A fast approaching global energy and climate crisis threatens to reverse human development, says a new report, The Price of Power, released by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). But even a small shift of support away from fossil fuels toward clean renewable energy could save millions of lives and help avert global warming. The combined spiralling costs of climate change and dwindling supplies of oil mean that without a major shift to renewable energy, internationally agreed targets to reduce poverty will not be met and people in all countries will suffer a progress-reversing energy shock. The growing threat to the conventional energy supply means any long-term efforts to improve the human condition will have to be linked to renewable energy sources.

Africa’s leading human rights body has been asked to intervene in the case of a Cameroonian radio station closed by the government. The complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was filed on behalf of Freedom FM, an independent radio station in Douala, Cameroon. The station has been arbitrarily denied a broadcasting license since its application was submitted in October 2002. In May 2003, police seized the station’s studios and sealed off access to its broadcasting equipment. The owners have been refused entry ever since.

The Commission of the African Union will on Sunday, July 4, launch its first ever live radio broadcast on the margins of the African Union Summit. The four-hour-daily programme in Amharic, Arabic, English and French languages will be broadcast for eight days from 8 p.m. to 12 midnight on short-wave frequency 7165 KHZ and 9560 KHZ. It will focus mainly on what the African Union is doing and plans to do in future. The African Union Radio is edited and presented by a team of journalists and technicians assembled locally by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konaré.

This newsletter is a monthly forum to share and learn about experiences and new developments in the promotion/adoption of conservation agriculture with special focus on Africa. If you wish to receive the newsletter send an e-mail message to [email protected] with a one-line text message as follows: SUBSCRIBE ACT Now.

"The Anti-Privatisation Forum alongside its partners in the Coalition Against Water Privatisation condemn the 9% increase in Johannesburg’s water tariffs that will come into effect on 1st July as part of the Johannesburg Council’s 2004-2005 budget. Since 2001, when the management and operations of Johannesburg Water were privatised to the French water multi-national company – Suez – water tariffs have cumulatively risen by over 40%. This precipitous rise in the price of water is the direct result of the ‘cost- recovery’ approach that is part of the profit-seeking activities of Johannesburg Water. As a result, tens of thousands of poor people have had their water cut-off and are now being forced to accept the self-disconnection technology of pre-paid water meters."

Our Spring/Summer issue "Which Black Woman Inspired You?" celebrates the many talents that have come to us through black women, and it also paid tribute to all those who came before us, ensuring that today's black women would live longer and stronger. We are now welcoming submissions that further develop themes about the position, power and potential of the black individual in Africa and in America in particular. Topics should not be limited, however, to the two continents, as we welcome submissions from all around the world.

Hundreds of Africans and their organizations will gather on Saturday 3rd July 2004 at London's City Hall for African Diaspora and Development Day (ad3). The day has become the biggest gathering of Africans in the UK involved in supporting Africa's development. Featuring seminars, workshops, exhibitions, an African development market, and a keynote address by renowned West African gender activist, Yassine Fall, ad3 will also provide an opportunity for African diaspora organizations to meet with other development agencies - donors, policy-makers, pan-African development institutions and international NGOs - to share information and chart a way forward for the UK diaspora's role in Africa's development.

The free and open source software (Foss) community has got a new home in East Africa. A recent venture between Linux Solutions, the International Institute of Communication and Development and Uganda Martyrs University has led to the formation of the East African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS).

A coalition of civil society organisations including Oxfam GB, Equality Now, FEMNET, CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and FAHAMU on 29 June in Addis Ababa announced the launch of an international campaign urging member states of the African Union to ratify the African Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa without delay. The campaign will particularly target the 30 countries that have already signed the Protocol in a concerted effort to get the necessary ratifications for it to enter into force. The group will approach heads of state arriving for the upcoming summit, presenting them with a petition signed by individuals and organizations from across Africa including Graça Machel and supporters around the world urging swift ratification of the Protocol. Graça Machel emphatically stated, “I urge all African States to ratify the Protocol immediately because African women's rights cannot be postponed.” In collaboration with national women's and human rights groups, the coalition has already begun dialogue with government officials from several countries across the continent.

