In June the South African government passed a set of acts to allow local and municipal government councillors, as well as provincial and national members of parliament to change political parties without losing their seats. The acts have important short-term implications for coalition politics and the control of local and provincial governments in South Africa, and they address issues at the heart of the country's debate over electoral system reform, according to a report from the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa.

American actress Miss Angelina Jolie over the weekend made a personal donation of Sh15.6 million (US$200,000) to refugees in Kenya.Of this sum, Sh3.9 million is to go to training for refugee girls. The Hollywood star could not hold back her tears when she described her encounter with refugee girls and women at Kakuma refugee camp where she spent her Sunday.

Sudan's government signed an agreement with rebels on Tuesday to suspend fighting during talks to end their 20-year-old war, an official with the mediation team said.

Almost a quarter century of dominance by Kenya's President, Daniel arap Moi, ended this week as his ruling party split in two and a powerful opposition coalition to unseat him was announced at a massive rally.

As many as 30,000 "old caseload" Angolan refugees could opt for integration in Zambian society and stay behind when the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) begins its repatriation programme next year.

Uhuru Kenyatta's name is on everyone's lips now that he has been nominated as the ruling party's presidential candidate to succeed Daniel arap Moi. He is, of course, known as the son of Kenya's founding president, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, but he is only just beginning to emerge from his father's shadow.
Related Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/africa/2324965.stm

Congolese tribal fighters backed by the government seized control of a strategic eastern Congolese port from rebels Sunday after two days of heavy fighting, a rebel official said.

Angolan refugees arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are staying in "very poor conditions" in the eastern town of Luau, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has accused some non-governmental organisations (NGO's) of meddling in the country's internal affairs and said his government will regulate them, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The Nigerian government's recent action to crack down on the vigilante group known as the Bakassi Boys is welcome but more fundamental reforms are needed, Human Rights Watch says.
Related Link:
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30358

After several months of negotiations Angola's former rebel group UNITA was unified this week, paving the way for national reconciliation and the implementation of outstanding aspects of the 1994 Lusaka peace agreement.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has dispatched an assessment team to Liberia to review the situation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the IOM reported on Friday.

Nigerian leaders have appealed for calm as they urge their countrymen to accept a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handing sovereignty of the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon.

The government of the vast, poverty-stricken west African state of Mali resigned without public explanation on Saturday after only four months in office, but President Amadou Toumani Toure asked his prime minister to remain in office.

The victims of Nazism are continuing to receive reparations to this day, more than 50 years after the crime was committed. Morality apart, by parity of reasoning, the victims of apartheid MUST be compensated for the crime they suffered. The government of South Africa is itself, a victim of the crime of apartheid. It cannot conceivably be made to affect the reparations. It is the world corporations and the western governments that egged them on and benefitted from the loot, who should be made to pay reparations. Blow the trumpet loud until the deaf hear! (In response to Pambazuka News 83 - Calling Apartheid's Profiteers to Account)

Sibanze Simuchoba, Lusaka, Zambia

Armed men of Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo are accused by local residents of creating a climate of insecurity in the district of Maringue, in the central province of Sofala, according to Maringue administrator Augusto Matique, cited in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily paper "Noticias".

Both the government and Unita carried out deliberate violations of international human rights law that constituted war crimes during the Angolan civil war, but the United Nations and the international community failed to intervene in the crisis. Since the end of the conflict the international community has shown themselves to be just as incapable of dealing with the suffering of civilians and understanding the urgent human need that exists in the country, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) which has released two reports showing how Angolan civilians were abused as a strategy of war.

The outbreak of violence in the Ivory Coast was part of a “conflict system” that had engulfed West Africa since the start of the Liberian civil war in 1989, says the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA). “The carnage and human cruelty in Sierra Leone, the sporadic violence in Guinea and the massive refugee situation are all manifestations of the West African conflict system.”

Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagdo launched a failed attempt to defeat rebels in their northern stronghold of Bouaka this week after refusing to sign a peace deal following mediation by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). The conflict, which reportedly started out as an army mutiny on September 19, was quickly upgraded by the government to a coup attempt and with the rebels now in control of the north of the country, risks being reclassified as a civil war. In this Q&A Pambazuka News answers some of the questions surrounding the conflict.

Legal aid in Africa exists in name only in most countries. Prisons across the continent are congested with high remand populations. The few with the means to retain a lawyer may get bail or a prompt trial, but most suffer unseen and unnoticed by a system that is itself under-resourced and over-stretched. The situation in Malawi is no different. In May 2000, Penal Reform International (PRI) proposed a pilot paralegal scheme to provide legal aid to prisoners. After two years of operation, more than 550 paralegal aid clinics have been held, reaching over 10 000 prisoners.