Ethiopia may be facing a major meningitis epidemic with up to 31 million people at risk, an official from the ministry of health warned on Tuesday.

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) reported ongoing fighting between its forces and those of the Sudanese government in the disputed oil-rich regions of western and central Upper Nile, in south-central Sudan.

The registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Adama Dieng, has urged associations of genocide survivors to reconsider a decision to suspend cooperation with the tribunal, ICTR officials confirmed to IRIN on Monday.

Goma, the volcano-stricken town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, from which 350,000 people fled 12 days ago, is "doomed" in the short-to-medium term, Piero Calvi of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team told IRIN on Monday.

In a week when European countries have attacked the United States for its heavy-handed use of restraining techniques, a pan-European assembly of lawmakers has sharply condemned Europe's use of violent means to forcibly deport asylum seekers whose claims have been turned down.

It is used in everything from mobile phones to the Sony Playstation - and many other electronic devices on the market today. It's called coltan - a rare mineral that has become synonymous with conflict in Central Africa. A Gemini News Service correspondent looks at the international efforts to curtail the mineral's wartime role.

Over five million people will need relief assistance in Ethiopia this year, a drop on previous years due to an improvement in the humanitarian situation and relatively good harvests.

Britain has promised a sustained effort to help Africa break free of conflict and corruption. The pledge came after foreign ministers from the UK and France struggled to make a swift breakthrough in their diplomatic mission to bring an end to war in central Africa. Britain wants to follow up on its contribution to the war against terrorism in Afghanistan with concerted work to tackle conflict and corruption in Africa.

Mario Masuku, a Swazi political leader, Adams Oshiomhole, leader of ICFTU an affiliate in Nigeria and Taye Wolde Semayat, President of an Ethiopian teacher union: three little known names imprisoned for struggling for basic freedoms in their own countries. January 24, 2002 will see these men in court and on trial, testing the democratic credentials of three very different Africa states. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)will be closely monitoring the results.

What is happening in Zimbabwe today is not a preparation for elections, but a violent campaign that could degenerate into civil war, Zimbabwe Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro told a meeting at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London on Monday night. "What the international community has witnessed is the gradual introduction of a civil-military junta.

This benighted regime will start to collapse when its leading members understand that they will in due course face trial and imprisonment for the crimes they have committed.

The European Union have decided to impose "targeted sanctions" against President Robert Mugabe and his cronies within a week if Zimbabwe refuses to admit independent European observers. Backing a British call to maintain "calibrated" pressure on Mr Mugabe, European foreign ministers said sanctions would be triggered automatically if EU election observers were kept out, if free media coverage were hindered, if the human rights situation deteriorated any further or if "the election is assessed as not being free and fair".

Modern societies face a cruel paradox: Fast-paced technological and economic innovations may deliver unrivalled prosperity, but they also render rich nations vulnerable to crippling, unanticipated attacks. By relying on intricate networks and concentrating vital assets in small geographic clusters, advanced Western nations only amplify the destructive power of terrorists—and the psychological and financial damage they can inflict.

On November 21, President Bush gave the go-ahead for the resumption of the program, which had been temporarily halted in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Despite the President's order, government agencies responsible for implementing the refugee program have done little to get it back on track. As a result, thousands of refugees who fled political and religious persecution in their home countries are stuck in places where they are in danger.

Under rules of the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, national courts have primacy of jurisdiction -- even when the state's leaders are themselves implicated -- and the onus is on international prosecutors to prove that any fraudulent investigations and trials aren't "genuine." A long standing proponent of a permanent court to judge the worst crimes against civilians, Judge Arbour called the rule a "very, very bad idea." States with relatively developed legal systems will have a "major trump card" to evade justice and will clash with developing countries that don't, she said.

Britain's relations with Robert Mugabe plunged to their lowest level since independence this weekend, when the Government called for Zimbabwe to be thrown out of the Commonwealth and millions of pounds of funds to be seized as a wave of political murders sweeps the impoverished country.

The Sudanese government in 2001 took advantage of a continued state of emergency in the country to suppress opposition to the ruling National Congress party, according to a recently released report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

As many as 500 bodies were reportedly recovered after explosions tore through a military arms depot in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos. Hundreds of residents were reported to have drowned after plunging into a canal as they fled a chain reaction of blasts, believed to have been caused accidently, at the Ikeja military base.

Four Zimbabwean human rights activists are challenging their arrest, deportation and permanent banning from Malawi. The activists, representing the umbrella Zimbabwe Crisis Group, were arrested a day before the 14 January Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit and returned to Harare as the summit got under way.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions deplores the decision that, at the request of the prosecution, the trial of Swaziland opposition leader, Mario Masuku, is to be held behind closed doors. Only his immediate family, pastor and lawyers will be allowed to attend. COSATU is further concerned that the charges against Mario Masuku are two counts of “sedition”, related to remarks he made at two political meetings, which it is alleged “undermined the authority of the king”. This clearly shows that he is being charged for making political statements and exercising the right to free speech. This could only be deemed an “offence” in a country where basic human rights are denied.