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/ 1 November 2004
Conflicting reports from the disputed region of Sool, northern Somalia, indicate that at least 100 people were killed on Friday when forces from the self-declared republic of Somaliland clashed with those of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. Both sides are accusing the other of initiating the hostilities.
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/ 28 October 2004
A Kenyan street boy emerged 000 richer this week after stumbling across a local radio station’s top treasure-hunt prize while relieving himself in a Nairobi park. Evans Kamande’s first thoughts were for his mother, who works as a house cleaner in Nairobi.
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/ 26 October 2004
A marathon public inquiry into Kenya’s biggest financial scandal was suspended on Tuesday amid a legal row over the ejection of two lawyers representing the state. The suspension was announced on the 282nd day of hearings by Peter le Pelley, one of three judges presiding over the Goldenberg inquiry.
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/ 25 October 2004
A Kenyan man who has married 130 women in 65 years says that ”dictatorship and hard work” is required to make a polygamous family happy and productive. Eighty-five-year-old Ancentus Akuku, also known as ”Danger”, lives in Homa Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya.
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/ 25 October 2004
When Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was sworn in as Somalia’s new president earlier this month in Kenya, cautious optimism was expressed at the fact that a new chapter appeared to be opening for the embattled East African country. Diplomats and political analysts warn now that it is essential for Yusuf to return to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as soon as possible to cement the legitimacy of his government.
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/ 22 October 2004
Kenya pulled off what some might view as an unexpected feat this week by improving its standing in Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index. Every year, the Berlin-based NGO ranks several countries according to the levels of corruption that are perceived to exist in their public sectors.
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/ 15 October 2004
The president of the breakaway Republic of Somaliland said on Friday his administration will only negotiate with Somalia if it is for the recognition of their respective states’ sovereignty. ”Somaliland’s independence is sacred and efforts to discuss Somaliland uniting with Somalia are futile and a waste of time,” the president said.
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/ 15 October 2004
Discussions about improving the level of education in Kenya often focus on the challenge of achieving universal primary education — or ensuring that girls are not discriminated against when it comes to schooling. But, as crucial as the focus on children’s education is, it appears to be marginalising another group of people that is also in urgent need of educational assistance: Kenya’s illiterate adults.
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/ 14 October 2004
The United Nations special envoy for the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, Martti Ahtisaari, was expected to arrive in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Wednesday to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
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/ 14 October 2004
Somali veteran politician and soldier Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was sworn in as the new president of his Horn of Africa country on Thursday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Yusuf, who was elected on Sunday by members of his country’s transitional Parliament, took the oath of office before several African presidents.
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/ 12 October 2004
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has welcomed the election of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as Somalia’s transitional president and pledged that the world body will fully support efforts to restore stability in the war-torn Horn of Africa country. The election was held on Sunday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
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/ 22 September 2004
The United Nations expressed fears on Wednesday of ”famine conditions” arising in southern Somalia if violence there is allowed to escalate. ”The current fighting in the area is seriously disrupting the humanitarian operations currently under way,” the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, said.
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/ 16 September 2004
With the election of a Speaker of its newly formed Parliament late on Wednesday, Somalia edged closer to its first national government in 13 years. In a delayed and drawn-out session, the parliamentarians elected businessman Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan as the new Speaker.
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/ 16 September 2004
It’s probably fair to say that the plight of the Ogiek receives little attention on a continent with more than its share of political and economic crises. The Ogiek are ”one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer peoples of East Africa”, according to Survival International — an organisation that fights for the rights of indigenous communities.
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/ 8 September 2004
The swearing-in of Somalia’s transitional Parliament on August 22 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and the first meeting of the MPs days later may have gone smoothly, but the real challenges facing the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country have just begun. ”History is littered with dishonoured Somali peace accords,” said an analyst.
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/ 6 September 2004
A campaign to set up a women’s land movement has kicked off in Kenya, at a time when the East African country has embarked on a controversial land-reform debate. Campaigners argue that such a movement would ensure women speak with a unified voice. It would also incorporate their concerns in the on-going land debate.
