Ethiopian troops opened fire and killed five civilian bystanders May 30 after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town of Belet Weyne. (AP, May 30) As the transition government backed by… Read moreSomalia: Ethiopian troops fire on civilians; AU calls for NATO airlift
President Bush has announced an expanded regime of sanctions against Sudan, implementing what he called “Plan B” in his April speech at the Holocaust Museum, as an alternative to UN troops. Thirty companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government… Read moreDarfur: Bush announces sanctions —against the resistance movement!
At least 16 were killed and 67 injured in two attacks in the eastern Ethiopia towns of Jijiga and Degah Abur May 28. Up to 11 were killed when a hand grenade was thrown as hundreds of people gathered at… Read moreEthiopia terror: ONLF guerillas or government provocation?
From Reporters Without Borders via AllAfrica, May 25: Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of Abdel Fettah Ould Ebeidna, managing editor of the daily newspaper “Al-Aqsa”, who was sent to prison in Nouakchott on 24 May 2007… Read moreMauritania: editor imprisoned
Exiled Somali leaders in Eritrea issued a call to boycott a Mogadishu peace conference scheduled for next month, warning of further violence if it goes ahead. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), and Sheikh Sharif… Read moreSomali Islamist leaders voice defiance from Eritrean exile
China’s newly-appointed envoy Liu Guijin called for greater humanitarian aid on a visit to Darfur—but said international sanctions against Sudan would only “further complicate the situation” and prolong the suffering of the 2.5 million refugees displaced by the conflict. Liu… Read moreChina rejects Sudan sanctions —again
After raiding Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park and killing a wildlife officer, the Mayi-Mayi militia are threatening to slaughter rare mountain gorillas, officials said. The attackers looted the three sites—research stations and tourism camps—seizing arms and communications equipment…. Read moreCongo: guerillas threaten gorillas
A rampage by the Mungiki gang, which climaxed May 20 with the beheadings of three men, has prompted scores of residents to flee Kianjogu village in Kenya’s Muranga North District. One of the Mungiki leaders, Stephen Kiunjuri, was gunned down… Read moreKenya: villagers flee Mungiki death cult
International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced May 22 that a war crimes investigation will be opened into hundreds of rapes and other violations in the Central African Republic. The investigation concerns the conflict between the former regime of President… Read moreICC to investigate Central African Republic
Pakistani UN peacekeeping troops have traded in gold and sold weapons to Congolese militia groups they were supposed to be disarming, according to a BBC report. These militia groups were guilty of some of the worst rights in during the… Read moreCongo: UN troops trade gold for guns
The two main guerilla organizations in eastern Ethiopia’s Ogaden region—the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)—say their forces have killed more than 150 government troops in joint operations this month. Ethiopian officials deny the claim…. Read moreEthiopia: Ogaden guerillas claim gains
Hundreds of Somalis who have fled violence in Mogadishu for the separatist enclave of Somaliland are unable to obtain aid from the UN as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs), because the UN does not recognize the breakaway republic as… Read moreSomaliland: refugees face Kafkaesque nightmare
