Asylum seekers are being thrown out of some countries because of a rise in xenophobia and political campaigns that use foreigners as scapegoats, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) chief said. Asylum and immigration are sensitive issues in many countries, such as Italy and Greece, which say they cannot cope with hundreds of thousands of people arriving as potential illegal migrants, often on rickety boats from Africa.

Fighting between "Enyélé" insurgents and regular armed forces in the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo at the beginning of April left 18 people dead, including nine rebels, and triggered mass displacements from the region's principal city, Mbandaka.

The Egyptian authorities should immediately cease deportation proceedings against two refugees from Darfur, Human Rights Watch has said. Egyptian authorities are preparing to deport Mohammad Adam Abdallah and Ishaq Fadl Ahmad Dafa Allah back to Sudan, where they would face persecution. Both men have been granted formal refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency, which should protect them from deportation.

Four peacekeepers with the joint UN-African Union mission in the Sudanese region of Darfur have been kidnapped, a spokesman for the force says. The peacekeepers went missing on Sunday and have now been confirmed as abducted, a spokesman for Unamid.

A court in Libya has freed a dissident who faced 15 years in jail for complaining he was tortured in prison.
Jamal al-Haggi was acquitted of charges that he insulted judicial officials, Human Rights Watch said.

The UN has praised Tanzania for granting citizenship to some 162,000 refugees who fled Burundi 38 years ago. "It's the most generous naturalisation of refugees anywhere," said UN refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

Hundreds of marabouts in Senegal subject talibés living under their de facto guardianship to conditions akin to slavery. They force the children to perform a worst form of child labor—begging on the streets for long hours—and subject them to often brutal physical and psychological abuse, all within a climate of fear

On 4 April 2010 Egyptian State security arrested Karar from the street while he was returning from a bank to his home. Karar is a secondary school student and was in the midst of preparations for the final secondary completion exams.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to introduce the , a monthly publication that aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News. The e-Newsletter will follow recent developments in the interpretation of refugee law; case law precedents from other constituencies; reports and helpful resources for refugee legal aid NGOs; and stories of struggle and success in refugee legal aid work. It welcomes contributions from legal aid providers, refugees, and others interested or involved in refugee legal aid.

International agency Oxfam is deeply concerned with the recent detention of one of its staff and two colleagues from the Ngorongoro NGO Network (NGONET) by authorities in Loliondo, following protests by local women about alleged violations of land rights in the area. The three were detained on 12 April and released the next day on bail. Oxfam calls on the authorities to hold an immediate investigation into the detentions, and take steps to address the concerns of local communities amid growing tension in the area.

The "post amnesty" process that is supposed to be rehabilitating militants in the Niger Delta continued to face questions throughout March. Matters were not helped when a gathering of government and Niger Delta leaders associated with the process in Warri, Delta State, was interrupted by two car bombs planted by disgruntled militant

Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies is now offering its globally renowned Masters program of postgraduate coursework to students around the world. Graduates enjoy challenging and rewarding careers in aid and development, in NGOs large and small, think-tanks, governments, universities and beyond.

With humble respect, on behalf of the refugees living in the camps of Dadaab, we would like to share our grievances with the world and ask for you to help us find our way to freedom. Our lives in the camps are far worse than you can imagine. We live in an open prison, far away from justice and humanity. We talk, but our voices are never heard. We move, but only inside a cage. We have many skills and talents, but we are denied our chance to maximize our potential. We are chained to a life full of stress and despair; a life for which many would prefer death. We are denied opportunities for education and employment. We live in a condition without adequate water, food, or health facilities. We are arbitrarily beaten or detained by police within the confines of the camp. We lack the ability to freely express ourselves or have control over the decisions affecting our lives.

In January, 2010, a team from Cultural Survival's Global Response program went to Kenya to document a year-long pattern of brutal police assaults on the Samburu people of northern Kenya. These assaults, which include killing, raping, beating, and wholesale robbery, take place in an atmosphere of racial prejudice and discrimination against pastoralist tribes that resist assimilation and westernization in order to maintain their unique cultures. Kenyan police forces operate with impunity throughout the country, but in northern Kenya their brutality targets a specific ethnic community in violation of their rights as Indigenous Peoples.

Since the beginning of the year, the situation for the Kakuma News Reflector has become increasingly precarious, KANERE writes – a dangerous sign for refugees wishing to exercise their right to a free press and express their voices through the independent newsletter, which operates out of Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya. Here KANERE shares details of how the safety, protection and security of its journalists in the camp have been jeopardised.

Time is everything in responding to a natural disaster. Mozambique's disaster management specialists are worried that they are missing key data on the small tremors that take place almost daily in the quake-prone country. Three of Mozambique’s five seismic detection stations are out of order, their seismographs damaged months ago by lightning and rains.

In Senegal women who become pregnant outside of marriage - their husbands living abroad - commonly kill their babies out of fear and shame. Husbands’ absence is one of many factors contributing to infanticide in Senegal, where many young women with unwanted pregnancies see eliminating the child as their only option, authorities and researchers say. Abortion is illegal in Senegal and clandestine abortion is also common.

Kenya will expand Africa's biggest refugee settlement to accommodate an additional 80,000 people, relieving severe overcrowding, a top U.S. official said. Dadaab, a settlement of three camps in northern Kenya, was designed to house 90,000 refugees but now hosts 270,000 people - one of the world's largest concentrations of refugees.

Nigerian authorities charged 20 people on Thursday over their roles in sectarian clashes that killed hundreds in central Plateau state last month, and some could face the death penalty. Authorities are under growing pressure to prosecute those behind the March 7 attacks on three villages near Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in a bid to prevent future violence.

"How do Somali communities deal with their need for security and governance in the absence of a state? The reality is that since 1991 numerous Somali-led reconciliation processes have taken place at local and regional levels. Often these have proven more sustainable than the better resourced and better publicized national reconciliation processes sponsored by the international community." Pat Johnson and Abdirahman Raghe in new report from Conciliation Resources and Interpeace