The 50 or so laughing children playing in the mud on a hot, rainy day deep in Guinea’s remote Forest Region are mostly younger than 12 years old, and, although small for their age, seem reasonably healthy. The mud, their youth, and giggles are not the only things they share in common, however. Each are abandoned children that were forced to flee the orphanage they called home when the northeastern Liberian border town of Ganta turned into a war zone earlier this year. They also have another commonality that bonds them; each child is now a refugee in a foreign land, attempting to again restart their already broken lives.

The UN refugee agency has said it planned to launch a special appeal for funds to cover unforeseen needs in seven different African countries, none of which has received much international attention.

Sharp divisions between member states of the African Union (AU) attending the grouping’s second summit led to Zimbabwe being left out of the agenda as the organisers tried to avoid anything that could further divide the 53-member body already riven by serious disagreements.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriated last Thursday 197 Republic of Congo refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), following assurances from Brazzaville authorities that their safety would be guaranteed.

The main Liberian rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), has warned against the planned deployment of 1,500 ECOWAS peacekeepers in the war-torn country prior to the departure of President Charles Taylor into exile.

Renewed fighting between rebels and government forces in Burundi erupted in the capital Bujumbura this week, leaving streets littered with bodies and doubts about a peace process intended to end almost 10 years of civil war.
Related Link:
* Zuma arrives in Bujumbura as UN withdraws nonessential staff
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35449

Nigerian civil society groups have called for a review of the United States government's foreign and oil policy. In an open letter to the visiting United States President George W. Bush, the groups said America's foreign and oil policy currently served only the interests of powerful corporations. The groups specifically opposed plans by the U.S. to deploy troops to guard Nigerian oil installations. For four decades Western oil companies operating in Nigeria had reduced the once balanced and life-sustaining Niger Delta to a "veritable nightmare".

Both the government of Liberia and Liberian rebel forces are responsible for violations of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes and other serious human rights abuses, according to a briefing before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus. "Tens of thousands of Liberians have been forcibly displaced and hundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed, either deliberately or in crossfire. Recent human rights abuses committed by both sides include the forced recruitment of children in displaced and refugee camps, forced labour, assault, and sexual violence against civilians, as well as attacks on humanitarian workers," said Washington Director for Africa of Human Rights Watch Janet Fleischman.

Abductions, torture, recruitment of child soldiers, and other abuses have sharply increased in the past year in northern Uganda due to renewed fighting between Ugandan government forces and rebels, a coalition of national and international organisations said in a report released this week.

The head of the main rebel group in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has officially announced the end of his movement's five-year war against the Kinshasa-based government, the rebel group said on Saturday.

After a one-week general strike the leaders of the Nigerian trade unions have called it off. And for what? The government had increased the price of petrol from 26 naira to 40 naira. Initially the trade unions has said they would stand firm, the government had to bring the price down to 26 naira. Then the negotiations started and the agreed price was 34 naira, a 30% increase. The workers and poor people of Nigeria had shown a bitter determination to continue the strike, but they have been terribly betrayed by their so-called leaders, says this article.

The Zambian government says the return of peace to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will lead to a reduction of the number of refugees in the country.

Thousands of civilians were displaced when heavy fighting erupted again on Tuesday between the army and fighters loyal to Agathon Rwasa's faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) in the southeastern part of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura.

With the resumption of administrative activities across the troubled Pool Region in the Republic of Congo, the government has expressed hope that all internally displaced persons (IDPs) would be back in their homes by the end of July.

On the eve of the African Union (AU) summit in Maputo, Amnesty International called on all African governments to fulfil their obligations under international law and to cooperate fully with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. "African governments meeting in Maputo should state publicly their commitment to cooperate with the Special Court; failure to do so will undermine the integrity of the AU," Amnesty International said.

Most of the largest carbon dioxide emitting companies in the U.S. are failing to assess, disclose and address the financial risks posed by climate change, according to a new study of 20 of the world's largest companies. Unlike many of their foreign rivals, American industry giants such as ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Southern Company and Xcel Energy, continue to pursue business strategies that discount the global warming threat, the report details.

On a street by the river port in the oil town of Warri, dozens of Nigerian soldiers and marines shelter behind sandbags, pointing their machine guns towards an unseen enemy. They are mounting a 24-hour watch on the southern approaches of the Warri River. "The situation in the Niger Delta has graduated from restiveness to insurrection," Enilama Umoku, a political science lecturer at Delta State University near Warri, told IRIN.

Four people were killed and seven others injured on Wednesday when rebels shelled the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, for the third consecutive day.

The repatriation of Eritrean refugees from Sudan, which resumed last month, has been halted due to the start of the rainy season, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.

A Kenyan mother of five appealed to American President George Bush on the eve of his African tour on Monday for help in finding her husband, two weeks after his arrest in Malawi by United States agents on an anti-terrorist swoop.