A report by the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) quotes UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issuing a warning that the security situation in Darfur continued to deteriorate, leading to nearly a doubling of confirmed civilian deaths. In his latest monthly report on the conflict in the western Sudanese region, he called it a "deeply disturbing trend" with "devastating effects on the civilian population".

FEMNET and CREDO invite African civil society organisations to a consultation on engagement with the African Union to be held in Nairobi 13-14 January 2006. The organisers hope to facilitate discussions on how to progress thematic, sub-regional or country specific areas of work within a Pan African context. The consultation will have a modest agenda around the Khartoum Summit in January 2006 and future autonomous civil society engagement with the AU. The Khartoum Summit presents a potentially tricky moment for the AU with the on-going investigation by the ICC into allegations of international crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible genocide, against elements of the government of the Summit’s host government and its allied militias. Sudanese CSO’s are also under assault from a raft of new measures designed to marginalise them. The consultation also offers an opportunity to bring these concerns sufficiently to the attention of the summit and delegations attending it. Should you (or a suitable representative - preferably a woman be interested in and able to participate, kindly confirm your participation as soon as possible or by Thursday January 5th 2006 with Roselynn Musa at fax: (254) 20.3742927 or email: [email][email protected]

Continuing clashes between two communities of Arab nomads near the town of Zalingei in West Darfur have left around 60 people dead and hundreds of families displaced, aid workers said on Thursday. "The clashes near Zalingei started a month and a half ago, with ups and downs, but they resumed six days ago [on 9 December]. The fighting was very intense," said Lorena Brander, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sudan.

Extra judicial killings, torture and detention without trial as systematic human rights violation still occurs in Ghana...although we are in a constitutional era, Nana Oye Lithur, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Institute (CHRI), on Tuesday (December 13) noted. She said the persistence of human right violations in the post-National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) era called for concern, if another NRC were to be prevented in the future.

In recent years, political disputes have triggered armed conflicts and vast population movements in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Recent research suggests that access to natural resources is both a cause of these conflicts and a factor in sustaining them. Research from the Africa Centre for Technology Studies, Kenya, examines the relationship between armed conflict and access to agricultural land. Studies in Rwanda, Burundi and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo show that changes in land use and land access are significant factors in armed conflicts.

Indymedia Sydney reports on some of the responses to the Australian race riots in Sydney suburbs.
* The National Union of Students said: "Racism from some of the media and political leaders have whipped up fear and anger to lead to the disgraceful violence at Cronulla. This rally wants to show that people are fed up with this racist violence and that enough is enough."
* The Australian Arabic Council (AAC) said: "For some time politicians and media commentators have been fanning the flames of racial tension and finger pointing. 'Middle Eastern appearance' despite years of campaigning by the AAC continues to be used by politicians and law enforcement agencies (especially in NSW)."

The United Nations Security Council has traditionally tried to cut off arms supplies to some of the world's politically troubled countries - including Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone - in order to restore peace and stability in post-conflict situations. But a move to lift the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia - as proposed by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which brokered that country's reconciliation process - has generated strong warnings from activist groups and Africa-watchers.

This article examines the legal status and economic livelihoods of Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Nairobi. The article challenges the Government of Kenya's official position and the popular local perception that refugees are an economic burden and argues instead that most urban refugees are successful, self-sufficient entrepreneurs. By highlighting refugee self-sufficiency in Nairobi, this article lends support to the idea of local integration as a viable, durable solution to their situation of protracted exile.

The Refugee Studies Centre of the University of Oxford has published a special issue of its magazine Forced Migration Review (FMR), focusing on the prospects for peace in Sudan. The magazine offers a range of opinion on the inclusiveness of the peace process, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement’s prospects for success, feasibility of plans to assist the return of IDPs and refugees, and recovery and development strategies.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Rwanda Defence Forces have organised a four-day competition for 21 junior army officers from six countries in an effort to integrate international humanitarian law into other aspects of military operations, officials told IRIN on Wednesday. "As we advocate for peace, attention should be placed on international law principles," Gen Marcel Gatsinzi, Rwanda's defence minister, said. "We have to always try, as much as we can, to safe lives of innocent civilians."

