Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killed three revellers at a disco hall in northwestern Uganda over the weekend (January 7-8) and critically injured 12 others, the military said. "A group of 15 rebels attacked a disco hall in Zaipi sub-county in Adjumani District at around 1:00 am on Sunday," Lt Chris Magezi, army spokesman in northern Uganda, said on Monday.

South Sudan’s largest militia group has announced that it will join the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), formerly a rebel group and now a partner in Sudan’s national unity government. Under the agreement, called the Juba Declaration of Unity and Integration, the armed forces of the two groups will merge, reducing the number of disparate armed groups in the south that have caused much insecurity.

Sudan joined Chad on Tuesday (January 10) in offering to open talks to defuse mounting tension along their joint border, but the two sides still appeared far apart. At the weekend, Chad said it was ready to talk to Sudan but only if Khartoum agreed to a set of conditions, including the disarmament of Chadian rebels N’djamena claims are operating on the Sudanese side of the border.

Burundians were the largest group of displaced people to repatriate in 2005. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) assisted around 60,000 of the 400,000 Burundians living in Tanzania to return home, and more are expected to follow. The largest new refugee population in 2005 in the sub-region came from Central African Republic. More than 10,000 people started fleeing to southern Chad in June following attacks near the border by unidentified armed groups.

Despite urgent appeals for international aid by both the government of Zambia and WFP in December 2005, no new donations have been received and refugees in Zambia have been on half-rations since 1 January 2006. "We have a refugee caseload of up to 82,000 people and we have not received any new contributions since July 2005, so it's getting a bit difficult. The food stocks we do have will run out by the end of March. We need $8.5 million to provide food to refugees until the end of December this year," WFP spokeswoman Jo Woods told IRIN.

As the new transitional parliament is set to convene for the first time on Somalia’s soil, a severe drought affecting the south of the country puts additional strains on the capacity of the Somali people to cope with the effects of civil war and massive internal displacement. “The drought hit southern Somalia just when prospects for the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes due to the ongoing insecurity have begun to lighten up somewhat with the re-establishment of government authority and increased international attention on the displacement crisis,” said Toril Brekke, acting Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The UN Integrated Regional Information Networks reports that talks to end the bloody conflict in Darfur have been suspended for a week to respect a Muslim holiday, mediators said on Monday, but there is little sign of progress as the security situation in the western Sudan region worsens and the two sides fail to agree on key aspects of sharing power.
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* UN Troop deployment far below target
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Governments must kick start negotiations on an international Arms Trade Treaty this year, the Control Arms Campaign said as the UN launched its first major review of small arms controls in five years. Existing arms controls are powerless to protect innocent civilians, according to three reports on the human cost of arms transfers to Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone launched today by the Campaign. "In 2006, the world has a choice. Either it continues to ignore the massive human cost of arms proliferation or it finally acts to control the arms trade," said Barbara Stocking, Director of Oxfam. "No one but a criminal would knowingly sell a gun to a murderer, yet governments can sell weapons to regimes with a history of human rights violations or to countries where weapons will go to war criminals."

Some 49,000 civilians who have fled fighting between the Congolese army and Mayi-Mayi militia in the northern province of Katanga are living under very difficult conditions, according to an official of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "We need clothing, plastic sheeting, kitchen utensils, soap and other things," said Anne Edgerton, the OCHA spokeswoman in Kalemie, a town in Katanga Province, on Friday (January 6). She said nearly 120,000 people in the region had fled their villages since the government launched an operation to disarm the militia groups on 15 November 2005.

Annastasia, 12 months old, her hair plaited with red and white ribbons to match her flowery dress, conjures the ideal image of a cute toddler, a perfect contender for a baby pageant. The only discordant note is her surroundings - four high white walls make up Annastasia's world, and she will only discover what lies beyond them in six months' time, when her grandmother fetches her to live with her four siblings. Prison Fellowship of Zimbabwe (PFZ), the local charter of an international Christian alliance for rehabilitating and assisting former inmates, estimates that over 200 children are in the country's jails with their detained mothers.