**Sign the petition on the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa at:
http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/petition.php?id=1

If there is one foreign-policy issue on which the Bush administration is even more isolated internationally than in its decision to invade and occupy Iraq, it is on what critics call its ongoing war against the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) which supports the reproductive health rights of women around the world. The administration is currently pursuing the war on two fronts. On the one hand, it is threatening to withhold U.S. aid to other UN and private agencies if they do not break their ties with UNFPA. At the same time, it is continuing its effort to persuade other governments to back away from the "Cairo Consensus," the program of action endorsed by 179 countries, including the U.S., at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) that asserted that promoting women's reproductive rights and services is central to reducing poverty and promoting economic development.

Hawa Drame, known to her friends and colleagues as “Madame Refuse,” sifts through the rubbish on a dump in the Malian capital Bamako for rags and old clothes that she can recycle and sell in order to feed herself and her four children. Drame, who is now about 40, has been scavenging for old rags on Bamako's rubbish dumps for the past 13 years. She washes them in a river and sells them on to mechanics and garage owners for cleaning cars. A Malian government survey in 1999 revealed that 63.8 percent of the country's 11 million population were living in poverty and a further 21 percent in extreme poverty.

“What do we mean when we use the word “gender”? While this may strike many as something of an irrelevant question, nevertheless it remains the case that diverse cultural contexts give rise to a range of possible interpretations and reactions to this term. For example, during fieldwork exploring gendered relations between peacekeepers and local women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, use of the word gender invoked suspicion and wariness amongst some of the peacekeepers-respondents to the study.” This is an extract from the fourth issue of the quarterly newsletter of The Gender & Peacebuilding Programme of International Alert entitled “Engendering Peace”. You can read the whole newsletter at the URL below.

Under a fierce midday sun, Nicole Ibrehim clutches her semi-automatic rifle, cracked purple fingernail polish glinting in the light and a red beret perched over pierced ears. She waves her gun towards a group of nervous boy soldiers standing nearby and shouts an order in a low, booming voice, sending the boys scuttling. "Don't you have girl soldiers in your country?" the Democratic Republic of Congo rebel asks in French, surprised at the attention she is receiving from a cluster of foreign journalists. "Here there are many." New research shows that girls and women are active combatants in wars across the world. According to Tufts University researcher Dyan Mazurana, over the last decade, girls have fought in conflicts in at least 54 countries, most of them in the developing world.

No fewer than 50 women displaced in the on going military operations in selected riverine communities in Delta State, recently protested their eviction and appealed to the state to allow them and their families to return to their homes to save them the agony of being refugees in their own land. The women, most of them with babies strapped on their backs, besieged the Governor's Office, where they interrupted the weekly State Security Council meeting presided over by the Deputy Governor, Chief Benjamin Elue.

The most vulnerable countries need to be given specific attention in all global forums because they are not receiving the official development assistance (ODA) that wealthy countries promised and are finding it difficult to take advantage of the expansion of international trade. Such was the appeal made by Anwarul Chowdhury, U.N. undersecretary general and high representative of for what are known as the least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries and small island states, in his address to the eleventh sessions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI).

The eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI) ended on 18 June with a closing session in a rather good spirit with some useful results for developing countries. The conference adopted a declaration called the Sao Paulo Consensus, which contains analyses of globalisation, trade and development issues, proposes policy responses and spells out the role of UNCTAD. Also adopted was a declaration, the Spirit of Sao Paulo. UNCTAD XI’s most important achievement was the inclusion in the declaration of a section on the need for developing countries to have “policy space”, which has been increasingly eroded by trade agreements and loan conditions. It was the first time a multilateral conference involving North and South had recognized this idea and it will be useful to developing countries’ negotiators when they argue their case in the World Trade Organisation, at the International Monetary Fund and in regional and bilateral trade agreements.

