Ugandan President Museveni fears that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has thrown his weight behind his opponents. A leaked cable from the US embassy in Kampala says the Museveni government suspected Mr Odinga was working with the opposition because Mr Museveni supported President Kibaki during the election dispute in 2007/8. The Orange Democratic Movement party, which Mr Odinga leads, accused Uganda of sending soldiers to help quell anti-government protests in parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces in January 2008.

Reports sent to Greenpeace indicate that more than 200,000 cubic litres of radioactive sludge from three cracked waste pools have been leaking into the environment at the SOMAIR uranium mine in Niger since 11 December 11, says Greenpeace. 'This new leakage shows that the bad practices at the AREVA uranium mines in Niger continue to threaten the health and safety of people and the environment,' said Rianne Teule, energy campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.

The two Islamist groups fighting the weak UN-backed Somali government, al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, are to merge, according to reports. The two had been allies but have fallen out over the past year, with Hizbul Islam losing ground. Some see the merger as a takeover by al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.

Delegations from Morocco and the Frente Polisario have attended a fourth round of informal talks in New York on ending the conflict in Western Sahara at the invitation of the personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General. The three-day meeting in Long Island, convened by the envoy, Christopher Ross, was also attended delegates from the neighbouring States, Algeria and Mauritania. The proposals of the two parties were again presented, but by the end of the meeting, each party continued to reject the proposal of the other as a sole basis for future negotiations, the statement added.

As families count the cost of another military operation against militants in the Niger Delta, analysts say up to now government efforts to quell violence are hampered by corruption and fail to get at the deep-seated causes of unrest in the region. Residents told IRIN hundreds of families are still displaced more than two weeks after the crackdown. According to the military's Joint Task Force (JTF), the 1 December attack by its troops on the village of Ayakoromor, 50km south of Warri, was a planned operation, targeting suspected criminals. But the Red Cross says thousands of people fled, many taking refuge in swamps, then heading to nearby villages.

South African bureaucracy - and the vast numbers of Zimbabweans applying for a special permit to remain in the country - could delay the deportation of citizens from the neighbouring state for months. Home Affairs Minister Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma reportedly told a meeting with the Zimbabwean Stakeholder Forum on 14 December in Pretoria that 'They [Home Affairs] have close on 40,000 applications still outstanding as we speak. So, clearly, they will not be able to finish that backlog before the end of the month.' The deportation of undocumented Zimbabwean nationals would only begin once all applications were processed, the minister said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasised his warning against attacks on the United Nations peacekeeping force in Côte d'Ivoire or attempts to obstruct their work, saying there will consequences for those responsible, as the UN human rights arm reported 'massive violations'. In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed deep concern over the growing evidence of massive violations of human rights taking place in Côte d'Ivoire since 16 December, and reiterated her determination to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the January issue of the [1.1 MB pdf], a monthly publication that aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News.

This issue contains articles on:
- UK age assessment: a new approach
- Towards a legal asylum system in Jordan
- Witchcraft allegations and refugee protection
- UNHCR's role in Israel-Sudan returns
- Transgendered women allowed to remain in the US
- South Africa to return Zimbabweans in 2011.

In conversation with Obang Metho, executive director of the Anuak Justice Council and the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, Alemayehu G. Mariam discusses the forgotten genocide of the Anuak, ‘in solemn anticipation of the seventh anniversary’ of the massacres over the period 13–16 December.

Drawing on the history of Alfred Nobel’s legacy and the administration in Norway of his prizes, Annar Cassam considers the role of the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjorn Jagland in the selection of peace prize winners.

The appeal by the Gambia’s former Chief of Defence against his death sentence for treason is being heard during December. An amendment to the country’s drugs and human trafficking laws could mean many more capital cases come before the courts. Besides Lang Tombong Tamba and his seven co-accused, the country’s death row holds, among others, Sulayman Bah, convicted of killing his housemate in a dispute over money.

After the separation barrier against Palestinian territories, Israel has begun to build a new wall, this one to keep migrants from Africa out. The new wall is coming up on the Egyptian border, and with Egyptian support. The Israeli government approved plans late last month to build a detention camp near its border with Egypt to house illegal African immigrants. Local activists decried the move, which they say flies in the face of internationally accepted human rights norms.

African nations should join forces to create a one-million-strong army to protect the continent and confront outsiders like NATO and China, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said. Gaddafi, well known for his forthright rhetoric, has acquired growing influence in Africa but his ambition to build a united states of Africa is not shared by the continent's biggest powers. 'National militaries alone cannot save countries. Africa should have one army with one million soldiers,' Gaddafi said in a speech in the Senegalese capital.

Minni Minnawi, the only Darfur faction leader to have signed the Darfur Peace Agreement [DPA] with the Sudanese government, has declared the failure of the 2006 deal. The announcement deals another blow to Khartoum, which faces the possibility of the southern portion of the country seceding in an upcoming poll. On Sunday, Minnawi accused the government of failing to implement the Darfur agreement, saying that he is ready to do battle. Minnawi, the Sudan Liberation Army [SLA] faction leader, secured several official titles after he signed the peace accord with Khartoum.

As the deadline for the Zimbabwean documentation process rapidly approaches, the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) has identified shortcomings at various Gauteng Department of Home Affairs offices. FMSP’s research reveals a process that is not running effectively, despite claims to the contrary by Home Affairs.

Southern Sudan should arm the local Arrow Boys militia to protect civilians in Western Equatoria State (WES) against possible attacks by remnant Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters during January’s referendum on secession, say local leaders. 'We’ve told the government, "Let [the Arrow Boys] be trained and armed, and they will defeat the LRA, and when the LRA dies, the Arrow Boys will give back the weapons",' Western Equatoria governor Joseph Bakosoro told IRIN.

In this 90-page report, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment. Israel should halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin. Both countries should respect the rights of persons seeking asylum.

Africa will be amongst the hardest hit regions of the world as the climate heats up, threatening the continent’s food security, experts agree. If global temperatures rise 2.0 degrees C, southern Africa will warm an additional 1.5 degrees to a 3.5-degree increase on average. Such temperatures could be reached as early as 2035.

When the name al-Qaeda is mentioned in the Maghreb, it is often connected to kidnapping, drug trafficking or the robbing of a bank. This link between organised crime and terrorism has become so strong that some experts now claim that rather than committing crimes to finance terrorism, al-Qaeda now uses terrorism as cover for their criminal activity.

The International Organisation for Migration in South Africa has launched 'Spaces, Places & Faces...the Unseen Side of Human Trafficking' a virtual photo gallery containing photographs with accompanying narratives that capture the trafficking story in pictures. The gallery features true stories and pictures of four women who became victims of human trafficking in South African after being deceived with offers of a better life by their traffickers.