KENYA

A vicious cycle of drought and floods is continuing to bring death and misery to millions of impoverished people across East Africa, the United Nations said on Friday. After months of a scorching killer drought that threatened more than 11-million mainly rural peasants and pastoralists with starvation, heavy rains have pounded the region, causing deadly flash floods in six countries, it said.

Kenyan wildlife rangers in choppers killed a pair of rogue elephants this week after a series of fatal attacks on people in incidents highlighting growing human-animal conflict, officials said on Thursday. The rampaging bulls, blamed by locals for leading larger groups of jumbos onto farms to raid crops, were shot dead on Sunday and Wednesday.

Somalia’s weak, United Nations-backed transitional government will meet its Islamic rivals this week in Sudan in an effort to ease tensions after the Islamists took over of much of the country’s south, an Arab League official said. The talks will open with a ceremony on Friday.

Eritrean police have arrested several United Nations peacekeepers who allegedly were trying to smuggle people out of Eritrea, the information ministry said. An unspecified number of staff from the UN’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea were seized as they tried to cross into arch-rival Ethiopia, said Tuesday’s statement on the Eritrean information ministry website.

The leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia met on Tuesday to ease mounting tensions along their border where at least 100 people have been killed in tribal attacks over the past three months. In addition, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles al-Zenawi were discussing prospects for restoring stability in their neighbour Somalia, officials said.

United States Senator Barack Obama called on Monday for stepped up protection of press freedom and the environment, meeting with embattled Kenyan journalists and Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai. Speaking at Nairobi’s Standard Media Group, Obama offered a pep talk to employees concerned by growing assaults on press freedom.

At least 18 people were killed in northern Kenya during cross-border cattle raids by about 300 armed bandits from Ethiopia, officials said on Monday. Most of the dead were raiders who tried to steal thousands of animals from several villages close to the Ethiopian border, 650km from the capital, Nairobi, they added.

East African defence chiefs expect to have the vanguard of a peacekeeping force for Somalia ready by the end of next month, officials said on Friday, despite fierce objections from powerful Islamists in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation. The first elements of the nearly 7 000-strong regional force are to assemble in late September, the officials said.

A severe humanitarian crisis may erupt this year in Somalia, where insecurity could compound crop failures and leave about 3,6-million people in need of urgent aid, a United Nations agency said on Wednesday. Still battling to recover from the effects of a killer drought that hit East Africa, about 1,8-million Somalis remain dependent on assistance.

World Cup semifinalists Kenya were no match for Bangladesh as the tourists clinched the third and final one-day match by six wickets on Tuesday to win the series 3-0. Medium-pacer Ashrafe Mortaza acted as the chief destroyer of the Kenyan batting line-up, taking 6-26 for a total haul of 13 wickets in the three-match series.

The situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains as unstable as ever as vote counting continues following landmark elections two weeks ago, with incumbent president Joseph Kabila leading with 53% of the votes counted by Tuesday.

All-rounder Mashrafee Mortaza was the star for Bangladesh as they beat Kenya by two wickets on Sunday to win the one-day series 2-0. Having taken 3-53 in the Kenyan innings, the stylish left-hander returned to hit the winning runs that helped Bangladesh hold off a resurgent Kenyan side buoyed by a tight pace-bowling attack.

An unbeaten partnership of 74 between debutant Forhad Reza and Mohammad Ashraful steered Bangladesh to an emphatic six-wicket win over Kenya in the first one-day international at the Gymkhana club in Nairobi on Saturday. Reza, who ended the match with an unbeaten 34 proved the perfect foil for the experienced right-hander Ashraful as they steadied the Bangladesh innings after a shaky start.

Somalia’s political stand-off may erupt into a region-wide conflict involving al-Qaeda unless its fragile government can bring Islamists into its ranks, a think-tank said on Friday. Foreign states, particularly Ethiopia and Eritrea, must stop supporting the rival factions or risk inflaming the situation, the International Crisis Group said in a report.

About 150 Ethiopian troops, including a senior commander, have deserted the country’s army and escaped to Addis Ababa’s arch-foe nation Eritrea, officials said on Thursday. They said the desertions, which still remained unexplained, were the first to hit the Ethiopian military, but Asmara attributed them to a growing disenchantment with the ruling party.

Africa is mulling setting up a 24-hour television news channel that would portray the continent in positive perspective on the global platform and promote a development agenda, officials said on Wednesday. They said the channel, which will resemble pan-Arabic television al-Jazeera, could be in place by next year.

News outlets across Africa are coming under increasing pressure that restricts their abilities and need defence and support to ensure viability and relevance, media officials said on Tuesday. They were speaking in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, at a pan-African conference on the press.

Eritrea on Friday denied charges it is backing Islamists in Somalia to fight a proxy war with arch-rival Ethiopia, which has sent troops to support the weak Somali government. In a ”working paper” Eritrea rejected as ”groundless” claims it is supplying arms to the Islamists, who have seized Mogadishu and are expanding control in the south of the nation.

Opposition parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have denounced parliamentary elections held on Sunday as ”fraudulent” while international observers have given the polls a cautious thumbs-up, according to news reports on Tuesday.

Eritrea on Thursday called for the speedy withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia, where they have been deployed to protect the country’s fledgling government, warning that their continued stay risked provoking a regional conflict. On a government website, Asmara also urged Addis Ababa to heed calls by the country’s Islamic courts to leave the shattered nation.

Ethiopian troops are in Somalia but in smaller numbers than the thousands some have estimated, the United Nations envoy to the Horn of Africa nation said on Wednesday. ”I got the impression that some Ethiopians are in Somalia,” Francois Fall told the media after his one-day trip to Somalia on Tuesday.

Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir expressed optimism on Monday that peace talks his government is mediating between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels will succeed despite a rocky start. At the same time, he warned that failure will likely lead to fighting between the LRA and his forces in autonomous south Sudan.

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) says harassment and arbitary arrests have disrupted the election campaign as the troubled Central African country edges closer to its first multiparty polls in 45 years on July 30.

The one-day international series between Kenya and Bangladesh originally set for Nairobi later this month has been postponed by a further three weeks due to lack of sponsors, cricket officials said on Monday. Cricket Kenya (CK) chief executive Tom Tikolo said they required about 13-million shillings ( 000 dollars) to host the Bangladeshi side.

Kenyan police said on Wednesday they were searching for two men suspected of beating to death a fan of Brazil’s World Cup team after the reigning football champion’s weekend loss to France. The 21-year-old Brazil fan died after being savagely attacked by the France-supporting suspects who allegedly chided and ridiculed the victim.