José Feruzi Samwegele, a 33 year-old journalist with the public broadcaster RTNC 2 (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise 2) was arrested at the entrance to network offices in Kinshasa/Lingwala on 3 April 2002 by soldiers of the Congolese Armed Forces (Forces armées congolaises, FAC). He was taken to a jail in Kinshasa/Kintambo run by the Military Detection of Anti-State Activities, Military Intelligence (Détection Militaire des Activités anti-patrie, renseignements militaires, DEMIAP).

On 1 April 2002, the Third Criminal Bench of the Federal High court ordered Melese Shine, editor-in-chief of "Ethiop" newspaper and magazine, to appear in court on 17 May for a third criminal charge that has been filed against him. Shine is presently remanded in custody because he has been unable to pay bail of 10,000 birr (approx. US$1,200) for a previous charge.

An unprecedented library project was set in motion in October 1999 when the
Open Society Institute (OSI) teamed with EBSCO Publishing to provide a
variety of the world's finest full text and bibliographic databases to libraries in 39 countries. Through this project, Electronic Information For Libraries Direct (EIFL Direct), and funding by the Soros Foundation, access to these resources was provided for all Public and Academic Libraries in participating countries. However, funding for continuation of this project was not made available for several Southern African countries in 2001; thus many libraries in these countries were unable to reap the benefits of the information provided through these databases.

Ethiopia has handed over complete details of where it laid thousands of mines during the war with Eritrea, the UN announced on Friday.

The Government has been named as the biggest violator of the freedom of expression in Malawi followed by the general public, politicians and then employers. Surprisingly, the Malawi Police Service is seen as the least violator, according to a recent survey conducted by Media Council of Malawi (MCM).

A press freedom lobby group has called on the government of Eritrea to release 10 journalists who have been detained without trial since September. The New York-based International Press Institute described their treatment as "cruel, inhuman or degrading". The journalists began a hunger strike on 31 March.

One of the factors militating against empowering and integrating people with disabilities is ignorance of the issue by the public. The commonly held negative attitudes and beliefs towards such people stem from the fact that society in general has little information on the plight, needs, concerns and aspirations of the disabled.

You will learn:
* How to approach the media
* How to Identify the right media: print/radio/TV/internet
* How to promote your messages and reach the target market
* Do's and don'ts of writing a good press release
* Interviewing techniques - giving and requesting
* case studies and discussion
This workshop encourages interaction and an exchange of practical ideas.

Ethics Newsline, published weekly on Mondays by the nonprofit Institute for Global Ethics, is the premier source of cutting edge news, analysis and commentary on issues of the day, seen through the lens of ethics. There is an archive of news stories, commentary and analysis of key issues going back to 1998.

Institute of Cultural Affairs Ghana and ICA,UK are carrying out this two-week training course that will:
* Equip participants with the practical group facilitation methods developed and practised globally by ICA over the past 30 years
* clarify the role of the facilitator in the participatory process, and explore skills, techniques and styles to manage different groups in different situations
* Enable participants to design, conduct and follow up on participatory processes
* Provide an opportunity to network with facilitators from a variety of African countries.

The prosecution in the case of three individuals accused of using "hate media" to ignite massacres in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, on Wednesday presented the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with 273 audio tapes of recorded broadcasts that allegedly incited killings.

The US-based Human Rights Watch on 20 March 2002 condemned the arrest and beatings of human rights activists and journalists by the Congolese rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Former Minister of Education, Prof. Aliyu Babatunde Fafunwa referred to last week's National Summit on Higher Education held in Abuja, as "one of the best we have attended". Bukola Olatunji writes on the week-long event.

The Duncan Village Disaster Fund, started last year to cater for housing, clothing and food needs has received a donation of R5000 to build temporary shelter.

Are you a grantmaker or a grantseeker? Are you tired of spending endless hours looking for funding and fundraising information? SANGONeT is happy to announce that your wait is nearly over. With the support of USAid, we will be launching a new information portal called Thusanang in August 2002.

Raphaël Paluku Kyana, director of the Radio rurale de Kanyabayonga (RRKA) radio station, which broadcasts in North-Kivu province, was arrested on 9 March 2002.

THE Zimbabwe National Army has denied media reports that it besieged MDC offices on 13 March in Bulawayo.

The US ambassador to Uganda, Martin Brennan, said this week that the human rights situation in the country had significantly improved, but that his country was still concerned by flaws in the electoral process, together with political intimidation, according to the government-owned New Vision newspaper.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has proposed forming a joint committee with the Rwandan government to investigate recent allegations regarding the abuse of witnesses -particularly those from Rwanda - giving evidence at the tribunal.