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The Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation of lawyers is expected today to asses Zimbabwe´s compliance with the Mauritius Protocol on the staging of elections in a democracy as the regional grouping races against time to ensure Harare´s March parliamentary elections are free and fair. (28-JAN-05)
 

In a joint operation with their Azerbaijani colleagues, Russian police have apprehended at an undisclosed location Arif Huseinov, the brother of former Prime Minister Suret Huseinov on 26 January.  The human rights activist Eldar Zeynalov hopes that the international organizations should display “adequate reaction” to Sadai Nazarov`s arrest. (28-JAN-2005)
 

The roads are carpeted by thick layers of dust. Tanks, military trucks and the skeletal remains of buildings dot the landscape. Welcome to Rumbek: the newly-designated administrative capital of southern Republic of the Sudan. Less visible than bombed out buildings are the damaging memories people have of the conflict that engulfed this part of the country for more than two decades. (28-JAN-05) 
 

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to allocate less funds to Republic of Azerbaijan than Georgia and Republic of Armenia in 2005, the Republic of Azerbaijan National NGO Forum president Azay Guliyev told journalists on Tuesday. (27-JAN-2005)

The report entitled “Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh”, which was compiled by the PACE rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh David Atkinson, was adopted by PACE  on Tuesday. “Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan should actively submit constructive proposals to each other via the OSCE’s Minsk Group for achieving a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and if that fails, they should consider using the UN’s International Court of Justice”, the Assembly said. (27-JAN-2005)
 

A consortium of NGOs agitating for the early adoption of the new Constitution in Zambia before the country’s elections next year has resorted to the collection of signatures countrywide as another way of putting pressure on government over the early adoption of a new Constitution. The Coalition 2005 says the petition will be handed over to government. (27-JAN-05)
 

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) finds itself in a ‘damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t’ regarding its participation in next month’s elections. Warning that the credibility of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was at stake, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on SA and the region yesterday to try to delay the parliamentary elections planned for March. (27-JAN-05)
  

The long-awaited report of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, completed in May 2002, has now been made public, by civil society organizations. In December 2004, the government said it was not planning to publish the wide-ranging report, popularly known as the Oputa report after the name of the panel’s chairman, retired Chief Justice Chukwudifu A. Oputa. (27-JAN-05)
 

The report “Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh”, which was compiled by the PACE rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh David Atkinson, was adopted at the PACE Winter Session on Tuesday. “Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan should actively submit constructive proposals to each other via the OSCE’s Minsk Group for achieving a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and if that fails, they should consider using the UN’s International Court of Justice”, the Assembly said. (26-JAN-2005)