Police said they were provoked into using force to prevent Swaziland's largest political opposition group, the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), from holding a rally at the weekend. "There is no freedom of assembly or speech in Swaziland. The brutal violence used yet again by police on unarmed peaceful protestors shows what type of government this is," PUDEMO president Mario Masuku told the press.

Lack of good faith on the part of all sides in the Côte d'Ivoire peace process is jeopardising the October 2005 elections and could cause the war to spread to neighbouring countries, warns the International Crisis Group in a new briefing. " None of the parties to the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Accords has shown the will to break the impasse and compromise on key issues of nationality, eligibility for elections, and disarmament. Meanwhile, profits from the shadowy war economy are benefiting almost everyone except ordinary citizens, making progress even less likely. If there is to be any chance of peace, the international community, and especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), needs to take on the spoilers more assertively and openly, and end impunity for the perpetrators of continued violence."

The "We Stand for Peace & Justice" statement was passed around and commented upon by a long list of organizers/intellectuals - as indicated by the co-signers of the initiating article which is available online. The website was established to facilitate the signing of the "We Stand..." statement. The "We Stand..." statement is not a petition. It is a statement of values, and it is a pledge to work to achieve those values. It is a statement of solidarity among those who choose to add their names to the rapidly expanding list. It is also a tool to provide an avenue of entry into discussions and to broaden and enrich their focus.

This course will aim to help prepare participants for work in conflict areas and to make their work more effective. Participants will be familiarised with contemporary theories of conflict and conflict resolution, acquainted with a range of relevant information on conflict on the Internet and introduced to practical issues and debates within the field.

While jobs are central to reintegrating conflict-affected groups, reconstruction, peace building and tackling the serious human security threats unleashed by armed conflicts, the issue continues to receive inadequate coverage in post-conflict debate and action. This book examines the complex decent work deficits after armed conflicts and proposes an integrated strategy for addressing them. The contributions of several ILO staff and external consultants offer, together, a comprehensive picture of the key issues that require serious consideration as well as effective practical approaches that can be adopted. They cover, for example, the nature of the labour market and other features of the post-conflict situation; the heterogeneity of the crisis affected groups and their specific concerns, such as youth, women, refugees, internally displaced people and ex-combatants. In addition, this volume also includes a number of vivid country case studies from the different regions of the world, especially Africa which provide valuable lessons. For copies, please contact ILO's Crisis Response and Reconstruction Programme, CH-1211, Geneva 22.

Gauteng Housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane has appealed for calm in Diepsloot, a sprawling settlement north of Johannesburg hit by riots, as residents furious at allegations that government planned to relocate them to Brits in the North West, went on the rampage. Although there is now relative calm in the area since police have dispersed much of the protestors, the situation is still tense and the authorities have closed down the R511 road passing through Diepsloot to Sandton.

The 24th June 2004, will remain the saddest day for the poorest of the poor in Durban. Marcel King, a 19 year old youth was shot dead at point blank range by council security, in the fight against social injustices. Marcel, the youngest son of Alemaine King of Rinkgreen Walk, Greenbury, Phoenix, was killed by the eThekweni Municipalities Security force whilst defending his helpless mum and defying electricity cut-offs in his community.

An influx of arms and idle gunmen from Liberia threatens to inflame ethnic quarrels in the Forest Region of southeastern Guinea, leading to further violence and instability in this remote region, government officials, aid workers and human rights activists in the area said. Tensions between the local Guerze ethnic group and incomers from the Konianke sub-group of the Mandingo people have simmered away for years.

Hundreds of Congolese refugees – mostly women and students – have returned home from Burundi amid mixed feelings on the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Between 100 and 200 Congolese refugees have been crossing back home every day since last Saturday. Most of them were living in villages outside the camps in Burundi's border zone, where an estimated 34,000 people sought refuge after fleeing conflict in eastern DRC in early June. Most of the returnees are women who leave their families in Burundi, crossing back into the DRC to assess the situation in their villages and to check on their property. They say they plan to report back to their families in Burundi before planning their return.

The African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia should ensure the establishment of an effective and functioning African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Court), Amnesty International has urged. Since its adoption on 10 June 1998, Amnesty International has consistently called on AU member states to ratify the Protocol establishing the Court, to nominate competent, independent and impartial judges to the Court, and provide the Court with sufficient resources once it is fully established and ensure full cooperation with the Court. The Protocol provides for the establishment of a human rights court with jurisdiction to hear cases challenging violations of the civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter) and relevant human rights instruments.

