The Djibouti government aims to get all its boys and girls in school by the end of this decade. That target, most observers agree, is likely to prove much easier in the capital, Djibouti City, and provincial towns than in the hamlets that dot the arid countryside, where the challenges to universal primary education are strongest.

As a new deadline looms for illegal immigrants to leave Djibouti, the UN refugee agency is to begin training government officials to sit on eligibility commissions that will determine who is entitled to refugee status in the tiny nation in the Horn of Africa.

The government in Djibouti has extended the deadline for the departure of illegal immigrants from the East African country, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been struggling to cope with thousands of people who thronged a transit centre in a last bid to apply for asylum and legalize their stay.

Amnesty International has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Daher Ahmed Farah, an opposition party leader and director of his party's newspaper. Daher Ahmed Farah, a prisoner of conscience, has been repeatedly arrested because of his peacefully-held political opinions.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has welcomed the release of Daher Ahmed Farah, editor of the newspaper Le Renouveau and leader of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development. Farah was released on 23 June 2003 when the presiding judge at his hearing ruled that no crime had been committed and that the defendant was therefore not guilty. He had been accused of libel and had been detained since 20 April 2003.

The Writers in Prison Committee says it is "deeply concerned" by the prolonged detention of Daher Ahmed Farah, the editor of the newspaper Le Renouveau and leader of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD). According to information received, Farah was detained on 20 April 2003 following the filing of a complaint against Le Renouveau by General Zakaria Cheik Ibrahim, the deputy head of the army.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested against the re-arrest of newspaper editor Daher Ahmed Farah on 5 June 2003, just two days after his release from custody. The organisation has called on the authorities to release him immediately. The editor of "Le Renouveau" newspaper and head of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD), Farah is the subject of several libel suits filed by the armed forces.

The World Association of Newspapers has written to the authorities in Djibouti voicing "serious concern" at the detention of journalist Daher Ahmed Farah and the seizure of his newspaper. According to reports, Mr Farah, editor of the newspaper Le Renouveau and leader of the opposition Mouvement pour le renouveau démocratique, was arrested on 20 April. Mr Farah was placed in solitary confinement at Gabode prison after his arrest and only his mother has been allowed to visit him.

Daher Ahmed Farah, editor of the newspaper "Le Renouveau" and president of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (Mouvement pour le renouveau démocratique et le développement, an opposition party), was arrested in Djibouti on the morning of 20 April 2003 and placed in solitary confinement at Gabode prison.

President Ismaïl Omar Guellah of Djibouti is supporting a national strategy to move the country, strategically located on the Horn of Africa at the mouth of the Red Sea, into the digital age by 2010 to promote development and reduce poverty.

The United States last Friday signed a deal with Djibouti that gives US troops in the Horn of Africa country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

US President George W Bush discussed possible war against Iraq with Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh on Tuesday and said the United States would soon open an aid office in the tiny African nation. During a cordial half-hour meeting, Bush thanked his guest for his help in the war on terrorism and told him that Washington aims to open an office of the US Agency for International Development in Djibouti.

The pro-presidential coalition in Djibouti has taken all 65 seats in the national assembly, following the country's first full multi-party elections held last week, according to official results. The announcement, reported by the Djibouti news agency, was made by the country's Interior Minister, Abdulkader Doualeh Wais, last Saturday.

The United States is preparing to take on suspected al-Qaeda members believed to be hiding in Yemen and has sent 800 US troops and an unknown number of special forces operatives to Djibouti, the tiny African nation facing Yemen.

Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh has announced the introduction of multiparty politics to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the country's constitution on 4 September.

Some 25,000 refugees living in Djibouti are at risk of malnutrition, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday. It said supplies for the refuges were "rapidly running out" and appealed for an emergency 8,000 mt of food to deal with the crisis.

Some 25,000 refugees living in Djibouti are at risk of malnutrition, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday. It said supplies for the refuges were "rapidly running out" and appealed for an emergency 8,000 mt of food to deal with the crisis.

African Development Bank has awarded structural adjustment loans and grants to Djibouti to fight poverty and improve the plight of women. The loans are aimed at improving good governance of public funds, women advocacy programmes and boosting the fishing sector by increasing fish production and reducing Djibouti's food dependence on the outside world.

Shipping containers packed with a toxic chemical are leaking in the port of Djibouti, and the pollution could spread, a U.N. food agency said Tuesday. The chemical — chromated copper arsenate, which is used as a wood preservative — was shipped from Britain for delivery to the Ethiopian Power Corporation, according to the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization. The pesticide is carcinogenic and dangerous to the environment.

A German military delegation arrived in Djibouti on Sunday for talks with top Djibouti officials, a senior government official told IRIN on Tuesday. He said the 17 member military delegation was in the country to "set up a base camp for German naval forces participating in the fight against global terrorism". The Germans are part of a group of nine nations patrolling the Indian Ocean from Oman to Somalia, looking for suspected terrorists.