CHAD: European Force Sticks to Mandate Under Early Pressure

The European Union’s first major overseas military deployment - to the impoverished central African nation of Chad - is caught in a war of words between the country’s president and tenacious rebel groups operating on Chad’s arid border with Sudan.

DR CONGO: With Rebel Leader&#39s Indictment, a Tentative Step to Accountability

The indictment against a militia leader whose alleged abuses span the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-ravaged east was finally made public at the end of April, almost two years after being delivered under seal to war crimes prosecutors.

HEALTH-DR CONGO: Water Everywhere, But Is It Safe To Drink?

The rain falls in battering sheets, rolling eastward along the Congo River through Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is midday, but the sky turns black and soon the potholed streets of this decrepit yet vibrant metropolis are filled with pond-sized puddles, many of them larger than the cars that traverse them.

RIGHTS: Norwegian Hand in Arms Ship

An internationally condemned Chinese cargo ship attempting to transport arms to Zimbabwe is partially insured by a Norwegian company. This may be illegal, according to Norwegian law.

Q&A: "Between Implementation and Planning, There Is a Disconnect"

Accounting for about a third of the gross domestic product in sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture clearly plays a significant role on the continent. But, figures only tell part of the story. A review of Africa produced under the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) notes that agriculture is also "woven into the fabric of most societies and cultures in the region."

POLITICS-DRC: Cautious Calm Settles Over War-Scarred Ituri Region

Wading through the chest-high grass outside of this hamlet in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Mathieu Nyakufa gestures to the bones - still bleaching in the sun - of those who have been lost to the country's wars.

RIGHTS: Failure To Renew DRC Expert’s Mandate Draws Criticism

The decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council not to renew the mandate of its independent expert on human rights for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has met with fierce criticism from a leading human rights organisation.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: In a Governmental Vacuum, Yearnings for a Lost Empire

On a broad hillside high above the meandering flow of the Mpozo River, a handful of policemen guard a ruin.

DEVELOPMENT-EAST AFRICA: Promise and Peril in Going – and Staying

Justina Bkole (38) was just a toddler when her parents fled to western Tanzania in 1972, to escape ethnic clashes in neighbouring Burundi. Like thousands of other refugees who made the same journey, she stayed in the East African country: a place to which she now has strong ties, even if her roots are in Burundi.

DEVELOPMENT: A Humanitarian Disaster Unfolds in Eastern DRC

In a mist-shrouded valley between the Mount Nyiragongo volcano and a pair of its dormant cousins looming in Rwanda to the east, nearly 3,000 souls wait in limbo, having fled a conflict that has succeeded in making this lush corner in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nothing less than hell on earth for its people.

RWANDA: Cutting Edge HIV/AIDS Prevention Presents Challenges

Certain medical workers in Rwanda have expressed concern about the country's campaign to promote male circumcision as a means of curbing the spread of HIV. They fear that in a country with low levels of knowledge about sexual health, people could mistakenly believe the procedure offers complete protection against the virus.

CAMEROON: Shelter, Medical Attention for Chadian Refugees

The situation of thousands of Chadian refugees who have fled to the north Cameroonian town of Kousseri continues to be a source of concern to aid workers, although the picture is not uniformly dismal.

RIGHTS-RWANDA: Children of the Genocide Struggle to Cope

What Gilbert Nshimyumukiza remembers most about the Rwandan genocide is that it started to rain as he and his brothers tried to carry his mortally wounded father back into their house.

HELSINKI PROCESS: Pushing For Progress in the Great Lakes Region

Continued strife in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has dealt a blow to those hoping for peace in Central Africa. However, Liberata Mulamula, executive director of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), remains optimistic about the future of this part of the continent.

HELSINKI PROCESS: More Development and Security in Exchange For Small Arms

Increasing international co-operation in exchange for guns and improving the sense of domestic security are promising strategies for reducing the number of small weapons in the hands of civilians in developing countries, a leading expert on the matter says.

ENERGY-CONGO: Extracting Honesty for an Extractive Resource

As 2007 draws to a close, citizens of Congo can look back on another year in which the challenge of introducing greater accountability into the Central African country's opaque and corrupt oil sector loomed large.

POLITICS-DRC: A President and a General Face Off

Instability continues to loom large in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with President Joseph Kabila having demanded that renegade General Laurent Nkunda disarm and reintegrate his approximately 5,000 troops into the national army.

RIGHTS-RWANDA: UN Tribunal’s Most Wanted Remains Elusive

Félicien Kabuga has a reward of several million dollars on his head, and tops the list of fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Yet, he's managed to escape justice for years.

Q&A: "Inmates Who Are on Death Row Are Without Legal Representation"

Olawale Fapohunda is a leading human rights lawyer in Nigeria and managing partner of the Legal Resource Consortium, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the economic capital of Lagos that provides free legal aid to prison inmates.

HEALTH-DRC: A Groundbreaking Television Series Tackles HIV/AIDS

It's a first for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): a Congolese filmmaker directing a television series in Lingala - the most widely spoken language in the country - about HIV/AIDS.

Q&A: "The Involvement of the Government Is Still Mixed"

Some cause for optimism, but several reasons for concern...That's the message from Amadou Wassouni as regards efforts to address desertification in Cameroon.