The Rwandan government should reject a parliamentary request to dissolve one of the country's leading human rights groups unfairly accused by a parliamentary commission of harbouring genocidal ideas, Human Rights Watch says. After three days of debate, the Rwandan parliament on Wednesday asked the government to dissolve the League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Ligue Rwandaise pour la promotion et la défense des droits de l'homme, or Liprodhor) and four other civil society organizations because they allegedly supported genocidal ideas.

"Jubilee South Africa and the Khulumani Support Group are currently holding an international consultation in a climate of fresh optimism in light of the United States Supreme Court ruling last week on the Sosa vs Alvares case. The ruling has opened the door for victims of human rights violations around the world seeking redress under the Alien Tort Claims Act. It has provided a climate of hope for the survivors of gross human rights violations during the Apartheid era. It has strengthened the chances of success of the Khulumani litigation in the New York Southern District Court, in which Khulumani and 87 survivors of Apartheid violence are seeking reparations from 22 international banks and corporations that supported the Apartheid government in violation of international conventions."

The considerable progress Burundi has made over the past year in consolidating its three-year transition risks ending in a dangerous political vacuum if strong commitments are not made immediately to the electoral process outlined in the 2000 Arusha agreement. Such a vacuum can only result in the discrediting and even failure of the entire peace process and the withdrawal of the former CNDD-FDD rebel movement from the government, which it only joined in December 2003. This is according to a new report from the International Crisis Group.

Coming a year after the transition began, the May-June Bukavu crisis was a wake-up call for all parties to the peace process and the international community, says a new briefing from the International Crisis Group (ICG). "Unless peace-building in the Kivus receives new priority and resources, a repetition could destroy the peace process before any elections can be held. The transitional government must demonstrate that it is capable of finding political solutions, while taking the necessary decisions, for example on the law on nationality and amnesty. At the same time, MONUC's shortcomings, which were evident during the crisis, need to be overcome, and it must implement its mandate more assertively," said the ICG, which also called on the international community to put pressure on Rwanda to cease all military involvement in the Congo.

African countries are failing to win the war against malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, the African Union (AU) plans to tell the continent’s leaders on Tuesday. A report to be presented to AU leaders says insufficient progress has been made in combating disease despite major increases of financial support from the Global Fund, World Bank and Western countries. Limited capacity and underdeveloped health systems, it notes, are largely to blame for the "slow progress" made by governments in this respect.

Africa is facing a dramatic increase in air and water pollution, drought and wildlife extinction unless immediate action is taken to clean up the continent's environment, says the United Nations. A report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calls on African leaders to pursue environmentally-friendly development as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid irreparable damage to Africa's environment.

Increased international attention has yet to produce signs of an end to one of the world’s most brutal humanitarian crises, which has displaced 1.6 million people in northern Uganda. The rebellion by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been going on for 18 years. Their political objectives are unclear, but they seem bent on dismantling the camps where most of the internally displaced people (IDPs) live, seeing their inhabitants as tacit supporters of President Yoweri Museveni’s government. In what was the most vicious atrocity in nine years, the LRA massacred some 300 IDPs in Barlonya camp in February 2004.

United Nations University for Peace

The United Nations affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE) is seeking high calibre applicants for the position of Director of the Institute for Media, Peace and Security (IMPS), an autonomous centre operating within the framework of UPEACE. The director will be based in the Geneva office of UPEACE, and will be part of a unique university that functions as a global knowledge network, created by a General Assembly resolution of the United Nations two decades ago. The director will be responsible for the overall management of the IMPS and shall be responsible to the Vice Rector of UPEACE.
Deadline for applications: 21st July 2004.

Angola's social assistance and reintegration ministry Friday started the repatriation of some 40,000 Angolan refugees from the DRC, in conjunction with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Out of these, 12,397 will return to the eastern provinces of Moxico, while 12,787 are expected in the northern provinces of Uije and Zaire during the second repatriation exercise since last May.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has closed a refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia where an estimated 250,000 Somali refugees once lived, after the last 719 inhabitants left the settlement to return home to the self-declared autonomous republic of Somaliland. The last refugees left Hartishek camp on 30 June in a convoy of UNHCR vehicles, heading for Hargeysa. They were being accommodated in a transit centre in Hargeysa while the authorities looked for an area to resettle them permanently, UNHCR said in a statement.