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Total News: 38

Swaziland: Swazi police hold SA activists

8th September 2010
The head of Swaziland's banned opposition, Mario Masuku, and a group of South African activists were arrested yesterday as hundreds of trade union members marched to demand democracy in Africa's last absolute monarchy.
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DRC: UN reports over 500 rapes in eastern DRC

8th September 2010
The United Nations reported on Tuesday that more than 500 systematic rapes were committed by armed combatants in eastern DRC since late July more than double the number previously reported -- and accepted partial responsibility for not protecting citizens.
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Swaziland: Swazi activists march amid heavy police presence

8th September 2010
Security officers outnumbered about 250 democracy activists on Tuesday as they marched for several hours during a largely peaceful demonstration in Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.
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Swaziland: Dozens arrested ahead of Swazi protest

7th September 2010
Up to 50 people were arrested on Monday in Swaziland, the day before a planned protest to call attention to human rights abuses in Africa's last absolute monarchy, activists said.
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Swaziland: Swazis march for democracy

7th September 2010
Democracy activists were outnumbered by security officers as they marched for change in Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.
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DRC: Congo mass rape numbers rise to 240 - UN

2nd September 2010
Some 240 women, girls and babies may have been raped after rebels recently seized a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN says.
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DRC: UN to release Congo 'genocide' report in October

2nd September 2010
GENEVA — A report detailing hundreds of gruesome attacks against civilians in Congo over a 10-year period won't be released until October, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Thursday, after Rwanda angrily protested the findings in a draft version.
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Southern Africa: More sterilizations of HIV-positive women uncovered

30th August 2010
JOHANNESBURG, 30 August 2010 (PlusNews) - Veronica* did not realize she had been sterilized while giving birth to her daughter until four years later when, after failing to conceive, she and her boyfriend consulted a doctor.
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Swaziland: King, AIDS activists condemn Swaziland official's claim

26th August 2010
The king of Swaziland on Thursday broke rank with his top adviser who has come under fire for saying the nation's AIDS epidemic is exaggerated to help benefit drug companies.
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Swaziland: Party Rails At 'Brotherhood' Protecting Swazi King

20th August 2010
Johannesburg — THE banned People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) of Swaziland yesterday railed at Southern African leaders for turning a blind eye to repression and human rights abuses in the kingdom.
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Swaziland: HIV threat "exaggerated", says King's brother

18th August 2010
MANZINI, (PlusNews) - Remarks disparaging programmes to reduce HIV infections, made by Swaziland's second top-ranking traditional leader, have sparked disbelief and anger among AIDS activists.
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Southern Africa: Concern About Human Rights, Media Freedom

17th August 2010
CIVIL society organisations in southern Africa are calling for SADC governments to respect human rights and focus on good governance.
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South Africa: Thirty years on, SADC leaders reflect on progress

16th August 2010
Leaders from 14 Southern African countries on Monday began a two-day meeting in Namibia to discuss regional integration on the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
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DRC: International justice denied?

12th August 2010
GOMA, 12 August 2010 (IRIN) - On a typically busy morning in North Kivu’s capital city Goma, nobody at the bank paid much attention to Bosco Ntaganda and his bodyguards. It had been a hectic few days for the rebel commander-turned-army general, who had also attended meetings with the provincial governor and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila.
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Angola: Four activists jailed for links to Togo attack group

3rd August 2010
Four human rights activists have been jailed in Angola for reported links with a separatist group which attacked the Togolese football team in January.
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Swaziland: Children Still Share Jail Cells With Adults

14th July 2010
Mbabane — Swaziland's judiciary is concerned by an absence of detention facilities for children, which forces them to share jail cells with adult criminals. "Do we have facilities for keeping a minor?" enquired presiding High Court judge Thomas Masuku during the recent trial of a 16-year-old boy, when it became apparent that the accused was being held in the same cell as adults in the northern town of Pigg's Peak.
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Angola: Angola rights activists to stand trial in Cabinda

12th July 2010
LUANDA (Reuters) - Four human rights activists were set to stand trial in Angola's oil producing region of Cabinda on Monday on charges linked to separatist group FLEC's attack on the Togo soccer team in January.
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Swaziland: Sipho Jele had seditious document on Incwala

9th July 2010
MBABANE – A seditious document on the sacred Incwala ceremony is said to have been found by police in Sipho Jele’s room at Ncabaneni.
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DRC: Chebeya died after physical abuse - doctors

9th July 2010
Kinshasa - Human rights activist Floribert Chebeya died of a heart attack after suffering physical abuse, said an autopsy released to his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
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DRC: Cause of death unclear for Congo activist -autopsy

8th July 2010
No certain cause of death, likely heart-related Impacts and stress may have triggered heart complaint KINSHASA, (Reuters) - An international autopsy team looking into the death of a prominent Congolese human rights activist was unable to give a conclusive cause of death.
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DRC: Lifetime of Tracking Killings Ends in Activist’s Own

27th June 2010
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Floribert Chebeya Bahizire went about his work with an accountant’s meticulousness. He was trained to count numbers, and his life’s work became adding bodies: those jailed, those tortured, those killed by a repressive government.
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DRC: To be healed, brutalised Congolese need to see justice being done

18th June 2010
Three years ago, while Jolie Muhindo* was returning from taking her exams in a city several hours away from her village, she was raped by the commander of an armed group.
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Swaziland: EU team asks govt about Jele’s death

17th June 2010
MBABANE – A high powered delegation from the European Union (EU) is in the country for political dialogue with government.
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Swaziland: Women's rights take one step forward, two steps back

16th June 2010
MBABANE, - Much to the frustration of gender activists, Swaziland's Supreme Court has reversed a February 2010 High Court ruling that allowed a married woman to register property in their own name.
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Angola: Angola jails rights activist

11th June 2010
Luanda - A human rights campaigner has been sentenced to three years in jail by an Angolan court that convicted him of committing crimes against the state, in what his lawyer says is part of a crackdown on activists.
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DRC in humanitarian crisis - UN

11th June 2010
Geneva - The Democratic Republic of Congo is going through "one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world", the UN said on Friday, noting that relief agencies were facing not only violence in the country, but also a funding shortfall.
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South Africa: Court says Fifa must lift lid on its tender process

9th June 2010
FIFA’s local organising committee must give the Mail & Guardian newspaper all its records in respect of tenders it has awarded relating to the World Cup, within 30 days of payment by the newspaper of the “prescribed charges” for compiling the documents, a court ordered yesterday.
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Swaziland: Judgments

31st May 2010
Swaziland Court of Appeal hands down three human rights related judgments.
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Swaziland: Setback for free education in Swaziland

31st May 2010
On Friday the Swaziland Supreme Court ruled that the Swaziland government does not have to provide free basic education at a primary school level, even though this is stipulated in the country's Constitution. The Constitution, which was adopted in 2005, commits to providing free primary education, effective from 2008 onwards.
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Swaziland: COSATU joins protests on Sipho Jele’s death

18th May 2010
MBABANE – The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has joined the influx of protests against the death of political activist Sipho Jele. In a press statement released yesterday, COSATU has called upon the South African and SADC governments to take action against Swaziland regarding Jele’s alleged suicide inside the Sidvwashini correctional institution on May 4.
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