Two Sudanese rebel leaders suspected of committing war crimes related to the ongoing Darfur violence surrendered June 16 to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) are suspected in connection with the September 2007 attack on African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops at Haskanita, which resulted in the death of 12 peacekeepers. Summonses for Banda and Jerbo were issued under seal by Pre-Trial Chamber I last August and include charges of murder, intentionally attacking a peacekeeping mission, and "pillaging."

From a June 4 op-ed in the International Herald Tribune by Anene Ejikeme, "The Oil Spills We Don't Hear About":

Experts estimate that some 13 million barrels of oil have been spilt in the Niger Delta since oil exploration began in 1958. This is the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez every year for 50 years.

Local trade unionists are demanding answers following the apparent killing in custody of Sipho Jele, an activist in the Swaziland Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union (SAPWU) and People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), who was arrested during May Day protests. Swaziland's largest opposition party, PUDEMO is being relentlessly persecuted under the government's notorious Suppression of Terrorism Act. Swaziland has been living under a State of Emergency since 1973. Swazi authorities are calling the Jele's death a suicide.

Members of the Mauritanian diaspora in the United States are organizing a demonstration to protest against the recent incendiary statement of Prime Minster Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf that his government will generalize the use of Arabic at all levels of the administration and educational system. "If such a policy is implemented, it will amount to a cultural genocide against Black Mauritanians who have been discriminated against for too long," reads a statement by protest organizers. The statement also notes a recent comment by Minister of Culture and Youth Cisse Mint Boide that "The national languages are obstacles to the emergence of the Arabic language."

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in a survey of global press-freedom "Predators" released May 3, ranks Eritrea's President Issaias Afeworki as the world's worst abuser of media freedom. RSF charges that Eritrea permits no independent media and the state-run newspapers and television network do not allow stories that challenge the nation's leadership or its policies. The government has described a free press as "incompatible" with Eritrean culture and last year President Isaias said no Eritrean should want or need to attack their own country.

Ethiopian and Eritrean scholars each laid the blame for the antagonism of their respective peoples on dictatorial rulers and extremist "liberation fronts" that took secession as the only viable solution to a complex problem. Speaking at the Ethiopian and Eritrean Friendship Conference held March 12-4 in San Jose, Calif., panelists and attendees emphasized the need to start a process of healing, renewal and normalization of people-to-people relations—in repudiation of succeeding rulers and political elites that never represent the interests and desires of their people.

A UN-recognized World Heritage Site housing the burial grounds of the kings of Buganda was gutted by fire outside Uganda's capital of Kampala March 15, sparking fears of renewed tension between the government and ethnic Baganda. Police were deployed to the site in Kasubi, a suburb of the capital, as stones were thrown at firefighters arriving to tackle the blaze.

Sudan's security forces arrested a Somali insurgent leader while he was attempting to cross the border to Eritrea, the Somali news website Mareeg Online reported March 14 from Mogadishu. Muse Abdi Arale, defense secretary for the Hizbul Islam group, was reportedly arrested while trying to enter in Eritrea with money embezzled from the rebel group. Sheikh Hassan Mahdi, a senior official from Hizbul Islam, confirmed this version of events to Mareeg Online.