'Over the past year, the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, has been praised for his energy in tackling the housing crisis. What the Minister apparently fails to recognise is that for millions of poor citizens (and non-citizens), informal settlements and inner city buildings are the only forms of accommodation available in the city or close to it. These forms of housing have two very important factors that state housing developments have often failed to provide - closer location to employment opportunities and affordability.'

The University for Peace (UPEACE) is pleased to offer two online courses in 2011: 'Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Contemporary World' from 17 January to 27 March 2011 and 'Peace and Conflict Studies; The Foundation Course' will be re-offered from 7 February to 17 April 2011. These are both 10 week courses. The courses will be delivered by UPEACE faculty members: Dr. Amr Abdalla and Dr. Victoria Fontan and Professor Mihir Kanade. These courses are offered for three academic credits or for UPEACE training certificates. They will enable individuals who cannot come to the UPEACE campus, to gain new qualifications and skills. For course descriptions and more information, please visit the website.

After decades in exile, almost a quarter of a million officially registered refugees in Uganda and similar numbers of unregistered refugees are considering the prospect of returning to Sudan. Based on interviews conducted with refugees and returnees in northern Uganda and South Sudan, this research paper from the Policy Development and Evaluation Service of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is about the lives of individual Sudanese people who are either still living in Uganda and might identify themselves as refugees, migrants, traders or a little bit of all three, or have returned to South Sudan after decades in exile.

Israel’s most recent measure in ongoing efforts to deport the country’s growing migrant worker and refugee community is the government’s approval of a detention facility in the Negev desert for migrants and refugees. Israel considers only a small number of the 35,000 Africans, who have entered Israel over the past few years, as refugees. The rest are viewed as illegal economic migrants.

The 83 members of WOZA (Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise) arrested after a peaceful protest to mark International Peace Day appeared in a routine remand hearing in Harare Magistrate’s Court on 1 December. They were further remanded out of custody to 29 December 2010.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is unfortunately synonymous with its dreadful past and its terrible present, despite its beauty, complex history and unachieved potential. Locked not only into its own internal troubles but also into those of the Great Lakes region, it has provided more than enough material on forced migration, violence and political quagmires for the latest issue of FMR. While the articles contained in this issue of FMR make grim reading, they also offer glimmers of hope for better outcomes, at least potentially, alongside analysis of how and why these things have been happening. Authors come from Congolese civil society, UN agencies and NGOs, Congolese and donor governments, and international research - and include articles by the former UN Relief Coordinator John Holmes and the former Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC Ross Mountain. This issue also contains a further seven articles on other forced migration-related subjects.

In the midst of a global economical crisis as well as a climate crisis, South Africa needs an employment plan, rather than a traditional ‘growth path’. Employment should take place where it is needed, not where private for-profit interests deem it ‘possible’. The shortcomings of the New Growth Plan (NGP) show that organised labour and popular movements must continue to engage in the debate and forge an alternative economic policy to neo-liberalism.

Two Congolese student leaders in Harare were last week allegedly abducted by suspected state security agents, and grilled about their relationship with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) opposition leader Sapard Tshimanginda Kalala. The students claim they were held for over 24 hours. Kalala, a renowned academic who heads the National People’s Patriotic Party of the Congo will be challenging DRC President Joseph Kabila, who has very close ties with President Robert Mugabe, in next year’s elections.

Gerald Caplan charts the bloodthirsty history of ‘the most awesome military power the world has ever known’. 'Look forward to a future of permanent war in the pursuit of peace,' he writes.

Southern Africa represents a region of diverse migration patterns including the movement of people within countries, across borders and between different continents. This paper from the International Organisation for Migration and the The Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand focuses on South Africa, and explores the linkages between health and the diverse movements of people within the county and across its borders. One of its findings is that current health-system planning within South Africa does not adequately engage with the health of migrants when they are in urban and transition areas.

The International Federation of Human Rights has compiled a Q&A about the trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the leader of the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC), which is taking place before the International Criminal Court. 'This case is very important because, for the first time, the ICC focuses primarily on the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence, thus acknowledging that such crimes were widespread and systematic,' one of the answers says.

'After years of being told about the millions of illegal foreigners in the country who are responsible for the high crime rate and who deprive South Africans of jobs and housing, the government has suddenly managed to lose a million Zimbabweans. Where did they go?' asks this article on the Lawyers for Human Rights website. 'With the deadline for the issuing of special permits for Zimbabweans rapidly approaching, and with doubts surrounding government's ability to process all those seeking permits to avoid facing deportation, the government has adopted a new purpose - and a new set of numbers to suit this purpose.'

At least 1,500 south Sudanese civilians have fled areas along the north–south border fearing aerial attack on Bahr al-Ghazal by the Sudan Armed Forces, the UN and southern officials said. Northern government officials were unavailable for comment on the reports. The SPLA says northern forces are still flying fighter planes along the border to scare southern villagers.

Work migration is currently a contentious issue across Africa and the world. Developed countries are increasingly suspicious of work migrants who are perceived to be stealing jobs, increasing crime and diluting the national culture. Outright xenophobia, the ugly side of migration, is increasingly becoming an issue in many countries also. On the part of home countries, migration is also often viewed negatively due to the longstanding concern of the ‘brain drain’ of African professionals to developed countries.

The Sudanese government on Sunday issued a strongly worded statement after president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir was forced to cancel his attendance at the 3rd Africa-European Union (EU) summit that starts Monday in the Libyan capital. Bashir was indicted in March 2009 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in July 2010 on charges of genocide, linked to atrocities committed by Khartoum’s forces in Darfur. Many officials around the world including ones from the EU have avoided appearing with the Sudanese president after the warrants.

More secret United States files due to be published on Wikileaks are believed to contain strong criticism of former president Nelson Mandela. Wikileaks has already published over a quarter of a million confidential cables sending shockwaves around the world and angering several governments. The secret documents that have yet to be released are expected to reveal that Mandela suggested US President George W. Bush had ignored calls by the United Nations for restraint on the Iraq war.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the December 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.

Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, has told Reuters that Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia over the Nile river. In an interview on Tuesday, Meles also accused Egypt of trying to destabilise his country by supporting several small rebel groups, but said it was a tactic that would no longer work. In response, Egypt said it was 'amazed' by Ethiopia's suggestion that Cairo might turn to military action in a row over the Nile waters, saying it did not want confrontation and that it was not backing rebels there.

A return to civil war in Sudan would cost the country, the region and the international community more than $100bn over 10 years, says a new report. The report, published on Thursday by a coalition of European and African economic and political think-tanks, comes amid fears that an upcoming referendum on southern independence could trigger an escalation of violence.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the December 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.