A water well, serving two different ethnic groups in Kenya's Rift Valley province, has done more to bring them together than government and civil society efforts, say locals. 'This well is an interaction point for the two communities, we always have a chance to meet as we fetch water for our households,' Ishmael Langat, a resident of Kirima village in Mau Narok, told IRIN. Langat is a member of the Kalenjin community, which, in early 2008, was involved in violent clashes with members of other ethnic communities following disputed presidential elections.

Government has released a list of 149 convicted criminals who have been recommended for political pardons – including perpetrators of some of the most heinous apartheid crimes committed in South Africa. Earlier this year, a coalition of NGOs that included the IJR, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Khulumani Support Group, International Centre for Transitional Justice, South African History Archives Trust, Human Rights Media Centre, and the Freedom of Expression Institute launched a successful constitutional court case challenging the lack of victim participation in the special dispensation allowing for political pardons, says this article on the SA Reconciliation Barometer Blog.

A vigil outside the Zimbabwean embassy in London will take place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The vigil will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. Visit the website to read stories and see pictures from the vigil.

A regional meeting slated for Nairobi this weekend will now be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after the International Criminal Court asked Kenya to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. On Tuesday evening, sources said Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (Igad) summit organisers transferred the meeting to Ethiopia to shield al-Bashir who has an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court.

Civil society and local officials in Somalia's Afgoye Corridor - home to an estimated 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) - are worried about the deteriorating situation, especially for women and children. 'The situation...is worse today than a year ago; there are more of them [IDPs], the needs are greater and there is no help in terms of aid agencies,' said Amina Aden Mahamed, a doctor and director of Hawo Abdi Foundation, one of the most active groups helping IDPs in the camps outside the capital, Mogadishu.

Senior officials of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) have in the past two days sought to strike a business-as-usual note in the wake of the resignation on Thursday of Ronald Slye, one of the three foreign commissioners. In an interview with the Sunday Nation on Friday, Patricia Nyaundi, TJRC’s chief executive officer, used the analogy of a football team that has had one of its players leave the pitch due to an injury or by being shown the red card to describe what she felt Prof Slye’s departure meant.

Seven football fans died at the Nyayo National Stadium Saturday when a stampede broke out during an entertaining Kenyan Premier League soccer match between popular clubs, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia. Among those who died during the tragedy after heavy rains pounded Nairobi and its environs, was a young woman. At least 66 others were treated and discharged at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Most of the victims broke or dislocated their limbs, ribs, legs and hands.

Neal Hall’s recently published anthology of verse ‘Nigger For Life’ reflects his painful, later-life discovery that in ‘unspoken America’, ‘race is the yardstick by which he is “first” measured and judged’, writes Caribbean Book Blog, revealing ‘his deep sense of betrayal combined with his fervent passion for life and his desire for equality for all.’ Caribbean Book Blog speaks to Hall about his writing.

The website the daily experiences of citizens in a country ruled by an emergency sate, which continues to protect the perpetrators and to deny victims access to justice. Also included is a map showing where torture incidents have taken place.

After nearly a year the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Senegal and Mauritania have resumed the repatriation of Mauritanians to a country they call "home" but for now represents mostly uncertainty. Resuming on 18 October, weekly UNHCR convoys are expected to bring some 2,500 people back to Mauritania by the end of the year. The returnees are Mauritanians who have lived in Senegal since 1989, when ethnic clashes forced out tens of thousands.

Egypt, the new chair of the UN refugee agency's governing body, should immediately end its policy of shooting foreign nationals trying to cross from Egypt into Israel, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to the Egyptian authorities. Egypt should also stop impeding the refugee agency's access to foreign nationals detained in Egypt who want to claim asylum. Member States of the executive committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) elected Egypt to chair the committee for one year on 8 October 2010. Hisham Badr, Egypt's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva will serve as the chair.

Nearly 400 people died in flooding in central and West Africa, with nearly 1.5 million people affected since the start of the rainy season in June, the United Nations said. It said last year floods killed almost 200 people in West Africa and affected over 800,000 others. Deaths resulting from flood were reportedly highest in Nigeria with 118, followed by Ghana (52), Sudan (50), Benin (43), Chad (24), Mauritania (21), Burkina Faso (16), Cameroon (13), Gambia (12), with other countries reporting less than 10 dead.

A draft pension bill has created great concern among workers in Malawi, with some hurriedly seeking early retirement before it will be passed. The bone of contention is a section pegging the retirement age for women at 55 and men at 60. Labour experts say this age bracket is far too high in a country like Malawi, where the World Health Organisation estimates the average life expectancy at 50 years.

A September US Court decision dismissed a case against Shell for human rights abuses in Nigeria, with the sweeping claim that corporations could not be held liable under international law for human rights abuses. And a UN Environmental Programme report on oil in the Niger Delta, due to be completed early next year and funded by Shell Oil, is reported to include, without alternate views, claims from Shell that 90 per cent of oil spills from its facilities are due to sabotage or attempts at theft rather than to negligence. The AfricaFocus Bulletin available through the link provided contains several articles and blog commentaries on the two new developments.

A number of central African countries overwhelmed by the brutal attacks and mounting regional destabilization caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have established a comprehensive plan to combat the rebel group. Ministers from Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic agreed Friday in a meeting in Bangui, the capital of the latter, to create a joint military task force, centre of operations, and border patrol capacity, all to be supervised by a representative from the African Union.

Zambian police have arrested two Chinese coal mine managers for attempted murder after they allegedly shot and injured 12 local workers. The miners staged a demonstration on Friday to protest against poor working conditions and wages at the Chinese-run Collum Coal mine, in the southern town of Sinazongwe. The Chinese managers allegedly opened fire at the protesters because they felt threatened.

Elizabeth Njeri, a social worker at a camp for thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya's Central Province, frequently feels powerless, especially when faced with medical and logistical difficulties that can have catastrophic results. 'I watched two children die of pneumonia in my arms; they needed a professional health expert who could administer strong drugs, but I was helpless,' Njeri, herself an IDP, who also serves as a medical officer at the Mawingo IDP camp, told IRIN, underlining the camp's lack of access to health facilities.

omali government troops and allied forces retook the south-eastern town of Bulo Hawo near the Kenyan border on Sunday after defeating al-Qaeda-inspired al-Shebaab Islamists, officials and witnesses said. The Shebaab control large swathes of southern and central Somalia and have wrested control of much of the capital Mogadishu, where they have relentlessly attacked government and African Union forces.

Vocal actors within policy and practice contend that environmental variability and shocks, such as drought and prolonged heat waves, are important drivers of violent conflict. This paper examines the scientific evidence base for this claimed relationship, investigating whether future wars will be fought over diminishing resources. This document from the International Peace Research Institute shows that exposed societies that lack necessary capacity and knowledge to adapt successfully may face increasing asymmetries between demand and supply of subsistence resources.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has expressed its dismay at the Egyptian government’s ongoing policy of punishing and discriminating against individuals because of their religious beliefs. Several media reports have reported in the past few days that a group of Shi’ites, both Egyptians and non-nationals, had been arrested and questioned by the Supreme State Security Prosecutor because of their religious beliefs, information confirmed by the EIPR. The EIPR asked the Public Prosecutor to immediately intervene to secure the release of the suspects and put an end to successive Interior Ministry campaigns of harassment against religious minorities in Egypt.