After more than a decade in Ethiopia, Somali refugees in the eastern camp of Rabasso are preparing to return to their homes in northwestern Somalia, a spokesman for UNHCR told IRIN Thursday.

A spokesman for the group of parties who supported the candidacy of Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi for the presidency of the transitional period, Alphonse Rugambarara, reiterated that his group would not enter the transitional government led by President Buyoya and his deputy, Hutu leader, Domitien Ndayizeye.

WFP on Friday announced the launch of an "urgent" appeal for US $2.1 million to fund a six-month emergency humanitarian air operation to begin in early August in the DRC that will enable aid workers to reach remote areas to assess the needs of war-torn populations and set up relief operations.

The atmosphere at the Thursday meeting between President Buyoya and Zuma, was described as "good" by Buyoya's spokesman, Appolinaire Gahungu.

A member of the Akazu, the inner circle of former president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyrimana, and also the president's brother-in-law, was arrested on Thursday at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an ICTR statement said.

Opposition politicians, religious groups and civil society groups have come out against the cabinet line-up of President Yoweri Museveni, endorsed by parliament on 19 July, saying it was not representative of different groups in the country, despite Museveni's promises, the 'EastAfrican' newspaper reported on Monday.

As villagers of Guru Guru in northern Uganda fled an attack by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), one man found himself surrounded and trapped inside his home. Unable to escape the armed rebels, Faustino Onek was abducted and forced into the bush, where he was tortured, stabbed and finally had his left arm amputated. Onek, a community elder and grandfather to 27 children, had met at least one of his attackers before: it was his nephew.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has announced the full make-up of his new cabinet following parliamentary elections last month. The list contains few new faces and includes 10 ministers who failed to win seats in the election but who can hold office by presidential appointment, the BBC reported.

Former refugees reluctant to return to their homes in Kono District, eastern Sierra Leone, have agreed to temporary relocation to the southern area of Taiama, UNHCR Information Officer Isa Blyden told IRIN on Friday.

The U.S. State Department’s first annual report on trafficking in persons contains serious flaws, Human Rights Watch has said. "The State Department´s report is a real mixed bag," said LaShawn R. Jefferson, Acting Executive Director of the Women´s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "We´re glad the U.S. government is finally paying close attention to this important human rights abuse. But the report has some major flaws that will need correcting the next time around."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wish, at the outset, to express their support for the work of the European Union against trafficking in human beings and related exploitation. They do so from the viewpoint of two United Nations bodies with different but complementary mandates in this area. Both organisations believe that the present proposal to strengthen common approaches to this issue through the adoption of a Council Framework Decision is an important and timely step forward.

The United Nations refugee agency today said it was in contact with Turkish and Greek authorities over recent reports of a group of Africans allegedly "dumped" on the border between the two countries.

Concern has warned of a "potential catastrophe" in the Angolan city of Kuito as malnutrition and mortality rates rise among 300,000 people that have fled fighting in surrounding areas.

Amnesty International is demanding an inquiry into the police violence against G8 demonstrators.

Army mutineers staged a coup attempt in Bujumbura on Sunday night, ahead of a regional summit on the future of Burundi which began in the Tanzanian town of Arusha on Monday.

The Burundi peace accord has been signed, but there's absolutely no peace, observes Monique Harbers.

Recent atrocities against civilians in two districts of northern and eastern Sierra Leone are the most serious in several months, Human Rights Watch said today. These atrocities include the killing of over twenty civilians by pro-government militias.

Mr. Ron Den Berg, the Royal Dutch/Shell Managing Director in Nigeria appeared today before the human rights violations investigation commission panel set up by the government in the country. Since October last year the commission has been investigating rights abuses committed before the present government in the country.

In 1999 the government sold its purchase of R30bn of military hardware to the South African public on the basis of the ‘offset’ benefits accompanying its deal with international arms suppliers. The public were told that the deal would bring R110bn in direct foreign investment and 65 000 jobs. The Coega Project, to establish an Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape, was held to be the biggest single beneficiary of this deal. Two years down the line not a cent has been invested in Coega as a result of the arms deal. Instead the South African tax-payer will foot the bill for the construction of a R4.5bn harbour in Coega.

The massive street protests in Genoa, Italy, this weekend have ended. Most of the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 who participated this weekend in demonstrations against the closed meetings of the G8 have returned to their communities. People around Europe and the world are debating what the protests meant, why they happened, what inspired such harsh reaction by the Italian police and where we all go from here. Many see Genoa as a crossroads for the alternative globalization movement, facing fragmentation from internal differences or increasing influence in challenging global forces of domination. In the aftermath of Genoa, a large number of posts on Indymedia turned to discussion of strategies and tactics, old and new.