The Sudanese government and the main rebel group in the south of the vast country have extended an ongoing ceasefire for three months, amid deadlock in talks aimed at ending 21 years of conflict, the chief mediator said on Tuesday. A civilian protection monitoring team has said that both sides have violated the ceasefire.
The world could face a humanitarian failure if up to half a million refugees return to southern Sudan in the event of a final peace deal between rebels and government forces before the end of the year, the United Nations warned on Monday. Peace talks in Kenya are aimed at ending 21 years of devastating conflict in Sudan.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=121313">Hunger stalks Darfur’s refugees</a>
Kenyan police used tear gas violently to disperse at least 200 Maasai tribesmen who were demonstrating in the capital, Nairobi, to demand their land back, an AFP journalist reported. ”We have used force to put off the demonstration because it was illegal,” Nairobi police chief Julius Ndegwa said as riot police charged on the Maasai.
The Kenyan government is to dispatch geological experts to its western region to probe new volcanic activities on Mount Elgon on its border with Uganda, which threatens about 20 000 people, officials said on Monday. Mount Elgon, which is 4 321m high, has been dormant for more than a century.
Rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) over the weekend killed four elephants that had strayed from a national park and started destroying crops in villages in central Kenya, police and a KWS official said on Monday. The elephants reportedly destroyed crops, fences and other homestead structures in villages.
They inconvenienced commuters and drew the wrath of taxi drivers, but have Kenya’s new transport regulations also managed to make traffic conditions in the country less hazardous? At the start of February this year, the government implemented a series of regulations aimed at reducing mayhem on the nation’s roads, including stipulations on safety belts as well as speed regulation.
Kenya is to write off about six billion shillings (about R481-million) owed by coffee farmers, whose sector has suffered as a result of the depressed world coffee market, the president’s office said on Sunday. Coffee production has steadily slumped from about 127 000 tons in the mid-1980s to about 49 000 tons last year.
A curious case involving 13 so-called ”miracle babies” and immaculate conception has sparked concern about the proliferation of new church groups in Kenya. The case, which has dominated newspaper headlines in Kenya, is prompting calls for the government to investigate suspect religious ministries.
Relief agencies in the troubled Sudanese state of West Darfur have set up a working group to monitor and coordinate activities to stem the spread of hepatitis E as cases of the disease continue to be reported, the United Nations said. Twenty-seven people had died across Darfur by August 15 and more than 1 000 had been affected.
Representatives of civil society in Kenya have called for its inclusion in the redrafting of a policy on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the East African country. They say they were denied an opportunity to comment on the policy when it was first drafted. Private-sector lobbyists have also complained of being locked out of consultations on the initial draft of the policy.
The Red Cross on Monday appealed to the international community for ,7-million to help 200 000 Kenyans facing starvation. ”We have a disaster on our hands and we need everyone’s solidarity,” Wilfred Machege, assistant minister in the Office of the President, told a press conference in Nairobi.
At least 100 Maasai tribesmen demonstrated on Friday in the Kenyan capital to demand back land ceded to British settlers under treaties signed with the colonial government in 1904 and 1911, which expire this weekend. The protesters, wearing traditional regalia, took to the streets carrying placards that poured scorn on Britain.
The political and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s western region of Darfur was again in the spotlight on Tuesday, thanks to a visit to south Sudan and Chad by United States Senate majority leader William Frist. ”What is going on there [in Darfur] is genocide,” the Republican senator from Tennessee told journalists.
Sudan’s ’empty promises’
The informal sector features prominently in many discussions about Africa’s economic health. Some say it should be encouraged. After all, it’s a lot better than having citizens turn to crime in their effort to survive. But in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where an an average of 100 000 vendors operates, some people have a different view.
Armed militias are continuing to commit atrocities against civilians in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur despite claims by Khartoum that the situation has improved, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. HRW said that instead of disarming the Janjaweed militias, Khartoum has begun incorporating them into the police force.
The inauguration of Somalia’s transitional Parliament was on Thursday postponed to August 19, after disagreements over nominees from various clans once again delayed earlier plans to swear in the MPs and launch the assembly. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development had expected to launch the Parliament on July 30.