The southern Sudanese rebel leader, Dr John Garang, is said by sources close to him to be 'nervous' about the southern Sudanese leadership summit which is to be held here soon under the auspices of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

An allegation by President Bush that some non-governmental organisations are operating as terrorist fronts caused unease in humanitarian aid groups last night.

A confidential South African health ministry document has warned that President Thabo Mbeki's much-criticised Aids policies are "increasingly politically dangerous" and "unacceptable from a human rights perspective".

Botswana's first lady, Barbara Mogae, is discouraging the indiscriminate cutting of trees as part of a clean up campaign. She says she wants to encourage a spirit of volunteerism and environmental responsibility.

Environmentalists have warned that many African states are failing to manage their environmental resources properly. Nigeria`s environment is costing Africa`s most populous country over US$5-billion a year in ruined land and lost forests, much of the damage from oil and gas extraction in the Niger Delta region.

Regional leaders have ordered Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to address the land crisis in his country within a month or face isolation. Mugabe is said to be angered by the insistence that he consult Zimbabwe’s civil society before proceeding with land reform.

The United States never was very good at listening to Muslim voices. After Tuesday's savage and unjustifiable slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians in New York and Washington, it may give up trying altogether.

An event of this magnitude was not only unimagined, it was unimaginable. Yet long before George Bush became president with his forceful in-your-face, take-it-or-leave-it attitude to the world outside on issues as diverse as global warming and anti-missile defences, America has been turning in on itself, to the point of self-destructiveness.

Amnesty International today reiterated its deepest sympathy for the victims of the heinous attacks in the USA and called upon the leaders of governments and community groups around the world to ensure respect for human rights in their wake.

With the Arab-American Institute in the US recording over 300 voice messages of verbal abuse or taunting, Arab and North African students are being urged to stay home and stay safe.

The xenophobic reaction to the terrorist attacks against New York and Washington Tuesday are threatening communities of Arab immigrants found throughout the world.

European countries are stipulating their support for punishing those responsible for the Tuesday terrorist attacks in New York and Washington upon respect for international law and human rights.

Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were engaged in secret talks to find a common plan to steer the country away from the current crisis over land, the economy and political violence, the ‘Financial Gazette’ reported on Thursday.

National reconciliation in Angola should not just involve the MPLA government and the UNITA rebel movement, the war-torn country’s traditional authorities said in Luanda on Thursday.

There will be a food gap of close to 22,000 mt in southern Somalia over the next 12 months. In its monthly food security report, the European Union-funded and FAO-implemented Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) estimates that according to data collected during the August harvest more than 400,000 people will be affected by the shortfall.

The Sudanese government on Tuesday condemned the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, news agencies reported.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has warned three of his political rivals to abandon their plans to make war against Uganda.

The former prime minister of the western Kingdom of Toro, John Sanyu Katuramu, was sentenced to death by the High Court in Kampala on Wednesday for the murder of Toro's Prince Happy Kijanangoma, 'The New Vision' government-owned newspaper reported.

Some 15 people have been killed after Karamojong pastoralists attacked a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Katakwi District, Ugandan radio reported on Friday.

The loss of three straight by-elections by President Frederick Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) should be cause for concern for the ruling party in the run-up to general elections possibly later this year, political analysts told IRIN this week.