Defense lawyers for a top prime minister’s aide can raise torture allegations at his trial, a judge ruled today in a case that has shaken Zimbabwe’s troubled coalition government.

Judge Chinembiri Bhunu also ruled that a weapons dealer can testify at Roy Bennett’s trial, setting the stage for lawyers to spar over his testimony and how it was obtained once the proceedings begin in earnest Thursday.

The weapons case against Bennett, a top aide to Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, stems from allegations of a plot to topple President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai says the charges are baseless and part of efforts by Mugabe loyalists to undermine the coalition formed in February between the longtime rivals.Bennett’s lawyers say weapons dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann, who is the main prosecution witness, was not only tortured but also did not implicate Bennett during his own trial.Hitschmann was arrested in 2006 and initially accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe. Bennett had not been linked to the case until his arrest in February.

Hitschmann was cleared on charges of treason and “possessing weapons for the purpose of terrorism,” the same charges Bennett faces that carry a possible death sentence or life imprisonment if convicted. Hitschmann spent 2 1/2 years in jail on lesser charges of possessing illegal weapons.

Zimbabwe’s neighbors had pressed for the coalition to be formed after a series of inconclusive elections marred by violence blamed on Mugabe loyalists, saying the country’s factions needed to stop bickering and find solutions to their economic and political crises.

Rape victims in Sudan’s Darfur region have lost vital medical and psychological support since Khartoum expelled aid agencies working against sexual violence this year, the United Nations and aid workers said.

A Sudanese minister on Wednesday dismissed the reports as “propaganda” saying there was no widespread rape in the region and that foreigners were free to come and investigate.

Sudan ousted 13 foreign aid groups and closed three local organisations in March after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al- Bashir to face charges of masterminding atrocities in Darfur.

Khartoum accused the groups of passing information to the Hague-based court, a charge they deny.

Ten out of the 13 expelled foreign groups were doing work related to protection and sexual violence, said an official from one of the ousted organisations who asked not to be named.

“Women are now feeling a lot less safe in reporting rapes and there’s been a resurgence of the bad old days when women victims are treated like criminals if they report it,” the official said.

Rights groups say women who report attacks risk prosecution for having sex outside marriage under Islamic law in Sudan.

A U.N. report this month said sexual violence was “rampant” in Darfur. The conflict surged in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels revolted, accusing Khartoum of neglect.

Georgia today stated that Russian forces had detained five Georgian citizens off the Black Sea coast near the breakaway Russian-backed region of Abkhazia, and accused Moscow of trying to escalate tensions.

There have been a number of brief detentions of Georgians in recent weeks, mainly in rebel South Ossetia — the focus of last year’s five-day war between Georgia and Russia.

South Ossetian authorities are holding four Georgian teenagers arrested last week in the breakaway capital Tskhinvali and accused of carrying grenades and other explosive material.

The Georgian foreign ministry said Russian forces had “kidnapped” five Georgian citizens Tuesday in Georgian territorial waters for illegal fishing. It said the incident happened in Anaklia, near the de facto border with Abkhazia.

“The Kremlin employs such methods in order to escalate the situation in the territories adjacent to Georgia’s occupied regions and provide all preconditions to push the conflict into a ‘hot’ stage,” the foreign ministry said.

There was no immediate response from Russian authorities.

Officials of Russia, Georgia and the two breakaway regions were meeting in Geneva Wednesday for their latest round of internationally-mediated security discussions.

Some 21 Georgian villagers were detained in South Ossetia last month and accused of illegally crossing the border to search for wood. They were all released. The poorly-defined boundary line runs through agricultural land.

Tensions in the Black Sea ran high earlier this year when Georgia seized several cargo vessels accused of trading with Abkhazia without permission of Georgian authorities.

Russian forces have controlled the de facto borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since August last year, when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia and subsequently recognized both territories as independent states.

Brazil and the U.S. urged Colombia and Venezuela on Tuesday to talk out their differences after Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez ordered his military to prepare for a possible war with his neighbor.

The push for diplomacy came as many in both Colombia and Venezuela dismissed Chavez’s words as an attempt to distract attention from domestic problems, including the struggling economy and water shortages and power blackouts.

Chavez has warned that troops he ordered to the Colombian border should be ready for a possible conflict if the U.S. attempts to provoke a war between the South American countries. He cited a recent deal between Bogota and Washington giving U.S. troops greater access to Colombian military bases as a threat to regional stability.

Brazil’s defense minister, Nelson Jobim, played down the risk of an armed conflict.

“We believe that everything can be resolved with dialogue,” Jobim said in Brasilia. “I don’t think the tension is going to increase; it’s part of the rhetoric of the continent.“

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: “We are very much aware of recent tensions along the Venezuelan-Colombia border.“

“I certainly don’t think this is about the United States,” Crowley added. “But we certainly would encourage dialogue between Venezuela and Colombia and a peaceful resolution of the situation along their border.”

The Organization of American States also called on Colombia and Venezuela to settle their problems through dialogue.

Chavez scoffed at Colombia’s plans to file complaints with the OAS and U.N. Security Council in response to the instructions he gave to Venezuelan soldiers over the weekend.

“Now they are accusing me of calling for war,” Chavez said in a televised speech Tuesday, denying his message to the military was meant as a threat. “They really have to be cynical to say that.“