There is a mutually destructive stalemate between Zimbabwe’s illegitimate government on the one hand, and pro-democracy actors on the other. This destructive stalemate is inimical to regional stability and security, says a statement issued after a meeting held in South Africa in early March about the crisis in Zimbabwe.

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.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has listed 15 urgent issues that the regime of President Robert Mugabe must address to avoid facing popular mass action by March 31.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has received US $1 million from multilateral donors to buy food for thousands of internally displaced people and vulnerable groups in the troubled Central African Republic (CAR), David Bulman, the WFP representative in the CAR, told IRIN on Saturday.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has expressed fears that the negative impact of the United States-led war on Iraq may divert the attention of Mozambique and of Africa as a whole from their main priority, which should be the fight against poverty, reports Friday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".

With its prayers unanswered of avoiding a war in Iraq, South Africa must hope for a short, sharp operation. President Thabo Mbeki's principled stand against the forceful disarmament of Iraq has put South Africa's relations with two of its most important friends in the balance.

In northern Nigeria - far away from the military action in the Gulf, there appears to be overwhelming condemnation of U.S. President George W. Bush and his intentions in Iraq. AllAfrica correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton is travelling around the northern states of Nigeria to report on the current election campaign, ahead of polls next month. In the influential states of Kaduna and Kano, she heard the views of local people apparently deeply concerned about the war.

The US has denied that it has suspended military assistance to Nigeria following Nigeria's opposition to the US-led war on Iraq. US Nigeria ambassador Howard Jetter said: "This is not the case. The US government has not sought to influence Nigeria policy on Iraq through the suspension of military assistance. While some US military assistance to Nigeria has been affected by US legislation that went into effect on February 20, those limitations were in no way related to Nigeria's stand on Iraq."

Rebels in control of half of Ivory Coast for the past six months failed to attend the new unity government's second cabinet meeting.

The Ugandan authorities should bring suspected perpetrators of the serious human rights abuses committed in Ituri to justice before Uganda's courts, Amnesty International says in a new report on the deteriorating situation in Ituri province in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "There must be no hiding place for those who are alleged to have committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Ituri or elsewhere in DRC", Amnesty International said. "Suspected perpetrators, of whatever nationality, found on Ugandan territory or in areas of the DRC under Ugandan control should be investigated and brought to justice."

The South African government should not respond with violence to HIV/AIDS demonstrators seeking medical treatment, Human Rights Watch says. Police in Durban last week opened water cannons on some 70 peaceful demonstrators who were urging the government to provide antiretroviral treatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS. This attack took place on the eve of South Africa's Human Rights Day, established in memory of the victims of apartheid-era atrocities. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has also condemned police action against protestors, reports IRIN news.

Thousands of Muslims took to the streets last Friday across Africa to protest against the US-led war on Iraq.

Over 250 people have been admitted to the main casualty wards in Harare since last Thursday. Many of the victims told how they were warned, during their attacks, not to report the incidents to hospitals or human rights organisations, says Zvakwana in their latest newsletter.
Related Link:
SA finally speaks up over Zim
http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,1009,55812,00.html

This central African nation's rebel-leader turned self-proclaimed president named his prime minister on Sunday, charging the longtime opposition leader with assembling a new government in the coming days.

U.S. policy toward Africa in 2003 will be driven almost exclusively by geopolitical considerations related to Washington's war plans against Iraq, and by its geostrategic interests in African oil, says Africa Policy Outlook for 2003 published on the Foreign Policy in Focus web site (http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/papers/africa2003.html). "In a dangerous replay of the cold war, the U.S. is likely to ignore Africa's priorities, placing military base rights above human rights," says the report. In contrast the war against AIDS, by far the most important global war effort and an urgent priority especially for Africa, will continue to suffer from a lack of resources. African development would also suffer as a result of the negative impact a war would have on the global economy. African interests in building multilateral approaches to issues like international trade rules and peace peacekeeping was likely to be at odds with US unilateralism. The link below contains a list of resources to help you take action against the war on Iraq, and the latest news and commentary on the situation in the Middle East.

Escalating fighting between Liberian government forces and rebels has displaced at least 15,000 people from Gbarnga, 150 km north of the Liberia's capital, Monrovia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday.

Violence has escalated in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta, with militants from one community attacking villages populated by a rival ethnic group and storming an oil facility, officials and residents said on Tuesday.

Heavy fighting has again broken out in the Medina district of Mogadishu, according to sources in the Somali capital. The fighting pits militias loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow against those led by his former right-hand man, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish.

Refugee leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo (ROC) have urged the Office of the UN High Commissioner to Refugees (UNHCR) to help about 5,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the two countries to go home, days after a coup in the CAR, according to the UN agency.

Key talks between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA/M) on the disputed areas of the Nuba mountains, Southern Blue Nile and Abyei has achieved "limited progress", Kenya's special envoy to the talks, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, said on Wednesday.