Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission has approved four candidates to contest the country’s first post-genocide presidential elections, scheduled for 25 August. The commission cleared four of six candidates who had declared their interest in the presidency. The approved candidates are the incumbent, President Paul Kagame, former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, a woman candidate, Alvera Mukabaramba; and former Member of Parliament Nepomuscene Nayinzira.

The lives of about 17,000 people living in the Kakuma refugee camp, northwestern Kenya, are in danger from flooding caused by the merging of two seasonal rivers, the UN warned on Monday. The two rivers, the Taraich and the Nakabet, are expected to merge during the next rainy season in October which will lead to an island in the centre of the camp. The camp could then collapse.

A non-profit charity based in the United States, the Centre for the Prevention of Genocide, has launched a human rights resource website. In a statement, the centre described the new website http://www.genocideprevention.org as one of the world's few early warning systems for the detection of genocidal activity.

A suspended operation to repatriate Somali refugees from Kenya to the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, resumed at the weekend, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. In a statement, it said the repatriation restarted on 19 July after a two-month suspension caused by lack of funds for the flights to Somalia.

Kenya is under immense pressure from the US government not to ratify the Rome Statue on the International Criminal Court (ICC). Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter ole Nkuraiya, said the US is putting pressure on Kenya not to sign Article 98 of the Statute. "We are left to wonder what is the way forward as regards the issue. We are being arm and neck twisted by the big brother," he said.

The violence that followed a cattle-rustling incident last month in Kakuma refugee camp, northwestern Kenya, was unprecedented in its deadly impact. Displacing 30,000 people and killing two Turkana, nine Sudanese, and one Ethiopian caught in the crossfire, the effects are still being felt four weeks later.

The Liberian capital of Monrovia is experiencing some of its worst fighting in seven years, following a weekend of heavy bombardment as rebel forces advanced into the city centre and government troops loyal to embattled President Charles Taylor fought to hold their positions. The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which had hoped to get a thousand or more troops on the ground this week, is still discussing how to get the force into place.
Related Links:
* REBELS REFUSE TO SIGN LIBERIA PEACE AGREEMENT
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35552
* BRUTAL FIGHTING IN MONROVIA: AT LEAST 100 DEAD
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=37&o=25077

There were 113 cases of torture recorded for the month of June, while political discrimination, violations of freedom of expression and assaults remained widespread, according to the Zimbabwean Human Rights NGO Forum's Political Violence Report for June. "Since the Human Rights Forum began documenting and publishing politically related human rights violations in 2000, there has been a sustained level of organised violence and torture, peaking at periods surrounding elections, public marches and demonstrations.”

The Zimbabwe Council of Churches has apologised to the people of Zimbabwe for not doing enough to protest human rights abuses by the government. The apology was made in a communique issued by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches following its annual meeting.
Related Link:
PIED PIPER
http://www.africapulse.org.za/index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=13…

"People are here to pursue their own interests. In fact, one would say that Somalia is up for grabs," says a delegate to the Somali peace talks being held in Mbaghati, Kenya. The delegate is from Somaliland, the renegade region whose "head of State" has snubbed the Nairobi talks.

Amnesty International has appealed to regional Heads of State or their representatives meeting on 20 July 2003 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to inject a renewed momentum to ending the armed conflict in Burundi and to give protection of human rights priority on their agenda. "The gap between paper agreements and the situation of Burundian civilians in constant fear for their lives, property and security grows ever larger," said Amnesty International.

Human Rights Watch has written to the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), John Kufuor, urging him to ensure that ECOWAS troops sent to Liberia act in full accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and with a clear mandate to protect civilians and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Somali human rights defenders in all areas must be given a central role in the difficult struggle ahead for sustained peace, democracy and human rights, Amnesty International has urged, as the Somalia peace and reconciliation conference in Kenya moves, within the next month, to establish a transitional federal government by selecting a four-year parliament which will elect the president. Somaliland is proceeding separately to its own parliamentary elections after the recent presidential elections.

Child trafficking is a global human rights tragedy. Over one million children worldwide, including thousands in West Africa, are recruited from their homes each year by individuals seeking to exploit their labour. Extreme poverty, sometimes combined with the death of one or both parents, makes children highly vulnerable to false promises of education, vocational training or paid work. Human Rights Watch's April 2003 report "Borderline Slavery: Child Trafficking in Togo" highlights Togo as a case study of trafficking in the region. Contact your elected representatives, your countries' embassies, authorities in Togo and international lending agencies urging them to condemn, monitor, and prevent all forms of child trafficking.

The World Food Programme has warned that a serious maize meal shortage has delayed food distribution to refugees in Namibia's Osire camp. In its latest situation report, WFP said food distribution to the 18,000 mainly Angolan refugees in Osire had been delayed until later in the month.

Amnesty International is urging Nigerian authorities to launch an independent public inquiry into the death of at least four people reported to have been killed in Lagos in clashes involving the police and civilians during demonstrations against an increase in the price of fuel. More than seven days after the people were announced dead, no investigation has been carried out.

As Sudanese mark the first anniversary of the signing of the Machakos Protocol, which paved the way for the current peace process, Amnesty International is calling for human rights to be made a full component of any forthcoming peace agreement. "Unless human rights for all become a full component of a forthcoming agreement crucial for the future of Sudan, peace will not be sustainable," Amnesty International says in a new report entitled 'Sudan: Empty promises? Human rights violations in government-controlled areas'.

The international criminal court is likely to investigate war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, its chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has said. Mr Moreno Ocampo said that he was "closely following" the situation in Ituri, the north-eastern province where thousands of civilians have been killed in tribal conflicts since last year.

The needs and challenges imposed by the evolving conflicts in West Africa call for the collaborative commitment of organisations active in the region working on media and peace and the mobilisation and deployment of intervention strategies along a common, coordinated and comprehensive platform. In addition, the raging conflict situations in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire required urgent and particular attention. This is according to recommendations from a three-day regional media and peace programme planning meeting in Accra, Ghana, held from July 8 -10, 2003. The meeting examined the current situation, role and fate of the media within the context of the protracted civil strifes and violent conflicts that, directly or indirectly, afflict all of the countries in West Africa.

Political and economic decay in Zimbabwe has become one of the major problems confronting post-apartheid Southern Africa and seriously threatens Africa's resolve to address democratic issues and re-invent its international image. According to Africa's critics and many of its Northern supporters, the lack of assertive action towards Zimbabwe is indicative of the fact that NEPAD and the African Union will be unable to amount to anything more than rhetoric. Despite humanitarian crises and overwhelming pressure for reform, Mr. Mugabe remains in power and apparently continues to enjoy the support of influential regional players. Increasing internal pressure and political dissent from pro-democracy forces have not compelled Mugabe's regime to concede that a crisis exists. How has this regime, which shows increasingly little regard for democratic principles, human rights, rule of law and political pluralism managed to cling to power even when change appears inevitable? asks this report from the Political Information & Monitoring Service of Idasa.