The transitional parliament of the Republic of Congo (ROC) in Brazzaville on Saturday adopted a new electoral law setting out conditions for presidential candidates, AFP reported on Monday.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged on Sunday that the world body would continue to be a "close partner" to the survivors of genocide and holocaust aiming to transform their trauma into action to prevent a recurrence of war crimes.

"Once you join the army, that's forever," Pedro says. "You die there." Pedro, 26, is one of the many young Angolan men who are worried by a fresh initiative by the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) to recruit new soldiers.

Angola is closer to peace today than it was a year ago, the UN's Special Envoy to Angola, Ambassador Mussagy Jeichande, told IRIN in a recent interview.

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 United Nations country team on Tuesday launched its Consolidated Appeal (CA) for Eritrea for the year 2002, requesting a total of US $120 million to fund a series of emergency and reintegration programmes drawn up by 11 UN agencies and partner NGOs.

Families are fleeing their homes in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, in fear of renewed fighting, a local journalist told IRIN. They are doing so because of reports of militia approaching the town, and the fear of more clashes, Muhammad Sa'id Kashawito of Midnimo radio said on Friday.

A Belgian commission of inquiry on the Great Lakes convened on Friday in Brussels to investigate alleged involvement of Belgian and non-Belgian companies in the illegal trade of natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to explore measures to halt such activities from fueling war in the region.

As seven western correspondents are killed in one week in Afghanistan, author Phillip Knightley asks if frontline reporters are now considered legitimate targets.

Zimbabwe's government has threatened to treat six journalists working for foreign media organizations including The Associated Press as "terrorists" after accusing them of filing false reports on political violence.

There is perhaps no place better to focus anti-racism efforts than to educate
children and youth about racism and how to combat it. Racism, after all, is only as strong
as its proponents and practitioners – and educating the next generations is surely one of
the most effective ways of reducing the number of racists and the potential appeal of their message. Accordingly, this Report focuses on anti-racism educational efforts directed at children and youth.

Mr. José Mafwata Shamba, Secretary General of the Rassemblement National Populaire (RNP) party, was arrested on October 4 and subesequently detained. He has not been allowed access either to legal counsel or to his family since his detention began, giving rise to fears that he may be being subjected to ill-treatment or torture, which are prevalent in the DEMIAP's jails and have even lead to deaths in detention.

The case against Nawal El Saadaoui fits in with the climate of intolerance prevailing in Egypt and stoked by Islamist thought, with silent consent from the authorities. It represents a permanent danger for freedoms of all sorts.

New training materials to improve skills of humanitarian workers in offering psychosocial help to war-affected people have been developed by Oxford University''s Refugee Studies Centre in collaboration with other partners. The manuals represent the ''state of the art''in this field currently and are directed at UN and NGO agencies working with war-affected populations around the world," said Carol Eyber of the Centre.

At a recent UN meeting, Christophe Payot, on behalf of the European Union, said the number of internally displaced persons was increasing dramatically, and they now outnumbered refugees by almost two to one. The figure was estimated at 25 million, in 40 or so countries, half of them in Africa. But while refugees enjoyed a special status and international assistance, protecting and guaranteeing the rights of internally displaced persons was primarily the responsibility of the State concerned.

Alhaji Babah Sawaneh was only 10 when rebels in Sierra Leone kidnapped and beat him. Then they taught him to fire an assault rifle. The former child soldier, now 14 and reunited with his family, spoke before the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. His plea for improved protection of children in war was echoed by representatives of member states, and the
council adopted a resolution aimed at ending the recruitment of child soldiers.

Immigration Officers nationwide have been advised to abstain from corrupt tendencies as the present administration would not spare anybody caught in the act.

Our post-September 11 comprehension of terrorism must recognize a new enemy: the megalomaniacal hyperterrorist, argues Ehud Sprinzak.

The main aim of the EU troika’s visit to Central Africa, lead by Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel is to examine the peace progress achieved in the different States and to examine the possibility of establishing a Great Lakes conference under the auspices of the EU and UN.

Human Rights Watch today called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to speak out strongly on the need to ensure that the rule of law is respected in Zimbabwe. “The situation in Zimbabwe seems to be deteriorating daily,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.