After two years, Roger Guarda is about to complete his duties in Sudan. Among other matters, he tells IRIN of raised expectations for the Nuba Mountains, dismay at military attacks on civilians and his disappointment at the plight of IDPs.

"The Kenyan government has failed in its human rights obligations towards one half of its citizens and should urgently reform its laws and practices to end the impunity of those who commit violence against women," Amnesty International said in a new report on Kenya.

The commission of enquiry of the Belgian Senate on the exploitation of mineral resources of Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) on Friday heard the testimony of two researchers from the International Peace Information Service (IPIS), based in Antwerp, Belgium, on coltan trade in eastern DRC.

Southern African human rights groups are strongly condemning a wave of politically-motivated violence that has swept through Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election last week, warning of little relief unless a "tense stand-off between the winners and losers" is calmed.

Human Rights Watch have condemned arrests and beatings of human rights activists and journalists by the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) in eastern Congo. Human Rights Watch also criticized the RCD and its ally, Rwanda, for arbitrarily detaining Congolese in a container near Goma.

The National Development Party (NDP) and the Kenya African National Union (Kanu) have merged to form a new political party, termed New Kanu. The changed look of the Kanu, fresh with younger faces termed Young Turks, should rejuvenate the party and, hopefully, bring a new sense of vigor to national politics.

Zambia will win the war against corruption, Chongwe Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) member of parliament Sylvia Masebo has declared.

The U.N. Organization Mission in Congo (MONUC) should immediately send more military and civilian observers to the strife-torn Ituri province in northeastern Congo, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The starting point is section 3(1) of Schedule 3 to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which states that there are two categories of voters entitled to vote in a presidential election.

Ephraim Tapa is president of Zimbabwe's civil service union and a member of the general council of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). In most countries he would be a respected civic leader. Instead he is the face of Robert Mugabe's stolen election.

The prosecution in the so-called "Media Trial" produced news articles before judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to prove that genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana was a presidential advisor based in Gisenyi Province in July 1994.

Fresh fighting is reported from Angola despite efforts to bring about a ceasefire. The clashes come after representatives of the government troops and the UNITA rebel group committed themselves to a lasting ceasefire.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party and a farmers' organisation on Saturday accused ruling party militia of stepping up reprisal violence against activists who campaigned against President Robert Mugabe in last weekend's presidential polls.

Overall, the 2002 Zimbabwean Presidential elections were a challenging exercise, and the authorities charged with conducting the elections discharged their work satisfactorily, except for the decision to reduce the number of polling stations in some urban areas - a decision which resulted in certain instances in excessively long queues and the extension of polling hours in most stations and days in Harare and Chitungwiza.

The Forum has observed that the political and security climate in which the elections were conducted was complex. It was characterized by high levels of polarization and political intolerance, lack of communication amongst stakeholders and lack of free flow of information to the electorate, which are necessary conditions for democracy to prevail.

Commonwealth Observers have "come to the conclusion that the conditions in Zimbabwe did not adequately allow for a free expression of will by the electors."

Zimbabwe has become the latest by-word for bad governance in Africa. But its criminal regime still has much support. South Africa, that "rainbow nation" of new democracy a mere eight years ago, faces a serious credibility problem in explaining how its own observer mission legitimized Zimbabwe's electoral process while the Commonwealth and SADC delegations in which it is a major player managed to reach the widely-held and opposite conclusion that the poll was a blatant fraud.

In a letter to ILO Director General, Juan Somavia, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has submitted a complaint against the government of Zimbabwe for grave violations of trade union rights. The protest follows police actions in banning a legitimate ZCTU meeting.

As the international community, Zanu-PF and MDC decide what to do next we look at the opinions of activists over what should happen next.

Being a refugee in Africa is double trouble. Or how do you explain the state in which the people who are supposed to protect them turn to be the tormentors?