Laws that infringe freedom of expression have not been repealed but have become more repressive, violent commercial farm invasions continue and the government consistently undermines the rule of law, said a Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition statement issued shortly before the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Abuja, Nigeria. The URL below links to the full statement, to URL's to further stories regarding Zimbabwe, to a Political Violence Report for October from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and to a statement from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

“The war is not yet over”, an International Crisis Group mission to Côte d’Ivoire repeatedly heard in November 2003. There are ominous signs that the Côte d’Ivoire peace process initiated in January 2003 has broken down. If the country goes back to war, it could well take all West Africa with it, endangering even recent progress in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The UN Security Council needs to take a leading role in the peace process, initially by upgrading its current presence to a full peacekeeping mission. This could include subsuming some 1,400 West African troops under the umbrella of an expanded operation. The UN should also step up cooperation between its ongoing peace operation in Liberia and its Ivorian peace mission, MINUCI.
Related Links:
* Peacekeepers clash with government troops
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38160
* Gbagbo militants threaten march on rebel capital
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38217

At least 14 people, including three civilians, have been killed in clashes involving rebels of the feared Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) over recent days, military sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Lawyers defending Mauritanian opposition leader Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla against charges of threatening state security, walked out of court on Tuesday in the capital, Nouakchott, forcing a temporary suspension of hearings. Ould Haidalla, runner-up in last month's presidential elections, first appeared in court on Monday in a court session that lasted more than six hours.

Human rights activists and their supporters marched through Lagos on Wednesday to protest against President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government and Nigeria's hosting of a Commonwealth summit, but they were dispersed by riot police. More than 1,000 activists belonging to the United Action for Democracy (UAD), a coalition of rights and pro-democracy groups, marched through the centre of Nigeria's biggest city.

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF holds its annual conference in the southern city of Masvingo on Thursday, but has ruled out any debate on the issue of a successor to President Robert Mugabe.

Burundi’s new peace deal could bring very large numbers of refugees back home within three months, but there are no preparations for their repatriation and reintegration. The issue was ignored in the negotiations leading to the ceasefire accord signed on 16 November 2003, but such an omission endangers the peace process itself. It is crucial that the November accord not be implemented at the expense of refugees and the internally displaced. Numbering over one million, Burundian refugees and internally displaced have been the prime victims of the conflict, and their situation has deteriorated in the past three years. This is according to a report from the International Crisis Group.

A non-governmental organisation has set the ball rolling on sport and games in Sierra Leone's refugee camps in the hope that young refugees will be able to have fun with a purpose. Since starting its programmes in Sierra Leone in March, Canadian-based group Right to Play has introduced football, volleyball, kickball, softball and frisbee to Liberian refugee youth in five camps. Besides keeping them active and channelling their energies into positive activities, these sports also teach them important values and life skills like self-confidence, teamwork, communication, inclusion, discipline, respect and fair play.

More than 1,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea can expect to go home by the end of this year as the UN refugee agency resumes repatriation ahead of plans to gradually phase out assistance next year. On Monday, UNHCR restarted its return programme from Guinea to Sierra Leone after a three-month break over the rainy season. Eighty-four refugees left Kissidougou in south-eastern Guinea and headed for Kono district in eastern Sierra Leone.

The Nigerian government has been responsible for killings, torture, and harassment of its critics over the last two years, Human Rights Watch has charged in a new report. Human Rights Watch urged Commonwealth leaders meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja this week to raise concerns about the crackdown on freedom of expression in the country. The 40-page report, “Nigeria: Renewed Crackdown on Freedom of Expression,” documents killings, arrest, detention, ill-treatment, torture and other forms of harassment and intimidation of real or perceived critics of the government over the past two years.

The Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Corner-Kilak camp, Pader district, have requested the Government to beef up security around IDP camps to stop abductions. In a recent memorandum which they presented to Zackary Olum, chairman of Acholi Parliamentary Group, the IDPs said the tight security would cripple the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and partner NGOs have mounted relief operations to respond to the needs of increasing numbers of war-displaced in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, following two weeks of fighting between government forces and rebel elements of the Forces nationales de liberation. UNICEF reported on Friday that following recent hostilities around Bujumbura, more than 40,000 people had been displaced, while over 17,000 people, fearful of fighting, were spending nights in areas of the city they considered safe.

Namibia has been listed among the countries where the HIV-Aids pandemic shows no signs of weakening - with an upsurge of new infections recorded over the past year. Health and Social Services Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, says that about 23 per cent of the Namibian population is believed to be living with HIV-AIDS.

Peace efforts in the Great Lakes region were taken a step further this week when leaders from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo met in South Africa for talks. The regional summit, hosted by President Thabo Mbeki, focused on the implementation of a peace accord between the two central African countries that was signed on July 30 last year. Mozambican President Joachim Chissano also attended the meeting in his capacity as president of the African Union (AU).

Concerns about a proposed anti-terrorism law in Kenya were set to reach boiling point Saturday, with a gathering of human rights activists in the capital. The activists belong to more than 40 human rights organisations that have formed an umbrella body called the Kenya Human Rights Network (K-HURINET), to sound an alarm about the Suppression of Terrorism Bill.

Mozambique's electoral commission announced this week that the opposition Renamo party had won the port city of Beira, while authorities promised to investigate claims of irregularities during the local elections.

A crucial round of talks, between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) resumed on Monday with both sides reiterating their earlier commitment to reach a final agreement before the end of the year.

Four former senior Rwandan officials went on trial in Tanzania last week accused of playing important roles in the 1994 genocide of 800,000 people, including training militias and drawing up lists of people to be killed. It is the second trial in a month to feature former cabinet ministers and senior officials from Rwanda on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and mass killings.

"We, teachers, scholars, activists, scientists, students, Indigenous peoples, landless people, peasants, NGOs, and others from the North and South, do not recognise the legitimacy of the World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF). PCF projects would both be climatically ineffective and disrespect principles of economic, social and environmental justice."

There is compelling evidence that the Sudanese government is largely responsible for the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Darfur in the western Sudan, Amnesty International said after its delegates returned from visiting refugee camps in eastern Chad. "At the very least the Sudanese government has totally failed in its obligation to protect its own people," said Amnesty International. "The testimonies of scores of refugees describing attacks on rural communities by militias which included members of the armed forces or other security forces has led us to the bleak conclusion that at least some elements in the army are encouraging this devastation."