State prosecutors argued on Wednesday against calls for the treason case against Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to be dropped, saying he must answer charges he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai and two senior colleagues in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could face death sentences if convicted of plotting to assassinate Mugabe in 2001 amid Zimbabwe's worst political and economic crisis in decades.

The more involved the U.S. becomes in the crisis-wracked continent of Africa, the clearer it is that Washington isn't the solution - but instead bears responsibility for the civil wars and social catastrophes across Africa. Exhibit A is Liberia.
Related Link:
* Liberia: Ending the Horror
http://www.fpif.org/outside/commentary/2003/0307liberia.html

The EU has called for a stronger mandate for the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, similar to that of the multinational peace force mission deployed to the north-eastern town of Bunia.

'A Sept. 11 toll, every day, for 666 days," headlined a June 25 article in a Johannesburg newspaper, The Star, on the five-year-old conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How odd. The death of at least 3.3 million Africans - exceeding the numbers killed in either the Korean or Vietnam wars - seems comprehensible to the newspaper's predominantly white readership only in terms of a catastrophe that has so profoundly affected the West. After the Holocaust, the world said "never again." And yet, less than a decade ago, the international community turned away from genocide in Rwanda. Now it seems willing to allow a replay in the Congo. To many in Africa, white as well as black, the West is prone to a sort of blindness when it comes to the fate of Africans.

The Education Imperative, a new publication co-published by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, documents the scope of the educational problem facing refugees and internally displaced persons and explains why education in emergency situations is essential. According to the report, education promotes a sense of normalcy that helps children cope with the effects of crisis and supports redevelopment of civil society. In addition, safe learning environments can shield children and teens from exposure to landmines, recruitment into militias and gangs, and sexual violence.

Government has called on the police to work closely with non governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing in child abuse to combat child trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Youth, Sport and Child Development Deputy Minister Gunston Chola said the problem of child trafficking required concerted efforts as it was a problem affecting many countries.

Ituri, the province where the peace process in Congo now faces its stiffest challenge and where French-led peacekeepers are attempting to halt the bloodshed, has remained a frontier of unbridled capitalism ever since King Leopold of Belgium sent in two Australian gold prospectors 100 years ago. Warlords and adventurers have thrived on the trade in gold, diamonds and timber, receiving arms in exchange from godfathers in Kinshasa, Uganda and Rwanda, all of which have been battling for control of the province through proxies.

When he took over the reins of power on December 30, President Kibaki promised Kenyans that the days of corruption as a national pastime were over and that his administration was committed to a policy of zero-tolerance to corruption. And because he made this declaration in the presence of his predecessor, whose regime is blamed for runaway corruption in the public sector, Kenyans were convinced that things would change for the better. But have they? Is the Government’s war on corruption losing steam? Although it has demonstrated an impressive commitment to erasing the sad legacy of corruption from the public domain, the goals it set for itself may, after all, have been too ambitious, says this commentary from the Daily Nation newspaper.

The Rwandan government has registered eight political parties ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 August and 29 September respectively, a government minister told IRIN on Monday. The minister for local government and social welfare, Christopher Bazivamo, said the registered parties were free to operate.

Mogadishu-based faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow rejected a peace agreement signed earlier this month by delegates to the peace talks in Nairobi, saying it was "flawed".

About 2,000 gunmen who formerly fought for both government and rebel forces in the west of Cote d'Ivoire are still at large, preying off the civilian population and preventing relief agencies from operating freely in the lawless region close to the Liberian border, according to a source in the French peacekeeping force.

The Sudan peace process may be concluded in mid-August if the latest round of talks - adjourned in a stalemate Saturday over a power-sharing disagreement - resumes next week, Kenyan mediator Lazarus Sumbeiywo said in Nairobi Wednesday.

"Thank God for arriving home safely,” says 20-year-old Emerson Fowai, who was among 360 Sierra Leoneans evacuated from war-torn Liberia last week. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commenced the repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees from Liberia last week. And, so far, close to 700 have been transported in two batches.

Countries of the Great Lakes region, the African Union and United Nations, have come together to work out a long-term strategy to promote peace in the region. Representatives of the two organisations, together with those from the Great Lakes countries comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), met here recently and pledged to work towards quelling wars that have engulfed the region. The meeting, called the International Conference For Peace, Security, Democracy and Development for the Great Lakes Region, was the first of its kind.

The leader of the second largest rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Pierre Bemba, has arrived in Kinshasa, ahead of Thursday's inauguration of the vice-presidents in the new transitional government.
Related Link:
* "No turning back" as vice-presidents sworn in
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35455

Efforts are under way to hold talks with the leaders of the coup which toppled the government of the West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe on Wednesday. Rebel army officers in the tiny former Portuguese colony seized the prime minister and other cabinet members in the dawn coup, which appears to have been largely bloodless. Sao Tome and Principe, one of the world's poorest states, has offshore oilfields which are due to begin producing within the next four years.

The Nigerian army says its contingent of a West African peacekeeping operation pledged for war-ravaged Liberia is ready for deployment. Nigeria has pledged to send 750 soldiers for the operation. West African nations last week agreed to form the force for war-torn Liberia and send a first contingent of around one thousand within two weeks. The move is aimed at arresting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.

The child sex trade is a multibillion-dollar industry. Girls and boys are bought and sold like commodities and sexually exploited for commercial gain. What is the international community doing to end this inhumane trade? Can it succeed? A paper from UNICEF reports from the front line of the fight to give vulnerable children the right to protection from abuse, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Drawing on testimonies from children and leading figures in the child protection movement, it debunks myths, calls for zero tolerance of traffickers and suggests how international agencies, police forces, legislators, judges and educators can do more to end the scourge.

A spirit of compromise is at work in Swaziland between the royal government and pro-democracy forces agitating for political reform, as both parties return to the old Swazi values of dialogue and consensus.

With 10 months to go until elections, the author of this article says it is time to ask some important questions: Has Malawi really enjoyed progress as a democracy or have we stalled between real democracy and the freedoms that come from that, or authoritarianism with its limited political freedoms.? Has our politics become dysfunctional and irrelevant? Has our political polarised position encouraged a breeding ground for extremists and sycophants who are keen on creating violent conflict?