Zambian human rights groups are divided over whether to support a call by opposition parties for a public disobedience campaign to press President Frederick Chiluba to announce the date for general elections.

Despite continued differences between the two sides the peace process between Ethiopia and Eritrea is “on track” a spokesman for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said on Friday.

At least 18 students were killed and many others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a Koranic school on 16 November, a local source told IRIN on Monday.

Despite recent instability in Bangui, capital of the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that the situation in Zongo, across the Bangui river in the northwestern Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), remained "calm", with no major new influx of refugees reported.

Rwanda's government needs US $250 million "at the very least" in the first two years if its poverty reduction strategy is to be implemented properly, Finance and Economic Planning Minister Donat Kaberuka said. on Saturday.