The uproar over pirates off the Gulf of Aden has led the German government to contribute a naval frigate to an EU mission along the Somali coast. More soldiers may be on the way. In the meantime German helicopters have defended a pair of merchant ships from pirate speedboats.

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The Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 19-22 November. It was attended by some 70 civil society organizations from 13 countries within the region, all of which host African refugees. These refugees face particular challenges because of their small numbers, diversity in background and distinctive appearance vis-a-vis local populations.

The UN’s refugee agency has confirmed that ninety one African refugees expelled by the Israeli army to Egypt as part of Israel’s controversial “hot return” policy have gone missing. A spokeswoman in Cairo for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees said that Egypt has not responded to requests for information about the 91, who were returned shortly after crossing illegally from Sinai into Israel, in at least some cases without any chance to present asylum requests.“We don’t have access to this group, we do not where they are,” the UNHCR spokeswoman said

In this 90-page report, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment. Israel should halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin. Both countries should respect the rights of persons seeking asylum.

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) welcome the decision by the Egyptian judiciary to allow the Association of Human Rights and Legal Aid (AHRLA) to continue its activities in Egypt.

In this call to action, Kambale Musavuli and Maurice Carney argue that 100 years ago, King Leopold's brutality in the Congo had critics such as Mark Twain up in arms. Today, the brutality which is now corporate sponsored and African led is met with silence. They then invite us to become part of a global movement to break the silence in order to end the violence.

The UN special envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo Olusegun Obasanjo, met with various leaders of the Great Lakes region, President Joseph Kabila and rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, in an effort to bring both parties to the table for peace talks. The African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Council, discussed at its 157th session the security situation in Darfur expressing support to the AU-UN chief mediator and urging all parties to the conflict to respond positively to the call made by President Bashir for an immediate cessation of all forms of hostilities. In addition, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will lead a delegation of the Elders Group of Eminent Persons to Zimbabwe to assess the country’s escalating humanitarian crisis and see how to respond more effectively to prevent its spill-over effects into neighbouring countries.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa summit of heads of State and government scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe has been postponed until next year because of the current political instability. The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States has congratulated the electoral commission and people of Ginuea Bissau for the peaceful, free and transparent elections that were held on Sunday and their commitment to the ideals of democracy. Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua, speaking at the opening of the 44th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, called on African leaders to support the commission, work hard towards the promotion and protection of human rights and eradicate poverty in the continent. Penal Reform International used the Commission’s 44th session to launch a new publication: ‘Africa’s Recommendations for Penal Reform’ that brings together declarations, plans of action and recommendations for penal reform.

In other news, China’s top legislator Wu Bangguo, during his talks with the AU Commission chairperson, said that China was committed ‘to enhance bilateral communication and coordination on international and regional issues with the AU in a bid to push for improvement of China-Africa relations and safeguard the interest of developing countries’. South Africa’s President Kgalema Motlanthe, who was the only African representative to the Group of 20 summit of world leaders, said that the Group agreed to strengthen the system of international financial governance by giving developing countries effective representation. Finally, economists studying currency unions have claimed that the ‘adoption of a common currency increases trade because it eliminates exchange rate volatility and reduces the transactions cost of trade within that group of countries’, but concerns over national sovereignty in Africa are holding back economic integration.

The UN refugee agency and its partners have been taking advantage of relative calm in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu this week to step up work on a new camp for up to 30,000 displaced people. UNHCR and the provincial authorities want to move almost half of the 67,000 internally displaced people (IDP) currently staying in two camps in Kibati to the new Mugunga III camps, located to the west of the provincial capital, Goma.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working with authorities in Burundi to better protect the country’s albino children in the wake of a brutal crime in which a six-year-old girl was shot and dismembered, apparently in the mistaken belief of some locals that the body parts have magical qualities. Media reports say the girl was shot dead at the weekend in Burundi’s eastern province of Ruyigi, close to the border with Tanzania, and then her head and limbs were removed by her attackers.

Detainees kept in police custody in Equatorial Guinea are victims of systematic torture, and prisoners suffer inhuman conditions, an independent United Nations human rights expert said in a press statement today, blaming a break down in the country’s judicial system.

The Security Council has welcomed last weekend’s legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau and called on the political parties in the troubled West African country to respect the results. Last Sunday’s polls were held on schedule “in an orderly and peaceful manner,” and both the Government and the people deserve commendation for their efforts, the Council said in a press statement read out by Ambassador Jorge Urbina of Costa Rica, which holds the presidency of the 15-member panel this month.

A damning report containing evidence of a high-level policy to murder suspected criminals and troublemakers in Kenya threatens to undermine the reputation of the government of President Mwai Kibaki.

The request on November 20 by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for three rebel leaders believed to be responsible for attacks on international peacekeepers in Darfur is an important step toward protecting those who protect civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Repeated attacks on international peacekeepers have severely compromised the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations in Darfur.

A white South African teenager who killed four blacks, including a three-month-old baby, in a racially-motivated shooting spree was sentenced on Friday to 169 years in prison, the SABC reported. A court in North West province imposed the sentence on Johan Nell, 19, after he pled guilty to murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in connection with the January 14 shootings in a shantytown near Swartruggens, the broadcaster said.

At least 15 people have been killed after insurgents attacked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say. Heavily armed men were repulsed after they attacked the house of district commissioner Ahmed Da'i just after dawn prayers, resident Ahmed Mumin said.

The 3,000 extra UN troops being sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo need to be elite soldiers from Europe, the UN's ex-peacekeeping chief says. Jean-Marie Guehenno told the BBC there was an urgent need for an effective international force in the east.

On Monday Chevron will present its final day of testimony and evidence. Closing arguments will be given on Tuesday, November 25 and jury deliberations will begin on Wednesday, November 26, the day before Thanksgiving. It’s unknown how long the jury will deliberate, but this landmark case could hear a verdict very soon.

“Women and girls are in urgent need of protection as fighting continues in North Kivu,” Bob Kitchen, International Rescue Committee (IRC) country director in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has said. “Vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse in a highly unstable environment where armed groups roam with impunity, women and girls are particularly at risk of harm when they have to leave camps or population centres to collect firewood for cooking,” he added.

Since August 2008, International Rescue Committee teams have been providing vital medical care, including feeding programs for malnourished children and reproductive health services for women, to around 31,000 Darfuri refugees in Bredjing camp, near the town of Hadjer Hadid in remote eastern Chad. Around 250,000 refugees have fled Darfur (West Sudan) for camps in eastern Chad where they remain exposed to security threats such as banditry, rights abuses and the presence of both Chadian and Sudanese rebel groups.