Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest and conscription into the Eritrean army of the local correspondent of the radio station Voice of America (VOA) and called for the immediate release of him and 18 other jailed media workers in the country, which it said was "Africa's biggest prison for journalists."

The repatriation of Eritrean refugees from Sudan, which resumed last month, has been halted due to the start of the rainy season, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.

For the first time in almost a year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated hundreds of Eritreans from Sudan after restarting a voluntary relocating operation that had been suspended because of the rainy season and prolonged by heightened border tensions between the two countries.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reached an agreement with the governments of Eritrea and Sudan on where to open a humanitarian corridor between the two countries to facilitate the repatriation of thousands of Eritrean refugees, the UNHCR has said.

The rate of malnutrition in Eritrea, now in the fourth year of the worst drought in a decade, is rising to alarming levels, with more than 1 in 5 children not getting enough to eat, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says. According to the agency, 21. 7 per cent of children are suffering from malnutrition; normally, a hunger rate of just 13 to 14 per cent is considered alarming.

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Eritrean authorities, as they approach the 10th anniversary of Eritrea's independence on 24 May, to put an immediate and unconditional end to the illegal imprisonment of 18 journalists, who are being held in an undisclosed location, without being brought to trial and without any official reason ever being given for their detention.

The Eritrean government is to introduce a new school curriculum for the next academic year aimed at boosting productivity. According to the official Shaebia website, Education Minister Osman Saleh said the new curriculum for the 2003-2004 academic year met international standards and "will enable students to be productive citizens once they finish school".

War Child started its program in 3 refugee-camps (Gashbarka) in 2001. It consisted of teacher training and sports and music activities with children. Nowadays War Child also works in Barentu and recently in Debub, where a creative arts and sports program is implemented as a school curriculum. The program is moving into a new community based approach and for this development and expansion War Child is looking for an experienced Head of Mission.

In a letter sent to South African President Thabo Mbeki, Chairman of the African Union, ARTICLE 19 has raised its concerns about the continued detention, incommunicado and without trial, of at least eighteen journalists and eleven political dissidents in Eritrea since September 2001.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has called on the European Union to intervene on behalf of detained journalists in Eritrea. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter: "Our organisation particularly calls on the European Union to condition the resumption of economic aid to Eritrea on the release of the 18 journalists it has imprisoned and the re-emergence of a free, privately-owned press in the country."

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says the voluntary repatriation of Eritreans from Sudan is set to resume soon. The convoys, returning Eritrean refugees to their homeland, stopped last October due to military activity in the Kassala area of Sudan and the closure of the Eritrea-Sudan border.

With the world's attention focused elsewhere, aid officials in Eritrea say this tiny nation in Africa's Horn is quietly approaching a humanitarian disaster. More than two thirds of Eritrea's 3.3 million people are facing the spectre of famine as the country confronts its worst drought since it officially gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Appeals for international assistance began last summer, but the response so far has not been as swift as aid officials and government representatives had hoped.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has received a response from the U.S. Defense Department to a letter sent on February 5, 2003, to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. CPJ had written to Rumsfeld expressing concern about 18 journalists in Eritrea who are currently being held incommunicado, as well as the Eritrean government's decision to ban all private press in the country. In December 2002, Rumsfeld met with Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki while visiting Eritrea to investigate possible sites for a U.S. military base. When asked at a press conference about the country's abysmal press freedom record Rumsfeld noted that Eritrea "is a sovereign nation, and they arrange themselves and deal with their problems in ways that they feel are appropriate to them."

Eritreans do not discuss FGM openly because it is taboo to talk about sex in general. However, people's fear of a clampdown is leading to more secrecy than a decade ago when the government launched a campaign against the ancient practice.

President Isayas Afewerki of Eritrea has said the electoral process is ongoing and will be "seriously implemented". Speaking at the opening session of National Union of Eritrean Women's (NUEW) congress on Thursday, he said the process had been delayed "because of Ethiopia's war, the disruption caused by internal defeatists and external intervention". But, he said, it was "firmly on the agenda and would be seriously implemented".

Tens of thousands of Eritreans are reapplying for refugee status in Sudan, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Calling Eritrea the number one jailer of journalists in Africa, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) delivered more than 600 petitions last week to the Eritrean government urging authorities to release journalist Isaias Afewerki and 17 other colleagues being secretly held across the country.

Two thirds of the population of Eritrea are facing food shortages and 10,000 children are severely malnourished, the UN said last Friday. Musa Bungudu, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Eritrea, said that children were already starting to die in the tiny Red Sea state.

A third of Eritrea’s population - 1.4 million people - were directly affected by drought and this number was set to increase this year, says the US government's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS). "Insufficient rainfall for crops and livestock, labour shortages due to mobilisation, the pressure of internally displaced people (IDPs) and returnees, and an economic tailspin contribute to an overall picture of high food insecurity," it said.

With the deadline for the cessation of refugee status for Eritreans expiring on 31 December, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says thousands are seeking continued refugee status, while others have asked to be taken home or have applied to remain as immigrants.