government's accounts noted the rampant misuse of funds in at least seven ministries.

Sudan has endorsed the African Union's (AU) roadmap to avert an all-out war with South Sudan, though it insisted on retaining the right to self-defence. Earlier, South Sudan said it had accepted the AU's seven-point roadmap that called for a cessation of hostilities. Based on the seven-point roadmap, the two countries have until next Tuesday to restart stalled negotiations and three months to reach an agreement.