Sonny Inbaraj
Guest Author
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/ 17 September 2004

Illegal ivory still flows from Africa

Shoppers in Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, are greeted by gleaming white ivory statuettes and whole elephant tusks, but what tourists don’t know is they have probably been made from illegal African ivory. Conservationists are concerned that loopholes in Thailand’s laws allow the ivory trade to flourish in that country.

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/ 13 February 2004

New UN envoy could face uphill battle

As the United Nations’s new envoy to Ethiopia and Eritrea settles into his post, relations between the two countries appear as inflexible as ever. The appointment of Lloyd Axworthy, a former Canadian minister of foreign affairs, was confirmed at the end of last month after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan received approval from the Security Council.

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/ 4 February 2004

Fistula makes social outcasts of child brides

Meseret, from the Lalibela district in northern Ethiopia, was only 13 when she became pregnant. Married at 12, her underdeveloped body was not ready for the stress of giving birth. After six days of gruelling labour her child was finally born, but it was dead. As a result of the long labour, Meseret suffered crippling injuries – including the ripping of internal tissue.

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/ 20 January 2004

WHO challenged on fight against malaria

A World Health Organisation (WHO) official in Ethiopia has dismissed an article in a respected British medical journal that claims the United Nations agency is undermining the fight against malaria. <i>The Lancet</i> accuses the agency of approving cheap drugs that do not work, and blocking the use of a newer treatment.

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/ 16 January 2004

Illegal crossings add to UN woes in Eritrea/Ethiopia

The problem of illegal border crossings between Ethiopia and Eritrea is adding to the woes of United Nations staff who are monitoring peace efforts between the two countries. Earlier this week that three Eritrean staffers of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea had driven to Addis Ababa from the Eritrean capital Asmara, using a stolen UN vehicle.

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/ 9 January 2004

Eritrea snubs UN envoy

The United Nations is meeting stiff resistance in its appointment of a special envoy to help end a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Late last month, Lloyd Axworthy -– formerly Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs -– was appointed to the post with the blessing of the international community

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/ 12 November 2003

‘Rastas are serious development workers’

For decades the Rastafarian community, in their spiritual home in Shashemene, were not taken seriously and Ethiopians had even termed them ludicrous. But all that was set to change with the efforts of a Rastafarian non-governmental organisation in promoting alternative farming techniques and youth development programmes.