Sifwe-speaking villagers in Namibia’s Caprivi Region live in fear of renewed persecution by members of the Namibian Police (NamPol) assigned to the marathon Caprivi High Treason Trial (CHTT) saga. Most of the said NamPol officers have been accused of systematically committing acts of torture and or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (TCIDT) or punishment against the alleged Caprivi secessionist rebels.

The peace movement in US may no longer be demonstrating on the streets, writes but it isn’t dead, it has simply moved online. Horace Campbell looks at how a new generation of activists is harnessing electronic networks to democratise information and expose attempts by government and corporate interests to control public narrative about war, with reference to 'the game-changing effects of WikiLeaks'.

Fahamu Refugee Programme & UNHRC invites lawyers and legal advisors to a course aimed at arming them with the information, networks and resources they require to represent those accused of witchcraft. Participants will learn how to best represent those whose claims to asylum are based upon accusations of witchcraft, an emerging area of refugee law in which there is a need for specialised knowledge and training.

4-5 September 2010
Oxford, United Kingdom
Registration fee: £150
If you would like to attend, please submit a completed to Fahamu by 21 August 2010.

Cameron Duodu should write a book about people whose minds were liberated by Basil Davidson’s recasting of history, says Okello Oculi.

Yohannes Woldermariam

Sanou Mbaye

Ababacar Fall-Barros

Since the 1994 coup d’état that saw President Yahya Jammeh rise to power, the Gambian media has been forced to work under repressive and restrictive conditions. The disappearance of editors and journalists, destruction of property and threat of imprisonment and harm by Jammeh’s National Intelligence Agency officers mean Gambian media outlets must either praise the ruling party or close their doors. Alagi Yorro Jallow, once an editor of a now closed private Gambian publication, discusses the Gambian government crackdown on the media and regulations under which a Gambian journalist must work.

Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese rebel leader, will remain in jail in The Hague after the appeals panel of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it feared he might not reappear if another trial is ordered. Judges at the ICC ordered Lubanga's trial halted on July 8, saying that Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, had not complied with an order to turn over certain information to his defence.

Sudanese refugee Josephine Poni Daniel can be as shy as any other 16-year-old when discussing unfamiliar subjects. But ask about her first love, music, and her face brightens and she becomes vivacious and outspoken. "Music is fun; when I write lyrics or sing the music I feel good and forget my troubles," says Josephine, lead singer for The Golden Blue Girls, one of three winners of a music contest that's raising money and awareness of refugees' education needs in far-off Japan.

Renewed fighting in Mogadishu and other areas of Somalia since May 2009 has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and also exacerbated the already desperate humanitarian situation of existing internally displaced people (IDPs), in particular the children and women among them. About 200,000 people have been displaced since January 2010, in addition to the estimated 1.5 million who remained displaced at the end of 2009. In Somaliland, thousands of families were displaced as a result of fighting between ‘government’ forces and a new rebel group.

Four white South Africans have been fined $2,700 (£1,700) each for making a video humiliating five black university workers and posting it online. The former students at the University of Free State pleaded guilty to crimen injuria.

The population of urban refugees is at risk in Nairobi following the issuance of a by the Government of Kenya requesting them to proceed to the already overcrowded camps of Dadaab. These camps are characterized by harsh living conditions, minimal economic activity, and insecurity, and are situated in remote semi-arid to arid regions with little surface water where the environment is barely able to sustain the local population

African leaders have agreed on concrete steps to tackle the insecurity in Somalia after a three-day debate, dominated by the twin bombings in Kampala, the venue of their 15th meeting on pressing African affairs, an African Union (AU) spokesman said. "The troops are ready," AU Commission's spokesman Noureddin Mezni told PANA after several African leaders ended a mini-summit to plan action against the insecurity in Somalia.

Slightly built Nokwanda, 12, buried her head in her hands every time someone asked her a question. Her participation in a recent UNICEF-supported photography workshop here looked like it would be limited. Yet when asked to pick a favourite photograph, Nokwanda was transformed. She knew immediately which to choose, pointing to a photo of police officers at the Lyndhurst Primary School, which she attends.

A coalition of 50 non-governmental organizations claims a consortium of international oil companies may have been complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan during the country’s two-decade long civil war. The oil companies accused include the Malaysian energy company Petronas, the Austrian energy group OMV and Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum, which had the majority of the shares and control of the oil areas.

The UN Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the African Union/United Nation Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID). This new DRDC and HAND Briefing Paper entitled "Past and Future of UNAMID: Tragic Failure or Glorious Success?" attempts to provide critical analysis of the role of UNAMID in Darfur and to advocate for measures to enhance its work.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the , a monthly publication that aims to provide 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.

The e-Newsletter follows recent developments in the interpretation of refugee law; case law precedents from other constituencies; reports and helpful resources for refugee legal aid NGOs; and stories of struggle and success in refugee legal aid work. It welcomes contributions from legal aid providers, refugees, and others interested or involved in refugee legal aid.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the , a monthly publication that aims to provide 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.

The e-Newsletter follows recent developments in the interpretation of refugee law; case law precedents from other constituencies; reports and helpful resources for refugee legal aid NGOs; and stories of struggle and success in refugee legal aid work. It welcomes contributions from legal aid providers, refugees, and others interested or involved in refugee legal aid.

Fahamu Refugee Programme & UNHRC invites lawyers and legal advisors to a course aimed at arming them with the information, networks and resources they require to represent those accused of witchcraft. Participants will learn how to best represent those whose claims to asylum are based upon accusations of witchcraft, an emerging area of refugee law in which there is a need for specialised knowledge and training.

4-5 September 2010
Oxford, United Kingdom
Registration fee: £150
If you would like to attend, please submit a completed to Fahamu by 21 August 2010.

David Killingray’s ‘impressive’ synthesis of primary and secondary sources on Africans' contributions to the British Second World War effort ‘presents an excellent overview of the experiences of African soldiers called upon to fight in defence of their colonial master,’ writes Alex Free. Although ‘analytically inconsistent at times’, this does not detract from ‘what is a sophisticated and coherent narrative and encouraging antidote to historiography’s historical predilection for histories-from-above,’ says Free.

Following the al-Shabaab bombing in Kampala, current plans to send more AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) troops into Somalia will simply jeopardise the possibility of a new moderate leadership emerging in the country, writes Abena Ampofoa Asare. Observers in the African Union, UN and international community at large would do well to look at Somaliland to the north, the author stresses. Solutions to Somalia’s civil war will not emerge in Kampala, Washington DC or Addis Ababa, Asare contends, underlining that a key lesson of Somaliland’s experience is that ‘effective government must come from within’.