AFRICA: Moves to end hunger by 2020, 1/Apr/04
KAMPALA, 1 April (IRIN) - African leaders have once again voiced concern over international trade barriers, which, they say, continue to block indigenous farmers from participating in the global economy. ... Full Report... Email Report

MADAGASCAR: WFP praises SA assistance, 1/Apr/04
JOHANNESBURG, 1 April (IRIN) - The World Food Programme (WFP) has praised the efforts of the South African relief team in cyclone ravaged Madagascar. ... Full Report... Email Report

SOUTH AFRICA: Slow start of ARV rollout, 1/Apr/04
JOHANNESBURG, 1 April (IRIN) - Dr Blackburn was one of eight doctors, a team of pharmacists, nurses, and dieticians on duty at the new antiretroviral treatment (ART) clinic at Johannesburg Hospital on Thursday, awaiting the expected flood of patients on the first day of the... Full Report... Email Report

MOZAMBIQUE: Humanitarian agencies battle drought, poverty and HIV/AIDS, 1/Apr/04
MAPUTO, 1 April (IRIN) - Lying on a mat outside her crumbling mud hut, 20-year-old Eva Matos gasps for breath, her skeletal chest heaving under a grimy sheet. ... Full Report... Email Report

CHAD: MSF launches new malaria project in most affected region, 1/Apr/04
ABIDJAN, 1 April (IRIN) - Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has launched a three-year pilot project to control malaria in southern Chad, where the mosquito-borne disease is the principal cause of death. ... Full Report... Email Report

COTE D IVOIRE: UN says humanitarian work continues despite Abidjan violence, 1/Apr/04
ABIDJAN, 1 April (IRIN) - Violent clashes between opposition supporters and the security forces in the main city Abidjan have not disrupted UN relief activities in the rest of the country, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the UN Humanitarian Relief Coordinator said on Thursday. ... Full Report... Email Report

COTE D IVOIRE: 'Let us protest before we talk', says opposition, 1/Apr/04
ABIDJAN, 1 April (IRIN) - Cote dIvoires rebel movement and the countrys main opposition parties have said they will only resume a dialogue with President Laurent Gbagbo, if he restores their right to stage street protests. ... Full Report... Email Report

BURUNDI: Parties agree to scrap ethnic political groupings, 31/Mar/04
NAIROBI, 31 March (IRIN) - At a meeting to work out the modalities of a democratic general election, Burundian politicians agreed to scrap ethnic political groupings, to alternate power at the presidential level and to keep the Senate as an institution in charge of ensuring... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: Annan expresses concern over rising factionalism, 31/Mar/04
NAIROBI, 31 March (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said increasing factionalism in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was disquieting and that continuing reports of militia atrocities against civilians was a matter of concern, UN... Full Report... Email Report

AFGHANISTAN: Mass tetanus vaccination targets women, 31/Mar/04
KABUL, 31 March (IRIN) - The United Nations Children's agency, UNICEF began a week-long nationwide campaign on Wednesday to immunise four million Afghan females aged 15-45 against tetanus. ... Full Report... Email Report

SWAZILAND: Campaign to help AIDS-hit education system, 31/Mar/04
MBABANE, 31 March (IRIN) - Swaziland is establishing a local branch of the UN-supported Global Campaign for Education in an effort to improve the kingdom's schools and curriculum. ... Full Report... Email Report

IRAN: Iraqi refugee repatriation continues, 31/Mar/04
ANKARA, 31 March (IRIN) - Some 4,836 Iraqi refugees living in Iran have recently returned home under the repatriation programme run by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Focus on landmark court decision allowing threatened couple to live together, 31/Mar/04
ISLAMABAD, 31 March (IRIN) - A Sindhi couple, whose lives were at risk from local tribes after they chose to marry each other, were allowed to live together on Tuesday by a two-member high court bench in a landmark decision hailed by rights activists. ... Full Report... Email Report

ANGOLA-COTE D IVOIRE: Luanda withdraws from UN peacekeeping mission, 31/Mar/04
JOHANNESBURG, 31 March (IRIN) - The Angolan government will not participate in a UN peacekeeping mission to Cote d'Ivoire following claims that Luanda was too close to Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, a senior official told IRIN. ... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: Widows start new enterprise in Hilla, 31/Mar/04
BAGHDAD, 31 March (IRIN) - When you first walk into the room full of women clad in black abayas (cloak covering from head to toe) sewing colourful dresses, their work doesn't seem particularly courageous at the Independent Women's Association cooperative in Hilla, 120 km... Full Report... Email Report

UGANDA: HRW says government violating rights of the opposition, 31/Mar/04
KAMPALA, 31 March (IRIN) - The Uganda government has admitted that torture and other human rights abuses constitute a problem in the countrys security services, but said that such cases involve rogue individuals acting without state sanction. ... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Opposition leader reportedly arrested, 31/Mar/04
NAIROBI, 31 March (IRIN) - Sudan's opposition leader, Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi, was arrested on Wednesday, three days after the government launched a crackdown on military officers whom it accused of plotting a coup, international news agencies reported. ... Full Report... Email Report

TURKMENISTAN: Scepticism over new ruling on registration of religious groups, 31/Mar/04
ANKARA, 31 March (IRIN) - Rights groups have expressed caution over Ashgabat's recent decision to ease registration rules for religious organisations. ... Full Report... Email Report

LESOTHO: Food security situation "alarming" - report, 31/Mar/04
JOHANNESBURG, 31 March (IRIN) - The food security situation in Lesotho is "alarming", with low crop production causing a sharp increase in prices, says the UN Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Support Office (RIACSO). ... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Humanitarian situation continues to worsen in Darfur, 31/Mar/04
NAIROBI, 31 March (IRIN) - Armed groups have continued attacking civilians in the western Darfur region, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). ... Full Report... Email Report