POLITICS-LIBERIA: Better Some Right to Vote Than None?

Liberians go to the polls next week for their country's first general elections since civil war was brought to a halt in the West African state in 2003.

RIGHTS: Amnesty International Sounds the Alarm Over DRC

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has expressed concern over mounting political and ethnic tensions in the North-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - warning that this might spark renewed conflict in the country.

POLITICS-DRC: Making Order Out of Chaos for the 2006 Election

Over recent days, thousands of people have queued at voter registration centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to ensure they can participate in a landmark poll scheduled to take place by Jun. 30 next year.

POLITICS-DRC: “Stronger Commitment” Needed for Peace

Ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has underscored the difficulties of bringing lasting peace to this vast Central African country.

RIGHTS-KENYA: In the Aftermath of a Massacre

He describes himself as an old man, and one ignorant of many things in life - especially "women and the ways of Waq (God)". But Huka Kanchoro, a wizened Borana elder, knows that he holds a position of influence in the northern Kenyan district of Marsabit.

RIGHTS-TOGO: Plus Ca Change…

The human rights group Amnesty International has issued a report alleging serious human rights violations in Togo during the West African country's recent elections.

POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

"We don't want Swaziland to explode like Rwanda, Burundi or Sierra Leone," says Gabriel Mkhumane, founder of the outlawed People's United Democratic Movement - a Swazi opposition party.

POLITICS-DRC: Bullets, Not Ballots

The 45th anniversary of Congo-Kinshasa's independence from Belgium, Thursday, was supposed to have been the day the country held its first democratic election in over four decades. However, it was teargas and ammunition rather than ballot boxes which many citizens were confronted with.

RIGHTS-IVORY COAST: Abuses Across the Board

Talks to end years of rebellion in the Ivory Coast resumed this week in the South African capital. But although government and rebel representatives in Pretoria may be speaking of peace, the areas they control are marked by persistent human rights abuses.

POLITICS: Burundi’s Peace Process Comes to the Crunch

With a local election under its belt, and legislative and presidential polls scheduled for the next two months, Burundi is entering the final stretch of a lengthy and difficult peace process.

POLITICS: For Somalia’s President, There’s Still No Place Like Home

For the moment, it is the homecoming that wasn’t. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf left Kenya Monday to relocate his transitional government to Somalia. However, the flight carrying the head of state was subsequently diverted to Djibouti.

POLITICS-CODE D’IVOIRE: Ethnic War Threatening to Spiral Out of Control

The injury of three persons, two seriously, in western Cote d'Ivoire this week reflects the deep-seated animosity between some ethnic groups in this West African country.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Small Arms That Do Big Damage

A global week of action against the flow of small arms that is fuelling conflicts in Africa and elsewhere kicked off Monday.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Bush Accused of Complacency, Double-Dealing on Darfur

Nine months after his administration first declared that ongoing violence in Darfur constituted ''genocide,'' U.S. President George W. Bush was urged by some 80 human rights and religious groups and prominent individuals here Tuesday to do more to protect innocent civilians in Sudan's western Darfur region.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: A Bumpy Trip Home

Violence has marred the first visit to Somalia by the country's prime minister since his appointment last year - and served as a reminder of the challenges facing the East African nation's transitional government.

POLITICS: Africa Awash with Small Arms, Misery

Around 30 million illegal arms are in circulation in sub-Saharan Africa, fuelling conflicts and destroying lives and property across the continent, says a campaigner.

POLITICS-KENYA: A Fragile Peace in the Desert

Ethnic clashes, blamed on competition for increasingly scarce water and grazing, are sweeping northern Kenya, as drought and famine intensify in the neglected region.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Talks About a Peacekeeping Force Prove Disruptive

Foreign affairs ministers from East Africa who met in Kenya have reportedly reached a compromise in discussions about a peacekeeping force that will allow Somalia's interim government to relocate to the capital - Mogadishu.

POLITICS-DRC: The Challenge of Piecing Together a “Failed State”

This weekend sees a new military operation underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reports from the central African country say about 800 United Nations troops have been deployed in the north-eastern Ituri region to disarm local militias held responsible for the death of nine peacekeepers last month.

DISARMAMENT: U.N. Arms Embargoes Routinely Flouted

As U.N. member states and armed rebel groups continue to brazenly break arms embargoes imposed by the world body, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is asking the Security Council to "name and shame" the habitual violators.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Reversing a Decade of Lawlessness

The Herculean nature of the task facing Somalia's new government has been brought to the fore again in recent days, as efforts proceed to have the administration installed in the capital, Mogadishu.