The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has completed the registration of a reported 50,000 displaced people in North Kivu Province, among whom were many who had fled fighting in Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), WFP reported last Friday.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that it is running "dangerously low" on rations for Angolan refugees in Namibia. "A corn-soya blend pipeline break is expected in June and breaks for virtually all other commodities in the food basket, including the staple maize meal, in July. Donations are urgently needed for the WFP emergency refugee operation, which is expected to feed about 16,000 refugees in Osire camp and support the planned repatriation programme over the next 12 months," WFP said in its latest situation report.

The Tanzanian government has rejected the applications of 931 Rwandan refugees who asked to stay in the country because they fear that the security situation in their country is not conducive to their return, The Guardian newspaper reported last Friday.

Over 20 people were killed in the course of an outbreak of heavy fighting in the Middle Shabelle Region, south-central Somalia, according to sources in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The fighting in the village of Raghe-Eil, 95 km northeast of Mogadishu, pits militias loyal to faction leader Muhammad Dhere against those of the Abgal sub-clan Muhammad Muse.

At least 2,000 Liberian refugees fleeing war-ravaged southeastern Maryland County arrived in Cote d'Ivoire's border town of Tabou over the weekend, exerting more strain on the town's already poor social infrastructure, aid workers said on Tuesday.

Representatives of the Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL) rebel faction led by Agathon Rwasa and Burundian government officials have been meeting in Switzerland since Saturday to discuss the possibility of holding peace negotiations, government and FNL sources told IRIN on Tuesday. Rwasa's faction is the only rebel group that has not signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burundian government, and its troops continue to stage sporadic attacks against government forces in parts of the country.

The process of repatriating Angolan refugees living in Botswana is to move forward with the signing of an agreement on the issue this week. Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos began a visit to Botswana on Tuesday, where "the relevant Botswanan and Angolan ministers will sign a repatriation agreement with UNHCR (the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees)", said UNHCR Botswana Representative Benny Otim. Officially, Otim told IRIN, about 850 Angolans classified as refugees are living in Botswana.

A further 450 Congolese refugees crossed into Uganda on Monday, alongside the last departing battalion of the Ugandan army.

Members of the Hema community have accused Lendu militias of killing at least 250 Hemas in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Saturday. The killings reportedly took place after the withdrawal of Ugandan armed forces from the towns of Tshomia and Kasenyi, about 55 km southeast of Bunia, the principal city of Ituri District.

Togolese security forces clashed on Tuesday morning with demonstrators in the streets of the capital Lome following the arrest of independent presidential candidate Nicolas Lawson and the spokesman of the main opposition party Union of Forces for Change, Jean-Pierre Fabre.

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Working closely with the Field Office Director, the Emergency Program Coordinator will oversee and manage Save the Children's emergency programs in Ethiopia which include an Emergency Food Distribution Program, Emergency Nutrition and Health Program and a Non-Food Emergency Response Program.

As G8 leaders gathered in Evian, France, Amnesty International urged them to make good on their promises, made at last year's summit, "to promote peace and security in Africa." "Tough action by the G8 leaders can liberate the people of Africa from the devastating effects of conflict. If the G8 are serious about change in Africa, they must act on the sources of conflict -- the trade in arms and in natural resources that fuels wars across the continent," Amnesty International said.

What can donors do to strengthen the capacity of a society to manage tensions and disputes without resorting to violence? What governance interventions might improve a state’s capacity to contain conflict? How can we better understand the role corruption and natural resource spoiling plays in managing and generating conflict? A paper from the UK’s Department for International Development, entitled ‘Governance and conflict management: implications for donor intervention’, explores the impact of key governance capabilities on the effectiveness with which intra-societal conflict is managed.

Millions of Angolans remained uprooted at the end of 2002, including 2 million to 3.5 million persons displaced within Angola and nearly 410,000 refugees and asylum seekers outside the country. Meanwhile, nearly 25,000 citizens of Congo-Brazzaville were refugees or asylum seekers at the end of 2002, including about 15,000 in Gabon, some 3,000 in Congo-Kinshasa, and nearly 5,000 asylum applicants in Western industrialized countries. An estimated 100,000 people in Congo-Brazzaville were internally displaced at year’s end, including tens of thousands who were newly uprooted by violence during 2002. This is according to the World Refugee Survey 2003, released last week by the US Committee for refugees.

Amnesty International, in its annual report (http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/) released last Wednesday says human rights abuses are particularly serious throughout much of Africa. The group is spotlighting problems it says receive too little attention. Amnesty International says some of the worst injustices in 2002 took place in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, where armed conflicts took thousands of lives and livelihoods.

Liberian President Charles Taylor and rebels fighting his regime since 1999 will meet face to face for the first time from Wednesday in Ghana to try and end a festering war that has spread chaos in west Africa. The three-day parleys under the aegis of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and a United Nations-backed contact group on Liberia are being touted by the organisers as a make-or-break chance for peace.

As Zimbabwe moves inexorably into greater and greater crisis, the prospect of a negotiated transition moves higher up the agenda of possible solutions. What place will the allegations of crimes against humanity have on the negotiating table for the political transition in Zimbabwe? This is not a trivial problem, writes regional human rights defender A.P Reeler in a report 'Crimes against humanity and the Zimbabwe transition', but perhaps the most serious issue to be discussed in all the negotiations over the transition. "The manner in which this is dealt with will have an enormous effect upon the future of Zimbabwe, as was the case with South Africa," says the report.

The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has increased the pressure on President Robert Mugabe by calling for a five-day national strike and urging the people to take to the streets. "Rise up in your millions and take part in nationwide peaceful protest marches for democracy and good governance to encourage Zanu PF (the government party) to take dialogue seriously," he said in an advertisement published in the Daily News Thursday.

Two Kenyan Army battalions are stationed on the Kenya-Somali border in a fresh attempt to counter terrorism. The soldiers will patrol the border, now the focus of the government's fight against terrorism, said National Security minister Chris Murungaru.