NTUNGAMO Woman MP Beatrice Rwakimari has condemned teachers who defile their pupils in schools. Rwakimari, speaking at Maato Primary School, called upon the administration to punish culprits rather than transferring them to other schools.

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Friday announced the addition of Lamu Old Town, eastern Kenya, and the Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi, southeastern Uganda, among 31 new sites inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The US on Wednesday included the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on its "Terrorist Exclusion List" designed to protect the safety of the country and its citizens under the new US Patriot Act.

Karamojong pastoralists in northeastern Uganda have voluntarily handed in some 7,000 illegal weapons since the beginning of a government-sponsored disarmament programme on 2 December, according to the Ugandan authorities.

The poor people of Butamira had for a moment thought that they could secure their future through exploiting the forest reserve but are now losing all hope. Government is determined to move them so Kakira Sugar Works could use the reserve to cultivate more sugarcane.

Turkana pastoralists who have been living and grazing their cattle in eastern and northeastern Uganda for almost 30 years have returned to Kenya to avoid handing their guns over to the Ugandan government, according to local news reports.

The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, has said that although MPs have tried to fight corruption to a small extent, stamping out graft completely is impossible.

Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda vowed on Tuesday to set up mechanisms to improve their relations by ensuring that dissident groups do not destablise each other's governments, news organisations reported.

After 16 years of instability and sporadic internal conflict in Uganda, this year so far has seen political and social gains that have reduced the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance fall from 1.1 million to around 717,000 - a reduction of 35 percent, according to the latest United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) situation update.

There have been over 150 recorded cases of bubonic plague in Nebbi and Arua Districts, northwestern Uganda, as of the end of October, and at least 25 deaths, according to the latest humanitarian update from the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Insecurity, abductions, displacement and the poor level of education available to them are the key concerns of young people in northern Uganda, whose lives have been shaped by inter-related conflicts there and in neighbouring southern Sudan over the last two decades, according to a report released on Friday by the US-based Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC).

A preliminary version of the final report of Uganda's Porter Commission of Inquiry released on Thursday exonerates President Yoweri Museveni, his family, his government, and top military officers of charges levied by a UN panel in April of involvement in the illegal exploitation of natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Ugandan government-owned daily newspaper, The New Vision reported, on Friday.

Life in Africa just received financing to create an offline magazine companion to LifeInAfrica.com.

The Uganda People's Defence Forces combat readiness has been seriously undermined by lack of resources and corruption, but Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. James Kazini, insists the army is in good enough shape to defend the country.

Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Miria Matembe, has said Ugandans should take a united stand against corruption.

On August 24, 2001, UMWA launched a new community radio station that will be a forum for debating gender issues. The station, 101.7 Mama FM, will cover women's issues as well as news of importance to other marginalized groups.

The defence ministers of Uganda and Rwanda have ended a meeting in the Ugandan border town of Kabale, agreeing to try to reach an amicable solution to rising tensions between their two states.

A Ugandan government diplomat to the United Nations, Catherine Otiti, on Tuesday told a committee of the General Assembly that "the rights of children are the supreme priority in all programme processes in Uganda", and that the government was particularly
concerned about their situation in northern and western parts of the
country.

The Co-ordinator Uganda Debt Network, Zie Gariyo has been shot. Mr. Gariyo is reported to have been shot by gunmen late last evening and it has not yet been established whether they were mere robbers or an attempt to assassinate him. He is now lying in Mulago Hospital in critical condition.

As many as 27 schools in Kasese, Uganda have been closed as they lacked qualified teachers and basic facilities such as toilets, says a news report.