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Kenyan civil society has reacted with anger to the news that John Githongo, the director of President Kibaki’s alleged campaign to combat corruption, has resigned. Even though Githongo has yet to state a reason for his stepping down, it is widely assumed that he does so out of dismay with the lack of political will to back his attempt to fight corruption. A broad coalition of civil society organisations has issued a condemning statement of the Kenyan government. (9-FEB-05)
 

President Mwai Kibaki’s advisor on corruption, Mr John Githongo, resigned yesterday, dealing a devastating blow to the Government’s anti-corruption programme. Githongo, the Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics, resigned while on official duty in the UK, where he is expected to stay for a while. (8-FEB-05)
 

On the 24th of January, Dr Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, and Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman, Director and member, respectively, of the Republic of the Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) were allegedly arrested by members of Sudan’s National Security and Intelligence Agency at Dr. Mudawi’s family home in Kondua, North Kordofan. (7-FEB-05)
 

UN envoy Jan Pronk has warned that the recent Sudanese peace agreement could fail if the bloodshed in the western region of Darfur proves unstopable. The Khartoum government and the Republic of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) signed the peace deal in the Republic of Kenya 9 January, capping some three years of negotiations to the long-running conflict in the south of the country. (6-FEB-05)
 

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) expulsion from Zimbabwe this week has triggered a wave of protest among South African civil society organisations, church groups and youth organisations riled by the African National Congress’s policy of “quiet diplomacy”. This week 12 civil society organisations met in Johannesburg to formulate plans to mobilise mass-based protests in South Africa against the Mugabe regime. (5-FEB-05)
 

Tomorrow, on UN?s day to combat female genital mutilation (FGM), human rights organisations appeal to religious leaders across the world to speak up for zero tolerance to this practice. -Female circumcision is not only a violation of personal integrity and human rights. It is also a cause of extreme pain and represents a serious health hazard, says Norwegian Church Aid?s adviser on gender issues, Thora Holter. (5-FEB-05) 
 

www.humanrightshouse.org hereby joins Reporters without Borders’ request to all advocates of freedom of expression to sign the below online petition urging the Gambian government to open an independent inquiry into the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara. Hydara, one of Gambia’s most respected journalists, was gunned down on 16 December 2004. Witnesses have proven scared of speaking out. (4-FEB-05)
 

Enormous hopes rested on the Government of Republic of the Sudan (GoS) and the rebels Republic of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) when they signed a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) in Naivasha, Republic of Kenya, on Sunday, 9 January. If sustained, it will mark the end of a more than two decades of war and allowing Sudan’s people to return to a civilian lifestyle with the accompanying rights and freedoms. (4-FEB-05)
 

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has announced that it will participate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections under protest. According to the party’s spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi, MDC has abandoned plans to boycott the vote to protest political violence and unfair voting conditions in Zimbabwe. (4-FEB-05)