The basis of this policy-paper is a combination of qualitative analysis of interviews with stakeholders in 2004-2005 completed with a critical review and analysis of available literature on human trafficking, especially of women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is intended to serve as a tool for advocacy and awareness-raising to fight human trafficking in South Africa, with concrete recommendations to be implemented by a wide range of actors working to fight human trafficking in South Africa (including the government, international and local organizations).

The basis of this policy-paper is a combination of qualitative analysis of interviews with stakeholders in 2004-2005 completed with a critical review and analysis of available literature on human trafficking, especially of women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is intended to serve as a tool for advocacy and awareness-raising to fight human trafficking in Lesotho, with concrete recommendations to be implemented by a wide range of actors working to fight human trafficking in Lesotho (including the government, international and local organizations).

This latest International Crisis Group report examines steps needed to address the conflict’s root causes and stop the region from slipping back into chaos. The May inauguration of new federal and state governments and the truce declared shortly after by armed groups created an opportunity, but attacks on oil installations by militants and kidnappings by criminals are again on the rise.

Legislators in the Central African Republic (CAR) have unanimously approved a new law guaranteeing refugees protection and many other fundamental rights. The National Assembly adopted the Law on the Status of Refugees last Thursday, some six months after the draft was given a green light by the government's Council of Ministers.

The UN refugee agency has temporarily suspended its repatriation programme to South Sudan's Jonglei state after tribal rows sparked by cattle thefts turned deadly. The clashes between Murle and Dinka tribesmen have degenerated into widespread revenge attacks in the past fortnight that have left at least 34 people dead and close to 100 injured.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday called on the army and rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo to spare civilian lives in their latest bout of fighting in the country's conflict-ravaged east. The neutral humanitarian agency voiced special concern at the fate of women in North Kivu province, who it said were especially vulnerable to rape in the midst of "mass exodus" linked to the flare-up in violence.

Just a note of caution before getting our names on a register of doubtful contribution to African development. We need to be sure what the real implications and rationale are behind this move to compile such a database. Remember that the World Bank is looking to get its long fingers into the contributions and remittances from the diaspora.

The time for blind compliance surely must be over so let's look before we start to leap.

The Sudanese Government is not cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC), its Chief Prosecutor has said, calling on the Security Council to send “a strong and unanimous message” to Khartoum to arrest and surrender two men accused of committing war crimes during the conflict in Darfur. Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a Council meeting that although “Sudan has known the nature of the case against Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb for 10 months, they have done nothing. They have taken no steps to prosecute them domestically, or to arrest and transfer them to The Hague [where the ICC is based].”

European and African leaders should go beyond promises and act to end atrocities, hold abusers to account and combat corruption, Human Rights Watch has said. The first European Union-Africa summit for seven years will be held in Lisbon on December 8-9, 2007.

Violent conflict between the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) has plagued northern Uganda for the past 20 years. At its peak, the conflict displaced at least two million people, many of whom fled to or were forced into notoriously unsafe and inhumane camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) known as “protected villages”.

The UN special envoy for Darfur has again expressed concern over the security and humanitarian situation in the Sudanese region, where violence displaced at least 30,000 civilians in October alone, and led to the deaths of seven humanitarian workers. In a statement to the UN Security Council in New York on 27 November, Jan Eliasson said the killing of the seven Sudanese aid workers was the highest monthly casualty since July 2006 and the displacement in October brought the total this year to 280,000.

Fatimatou Bouba has trouble holding back tears when she tells her story. A 34-year-old mother, of the ethnic Mbororo group, she fled the Central African Republic (CAR) six months ago – like 45,000 others who have crossed into Cameroon since 2005 – to escape the terror campaign imposed by unknown attackers known only as ‘coupeurs de route’ or ‘zaraguinas’ operating in the west of the country.

The Chadian army says it has killed several hundreds of rebels during clashes near an area bordering Sudan's Darfur region - ending a lull in fighting. The army said on public radio there were "several hundred dead" and "several injured" among the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) fighters.

Ecotourism has been heralded as a means to promote economic development while protecting wildlife regions. However, there has been minimal examination of its effect on indigenous people. This Minority Rights Group briefing argues that many indigenous communities who traditionally occupied current ecotourism destinations have been evicted in order to create these spaces, thus limiting their access to ancestral land and undermining their traditional livelihoods.

Twelve years ago, over the protests of human rights groups worldwide, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni minority and environmental rights activists in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region were murdered by the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha. This year, the anniversary of their death was marked with a performance of "Tings Dey Happen", a one-man theatrical tour de force that takes a critical look at "oil politics" in Nigeria today, written and performed by the young U.S. playwright Dan Hoyle.

Chadian anti-government rebels on Friday declared a "state of war" against French and foreign military forces in an apparent warning to a European Union peacekeeping force that plans to deploy there soon. French troops and aircraft are stationed in Chad under a bilateral defence accord. The EU force, around half of which will be French, is preparing to deploy near the eastern border with Sudan in coming weeks to protect refugees and aid workers.

The United Nations Security Council has welcomed efforts to bring lasting peace to Burundi, calling for a consolidation of progress in the country, which is rebuilding after being torn apart by 13 years of armed conflict.

Although the freedom of religion is enshrined in the Angolan constitution, an independent United Nations human rights expert has voiced concern that the right to practise religion or belief is infringed in the Southern African nation.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has been present in Northern Uganda since 1999 with the aim of promoting protection and providing life-saving and livelihood assistance to victims of conflict in the region. The operation in Gulu, Northern Uganda was started in July 2007 and has a main focus on supporting IDPs in the area.

An Algerian exile, with refugee rights in Germany, has been arrested in Spain and now faces extradition to Algeria. In 2003, former Algerian colonel Mohammed Samraoui - at the time a political refugee in Germany - published the book Chronique des années de sang (Denoël, Paris).