Nigeria plans to free some 25,000 inmates, many of whom have been awaiting trial for years, in a bid to decongest overcrowded and unhygienic prisons and improve its human rights record. "The issue of awaiting trial inmates has become an endemic problem in Nigeria," said Justice Minister Bayo Ojo after a cabinet meeting late Wednesday (January 4). "The conditions of the prisons are just too terrible. The conditions negate the essence of prison, which is to reform."

Eritrea will accept an international ruling that blamed it for starting a 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia, despite dismissing the decision as a mistake, a senior legal adviser said on Monday (January 2). The commission at the Permanent Court of Arbitration said last month Eritrea violated international law with an attack on Ethiopia in 1998 that sparked the war in which 70,000 people were killed.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will undertake an official mission to Uganda from 7 to 14 January 2006. The mission, the first by a High Commissioner for Human Rights, will focus on the general human rights situation in Uganda in keeping with her mandate; as well as on the protection of civilians, particularly Internally Displaced Persons; the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights; and the United Nations human rights presence in the country. In addition to Kampala, Ms. Arbour will visit Gulu in the north of the country and the Karamoja region, in northeastern Uganda. During the mission, Ms. Arbour will meet senior Government officials. She will also hold talks with state institutions and civil society organizations, including the National Human Rights Commission, as well as with traditional leaders, according to the UNHCHR.

On 25 December 2005, Zalingy Special Criminal Court sentenced Abdella Salih Hussain Mohamed, (35 yrs) to cross amputation on his right hand and the left foot and to a total of six years imprisonment after convicting him under 130 (Murder) and 167 (Armed Robbery Hiraba) and imposing sentence under Article 168 (Penalty for Armed Robbery - Hiraba) of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code. Mr. Mohamed was initially arrested and detained by police officers in Zalingy on 3 June 2005 on suspicion of looting property (three donkeys) belonging to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and causing the death of Fatima Adam Haroun during the theft in Alhisahisa IDP camp in Zalingy. On 7 September 2005, the case was transferred before the Special Criminal Court. Following presentations by both the prosecution and defence, Mr. Mohamed was found guilty.

The Congo conflict is the deadliest humanitarian crisis of the last 60 years but the world is still not doing enough to save lives, according to a survey on Friday (January 6). Its authors pleaded urgently for more aid and tougher security in the wake of a war estimated to have killed nearly four million people, mainly through hunger and disease.

Presided over by Tanzanian Ambassador Agustine Mahiga, the UN Security Councel is scheduled to review the complex situation in Africa in January, with a focus on the Great Lakes region. UN spokespersons announced that before discussing the issue at the foreign ministerial level on January 27, the Council will review the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia is expected to be another important point on the agenda, particularly the situation of UN forces in these two countries, as UN actions have been restricted by Asmara, as reported by Prensa Latina.

“Screams never stopped; the most acute were children’s. My eyes couldn’t follow where or where to look. It was cold. It was dark. Soldiers were brutal. They were just beating anyone anywhere, stepping over anyone and anything.” This quote is from an anonymous eyewitness account (reproduced below) of events that took place last Friday in Cairo, when Egyptian security police brutally broke up a three-month sit-in protest being held by Sudanese refugees in Cairo. News reports indicate that the number of people killed is approaching 30. As detailed in an October 2005 Pambazuka News article (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29957) the refugees were protesting against their appalling conditions and the constant abuse of their rights and had camped out near the Cairo office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), demanding protection from forced repatriation and protection of vulnerable groups. At that stage one of the protestors vowed: “We will wait here, we will die here. We have no other place to go.”

At 10:00 pm, Thursday, December 29th I received an SMS saying the Mohandesin area was turning into a military camp and that Sudanese refugees who had been sitting in for 3 months may be disbursed by force.

I arrived at 11:00 pm to find state security trucks and plain clothes police closing the roads of Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Orabi, and Gameet el Dewal streets.

Public white busses lined up all the way from Donuts House till Mustafa Mahmud square with a few state security soldiers sitting inside them. I was able to take down some of the bus numbers as I walked - 4129, 3696, 4107, 4136, 4335, 3416, 3534, and 3416.

In a few minutes all streets leading to Mustafa Mahmud were totally blocked. Police forces started cornering and then disbursing civilian pedestrians.

