AFRICANEWS

War and Peace

Amnesty International has urged the Angolan governemnt to end a "culture of volence" against journalists and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. The Human rights group criticised the govenment's repressive policy toward independent reporting since the war against Unita rebels flared anew last year. Dozens of journalists haev been harassed, questioned or arrested since December, when a civil war against United reignited after four years of relative peace under a United Nations-brokered pact. The government and Unita, a Portugues acronyme for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, began fighting after Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975. (Source: Daily: Nation)

Burundi

The FAO says hundreds of thousands of people in Burundi have been displaced and risk starvation following an upsurge in violence. Escalating fighting in rural areas over the last two months has displaced some 300,000 people, taking the total number living in refugee camps to more than 800,000. "Living conditions in these sites are reported to be extremely poor, with no clean water, shelter and sanitary facilities", FAO said in a statement. On 7 November the government said a new mediator is urgently needed to help end the six-year civil war in Burundi, following the death of Julius Nyerere. Officials say at least twelve people, including three soldiers, have been killed in an ambush by rebels. Seven others were seriously wounded in the attack, which took place on the road at Kavumu, some 37km north of Bujumbura. (Source: ANB-BIA)

Congo (RDC)

Leaders of two rebel groups in Congo RDC say they have taken up arms again to fight the

government of President Kabila, after attacks on their positions by Kabila's troops. The leader of the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), Jean-Pierre Bemba, said Kabila had violated the ceasefire by attacking his troops in Dongo. His comments were echoed by another Ugandan-backed rebel group, the faction of the Congolese Rally for Democracy led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and based in Kisangani. On 8 November the Joint Military Commission says it will deploy 30 officers as soon as possible to investigate reports of ceasefire violations. A UN special envoy, Moustapha Niasse from Senegal, begins talks with President Kabila's government. (Source: ANB-BIA)

Eritrea/Ethiopia

The flames of peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia were fanned by moves forward on the Organization of African Unity's framework for a peaceful settlement. Eritrea agreed to OAU proposals to end the war with Ethiopia.

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki said he accepted the OAU frameworkagreement calling for a cease-fire and withdrawal of troops from disputed territory. Modalities for moving forward have been drafted and were being presented to the two parties for acceptance at the time of this writing.

Eritrea had accepted while Ethiopia requested clarification of points from the OAU before declaring its position. Ethiopia was not satisfied with the technical arrangements as it did not clearly re-establish the "status quoa." In the meantime, members of both governments continued the war of words in local and international press. More recently, Ethiopia claimed to have repelled an Eritrean attack on the Western Mereb Setit front, Eritrea denied launching an attack. Additional deportations, in late October, of Eritreans from Ethiopia were cited by Eritrea as unsafe. Ethiopia's Federal Spokesperson's Office said the deportations were voluntary repatriations and the route taken was the same as previous deportations.

Nigeria

Lagos police have unearthed a cache of arms and ammunitions, including two pump-action rifles, one sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun and 114 live cartridges behind the city's National Stadium, police Public Relations Officer Fabulous Enyaosah said.

`The Guardian' newspaper reported Enyaosah as saying on 8 November that it was likely that the arms belonged to the Oodua People's Congress, a militant Yoruba interest group that was involved recently in bitter clashes with Ijaw youths in a Lagos slum.

Vice President Atiku Abubakar said on Tuesday that the National Security Council was considering the imposition of a state of emergency in the Niger Delta, following the killing of at least 10 policemen in Odi, a town in the south-eastern state of Bayelsa. (Source: IRIN)

Sudan

The French organization, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has branded Sudan among the twenty "enemies of the Internet". Some 45 governments control partial or total Internet use under the pretext of protecting their citizens from "subversive ideas" or content threatening national unity. The 20 worst offenders of cyber-freedom listed by RSF are said to censure sites or to attach Internet users. Users in some countries have gotten around Internet government restrictions by using links connected overinternational, mobile or satellite telephone lines. (BBC, RSF)

Tanzania

At least 10,000 Burundian refugees have fled into neigbouring Tanzania so far this month, escaping a dramatic intensification of their country's ethnic civil war, aid officials said.Around 6,000 arrived in the whole of October, but the United Nations refugees agency UNHCR said it was now making contigency plans for between 50,000 and 100,000 more refugees in addition to the 200,000 already in camps in western Tanzania. "What is interesting is that we are receiving refugees from provinces in Burundi that were traditionally quiet" said Patrick Tigere, UNHCR protection officer in the Tanzania town of Ngara. (Source: Reuters)

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