Leaders of around 150,000 Arabs in Niger say they will fight moves to expel them to Chad in the courts. Niger's government has ordered the Arabs, known as Mahamid, to leave the country accusing them of wrongdoing, including theft and rape. A Mahamid spokesman told the BBC the move was politically motivated and that they had been given five days to leave.

At least 126 East Africans died or disappeared while crossing shark-infested waters to Yemen in recent weeks, sometimes after being thrown overboard by smugglers, the the United Nations refugee agency has said. "Passengers on one boat reported that five Ethiopians were beaten by the smugglers, thrown overboard and attacked by sharks," said Ron Redmond, a spokesperson for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

On the eve of a historic vote to begin work on an Arms Trade Treaty in the UN General Assembly's First Committee, 15 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates including the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Arias and Amnesty International have called on governments to support the Treaty in order to stop irresponsible arms exports "which are causing the peoples of the world so much pain and destruction". The appeal is contained in a letter released today at the UN.

The government of Burundi must bring to justice members of the national intelligence service (SNR) at all levels of the chain of command responsible for serious rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released October 25th. Over the past year, SNR agents have been implicated in at least 38 extrajudicial executions and more than 200 arbitrary arrests, some involving torture.

The existing Aliens Restrictions Act and the Immigration Act are inadequate to deal with the changing dynamics of refugee situation, in line with international agreements that Kenya has signed. The Immigration Act was enacted to govern migration and deal with matters incidental to immigration. It provides for entry permits for refugees within the framework of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.

Besides posing physical danger to the returnees, landmines have also destroyed the infrastructure and made farming almost impossible. There are also no job opportunities, not to mention schooling facilities. Also posing a problem for returnees in the south are raids by the Joseph Kony-led Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) from neighboring Uganda.

An international forum trying to reconcile rival political groups in Somalia has urged the Islamic movement to refrain from further expanding its authority by military means and instead engage the transitional government in dialogue.

President Robert Mugabe could live to regret his encouragement of the police to deal ruthlessly with protesters, The Standard has learnt. On Thursday (19 October 2006) the House of Lords recommended that Mugabe's exhortations to the police to beat up trade union demonstrators could be used to arraign him before the International Court of Justice at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

A government spokesman's remark that he has no regrets over the masscare of about 20,000 people by Zimbabwean security forces nearly 20 years ago is reopening old wounds and pitting the country's deputy president against President Robert Mugabe. ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira made the comments during a recent workshop in Manicaland Province, bordering Mozambique, almost two decades after a five-year reign of terror in the southern provinces of Midlands and Matabeleland by Zimbabwean soldiers of Five Brigade, who were trained by North Korea.

Unknown assailants yesterday morning (22 October 2006) attacked suspended Chitungwiza mayor Misheck Shoko's house and two others belonging to MDC members in Mabvuku in Harare. All the houses belong to members of the anti-Senate faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Every October 24, the world joins together to commemorate the United Nations day. The UN Charter was drawn up by representatives of countries at the UN Conference on International Organisation, which met at San Francisco from April 25 - June26, 1945. The Charter was signed on June 26, 1945. The UN officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, the US and a majority of others.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo slapped emergency rule on southwestern Ekiti state on Thursday (19 October 2006) as tensions mount in two other Nigerian states over the controversial impeachment of state governors. In a special broadcast on state radio and television, Obasanjo said he took the measure because the situation “clearly presents danger of possible breakdown of public order and public safety.”

Weapons are being funnelled from Chad into Darfur to support rebels who have refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement, says a status report on the crisis Sudan. The newly released report says credible information suggests that the government of Sudan is arming Janjaweed militias and Chadian rebels who want to overthrow President Idris Deby.

An upswing in cross-border attacks on Chadian civilians since early October has coincided with new bouts of fighting between the Chadian army and rebels. Aid agency and government officials said Goz Beida, 160 km west of the Sudan border, and 200 km south of the regional aid-hub Abeche was briefly occupied by armed rebels on Sunday (22 October 2006) afternoon.

Rising violence in eastern Chad and Darfur highlights the immediate need for the United Nations Security Council to strengthen civilian protection by the UN mission in Sudan following Khartoum's expulsion of the UN secretary-general's special representative in Sudan, Jan Pronk, Human Rights Watch said today.

The UNHCR convoys arriving in Burundi in the past four years have carried refugees returning home from Tanzania, but now more and more of the singing, clapping returnees are coming back from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will host the African Peace Awards in Abuja , Nigeria, on 2 November 2006. The awards are Instituted by the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG) and supported by many African governments and leading inter-governmental institutions, including the African Union.

The African Rehabilitation Institute Southern Africa has launched a website that analysts say is set to improve communication and the dissemination of information on disabled persons in the region. The launch is in line with recommendations with the African Union's continental plan of action, which is aimed at implementing priority activities on disability during the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (1999-2009).

The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has accused Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) leaders of failing to support the Zimbabwe people in their ongoing human rights and economic crisis saying the problems need external intervention which can best be offered by the region's leaders.

Despite a gradual tangible economic upswing of 3,2 % in the country since independence, workers still do not reap the proper fruits of their daily labour.