Lillian Akwero and her friends lived through some of Uganda's worst violence, fleeing rebel attacks in which their relatives were kidnapped or killed and villages torched. Now that their lives are about making ends meet rather than basic survival, their hope is that a deal to ensure lasting peace will not be wrecked by the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against rebel leaders for savage atrocities

UNHCR is picking up its repatriation operation from Senegal with a second convoy on Thursday bringing home more than 250 Mauritanians. We plan to step up the pace of voluntary returns and organize bi-weekly convoys to reach a target of 3,000 returns per month.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby signed a peace agreement on Thursday designed to end cross-border rebel attacks in a region which includes Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur area. The signing, witnessed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, also aims to revive a string of past pacts that have failed to end fighting on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border.

The Security Council has called on all Rwandan armed groups operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to surrender immediately to Congolese authorities and the United Nations peacekeeping mission known as MONUC.

SAA has been branded a human rights violator for failing to provide adequate boarding equipment for disabled passengers at airports. The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) revealed that disabled passengers were transported to and from SAA aircraft in adapted catering vehicles and manually loaded on to and off planes. On Sunday, a group of disabled people were forced to crawl out of the plane or be carried out at OR Tambo International Airport.

Jacob Zuma, the president of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, has of late been called a chamaeleon who adapts his speeches to what his audience wants to hear. It's a tactic that has proved controversial, not least when Zuma took up the issue of the death penalty. Since his recent election as head of the party in December, Zuma has indicated that he is in favour of opening a debate on the issue of capital punishment.

A reconciliation meeting held on February 29, 2008 in Kachibora, Trans-zoia district between the Marakwet and the Kisii communities saw the first batch of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the area return home on Monday March 3, 2008.

In Burundi, land is a source of power. Many members of the Batwa pygmy community blame their subordinate status on the fact that they do not own property. Having once enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the rainforest environment, most Batwa today have been squeezed out of their hunter-gatherer existence and work as casual labourers on other people’s land.

The latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, describes how a crisis over the CPA at the end of 2007 was settled but that the underlying problems still threaten the deal which ended the generation-long civil war in which at least two million people died.

Africa Democracy Forum is pleased to announce its Regional Training Program on Nonviolent conflict from 21st -26th April 2008 in Nairobi Kenya. This training will be organized in partnership with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (Washington DC,USA) and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS). Participants in this proposed workshop will gain both practical skills, theoretical and historical knowledge about the use of strategic nonviolent action to advance human rights, justice and accountable governance.

Girma Berhanu reviews the book IQ and the Wealth of Nations, written by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. He critiques the authors’ major assertion that a significant part of the gap between rich and poor countries is due to differences in national intelligence. The authors claim that they have evidence that differences in national IQ account for substantial variation in per capita income and growth of a nation. This essay review debunks their assumptions that intellectual and income differences between nations stem from genetic differences.

One of the greatest challenges following the post-election violence in Kenya is to restore the physical and mental wellbeing of 150,000 displaced children, many of whom have witnessed atrocities and lost contact, in many cases permanently, with their families, humanitarian workers told IRIN.

A culture of impunity is the root cause of Somalia's humanitarian and political crisis and unless the world urgently addresses it, war crimes and crimes against humanity will continue unabated, a civil society activist has told IRIN. "No one has ever been held accountable for these crimes," Marian Hussein Awreeye, chairwoman of the Isma'il Jimale Human Rights Centre, said.

The security situation may have improved in areas of Kenya hit by post-election violence, but many of the thousands of refugees who fled to Uganda are still too scared to return.

The UN refugee agency and its partners have established a new site in the West Darfur region of Sudan to accommodate up to 6,000 internally displaced people (IDP). A first group of 143 families, or about 500 people, are expected to move in on Wednesday.

A major portion of the 200,000 people internally displaced within the Central African Republic (CAR) – due to fear of armed groups – are hiding in the bush not far from their homes and international assistance must reach them there, a United Nations humanitarian official has said.

Charles Taylor's war crimes trial was adjourned on Thursday until Monday so the former Liberian President can rest on doctor's advice, a spokesman for the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone said. "He wasn't feeling well a few days back," the spokesman said on Thursday. "The doctor said it wasn't serious but he needed some rest. He came to court yesterday and today but the defence counsel asked for an adjournment so he could rest on doctor's advice."

Kenyan elders demanded an apology from Washington on Thursday ahead of a planned protest over a controversial photo of U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama in traditional Somali dress. The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Democratic frontrunner donning a white headdress and robes during a visit in 2006 to the remote northeastern town of Wajir.

Africa Democracy Forum is pleased to announce its Regional Training Program on Nonviolent conflict from 21st -26th April 2008 in Nairobi Kenya. This training will be organized in partnership with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (Washington DC,USA) and the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).

The official death toll from violent protests in Cameroon this week has risen to 17 as troops attempt to restore order in the capital, Yaounde. Barricades were erected in Yaounde, youths fought police in the port of Douala and three deaths were reported in the north-western town of Bamenda. President Paul Biya has accused his political rivals of orchestrating the unrest to depose him.