Eastern Sudan hosts more than 66,000 registered Eritrean refugees, the first of whom arrived in 1968 during the early years of Eritrea's war of independence against Ethiopia. Today, Eritrea's policy of indefinite military conscription, coupled with drought and poor economic opportunities, prompt some 1,800 people to cross into Sudan every month, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. "It is as far as we know the longest-standing refugee situation in Africa that is still protracted," said Peter de Clercq, the UNHCR representative in Sudan. "That is mostly because of the political situation inside Eritrea."

Climate change could increase the likelihood of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa by over 50% within the next two decades, according to a new study led by a team of researchers at Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley, New York University and Harvard University. The study is to be published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague began proceedings Nov. 24 for the trial of two Congolese nationals believed to be responsible for the killings of more than 200 men, women, and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2003. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui both pleaded not guilty to three crimes against humanity and seven war crimes, including murder, sexual slavery, pillage, and the use of child soldiers.

The US Justice Department Nov. 23 unsealed indictments against eight defendants for recruiting for and providing financial support to the Somali insurgent organization al-Shabaab. The defendants are being charged with recruiting approximately 20 individuals in the Minneapolis area on behalf of al-Shabaab, providing financial support for travel and weapons, and conspiring to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons outside the US.

A new report by the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights details "extensive and systematic" rights violations faced by thousands of political prisoners in Eritrea. The report charges that between 10,000 and 30,000 people are held in a country of about five million. Prisoners are held in shipping containers, or in bunkers deep underground. Torture is routine, with victims sometimes hung from their wrists and feet from trees in the sun or the rain.

The past 10 months have seen the highest number of Africans reaching Yemeni shores compared to figures for the same period in 2008 and 2007, when large numbers began travelling to Yemen by boat, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). More than 56,600 people have arrived on 1,100 boats to Yemen from Somalia and elsewhere the Horn of Africa so far this year, already exceeding the total for all 2008, when 50,091 people crossed, said UNHCR representative Rocco Nuri.

Shabab insurgents amputated a foot and a hand from each of two young men accused of robbery in Somalia's southern port of Kismayu Oct. 9. A third man who received the sentenced had only a foot cut off, because the militants realized one of his hands was disabled. The Shabab has imposed its strict version of Islamic law on much of Somalia's south and parts of Mogadishu, the capital. The militants compelled thousands of residents to attend the amputations. "It was shocking," said one. "No one could endure such a sight. They were bleeding heavily when they were carried away." (Reuters, Oct. 9)

The African Union, European Union and United Nations Sept. 29 strongly rebuked the Guinean army's repression of a protest in the capital, Conakry, in which 157 people are said to have been killed. France has suspended its military co-operation with the country's ruling junta. The military crackdown on junta opponents killed 157, the Guinean Human Rights Organization said, citing army and hospital sources.