The secretary general of a coalition of human rights defenders in Gambia, Mohammed Lamin Sillah, has described the country's human rights record as appalling. Sillah, who is also the local Amnesty International Director, told a news conference that the frequent arrest and detention of innocent citizens, including journalists and human rights activists tarnished Gambia's human rights status.

Armed fighters of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) were reportedly heading for Kungbor town on the Sierra Leonean border area in an attempt to regroup, a government statement said on Sunday.

Civilians have become the main targets in the conflict between government forces and armed opposition fighters in Liberia's northern Lofa county, the global human rights body, Amnesty International (AI), said in a statement on Tuesday.

Aid workers and internally displaced people (IDPs) were forced to flee Bopolu camp on Friday after fresh fighting erupted in northwestern Liberia, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Tuesday. Diplomats in the capital Monrovia as well told IRIN that the situation in the north and northwest of the country had "worsened" since Friday.

The United Nations refugee agency in Namibia has expressed concern over the fact that 80 suspected Angolan UNITA rebels who have been held in Dordabis, about 100 km southeast of the capital Windhoek, have not appeared in court for around 18 months.

More than 1,000 Angolan refugees have crossed over into Zambia's Western province in the last ten days, a spokesman for the UN's refugee agency told IRIN on Monday

As regional ministers met in Harare on Monday to assess Zimbabwe's compliance with agreements on land reform and the rule of law, analysts said the key question was whether southern African leaders could act decisively to end the country's political crisis.

Angola's easternmost province, Moxico, is intensely green at this time of year. Nevertheless, people there are close to starvation.

Fears of an imminent American air strike is gripping Somalia after reports that military aircraft have been conducting surveillance flights over the country, local sources told IRIN on Tuesday.

The border commission charged with reaching mutual agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea on the demarcation of their common border began hearing the cases of the two countries in the Hague on Monday.

The US on Wednesday included the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on its "Terrorist Exclusion List" designed to protect the safety of the country and its citizens under the new US Patriot Act.

Sudan's National Assembly on Sunday unanimously approved the extension of the country's state of emergency "until the end of the reasons that had led to its declaration," according to the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues, has urged the international community to seize upon current initiatives to improve aid to internally displaced people (IDPs).

Rwanda has asked Tanzania to rearrest an investigator for defendants on trial at the UN International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for Rwanda because Kigali suspects him of having participated in the 1994 genocide, Rwandan Radio reported on Saturday.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) appealed to the international community on Monday for US $5 million to support the inter-Congolese dialogue, due to be held in South Africa in early 2002.

Former Rwandan prime minister Jean Kambanda was among five other genocide convicts transferred to Mali on Sunday to begin serving sentences of between 15 years to life imprisonment, imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, news organisations reported.

The London-based advocacy group European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council on Monday expressed deep concern at what it called "unsustainable and deeply irresponsible" allegations by the US government that Sudan is involved in developing a biological weapons programme.

On 10 December, 2001, Soroptimist International launches its new appeal, Building Peace Among Children, with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Funds raised by the Soroptimists' appeal will finance a Peace Ambassadors programme through which Peace Ambassadors will be identified from among African Girl Guides and Girl Scouts who live in situations of conflict, violence, and instability.

The African Conservation Foundation has opened an online forum to consult with the public on whether or not ACF should list ALL conservation groups working in Africa - regardless of whether or not they are involved in hunting.

Purpose includes: Identify the origins and causes of new and ongoing conflicts in various parts of Africa; Examine the causes of these conflicts in order to understand more clearly the dynamics of the various factors and forces, and the relationship between peace and development; Support and strengthen skills for facilitating dialogue, including communication and facilitation skills, negotiation, mediation and arbitration.