An international experts meeting was held on Globalisation and Africa at the European Parliament, Brussels from April 15th -17th, 2004, sponsored by the European United Left-Nordic Green Left Group (GUE/NGL) in collaboration with a Netherlands-based Convening Committee, which included TNI. The papers presented are now online, together with the declaration which warns that the EU's proposed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African countries pose an even bigger challenge than the WTO insofar as carrot and stick tactics are used to promote the unilateral liberalisation of trade and investment regimes.

The Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) has recently published a report on measuring the impact of humanitarian aid. This report investigates the current state of the art in measuring and analysing the impact of humanitarian assistance. It is concerned with questions around how impact can be measured, why this is increasingly being demanded, and whether it is possible to do it better. It also explores the benefits, dangers and costs that paying greater attention to impact might entail.

President Thabo Mbeki set the seal on a decisive broad policy shift to the left for his final term in office as he lashed out at what he called the "new conservatism" sweeping the world, which enshrined the individual and denigrated the state in a way which could never bring a better life for SA's millions. The president's comments, which might prove to be a watershed in South African politics, came as he introduced his budget vote in the National Assembly.

In the North of Angola, the Uíge province has the second largest city, with the same name, after Luanda. The province has an estimated population of 1.5 million inhabitants. Out of 412 industries registered before independence, the province today has just four bakeries as a result of the war, the inefficient economic system and of the deliberately neglectful administration. On May 12, 2004, the Campaign for a Democratic Angola was launched in Uíge, in the old Moreno Cinema, before an audience of more than 500. For the first time, after the resumption of the war in 1992, a delegation of the campaign, among them opposition party and civil society leaders, travelled about 400 km, over treacherous roads, for a greater understanding of the reality that exists between the provincial capitals, usually connected by air.

Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer, and its newly oil-rich neighbour Sao Tome and Principe, on Sunday signed a joint declaration regarding transparency and governance in the Joint Development Zone shared by the two countries. The President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, and visiting President of Sao Tome and Principe, Fradique De Menezes, agreed at a meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to full public disclosure of all transactions in respect of oil companies’ activities in the zone, which spans the two countries' waters in the Gulf of Guinea.

Since June 2003, 220 equality courts have been established to eliminate the racism that took root in South Africa during the colonial and apartheid eras - as well as other forms of discrimination that can flourish in a culturally diverse society. "Equal opportunity alone is not enough to address the apartheid-inflicted legacy," said Johnny de Lange, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

HIV/Aids is hitting the world's young people hardest. More than half of the 14,000 people newly infected each day are under 25 years old; most of them are girls. But despite the disproportionate burden they carry - and the fact that they are more likely than adults to adopt and maintain safe behaviours - young people are routinely disregarded when strategies on HIV/Aids are drafted, policies made and budgets allocated.

The Internet Café was set up to enable women and girls to have access to technology in an environment that does not continue to re-emphasise the stereotypes against them and where they can confidently gain skills without intimidation. Since its inception in the year 2000, the cafe has continued to be a source of inspiration to many women and girls.

I am writing on behalf of the CERDH (Centre d`Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l`Homme et Démocratie) a Congolese organization in charge of promotion and protection of Human Rights and Democracy based in Lubumbashi, DRC, because we are concerned about the treatment of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflict has been raging for more than five years. Many women continue to be discriminated against and thousands of them have been raped and killed with complete impunity.

To address this situation, we seized this occasion to write to you regarding the ratification of the Protocol on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and urge your Excellencies to ensure the fast tracking of its ratification by the Congolese government.

Africa could be on the brink of a major poliomyelitis epidemic after a child in Sudan's crisis ridden Dafur region was found to have been paralysed by the disease last month, World Health Organization officials warned. It was the first confirmed case of polio, which mainly affects children under the age of five, in the country for three years. Sudan is the tenth African country in which the disease has reappeared.

