The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It will be recalled that the Council was established in 1973 out of the collective will of African social researchers to create a viable forum in Africa through which they could strive to transcend all barriers to knowledge production and, in so doing, play a critical role in the democratic development of the continent. As part of the series of events planned to mark the anniversary, five sub-regional conferences are being organised in Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa. These sub-regional conferences will be followed by a grand finale conference to be held at the Council’s headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2003. The Southern Africa sub-regional conference is scheduled for Gaborone, Botswana, on 18 and 19 October, 2003. Its theme will be: 'Southern Africa: From National Liberation to Democratic Renaissance'.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has stated that the recent abduction of girls from a boarding school in Lwara, Kabermaido district, Northern Uganda, signals a sharp jump in child abduction and recruitment by all parties to the conflict. “This incident is part of a generalized problem of escalating conflict fuelling unprecedented levels of child abductions and recruitment in Northern Uganda, and now spreading to Eastern Uganda,” said Geoffrey Oyat, Coordinator of the Ugandan chapter of the Coalition.

“I was sleeping at my home when at approximately 3am today, Wednesday 4th June, 2003, between 10 and 20 soldiers banged on my front door. I opened it and they wanted to know what party I belonged to. My brother J. and I were asked so many questions and were then told to lie on our stomachs and they beat us with batons." This is one story contained in a report from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights that documents case summaries, with histories, and examination findings of incidents of violence inflicted during the week of the National Mass Action that took place between June 2-9.