Since October 2009 a total of 114,017 refugees have fled armed clashes in Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and found refuge in the Republic of Congo (RoC). These clashes originated in inter-communal disputes over farming and fishing rights but later widened to other parts of the province.

The South African authorities must investigate the delayed police response to last month's attacks against refugees and migrants and their property in Siyathemba Township, 80km south east of Johannesburg. The authorities must also ensure that those responsible for the attacks are held accountable.

The United Nations mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) is closely monitoring efforts to establish a government – including an independent electoral commission – and to resume plans for long-awaited elections in the West African country, where a political crisis following the dissolution of the government last month sparked deadly street protests.

In this week's emerging powers news roundup, Asian tree provides low-cost water purification method for developing world, China strengthening Africa’s infrastructure base, Diamond regains its glitter thanks to Chinese demand, and Indian tourists to South Africa expected to double by 2012.

Over time, women’s rights advocates have named a host of contributing factors to violence against women. Perhaps none of these has been less explored than the proliferation and unregulated use of small arms and light weapons – until now. A new book, Sexed Pistols: The Gendered Impact of Small Arms and Light Weapons, explores how these weapons impact women and men differently.

Women are yet to make significant inroads into the media 15 years after the Beijing Platform of Action recognised its centrality in advancing women’s rights. Preliminary findings of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project conducted by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) suggests that women constitute less than a quarter of those interviewed, heard, seen or read about in mainstream broadcast and print news.

Zimbabwe's power-sharing government looks unlikely to step down in 2011 as planned because it has failed to draw up the reforms needed to ensure free and fair elections, political analysts say.

Guinea's new transitional government should take concrete steps to ensure redress for victims of the September 2009 massacre of more than 150 opposition supporters in a stadium in the capital, Conakry, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to the new government.

Uganda’s members of parliament (MPs) are pressurising government to make public details of oil production-sharing agreements it signed with various international oil companies.

Client: ActionAid
Subject: International Communications Advisors
Closing date: 18th March 2010

International Communications Advisor
£30K - £45K (depending on location and experience)
Various: 1 x Africa (Johannesburg/Nairobi); 1x Europe (London); 1 x Asia (Bangalore/Delhi/Bangkok); 1 negotiable (all must be located in an ActionAid existing office)

ActionAid’s programmes are changing the lives of millions of people and challenging the decisions which keep poor people locked in poverty. Join ActionAid’s International Communications team as an International Communications Advisor and help ensure our external communications and campaigns around the world continue to get the attention and support to make a difference.

Providing communications consultancy and capability development services to our international and national teams, you will deliver strategies and advice, and support the development, implementation and monitoring of plans that increases the quantity and quality of our communications outputs and thereby raise profile and funds.

You are a strategic thinker with high level technical capability in more than one core communications discipline (online/media/brand/publications). You have experience of producing, coordinating and implementing multi-media communication strategies and of working in an international environment.

In addition to your communications expertise you have a track record of capacity building through training, facilitating and coaching, knowledge and experience of organisational development and the gravitas to quickly develop effective working relationships at all levels in a multicultural environment.

To apply for the role of International Communications Advisor go to:

Closing date: 18th March 2010.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We warmly welcome applications from all sections of the community and aim to promote diversity. Reg. Charity No: 274467

Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world in developing renewable energy projects with initiatives aimed at producing clean and ‘green’ energy remaining largely under-exploited, warned a new report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Africans are getting wealthier more quickly than previously believed, according to a new study that also suggests the poorest continent's riches are spreading beyond the narrow confines of its elite. "Africa is reducing poverty, and doing it much faster than we thought," the study by U.S.-based economists Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that Zimbabwe’s unity government needs to make more progress before targeted sanctions against the Mugabe regime are lifted, resisting pressure from South African President Jacob Zuma.

Rescue teams in Uganda are still digging into heaps of mud in an effort to rescue survivors of a landslide that has so far killed 88 people while 400 are still missing. Lack of advanced rescue equipment has complicated the rescue efforts. There are no earth movers on site and some residents are digging with their bare hands.

The main opposition party in Togo has claimed widespread irregularities in the country's presidential election. People in Togo voted on Thursday to chose a new head of state - five years after hundreds died following the last, disputed election.

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Sudan should consider the impact of ongoing human rights abuses and insecurity on the elections process, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the mission on March 2, 2010.

Adolescent girls have often been missing in policy and programming. Yet many believe that their well-being the key to eliminating poverty, achieving social justice, stabilizing the population, and preventing foreseeable humanitarian crises.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns firmly the physical assault and violence by security operatives and supporters of the opposition Sierra Leone people’s party (SLPP) in Bo, Southern Sierra Leone against ten journalists.

At least 30 people were killed in Sudan after clashes between two rival tribes in the volatile southern region, witnesses said. Deputy state governor David Noc Marial has said clashes began after armed men from the Dinka tribe's Atuot and Ciek clans clashed in south Sudan's remote area over the weekend.

About a year ago, Muqtar Ali's brother was shot dead by gunmen in the busy Bakara market of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, and his $200 in cash was stolen. Ali says that if a new mobile money transfer service unveiled by Somalia's biggest mobile telecoms firm last month had been in place then, his brother would still be alive.