All sides in the conflict - Congolese and foreign armies and an alphabet soup of armed groups - have committed appalling abuses. Their killings, rape, burning, pillaging and forced labour have forced at least 1.2 million people from their homes in 2009 and early 2010 alone, bringing the number of displaced civilians in eastern Congo to almost 2 million.

While the implementation of the Ouagadougou Peace Accord saw some progress in mid-2010, in particular with the announcement of a new date for the elections and agreement on the voter list, fears of renewed violence and further displacement remain. At the same time, internally displaced people (IDPs) continue to struggle for durable solutions.

African leaders and global health experts rallied at the United Nations today to boost access to life-saving bednets and medicines as part of the fight against malaria, aiming to reach the goal of near-zero deaths by 2015. “We have made solid advances in recent years both in reducing deaths and increasing the use of life-saving nets. The goal of ending malaria deaths is within reach, and I urge all partners to sustain the momentum,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Reports of corruption and confusion have already started surfacing in South Africa, as the process to legalise undocumented Zimbabweans in the country gets underway. The exercise began on Monday, a few weeks after South Africa announced it was ending its moratorium on Zimbabwean deportations at the end of the year. But by Wednesday there were already indications that the December 31st deadline for Zimbabweans to regularise their stay in South Africa will be hard to meet

Featuring a rich representation of African poetic and musical voices, Poetry Africa on Tour kicks off at the Cape Town ICC on Sunday 26th September. Further satellite programmes take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 28th and 29th, then Blantyre, Malawi, on 1st October before culminating at the main Poetry Africa festival in Durban from4th to 9th October.

After she became a mother just before her 15th birthday, Diana Ricardo* was forced to drop out of school and give up her dreams of a brighter future. Ricardo says she was impregnated by a teacher, who afterwards refused paternity testing claiming he could not afford a second wife. Ricardo’s case is not unique. Worrying statistics around sexual abuse in schools and high female drop-out rates means Mozambique and other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region may not reach the 2015 education and gender targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

NGOs are outraged after confirmation that the world's largest bank will finance the destructive Gibe 3 hydropower dam. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is underwriting a $500 million contract awarded 13 May to Dongfang Electric Corporation for the dam's turbines and electro-mechanical works. Although ICBC has not publicly announced the loan, an official confirmed 8 September by email that the financial agreement between ICBC and the Ethiopian government was signed in July. The funding undermines ICBC's efforts to build a global reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible lending institution.

Completing the stalled Doha round of trade talks is 'technically doable' by November 2011, World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said Wednesday. 'Celebrating 10 years of negotiations may not be a big occasion for champagne,' Lamy acknowledged in remarks in Washington, little over a year before the talks hit their 10-year anniversary. Nevertheless, he said that nations involved in the talks could formulate an agreement by November 2011.

Expectant mothers living in internally displaced people’s camps in western Kenya need qualified medical help to minimise the possible risks associated with delivery, the residents said. 'It is by God’s grace that mothers and children survive,' Paul Thiongo, chairman of Pipeline IDP camp along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway, said. 'Safety during birth is a luxury here; even getting three meals is like a dream. Though it may sound odd for us to be depending on traditional birth attendants [TBAs] in the 21st century, there is not much choice.'

Amnesty International on Tuesday warned that the plan of action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by governments fails to uphold the rights of the world's poorest. Despite overwhelming evidence that millions are being left out of the MDGs because discrimination and other human rights violations prevent them from accessing basic services, world leaders failed to seize the opportunity to put human rights at the heart of the MDGs, during a UN summit in New York this week, said Amnesty.

“Why is it when people make films about Africa, they always show the bad parts of Africa?” Is an American with extensive world and filmmaking experience more capable of capturing realities on the African continent than a less-experienced African filmmaker? Is a South African filmmaker who has not left his country more credible to shoot a film in the Congo than a Westerner who has a career background in war-torn societies?

Mozambique plans to register non-contract cell phone users, weeks after an anonymous viral text message campaign fuelled riots that killed 14. Communications Minister Paulo Zucula said the new law would improve security for internet banking and prevent crime. 'The main idea is to educate citizens about the way to use, with responsibility, the services put in place by the state,' he said.

Even dead, they would get me, the man from Mugabe's spy agency, the CIO, had warned. My corpse would be shred into "mince meat" even if I returned to Zimbabwe in a coffin for burial, he told me when our paths crossed in Johannesburg. I had been branded a "sell out", and an enemy of the state for my reports in the foreign media on how the ruling party and its supporters waged their land war against white farmers and then tortured and murdered hundreds of black opposition supporters.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have confirmed that 83 WOZA members are being held at Harare Central Police Station. They will spend the night in custody even though police officers are still not sure what charges to prefer or if they even have a case against the activists as most handed themselves in. WOZA members had commemorated International Peace Day by handing over a set of demands aimed at the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Ministers of Home Affairs asking police to adhere to the protocols set out in the Police Act, the ZRP Service Charter and the ZRP Service Standards and to work together with Zimbabweans to keep our communities safe.

It may have been the first time an African couple was arrested because they held an engagement party. In a part of the world where engagement and marriage are momentous occasions and a cornerstone of adulthood, the union of two men in Malawi last December, however, created an uproar that made headlines around the world.
But although Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were eventually freed after international condemnation, hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people throughout Africa continue to live in fear; their plight off the radar.

The Malcolm X Grass roots Movement (MXGM) is an organization of people of Afrikan descent in the United States who believe in fighting for and supporting self-determination and human rights for Afrikans in the United States and around the world. Our organization annually takes an international trip to build solidarity with other people struggling for liberation and social justice. This year, we come in solidarity to Haiti (with the people of Haiti).

Freedom House’s recently released report card on the UN Human Rights Council has noted how human rights abusing countries on the Council often try to prevent NGOs from being able to report on abuses by repeatedly interrupting them as they speak during their designated time slots. Freedom House says this practice is clearly demonstrated during a short speech by Kristyana Valcheva (a Bulgarian nurse imprisoned and tortured for over 8 years in Libya on false charges), who was speaking on behalf of Freedom House. Valcheva was repeatedly interrupted by Libya, Iran, China and Cuba.

The disproportionately high risk of disaster faced by a billion slum-dwellers across the world could be significantly reduced with prudent investment, states a new report. 'We cannot stop urbanisation but we shouldn't be naïve; a trend does not mean destiny, disasters can be prevented,' Matthias Schmale, the under-secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in Nairobi at the global launch of the 2010 edition of the World Disasters Report.

For most women who are heavily dependent on their abusers, attaining economic independence is an impossible dream. Consequently, “women – who are often at the heart of every nation” are not able to make sure their children are fed, educated or vaccinated. In order to accelerate progress on some of the Millennium Development Goals, good governance and legal reforms to protect the vulnerable are desperately needed.

The first head of the new United Nations super-agency on female empowerment today voiced hope that the body will be a 'strong champion' of gender equality and hasten existing UN efforts to advance the cause of women and girls. The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was established on 2 July by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights and their full participation in global affairs.