An armed group of eight men broke into the Port Harcourt home of Ledum Mitee on March 22, searching for him unsuccessfully. Mitee is president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and has been a strong critic of the Rivers State government. Human Rights Watch said the attack highlights the need for additional efforts to protect government critics in the crucial pre-election period.

Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea has announced that government forces have retaken the central provincial town of Gbarnga. Mr Chea said that between 13 and 15 government soldiers and more than 100 rebels were killed in the counter-attack which, according to him, has put the rebels on the run.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has given the green light for re-opening stalled talks with President Robert Mugabe's government following a gesture by South African President Thabo Mbeki welcoming the Movement for Democratic Change leader's apparent change of heart. In the most upbeat remarks he has made on Zimbabwe in many months, Mbeki made a dramatic and impassioned plea on Wednesday for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to resume talks aimed at thrashing out their differences over Zimbabwe's future.

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) reportedly killed a government peace envoy on Monday, dampening hopes for a peaceful end to the 17-year insurgency in northern Uganda.

The High Court has issued an order compelling a state witness in the treason trail of three opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders to surrender equipment used to secretly videotape a meeting at which the MDC officials allegedly plotted to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, secretary-general Welshman Ncube and shadow minister for agriculture Renson Gasela are alleged to have met in Canada with representatives of Dickens and Madson, a Canadian political consultancy they allegedly attempted to hire to assassinate Mugabe.
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A man looked at a video screen on a camcorder in shock and wonder. He started crying. "That's my daughter in there," he said. "I had no idea that she was still alive." After learning that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was caring for her since her release by rebel forces in Sierra Leone, he begged her to come home. The IRC videotaped this plea to show his daughter, and eventually was able to reunite them.

Thousands of people in Cote d'Ivoire have had to open their doors to friends and acquaintances displaced by an armed conflict that broke out in the West African country in September 2002. From one day to the next, they have had to provide accommodation, food and sometimes clothing to the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Continuing displacement of people from central Liberia due to fighting between government and rebels could quickly overburden the scarce resources of humanitarian agencies, the UN office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in New York on Tuesday.

The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya have achieved very few tangible results, members of Somali civil society said on Tuesday. According to a statement, received by IRIN, the group listed a range of objectives it said had not been met. These included "peace and national reconciliation, agreement on a provisional charter and other core issues, as well as the establishment of a national government".

Some 284 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), camped on the grounds of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangui are demanding that they be repatriated, the agency’s representative in the Central African Republic (CAR) told IRIN on Tuesday.

Swaziland may not harbour weapons of mass destruction, but sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy, that rules this kingdom of less than one million people, is becoming increasingly nervous about the doctrine of United States President George W. Bush, which finds little tolerance for unelected regimes.

Heavy rains have destroyed crops and swept away bridges and houses in a hunger-stricken part of Zambia leaving more than 10,000 people homeless, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Entering the Heavenly Touch Hair Studio is like taking a step back in time. Red plastic swivel chairs sit on a checkerboard of retro black-and-white linoleum. But amid the faded posters advertising hair straighteners and dye there is a decidedly modern South African touch. A small, black and orange sign warns visitors that here at Heavenly Touch, certain behaviour just won't be allowed. "Right of admission reserved," it reads. "No racists allowed." Over the past year, the "no-racists" signs have been showing up in business windows around this notoriously conservative town.

Burundi's hardline Hutu rebel group expressed satisfaction with its first round of peace talks with government and military representatives in Switzerland. "The meeting was very constructive, it laid a good start for the talks," Pasteur Habimana, spokesman for the National Liberation Forces, or FNL, said in Bujumbura. "Though it was only a first meeting, we truly discussed the historic causes of the Burundi conflict."

The government through the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to eliminate child labour and child trafficking in the country.

Twice a year, the Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) holds a 5-week training workshop. This course covers diverse aspects of conflict transformation and peace building, and is aimed at building the capacity of participants, mostly from the African continent, working in related fields. The next course is scheduled for 12th May 2003 to 14th June 2003 and will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Special facilities are available for participants with young children who cannot be left behind. The purpose of this course is to assist men and women working for development, human rights, peace and justice.

A leading South African judge has warned of the possible emergence of a ‘genetic apartheid’, arguing that the scientific advances of genetic research have created the spectre of a ‘genetic underclass’ that is vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination.

Is ethnicity the cause for the breakdowns in national unity, democracy and development in Uganda? This paper critically reviews the impact of ethnicity on the democratisation process in Uganda from colonialism to the present. The author argues that ethnicity in Uganda, as elsewhere on the African continent, has been historically constructed and subsequently reproduced. While democratisation may be problematic in the face of ethnic consciousness, the paradox is that the best way to reduce ethnic consciousness is more and not less democratisation.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which exists to assist victims of organised violence, has condemned unreservedly the recent violence that has been perpetrated by state agents on members of the public throughout Zimbabwe. This follows the stay-away called for by the main opposition party to express its deep concern at the ongoing deterioration of the state of the nation.

Hundreds of antiwar activists and demonstrators have been detained in Cairo and some are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch charges. Hundreds more have been injured as security forces used water cannons, clubs, dogs, and even stones against demonstrators. Police have arrested leaders of movements protesting the Iraq war and Israeli actions in the Occupied Territories; journalists, professors, and students; and onlookers, as well as children as young as 15 years old.