Fighting has erupted again the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving at least 10 civilians dead and 15 more injured, Al Jazeera says. Heavy shelling could be heard around the city on Thursday as Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali groups opposed to the country’s interim government, agencies report.

Waging Peace has acted in concert with a number of human rights non-governmental organisations to send a letter to British home secretary John Reid regarding the Home Office's recent treatment of Darfuri asylum seekers. Signatories of the letter include Human Rights Watch, Waging Peace, the Refugee Council, Aegis Trust, Darfur Union, Prisoners of Conscience, IHRC and Sudan Divestment UK.

Ugandan rebels demanded on Thursday a 12-month suspension of International Criminal Court arrest warrants against its top leaders, which are seen as the main hurdle to a deal ending one of Africa's most brutal wars.

The UN Security Council is set to decide on Western Sahara, the territory disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The UN will examine proposals to settle the dispute and determine whether it will lengthen the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Magharebia News reports that days after the suicide bombings which targeted symbols of authority – the Government Palace and a police station in an eastern Algiers suburb – concerned members of the public still wonder about the reasons behind the upsurge in violence which rings of the instability of the 1990s.

The Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit (EPRU) is the division of the International Programs Department responsible for maintaining the organization’s readiness to respond to emergencies and mounting effective and rapid responses during complex humanitarian crises. The Emergency Protection Coordinator works in furtherance of IRC’s protection mission, which is to help people realize their rights, and to help governments to respect or ensure them.

Congo's public prosecutor has asked the Senate to lift senator Jean-Pierre Bemba's immunity so he can be charged over bloody clashes between his forces and army troops last month, according to documents seen by Reuters. Public Prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba said in a letter to the provisional head of the Senate that Bemba, who flew to Portugal on Wednesday for medical treatment, was the "intellectual author" of the fighting in which up to 600 people died.

Amnah Abdul-Hamid, 26, escaped war in Somalia in search of a better life in Yemen. But since arriving four years ago, her two children have died of diarrhoea and she is now sick and destitute. "I suffer from brain neuritis [inflammation of a nerve or nerves]. I am in dire need of help as I have no job to provide food and shelter for myself," said Amnah, a divorcee who lives and depends on a Somali family living in the predominantly Somali al-Basateen area of Aden province.

Cote d’Ivoire’s nascent peace plan moved closer towards changing the situation on the ground on Wednesday as the government, rival armed groups and international peacekeepers agreed a schedule to dismantle the country's buffer zone.

The fighting that broke out in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday, prompting more people to flee their homes, has cast a cloud over anticipated reconciliation talks between various political groups. Many of the families that fled the latest fighting came from areas that were previously unaffected by clashes between Ethiopian-backed government forces and insurgents.

The world’s richest countries are failing to help millions of children in conflict-affected nations get an education, a new Save the Children report has revealed, ahead of a series of crucial world donor meetings. For example, in the Sudanese region of Darfur, over 50 percent of children are out of school, many forced from their homes due to violence, but almost no funding has been provided specifically to educate these children.

The Governor of the US state Iowa, Chet Culver, signed a targeted divestment bill requiring the state to divest from companies that support the government of Sudan. Iowa becomes the first US state to adopt divestment legislation this year; but the eighth US state to divest from Sudan overall.

Pasteur Bizimungu, the ex-President of Rwanda, was allowed to walk a free man from prison last week after he was pardoned by President Paul Kagame. Rwandan officials said the release, which came a day before the 13th anniversary of the start of the 100-day genocide, was done in good faith. It is expected to foster reconciliation in a society that has gone through the pains of genocide.

The government of Ethiopia has dropped charges against its citizens accused of attempting to commit genocide, treason and other crimes during the 2005 protests against the alleged vote rigging by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. About 200 people lost their lives in the protests.

Tunisian authorities have followed the example of China and Thailand, blocking access to a website sharing videos for national residents. The 'Dailymotion' site had posted some political videos and its editor now risks three years in prison.

Algerian authorities have confirmed that the dead toll of the Wednesday’s bomb blasts has risen to 33. With al-Qaeda’s purported claims of being responsible for the catastrophe, most Algerians have since been running cold with fears, especially at a time the terrorist network is said to be quickly spreading its tentacles in the North Africa region.

People in Africa are now increasingly competing to get access to arable land and pastures. Open land conflicts are becoming more and more common across the continent. This paper by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) is based on experiences gained by the three authors through previous research activities and assignments in different parts of Africa and reading of existing literature.

UNHCR's repatriation programme for South Sudan topped the 50,000 mark this week when a group of 84 Sudanese refugees flew to the town of Yambio from Central African Republic (CAR).

Some 9,000 Chadians have arrived in UN refugee agency trucks and on their own at the Habile site for internally displaced persons after brutal attacks on two villages left houses torched and the ground strewn with dead. A United Nations team headed by UNHCR reached the burnt out villages of Tiero and Marena on Sunday, a week after the March 31 attacks.

The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme will later this month open an exhibition in London of powerful images of displaced people and returnees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The exhibition, "Exposed and Hungry: Life in eastern Congo," will feature pictures by American freelance photographer Susan Schulman focusing on the issues of bringing shelter, protection and food to people in the volatile eastern regions of the DRC.