The Angolan government should urgently end torture and unfair trials in state security cases, Human Rights Watch has said. Fourteen civilians who were arbitrarily detained and tortured in military custody are currently being held on security charges in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.

This latest report from the International Crisis Group, concludes that completion of the peace process that started in June 2006 requires the government to genuinely address the marginalisation of Northern communities which cannot be satisfied with the vague promises in the Juba protocols. If the violence is to end, Joseph Kony, the reclusive leader of the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, and his commanders must also both be put under increased pressure and given credible incentives to disarm. Additional talks under a new format are needed, as a military solution to the conflict is not a realistic option.

Belgian foreign minister Karel de Gucht failed to secure the support of his EU counterparts for the deployment an EU mission to Congo until UN reinforcements can arrive. The ministerial meeting on Monday (8 December) ended with no commitments for a so-called bridging mission, despite UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on the EU to send troops until 3,000 additional soldiers can take their place and under a UN mandate.

This 10 December marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, it is more than a global birthday. The anniversary is a pertinent way to take stock of what the Declaration and the movement for human rights in general has meant for African women. At the time of the Declaration’s founding the notion of a common humanity – and with presumed, unqualified rights – was unheard of. Now, on its 60th birthday, Africa has its first female president.

This latest report from the International Crisis Group, argues that the danger of a humanitarian catastrophe and new instability in the country and the wider region is high because both the regime and the main opposition forces see armed conflict as the ultimate way out of the long crisis.

The case reveals the shortcoming of Section 24(1) of the Children Act, which relieved fathers from an immediate parental obligation to support their children born out of wedlock. The High Court held that such a law is discriminatory against children born out of wedlock and called for the legislature to consider amending the law. Advocates may utilize the Court’s position to challenge that Section and insist upon the amendment of the law.

The trauma of displacement that faces refugees all over the world frequently manifests itself in negative ways. Young Sudanese refugees living in Cairo find themselves on the margins of society and are drawn into a life of violence. Natalie Forcier examines the gang culture that has emerged. Looking at two such groups, Outlaws and Lost Boys, based in Northern and Southern Cairo, and how the politics of their home country combined with the harsh existence in Cairo plays itself out violently. She concludes that programs should focus on addressing the underlying issues of lack of structured activities and limited access to educational and skill training opportunities in order to quell the violence

The Regional Peace Initiative chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni held a summit on Burundi’s peace process, which has included over twenty summits resulting the surrender of six of the country’s seven former rebel movements. Future meetings are expected to take drastic measures should the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, the one armed group that has yet to join the regional peace initiative, should they not meet the 31 December deadline to implement the comprehensive ceasefire accord. Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) observer mission to the Ghanaian presidential and parliamentary elections has praised the country’s political maturity and advised political parties to exercise restraint while waiting for the electoral commission to announce official results. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the chairperson of the AU, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, to oust President Robert Mugabe and end the humanitarian catastrophe, political stalemate and economic meltdown perpetrated against the Zimbabwean people.

The AU, worried about gender disparity in its member States, is planning to adopt a new gender policy that aims to promote women’s access to and control over resources, knowledge, information, land and business ownership and to achieve the enforcement of human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment at international, continental and national level. A new report released by the International Labour Organisation concludes that African women are not benefiting from the continent’s economic boom because of low-wages and a lack of social protection. “Women have little choice but to work...but nonetheless, poverty persists, implying a grave malfunction of the labour market”, says the report. In other economic news, the AU vice president called on African governments to allow farmers to engage in viable business ventures without interference, thus avoiding over-regulation, and announced that the organisation has a comprehensive agricultural policy to ensure food security in Africa. Further, it is suggested that Africa could be the breadbasket for the Gulf Cooperation Council providing valuable water and food supplies to the entire region as it is already suffering from rising food prices, caused by inflation in exporting countries.

In other news, kings, princes, dignitaries and traditional chiefs of Africa called on African leaders to establish a Union Government to help lift the continent from poverty, disease and hunger. AU chairperson Jean Ping, in an interview with NEWSWEEK’s Jason McLure, also stated his belief in the United States of Africa, be it a confederation, a federation, or a centralised government, to help establish peace and stability in the continent. Finally, members of parliament from the Southern Africa Development Community member States, during their plenary assembly, called for the forum to be turned into a fully functional regional parliament with legislative powers.

Widespread rape and murder continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in central Africa, but Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Dr Elaine Dietsch says her annual visit to the strife-torn country puts trans-cultural midwifery, primary health care and women's and children's health into a global perspective for her.

Thousands of people in a slum 20km south of Khartoum are living in makeshift shelters made of sticks and cloth after their homes were razed by the government. Local officials said 4,000 homes were destroyed as part of a government plan to reorganise the Mandela settlement to make it more habitable. Another 6,000 are due to be demolished.

At least 20 people drowned off the coast of Yemen earlier this week and two were reported missing after smugglers carrying them across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa forced them to jump overboard in deep water. The boat was reportedly carrying around 115 passengers, mostly Ethiopians.

A Zimbabwean human rights activist was abducted from her home at dawn on Wednesday by a group of armed plain-clothes men who identified themselves as policemen. Jestina Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), a local human rights organisation that is involved in monitoring and documenting human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Due to the absence of clashes as well as patrol operations by MONUC, nearly 65% of the families that fled from Kanyabayonga, 150km north of Goma due to insecurity, have started returning home during the past week. The same situation is happening in Kaina, Lubero, 200km north of Goma. Unfortunately in Kanyabayonga, most of the houses were looted by armed troops who carried away mattresses, blankets, kitchen utensils and many valuables.

The outbreak of cholera in epidemic proportions has brought Zimbabwe back to the attention of the region and the world. Zimbabwe’s complex emergency, which is now causing so much suffering, taking lives and breaking the society apart at its seams, has been several years in the making. A key factor in creating a perfect environment for the breeding and spread of the cholera bacterium has been the neglect of essential services by the ZANU PF government over the years.

The Nigerian government should investigate and prosecute those responsible for killing up to 400 people during several recent days of violence in the city of Jos, Human Rights Watch has said. The federal government should immediately establish an independent inquiry to find out who sponsored and carried out the killings, including any members of the security forces who appear to have responded to violence with disproportionate use of forc

The Burundian National Assembly adopted important human rights advances in a penal code voted in on November 22, 2008, including abolishing the death penalty and making torture, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law, Human Rights Watch has said.

Godwin Muti was one of the first people to descend on Chiadzwa when word spread that diamonds had been discovered in the arid and impoverished part of eastern Zimbabwe. Mr Muti, 31, an unemployed father-of-two, was wallowing in poverty. He could hardly pay rent for a one-room house where he lodged in the old township of Sakubva in Mutare city.

Authorities in Zimbabwe have declared a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 550 people to be a national emergency, state media reports. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said hospitals were in urgent need of medicine, food and equipment and were suffering a critical staff shortage.

At a historic conference in Oslo, more than 100 countries are signing a convention that will ban cluster bombs that are known to cause great damage on civilians. More than 30 African countries are among them. Every country in East Africa, all Western African countries except The Gambia and the large majority of Southern African and the Indian Ocean countries are signing the convention. Only in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, governments will not ban the devastating weapon.

For three years, Leylo Mohamud has been working to get her family out of Somalia, a land engulfed in civil war for much of the past two decades. Her prospects dimmed significantly last month. "It is so hard, it breaks my heart," said Mohamud, who lives in the Twin Cities. "I cannot support them and they're going to die without food. I want to bring them here, but I cannot."