Allegations of sexual misconduct by UN peacekeepers serving in Liberia have been substantiated in four incidents and investigations launched, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) told IRIN on Tuesday. "There were numerous allegations, of which four clusters of allegations were substantiated - meaning that there was enough information to suggest that possible wrong-doings took place," said Paul Risley of UNMIL, a force of 15,000 peacekeepers. The UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, which has more than 6,000 troops, said similar inquiries were also under way there.

Uganda has turned down a request by the Rwandan government to deny asylum to thousands of Rwanda nationals who have been fleeing their country to Uganda and Burundi over the past six weeks. The Burundi government has also said it would not repatriate them, although it will not grant them refugee status.

Nigeria is vigorously campaigning for western donors to write off its $35bn debts - and is backing up its arguments with a crackdown on corruption. When Olusegun Obasanjo won 1999 elections to restore civilian rule, he promised to stamp out the pervasive corruption. He set up two commissions on corruption and fraud but until recently, nothing much had happened.

Exiled Liberian president, Charles Taylor, will remain a threat to President Lansana Conte of Guinea and the entire West Africa region until he is brought before the UN-backed Special Court for war crimes in Sierra Leone, said the Court's chief prosecutor David Crane. "In early January, Charles Taylor ordered the assassination of Guinean President Lansana Conte as revenge for Conte's support of the LURD rebel faction in Liberia ...and... the effort [to kill Conte] would soon be repeated," said Crane in a statement issued on Monday.

A number of Zimbabwean NGOs released statements on the situation in the country to the 37th Session of the Africa Commission on Human and People's Rights in Banjul, Gambia on Wednesday. The statement from Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe highlights the fact that the Government of Zimbabwe amended the laws that restrict the free flow of information but the amendments actually worsen the environment in which media practitioners work in Zimbabwe. A ZimRights statement at the 37th Session particularly mentions the "relegation of fundamental elections principles into SADC guidelines of persuasive value". In 2002 the ACHPR appointed a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe which came up with recommendations as to how the Government of Zimbabwe could improve the human rights situation in the country.

Included through the link below are two resolutions adopted by over 60 African NGOs in which they supported the ICC prosecution of persons accused of committing or supporting the commission of crimes in Darfur. The second resolution addressed the growing trend among some African states to use militia groups to fight proxy wars on their behalf. The Resolutions were adopted within the framework of the 37th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights which is currently taking place in Banjul, The Gambia.

Young men, old women and children among the thousands who fled violence in Togo said they were too scared to go home after security forces shot at unarmed civilians in post-election chaos. More than 11,500 people have fled the tiny West African country since trouble erupted last Tuesday, minutes after the late authoritarian ruler's son was declared winner of a poll his opponents say was fixed.

Search for Common Ground – a non-governmental organisation working in the field of conflict transformation – held a workshop on "Talk-shows/Debates for Peacebuilding" at the beginning of April. This workshop brought together the producers of some important radio talk-shows in sub-Saharan Africa to share their professional experiences. Eleven English-speaking and French-speaking countries have been represented in Bujumbura (Burundi). One of the objectives of the workshop was to develop material for a manual on “How to produce a talk-show for Peacebuilding”, while also taking into account Africa's widely differing realities. This training manual should be ready by July 2005 and will be distributed free on CD-ROM (upon request) and via the website of the project “Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa” (www.radiopeaceafrica.org, soon available in French and Swahili). If you would like to be informed about the launch of this manual on the web, please write to us at [email protected] The workshop is part of the Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa project. This project aims to develop and encourage the use of radio techniques and programme content which can have a positive impact on conflicts in Africa.

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to use his constitutional powers to allow a main opposition rival to stand in October's elections, bowing to international pressure and to one of the key demands of rebels occupying the north of the country. In a speech aired on state television late Tuesday, Gbagbo said he would apply Article 48 of the constitution, which allows the president to take extraordinary measures when institutions or territorial integrity are at stake.

A coalition of Kenyan organisations submitted alternative reports on the human rights situation in Kenya, for the 83rd session of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) from March 14th to April 1st 2005 in New York. During this session, the HRC considered Kenya's second periodic report on the implementation of the rights contained in the International covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), more than 18 years late. Subsequently, the coalition has welcomed the recommendations adopted by the HRC and urges Kenya to "take appropriate measures to incorporate the ICCPR into domestic law" and "allow its rights to be invoked in domestic courts".

