The Zimbabwean government on Wednesday called an immediate halt to invasions of private businesses by self-styled war veterans, news reports said.
"This should cease forthwith as it constitutes the crimes of kidnapping and extortion," Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo was quoted as saying. So-far, the police have been singularly ineffective in halting the scores of urban raids by ruling party militants which began in early April, further threatening Zimbabwe's already ailing economy.

Namibia's prosecutor general is to decide whether to prosecute policemen accused of systematically torturing people suspected of being part of an armed separatist attack in Caprivi almost two years ago, 'The Namibian' said on Thursday. Jackson Tangeni Kuutondokwa, the deputy prosecutor general in Kavango, was quoted as saying that his recommendations were being typed up before being dispatched to Windhoek for Prosecutor General Hans Heyman to decide.

Today, close to 500 workers from Denel division Vektor-arms making company are to protest over the employment equity, transformation, and re-alignment for black workers.

Several war veterans were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly extorting about US $25,000 from a private company under the pretext of solving a labour dispute, the state-controlled 'Herald' reported. Also arrested were 10 employees of the unnamed firm. All those arrested were expected to appear in court on Thursday. Joseph Chinotimba, chairperson of the ruling party-linked war veterans in Harare commended the police action.

Rival forces in Sierra Leone's long-running war agreed on Tuesday to stop fighting and allow the UN mission in the country, UNAMSIL, to guarantee the free movement of people and goods nationwide.

Florence Hartmann, the spokesperson of the UN prosecutor, today dismissed claims that the number of employees of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) were dismissed on the basis of their race and color.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it has completed the delivery of emergency food aid to 44,000 refugees in various camps in the Parrot's Beak, a remote corner of southwestern Guinea that juts into Sierra Leone. The area was affected by fighting in recent months. About 47,000 other refugees relocated to safer camps in the north are receiving food from WFP.

Ethiopian government has welcomed the decision of the UN Security Council to lift the embargo on arms sales to Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said. In a statement on Wednesday the Ethiopian foreign ministry said the decision by the council had reminded both countries "to desist from engaging in an arms race and other military activities, and turn to economic development and reconciliation in a bid to bring about peace and stability in the Horn of Africa".

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday played down reports in the Tanzania media of refugees abandoning their homes to escape hungry refugees who were marauding in the community and taking food by force in Kibondo District, Kigoma Region, western Tanzania. The 'Guardian' newspaper on Thursday quoted Kibondo police sources as saying that they did not have enough officers to control the refugees who had abandoned their camps because they did not have enough food.

The relief organisation, Refugees International, has said the recent positive developments in the DRC are having little immediate positive impact on the Congolese people. Anne Edgerton, who recently visited the region on behalf of Refugees International, told a US sub-committee that displacement was still occurring in remote areas as armies withdrew and redeployed to new territory in the country.

The director and co-director of the humanitarian relief agency Memisa-Coped held a press conference in Bujumbura on Thursday during which they denied having paid a ransom for the release of their six workers who were abducted in Makamba province last Friday by the rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD). Bob Smit and Father Jean-Berchmans Nzisabira wanted to counter claims that a sum of US $12,000 was paid.

UNHCR said on Thursday it was "deeply disturbed" by Guinea's continued closure of its southern border with Liberia and its refusal to allow Liberian asylum seekers to enter the country. The UN agency said its representative in Guinea had told officials at the Ministry of Interior of its "growing concern" over Guinea's failure to meets its international obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention.

The self-declared state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, is gearing up for a referendum on the constitution ­- including an article on independence ­- at the end of May. Unilateral independence was declared on 18 May 1991 by the northern-based Somali National Movement (SNM) after it had fought a successful insurgency against former President Muhammad Siyad Barre, whose government collapsed in January 1991.

A UN Security Council mission, currently visiting the Congolese capital Kinshasa, has welcomed a decision by President Joseph Kabila to lift the ban on political parties. "This sets the stage for positive developments in the days to come," Ambassador Jean David Levitte of France, who is leading the mission, told journalists following the group's meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Johannesburg before leaving for Kinshasa.

Gangs of self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war this week widened their attacks on private businesses throughout the country as it emerged that the European Union (EU) is mulling measures against Harare that could include sanctions to pressure the government to uphold the rule of law. Sources however said the government of President Robert Mugabe might be finally responding to the crisis. It decided at a Cabinet meeting this week to act on party supporters blamed for leading the campaign against industry and commerce.

Genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze today cross-examined a witness who testified against him before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Ngeze and two other genocide suspects are jointly being tried for using the media to incite ethnic hatred that led to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Military allies of the DRC government are due to meet in Kinshasa on Saturday to discuss ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict, Congolese foreign ministry officials told AFP on Wednesday. The officials did not say whether all three allied heads of state - from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe - would attend the meeting.

The European Council of Ministers this week discussed the situation in the Great Lakes region, as well as a common European policy towards Africa in general. In a report on the proceedings, the Council said it adopted a new common position on conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa, which included features such as strengthening African capacities for conflict prevention, improving support for African capabilities in the field of peacekeeping, and emphasising the strategic role of development cooperation in conflict.

Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP Patricia de Lille will on Tuesday appear again before prosecuting authorities in Cape Town in terms of a subpoena to disclose information about the multi-billion rand arms deal.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, a member of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest of six people in Rwanda.