Lake Naivasha faces extinction due to the diversion of water for irrigation, the government has warned. Nakuru District Commissioner Aggrey Mudinyu has ordered flower growers to install meters to enable the government to monitor their water consumption.

The UN World Food Programme has warned that it is running out of food aid to assist more than 91,000 Eritrean refugees living in camps in Sudan. The agency has already been forced to cut by almost half the amount of food being distributed, and may have to suspend the operation altogether if donations dry up.

Despite the numerous HIV/AIDS deaths and severe levels of illness, very few Southern Africans place the pandemic high on the agenda for government intervention. Job creation, crime, security and economic matters supersede the dire consequences of a largely “invisible killer.” Idasa’s Afro-Barometer project recently under-took public opinion surveys in the region.

A senior MEP has demanded the European Union reviews its financial assistance to Botswana, in the light of the forced relocation of 'Bushmen' from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Richard Howitt MEP visited the reserve last month and has now tabled a European Parliamentary question saying that the EU must not be complicit in the 'abuse of the Bushmen's human rights'.

As US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair up the rhetoric over an attack on Iraq, so worldwide protest against any military action is growing. In the next week protests are scheduled for London and Washington, while a score of web sites are campaigning against an attack on Iraq. Visit the link below for details of the Washington and London marches and to find out about various forms of online activism.

The Federal Government and the governments of Ghana and Togo have reaffirmed their commitment to rejecting any action that would lead to unconstitutional change of government in any part of West Africa.

A troika of Commonwealth leaders failed here on Monday to agree on how to deal with President Robert Mugabe, saving Zimbabwe from a threat of expulsion from the organization. Despite agreeing that the Zimbabwean leader had done nothing to address Commonwealth concerns that his re-election was undemocratic, the leaders of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa disagreed over new sanctions.

Thousands of Sudanese refugees staged a mass walkout from an Ethiopian-based refugee camp after learning of a visit by a high-level Khartoum government delegation, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Monday.

President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi has lashed out at European countries who have called for broad national consultation before the government introduces a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a third term. "This country is not controlled by donors. Never! You must understand that I am a president of this country. Yes, we are poor. But we want to be poor with our heads up, not with our heads down. And nobody, as long as I'm a president, nobody will control me," Muluzi told a rally.

Over 100,000 people are in urgent need of assistance in the town of Mavinga, in Angola's remote southern Kuando Kubango province.

The UN World Food Programme on Tuesday warned that it is running out of food aid to assist more than 91,000 Eritrean refugees living in camps in Sudan.

Most of the world's refugees are uprooted by warfare but never cross an international border, says a survey published today. Some 25 million people are now internally displaced due to conflicts that have spread since the Cold War, according to a major new survey. "The 2002 Global IDP Survey confirms two worrying trends: first, that large numbers of innocent civilians are being forced from their homes by increased insecurity in the world; and secondly, that many of these people remain officially neglected by government authorities," said Elisabeth Rasmusson, head of the Global IDP Project.

Warnings are being sounded that the withdrawal of Rwandan, Ugandan and Zimbabwean forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo could leave behind instability and factional conflict.
Related Link: http://www.africaonline.com/site/Articles/1,3,49657.jsp

A blistering conflict has erupted from within the Swazi royal camp over the inclusion of a clause that recognizes political parties in Swaziland. The dispute has led to the drafting of the national constitution being delayed now by a month. The committee, led by King Mswati's brother, Prince David, is reported to have angered the King by unbanning political parties in the draft constitution.

The Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA) has expressed its "concern and distress" over the disturbing political events taking place in the country. "Officially sanctioned violence seems to have become a standard prelude to our general and presidential elections," the organization said in a statement.

A dissenting group within Kenya's ruling party Kanu has threatened to form its own party if open elections are not held to choose the presidential candidate.

Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba plans to fight allegations he is plotting the removal of the current president in court, aides said Sunday. Chiluba was responding to a letter sent to him and other opposition leaders by President Levy Mwanawasa Saturday which accused them of trying to topple him by misleading the Supreme Court.

Despite a one-day extension of voter registration, reports from across the country at the close, indicated that millions of eligible Nigerians, could still not register.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has reiterated that the Zimbabwean farmers now working in central Mozambique are investors, not refugees.

Sudan Foreign Minister Mustapha Osman Ismail has said that the Khartoum government is committed to the Machakos peace agreement signed in July and will resume participation in talks once there is a ceasefire.