At 1:00 am, and it was really cold, security forces started flushing the refugees with three water cannons from three different sides. The first spray lasted for almost 6 minutes and was rather high. We could see the water reaching as high as the 4th balcony of the near-by building. Probably it aimed at destroying the top of their shelters.

Refugees met the water floods with cheer and dance. This was a reaction no one at the other side could understand and it rather provoked the ‘they deserve whatever happens to them - they are crazy’ type of thinking.

The few civilians who gathered to observe the scene from afar were mostly quite amused. I painfully heard comments such as “let them take a shower to become clean”, “Egypt has been more than patient with them”, “security forces should’ve got rid of them from day one”, “They (Sudanese) are disgusting”. Laughs interrupted such comments as the refugees were sprayed with water. Few stood silent with eyes wide open at the scene, while only one objected and explained that Sudanese had demands and rights to be met by UNHCR.

A police officer told a friend as he smiled that they badly needed a bath after three months. “We have orders to finish this tonight and we will,” he added.

We resorted to the 2nd floor of a café just across the park to be able to observe, take pictures, and make phone calls. Choosing the time to attack the refugees was more than well planned. Midnight Thursday in the New Year’s weekend. All the media I contacted were out of town for vacation. A handful of political activists arrived but were totally helpless. A couple of human rights activists were with us on the phone all night.

Almost an hour later another 5 minutes of continuous water showered the refugees. This time the water was low, strong and direct, straight at the people.

Water stopped and a negotiation round started with a delegated refugee committee, an Egyptian official, and a UNHCR official. The Egyptian said: “UNHCR will do nothing for you. We are authorized by the highest power in the state to disburse this sit in today.” The reply of the refugees was that: “We will die on the turf.”

I was able to step to the second security circle surrounding them. A public bus waiting in the area had five refugees at the back seat while a sixth one was being brutally beaten by 5 state security soldiers. From my position next to the bus I could see and hear him screaming as they beat him on his head and back with hands and batons, kicked him, and twisted his arm and wrist behind his back as his screams went louder and louder.

An officer standing next to us explained that he was trying to break the window and escape because he was drunk. At this point a man from the back seat opened the window and holding a baby girl of a few months old, cried: “We are not drunk, I am not drunk, he is not drunk, and this baby is not drunk. Her mother died here in this park.” They beat him to silence as well and continued with the sixth guy. A young man took a video of the scene on his cell phone and later Bluetoothed it to me.

Reporters, observers and the few activists who were there started to leave the scene as time passed with no further developments. It was very cold and my hands and nose were freezing. It was unimaginable to imagine wet people!

At around 4 am we managed to get to the building of Al Watany Bank of Egypt and only then we had a full clear view of the situation from high. In Mustafa Mahmud square, I could count 60 state security wagons, 6 ambulances, 10 armored cars and uncountable busses.

At 4:45 am the troops were lining up properly and the first circle of formations moved closer to surround the refugees. Their warm up exercise echoed in the empty city as they said: “Ho- ho- ho- masr!” and singing “Ya ahla esm fel wegood yaa masr” meaning “To Egypt, who has the most beautiful name ever, whose name was created to be eternal, for Egypt we live…and for Egypt we die.”

Refugees lined up and started warming up too but saying “Allah Akbar”, “La ilaha ella Allah” and “Hasbona allah wa neama al wakil”, meaning “There is no god but Allah and only him we delegate to handle our injustice.” The Christians chanted Halleluiah. The few civilian audience started cheering for the Egyptian army.

At 5 am sharp the 3 water cannons flushed them again and right beside the water line security forces timely attacked the refugee campus with batons and shields. After 1 minute the water stopped. Soldiers destroyed the rest of their makeshift homes and pulled up their front line of luggage, throwing it away as other soldiers made their way in.

Refugees fought back with wood sticks, plastic empty water jars and gallons, and their hands.

The left side (the side of Radwan Ogeil store) fought back very bravely and was able to force soldiers to retreat out for three times, but on the other two sides soldiers were breaking in. Sounds of sharp metal hits were heard loudly. I guess these were the wooden sticks on the metal shields. Also sounds of screams, mainly women and children, echoed.