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has published a new report on core labour standards in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, exposing the problems facing workers and trade unions in these countries. The report, launched to coincide with the WTO Trade Policy Review this week, highlights frequent violations of basic workers' rights such as the right to organise and the right to collective bargaining. Legal restrictions exist on the right to strike, and civil servants are exposed to serious limitations on their right to strike.

The Program Officer will be responsible for the conceptualization and management of the Foundation's program activities in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. S/he will be expected to support efforts to address higher education's role in a rapidly changing environment. Programming will focus on helping higher education institutions broaden their missions, in particular in building the capacity of higher education institutions to be relevant and responsive to the social and economic needs in Southern Africa.

Kenya's war on Aids has suffered a major setback after the World Bank withheld crucial funding. The decision not to release Sh1.7 billion has crippled the National Aids Control Council, the organisation charged with coordinating a national response to the epidemic. The bank says it will not release the money until it gets an audit report for the past financial year that will take months to prepare.

Some 5,000 nurses will be hired next month to ease an acute shortage in public hospitals, an assistant minister has said. Recruitment would be conducted at the constituency and district levels to improve local medical services, said Mr Gideon Konchella of the Health ministry.

Women meet weekly in Juliet's house in Gayaza in Rakai district. In psychological jargon, this is an interpersonal psychotherapy group. In practice, it resembles community support and friendship, the kind of network which has been destroyed by the HIV/Aids pandemic. The success of these groups in combating depression and boosting productivity means that they will be rolled out to the other Ugandan districts of Luwero and Mpigi later this year.

Mutiny, rebellion or a new occupation by foreign forces of eastern Congo? This is the question that analysts of the Great Lakes region continuously ask themselves.

On 26 May 2004, the city of Bukavu did not sleep, but awoke to gunshots. Over the following two weeks the city and surrounding areas became the theatre of very violent fighting between regular armed forces and forces of the dissidents of the 10th military region commanded by Colonel Jules Mutebusi. Mutebusi was suspended in April by the Congolese military hierarchy and supported by 3-4 battalions led by another former officer of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie - RCD), General Lauraent Nkunda.

These events, which killed about one hundred people and wounded many others, and led to the fall of Bukavu into rebel hands on 2 June, were reminiscent of the Kabila epic of October 1996, and that of the RCD in August 1998. This story resembles past events, but does it repeat them?

It resembles them because of the similarity of the context: several Congolese dissidents, the military and logistical support of Rwanda, followed by the rapid capture of Congolese cities without resistance and Rwanda denying its involvement.

The events in Bukavu and its surrounding areas were accompanied by a series of grave human rights abuses and war crimes. Besides the killings, there was systematic rape of women, children, even babies. The organisation Human Rights Watch documented dozens of cases of rape, including four three-year old girls. The question that many people forget to ask themselves is why is history repeating itself? Why has the Congo seemingly not learnt its lessons from past events?

It was 2 August 1998 when an armed group called the RCD, supported by Rwanda, took the city of Bukavu. It started with the execution of dozens of military people loyal to Kinshasa at the Kavumu aerodrome and the group then continued quickly on to Goma, then Kisangani, then Kindu, etc while other columns attacked the Inga roadblock and occupied the Kitona military base, in Bas-Congo province. They created their headquarters in Goma.

The government of Laurent Kabila, which had not yet succeeded in setting up an army during its 13-month reign, was on the verge of falling and called upon Angola, then Namibia, Chad and Zimbabwe.

In the following months, Jean Pierre Bemba declared another rebellion in the North - the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (le Mouvement pour la libération du Congo - MLC) - with the support of Uganda.

Internal difficulties led the RCD president Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and the former president of the RCD 'assembly' Mbusa Nyamwisi to create the RCD-Kisangani (which later became the RCD-ML), based in Kisangani, also with Ugandan support.

The methods of the belligerents were simple: killings, destruction, torture and rape.

It was over the next four years that probably the most devastating war for humanity would continue. It involved the governmental forces supported by Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Chad; the RCD supported by Rwanda and Burundi; and the RCD-ML and the MLC supported by Uganda.

