Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki on Sunday left for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a meeting expected to make a breakthrough in the Sudan peace process. Top on the Inter-Governmental Agency on Development (Igad) summit agenda is the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan. President Omar Al-Bashir of the Republic of Sudan and the First Vice President Salva Kiir Myardit are scheduled to attend the meeting.

The first official Eritrean refugees arrived in Sudan in 1968; today, an estimated 1,600 cross the border every month to seek refuge in Shagarab, a large camp in the east of Sudan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that northern Sudan has more than 100,000 Eritrean refugees but in 43 years, the profile of the refugees has changed. 'The new arrivals are generally young and well educated; they come from the highlands and have no cultural or ethnic ties with local populations,' said Mohamed Ahmed Elaghbash, Sudan's Commissioner for Refugees.

Opposition MPs and Parliament guests were shocked as the chairwoman of the parliamentary oversight committee on home affairs, Maggie Maunye, implied that foreigners flocking to the country were soaking up resources and preventing South Africans from enjoying their freedom. Maunye made the remarks on Wednesday at the conclusion of a briefing of her committee by Home Affairs officials. The delegation included deputy home affairs minister Fatima Chohan, and had dealt with the issue of refugee reception centres.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the , a monthly publication that provides a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News. You can also read the newsletter on our blog.

The infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate are globally regarded as among the best indicators of the health of a community, argue three University of Cape Town professors in this article about informal settlements. 'In Khayelitsha about 60 children among every 1,000 born alive die of diarrhoea-related illness before their fifth birthday - 10 times more than in our southern suburbs. That under the prevailing conditions this number is not appreciably higher could be ascribed to households doing their utmost to maintain as high a standard of hygiene as possible.'

The International Criminal Court's deputy prosecutor rejected charges it unfairly targets Africa, saying the victims were also African and that indictments were led by referrals from Africans themselves. In a joint interview with Reuters and France's TV5 in the Ivorian capital, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the high rate of referrals in Africa could just as easily show that leaders on the continent were taking their responsibilities to international justice seriously.

Pearls of wisdom from Zimbabwe, Sudan and Uganda...

In this article, UNHCR Public Information Intern Dasha Smith speaks to Neil Grungras, who has spent many years advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex refugees and asylum-seekers, and is the founder and executive director of the San Francisco-based Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM). This interview comes at a time when accounts increasingly emerge of persecution and violence towards refugees and asylum-seekers in parts of the world based on sexual grounds.

The French military has confirmed that it airdropped weapons to civilians fighting in rebel-held areas in the western part of Libya. Colonel Thierry Burkhard, a spokesperson for the French general staff, told Al Jazeera that the military had dropped assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers to groups of unarmed civilians it deemed to be at risk. The Le Figaro newspaper and the AFP news agency reported that France had dropped several tonnes of arms, including Milan anti-tank rockets and light armoured vehicles.

The Climate Change Media Partnership has published a briefing paper that recommends ways for policymakers to support a better class of climate change journalism that is relevant to local audiences, builds public awareness of the issues and contributes to improved policymaking. Climate change journalism can protect people and promote sustainable development - but only if it is accurate, timely and relevant, the brief says.

Chadian families are facing worsening food insecurity, becoming more indebted, and selling off personal possessions as they try to cope with the loss of remittances from relatives who have returned home from Libya. Remittances, which half of the households in Chad's western and southwestern regions of Kanem and Bahr el Ghazal used to receive, are down by 57 per cent, according to a survey by NGOs Oxfam and Action Against Hunger (ACF). Households on average were sent US$220 per month.

Mauritania said on Sunday 26 June that 17 people were killed in a joint attack carried out with Mali on an al Qaeda in North Africa's (AQIM) camp in the Wagadou forest region near Mauritania's border on Friday. A spokesman for the Mauritanian army said 15 al Qaeda fighters were killed and nine were captured by the Malian army. Seven Mauritanian soldiers were wounded, but two of them died later from their wounds.

The UNHCR has written to the Government of Mozambique reminding it of its obligations under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugee and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention. This follows reports of deportations by the Mozambique authorities. In one report, 93 asylum seekers were deported to Tanzania in the early hours of Tuesday morning (21 June). The group, comprising 59 Somalis and 34 Ethiopians, had recently arrived by boat near Mocimboa da Praia in northern Mozambique. Most were young men but among them was a woman, four children, and three elderly men. Many were suffering medically as a result of their journey.

Libyan doctors living in South Africa and the DA have welcomed the international arrest warrant for the leader of their war-torn country, Muammar Gaddafi. But President Jacob Zuma has expressed disappointment. 'President Zuma is extremely disappointed and concerned over the issuing of a warrant by the International Criminal Court against Colonel Gaddafi,' presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa said. 'It’s unfortunate that the ICC could take such a decision while the AU through its ad hoc committee has done so much.'

Authorities in Nigeria have said that three separate bomb explosions in the country's northeast have killed at least 25 people and wounded many others. The attack on Sunday targeted outdoor beer gardens in the city of Maiduguri. Authorities have accused the Boko Haram group, which demands the adoption of sharia law, or Islamic law, throughout Nigeria, of being behind the attacks.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and two of his confidants, citing evidence of crimes against humanity committed against opponents of the Libyan regime. Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng announced the decision on behalf of a three-judge panel in The Hague on Monday, saying the warrants were meant to force Gaddafi, his son and his intelligence chief to appear before the court and prevent the possibility of a cover-up.

South African President Jacob Zuma slammed Nato’s operation in Libya at the opening of the African Union’s (AU) Libya panel meeting in Pretoria. Rebels said they expected a proposal from Moamer Kadhafi 'very soon' through French and South African intermediaries. The UN resolution authorising the Nato bombing campaign 'was not to authorise a campaign for regime change or political assassination', Zuma reportedly told opening talks of the AU panel on Libya.

The latest statistics from the UNHCR show where refugees come from, where they go to and how many return. The Guardian UK has created a map that explores the data by region and country.

Civil society groups from more than 25 countries in Africa issued a report on 27 June urging African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to show support for the court at the upcoming African Union (AU) summit meeting. The report, 'Observations and Recommendations on the ICC', is endorsed by 125 African organisations and international groups with a presence in Africa. The 17th AU summit will hold its assembly of heads of state from 30 June to 1 July 2011, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. Meetings of ministry-level officials in advance of the heads of state discussions began on 23 June.

Fifteen associates of Cote d'Ivoire's ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, including two former ministers, have been charged with harming state authority, setting up armed gangs and economic crimes, the Abidjan prosecutor said Sunday. Those charged this week included former prime minister Gilbert Ake N'Gbo, former foreign minister Alcide Djedje and Philippe-Henri Dacoury-Tabley, a former governor of the Central Bank of West African States, Simplice Koffi added.