Burundi's government should immediately reverse a new policy of deporting Rwandan asylum seekers without considering their cases, Human Rights Watch has said.

The Hutu militia FDLR is responsible for much of the violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where murder, massacres, rape and kidnapping are widespread. The FDLR's leaders have lived untouched in Germany for years. Now the authorities have reacted -- far too late.

Whatever else it is, information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy-making can often be symbolic, especially in poor countries. The vision is one of social upliftment, and a new golden age of possibilities brought on by technological roll-out.

Rwandan journalist, Amani Ntakandi of the bi-monthly Rus hyashya published in Kigali, has been released by the people's courts, 'Gacaca', of Mbazi in the south of the country, after serving a three-month sentence for "illegally" reporting on the proceedings of these courts.

Whatever else it is, information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy-making can often be symbolic, especially in poor countries. The vision is one of social upliftment, and a new golden age of possibilities brought on by technological roll-out. Sometimes these promises can feel like fantasy in contrast to the real spadework of laying cables, orbiting satellites, and securing billion-dollar investment deals that don’t exploit the poor.

Nurses in Rwanda and Lesotho are successfully prescribing antiretroviral drugs and managing HIV treatment, two studies published this month show. Both Rwanda and Lesotho face a serious shortage of doctors, and in order to increase the capacity of the health system to treat people with HIV the World Health Organization recommends "task shifting"— the delegation of many medical tasks including ARV prescription and management to nurses and clinical officers.

A Rwandan man convicted of war crimes has been jailed for life by a Canadian court, without the prospect of parole for 25 years. Desire Munyaneza, 42, was found guilty in May in the first court case brought under Canada's 2000 War Crimes Act.

The Government of Burundi should immediately evaluate the claims of up to 400 Rwandan asylum seekers and stop all efforts to coerce them to leave the country, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch also called on Rwandan authorities to stop pressuring Burundi to force the asylum seekers to return to Rwanda.

A former senior Rwandan military officer indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for his role in the 1994 genocide in the tiny Central African country was handed over to the court today after being on the run for nearly nine years – the second fugitive to be delivered up in two months. Idelphonse Nizeyimana, former second in command for intelligence and military operations at an officers’ school, was arrested in Kampala by the National Central Bureau of Interpol in collaboration with the tracking team of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and transferred to the court’s detention facility in Arusha, Tanzania.

ARTICLE 19’s Comment expresses alarm in relation to almost all the provisions of the Genocide Ideology Law which was adopted by the Rwandan Parliament on 23 July 2008. In ARTICLE 19’s view, the law’s central concept of “genocide ideology” is extremely broadly defined and would catch a whole range of legitimate forms of expression. Indeed, the definition of “genocide ideology” violates international law under the Genocide Convention 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 in multiple ways.

With Rwanda's application for membership of the Commonwealth likely to be on the agenda at this year's Commonwealth heads of government meetings, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) expresses serious reservations about the country's credentials. Evidence pointing to the suppression of freedom of speech and a climate of fear represent significant causes for concern, the CHRI argue in this week's Pambazuka News, and ultimately point to the need for an independent body designed to assess applicants' and existing members' records on democracy and human rights.

The former head of Rwanda's tea industry has pleaded guilty to complicity in the 1994 genocide. Michel Bagaragaza admitted playing a role in the massacre at the international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which sits in Tanzania. He said he allowed a militia to use tea factory vehicles on their rampages.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda may lose its credibility unless it indicts and tries Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) officers suspected of having committed war crimes in Rwanda in 1994, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the tribunal's chief prosecutor.

The British Department of International Development (DFID) has committed £20 million that will support a land registration programme for Rwanda. The five-year project will see million of Rwandans attain certified rights to land as well as create a data base of land ownership in the east African state.

More than 600 children in prisons throughout Rwanda will have access to legal assistance under a new programme launched by the Ministry of Justice and supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Legal Aid Week brings together the courts, the national police and lawyers with prison officers to clear the backlog of children’s cases around the nation, as well as conduct a survey of minors and conditions in prisons, according to a news release issued by UNICEF.

In early July, Rwandan officials announced a new programme that aims to strengthen women's economic capacity by providing more access to credit and enabling them to start income generating projects. Rwanda's central bank has been given the responsibility of identifying beneficiaries - the sole criteria being that the projects should be aimed at women's empowerment.

Gerald Caplan reviews , edited by Phil Clark and Zachary D. Kaufman. Commending a multi-author work able to bring together a stimulating variety of often competing viewpoints, Caplan strongly recommends the title and its contribution to Rwanda's post-genocide reconstruction.

Uganda, Rwanda and the United Nations High Committee on Refugees set a target date of July 31 for all Rwandan refugees in Uganda to return home, with the U.N.'s refugee commission planning to reduce support for remaining Rwandans in August. The closer that date gets, the more it worries Beatrice Mukasekuru, who has asked that her real name not be used to protect her privacy.

Electrogaz, Rwanda's public utility, is considering water rationing due to shortages caused by a prolonged drought in parts of the country, officials said. Environmental specialists blame the drought on climate change, with erratic rainfall and frequent dry spells combining to increase water shortages.

Rwanda’s traditional `Gacaca’ courts, set up in 2001 to try some of those responsible for the 1994 genocide and to decongest the prison system, wind up on 30 June, but questions remain as to how much they achieved. Gacaca courts have tried at least 1.5 million cases (with about 4,000 pending). However, at least 100 genocide survivors, have been killed - most of them after testifying against suspects in these courts, according to the umbrella organization for survivors, IBUKA.