Congo Kinshasa (DRC) President Joseph Kabila was sworn in on 26 January this year after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, on 16 January. Since taking office he has promised cooperation with the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) and free movement of humanitarian agencies, and given approval for Sir Ketumile Masire to move ahead with organising the inter-Congolese dialogue on a new political dispensation for the country.

The United Nations peacekeepers have officially begun their mission in Congo Kinshasa (DRC), as the first UN contingent arrived and started deploying in the country. The deployment comes after foreign troops on Congolese soil had completed the "disengagement process" (pullback) that began two weeks ago.

Information on bombing in Sudan by date, region, number of bombs and casualties.

Roger Winter, Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa and the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights on Wednesday, March 28, 2001. The testimony, regarding U.S. policy toward the Sudan, can be accessed on the USCR website.

Country briefs from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees discuss asylum issues in individual countries.

Hijack a plane in Afghanistan and fly it to London. Board a rusting tub in Turkey and be wrecked off the coast of Italy or washed up in France. Camp in a container for weeks until your ship is unloaded in Canada. Hang to the wheel of a jumbo jet and hope not to freeze or suffocate. Splash across the Rio Grande. Float in a rubber ring to Florida. Walk the Sahara and sail to Spain. If you live in a miserable part of the world, just do something to reach a place more promising.

Namibia Prez Nujoma threatens lesbians and gay men with prison and deportation, but it is Zimbabwe's Mugabe who's driving the regional anti-gay bandwagon.

Amnesty International is concerned that recent statements made by President Sam Nujoma of Namibia may lead to the persecution of individuals identified as lesbian or gay and to further attacks on human rights groups advocating support for lesbian and gay rights.

Does political and economic stability improve people's livelihoods and their quality of life? Does stability increase the success of development projects? Uganda has recently enjoyed a period of relative economic calm, leading researchers from the University of Bath to ask: how have poverty reduction programmes fared during this time? How far is success dependent on local conditions?

Communities of present-day or former hunter-gatherers live in scattered communities across the world, although their precise numbers and status are uncertain. Their often marginalized status and ethnolinguistic diversity has made it hard to articulate their case for land rights outside Australia and North America. Hunter-gatherers' preferred subsistence strategy, hunting, often comes into direct conflict with conservation philosophies and protected areas often fall within traditional hunting grounds. An ODI paper reviews their situation and asks, how best can hunter-gatherers' livelihoods be incorporated into more conventional natural resource management strategies?

Statistics SA reveals that unemployment rose from 36.3% in 1999 to 37.3% in 2000. Even the ‘official’ figures which exclude ‘discouraged job seekers’, show a rise from 23.3% to 26.7% and a new report on job losses shows a 15% loss in formal sector jobs in ten years.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has lifted restrictions on the free movement of people and goods in a measure linked to progress in ending the country's conflict, a senior minister said last week.

More than 200 bodies have been found in mass graves in a suburb of the Burundian capital of Bujumbura, local officials said last week.

A key Republican leader in the US House of Representatives said on Sunday that the persecution of Christians and other minority ethnic groups in Sudan is "horrible" and the United States must get involved.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Morocco: 2 members of the Forum for Truth and Justice – Sahara Section were intercepted by the Moroccan police on 24 March 2001 in the international zone of Casablanca airport. The persons concerned are Mr. Noumri Brahim, ex-Sahraoui missing person from 1987 to 1991, freed from the secret detention centre of Kalaat M’Gouna, bearer of passport No. M 542832, and Mr. Elhamed Mahmoud, bearer of passport No. M 755551.

Amnesty International today challenged Congo's new President Joseph Kabila to publicly demonstrate his commitment to human rights and the rule of law by putting an immediate end to the torture and killing of suspected opponents, and to account for alleged government opponents who were reportedly executed in late 2000 or whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Ugandan authorities have fueled political and ethnic strife in eastern Congo with disastrous consequences for the local population, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today.

The Swiss National Parliament recommended today to the government (153 votes against 26) the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

May 21-23, 2001, Cairo, Egypt - This research initiative involves a tripartite collaboration of researchers from the American University in Cairo (AUC), the networks of the Middle East Awards Program (MEAwards) and the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA). The Working Group on the Reconstruction of War-Torn Communities reflects the emerging research issues in forced migration, protracted conflicts and post-conflict tasks of rebuilding war torn communities.

(Johannesburg, March 27, 2001) In schools across South Africa, thousands of girls of every race and economic group are encountering sexual violence and harassment that impede their access to education, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today.