Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said last Friday he preferred a policy of ‘constructive engagement’ and effective diplomacy, rather than ‘antagonism’ towards Zimbabwe. Obasanjo was speaking in the South African capital, Pretoria, after talks with President Thabo Mbeki on the first day of a two-day state visit.

Government troops in Cote d’Ivoire reported fresh fighting in the west of the country on Sunday, as efforts continued to persuade President Laurent Gbagbo and his rivals to implement a peace accord agreed in France last month.
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A court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, ruled last Thursday that the country's electoral commission acted illegally when it charged political parties fees to field candidates in upcoming general elections.

King Mswati III delivered a much anticipated speech last Friday when he opened the Houses of Parliament, but his briefest State of the Kingdom address ever avoided mentioning the on-going political crises, and offered only one new initiative to combat AIDS, poverty and the current food crisis.

South Africa and Nigeria will allow Zimbabwe to be readmitted to the Commonwealth group of nations when its suspension expires next month, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday. Howard said a decision by South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo to cancel a meeting with him next month would effectively see Zimbabwe readmitted to the 54-nation grouping of former British colonies.

Hundreds of people have been streaming into camps for previously displaced people in the western suburbs of the capital, Monrovia. Earlier last week, rebels from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) group were reported to be on the outskirts of Monrovia, sparking panic, but this later proved to be a false alarm.

Processes of globalization have highlighted the need for ethical standards and norms wherever conflicts arise, particularly in developing countries which often have weak institutions and systems of redress. Through careful and sensitive exploration of case studies spanning the entire developing world, this publication shows how these new standards might be approached and the conditions they must meet to address fundamental issues of land rights, mineral and oil extraction, environmental ethics and development strategies. By showing what legal and institutional innovation is needed to mediate disputes and to enforce new ethics in the global economy that promote both human rights and environmental sustainability, this book makes a significant contribution to the development process as a whole.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello has expressed "grave concern" over the growing violence in Côte d'Ivoire, condemning the propaganda carried by some national media aimed at inciting war, hatred and xenophobia. de Mello reminded all concerned that grave human rights violations were punishable as international crimes.

Despite having no electricity, coupled with an unreliable telephone system, Burundian refugees living in camps in northwestern Tanzania can now access the Internet, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR) reported last Wednesday.

The National Youth Commission (NYC) has accused the Democratic Alliance of racism, in reaction to a DA comment that it should be disbanded. Monde Mkalipi, a commission spokesperson, says it remains a product of progressive youth formations that aims were to reconstruct and develop South Africa.

Trafficking is one of the most serious challenges faced by children in the world today. The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre has identified policy solutions in eight African countries. The report is available online.

The government of the Central African Republic has sent troops from its Congolese allies to stop a rebel advance on the CAR's second largest military base.

A tornado tore through remote villages in central Congo, killing 164 people, destroying homes and ruining crops, the country's top health official said Wednesday.

Although swift food aid deliveries have mitigated a humanitarian crisis in southern Africa, a horrifying new disaster looms as HIV/AIDS ravages the region, threatening the very existence of whole countries, two United Nations envoys warned after a weeklong inter-agency mission to the region.

Amnesty International delegates visiting the Sudan in the first official mission allowed for 13 years welcomed the growing openness in the country, but expressed concern at continuing arbitrary and incommunicado detention, unfair trials as well as the forced recruitment of children and displacement of civilians by all sides in the armed conflict.

One hundred and fifty Liberian refugee children at the Buduburam Camp in the Central Region have been neglected by their biological parents and are having to fend for themselves.

Activists in the Republic of Congo (ROC) have called on the government to bring outdated laws on human rights into line with international conventions, and to ratify the International Criminal Court. The appeal was issued on 31 January, at the conclusion of a major multi-sectoral human rights conference held in the capital, Brazzaville.

Defence lawyers in the treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials have described the State's star witness, Ari Ben-Menashe, as "an internationally-renowned crook".

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has turned down a request by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari for the date of the presidential polls to be adjusted. In a February 3 letter to the INEC, Buhari asked for an adjustment, saying the elections - due for Saturday, April 19 - fell within the Christian holy week of Easter.

The Refugee Council works at the heart of what is arguably the country’s most controversial social issue of the day. It is viewed as the leading authority on refugee issues in the UK and is striving to influence policy and legislation in the UK, Europe and internationally. The new Chief Executive will lead the organisation through a future that faces great change, ensuring that the interests of refugees and asylum seekers are represented robustly to decision-makers at the highest levels.