Eritrea: Religious Persecution Still Persists, New Report Says

Washington, DC — In less than two decades of independence, President Isaias Afewerki has established a totalitarian grip on Eritrea, forcing increasing numbers of citizens to flee to neighboring countries and beyond.And religious organizations are not spared, according to Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2009 which was released on Wednesday.The government permits members of only Orthodox Christian, Catholic, and Lutheran churches and traditional Islam. Over 3,000 members of unregistered churches are incarcerated. Many are beaten and otherwise abused to compel them to renounce their faiths.

Chad: Cautious Return for World Bank

Dakar — The World Bank is reopening an office in the Chadian capital N’djamena nearly a year after armed conflict forced it to close, and months after the Bank pulled out of an oil pipeline project after concluding that Chad had failed to meet agreements on commiting oil revenues to poverty reduction.But a Bank official said it was a limited step and that any expanded support by the Bank depended on the government’s performance on reducing poverty.”Any increase beyond what we have now in Chad would require a renewed commitment from the government that new programmes [would] directly benefit the population and help to overcome poverty… For now, our presence in Chad is designed to monitor our existing work,” Michel Wormser, the World Bank’s director for Africa operations, told IRIN.

Somalia: Security Council to Strengthen African Force, Signals Eventual UN Deployment

Renewing the authorization of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia today, the Security Council called for action to bolster those troops, while signalling its intention to establish a United Nations force, when conditions permit, in the Horn of Africa country that has lacked a functioning central government since 1991.In the resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member body, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is requested to establish a trust fund to help support the AU force, known as AMISOM, and to facilitate a logistical support package, training and equipment, in anticipation of its eventual absorption into a UN force.