The Rwandan former armed forces chief of staff, Augustin Bizimungu, denied on Wednesday genocide charges before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sitting in Arusha, northern Tanzania, Internews reported.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has observed that, despite a difficult environment, economic growth in Africa averaged about 3.1 percent last year. But he warned that violence, declining donor funding, and the scourges of AIDS and poverty were still critical problems plaguing Africa.

South Africa has been asked to send a battalion of peacekeeping troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Political violence is on the rise in Malawi as political divisions deepen ahead of elections in 2004, a new report by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has warned.

Despite the continuing peace process in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, the overall humanitarian situation has not improved, according to the latest report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

At least 90 government officials of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' State (SNNPS) have been arrested by the state authorities in the Sheko Zone for involvement in human rights violations and abuse of office, IRIN has been told.

Zimbabwe is now in crisis with millions starving as a result of Robert Mugabe's land grab policy. Almost two hundred white farmers have been arrested for defying Mugabe's instruction to stop farming.

Earth Emergency invites people everywhere to sign a statement of support for a nine-point plan of action to deal with the Earth's state of emergency. It aims to create a popular, global alliance to lobby world leaders at the Summit. You are invited to sign up, discuss the nine points in the plan of action, and suggest existing projects and partnerships to take the work forward.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday that it had resumed overland repatriations from Guinea, suspended at the end of June because of logistical constraints.

The book by Gary Alexander argues that we have an upside down economy, driven by the needs of producers rather than the needs of people or the environment. It describes a future with a co-operative free-market economy driven directly by the health of the environment and the well being of all of humanity rather than money flows.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Liberia is showing all the major warning signs of political, military, economic and social deterioration.“The question is whether the international community will muster the will to take effective action,” says the ICG in a new report.

Fighting has intensified between Rwandan forces and ethnic Hutu Interahamwe rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a Rwandan official has said.

* Document. The end of asylum? The changing nature of refugee policies in Africa
B Rutinwa, pp. 12-41
* Document. Returning refugees or migrating villagers? Voluntary repatriation programmes in Africa reconsidered
O Bakewell, pp. 42-73
* Document. Negotiating humanitarian access in Angola: 1990-2000
A Richardson, pp. 74-112
* Document. Refugee identities and relief in an African borderland: a study of northern Uganda and southern Sudan
J Merkx, pp. 113-146
* Document. International refugee aid and social change in northern Mali
S Sperl, pp. 147-159
* Document. Repatriation as peacebuilding and reconstruction: the case of northern Mozambique, 1992-1995
OT Juergensen, pp. 160-200

A recent TV programme about refugees in The Gambia explored why the country has become a magnet for displaced people. The programme revealed that, unlike in most countries, refugees in The Gambia are not confined to camps. The majority live in the community, and are actively encouraged to seek employment in all professions.

Since the signing of the landmark Machakos Protocol on 20 July between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by a government offensive in the area of the oil fields in western Upper Nile (Wahdah/Unity State).

An action plan to assist Liberian refugees in western Côte d’Ivoire in the areas of health and environmental sanitation has been put in place, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies reported last Wednesday.

A new report from Human Rights Watch has identified top commanders of the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebel movement implicated in May massacres in Kisangani. The report finds the rebels responsible for widespread killings, summary executions, rapes, and pillage during the put-down of a mutiny beginning on 14 May.

The people of Angola should not be among the poorest in the world. World Bank statistics put Angola's GDP at close to $9 billion, with more than 50 percent coming directly from the sale of petroleum. Yet, Angola ranks 161 out of 173 countries on the Human Development Index of 2002.

A Zambian High Court judge will rule on 30 August whether the parliament had the right to lift former President Frederick Chiluba's immunity from prosecution.

Human Rights Watch has welcomed the arrest of General Augustin Bizimungu, chief of staff of the former Rwandan army, as an "important step"towards delivering justice for the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda.