Jeevan Vasagar
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/ 1 October 2004

Pipes dry after water sell-off

Water used to flow through the taps in Tabata, a sprawling suburb of whitewashed bungalows in Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam. These days, the faucets and steel water pipes stand empty in backyards while families send their children to fetch water from a well. Girls heave buckets on to their heads while boys as young as nine wrestle jerrycans on to barrows and trundle them down the streets.

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/ 31 August 2004

Corpse that points the finger of guilt

On a shallow slope between two hills of orange rock and sand, a man’s body lies curled in a foetal position. His hands are thrown up as if to protect his face from the bullet that punched a hole in his temple. A few feet away on the bare slope, another man’s body lies between two youths. His arms are stretched out to the two younger ones, as if he was embracing them at the moment of death.

  • UN warns of returning refugee flood
  • Hunger stalks Darfur’s refugees
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    / 2 July 2004

    Powell’s ‘sanitised’ view of human suffering

    Unites States Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday that the militias which have terrorised western Sudan ”must be broken”, and described conditions in the region as a ”humanitarian catastrophe”. After visiting a refugee camp in northern Darfur, he said that controlling the Janjaweed militias was the only way to restore peace.

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    / 16 April 2004

    Zanzibar imposes stiff sentences for gay sex

    A moral panic over homosexuality in Zanzibar has prompted the island’s government to draft a law imposing life imprisonment for men convicted of gay sex. Homosexuality is already illegal on the Indian Ocean island and the gay scene is covert, but the draft Bill appears to be a backlash against the increasing numbers of Zanzibaris living more openly gay lifestyles.

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    / 20 February 2004

    Rwandan genocide: Final amnesty

    Thousands of Rwandans accused of participating in genocide have been offered a ”final chance” to be released from prison if they confess their guilt and ask for forgiveness before a deadline next month. Prisons in the tiny Central African state are still overflowing with about 90 000 alleged ”genocidaires”.

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    / 5 January 2004

    2fast 2furious in Nairobi

    The slogan on the side of the taxi-van told the world that its name was 2fast 2furious; the reggae was pumping, and the tout hung out of the sliding door hollering fares and destinations as the van lunged towards the kerb for a stop. The matatu is Nairobi’s answer to the transport problems but is also a death trap on wheels. New regulations seek to curb the horrifying number of related deaths.