KENYA

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The African Union plans to transform a small force it was due to send to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region into a 2 000-strong peacekeeping mission, an AU official said on Wednesday. The pan-African body was already planning to send about 300 troops to Darfur to protect its observers and monitors in the country.
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Kenya’s press on Tuesday angrily demanded the sacking of the country’s foreign affairs minister over his weekend announcement that seven hostages held in Iraq had been released, which it said turned out to be a ”cruel hoax”. Chirau Ali claimed the hostages had been released and were safe in the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad.

The construction of the first railway line in Kenya was a feast for ”Tsavo’s man-eaters” as the lions in the area were named. The hungry beasts tore about 130 workers to pieces. Nearly 100 years later, a German company is tackling the reconstruction of the old route, which is to be extended to southern Sudan.

A magistrate on Friday dismissed a ”confession” from prosecution evidence in the trial of three Kenyans charged with plotting terror attacks in the country, a defence lawyer said. Salmin Mohammed Khamis, Mohammed Kubwa Seif and Said Saggar Ahmed are accused of plotting the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, when 213 people died.

The African Union has said it may transform its protection force into a ”fully-fledged peacekeeping mission” in Sudan’s Darfur region to force the government-backed Janjaweed militia to lay down its arms in line with a ceasefire deal. The pan-African body is already planning to send some 300 troops to Darfur by the end of July to protect its team of observers and monitors overseeing the implementation of a shaky ceasefire deal.

Hundreds of farmers near Mount Kenya blocked a major highway for three hours this week, protesting against an invasion of their farms by elephants, a news report said on Wednesday. The farmers said the authorities had done nothing to help them get rid of four elephants that had terrorised their fields for weeks.