Sahelian governments and local and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing the regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal in northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region as the lean season gets underway. Altogether some 284,000 Malians have fled the north according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 107,000 of them thought to be displaced within Mali; 177,000 in neighbouring countries. New arrivals have pushed refugee numbers to 56,664 in Burkina Faso and to 61,000 in Mauritania, and to 39,388 in Niger, according to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) . These governments are already struggling to get aid to millions of their inhabitants, who are facing hunger due to drought. Fleeing Malians have told the UNHCR they want to avoid getting caught up in possible conflict if government soldiers or foreign troops intervene in the north.

Gunfire continued in Mali's capital Bamako for a third day May 2, as patrols under the command of the ruling junta hunt down soldiers who had tried to stage an counter-coup. Accounts are sketchy, but it appears units of the "Red Berets" presidential guard loyal to the ousted president Amadou Toumani Toure took up arms to displace the junta that overthrew him. BBC tells us shots were also fired into the air to break up a student protest—without saying what the students were protesting, or which faction they are aligned with. The counter-coup attempt comes as coup leader Cpt. Amadou Haya Sanago rejected plans by regional bloc ECOWAS to send a military force to the country, and for elections to be held within 12 months. (BBC News, RFI, May 2; AFP, AP, May 1) Human Rights Watch has meanwhile issued a report charging that the Tuareg rebels, Islamist armed groups, and Arab militias now in control of northern Mali have committed numerous war crimes, including rape, use of child soldiers, and pillaging of hospitals, schools, aid agencies, and government buildings. The report, issued April 30 after a 10-day fact-finding mission to Bamako, says Islamists have carried out summary executions, amputated the hand of at least one man, held public floggings, and threatened women and Christians.

Protesters in Benghazi have for days now been blocking the entrance to the offices of Libya's biggest oil company, Agoco, to demand jobs for youth and greater transparency over public funds. (Tripoli Post, April 25) Meanwhile the National Transitional Council (NTC) has passed a measure that bans parties based on religious or ethnic identity. The law comes two months ahead of the country's first general elections to choose a 200-member assembly to draw up a new constitution and form a democratic government. The new law is of course opposed by the new Freedom and Development Party, linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. (Catholic Online, Tripoli Post, April 26)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) office of the prosecutor announced April 24 that it is monitoring the situation in Mali for potential crimes under the ICC's jurisdiction. The statement notes that Mali has ratified the Rome Statute, giving the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have occurred since fighting began in January. The prosecutor's office said:

It is a sign of just how far things have deteriorated in Mali that weeks after Tuareg rebels seized the northern half of the country—with its precious uranium deposits—no move has been made by the central government to try to take it back. What happened to the multinational intervention that was supposedly being planned? Some possible explanations for the delay: 1. They are waiting for the French elections to be over with, and to see if Paris will be as eager for military action after Sarkozy's now seemingly inevitable defeat; 2. They are waiting for the MNLA to consolidate greater control of the territory, sparing the central government, France and ECOWAS the trouble of putting down the Islamists; 3. The central government doesn't really exist.

The Libyan government took control of Tripoli's international airport on April 20 from the Zintan militia that has had control of the site since Moammar Qaddafi was deposed last year (sometimes in contest with rival militias). The deal to turn over the airport followed months of negotiations about jobs and salaries for the militia's members. It was portrayed by Reuters as an important step in consolidation of the new government's authority. Failing to make the wire services, Amnesty International on April 19 called on the National Transitional Council (NTC) to investigate and prosecute abuses against members of the Tawargha community, outside the city of Misrata, following another report of a community member being tortured to death at a detention center run by local militias. The body of a 44-year-old father of two was delivered to his family on April 16, covered with bruises and cuts, including an open wound to the back of the head, Amnesty said. More than a dozen torture-deaths in militia custody have been documented by Amnesty since September, with Tawarghas constituting a high proportion of victims.

A Libyan military commander filed a lawsuit April 17 against former UK Justice Minister Jack Straw alleging that the minister was instrumental in his illegal rendition to Libya, where he was tortured under the regime of Moammar Qaddafi. Abdel Hakim Belhadj and his wife were transferred to Libya in 2004 as prisoners and were allegedly tortured at the hands of former Qaddafi officials. The lawsuit was launched in response to an April 15 Sunday Times report alleging documentation of Straw's involvement in the transfer of prisoners to Libya for torture. Papers served on Straw request access to documents from 2004 to 2010, including the documents referenced in the recent news article. Belhadj's lawyers maintain that his primary purpose is to seek an apology from the responsible parties.

A civilian transition president—Dioncounda Traore, leader of the national assembly—was sworn in April 13 in Mali, under a deal brokered by West African powers with leaders of the last month's coup d'etat. At his inauguration, he told cheering crowds he he would "never negotiate about the partition of Mali." Refering to the rebels that have seized power in the north, he said: "We won't hesitate to wage a total, relentless war to regain our territorial integrity and also to kick out of our country all these invaders who bring despair and misery." (AP, April 13) Ironically, his accusations of an "invasion" came just as a foreign military intervention is being organized to beat back the northern rebels. In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy talked as if France were in charge of the operation: "We have to work with the Tuaregs to see how they can have a minimum of autonomy and we must do everything to prevent the establishment of a terrorist or Islamic state in the heart of the Sahel," he said on TV. Asked if France will be involved in the intervention, he said: "I don't think it’s up to France to do it. France is ready to help, but we cannot be the leader..." (Reuters, April 14)