The transformation of the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) has been postponed just two
months before it is scheduled to happen, it was announced on Tuesday. Senior figures overseeing the transformation believe more time is needed to
complete the process of setting up the 17 key components of the new body. No
time frame within which this process will be completed has been given.

Since March 28, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been facilitating the return of Burundian refugees from Tanzania as part of a tripartite agreement among the Burundi and Tanzanian governments, and the UN agency. While UNHCR is not promoting the return of the refugees, it is assisting those who have voluntarily opted to return. In contrast, both the Tanzanian and the Burundi governments are actively promoting the repatriation process.

The food and nutritional situation of over two million internally displaced people (IDPs), particularly in northeastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and of over 330,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, "is cause for serious concern", according to the latest report from the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS).

Madagascar, the strife-torn Indian Ocean island nation of 15 million people, is by all indications poised to split into two parts unless another reconciliation meeting takes place soon. The split, which looks imminent, comes two weeks after a peace deal brokered in Dakar, Senegal promised a solution to a presidential impasse that has divided the island.

Funding to fight famine in Malawi has begun to trickle in, but it is still nowhere near what is required to prevent a humanitarian disaster, said aid agency CARE International.

For two days last month a SADC Regional Seminar on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering was held in Pretoria, South Africa. Organised by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) of South Africa, the seminar concluded that organised crime and corruption, was a challenge to the transition process in the SADC region.

Save the Children and CARE today announced a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide emergency food aid for more than two million people -many of them children- who are suffering from starvation in the southern African country of Malawi.

Events of last few months have radically altered the face of politics in Kenya. The March 18th Kanu elections led to a massive realignment of Kenyan political scene and paved way for Moi's succession. The ruling party has never held elections since 1988, when they used the infamous Que. voting otherwise known us 'mlolongo'. The party has always used threats to silence critics and consolidate its power. Indeed there was even a commission that was formed in 1980's and which had powers to punish members of parliament over their utterances in parliament. Kanu became the supreme organ in the state defying the constitutional order.

The international community on Monday was
cautious in their show of support for Madagascar's new president, Marc
Ravalomanana. Although several western diplomats were present at the inauguration
ceremony, most sent consular officials rather than ambassadors, news reports
said. The guarded approach was seen by analysts as the "most appropriate response"
to the unresolved political row between Ravalomanana and veteran leader, Didier Ratsiraka.

Despite objections, the Namibian government is to
go ahead with plans to relocate around 24,000 refugees to an ecologically
sensitive district occupied by the hunter-gatherer San community.

President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and the head of the visiting United Nations Security Council delegation have called on political leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi to shoulder their responsibility for restoring peace in their countries.

The EU on Friday expressed its extreme concern over the continuing violence and worsening humanitarian situation in Burundi, particularly in Bujumbura Rural Province, a statement from the EU said.

Tens of thousands of farming families in eastern Sierra Leone have started to receive seeds, farm tools and other relief items as part of efforts to help internally displaced persons and refugees resettle in their home villages, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on Thursday.

At least 148 people died in the northern Nigerian city
of Kano on Saturday when a jet aircraft crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood soon after takeoff , Red Cross officials said. The twin-engine, British-built BAC 1-11-500 bound for Lagos with 71
passengers and eight crew members ploughed through about a dozen buildings
in the Gwammaja quarters of Kano, killing 74 passengers and as many people
on the ground. Scores of people were injured.

A collection of resources on refugees and humanitarian law, from The International Committee of the Red Cross.

The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, has flown home five children abducted by slave traders in Sudan. UNICEF said this is the first-ever transfer of kidnapped children from government to rebel-held areas. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson became the latest critic of Washington’s abandonment of a new international court for the world’s worst crimes, saying on Tuesday it was “regrettable” and “worrying.” The United States said the move, signaled by U.S. officials over the weekend but not declared officially until Monday, was made because of fears that U.S. military personnel and politicians could be subject to the body.

The Bush Administration's decision to effectively withdraw the U.S. signature from the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court is an empty gesture that will further estrange Washington from its closest allies, Human Rights Watch have said.

The Ugandan army shot dead around 50 rebels based in Sudan during fighting over the weekend, according to an army spokesman. Major Shaban Bantariza said the rebels were killed near the Sudanese village of Katire, about 60 km (37 miles) north of the Ugandan border.

Mali's Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to validate the results of the first round of presidential elections on 28 April, as the opposition steps up its campaign to have them annulled.