Following a referral by the UN Security Council in June 2005, the ICC Prosecutor launched an investigation into crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan. His report to the Security Council showed significant evidence of grave crimes. In October 2005, the ICC issued its first arrest warrants for five leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army – Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen – charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Uganda, including rape and sexual enslavement. In November 2005, the Prosecutor announced that despite major challenges of logistics and security in the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), investigations have advanced and arrest warrants are expected in the near future. However, further progress is now threatened by the failure of the governments of Sudan, Uganda and DRC, and of the African Union, to ensure full cooperation with the ICC, says Amnesty International.

At least 2,000 villagers in two provinces in the northwest of the Central African Republic are hiding in the bush without food while an equal number has fled to neighbouring Chad recently to avoid fighting between the army and bandits, local sources said. At the same time, humanitarian workers said on Friday displaced villagers in the provinces of Ouham and Ouham Pende were in dire need of relief aid as insecurity had prevented humanitarian agencies from providing help.

The first batch of 10,000 Sudanese refugees who have lived in the Central African Republic (CAR) for 16 years arrived home this week following a recent agreement between the two governments and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). To ensure their successful reintegration into society on their return, NGOs are operating health programmes to treat endemic illnesses such guinea worm, leprosy and river blindness - all concerns among these communities as they return home. UNHCR, IOM and other organizations have implemented programmes that would provide assistance with water, health, education, food security and income generation.

Cameroon's political and business elites have been rocked by a campaign by tabloid newspapers to "out" top personalities they say are homosexual. The newspaper editors say they are exposing people who engage in "deviant behaviour". Some 50 people have been named and the papers have sold out. Homosexual acts are banned in Cameroon, with up to five years in jail. But the campaign has been condemned by the state communication council for invading people's private lives. The council also challenged anyone who felt they had been libelled to take legal action. So far, none of those named has gone to the courts.

Kenya's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has warned of a severe water shortage in the region unless the existing sources are protected. In a report entitled "The Draft National Water Resources Management Strategy, 2005-2007," the ministry gives a damning indictment of the management of Kenya's natural environment and its accompanying water resources over the past 30 years.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Wednesday (February 1) said rights groups' allegations of widespread abuse of political opponents had no basis in fact and were the result of "sloppy" reporting. London-based Amnesty International said earlier in the day that Ethiopia had arrested thousands of students from the Oromo ethnic group in a crackdown following anti-government demonstrations since November over a disputed election. The whereabouts of many of the detainees were not known, the group said. "Some detainees have been released, but others are being held in locations where torture has frequently been reported," Amnesty added in an urgent appeal. But Meles, in an interview with Reuters, scoffed at the Amnesty report as based on second-hand, biased information.

This practical guide outlines the challenges faced in changing male perceptions of paid sex with women. The document provides details of a three day course run by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women which aimed to provide young men with a critical understanding of violence against women, particularly prostitution, and move towards a change of attitude and treatment of women. The guide also focuses on the production of teaching materials and options available for resourcing the education aspect of a programme.

Halting arms sales to Africa would help address the continent's poverty more than charity or debt relief, said Dennis McNamara, special United Nations adviser on internal displacement. Gun imports from the West facilitate African conflicts that foster homelessness and expose Africans to war crimes, hunger, disease and rape, McNamara said.

The drought in northern Kenya is increasing conflict between the area's nomadic groups, as they travel further to find scarce pasture, according to a development organization. "It's not just the food crisis that is claiming lives," said Oxfam Kenya head Gezahegn Kebede, warning of further deadly clashes unless more aid arrives. The nomadic groups of northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, parts of Sudan and Somalia have a history of fighting over livestock and pasture but Oxfam says the drought is increasing tensions.

Militias based in Darfur are launching cross-border raids on villages in Chad on an almost daily basis, killing civilians, burning villages, and stealing cattle in a pattern of attacks that show signs of ethnic bias, according to Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch researchers documented numerous cross-border attacks on Chadian villages along the border between Adré, Adé, and Modoyna in eastern Chad since early December 2005. Most of the attacks were by Sudanese and Chadian militiamen from Darfur, some with apparent Sudanese government backing, including helicopter gunship support.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to try Rwanda over human rights abuses, alleged plunder and illegal invasion of the DR Congo. Congo brought the charges against Rwanda in 2002. It accused Rwanda of armed aggression, mass slaughter, rape, arbitrary detentions, systematic looting and assassinations. The Hague-based ICJ, also known as the World Court, said as Rwanda had not accepted UN conventions against such crimes as torture and degrading behaviour, on which Congo based its case, it could not make a ruling.

Over the years, Somali refugees in the Kebribeyah Camp area of Ethiopia have gradually returned to their homeland, but a life-sustaining water system originally installed by the UN refugee agency will remain behind to ease the lives of both the last refugees and the local communities.

Amera, the Africa and Middle East Refugees Assistance, has issued a statement of concern over the plight of Sudanese refugees in Egypt. "AMERA believes that the Four Freedoms Agreement (Agreement) allows any Sudanese citizen to reside in Egypt without a residence permit. Accordingly, we are concerned at the proposed deportation of a reported 654 individuals to Sudan as we do not consider this to be consistent with the terms of the Agreement. The Agreement came into force following ratification and then publication in the Official Gazette in September 2004. Accordingly, all Sudanese asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants in Egypt are de jure legal residents in the country."

The destructive armed conflict in Darfur continues unabated despite regional and international efforts to put an end to it. "At present, no negotiated political resolution of the conflict is in sight. This happens despite the political negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict under the banner of the Inter­Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur, which are currently taking place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja," says the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre.

This World Vision International Resources on Child Rights report documents the impact of the war in northern Uganda, where more than 30,000 children have been abducted and forced to work as soldiers and sex slaves, and includes new information about prospects for peace. The report looks specifically at the social and economic costs of the conflict, and processes to end the conflict. It argues that the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan increases the opportunity for negotiations and multi-lateral engagement in northern Uganda.

Eritrea has criticised the United States for allegedly encouraging Ethiopia to disregard the international border commission ruling that delineated the boundary between the neighbouring countries following a 1998-2000 war over their disputed frontier. A statement published by Eritrea's information ministry on Friday slammed the US for its alleged "evil attempts made to derail the verdict of the international body by creating different intriguing proposals [which] has encouraged the TPLF [Ethiopia's ruling party] regime to ignore and discard the decision of the Boundary Commission."

Three members of a rebel movement from Sudan's Darfur region have beaten up two fellow rebel delegates at peace talks in Nigeria, in what mediators called a "barbaric" attack that aggravated ethnic tensions. The attackers and their victims were delegates of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of two rebel groups talking with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja in an attempt to end three years of bloodshed in Darfur.

Ethiopia has arrested thousands of members of the Oromo ethnic group over the past three months, according to Amnesty International. The London-based human rights group said students were among those who have been rounded up since November. Amnesty said the arrests follow protest calls by the rebel Oromo Liberation Front against alleged government fraud. It warned some of the detainees may be "at risk of torture or ill-treatment" and called for their release.

An estimated 70,000 people have been displaced by recent attacks on two towns in the war-ravaged Sudanese state of South Darfur, humanitarian workers in the region said. At least 50,000 were displaced in a series of attacks on camps for internally displaced people [IDPs] in Mershing town, while more than 15,000 were displaced in separate attacks on nearby Shearia.

Farm workers in western Ivory Coast are leaving cocoa plantations to go to protect their villages, fearing more violence after attacks on UN peacekeepers in the region earlier this month. Some labourers had sent their wives and children, who often work alongside them on the plantations, to nearby towns for safety while they kept watch over their homes.