Liberian rebels fighting to topple President Charles Taylor bombarded the capital city, Monrovia, with heavy mortar and rocket fire throughout the night and punched their way into the city centre on Wednesday morning.

The Somali peace talks, currently underway in Kenya, are in danger of collapse if a compromise solution is not found to the selection and number of future parliamentarians, a faction leader warned on Wednesday.

About 30,000 Sudanese refugees have been displaced from their homes within the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, due to fighting with the local Turkana people which has claimed 11 lives.

It is little surprise the transatlantic battle over genetically modified food came to be fought on the scorched fields of Africa's peasant farmers. Here the ability of a field of maize to resist pests and drought is a matter of life and death. The continent's leaders have become pawns in a wider mesh of conflicting trade and economic interests, bombarded by a confusing array of information blurring into propaganda.

There is a real potential for those who feel ignored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace process in Sudan to undermine any deal that is between only the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), warns a new briefing from the International Crisis Group. These marginalised areas include the so-called "Three Areas" of Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile, which are being discussed outside the IGAD process. A second category includes areas like Darfur in the west, which has seen a major upsurge in fighting since February but is excluded from any peace negotiations.

The reported secret transfer this week to US custody of five men arrested in Malawi on suspicion of being members of al-Qa'ida heightens concern about the United States of America's (US) attitude to the human rights of people detained in the so-called "war on terror", Amnesty International said. "Once again it seems that the US may have been involved in a transfer which circumvents basic human rights protections and national law," the organisation emphasized.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has documented 266 cases of torture in Zimbabwe between 1 January and 31 May 2003. In the same period there had been 442 unlawful arrests, 135 unlawful detentions, 265 cases of violation of freedom of expression, 241 cases of political discrimination and 180 assaults. These are the latest figures contained in a report from the Forum on political violence for the month of May.

On the eve of a visit by the United Nations Security Council delegation to West Africa, and as fighting intensifies around Liberia's capital, Monrovia, Amnesty International urged the countries of the sub-region and the international community to do everything possible to protect Liberian refugees and all others caught in the middle of these two conflicts.

The Egyptian government's refusal to allow two human rights groups to register as legal entities casts a shadow over their capacity to work, Human Rights Watch says. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern over the government's detention and interrogation of a prominent Egyptian human rights activist as he was returning from a conference abroad.

The French-led multinational force deployed in Bunia said on Saturday that local militia must hand over guns or leave the town within 72 hours. Gen. Jean-Paul Thonier, the commander of the UN-mandated force, gave "72 hours for the withdrawal of all armed forces from Bunia", according to the force's spokesman, Col. Gerard Dubois.
Related Link:
* MILITIA GROUP AGREES TO CANTON ITS FORCES OUTSIDE BUNIA
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34931

The government has been asked to stand up for the rights of Kenyans and defy terrorism demands by Britain and the United States. In angry reactions to a decision by the US to close its Nairobi embassy over terrorism fears, MPs said Kenya should look after its own interests, rather than dancing to the tune of other countries. They termed Washington's decision "unfair", "unwarranted" and "uncalled for" and described Kenya as "an innocent victim" of terrorism.

Mass migration in Africa will threaten the region’s stability if it continues unchecked or unabated, a conference in Addis Ababa heard on Monday. Millions who flee conflict or economic crises pose enormous burdens on their new host nations, the four-day meeting on migration and trafficking was told.

In this special report IRIN outlines major developments in the peace process during 2003, and looks forward to future talks. A previous web special, published in January, describes in detail the important humanitarian issues surrounding the talks and gives background on the key areas of negotiation. For the first time in 20 years, lasting peace in Sudan could be within reach.
Related Link:
* SUDAN: NUBA MOUNTAINS CEASEFIRE EXTENDED UNTIL JANUARY
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34988

Former Rwandan Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu arrived in Kigali last Friday from Brussels, ending his eight-year exile to challenge President Paul Kagame in the first post-genocide elections.

Angolan refugees departed from camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last Friday, in the first phase of a voluntary repatriation programme spanning three countries in the region. On day one of the operation more than 500 Angolan refugees are returning to M'Banza Congo in northwestern Angola and Luau in the eastern reaches of the country, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) said.

Liberian President Charles Taylor rejected last Friday the proposed formation of a transitional government within 30 days that would exclude him. Taylor said he would only step down at the end of his term in January 2004, and even then, he might stand for re-election.

On 01 July, Burundi will be celebrating its independence of 1962 from the Belgians, and while they will be observing this remarkable day the rest of the world will be hoping for the lasting peace of a ten year civil war that has ravaged that country, leaving more than 300 000 dead with over a million people, according to the UN, internally displaced or living abroad as refugees. Read this commentary from www.zmag.org by clicking on the link provided.

Major energy companies underwrote a pre-planned and well funded campaign to lie about the seriousness of climate change, says this commentary. And the Bush administration joined the ranks of the deceivers last week when the Environmental Protection Agency was directed to eliminate a long section that described the risks from rising global temperatures from a soon to be released report on the state of the environment.

The arms procurement deal investigation was fundamentally flawed from the outset, and President Thabo Mbeki's advisors stunted the process when they influenced the course of justice, former judge Willem Heath said on Saturday.

The Inkatha Freedom Party's powerful national council will next week sit to discuss the party's possible exit from the national government -- a move that senior party members say is the most serious debate yet on this option. The debate, which has been raging in the party over the past months, coincides with frantic behind the scenes attempts by the African National Congress to seize control of KwaZulu-Natal.