The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday 26 September began to debate a plan to deploy West African peacekeeping troops to tackle the six-month Islamist insurgency in northern Mali. At the Security Council, both the United States and France forcefully backed the call for greater international involvement, as did several African leaders. But while France, the former colonial power in Mali, has for months spearheaded the push for foreign military involvement, the United States has been reluctant to formally back such an operation.

The dates for the Second All Stakeholders Conference have once again been moved back, with the select committee blaming a lack of resources for the delay. It had been announced earlier this week that the Conference would be held from 4-6 October. But this has now been delayed until sometime before the end of October.

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria and Friends of the Earth International has warned against damaging industrial farming promoted by the Gates Foundation at the Agricultural Green Revolution Forum 2012, Arusha, Tanzania on 26-28 September. 'Donors controlling the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) are representing the interests of biotechnology corporations rather than African small farmers,' warns Friends of the Earth International on the eve of the annual AGRA Forum in Tanzania.

Mining and gas companies operating in Mozambique will face fines and may lose their operating licenses if they do not relocate communities in a way that protects their social and economic interests, a government official said on Tuesday. Mozambique passed a law in August to prevent global mineral companies from unjust resettlements. Violent protests earlier this year against previous resettlements threatened to derail investment in the booming economy.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say they are trying to arrange for the assembly and disarmament of rival ethnic militias implicated in the massacres of hundreds of people in Masisi territory in the eastern province of North Kivu. Congolese army spokesman Lt-Col Olivier Hamuli told IRIN that following a visit to Masisi in September, the commander of the DRC's land forces, Gen Amisi Tango Fort, called on the militias to ‘regroup’ and disarm. Regrouping refers to the assembly of combatants in specific locations where they can be monitored prior to disarmament.

The UN refugee agency said Tuesday 25 September that fresh air and ground attacks in Sudan's South Kordofan state are causing a renewed population influx to South Sudan. 'About 100 refugees a day are arriving in the border town of Yida, in Unity state,' a spokesperson said, adding that the 'refugees are in poor health and without any belongings.' Some refugees told UNHCR they had also fled because of acute food shortages in South Kordofan. Many said they planned to build a shelter in Yida refuge camp before returning across the border to fetch family members.

Corruption in the water sector can mean that money intended to improve water infrastructure and increase people’s access to clean water is misused. When money gets diverted, people continue to rely on insecure and polluted water sources for hygiene, drinking and food preparation purposes. There are initiatives to address the problems associated with the lack of access to information. In Africa, for example, water journalists across the continent are taking action to increase water users’ knowledge about water, to improve participation, and to increase access to information by forming networks.

Morocco has blazed a reputation as a can-do country when it comes to improving its maternal health statistics. But a birth attendant in the remote Atlas Mountains shows the steeper climb that lies ahead for the country as it tries to reach rural women who live far from any health clinic, reports

The UN Human Rights Council (the Council) should not take a soft approach to the deteriorating situation in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur when it adopts a resolution on Sudan at the end of its 21st session this week. The Council should act in accordance with its mandate to address ongoing widespread and serious violations of human rights and prevent any further deterioration of the situation in the conflict areas. 'The Council should not turn a blind eye to the potential for further abuses, in particular in South Kordofan, Blue Nile. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and FIDH call on the Council to keep a close watch on the human rights situation in Sudan,' said ACJPS Director Osman Hummaida.

This report describes and analyzes the enabling of tens of millions of individuals–as well as established news outlets–to attract wide global followings with Facebook and Twitter updates and YouTube videos about rapidly changing events. The widely diverse and pluralistic online communities in the Arab world are creating and sharing content, casting into question the future of the many state-owned or self-censored media that provide less in the way of engagement that Arab audiences have come to expect.

A UNHCR project launched last month is aimed at providing an income for internally displaced people (IDP) while making it easier for people to travel to and from Halabokhad. UNHCR provided 11 tuk-tuks, the three-wheeled motorized rickshaws common in developing nations. Each vehicle was to be maintained and operated by four IDPs, who would pocket any money made from passengers.

