For almost a decade, the World Bank has been pressuring Ghana to privatize its public water system, or to enable some form of "private sector participation" in the water system. Ghana is, of course, not unique in this regard. Over the same period, people throughout the Global South have witnessed World Bank and corporate schemes to wrest control of now-public water systems and deliver them into private hands. Ghana has been one of the hottest flashpoints in the conflict between the people and the Water Barons. There, the National Coalition Against the Privatization of Water (NCAP of Water) has aggressively opposed Bank-advocated privatization proposals.

Unicef's Map of Programmes for Adolescent Participation During Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations is an information sharing tool that documents the participation of adolescents in community development and peace-building activities during conflict and post-conflict situations. The Map represents the work of a broad spectrum of partners, including NGO’s, UN agencies, governments, community leaders, teachers, parents and most importantly, young people.

This article in the International Journal of Refugee Law analyses the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) with regard to refugee witnesses, and in particular to the claims for witness protection for such persons before the Tribunal. It also examines whether the Tribunal has the power to order states or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to grant or facilitate refugee status to witnesses as a protective measure so as to ensure their appearance before it.

A UN inter-agency mission dispatched to central Liberia on Tuesday reported that fighting has died down in the region and that displaced Liberians were drifting back to their homes.

Zimbabwe's leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Tuesday denied that negotiations had resumed with President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. "This is media speculation. There are no talks in the country and this has been confirmed by Zanu PF," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said.

President Olusegun Obasanjo marked Nigeria's National Day on Wednesday with an impassioned defence of his reform programme, as organised labour threatened to strike over fuel price rises.

A total of 26 Sudanese refugees, mainly children, have died in West Nile due to various diseases, officials have said. The First Deputy Premier and Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Lt. Gen. Moses Ali, said the refugees died of natural causes and not as a result of their transfer to Kiryandongo, Masindi, West Nile.

The number of Ugandans who have been displaced by the country's 17-year long civil war in the north has now exceeded one million, according to latest figures from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

Funding shortfalls in support of some 15,000 refugees from Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) residing in Nebbi District of northwestern Uganda have impacted negatively on efforts to provide adequate aid, the International Federation of the Red Cross reported on Monday.

Fighting has erupted in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, during a visit to the city by rebel leader Sekou Conneh. Gunmen shot at Mr Conneh's motorcade, triggering an exchange of fire between rebels and government troops, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Related Link:
U.S. forces leave Liberia
http://www.africanconflict.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7…

Rwanda's ruling party is likely to dominate the country's new parliament, according to interim results announced by the National Electoral Commission. In five out of 12 provinces so far counted, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF-led coalition of parties has achieved 75% of the vote.

The latest report of the Burundian human rights group, Iteka, says that despite the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the government and the Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democratie/Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction of Jean Pierre Nkurunziza, the situation of human rights in the country has not improved.

Former rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been authorised to function as political parties, according to Theophile Mbemba, minister of the interior, decentralisation and national security of the nation's recently-inaugurated two-year transitional government.

Seven of Guinea's opposition political parties on Monday said they would resume dialogue with the government following a meeting in which the government agreed to look into their grievances including lack of access to state radio and television.

"I cannot see why it is that if an individual uses violence against a state it is seen as terrorism, but if a government uses violence and intimidation against its people it is often viewed as something else. What applies to the one should apply to the other,” says senior researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Anneli Botha. She is arguing that terrorism in Africa cannot only be tackled with tighter security and anti-terrorism legislation.

There are fears that militia and small rebel groups in Sudan, who have been sidelined from peace talks, could derail any agreement that might be reached between government and the main rebel group in future.

Sudan is notable for a number of reasons. It is the biggest country in Africa and has endured its longest conflict. But it is a wealthy country in terms of available resources. It is endowed with minerals like petroleum, mica, chromites, gypsum, marble, mica, gold and diamonds. Sudan’s varied climate can support an array of agriculture like sugar cane, cotton, timber, gum, livestock, peanuts and wheat. These are all positive attributes to Sudan’s development. But, over the last 50 years the Sudan conflict has left almost 4.5 million people either dead, exiled or displaced, says this analysis on the Peace and Conflict Monitor website.

Souleymane Guengueng, a torture victim and award-winning human rights activist from Chad, has been fired from his position with the World Bank-backed Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), Human Rights Watch says. The Commission apparently took the measure in reprisal for his campaign to bring to justice the former dictator of Chad, Hissene Habre.

The U.S. led war on Iraq has strengthened opposition to U.S. policies in Egypt; emboldened challenges to the regime; led to a growing consensus in favour of political reform and realignment of the opposition, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group. The ICG says the U.S. administration should take seriously the evidence of political damage that American-Egyptian relations have sustained as a consequence of its regional policies, notably its perceived bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its decision to topple the regime in Iraq, and its heavy-handed admonitions to Egypt and other Arab countries to reform. Washington's policies, and the manner of their implementation, have embarrassed a friendly government, aggravated its domestic difficulties and undermined the U.S.'s self-proclaimed reform agenda.

About 160,000 people die every year from side-effects of global warming ranging from malaria to malnutrition and the numbers could almost double by 2020, a group of scientists said Tuesday. The study, by scientists at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said children in developing nations seemed most vulnerable.