This long war, which some analysts called the "African World War" caused more than three million deaths and more than two million refugees and internally displaced people. Systematic massacres were committed in villages such as Mkaobola, Kasika, Burhinyi, Shabunda and Kisangani. In some places, these massacres bordered on genocide. In Kasika, for example, RCD troops supported by Rwanda decimated approximately 1500 civilians, that is almost 10% of the members of the Banyindu ethnic group, at 18,000 people, one of the smallest of the 300 ethnic groups in Congo. The RCD's efforts eliminated customary chiefs, religious leaders, human rights activists, etc. The people responsible for some of these crimes are known and their abuses documented, but they have never been punished.

The MLC committed massive human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including cannibalism against the Mbuti (pygmy) groups in the Mambasa district of Eastern Province. The RCD-ML, the armed resistance Mai-Mai (or Mayi-Mayi) as well as other armed groups also all committed several human rights abuses, such as rape, killings, pillage, etc.

In addition to these violations, the belligerents engaged in economic exploitation of Congo's riches: wood and minerals. The fauna was also systematically destroyed. Forced labour was used to the profit of armed groups.

On 22 July 2002 in Pretoria, the parties to the conflict signed peace accords, which paved the way for the end of this devastating war. The agreement allowed for power sharing amongst the different factions, offering positions of responsibility in the new transitional institutions, curiously in relation to the level of involvement in crimes, implying that crimes can pay. When the transitional institutions were put in place in Kinshasa, the RCD, MLC, RCD-ML, Mayi-Mayi, non-armed political opposition and civil society shared power. Besides the civil society and the non-armed political opposition, one could talk of power sharing amongst criminals.

However, a group of largely Rwandophone officers in eastern Congo, as well as certain nominated parliamentarians and senators refused to join the transitional institutions in Kinshasa, despite the efforts of the new government. They established themselves in the city of Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu bordering Rwanda, where the governor, Eugene Serufuli had already allegedly set up a militia under the cover of the organisation called "All for Peace and Development" (Tous pour la paix et le dévéloppement - TPD). Neither the RCD nor the government seemed to have full control over the governor of Goma or the group of officers in question. These officers had something in common: blood on their hands and impunity.

The events of May and June 2004 benefited from disorder: an army not yet unified and consequently no unified command of the eastern region; the absence of a legitimate territorial administration; massive human rights violations; and generalised insecurity in the eastern part of the country.

These officers seemed to have profited from the situation to organise themselves. Significant stores of arms were found in the possession of the officers and security agents close to the RCD in February 2004. The next month, Colonel Mutebusi, then second commander of the 10th military region (South Kivu), led a mutiny against the head commander, General Prosper Nyabiolwa, for having arrested and transferred to Kinshasa Major Kasongo for indiscipline. The General escaped and fled to Kinshasa, while three of his bodyguards were killed, allegedly by Mutebusi's men.

The RCD, which has always been supposed to administer this part of Congo while awaiting the establishment of a new territorial administration, came to the defence of the mutineers and threatened to leave the transitional government if Major Kasongo was not freed, thus forcing the government's hand. Investigation of the arms cache was never pursued. Mutebusi was suspended but never punished. Impunity!

Following this, Mutebsi started another mutiny on 26 May 2004. He attacked the positions of the regular army and the situation degenerated until the intervention of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission (MONUC). The city of Bukavu was divided in two (Mutebusi controlled the part bordering Rwanda and the regular army controlled the rest of the city) for a week.

But, from Goma, General Laurent Nkunda headed towards Bukavu with his 2 000 men to reinforce Mutebsi. He is believed to have been supported by troops from the Rwandan army. He raised the spectre of genocide against the Banyamulenge in Bukavu, a thesis which he later rejected when retreating. This argument was also rejected by MONUC, human rights organisations based in the region, the Banyamulenge organisation "Shikama", Commander Masunzu - a Munyamulenge leading an armed group in the high plains of Itombwe.

