Armed conflict between warring states and groups within states have been major causes of ill health and mortality for most of human history. Conflict obviously causes deaths and injuries on the battlefield, but also health consequences from the displacement of populations, the breakdown of health and social services, and the heightened risk of disease transmission. Despite the size of the health consequences, military conflict has not received the same attention from public health research and policy as many other causes of illness and death. In contrast, political scientists have long studied the causes of war but have primarily been interested in the decision of elite groups to go to war, not in human death and misery.

Progressive civil society organisations in South Africa, including the SA NGO Coalition (Sangoco), Amnesty International and the Centre for Study of Violence and Reconciliation, this week resolved, among others, to marshal resources within SA society to deal with the impending humanitarian and refugee crisis in Zimbabwe.

Concern that the European Union (EU) and the United States are taking the demands of the largely black African population of southern Sudan off the agenda is rising among a broad coalition of activists critical of the Arab National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum. A new peace process is sidelining those who favor tougher sanctions against the Sudan regime and who believe that negotiations to end the 19-year-old civil war must consider the autonomy demands of southerners in Sudan.

A Rwandan Roman Catholic priest wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity has given himself up to the international tribunal for Rwanda based in the Tanzanian town of Arusha.

The Government of Burkina Faso should immediately investigate allegations made by the Burkinabe Human and Peoples' Rights Movement(MBDHP) that 106 extra judicial executions have taken place over the past three months, Amnesty International said after raising its concerns to the government.

The Honorable Valli Moosa, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will officially open the First IIPT (International Institute For Peace Through Tourism) African Peace Through Tourism Conference in Nelspruit, South Africa, March 3-7, 2002. The historic conference is being organized in association with Africa Travel Association (ATA) and Mpumalanga Tourism Authority (MTA). Details of Conference Program and Registration can be found on the website.

The impact of the conflict on children is devastating, depriving thousands of vulnerable young people of anything approaching a normal childhood, the Refugees International (RI)nongovernmental organisation (NGO) said on Wednesday in its bulletin entitled "Children in the Eastern Congo: Adrift in a sea of war and poverty".

Britain has threatened to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe following the arrest of local journalist Basildon Peta on Monday. London is alleging that Harare broke the terms of an EU ultimatum, which among other things demanded the accreditation of the international media to cover next month's presidential election.

The trial of Saad Eddin Ibrahim and three other human rights defenders is a blatant attempt by the Egyptian authorities to stifle freedom of expression, Amnesty International said as the Court of Cassation is set to pronounce its decision on 6 February 2002 regarding their appeal.

Amnesty International have called for the immediate and unconditional release of three peace and reconciliation activists - Laurien Ntezimana, Didace Muremangingo and Ignace Ndayahundwa - arrested by police and held at Butare central prison, southern Rwanda, on 27 January and 2 February.

"Burundi's new transitional government must not waste an historic opportunity to end the blight of torture and impunity," Amnesty International has said as it made public a Memorandum addressed to Burundi's transitional authorities and the international community.

"Human rights defenders and political opponents in Guinea Bissau are facing a sustained clamp-down on peaceful opposition and criticism of government policy," Amnesty International have warned, adding that the government was also increasingly interfering in matters outside its jurisdiction.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is an enormous country with a population of approximately 50 million people. Its capital Kinshasa alone is home to more than 5 million people. Its vast land-mass is currently divided amongst the many participants in its civil war. The telephone take-up rate is one of the lowest rate in world and its telephone infrastructure is very decrepit from years of corruption, neglect and war. The current period of "not quite war" has focused attention on its enormous potential. Despite all these unpromising factors, its internet services and users have grown across the many different provinces of the country. Eric Nzita and Nico Tshintu attempt for the first time to chart the spread of internet access.

The Brookings Institution-CUNY Project on Internal Displacement, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees today released a report that urges the European Union (EU) and European countries individually to become more specifically and actively engaged in assisting and protecting internally displaced persons and to address the causes and consequences of internal displacement.

The latest bout of fighting to afflict West Africa is believed to have displaced tens of thousands of people, say UNHCR. The outbreak of fighting occurred in Liberia's Sawmill area, 100 kms north of the capital, Monrovia. Those displaced have fled south to the area around Klay junction, some 35 kilometres outside Monrovia where there could now be as many as 100,000 displaced people, according to Liberian government figures quoted by UNHCR. Those uprooted by the fighting include Sierra Leonean refugees who had sought refuge in Liberia. Since fighting intensified in Liberia's northern counties in December more than 6,000 new arrivals have been registered by UNHCR in various camps around Monrovia.

To develop, in close collaboration with partner organizations, a
comprehensive regional strategy and programme for HIV/AIDS prevention,
mitigation and access to care for migrants and mobile populations. Should
have excellent English writing and communications skills; fluency in French
or Portuguese.

Liberia's Defence Ministry has confirmed reports of intense fighting since Friday between government forces and dissidents in the north and northwest of the country.

The European Union (EU) is going ahead with preparations to monitor Zimbabwe's presidential elections in March, despite the lack of a formal invitation from President Robert Mugabe, EU officials told IRIN on Monday.

A criminal racket on both sides of the border is helping illegal Zimbabwean immigrants cross into South Africa, a senior army officer told IRIN.

The Kenya Constitutional Review Commission (KCRC) is charged with drawing up a revised constitution before general elections take place later this year. IRIN interviewed KCRC secretary, Patrick Lumumba, on current prospects for the review process.