French soldiers stationed in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 have been accused of "widespread rape" by a Rwandan commission investigating France's role during the conflict. The commission, which is due to publish its final report in October, will also provide fresh evidence that French soldiers trained the Interahamwe, the extremist Hutu militia responsible for most of the killing, and even provided them with weapons.

Reporting to the director of the Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) program, the Senior Associate-Africa will play a key role in formulating and achieving program goals and objectives; conducting research; writing reports, web site content, and press materials; conducting advocacy; fostering relationships with staff members of nongovernmental organizations, governments, and international organizations; and developing specific projects. Deadline for applications is September 14, 2007.

At least 10 civilians and one soldier were killed in northern Mali on Thursday when their vehicles hit landmines planted by suspected Tuareg rebels, Malian military officers said. The casualties in the north of the Sahel state followed three attacks this week by the Malian rebels in the desolate mountain region near the border with Algeria and Niger.

State government plans to demolish several slums in the unstable southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt could spark ethnic tensions, fuel violence, and leave up to 100,000 homeless. Rivers State Governor Celestine Omehia announced on 21 August his government would demolish 25 slum districts in the ramshackle waterfront area of the city that currently houses between 50,000 and 100,000 people, according to local estimates.

The disabled are becoming increasingly marginalised, with the state and civil society neglecting their basic needs, says The forgotten tribe, people with disabilities in Zimbabwe, a new report. Data for the report, recently published by Progressio, an international development agency, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped, was provided by a 2006 survey based on interviews with experts on disability, and disabled people themselves.

The village of Korosigna in northern Central African Republic is barely recognisable to those who once lived there. Every house is either demolished, abandoned or burned to the ground. Weeds and bushes have taken hold. Many homes are barely visible as the forest has moved in and engulfed the ruins. According to locals, government soldiers attacked Korosigna without warning in January 2006, part of a two-year-old bush war fought against rag-tag rebels across northern parts of the former French colony, landlocked in the heart of Africa.

Some 3,000 Ethiopians have gathered in the dusty northern Somalia port of Bossaso, joining Somalis preparing to make the risky trip to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden when the annual sailing season resumes. The bad weather that kept smugglers' boats ashore in July and August is coming to an end and the people traffic is expected to begin in earnest in the next few days. Those making the journey risk everything; at least 367 people died during the crossing during the first six months of this year.

Kenyan Muslims marched on police headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday in protest against what they called the illegal detention and torture of fellow Muslims in an anti-terrorist drive urged on by the United States. The protest involving a few dozen Kenyans followed months of simmering tensions between the east African nation's Muslim community and authorities they accuse of persecuting and arresting them on U.S. government orders.

Thousands of civilians fled heavy fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled North Kivu province after clashes erupted before dawn on Thursday between government forces and renegade soldiers. Some 1,000 fighters loyal to rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda attacked a Congolese army brigade headquarters in Katale, around 60 km (38 miles) northwest of the provincial capital Goma, at around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT), witnesses said.

Police in Bulawayo reportedly abducted six women and a baby from the organization, Women of Zimbabwe Arise during early morning raids on August 24. WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams said the group received an alert around four in the morning from the children of the arrested women, saying police officers were going door-to-door arresting the activists.

Almost 60 people suspected of being trafficked off the Libyan coast have been rescued after being abandoned without supplies in a leaking boat. Coastguards in Falmouth co-ordinated a rescue operation after an Ethiopian in the UK took a call from the inflatable boat from his half-brother on board.

In a tacit admission that the Zimbabwean crisis has gone out of hand, South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister broke new policy ground by saying they were considering issuing temporary residence permits for those who had fled the country. On Tuesday Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is reported to have said the government needed to adopt a new approach to deal with Zimbabwean citizens flocking into South Africa and that allowing them to work until the political problems had been resolved was a possibility.

An MDC senior official who spent 174 days in prison on trumped up charges of terrorism is facing another battle as a free man. Morgan Komichi was released on the 9th August but when he reported for work on the 15th he was told that he had been suspended on allegations of absenteeism. This is despite his lawyers having written to his employer, the Zimbabwe Power Company, a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, informing them about the arrest.

In deeply homophobic and patriarchal South African society what does Women’s Month and National Women’s Day means for vulnerable, marginalised women? The State must enact legislation that punishes acts of violence against women and enforce policy that prevents violence and the re-assertion of patriarchal norms.

The Sudanese Government has not moved to arrest two suspects wanted to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s war-wracked Darfur region, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said, calling on Khartoum to cooperate immediately with the court. In an interview with the UN News Centre, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that it is “totally unacceptable” that one of the two suspects, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, is currently Sudan’s Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs.

New photo evidence shows that the Sudanese government is continuing to deploy offensive military equipment in Darfur, despite the UN arms embargo and peace agreements. Amnesty International (AI) today released new photographs that show Sudan's breathtaking defiance of the arms embargo and the Darfur peace deals.

This latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the need for a negotiated solution with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL to break a dangerous stalemate that could seriously undermine the consolidation of peace and democracy. Little progress has been made since the signing of the ceasefire agreement on 7 September 2006. At the end of July, the hasty departure from Bujumbura of the rebel delegation negotiating implementation of that agreement precipitated widespread fears fighting could resume.

African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) may be spoiling for war with the global software giant, Microsoft Corporation, over its bid to have its DIS 29500 'Office Open Extensible Markup Language (OOXML)' endorsed by the International Standard Organisation (ISO). African Civil Society Organisations are of the opinion that it is not in the best interest of the continent for any country to endorse OOXML, in line with the United States, Spain, South Africa and Kenya who have already voted 'No' to the OOXML.

The South African government is dusting off a 2002 plan to deal with a feared mass influx of Zimbabweans into South Africa, amid a growing official recognition that economic migration is snowballing towards crisis. Last week Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told a media conference in Pretoria that the Zimbabwean influx was “a serious problem” and that it was “vital for South Africa to act”.

More than a dozen activists from the Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise were finally released on Thursday, but they had been badly beaten. They were arrested on Tuesday while playing a game of netball and mixed soccer when state security agents arrested them at Macheke Stadium in Masvingo. The victims spent two cold nights in police cells in their sports uniform. They were released after being forced to pay admission of guilt fines. WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams said all 16 activists were badly beaten.