There is mounting evidence that the government of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'adua is set to launch a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta when a ceasefire declared by rebels ends on Sep. 15. And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch and Russian companies.

A civil society group has been launched in the Senegalese capital of Dakar to advocate for the enforcement of human rights in The Gambia. The Coalition for Human Rights in The Gambia was formed by Gambians living in Dakar and Senegalese and other international human rights, media and civil society groups. These include Amnesty International Senegal branch, The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) Press Union (Synpics), African Assembly for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), Inter Africa Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV), Network of Press and Parliament in Senegal (Reppas) and Radio Alternative Voice for Gambians (AVG).

On Friday, September 11, 2009, in a flagrant abuse of the immense power the people of Kenya have given them, the police at Central Police Station refused to receive our re-notification for peaceful demonstrations on Monday, September 14, 2009. They insisted and continue to insist that they have banned the peaceful demonstrations for security reasons, which they do not specify. This is in spite of the fact they know that we are non-violent agitators for self-determination.

More than 2,000 refugees in Burundi have rejected UN appeals to move to a new camp for fear they could be exposed to attack. The refugees, from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Banyamulenge community, are housed in a camp in Gihinga, in Burundi’s central Mwaro province. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and the Burundian government

Thousands of people affected by a severe drought in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are in desperate need of assistance, with officials describing the situation as “very critical”. "We are at a critical stage and if help does not come within weeks the situation could develop into a catastrophe,” Abdullahi Abdirahman Ahmed, head of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), said.

The Egyptian authorities must control their forces at the border with Israel and prevent them from killing migrants attempting to cross it, Amnesty International has appealed. The call follows the border incident this year, in which four men were shot dead by Egyptian security forces as they attempted to cross the border into Israel. Two others were also injured in the incident.

An alarming rise has been recorded in the number of Nigerian girls trafficked to Italy. Last year 1,782 young girls from Nigeria arrived in Lampedusa, compared to 166 in 2007, human rights organisations say. Lampedusa, an Italian island 205 km from the Italian coast, located between Tunisia and Sicily, is used as a holding centre for migrants, particularly from Africa.

Respect for human rights must be central to police work, a senior United Nations official in Liberia has told the new members of an elite unit within the West African country's police force as she warned them never to misuse their strength and power. Eighty officers from the Liberia National Police (LNP) have completed a three-month intensive training programme to join the force's Emergency Response Unit (ERU), joining just over 200 others who have finished their training since courses began in mid-2008.

The head of the United Nations refugee agency has kicked off a five-day tour to North Africa to assess the conditions for people still sheltering in makeshift camps in Algeria after fleeing conflict in Western Sahara in the mid-1970s. UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has been providing assistance to the Saharawi people since they fled to western Algeria in 1975-76, after fighting broke out between Morocco and the Frente Polisario – a Saharawi movement – at the end of Spain’s colonial administration of Western Sahara.

An estimated 48,000 people uprooted by severe flooding in Burkina Faso are sheltering in temporary accommodation such as schools, churches and public buildings while another 40,000 are living with host families, the United Nations has reported. A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team that went to Burkina Faso in the wake of the recent flooding also found that facilities in many of the buildings in which people are taking shelter, especially sanitation, are under strain.

Kenya is facing a new urban time-bomb, with millions of Nairobi residents suffering a daily struggle for food and water as the divide between rich and poor widens, international aid agency Oxfam warned in a new report. A combination of falling household income, rising prices, and poor governance is making life a misery for the poor majority in Kenya's capital, the report on 'Urban Poverty and Vulnerability in Kenya' said.

Since the conflict between the Nigerien government and Tuareg groups intensified in 2007 following the creation of the Mouvement Nigérien pour la Justice, around 11,000 people have been displaced from their homes in mountainous areas north of Agadez. The conflict has abated in 2009, and many of the internally displaced people (IDPs) have started going back to their homes, whether spontaneously or with assistance from the local municipalities and the international community.

What is the role, relevance and effectiveness of PRSPs in supporting post-conflict recovery in Africa? This paper from the Economic Policy Research Centre in Uganda discusses challenges in developing PRSPs using case studies from Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola and Uganda. It concludes that not all post-conflict African countries have successfully developed PRSPs.

The European Union and South Africa should take steps to enhance cooperation on international human rights issues when they meet this week, Human Rights Watch said in letters to South Africa's minister of international cooperation and the prime minister of Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency.

At 6 am on Saturday, 06 Sept. 2009,t is reported that 300 heavily armed Borana and Somali gunmen attacked the Samburu tribe at Losesia, in Samburu District, near Archer's Post, approx 38 km from Lerata. In addition to killing 3 herdsmen and injuring 2 others, the militia stole 3765 head of cattle, 2635 goats and sheep, 141 camels, and 19 donkeys, according to Samburu East MP Raphael Letimelo. All livestock were removed in lorries.

One of the most prevalent stereotypes in the debate about human rights and conflict transformation has been that of two fields clashing, expressed in the idea that the normative nature of human rights standards may complicate the practical demands of peacemaking. This article moves beyond “justice vs. peace” and proposes that applying a perspective of human rights in conflict transformation brings it closer to its aims – by forcing greater emphasis on structural conditions, especially the role of the state, systems of governance and issues of power.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heard from a broad cross-section of Congolese society about how the United States can play a constructive role in bringing an end to the conflict and supporting local Congolese institutions. This is a letter from elected officials in the South Kivu province (one of the two most affected provinces by the wars of aggression against the Congolese people) that captures the essence of what many Congolese have argued since the first invasion in 1996. The world community cannot say that there are no answers or that the problem is too complex to comprehensively address.

FORUM-ASIA is a founding member and host organisation of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN). The APRRN is a growing network of more than 100 civil society organisations and individuals committed to advancing the rights of refugees in the Asia Pacific Region through information sharing, mutual capacity building and joint advocacy. The APRRN Steering Committee, under the leadership of the Steering Committee Coordinator, provides strategic and policy direction to the APRRN.Closing date is 18 September 2009.

The Niger Delta amnesty won’t bring real or lasting peace to the region, Sabella Abidde tells Pambazuka News, because despite the government's haste to hurry through a deal, it hasn’t set out its plans for what the amnesty will mean in practice for local communities. The amnesty is a ‘band aid’ solution for a ‘festering wound’, says Abidde, which if left untreated has the potential to ‘undo’ Nigeria.

At least 43 people have been killed in clashes between soldiers and cattle rustlers in south Sudan. Women, children and soldiers were killed after fighters attacked a settlement in the Twic East region of Jonglei state, on Saturday, Major-General Kuol Diem Kuol, of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said.