Dear Madam, Open Letter to the Minister of Justice on xenophobic attacks against Somali and other Refugees Dear Minister, We are making this an open letter not to insult your powerful and respectable office; we are making it an open letter because we know that the content of this letter will benefit many Africans that come across it.

The repatriation of Angolan refugees is creating food shortages in and around the Zambian camps they have lived in for decades. "The repatriation of Angolan refugees has affected us so much.They were very hardworking farmers and we used to buy cheap beans, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes and maize [the staple crop] from them, but now we have nowhere to run to for cheap foods."

The head of Zimbabwe’s main labour union and at least 14 others were arrested in Harare today as they attempted to begin a march to government offices, a union spokesman said.

When people concerned about good governance discuss a new constitution for Zimbabwe they immediately go into details: should we have an executive president or a prime minister? Should we have a lower and an upper house, two chambers, or just one? But before we go into these details we need to look at something much more fundamental.

Authorities in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are cracking down on migrants waiting to be smuggled into Yemen and the Gulf states, Puntland's deputy police chief said on Wednesday (September 14).

The leader of the rebel LRA, Joseph Kony, and his deputy, Vincent Otti, have moved out of their hideout in DR Congo's Garamba National Park and camped close to Rii-Kwangba assembling point, the Chief Mediator, Dr Riek Machar has said.

Angola`s Minister of Social Welfare João Baptista Kussumua has called on international donors and partners to redouble efforts for the success of the voluntary and organised repatriation of 15,000 out of the 20,000 Angolan refugees living in neighbouring Zambia.

A new Human Rights Watch Report documents how Libyan authorities have arbitrarily arrested undocumented foreigners, mistreated them in detention, and forcibly returned them to countries where they could face persecution or torture, such as Eritrea and Somalia.

The international working group charged with overseeing a United Nations blueprint for peace have recommended the power balance in war-divided Cote d’Ivoire be reassessed when that arrangement comes up for review later this month.

A new report on international migration and development published by the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA) says the elimination of coercive migration policies would enhance the contribution of migrants and their families to international development. The report, “International migration and development: Implications for Africa”, which will be released at the high level dialogue on international migration opening in New York on September 14, says: “Coercive migration policies in sending and receiving countries work against peace and securities at all levels and against the maximization of the benefits of international migration.”

The signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and one of the main rebel groups in Darfur has exacerbated inter-rebel violence and diminished chances for stability in the warn-torn region, observers say.

Since 4 August, about 1,500 people from the area north of El Fasher have arrived after their villages were bombed, placing them in the crossfire between government forces and rebels of the National Redemption Front (NRF). Some of the new arrivals have put up flimsy shelters on a sandy slope outside El Salaam camp as they await official registration.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press is publishing a collection of 100 seminal papers selected from many of their 180 journals. Included is the above-named paper by Professor Roger Zetter which appeared in Volume 4 of the Journal of Refugee Studies.

Deputy Ugandan rebel leader Vincent Otti has warned there will be no peace deal unless international indictments for the top rebels are dropped. Mr Otti and three other Lord's Resistance Army commanders, including leader Joseph Kony, are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In an apparent widening of its military offensive against rebels in North Darfur State, the Sudanese military have used Antonov planes to bomb another seven villages in the volatile region, sources in the region say.

To get a sense of the problems besetting prisons in Côte d'Ivoire, look no further than Building C of the House of Arrest and Correction of Abidjan (Maison d'arrêt et de correction d'Abidjan, MACA). The 115 detainees crowded together in this building share just one toilet, and barely manage a daily shower.

Saudi Arabia should immediately end its discrimination against its 100,000 Chadian residents, most of whom were born in the kingdom but are increasingly denied the rights to basic education and emergency healthcare, Human Rights Watch has said. Saudi Arabia's decision to target Chadian children for expulsion from school is arbitrary and discriminatory.

In a country where a sodomy conviction carries a penalty of life imprisonment, a Ugandan tabloid's decision to publish the names of alleged homosexuals is a chilling development that could presage a government crackdown, Human Rights Watch has said. The lesbian and gay community in Uganda has long been stigmatized and harassed by government officials.

Télécoms sans Frontières is a humanitarian NGO specialising in emergency telecommunications. Thanks to a permanent monitoring centre, as soon as a catastrophe or conflict is announced, its teams can intervene anywhere in the world and in less than 48 hours. They install within minutes an operational telecommunications centre right at the heart of the event.

Is it, as one cabinet minister has claimed, a "welcome" troop deployment? Or is an analyst's description of the force as "suicidal" more accurate? These questions are doubtless occupying the minds of a good many politicians and observers in East Africa, after the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) agreed on plans to send peace keeping troops to Somalia.