POLITICS-SUDAN: No Peace in the South Without Stability in Darfur – Annan

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says mediators in peace talks for south Sudan should turn their attention to the western region of Darfur, as any peace deal for the south will be compromised by a continued humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Champagne Tastes on Beer Money?

It was billed as a summit where a new future for Africa would be unveiled. African Union chief Alpha Oumar Konare laid out a 1.7 billion dollar plan that would help revitalise the troubled and marginalized continent.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney In the Balance?

Now that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has chosen Senator John Edwards as his vice-presidential running-mate, the capital's attention has shifted to the fate of Vice President Dick Cheney.

RIGHTS: China Uses ‘War on Terror’ to Trample Muslim Minority

Another government has seized the opportunity presented by Washington's "war on terrorism" to justify violating the human rights of its citizens, says a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International (AI).

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: “Dogs of War and Hounds From Hell”

"This is the day I've been waiting for, the day when someone would be made to answer for what the rebels did to me," said 20-year-old Jabati Mambu, a student whose right arm was amputated by Sierra Leonean rebels during their invasion of the capital, Freetown, in Jan. 1999.

POLITICS: Cleaning Up Africa's Image

Conflict resolution and poverty reduction will dominate the annual summit of the African Union (AU), to be held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, this week from Jul. 6 to 8.

POLITICS: An African Army, for Africans?

As the third annual summit of the African Union (AU) draws closer, the spotlight is falling on the organisation's newest branch: the Peace and Security Council, and its proposed standby force.

POLITICS: Retired Top Diplomats, Soldiers Tell Bush to Beat It

In an unprecedented broadside, more than two-dozen top retired U.S. career diplomats and military commanders, many of whom reached their top positions under former President George HW Bush, have called for George W Bush to be defeated in his re-election bid in November.

POLITICS-U.S.: 9/11 Panel Challenges Bush on Al-Qaeda-Iraq Links

In a direct challenge to recent assertions by both President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the special bipartisan commission investigating the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon has found ''no credible evidence'' of any operational link between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

POLITICS: Stymied in Iraq, Hawks Still Positioning US as Globocop

Although their hopes for transforming Iraq into a pro-U.S. base in the heart of the Arab world have been badly set back, neo-imperial hawks in the Bush administration are proceeding as fast as possible to reinvent U.S. forces worldwide as ''globocop'', capable of pre-empting any possible threat to its interests at a moment's notice.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Peacekeepers a "Drop in the Ocean" – But Welcome Nonetheless

Rebels in south Sudan have welcomed the United Nations’ weekend decision to send a peacekeeping mission to the country to monitor agreements that would end Africa’s longest running civil war.

POLITICS: One Down, U.S. Seeks Second U.N. Resolution

After securing a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution supposedly granting ''full sovereignty'' to Iraqis, the United States is shifting its focus to winning a second decision that would protect its troops from possible war crimes prosecution.

POLITICS: Weak States Are ‘Sleeping Giants’ for U.S. Security

Almost three years after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the United States is still falling short in its ability to deal with weak, failing or failed states, which increasingly threaten U.S. national security, says a major report released here Tuesday by a bipartisan commission.

IRAQ: U.N.’s Integrity Questioned – Again

When U.S. President George W Bush desperately sought U.N. assistance last month to organise elections in Iraq and help form a new interim government, some senior U.N. officials bragged the United States was crawling back to the world body on bended knee.

POLITICS: Groups Sue Pentagon for Info on Iraq Abuses

A coalition of civil-rights and veterans groups charged in a New York court Wednesday that the U.S. Defence Department is withholding records about the abuse of detainees in military custody as part of the Bush administration's "war against terrorism."

POLITICS: U.S. Seeks Iraqi Nod for Continued Military Presence

The United States is seeking the approval of the new interim government in Baghdad for a joint UK-U.S. resolution that will legitimise the continuing military occupation of Iraq.

POLITICS-U.S.: Right-wing Republicans Sinking Law of the Sea, Again

Despite overwhelming support for it in the U.S. Senate, ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty (LOS) is being held up by half a dozen right-wing Republican senators backed by a coalition of national groups who see the agreement as another step toward global government.

POLITICS-U.S.: Neo-Con Collapse in Washington and Baghdad

Fourteen months after reaching the zenith of their influence on U.S. foreign policy with the invasion of Iraq, neo-conservatives appear to have fallen entirely out of favour, both within the administration of President George W Bush and in Baghdad itself.

POLITICS: 9/11 Sceptics Hold Inquiry

Washington's official version: that suicidal Islamic terrorists steered hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon on Sep. 11, 2001 to the complete surprise of the U.S. military, whose members could not even have imagined the event, has come under considerable scrutiny from a variety of sources.

POLITICS: Latest U.S. Terror Warning Raises Questions

Two of the seven suspected terrorists linked by the Bush administration to an impending "hard" attack on the United States are probably not even in North America, said officials Wednesday.

POLITICS: U.S. Dodges Iraqi Sovereignty With U.N. Resolution

The United States and Britain are asking the U.N. Security Council to transfer political and administrative power to Iraq while holding back sovereign power that legitimately belongs to the Iraqi people, say critics of the move proposed Monday.