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/ 20 June 2007

Last year one of the worst for refugees

Last year was one of the worst on record for refugees and the crisis is deepening in 2007 thanks to conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur region. But the accelerating return of refugees to their homes in south Sudan in 2007 — some after more than two decades — is one bright spot in the otherwise bad year.

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/ 18 June 2007

Europe asked to try Rwanda genocide suspects

The chief prosecutor of the Rwanda genocide court has requested that the cases of two fugitives indicted by the tribunal be transferred to European countries, where they are believed to be hiding, officials said on Monday. The cases of Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta had been sealed by the court until late last week.

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/ 12 June 2007

Three arrested after Nairobi blast

Kenyan police said on Tuesday they had arrested three people following a suspected suicide bombing the day before that killed at least one person and wounded dozens in the capital, Nairobi. The rush-hour explosion on Monday occurred a few hundred metres from where a truck bomb ripped through the former US embassy in 1998.

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/ 11 June 2007

Kenya calls for action to save receding Lake Victoria

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Monday called for urgent action to save Lake Victoria, the world’s second largest fresh-water lake, which is facing decline in water levels due to human activities. The lake, which provides livelihoods for about 30-million people in the shoreline countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, has suffered a dramatic fall in water levels since 2003.

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/ 11 June 2007

Blast in Kenyan capital kills one

A blast in central Nairobi killed at least one person on Monday and police on the scene said they believed it could have been a suicide bombing. Police commissioner Hussein Ali said five or six other people were critically injured after the explosion outside the Ambassadeur hotel in the central business district.

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/ 8 June 2007

Will e-learning make teachers redundant?

Does electronic learning (e-learning) threaten to displace the teacher? This question emerged at an international conference held in Nairobi last week, attended by 1 400 people from 88 countries. The latest in information communication technology (ICT) with a focus on education, training and development was showcased.

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/ 7 June 2007

Kenyan police open fire in slum crackdown

Kenyan police tore through a Nairobi slum on Thursday, firing rifles and tearing down shacks in the third day of a crackdown on a stronghold of the Mungiki criminal gang blamed for a wave of beheadings, witnesses said. Hundreds of police and paramilitary officers carrying automatic weapons and clubs thronged the Mathare slum.

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/ 5 June 2007

Kenyan cops slay members of banned sect

Kenyan police have killed at least 21 suspected members of a banned sect in a Nairobi slum in retaliation for the killing of two police officers, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday. ”Following the killing of two police officers … 21 people who were resisting arrest were killed” overnight, said national police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe.

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/ 4 June 2007

Somali pirates execute hostage

Somali pirates who have been holding a Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel since mid-May killed one of the 16 crew members because the ship’s owners have not paid a ransom, a maritime official said on Monday. The pirates threatened to kill other crew members if their demands are not met, said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers’ Assistance Programme.

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/ 25 May 2007

Pirates seize Indian dhow off Somali coast

Pirates captured an Indian dhow close to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a Kenyan maritime official said on Friday, in the latest raid off one of the world’s most dangerous coastlines. Andrew Mwangura, director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said he had no information about the crew or cargo aboard the vessel, the Al Haqeeq.

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/ 23 May 2007

Mugabe attacks West at summit

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe celebrated a landmark agreement by Africa’s biggest trade bloc on Wednesday with a favourite pastime — attacking the West. ”Where does Europe get all the cotton it wears and the tea the British call their own — English tea? I want to know in which part of Britain tea is grown and to this day I have not found it,” he said.

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/ 22 May 2007

African leaders work on customs union

Leaders from Africa’s main trading bloc met on Tuesday to discuss ways of enhancing its free trade zone, including steps to a customs union, at a two-day summit amid widespread regional tensions. Nine heads of state and government attended the summit and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was appointed vice-chairperson.

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/ 14 May 2007

UN: Aid not reaching most Somali war afflicted

Aid workers are only reaching about a third of the thousands of civilians afflicted by Mogadishu’s worst fighting for years, the United Nations’s top aid official said on Monday after visiting the Somali capital. John Holmes cut short his trip after bombs planted by suspected insurgents killed at least three people during Saturday’s visit.

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/ 8 May 2007

Reporter covered Africa with passion

Anthony Mitchell, who reported for The Associated Press (AP) from across East Africa, was remembered for his dedication to telling Africa’s story, and for his humour. Mitchell was among the 114 people that an official said on May 7 were killed in a plane crash over the weekend in Cameroon.

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/ 3 May 2007

Kenyan town cracks whip on religious noisemakers

Alarmed by noise pollution, a Kenyan Rift Valley town has ordered all churches to install soundproof equipment or move out, officials said on Thursday. The Eldoret Municipal Council said residents had complained that the town’s dozens of churches were a public nuisance owing to constant noise — mainly preaching and songs — from sound-distorting woofers.

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/ 28 April 2007

Life slowly gets easier for gay people in Kenya

Luzau Basambombo spent six months in a Kinshasa prison, being abused over and over again. The Congolese human-rights activist suspects that he was put behind bars because he openly admitted being homosexual. Today, he lives in Nairobi and feels comfortable there. ”Things are changing here in Kenya — in favour of us,” he says.

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/ 27 April 2007

US and UK urged to send envoys to Uganda peace talks

Washington and London should appoint envoys to help ensure Uganda’s government and Lord’s Resistance Army rebels do not squander their best hope for peace in 20 years, an influential think-tank said on Friday. Talks resumed in south Sudan on Thursday, with United Nations envoy Joaquim Chissano warning that if squandered, the opportunity may never return.

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/ 24 April 2007

Somalia burns, but does anyone care?

The carnage and suffering in Somalia may be the worst in more than a decade — but you’d hardly know it from your nightly news. For a mix of reasons, from public fatigue at another African conflict to international diplomatic divisions and frustration, a war slaughtering civilians and creating a huge refugee crisis has failed to grab world attention or stir global players.

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/ 20 April 2007

Gorillas make steady comeback in East Africa

Highly endangered mountain gorillas in the East Africa region have shown a steady resurgence in the past decade due to conservation efforts, a wildlife group said on Friday. The WWF said there are currently 340 gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to nearly half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas.

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/ 20 April 2007

Homo urbanus arrives in Africa

This year marks the birth of a new ”species”: Homo urbanus. For the first time in history there will be as many city dwellers as rural inhabitants in the world. The executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Anna Tibaijuka, coined this term to describe the rise in city and, consequently, slum dwellers.