Deng Kual, 4, is the latest person to die as the peaceful protest against the UNHCR enters its third month. The number of protesters has more than doubled since the group decided to stage their demonstration on September 30 near the regional office of UNHCR. The group insists that UNHCR assist in their relocation, saying they can no longer endure the discrimination, inopportunity and abuse they experience in Egypt. However, with the death of Kual and two others before him, the group is now coming under fire, even by activists who are dedicated to defending their rights.

Thousands of Zimbabweans who have been refused asylum in Britain are staying on to live hand-to-mouth on food and shelter given by strangers because they are terrified to return to their violent homeland. The Zimbabweans' plight follows a move by the government to appeal against a ruling by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal that there was a 'real risk' of Zimbabweans being given inhuman treatment if they were sent home. The ruling, following a widespread hunger strike by Zimbabweans held in detention centres and a public furore over their return, led to all removals being halted.

Last month marked a turning point in the country's turbulent history with the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as president. But politicians, aid workers, security experts and diplomats agree that the challenges are immense. And many Liberians living in exile have decided to wait and see. One particular concern is the continued presence of jobless ex-combatants throughout Liberia. The refugees are also worried about a lack of assistance upon returning home and a lack of job opportunities in Liberia.

The UN refugee agency has finished registering a group of 851 refugees from the DRC who have been in South Sudan for the past 40 years – but now want to go home. The group left the country between 1965 and 1968, in order to escape post-independence chaos and fighting, as well as the coup that brought Mobutu Sese Seko to power. Even though a significant proportion of the group were born in South Sudan and are well integrated into Sudanese society, the majority told UNHCR that they have a strong desire to return to the land of their ancestors.

Because of resource constraints, refugees are not provided with anti-retroviral therapy and they are no longer on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme, says Ross Sanoto, the under secretary for political affairs in the Office of the President in Botswana. Initially the expectant mothers had access to PMTCT programme but it was recently halted. Private organisations and individuals willing to help provide refugees with anti-retroviral therapy were free to do so provided they had the capacity to sustain the supplies even when the refugees returned to their countries.

The situation endured by most of the nearly 2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Uganda continues to worsen as rebel attacks have caused fresh human displacement. A recent study conducted by the Ugandan Ministry of Health found that over 1,000 deaths occur each week in the north, with the majority of deaths being attributed to malaria and HIV/AIDS. The study revealed the multitude of protection concerns related to the government’s forced encampment policy as overcrowding in IDP camps has a direct affect on health.

Somalia’s long civil conflict and lack of central governing institutions present an international security challenge, says the International Crisis Group. "Terrorists have taken advantage of the state’s collapse to attack neighbouring countries and transit agents and materiel. The country is a refuge for the al-Qaeda team that bombed a Kenyan resort in 2002 and tried to down an Israeli aircraft. Since 2003, Islamist extremists have been linked to murders of Somalis and foreigners. If governments are to counter the limited but real threat of terrorism in or from Somalia, they need to align closer with Somali priorities – the restoration of peace, legitimate and broad-based government, and essential services – and make clear that their counter-terrorism efforts are aimed at a small number of criminals, many of them foreigners, not the Somali population at large."

Seventeen long years of civil war in Mozambique, have left behind a scarred terrain and the brutal legacy of widespread economic misery and famine. Worse, a whole generation was born into war and grew up never knowing peace – since the scars of the spirit take the longest to heal.The war started in 1977 and by the time a ceasefire was finally declared during 1992, an estimated seven million guns littered the landscape. But in an effort to initiate something positive out of the void, 'Throne of Weapons' scheme was borne of desire to create a symbol of peace to transcend the violence which had created it and in the process herald a new beginning.

This weekend is World Human Rights Day, a day set aside to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). When the Declaration was made in 1948 most of Africa (with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia), were subject nations lorded over by European colonialists. These imperialists did not see any contradiction in making the declaration while having their jackboots on our backs and pillaging our human and material resources. Many will still ask what has changed in almost 60 years?

African nations were today (December 7) challenged to publicly declare their support for an international Arms Trade Treaty as the France-Africa Summit began in Mali. Only last weekend, leaders from 52 Commonwealth countries, 18 of them African, called for better control of small arms and for negotiations to begin on an Arms Trade Treaty. African countries including Mali, Ghana, Senegal and Kenya have already given their backing to the Treaty, which would ban all arms transfers which are likely to lead to human rights abuses. Other African nations should follow their lead, said campaigners.