There were, however, serious human rights violations committed on all sides. Civilians were killed and rape appeared to be systematically used by the mutineers as a weapon of war. In the IDAP, Muhungu, Ndendere and Bugabo areas, door-to-door rape was practiced, leading some to believe it was a punitive action by the mutineers.

When, on 2 June, Laurent Nkunda took the city, two new groups appeared, who allied themselves with the two opposing parties. Mr Odilon Kurhengamuzinmu, commander of the militia called Mudundu 40 (M40), which during the last three years had changed alliance between Kinshasa and Rwanda on several occasions, this time associated himself with Mutebusi. A dissident faction of M40 led by Foka Mike allied itself with the regular army.

Under the occupation of the mutineers from 2 to 8 June 2004, the city of Bukavu was the scene of flagrant human rights violations. In addition to approximately 100 dead, the local organisation "Justice for all" (Justice pour tous) has compiled a non-exhaustive list of 617 women and girls raped, 18 stores pillaged, 254 people wounded by bullets, 60 vehicles stolen, 12 depots of manufactured goods and food stores pillaged and the Cooperative of business people (Coopérative d'hommes d'affaires - COOPERA) burnt. The central bank and commercial bank were looted of all their reserves by the mutineers.

Rwanda's involvement in support of the mutineers in terms of soldiers and arms has been reported by the local organisation "Heirs of justice" (Heritiers de la justice), the Congolese transition support committee (Comite d'accompagnement de la transition congolaise - CIAT), largely composed of representatives of the G8 countries, and a coalition of Belgian NGOs.

The Rwandan government denies its involvement, reminiscent of its denials in 1996 and 1998 that Rwanda was not in Congo, even while its troops fought beside Kabila's Alliance of democratic forces (Alliances des forces democratiques - AFDL) and the RCD, respectively.

Following diplomatic pressure, Rwanda, which had hosted some 3000 refugees in May and June, closed its border with Congo. Bukavu was retaken by the regular army on 9 June 2004, leaving Mutebusi and his ally M40 to occupy the town of Kamanyola and a part of Luvungi and Bwegere, close to the Rwandan border in the Ruzizi plains, some 60 kilometres south of Bukavu.

Fighting continues in various parts of the South Kivu region, boding ill for a possible stagnation or breakdown of the fragile peace process in the country.

The impunity of those responsible for crimes committed in eastern Congo over the past 6 years seem to be the determining factor in the continuation of abuses against civilian populations. Those who have never heard of war crimes include troops under the command of the infamous: Major Bora Uzima in South Kivu; Gabrial Amisi, alias "Tango Fort" (currently in the regular army) in Uvira, Kasika and Fizi; Laurent Nkaudna who was behind the massacres in Kisangani; Jules Mutebusi who was responsible for the bombing of the Banyamulenge; Thierry Ilunga (currently in the regular army) in Mwenga, etc.

These officers are currently either peacefully reintegrated into the regular army (Amisi and Ilunga) or are currently in leadership positions in eastern Congo and implicated in the current war in South Kivu. None of them have ever been sanctioned or punished for their responsibility in these crimes.

The system in place in Congo, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established on the South African model, seems to pave the way for the continuation of impunity.

The option to cover up and leave unpunished war crimes and crimes against humanity such as the systematic rape of three-year-old girls; the indiscriminate bombing of civilian Banyamulenge populations by Rwandan helicopters; the massacre of civilians in Kisangani, Kasika, Makobola, Burhinyi, etc; the cannibalism against Pygmy communities in the Eastern Province: Is this the way forward for the Congolese state to re-establish itself?

In my opinion, this will only sow the seeds of an even more catastrophic socio-political situation in eastern Congo.

* Innocent Bulemba works for Amnesty International. This article was written in his personal capacity.

* Please send comments to

* NOTE FOR EDITORS: Please note that this editorial was commissioned from the author for Pambazuka News. While we are pleased that several print publications have used our editorials, we ask editors to note that if they use this article, they do so on the understanding that they are expected to provide the following credit: "This article first appeared in Pambazuka News, an electronic newsletter for social justice in Africa, Editors are also encouraged to make a donation.

