RIGHTS: Kenya Cannot Fail to Prosecute Extra-Judicial Killings

When stock is taken of the Kenyan coalition government’s first year in office no marks will be awarded to its handling of extra-judicial killings in the country. Human rights activists claim that the police have murdered about 500 people in the past 16 months.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Refugees Suffering in Kenyan Camps

In early March, Amina Ayanna Yusuf strapped her two-year-old son to her back and set off for the Kenyan border with her small savings.

SIERRA LEONE: Radio Stations Banned for Inciting Violence

Sierra Leone's vice president, Samuel Sam-Sumana, on Mar. 13 ordered an indefinite ban on radio stations owned by the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) and its main rival, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).

POLITICS-SUDAN: Aid Agencies Accused, Expelled

The Sudanese government has expelled 10 aid agencies, accusing them of supplying exaggerated evidence against President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has issued a warrant for his arrest.

UGANDA: In Search of Peace and Justice

Alice Anywar lives in the Pagak resettlement camp in Gulu and at 39 is a multiple victim of the over 20 year-old Lords Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda. The rebels first attacked her home in Kilak village in 1987 killing both her parents and abducting her 12-year old brother. In 2002 they murdered her husband whom she had met in a refugee camp.

SOUTH SUDAN: Now Cattle Threaten Hard-Won Peace

"The liberation struggle is over. Why are we still killing ourselves?" South Sudan's President Salva Kiir asked a meeting of chiefs, exasperation clear in his usually even-toned voice.

TRADE: Russia Supplying Legal And ‘‘Illegal’’ Arms to Africa

Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, plans to grow the volume of Russian armament and military equipment to Africa over the next four to five years. This comes on top of allegations that Russia is selling arms to smuggling and contraband rings, thereby contributing to conflict on the war-torn continent.

DR CONGO: Ugandan Rebels Add to Woes in the Northeast

Reports from non-governmental organisations and the United Nations on the humanitarian situation in the north-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) state that over 400 civilians were killed at the end of last month by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel faction with bases in that part of the country.

LIBERIA: Life a Struggle for Ex-Combatants

Hajah Kamara's life of violence began when she was not yet a teenager. After rebels butchered her father and pregnant mother in their Voinjama home, they forced her to become a ‘wife’ and a fighter in their warring faction.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: Talks Resume

Direct talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government and rebels have resumed in Nairobi with discussions on a joint cessation of hostilities currently underway. The talks seek to bring calm to the troubled eastern part of the country.

DR CONGO: Speak of the Real Authors of the War

Each episode of the Democratic Republic of Congo's long-running civil war has weighed particularly heavily on women, yet women have relatively little voice in the negotiations for peace.

Q&A: "We Should Go Beyond Development Aid" Vis-a-vis Africa

"Portugal does not own the European Union’s strategy for Africa, but we do feel a special affection for that continent and recognise that our relationship with them is unlike that with any other region in the world."

SOUTH SUDAN: Dinka and Misseriya Build Peace Along Border

Two Sudanese communities that face each other across one of Africa’s most contentious borders sat together recently in the shade of three large red tents to discuss a future tied to a recent past of bloodshed.

GHANA: Indecisive On Small Arms Control

It is estimated that there are eight million small arms in circulation in the West African subregion, with grave consequences for the region's security.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: The Devil You See…

Few Congolese believe Laurent Nkunda is the man with whom to negotiate peace in North Kivu. The crux of the matter is economics and geopolitics - both greatly influenced by Western interests.

AFRICA: Keen on Democracy, Despite Mixed Results

Over the last twenty years, the ballot box has replaced military coups as a means of political change across Africa, says Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a political scientist from the University of Ghana. However the results of democratic practices are a mixed bag of sand and sim-sim.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: What Future For MONUC?

Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria and newly-appointed U.N. envoy in the Great Lakes Region, has visited both Congolese president Joseph Kabila and CNDP rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, attempting to chisel the outlines of a new peace in the region.

PORTUGAL: "Angolagate" Bribes in Local Banks

Portuguese banks that received transfers of money to Angolan politicians implicated in illegal arms sales have kept mum after the Lisbon paper Público reported their involvement.

MINING-WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS Stirs Up Trouble With MOU

The Economic Community of West African States has taken the unprecedented step of inviting Oxfam America to coordinate the drawing up of a mining code for the region. The decision has infuriated some civil society organisations.

SOUTH SUDAN: Traditional Authority Seeks Its Place

A lion attempted to devour Dinka chief Makom Majong Makom once. It was during the long years of Sudan's north-south conflict that also saw a militia attack nearly destroy his rural South Sudanese community.

UGANDA: Radio Drama Strengthens Women’s Voices

Fifteen-year-old Taboni's parents are in a bind. Their daughter has been raped by the commandant of the squalid internally-displaced persons camp they call home, and they do not know what to do.