A faction of Central African Republic rebel group the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace claimed responsibility Sunday for two attacks near the capital and threatened to carry out more. The CPJP last month signed a peace deal with the government, officially ending the rebellion by the largest armed group still active in the violence-torn country and raising hopes of an end to years of conflict. But the faction that claimed the attacks in two towns just north of the capital on Saturday said it did not accept the peace deal.

Recent deadly clashes in Kenya stem from widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and the ambitions of politicians seeking office, according to analysts and activists. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay noted, the timing of the latest clashes on the coast is alarming. 'In Kenya, the recent inter-communal violence in the Tana River District, during which dozens were killed, including a large number of children and women, is a grim reminder of the 2007-08 events,' she said earlier this week, referring to the killings and displacement that followed the country’s last presidential poll.

Protests against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States have intensified in Tunisia and Sudan and spread in Lebanon, with three Tunisians, three Sudanese and one Lebanese killed as clashes between demonstrators and police ensued on Friday 14 September. Three people were killed on Friday and another 28 wounded in clashes at the US embassy in Tunis, which was stormed by an angry mob protesting over 'Innocence of Muslims', a film mocking Islam, an official media said, citing the health ministry.

The Gambian president has suspended the execution of prisoners on death row, amid an international outcry. In a statement, Yahya Jammeh said he was responding to 'numerous appeals'. Nine prisoners have been executed since his vow in August to clear death row. Another 37 inmates remain on death row.

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation’s Justice and Reconciliation in Africa programme has released a new Policy Brief entitled ‘Reconciling Kenya: Opportunities for constructing a peaceful and socially cohesive nation’. The Brief forms part of an ongoing project focused on promoting national cohesion and reconciliation in Kenya, which will be jointly implemented by the IJR, the Kenyan National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Sweden over the next two years. The project pieces together the initiatives taken in Kenya towards reconciliation since the post-election violence in 2007/2008 and gives recommendations to different actors on the way forward to consolidate national cohesion and reconciliation.

The Fahamu Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the September 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter. The issue can be found here: Please feel free to share it widely.

The continued arrival of refugees fleeing post-election violence and militia activities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in western Uganda, and the government’s efforts to resettle them, have created a land row that has already cost the life of a government official. Government officials say 100 police officers have been deployed to Oruchinga, Nakivale, Rwamwaja, Kyangwali and Kiryandongo refugee settlement camps to help quell the clashes and ensure the safety of the refugees.

The US ambassador to Libya and three other American staffers died on Tuesday (11 September) night in an attack on the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, US officials have said. An armed mob attacked and set fire to the consulate building during a protest against an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's prophet, Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt's capital. The US government confirmed that Ambassador Chris Stevens and information technology officer Sean Smith, in addition to two unnamed personnel, died in the attack. Libyan security source told Al Jazeera that Stevens died from smoke inhalation.

At least 16 people have been killed by government soldiers in the central Malian region of Segou, when the army opened fire on their vehicle, a government official and the police have said. The incident occurred overnight in the town of Diabali, and authorities said those killed were Islamist fighters. Among the dead were two Malians and 14 Mauritanian nationals, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Mali's capital Bamako.

Tribesmen have attacked a village in southeastern Kenya, torching homes and sparking clashes that killed at least 38 people, in the latest round of tit-for-tat ethnic violence to plague the area, officials said. The vendetta between the Pokomo farming community and their Orma pastoralist neighbours already left 52 dead last month in Kenya's worst tribal killings in years.

There has been a big push to lower political temperatures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but President Joseph Kabila could emerge weaker, and his silent dependence on his East African neighbours to hold on to power could deepen. The conflict in eastern DR Congo that flared up recently, threatened to suck several countries into a new war, and set neighbouring Rwanda on a collision course with its international allies, improved quickly over the past week.

Heavily-armed police in Swaziland invaded the venue for a ‘people’s summit’ due to take place 6 September as part of week-long pro-democracy activities in the kingdom. The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) reported ‘a large number of heavily armed and hostile police’ invaded the Bosco Skills Centre, Manzini, where the summit was due to start.

This report by the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) examines the policy and practice of Kenya’s refugee protection framework. Although much has been written on the situation in the Dadaab camps, there has been no holistic examination of the legal and policy backdrop to refugee protection in Kenya. The purpose of the study, therefore, is to establish the range of rights to which refugees and asylum-seekers in Kenya are entitled under national law (as well as international and regional legal frameworks), and to identify and assess the current implementation gaps.

Twenty one years ago Kakuma Camp was established with an initial capacity of 100,000 to temporarily accommodate thousands of refugees fleeing the civil war in Sudan. For a very long time it has been one of the most cosmopolitan camps in the world. It has accommodated refugees and other forced migrants from East Africa, the Horn of Africa, Central African Republic, Great Lakes region and other parts of the world. As of mid-May, there were a total of 95,300 refugees and asylum seekers in the camp, reports the Kakuma News Reflector. The latest edition of the Reflector is available through their website.

The Pentagon is seeking to send hand-launched drones to Kenya as part of a $40 million-plus military aid package designed to help four African countries fight al Qaeda and al Shabaab militants, notably in Somalia, the Wall Street Journal reported. Kenya would get eight 'Raven' unmanned aerial systems - an unarmed drone that can be use to identify targets for strikes by ground forces or other aircraft.

About 90 Somali migrants stranded on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea for more than four days have been rescued, an Italian news agency and relatives say. Earlier this month, 54 people died of dehydration while trying to sail from Libya to Italy in an inflatable boat. More than one million Somalis have fled the country since 1991.

DRC President Joseph Kabila has visited the Angolan capital Luanda to mobilise support over the ongoing crisis in the Central African country. Currently, DRC is trying to neutralise an armed insurrection by the M23 rebel group, which, according to UN and Kinshasha, is supported by Kigali, claims that Rwandan officials have denied. More than 200,000 people in the region have been displaced by the conflict.

Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia are reported to have left at least 18 people dead and 12 others injured. More than 20,000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting, the Kenyan Red Cross says. A spokesman said that people were continuing to cross the border although Ethiopian government forces had intervened to stop the fighting.

Germany has suspended millions of euros in aid to Rwanda over allegations that the country is backing rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Development Minister Dirk Niebel said on Saturday that Germany was putting on ice some €21-million in aid for Kigali planned from this year until 2015 in what he said was an 'unmistakable signal to the Rwandan government'.

The head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stephen Rapp, who leads the US Office of Global Criminal Justice, told the Guardian the Rwandan leadership may be open to charges of 'aiding and abetting' crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country.