THE president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, says he is fully in control of the situation in his country, after dismissing his entire government cabinet on the eve of a visit to Germany.

Amnesty International expressed concern today at the significant increase in cases of torture and unlawful detention in Burundi. "Since the Forces nationales de libération (FNL), National Liberation Forces, attacked and occupied parts of the capital, Bujumbura, in late February and early March, there has been a noticeable escalation of torture by members of the Burundian security forces. We are also investigating a number of cases where people arrested have been taken to unknown places of detention and may have been extrajudicially executed", the organization said.

Rebel attacks on refugees returning home to Sierra Leone cast doubt on a new United Nations plan for "safe passage" through rebel-held territory, Human Rights Watch has said.

ORGANISATION: Alliances for Africa
DATE: June
LOCATION: Nigeria

Three million people face disaster in Sudan unless food assistance reaches them, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. As war- and drought-induced hunger sweeps across the country, WFP will run out of food by mid-April unless immediate action is taken, WFP said on 29 March. More than 600,000 people are affected by drought in the north and south of the country, and another 2.4 million people are affected by the ongoing civil war.

The U.N. Security Council demanded on Friday that Sierra Leone's rebels allow U.N. peacekeepers into diamond mine areas they control and authorized an increase of U.N. troops to 17,500 from 10,350.

Thousands of refugees fleeing fighting in the west African state of Guinea have reported random murders, rapes, torture and other widespread rights abuses by Guinean civilians and the military.

Guinean President Lansana Conte has refused to meet Liberian counterpart Charles Taylor over rebel attacks on Guinea which Conte says are backed by Liberia.

The Senior Inter-Agency Network on Internal Displacement, led by the UN Special Coordinator on Internal Displacement, together with representatives of FAO, the Office of the Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons (RSG on IDPs), UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and the NGO community, undertook a mission to Angola from 12 to 17 March 2001. The report of the mission is now available.

Rwanda has begun a week of mourning for the victims of the 1994 genocide in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

South Africa's indigenous people, known as Khoisan, are demanding better treatment from the country's government.

The leader of one of the Congolese rebel movements has refused to give an assurance that his troops will pull back from the front-line in compliance with a peace treaty.

This five day training event aims to respond to the urgent need for craetive and participatory approaches to the resolution of intra-state conflict by promoting respect for human rights, governance and citizen based third party mediation. The training aims to enable and strengthen the capacity of women's organisations to effectively contribute to peacebuilding processes within the West African sub-region. As it is our first sub-regional session, we would particularly welcome applications from SE Nigeria, northern Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

A group of NGOs including Amnesty have called on the international community to "turn principles into practice", as Mary Robinson highlighted in her opening statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights. The case of Togo, which has systematically violated international human rights standards, will be a test case for whether the Commission on Human Rights can put effective action before
political interests.

Eight African countries have amended their constitutions to domesticate the
International Criminal Court statutes on crimes against humanity.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) wishes to facilitate information-sharing and to assist countries in the development of national plans of action for human rights education.

An ARTICLE 19 report launched today demonstrates that outright abuse of the rights to freedom of association and assembly is rife throughout Africa.

JOB TITLE: Immigration Paralegal
ORGANISATION: Ayuda, Inc.
LOCATION: Washington, D.C.
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: July 31, 2001

Guinea-Bissau's main opposition parties said on Monday they would not cooperate with the new government because it was unrepresentative of all political forces in the country. Their statement came few hours after the newly appointed prime minister, Faustino Imbali, announced his new team of 14 ministers and eight state secretaries. Imbali was appointed on Wednesday to replace Caetano Intchama and promised to concentrate on resolving the instability in the country.

Rwandan has been praised for the progress in the country's human rights situation in a special report by UN Special Rapporteur Michel Moussalli, although much still remained to improve. A representative of Rwanda admitted, "that not all is perfect", but over the last three years human rights had improved notably and "where small problems remain, solutions are being sought."