Fearing mass arrests and deportations, a group of about a hundred desperate undocumented asylum-seekers have turned to the South African Human Rights Commission to seek redress. New applicant asylum-seekers in the province have been languishing in the cold by the Department of Home Affairs former Refugee Reception Office at the Foreshore after it shut down the Maitland Refugee Reception Office and ordered these asylum-seekers to travel up to Pretoria or Musina for documentation. The department’s refusal to process new-comers is in defiance of two recent Western Cape High Court orders ordering it to resume documenting new applicants at their refugee offices on the Foreshore.

The European Union is suspending new aid to Rwanda following allegations that the country is backing rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an EU spokesman said. The decision follows a report by experts of the UN Security Council's sanctions committee alleging Rwandan support for M23 rebels, who launched an uprising in April. The DR Congo government also accuses its neighbour of involvement.

An Egyptian newspaper has launched a campaign against the obscene cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Al-Watan, a secular daily, published 13 cartoons on Monday under the slogan 'Fight cartoons with cartoons'. One shows a pair of glasses through which the burning World Trade Center is seen, with the caption: 'Western glasses for the Islamic world'. Charlie Hebdo's cartoons played on the uproar over a video which mocks Islam.

Children in the Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are not only getting caught in the crossfire of the area’s ongoing violence, but also facing health risks, threats of forced recruitment by local and foreign militias, and interrupted education, say officials. 'Children are swept up in the mass population movements that are currently ongoing in eastern DRC, with entire families fleeing multiple conflicts. Our hospitals have operated on children with bullet wounds who have been caught in the crossfire. Some children present late with life-threatening malaria, malnutrition or respiratory tract infections,' Jan-Peter Stellema, operations manager at Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), told IRIN.

Uganda's broadcast regulatory body, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), has banned radios from airing a new song by renowned local artist Ssentamu Kyagulanyi (a.k.a Bobi Wine), pending investigations into claims that it is critical of the Kampala Capital City Authority's (KCCA) Executive Director, Jennifer Musisi. The song 'Tugambire ku Jennifer', translated to mean 'please talk to Jennifer on our behalf' was released earlier this month by Wine, the self-proclaimed 'Ghetto president'. The translated chorus says, 'tell Jennifer on our behalf to reduce her harshness, because the town is ours'.

After a summer of protests, government has cracked down on independent media, forcing some journalists out of work, reports Al Jazeera. At one newspaper in Khartoum, journalists said they lost their jobs when their boss got a sudden call from Sudanese intelligence telling him to close down the newspaper. Two papers have been closed in as many months, and others - even those not aligned with the opposition - are claiming harassment.

Large-scale water-related projects are a model global environmental issue. From dams controlling and rerouting water flow to providing access to clean drinking water and monitoring the nutrient quality of water resources, local, national, and international players often have to work together to manage these water resources. A new study of nearly 200 major international water-related projects over the past 20 years has identified existing and emerging challenges and how science can offer solutions. The report claims that 'insufficient and disjointed management of human demands on water and aquatic systems has led to situations where both social and ecological systems are in jeopardy and have even collapsed.'

Many world regions face 'water bankruptcy' due to mismanagement of water resources, with implications for food and energy security, experts have warned. This mismanagement of water and aquatic systems has 'led to situations where both social and ecological systems are in jeopardy and have even collapsed,' said the report, 'Science-Policy Bridges over Troubled Waters' - a study of almost 200 major international water-related projects over the past 20 years.

Sudanese Children 2011 report, published jointly by the National Council of Child Welfare NCCW and UNICEF Sudan, shows Sudan’s progress in childhood indicators between 2006 and 2010, and outlines specific actions for every state that need to be taken in order to meet remaining challenges. 'The report is a call to fulfill children’s rights and provide welfare, protection and other services for every child. The growing awareness of communities on the child rights will support our efforts to improve the life of our children. Strengthening the concerned institutions at national and state levels is crucial for a joint action to guarantee the child rights in coordination with national and international partners,' says Fathelrahman Mohamed Babiker, NCCW Secretary General, officer-in-charge.