The focus of this study is male rural-urban migration in Tanzania and its interaction with sexual behaviour. The analysis presents results from a comparison with individual-level analyses from two populations, one in an urban area and one in a rural area. The findings challenge the view that return migrants are responsible for the spread of HIV and AIDS in rural areas, and the authors recommends that programmes need to be contextually designed in order to understand the cultural context of migrants.

As a condition for its election to the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2006, Nigeria pledged “its determination and commitment to continue to promote and protect human rights at home by strengthening and actively supporting the work of the National Human Rights Commission.” This report chronicles how, in the matter of the NCHR, Mr. Bayo Ojo, SAN, as Nigeria’s Federal Attorney-General and Justice Minister has committed abuse of power, usurped Presidential powers, compromised the credibility and effectiveness of the Commission, mis-led Nigeria into violating the United Nations (Paris) Principles on the independence of National Human Rights Institutions, and done incalculable damage to the largely successful efforts of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to redeem Nigeria’s international reputation.

Peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), scheduled to start in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Wednesday 12 July, have been delayed, according to a Sudanese official. An official in the office of the southern Sudanese Vice-President said Riek Machar, who is mediating the peace talks, had not returned to Juba yet. As a result the talks could probably start on Thursday 13 July instead.

Racism and mental illness have a long, sad history in South Africa, with the effects of Apartheid still painfully apparent. A spotlight was placed upon the issue of racism, at the World Racism Conference held in South Africa last year. Amongst other things highlighted was the issue of racism towards foreigners from neighbouring states. The increase in the flow of illegal immigrants, since the 1994 elections has led to a rapid growth in local xenophobia toward illegal immigrants.

Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) medical school believe they are racially victimised while staff counter that personality clashes and academic rigour are being misconstrued as racism. Over the past three years escalating racial tension at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine has seen black students alleging racial discrimination by Indian academics in the teaching and assessments of students.

As the Malawian government takes stock of its anti-AIDS treatment programme, health officials have been faced with the question: how does a poor country with a serious epidemic and an overburdened health system provide indefinite care for up to 200,000 people living with HIV? In a recent article in the medical journal The Lancet, three researchers involved in the country's treatment programme said the answer lies in sticking to a simple public health approach.

Algeria's security forces continue to detain and torture prisoners secretly, Amnesty International said on Monday (July 10) in a report ahead of the Algerian president's trip to London. The human rights group said Algeria's intelligence agency, the Department of Information and Security (DRS), is using the war on terror as an excuse to perpetuate torture and ill-treatment.

A heavily-pregnant teenager was found abandoned in Sheffield in what police described as a "shocking and tragic" case of people trafficking. The 16-year-old Kenyan girl was dumped on the city's streets after being held captive and forced into prostitution elsewhere, possibly in London. Detectives have spent a fortnight building up a disturbing picture of what happened to the girl.

Burundi's army says it has killed 13 fighters from the last active rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), outside the capital, Bujumbura. The killings took place after the army learnt of the presence of a 20-strong group, including new recruits. An army spokesman denied allegations the rebels had been shot in cold blood. Peace talks in Tanzania between the government and rebels aimed at ending the 12-year civil war have been postponed.

Europe must be careful not to turn itself into a fortress just to keep out immigrants, a French minister has said. Addressing a European-African migration conference, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the concept of zero immigration was a dangerous myth. Ministers from 57 European and African nations are meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat to discuss ways of dealing with migrants.

Heavy fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with Islamic militia using rockets and artillery. The Islamists, who control most of the south of the country, are trying to take an area in the city's south that is controlled by warlord Abdi Qeybdid. Eyewitnesses spoke of heavy casualties with up to 60 people reported killed and 100 injured in two days of clashes.

Sudan's Darfur region has seen its bloodiest few days since the signing of a peace agreement over two months ago. More than 80 people have been killed as rebels fight each other for territory, according to sources within the African Union peacekeeping mission. In early May, under pressure from the international community, the Sudanese government signed an agreement with one of the region's rebel movements. But the deal has not been implemented and security has worsened.

In response to a nationwide strike protesting increases in the prices of rice and fuel, Guinea’s security forces committed murder, rape, assault and theft against demonstrators and bystanders alike, Human Rights Watch said today (6 July). The Guinean government must immediately investigate and prosecute those responsible for the abuses, which occurred during the week of June 12, shortly after Guinea’s main labor unions had called a nationwide strike.

Ivory Coast's president and rebel leader have agreed a new disarmament deadline aimed at breaking the deadlocked peace process. Pro-government militias, who have recently missed two deadlines, must hand in their arms by the end of July. The leaders' announcement came after talks with UN head Kofi Annan and other African heads of state.

Somalia's fluid political situation underwent yet another shift during the weeks of June 26 and July 3, as the conflict spilled over into neighboring states and became regionalized, and Osama bin Laden weighed in with his take on the struggle between the Islamic Courts Council (I.C.C.), which controls most of the country's south, and the internationally-backed but weak Transitional Federal Government (T.F.G.) based in the town of Baidoa.

Each day crowds form outside the refugee reception offices of the Department of Home Affairs, asylum seekers who have often crossed thousands of kilometres only to find that the process to gain recognition as a refugee can take years in South Africa. The government is determined to clear this backlog of asylum applicants – now about 100,000 – over the next year. Success will mean ending both long delays and many of the problems in documentation faced by the growing queue of those awaiting a decision on requests for refugee status.

Encouraged by a panel of legal experts, the African Union (AU) has asked Senegal to put exiled Chadian ruler Hissene Habre on trial for alleged crimes against humanity during his eight-year rule. Human Rights Watch reports that while welcoming Senegal's acceptance to try Habre, victims of the alleged atrocities promise to seek a binding ruling from the International Court of Justice if Dakar does not fulfill this commitment.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) reiterates that Uganda has a legal obligation to arrest rebel group leader Joseph Kony, despite President Yoweri Museveni's amnesty offer. While Museveni chides the ICC for failing to capture Kony and other top Lord's Resistance Army commanders, some lawyers criticize the Ugandan government's inconsistency. Museveni referred the case to the ICC in 2004 and passed an act in April 2006 denying Kony amnesty.

Using an experiment that manipulates the framing and graphic presentation of newspaper stories on crime and violence, the authors of this study seek to discover whether the public health model that calls for news stories to incorporate information on context, risk factors, and prevention strategies will help readers learn more about the context in which crime and violence occurs, endorse prevention strategies in addition to punishment, and become more attuned to societal risk factors and causes of crime and violence.

The Appeals chamber of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday (July 7) sentenced a former Rwandan mayor to life imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide. Judge Mohamed Shahabuddeen, presiding, handed down the sentence to Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, in revision of an earlier 30-year jail term imposed by a trial chamber of the tribunal.