Peaceful protests are expected to dog President Mogae of Botswana throughout his visit to Britain this week. The Botswana government has evicted hundreds of Gana and Gwi Bushmen from their ancestral land and dumped them in bleak resettlement camps, earning worldwide condemnation.

While welcoming recent progress in the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis peace accord for Côte d’Ivoire, members of the United Nations Security Council this week stressed again their concern at the humanitarian situation in the country.

Human rights conditions have deteriorated markedly in Zimbabwe over the last few months, Human Rights Watch said in a new briefing paper. The briefing paper, "Under a Shadow: Civil and Political Rights in Zimbabwe," details the government's policy of repression and the harassment of opposition party members by state institutions and supporters of the ruling party.

UNICEF has expressed concern for children caught up in the escalation of civil war in Liberia and appealed to all warring parties to ensure that civilians, especially children, are protected from harm. "As heavy fighting forces thousands of civilians to flee the shelter of camps on the outskirts of Monrovia, we are deeply troubled about the plight of Liberian children and the civilian population caught up in the mayhem,"  said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.

The United Nations is trying to prevent a major humanitarian disaster in Central and West Africa by dispatching a battalion of diplomats and a contingent of peacekeepers to the politically troubled continent. But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and peace activists say the international community is doing too little too late to prevent the spreading crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi and the Central African Republic.

The Ethiopian government has said that a scheme which provides for the resettlement of some two million people over the next three years, but has faced criticism from the international community, is necessary if Ethiopia is to stave off future food emergencies. It has also said it will not shy away from the scheme and has urged the international community to support it fully.

Angolan refugees planning to return home from southern African countries will be able to receive information on the repatriation process and conditions back home from special weekly radio bulletins. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will send a weekly update on the conditions refugees can expect to find as they voluntarily return to Angola after more than a year of peace, UNHCR external relations officer Matthew Brook told IRIN.

The draft of Swaziland's first home-grown constitution has tried to balance the concerns of a royal establishment keen to retain power, and local and international demands for political reform. The much-delayed constitutional project was initiated by King Mswati III, over the objections of pro-democracy groups who wanted a "people-driven" constitution.

Liberian rebels surged into the western outskirts of the capital Monrovia last Friday after heavy fighting overnight which sent thousands of displaced people fleeing in heavy rain into the city centre.

The Gambia government Sunday imposed a 7pm to 6am countrywide curfew to stem rising anti-Senegalese violence across the country. The curfew came after a day of looting and attacks on Senegalese nationals and properties in the country. Sunday's violence was a reaction to violent attacks upon Gambian players and fans attending the African Nations Cup qualifying match between the two countries by Senegalese football hooligans on Saturday.

A new guide provides a comparative analysis and factual guide to refugee law throughout Southern Africa, including in-depth country guides for Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The new publication 'A Reference Guide to Refugee Law and Issues in Southern Africa' is produced by The Legal Resources Foundation (Zambia - http://www.lrf.org.zm/ ), the Legal Resources Centre South Africa ( http://www.lrc.org.za/) and the Zambia Civic Education Association. It is hoped that the guide will be a wealth of information in the areas of domestic and international refugee law, as well as the factual situation of refugees across Southern Africa.

South Africa said on Sunday it will provide troops for the international peacekeeping force set to deploy in turbulent northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where ethnic violence has killed hundreds in recent weeks.

The treason trial of 22 alleged members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation was postponed once again in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Judge Eben Jordaan postponed the trial until next week Tuesday while talks about legal aid for the accused were set to continue.

The U.N. Security Council must focus on wartime violence against civilians in its upcoming mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa, Human Rights Watch said in a press release. In an open letter to the Security Council, Human Rights Watch also urged the Council to raise the need for justice for abuses with the leaders in the region.

Government has a contractual link with a sub-contractor in the R60bn arms deal, Business Day has learned, despite repeated assurances that it dealt directly only with the four prime contractors in the weapons programme.

The UN’s Emergencies Unit in Ethiopia (EUE) has warned that people are dying at an “alarming rate” in southern parts of the country. It said the affected areas had been hit by a “green famine” (famine despite the absence of drought) which had been exacerbated by poor targeting of food aid to starving families.

Heavy fighting between two rebel factions for control of the area of Mbingi in North Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been taking place since the weekend of 31 May - 1 June, the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, confirmed on Wednesday.

The All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) presidential candidate at the April 19 polls, Muham-madu Buhari has insisted that the second term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government which began last Thursday is illegal. In a statement entitled "Democracy Shall Yet Come Alive" Buhari re-iterated his earlier position that the election which gave Obasanjo the second tenure was not fairly and freely secured. President Obasanjo and all the 36 state governors were all sworn-in last Thursday for their second term in office.

Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon has said that last month's by-elections in Zanzibar were a basis for "further progress" towards full democracy on the islands. In a statement released following the report by the Commonwealth's Expert Team to the May 18 elections - the full text of which will be released on June 7 - Mr Mckinnon urged all parties in Zanzibar to "continue to work together to build on the atmosphere of calm and tolerance which was so evident during these elections”.

The government's legal advisers have suggested that the investigation into the country's controversial multi-billion rand arms deal be reopened, the SABC reported on Tuesday night.