>>>>> For the full French version of this article, please click on the link below.

Mutinerie, rébellion ou une nouvelle occupation par des forces étrangères de la partie orientale du Congo, voilà la question que ne cessent de se poser actuellement les analystes sur la région des grands lacs. Le 26 mai passé, la ville de Bukavu ne dort pas mais se réveille sous des coups de balles et que les deux semaines suivantes la ville et ses environs devient le théâtre des combats très violents qui ont opposé les forces de l'armée régulière et celles des dissidents de la 10ème région militaire commandées par le colonel Jules Mutebusi, suspendu au mois d'avril dernier par la hiérarchie militaire congolaise, appuyées espar quelques trois ou quatre bataillons commandés par un autre ancien officier du RCD, le général Laurent Nkunda. Ces événements qui ont fait une centaine de personnes civiles tuées et plusieurs blessés, et qui ont conduit à la chute de Bukavu aux mains mutins, le 2 juin, rappellent l'épopée Kabila en octobre 1996, et celle du RCD en août 1998. Cette histoire se ressemble, mais ne répète t-elle pas?

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has announced a new cabinet line-up, including several leading opposition politicians. Mr Kibaki made the announcement in a previously unscheduled TV address. The new cabinet includes two prominent members of the main opposition Kanu party and the leader of the smaller Ford-People party.

There has been a mixed reaction to the announcement by Kenya's leader that this week's deadline for having a new constitution would be missed. One MP in the ruling coalition said that Kenya could be headed for chaos. Other MPs praised President Mwai Kibaki's call for consensus. Both camps plan rallies at the weekend. Mr Kibaki had promised to introduce a new constitution within 100 days of coming to power in December 2002 but the deadline then slipped to 30 June.

The findings of the United Nations Secretary General’s Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa show that gender inequality fuels HIV infection because many women and girls cannot negotiate safer sex or turn down unwanted sex. The findings also demonstrate that HIV/AIDS deepens and exacerbates women’s poverty and inequality because it requires them to do more domestic labour as they care for the sick, the dying and the orphaned.

A number of staff members have been suspended at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital over allegations of theft, corruption and negligence. The hospital's chief executive, Dr Emma Bondarenko, who took over the reins in November after the redeployment of the institution's management, on Wednesday said that a number of staff members - comprising nurses, clerks and security personnel - have been suspended for various alleged transgressions, including graft.

Zimbabwean business mogul Mutumwa Mawere is a free man after a South African magistrate dismissed an application by Zimbabwean police for more time to investigate corruption allegations against him while he was on bail, facing possible extradition. Zimbabwean police went before a Randsburg magistrate on Wednesday to request more time and to have Mawere's extradition hearing postponed.

In most civil wars there is little or no respect for the sanctity of childhood. The opposite is true - young people are used in the most callous ways possible and their rights are routinely ignored. They function inside worlds where connections are broken and doors are shut against them. Many thoughtful reports have been written on the impact of war on children’s lives. This resource manual hopes to contribute to these studies through an approach that is largely reflected through young people’s views. This does not mean that our views lack analysis, rather that the prism for collecting and analyzing information is distinct. This material includes artwork, group discussions, individual interviews and writing.

Liberia has been in a nearly constant state of civil war for 14 years. This has taken an enormous toll on the lives of Liberian children, adolescents and all civilians. Throughout the years of civil war and especially during the 2003 War, thousands of Liberian children have been victims of killings, rape and sexual assault, abduction, torture, forced labour, forced recruitment into fighting forces and displacement and other violations by warring factions, including the government of Liberia under Charles Taylor, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

"I will call him Paul though that is not his real name. Paul is a young man. He spoke with difficulty because both upper and lower jaw had been smashed by his assailants. Clearly imprinted on his back was the mark left by a belt, and his right hand was visibly damaged. His feet were lacerated such that he could only walk with great difficulty. And the reason for this appalling brutality? Paul was known as an MDC supporter in the Lupane area where he lives." 26 June was the United Nations Day in support of the victims of torture, and the occasion was marked by two major events drawing attention to the plight of torture victims in Zimbabwe, reports www.sokwanele.com.

