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/ 22 May 2008

‘We are going to liberate Somalia’

The senior leader of Somalia’s Islamist opposition vowed on Wednesday to expel United States-backed Ethiopian troops by force and create an Islamic republic in the war-torn country. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who led Somalia’s Islamic Courts movement, said Mogadishu’s Western-backed Transitional Federal Government was run by ”traitors”.

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/ 21 May 2008

Conflicts using child soldiers drop sharply

The number of conflicts in which child soldiers were involved dropped sharply from 27 in 2004 to 17 at the end of 2007, according to a report on Tuesday by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. But despite the decline, the report said tens of thousands of children remain in the ranks of militias and other armed groups in at least 24 countries.

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/ 17 May 2008

Tsvangirai to begin showdown with Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was to return home on Saturday bidding to deliver a knockout blow to weakened President Robert Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27. Mugabe acknowledged on Friday that he had suffered an electoral disaster in losing a first-round poll against Tsvangirai on March 29.

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/ 16 May 2008

Tsvangirai vows to end Zim ‘darkness’

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai vowed on Friday to lift his country out of the ”darkness” under President Robert Mugabe and voiced confidence he will win a run-off presidential poll. The comments came shortly after his party said Tsvangirai would go home on Saturday after more than a month away following disputed elections.

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/ 6 May 2008

Amnesty: Civilians targeted in Somalia conflict

All parties in Somalia’s conflict have carried out rights abuses including executions, rape and torture, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, adding there were reports Ethiopian soldiers had slit civilians’ throats. Mogadishu’s whole population is scarred from witnessing or suffering such abuses, it said in its 32-page report.

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/ 29 April 2008

Amnesty: Mozambique cops killing with impunity

Police in Mozambique are killing and torturing people with near total impunity, according to a report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday. "Police in Mozambique seem to think they have a licence to kill, and the weak police accountability system allows for this," Michelle Kagari, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme, said.

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/ 26 April 2008

Torch supporters, protesters mark Japan relay

Crowds of Chinese students waving red flags and signs such as ”One World, One Dream, One China” scuffled with pro-Tibet protesters in the latest leg of the Olympic torch relay in Japan on Saturday. Commenting on the turmoil that has bedevilled the global relay, International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge urged the West to stop hectoring China over human rights.

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/ 16 April 2008

Muslim Brotherhood members jailed in Egypt

An Egyptian military court notorious for its harsh verdicts convicted on Tuesday 25 key members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and sentenced them to up to 10 years in jail, a security official said. The charges against members of Egypt’s largest opposition group included money laundering and terrorism.