In a demonstration of support for prominent Niger Delta militant Henry Okah, whom the government put on trial in early April, militant leaders said that they will escalate armed conflict. Mend is an alliance of militant groups claiming to fight for an increase in the percentage of wealth that the people of the Niger Delta get from the oil that is being exploited in their region.
Lesotho’s single largest employer, the textile industry, has made a remarkable comeback, setting an example for the region and giving thousands back their jobs. Lesotho was an early victim of cheap Chinese exports to the key United States market when the World Trade Organisation’s 30-year-old Multi-Fibre Agreement expired last year.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s plan to offer amnesty to Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army. The ICC, which indicted him on 33 counts for crimes committed in northern Uganda, insists he must be arrested and face justice.
A year after Operation Murambatsvina, the government’s campaign to purge informal settlements, the lives of thousands of affected Zimbabweans have not changed. Uprooted last year from their homes in the capital, Harare, families have been squeezed into tiny living spaces authorised by the government on the outskirts of the city.
As standards of living in Zimbabwe continue to deteriorate, the use of child labour on farms has risen sharply, with more than 10Â 000 children estimated to be working in the agricultural sector. Irin recently reported that new commercial farmers, the beneficiaries of the government’s controversial land redistribution programme, were struggling to pay labourers.
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/ 20 January 2006
Five people were killed and hundreds of United Nations peacekeepers forced to abandon their base as anti-UN protests swept government-held southern Côte d’Ivoire for a third straight day. After repeated attacks on UN compounds, vehicles and offices, a UN official said civilian personnel were being concentrated in central locations.
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/ 13 January 2006
The ongoing arrests of members of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement in connection with a series of petrol bombings is having a chilling effect on pro-democracy groups in Swaziland. On Wednesday, outspoken political activist Maphadlana Shongwe became the 15th person to be arrested.
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/ 19 December 2005
Two highly placed Liberian government officials are said to be involved in ”plans to cause instability and chaos in the country”, the interim government said in a statement recently. Although they did not name any group, the government said ”a full investigation into the matter has been launched and is already gathering evidence on suspected individuals”.
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/ 23 November 2005
In a landmark ruling that opens the way for compensation claims against oil conglomerates, the High Court of Benin City in Nigeria has declared the flaring of natural gas illegal. Justice CV Nwokorie ruled that toxic flares that burn off natural gases, a by-product of oil extraction, contravened provisions of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantee citizens the right to life and human dignity.
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/ 10 October 2005
Poor rural households in drought-ravaged southern Zimbabwe have exhausted their food stocks and are resorting to eating wild roots in a bid to stave off hunger. Erratic supplies by the state’s Grain Marketing Board and the lack of essential commodities in rural shops have combined to undermine food security in the semi-arid Matabeleland region.