Uganda and the DRC, both full members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), have recently requested that the ICC investigate atrocities being committed on their territory. If applied carefully and with the full use of its provisions for victims and witnesses, the ICC could play a positive role in furthering the resolution of these conflicts while laying the groundwork for long term reconciliation and stability, says a report from Citizens for Global Solutions, a grassroots membership organization that envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone.

Amid recent killings and rapes by government and rebel soldiers in the eastern Congo, the decision by the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor to systematically investigate war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could not be more timely, Human Rights Watch says. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, on June 23, announced the beginning of this first-ever investigation by the prosecutor's office of this newly established court. Earlier this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) transitional government triggered the action by requesting the ICC prosecutor to investigate crimes in the Congo

While co-ordination is essentially a method of getting institutions to work together, it is clearly not synonymous with togetherness. Undercurrents of suspicion and distrust between individuals and institutional actors can affect important relationships and give rise to enduring misunderstandings and perplexing challenges. This book examines the co-ordination, or lack of co-ordination of education during both emergencies and the early reconstruction period.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone recently ruled that the recruitment or use of children under age 15 in hostilities is a war crime under customary international law. This landmark ruling may result in the first ever conviction for the recruitment of child soldiers. UNICEF welcomes the Court's decision as a bold effort to hold perpetrators accountable for serious crimes against children. The decision by the Appeals Chamber came in response to an assertion by one of the accused that he was immune from prosecution because the recruitment or use of children under 15 in hostilities was not established as a war crime during the period of the Special Court's authority, dating back to 1996.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Burundi has stepped up efforts to improve conditions for Congolese refugees who have fled the eastern South Kivu Province following recent fighting there, the agency reported on Tuesday. The agency said it had received its largest group of Congolese refugees in recent days, bringing to 34,000 the number of those who had fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 9 June.

Malian children miss out on school because their parents can't afford the fees, uniforms, books and pens so the government launched a sponsorship scheme this month, recruiting businessmen and even footballers to help impoverished children get an education. Officials say the cost of putting a child through school is about 25,000 CFA (US$ 46) a year - which makes life difficult for parents in a country where around 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day and women have an average of around seven children each, according to the World Bank.

The education sector in Kenya is being threatened by the AIDS pandemic, according to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). Speaking at a local school, the assistant Minister of Education, Peter Odoyo, said the commission was losing many teachers to HIV/AIDS, which was undermining the sector's efforts and jeopardising the survival of the TSC. Odoyo commented that in one district alone, 100 teachers and 450 students died every year from HIV/AIDS.

Backed by the Sudanese government, Janjaweed militias are launching assaults across the border into Chad, attacking and looting Chadian villagers as well as refugees from Darfur, Human Rights Watch said recently. Despite a ceasefire agreement in Darfur, government troops and Janjaweed militias continue to commit atrocities in the western Sudanese region. Human Rights Watch documented at least seven cross-border incursions into Chad conducted by the Janjaweed militias since early June. The Janjaweed attack villages in Chad and refugees from Darfur, and also steal cattle. The same Arab and African ethnic groups live on both sides of border in Chad and Darfur.

Just outside the capital Bujumbura, civilians in Burundi have been killed, raped and injured in ongoing combat between government troops allied with former rebel combatants and the forces of a rebel group that remains outside the country's peace process, Human Rights Watch said in a new briefing paper. The 15-page report, "Suffering in Silence: Civilians in Continuing Combat in Bujumbura Rural," documents how these war crimes have been committed by all three parties in the conflict: government troops, allied combatants from the former rebel Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, or FDD), and forces from the rebel National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales pour la liberation, or FNL). In November the FDD, whose forces are still led by former rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, reached an accord with the government. But the FNL, led by Agathon Rwasa, has not yet joined the peace process.