After 10 minutes, a whistle was heard and all forces pulled out of the garden. Lines were reorganized. Extra troops were added to the Al Ogeil store side and in a couple of minutes a signal was given and they lashed back in.

This time was fierce. The street lights were cut off. Screams never stopped; the most acute were children’s. My eyes couldn’t follow where or where to look. It was cold. It was dark. I am sure the garden was muddy after all this water. Soldiers were brutal. They were just beating anyone anywhere, stepping over anyone and anything.

Every 2 or 3 seconds a refugee would be dragged out of the horror circle, beaten all the way out. Another 3-4 soldiers would take grip of the refugee so the first soldier could go back to hunt another one. The soldiers receiving the refugee beat him more with batons on his back, bringing him down to his knee, slapping the back of his head, dragging him to a bus where other soldiers took care of the next stage. All the way through, obscenities could be heard.

This happened to men and women equally. Sometimes when the victim was a woman I saw a child trying to hang to her leg as the soldiers dragged the mother.

I saw four refugees carried by soldiers from their arms and legs, often dropping midway totally motionless and I could swear they were dead.

The most horrible was the EGYPTIANS! Civilians who cheered as if they were cheering for the ‘army forces’ freeing Egypt! As forces advanced in battle; the audience cheered, whistled and clapped. They were amused!

Resistance was weakening on Al Ogeil side and soldiers were breaking fully in when my host, standing beside me in the balcony said: “We are entering from the left side.” I looked back at him in shock. This is not “we”. He said: “I mean the Egyptians.” These are not Egyptians. He said “whatever.”

I started shaking.

As the refugees were dragged out in bigger numbers they forced them to sit on the ground in groups, casually beating them till soldiers would come pick them up and put them in busses.

A friend later told me he saw an officer spitting on a bus as it moved away with refugees!

Resistance fully collapsed. As fewer refugees were left inside the garden facing at least 2500 soldiers, the screams became sharper, louder and desperate.

Everything was over at 5:30 am sharp.

When I took control over my body, I picked up my car and followed 6 of the white public transportation busses carrying almost fainting refugees and state security forces to Dahshur State Security Camp in Fayoum road. They arrived there at exactly 7:15 am. The camp is almost 40 kms outside Cairo. Distance could be more or less, I was so tired and so not well. The wagon numbers were 3686, 4107, 6132, 4335, and 3696. I missed the numbers of the first bus.

Returning back to Cairo I went directly to the battlefield. Let the pictures speak.

So far 20 people died. There is news that those who were taken to the state security camp are all released. And some are released from Turah. No news yet from Dahshur.

Individuals, groups, lawyers, and associations are protesting in the same place tomorrow Saturday 12 noon at both the brutality of the Egyptian government and the disgraceful role of UNHCR.

We shall not close the file of the massacre committed by the Egyptian regime against the Sudanese refugees in Egypt. Send letters of protest and condemnation to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ([email protected]) and the Egyptian embassy in your country.

Write to UN Secretary General demanding an international investigation.

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For a full list of those to be deported see the link below.

‘Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present’ is an accessible and up-to-date introduction to the key concepts, terms, personalities, and real-world issues associated with the surge of immigration from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. It focuses on the United States, but is also the first encyclopaedic work on the subject that reflects a truly global perspective. With contributions from the world's foremost authorities on the subject, Immigration and Asylum offers nearly 200 entries organized around four themes: immigration and asylum; the major migrating groups around the world; expulsions and other forced population movements; and the politics of migration.

On a routine repatriation day in the Ngara District of northwestern Tanzania, convoys organised by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, lined up to take Burundi refugees home. An 11-year-old boy stood crying next to one of the trucks. Momentarily, there was a flurry of activity as UNHCR officials tried to verify that the boy had not been left behind. He had not. Still crying, the boy explained that he was sad because his "family" was leaving. Even though he was staying at the camp with his biological mother, he was heartbroken that another family he had considered his own was returning to Burundi without him.

An enormous humanitarian crisis is emerging in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga Province, with tens of thousands of people being displaced, but so far the government and the international community are doing little. "Katanga is not on the political map, which is why such a massive humanitarian crisis can go ignored," said Jason Stearns, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst on Central Africa, who is working on a report on Katanga to be released in early 2006.