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/ 2 June 2008

UN to meet Somalia govt, opposition

The United Nations Security Council meets the key players in the Somalia conflict on Monday to try to persuade the disparate factions to cooperate and restore order to the desperately poor and lawless Horn of Africa country. Somalia has been without a central government since the toppling of a dictator in 1991.

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/ 30 May 2008

Tiny Eritrea makes big footprint in Africa

Most nations erect grandiose monuments to their historical triumphs. Eritrea put up a pair of sandals. The sculpted black metal shoes in Asmara’s Shida (Sandal) Square, recalling the footwear of Eritrea’s rebels, were a symbol of its remarkable 30-year independence war against its giant neighbour, Ethiopia, which ended with secession in 1991.

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/ 30 May 2008

Kenya Airways profit falls on election crisis

Kenya Airways said on Friday its 2007/08 annual profit after tax fell to 3,9-billion Kenya shillings from 4,1-billion due mainly to the impact of the East African nation’s post-election crisis. ”The events post-election had a negative impact on our revenue, especially between January to March,” said Titus Naikuni, the chief executive officer.

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/ 29 May 2008

Deadly crossing kills thousands of refugees

On a beach in Bosaso, north-east Somalia, near the tip of the Horn of Africa, dozens of Somali and Ethiopian refugees perch on rocks or squat in the sand, peering across the Gulf of Aden to the promised land. They are waiting for boats to carry them to Yemen and away from a life of miserable poverty, persecution and a war in Somalia.

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/ 27 May 2008

Somali pirates seize Dutch-owned ship

Somali gunmen hijacked a Dutch-owned ship as it travelled from Kenya’s Mombasa port to Romania in the latest act of piracy off the lawless Horn of Africa nation’s coast, a maritime official said on Tuesday. The MV Amiya Scan, managed by the Dutch Reider Shipping BV, was seized on Sunday while it passed through the Gulf of Aden.

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/ 23 May 2008

Kenya urged to halt forced return of refugees

Kenya must stop forcibly returning internal refugees displaced by post-election violence that saw hundreds of thousands flee their homes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday. More than 1 200 people were killed and 300 000 left their homes after ethnic clashes hit swathes of the country following a disputed election in December.

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/ 19 May 2008

MDC says snipers are lying in wait for Tsvangirai

Zimbabwe’s opposition accused the government’s military intelligence division on Monday of plotting to assassinate party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is due to contest an election run-off with President Robert Mugabe. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai postponed his return to Zimbabwe on Saturday after his party said it had discovered a plot to assassinate him.