By Nadja Franssen

While all eyes are still focussed on Mugabe and Tsvangirai struggling in forming a new government, a new disaster reveals itself in Zimbabwe; and this time it is a humanitarian one. In the same way as the violated Democratic Republic of Congo is suffering at the moment, an outbreak of Cholera hits Zimbabwe. It is the biggest Zimbabwean epidemic since 2000. Ban Ki-Moon even said he was "alarmed that the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is now desperate and will worsen in the coming months".

By Nadja Franssen and Sandra Eichele

The latest violent outbreak in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is still trying to recover from a lengthy civil war, led to approximately 300,000 newly displaced people since August 2008. Fighting evolved among government troops, militia groups, and rebel forces led by Laurent Nkunda. UN Peacekeeping forces are meanwhile struggling to protect civilians and avoid another humanitarian catastrophe in the region.

by Ricarda Ries

With the term rat, most people associate fear, disgust and disease. A number of Belgian and Tanzanian researchers, however, discovered the great potential of these animals to detect explosives and to diagnose diseases. So maybe these rats are a promise rather than a plague…