Concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation, a coalition of seven major international aid agencies and nearly 20 Liberian civil society groups have signed the petition which encourages the United States government to deploy a small number of US forces in key strategic areas across Liberia. Agencies fear that unless peace is quickly restored to rural areas of Liberia, the country faces continuing widespread hunger in the months to come.

The International Centre for Peace in Central Africa (ICPCA) is a Non Governmental Organisation created in 1999. ICPCA aims to participate in the achievement of peace in Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the Great Lakes Region by providing its support and assistance to every programme focused on justice, reconciliation, and post conflict issues. The centre focuses its activities on research, publication and implementation of projects. For this purpose, the centre is releasing a monthly newsletter where analysis is made on the DRC peace process and related topics in the Great Lakes region. The newsletter is available on demand, by sending a message to [email protected].

President M. Tandja Mamadou has warned independent radio stations operating in parts of the country against broadcasting any programmes "liable to disturb the social peace and public order." In a 2 October 2003 radio message to all regional ministers, municipal chief executives and district heads of public institutions, the president instructed them to "immediately invite all media heads in areas under your jurisdiction and call them to order to warn them against any act liable to endanger the peace and public order." He also threatened that "any unacceptable behaviour would be severely dealt with under the law."

The signing on 8 October 2003 of an agreement on implementation of the December 2002 cease-fire agreement between the Government of Burundi and rebels leaves significant challenges unresolved, says Amnesty International. "It is essential that the Government of Burundi and the rebels assisted by regional and international actors commit themselves to addressing fundamental questions such as impunity. A determination by all parties to end the human rights and humanitarian crises must underpin a political settlement," Amnesty International said.

A small and quiet academic debate threatens tribal peoples around the world. It is largely sparked by the plight of the Gana and Gwi “Bushmen” in Botswana who are being forcibly removed from their lands, many think to clear the area for eventual diamond mining. A handful of anthropologists now oppose indigenous peoples' struggle for their land rights, especially in Africa but also more generally.

The 1994 Rwandan Genocide continues to have serious repercussions for peace and stability in the Great Lakes region of Africa. As we recently saw, the key element of the July 30, 2002 Pretoria peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was the latter’s commitment to disarm and repatriate Rwandan Hutu militants. This volume continues where most books on the region leave off. The contributors make the connection between the Rwandan Genocide and the continuation of the conflict into the territory of Zaire which finally culminated in the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko’s kleptocratic regime.

Ethiopia said on Wednesday a ruling on its new border with Eritrea was a "recipe for disaster", upping the stakes in its dispute with the international boundary commission that defined the frontier. Ethiopia has repeatedly objected to the new frontier drawn up by the commission under a peace deal ending its 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea, clouding efforts to bring a final resolution to the conflict that cost 70,000 lives.

Two major international NGO coalitions have expressed support for their Tanzanian counterparts who oppose the country's NGO Act, due to enter into force before the end of October, because it would impose "serious restrictions to freedoms of association and expression".

After 40 years of political enmity, Central African Republic Prime Minister Abel Goumba and former President David Dacko made a historic reconciliation on Friday in the capital, Bangui, during the on-going national reconciliation talks.

After several years of waiting, the few hours more mattered little. Like others around him, Joseph Kayuka, sat patiently surrounded by a few precious belongings: a bench, a bicycle and some clothes, as well as pots and pans, crammed into a couple of old sacks. But, by mid morning of 1 October, Kayuka, his wife Imacule Mkingiya and their five children had boarded the truck and were riding along a bumpy road heading west back into Burundi.

Due to the onset of the rainy season, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to step up its voluntary repatriation programme for Angolan refugees living in neighbouring countries. The UN refugee agency this week said some 15,000 Angolans had returned from Zambia, mainly from Meheba camp near the border with Angola.

An international refugee rights organisation has criticised the manner in which the Ugandan government last month carried out the relocation of Sudanese refugees from a camp in western Uganda, which ended in riots and the arrest of some refugees.

For the 49,000 Burundians at the Mtendeli Refugee Camp, in Kibondo, western Tanzania, the prospect of a night at the movies is a sure crowd puller; but for aid officials it is a chance to pass on important development messages to the needy.

The uncontrolled proliferation and misuse of arms by government forces and armed groups takes a massive human toll in lost lives, lost livelihoods, and lost opportunities to escape poverty. An average of US$22bn a year is spent on arms by countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America - a sum that would otherwise enable those same countries to be on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education (estimated at $10bn a year) as well as targets for reducing infant and maternal mortality. The Shattered Lives Report, by Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms, provides facts and arguments about the global arms trade.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zambia has begun voluntary repatriation of Angolan refugees from Mayukwayukwa refugee settlement in Kaoma District of Western Province. UNHCR Head of Sub-office Mongu Stanley Miseleni said in a statement that a total of 507 Angolan refugees would be repatriated to Cazombo district and its immediate vicinity.

The UN refugee agency is stepping up efforts to identify suitable locations to transfer more than 65,000 Sudanese refugees living along the Chad-Sudan border amid growing concerns that a ceasefire period on the Sudanese side is ending.

Sudan is unprepared for the expected return of half a million refugees and one million displaced people once a comprehensive peace deal has been signed, according to a new report. "The challenges of mass return are overwhelming and local administrations appear still unprepared," says the report from the Norwegian think-tank, Global IDP Project.

Two brothers aged three and four were among eight Eritreans and one Ethiopian reunited with their families last week after being separated during the bitter war between the two countries. The boys were flown to the Eritrean capital Asmara via Nairobi in Kenya as part of an operation organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Barely two weeks after 116 children were returned to neighbouring Benin, another set of 120 children kidnapped from that country have been rescued by the Nigerian police. They are victims of child trafficking and forced child labour.

A human rights approach to agricultural trade liberalization reminds States of their commitment to a just international and social order and encourages more concerted efforts on behalf of wealthy countries to reduce and remove distortions to trade given the inability of most other countries to offer similar protections to promote the right to food and the right to development of their populations. This is according to a report on Human Rights and Trade by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, submitted to the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico.