Amnesty: Uganda is failing war's rape victims

Courts in Uganda's war-ravaged north are tacitly condoning rape and other sexual abuses against women and girls, even protecting rapists from prosecution, rights group Amnesty International said on Friday. Sexual abuses against women have become commonplace in northern Uganda during two decades of war.

Sudan charges politicians in alleged overthrow plot

Sudan has formally charged 28 opposition politicians and army officers with plotting to overthrow the government, more than four months after they were arrested, their supporters said on Monday. The 28, including the head of the opposition Umma Party for Reform and Renewal, Mubarak al-Fadil, were taken from their homes at gunpoint in July.

Nigeria police kill 785 robber suspects in 90 days

Nigerian police have killed 785 suspected armed robbers in the past three months and lost 62 of their own men, the national chief of police was reported as saying on Thursday. Human rights groups and United Nations experts have accused Nigerian police of killing robbery suspects instead of arresting them.

Tutu calls for global death-penalty ban

The death penalty is a violation of fundamental human rights, and it should be abolished around the world, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote in the Guardian on Tuesday, ahead of a vote on a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for a moratorium on executions.

Rwanda tribunal's most wanted remains elusive

Félicien Kabuga has a reward of several million dollars on his head, and tops the list of fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Yet, he's managed to escape justice for years. The ICTR was set up in northern Tanzania by the United Nations in 1995 to bring high-level perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide to justice.

'Hundreds dead' in Kenya gang crackdown

Police may have killed hundreds of people in a crackdown on Kenya's notorious Mungiki gang, a rights group said on Thursday, in a growing national controversy ahead of a presidential election in December. Police are furiously denying the new accusations, calling them an attempt to besmirch authorities.

Amnesty: State agents linked to DRC killings

Human rights group Amnesty International accused state security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo of systematic torture and killings in a report published on Thursday. Amnesty blamed two government security forces -- the special services police and the republican guard -- for attacks on opponents of President Joseph Kabila.

Sudan to announce Darfur ceasefire

Sudan will announce another ceasefire in its four-and-a-half year conflict with rebel groups in Darfur at the weekend, it emerged on Monday. The announcement will come at the opening of Darfur peace talks, which are to take place in the Libyan city of Sitre.

Burma holding 2 500 in prison and arrests continue

The military regime in Burma is still holding up to 2 500 people in prisons and labour camps around the country, and continues to arrest suspected dissidents, the British government claimed on Friday. The crackdown on the protest movement has only served to make Burma more unstable, a senior British diplomat said.

Burmese junta starts committee for constitution

Burma's ruling junta on Thursday night announced the formation of a Constitution Drafting Commission, another step in the government's "road map" to democracy that is supposed to lead to free elections some time in the future. The move came after the junta brutally suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations last month.

Burma blames monks for triggering violence

Burma's ruling junta blamed Buddhist monks Wednesday for last month's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests, as it admitted nearly 3 000 people had been detained over the rallies. Troops and police quelled the protests in late September, leaving at least 13 dead and drawing international condemnation.

Burmese activists rounded up in junta raid

A total of six activists were rounded up by Burmese authorities in a raid on a safe house over the weekend, Amnesty International said on Sunday, as the junta continued to hunt for protest leaders. "There is no information on where they are being detained," the group said in a statement.

Sudan army denies attacking Darfur town

Sudan's army has denied attacking the only Darfur rebel faction to sign a peace deal with Khartoum, saying tribal clashes were to blame for the fighting that killed 45 people in Muhajiriya town. The Sudan Liberation Army, led by Minni Arcua Minnawi, was the only one of three negotiating rebel factions to sign the May 2006 deal and become part of government.

Protests around the world against Burma's junta

Protests against Burma's bloody crackdown on dissenters took place in cities around the world on Saturday, with thousands demonstrating in London and smaller gatherings held in Sydney, Stockholm, Bangkok, Paris and elsewhere. The coordinated displays of public condemnation followed the violent crackdown by Burma's junta on thousands of activists in late September.

Amnesty lists execution horrors

The use of lethal injections in the United States has led to at least nine bungled executions, including one in which the prisoner took 69 minutes to die and another in which the condemned man complained five times: "It don't work," a report by Amnesty International said on Thursday.

Rwanda joins push for moratorium on executions

Rwanda joined other countries on Friday in appealing for a global moratorium on executions, saying that if its government could abolish the death penalty while perpetrators of the 1994 genocide still await sentences, no country should use it. About 500 000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were massacred in 100 days of frenzied killing led by radical Hutus.

Darfur: A glimmer of hope on the horizon

A real and unprecedented opportunity for peace in Darfur is emerging after breakthrough talks between Britain and Khartoum this week, according to the United Kingdom's key envoy to the region, Mark Malloch Brown. A new optimism is building ahead of next month's crucial talks between 13 rebel factions and the Sudanese government in Libya.

'Press freedom does not exist' in Egypt

Rights groups on Saturday accused Egypt of curbing press freedom after a Cairo court this week sentenced four editors each to one year in prison for criticising the president. "Egypt continues to imprison journalists and editors who publish stories critical of President Hosni Mubarak and other high officials," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

Report: Angolan police still violate human rights

Angolan police still violate human rights ranging from brutal slum clearance to torture, with no investigation or disciplinary action, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday. The report finds that the abuse of power and failure to bring perpetrators of these violations to justice goes on unhindered.

The truth, exaggerated

Why have not very many people heard of Nanda Soobben? Niren Tolsi reports.

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