First polygamous lesbians—now cross-dressers. From the BBC, Feb. 15:

The trial of 18 men accused of dressing up as women has started in a Sharia court in northern Nigeria.

The same depressing story that we've heard from Bosnia to Baghdad now reaches us from Kenya. From the New York Times, Feb. 15, "Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity ":

Kenya used to be considered one of the most promising countries in Africa. Now it is in the throes of ethnically segregating itself. Ever since a deeply flawed election in December kicked off a wave of ethnic and political violence, hundreds of thousands of people have been violently driven from their homes and many are now resettling in ethnically homogenous zones.

Jan Eliasson, UN special envoy for Darfur, warns that deployment of peacekeeping forces continues to be stalled and that rebel groups show little willingness to enter peace talks. (NYT, Feb. 9) Meanwhile, the ongoing carnage barely gets headlines anymore. This Feb. 8 Reuters account rated less than two column-inches at the bottom of page 5 in the following day's Times:

Sudanese government aircraft, army and militia attacked three towns in West Darfur state on Friday, causing heavy civilian casualties, Darfur rebels and witnesses said.

Congolese forces arrested Col. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, accused former leader of the rebel National Integrationist Front (FNI), and handed him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ngudjolo is alleged to have played a key role in a murderous attack on the village of Bogoro, Ituri province, in February 2003. He is facing three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, including sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers. He is the third Congolese national sent to the ICC, after Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and Germain Katanga. (UN News Service via AllAfrica, Feb. 7)

Thousands of civilians fled Chad's capital N'Djamena Feb. 4 after rebel forces pulled back from the city following two days of street fighting in an effort to overthrow President Idriss Deby. The government said it had forced back the rebels, who had stormed into N'Djamena aboard armed pickup trucks. But the rebels called the pullback a "tactical withdrawal" before a renewed assault. "We're asking the population to leave," said rebel spokesman Abderamane Koullamalah. Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-mi said N'Djamena was secure and under government control: "The battle of N'Djamena is over." (Reuters, Feb. 4) Exxon said it oil operations in Chad were not affected by the fighting. (Dow Jones, Feb. 3)

South African police raided the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, which was serving as a sanctuary for some 1,000 Zimbabwean refugees, arresting scores of suspected "illegal immigrants" Jan. 31. Bishop Paul Verryn accused the police of using excessive force on refugees and church workers in the midnight raid: "They did not have a warrant," Verryn told SABC. "They have pushed me around and treated us despicably." He said the refugees "ran in terror" as police "came military-style and...turned the church upside-down... They have kicked down doors, they've broken a window, they assaulted people. They manhandled me. I mean, they just treated us as if we're animals." He called the police action "appalling" and "despicable."

Chad's Alliance for National Resistance (ANR) said Jan. 19 they had shot down an army MI-24 helicopter gunship which attacked their positions at Beda near the Sudanese border. The rebels used a SAM-7 ground-to-air missile. (AFP, Jan. 19) Sudan accused Chadian aircraft of bombing western Darfur in "repeated aggressions" last month. Read a Foreign Ministry statement: "In an unprecedented escalation, Chadian forces have violated the joint border as three Chadian war planes bombed two areas...in West Darfur...on December 28." (Reuters, Dec. 30) Gibraltar-based Signet Mining, with operations in Chad, Niger and South Africa, plans to build a uranium processing plant at its Madagzang prospect in Chad "sometime next year," said CEO Calvyn Gardner. (Mining Weekly Online, Jan. 22)

The US State Department has condemned the Sudanese government for appointing purported Janjaweed commander Musa Hilal as a special advisor to President Omar al-Bashir. Said spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos: "We deplore the government of Sudan's decision to name him to a senior position. He is under both US and UN sanctions for the role he played in Darfur." In April 2006, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Hilal and three other Sudanese nationals accused of war crimes in Darfur, freezing their financial assets. On a visit to Turkey, Bashir defended Hilal's appointment: "Musa Hilal is an influential person in Darfur. Through his leadership, he has contributed greatly to security and stability in the region. We believe the accusations against him are baseless." (AFP, Jan. 22)