• New drive for Eritrea-Ethiopia peace deal
  
• DR Congo peace efforts falter
  
• Burundi in human rights spotlight
  
• Five killed in Kampala blast
  
• Uganda welcomes tourists back to Bwindi
  
• Tanzanians charged over banned political meeting
  
• Kenyan police held over stolen money
  
• Djibouti leader puts ball in Eritrea's court
  
• Comoros autonomy plan finalised
  

New drive for Eritrea-Ethiopia peace deal

UN special envoy Mohamed Sahnoun embarked on a new round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at resolving the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict.

He held talks with Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki and Foreign Minister Haile Woldetensae in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Monday.

Eritrea "reaffirmed its strict adherence to the OAU framework agreement ... and expressed its commitment and readiness for its full implementation," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by the Eritrean news agency Erina.

Under the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace plan Eritrea is to withdraw its troops from the disputed Badme border area but so far there has been no agreement on a ceasefire.

The UN envoy then travelled to Addis Ababa for talks with senior Ethiopian officials including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

DR Congo peace efforts falter

The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced that a national debate on the country's future would take place in Nairobi from 8-to-15 May.

The announcement, made on Congolese RTNC TV, followed the refusal of the rebels to attend talks in Rome, which were to have started on Friday under the mediation of the Sant'Egidio religious order.

Jorge Ndondo, spokesman for the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) in Europe, told Radio France Internationale on Sunday that DR Congo President Laurent Kabila had "taken it upon himself to designate the participants" in the Rome talks.

He said each of the groups essential to a political settlement needed to be constituted "in a balanced manner" and should designate its own representatives to the talks.

Meanwhile, the Rwandan government, which backs the RCD, dismissed a DR Congo ceasefire accord brokered by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as "null and void".

Under the agreement signed in Sirte, Libya, on 18 April, soldiers from Libya and Eritrea would arrive in early May and move up to the frontline in DR Congo.

The accord was signed by President Kabila and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is backing the rebels in the eight-month-old conflict.

In a statement broadcast on Rwandan radio, the Rwandan Government said it was not consulted about the Sirte accord, and therefore "without taking into account the objective of the signatories, declares the decision null and void".

Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad have rallied to President Kabila's side, sending him troop reinforcements.

Burundi in human rights spotlight

Burundi was in the human rights spotlight, when the 25th session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights opened in the capital Bujumbura.

Opening the meeting, Burundian Vice-President Frederic Bamvuginyumvira said Burundi had decided to ratify a protocol on the African court for human and people's rights, the African charter for children's rights and a protocol of the Ottawa international convention on anti-personnel mines by the year 2000, the Burundi news agency ABP reported.

On Friday, the UN Commission on Human Rights urged Burundi's government to take more steps to "put an end to impunity" for rights violations.

According to Amnesty International, hundreds of civilians have been killed by the Burundian security forces over the past year.

Five killed in Kampala blast

A bomb blast killed five people in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Saturday.

Three were killed instantly, and two more died in hospital, Ugandan radio reported. Three others were still in a critical condition on Sunday, the report said.

The explosion, which police said was caused by a home-made bomb, occurred outside the Nakivubo sports stadium in the centre of the capital.

It followed the shooting of a member of the security services, the Ugandan newspaper `The Sunday Vision' reported.

Bomb blasts, of which this was the third in two weeks, have killed a total of 46 people and wounded 176 since 1997, the paper said.

Uganda welcomes tourists back to Bwindi

The Bwindi national park in southwestern Uganda has re-opened following the murder two months ago of eight foreign tourists and a park warden by Rwandan Hutu militiamen.

Ugandan radio reported that tourism in the Impenetrable Forest, famous for its mountain gorillas, would resume with troops in place to prevent any future attack.

Ugandan and Rwandan forces have been heavily deployed in the area, reportedly killing a number of rebels responsible for the killings.

Tanzanians charged over banned political meeting

Dozens of Tanzanians appeared in court on Tuesday charged with unlawful assembly and breach of the peace following an opposition demonstration in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.

On Saturday, police arrested 161 supporters of the main opposition National Convention for Construction and Reform (NCCR) for trying to hold a political meeting which the authorities had banned, Tanzanian radio reported.

Eleven people were injured in the operation, outside the UN offices in the capital, which the commander of police said was intended to prevent chaos.

The NCCR chairman, Augustine Mrema, who called the meeting, said the arrests were an infringement of people's freedom and the right of assembly.

On Monday, however, the Tanzanian newspaper The Guardian reported that Mrema, along with over 1,200 supporters, had defected to another opposition party, accusing the NCCR of being infested with government spies.

Mrema was quoted as saying, as new chair of the Tanzania Labour Party, he would work "to redeem Tanzanians" and plot the defeat of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party in next year's general elections.

His critics have accused him of abandoning those supporters charged for Saturday's demonstration.

Kenyan police held over stolen money

Kenyan junior police officers pocketed more than 5m shillings ($75,800) out of 6.7m shillings ($101,000) stolen by bank robbers in Nairobi last week.

The stolen money was in a bag dropped by the suspects as police chased the gang.

Nine police officers are in custody, Kenyan TV reported on Tuesday.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gabriel Mutunga, said police had recovered 1.5m shillings ($22,500) from one of the arrested officers.

Djibouti leader puts ball in Eritrea's court

Djibouti's president-elect has said severing ties with Eritrea was the proper course of action following Asmara's allegations that Djibouti was supporting Ethiopia in the Horn conflict.

Ismael Omar Guelleh, who swept to victory in elections on 9 April, told London-based Arabic newspaper `Al-Hayat' that Djibouti had acted swiftly and forcefully to prevent a repetition of Eritrea's "aggressions and inexcusable provocations".

He denied that Djibouti, which has provided land-locked Ethiopia with access to its ports since hostilities with Eritrea broke out a year ago, had taken sides in the conflict.

He said: "Our stand is clear. It is neutrality even if some try to involve us in this ruinous war. We do not see any benefit in siding with one side against the other."

Comoros autonomy plan finalised

A conference on the divided islands of Comoros, hosted by Madagascar, produced an agreement on Friday which would grant broad autonomy to each island.

Comoran President Tadjiddine Ben Said Massonde, quoted by Madagascan radio, said the issue of the archipelago remaining as a single and independent state had now been resolved.

The general outlines of the new constitution provided each island with autonomy, to achieve "balanced and harmonious development," he said.

The delegation from the secessionist island of Anjouan refused to sign immediately.

According to the Comoran government delegation, the Anjouan delegation did not reject the accord but had asked for more time to allow them to consult the people and their supporters in Anjouan.

Anjouan declared its secession from the Indian Ocean federation in August 1997.