Toronto's Globe and Mail on Tuesday in the second article in a series examined the "largely unacknowledged" HIV/AIDS epidemic in the northern region of Uganda that has been "fueled" by the country's 18-year war. Although HIV prevalence among adults in Uganda's general population is 6.2% and the nation is a "darling of donor countries," the HIV prevalence rate in the country's northern region is 11.9% and rising, according the Christian aid group World Vision.

The Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) is a membership network of individuals and organisations working for sustainable peace in Africa. Twice a year, COPA holds a 5-week training workshop. This course covers diverse aspects of conflict transformation and peace building, and is aimed at building the capacity of participants, mostly from the African continent, working for development, human rights, peace, justice and related fields.

Despite recent Security Council resolutions and a peace agreement covering part of the country, Sudan remains at war, with as many as 10,000 or more civilians dying monthly in Darfur. The UN, NATO and the EU need to get together urgently with the AU, decide who can do what best and then do it without regard for institutional prerogatives or national prestige. How to maximise cooperation to get the necessary additional troops on the ground quickly with equipment, structure and command organisation to be effective is probably the single most urgent and complex issue the international community faces in Sudan. More action is needed to protect civilians and relief agencies in Darfur; implement accountability; build a Darfur peace process; implement the Khartoum-SPLM agreement; and prevent new conflict in the east before it becomes the next major war. This is according to the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group.

The latest debate in Washington on Sudan is about estimates of the number of dead in Darfur, with the Washington Post in an April 24 editorial criticizing Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick for citing a report of 60,000 to 160,000 dead in the last two years, in contrast to higher estimates ranging up to 400,000 from human rights groups and other analysts. But this debate, like the earlier and continuing international debate over whether to call the atrocities in western Sudan genocide, is largely a surrogate for a more fundamental debate over the international political will to act. This is according to the latest edition of the Africa Focus Bulletin, available by clicking on the link below. Also available is a statement from the Darfur Relief and Documentation Center welcoming a recent UN Commission on Human Rights Resolution.

Burundi's remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) will end the war only when government troops stopped attacking its forces, rebel leader Agathon Rwasa said on Wednesday. "We are committed to lasting peace in Burundi," he told a news conference in Tanzania's commercial city of Dar es Salaam. "But the government must also respect our position. If we are attacked we are going to hit back."

Peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels in the western region of Darfur are expected to resume in May, a spokesman for the African Union (AU) in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, told IRIN on Wednesday. An AU mediation team, he added, had been holding consultations with Sudanese government officials in a renewed effort to jumpstart the negotiations.

Save the Children is calling on world leaders to better protect the large numbers of vulnerable and innocent girls whose lives are destroyed every year by conflict, with the launch of a new report 'Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict'. The report identifies a 'hidden army' of girls, some as young as eight, who are abducted against their will to live life in the army. The roles of the girls vary from being actual soldiers through to serving as porters, cleaners and cooks. Almost all are forced to serve as sex slaves or 'wives'.

Tourists visiting Botswana invariably buy some of the colourful baskets on offer in crafts shops to take home as souvenirs. Little do they know that these baskets are the material proof of one of the most successful refugee integration stories in southern Africa. The baskets are made by women whose parents and grandparents came to the country as refugees from Angola. They brought with them traditional basket-weaving skills and combined them with the dyes and colourful patterns that are part of Botswana's culture.

The voluntary repatriation of refugees from Botswana to Namibia's Caprivi region has encouraged others to follow suit, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) told IRIN. UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic said the repatriation of eight adults and four children last Friday was the first since 2002. Since then more than 60 people in Dukwi refugee camp in northeastern Botswana have signed up to make the 450 km journey to Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi region.

The burning of the Guji-Oromo houses is the latest move in the effort to remove the Guji and Kore people from within the boundaries of the National Park so that it can be developed and managed by the Netherlands-based African Parks Foundation as a wildlife viewing park for well-heeled tourists. It is a condition of the African Parks Foundation contract that no people be present in the Park. Included in the development plans is a fence around part of the Park to keep local people out and wildlife in.