The Chinese foreign ministry has announced the appointment of a new special representative to Africa and confirmed plans to send 275 military engineers for UN peacekeeping operations. The move comes just as China is coming under international criticism for its… Read moreChina to send military engineers to Darfur?
Pirates off Somalia’s coast have hijacked a cargo ship headed for Mogadishu, the third attack since January. Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the UAE-registered freighter was seized and taken to Hobyo, a well-known pirate… Read moreSomali pirates strike again
Transitional government security forces in Somalia have begun seizing and burning women’s face veils in Mogadishu in an attempt to stop insurgents disguising themselves in order to carry out attacks. When the city was under the control of the Islamic… Read moreSomalia: transition government bans hijab
From Amnesty International, May 8: Arms transfers to Sudan fuel serious human rights violations Arms, ammunition and related equipment are still being transferred to Darfur in the west of Sudan for military operations. Extremely serious violations and abuses of human… Read moreAmnesty: China supplies arms for Darfur conflict
Celebrations were held May 5 at the Gereida displaced persons camp in Darfur, to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the “Darfur Peace Agreement” (DPA). Significantly, the camp is controlled by the Minni Menawi faction of the Sudan… Read moreDarfur one year after “peace accords”: worse than ever
Sudan and Chad are to co-operate with the African Union (AU) and UN in an effort to stabilize the troubled Darfur region. As part of the agreement signed in Saudi Arabia, a joint border force is to be created and… Read moreSudan-Chad co-operation over Darfur?
Receiving virtually no international coverage, this past weekend saw an outburst of ethnic violence in Madagascar, with homes and shops of the Indo-Pakistani immigrant community looted in the southwest coastal town of Toliara. A serious escalation is reported April 30… Read moreMadagascar: new terror war front?
It has received no international coverage, but a BBC Monitoring translation of an April 28 report from the Madagascar Tribune indicates as explosion of ethnic violence in the African island nation over the weekend. What began as a street protest… Read moreEthnic violence in Madagascar
We agree that there is something utterly perverse about the fact that the Darfur genocide is now entering its fifth year, as the world stands by and watches. And of course the vast majority of those participating in the Global… Read moreGlobal Day for Darfur —but not Palestine
Aunty Maiduguri, a Nigerian lesbian who married four other women last weekend in Kano State, has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, along with her partners. Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex… Read moreNigeria: polygamous lesbians flee Islamic police
Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi insists that government and Ethiopian forces have successfully “won” their fight against the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. Fierce combat has been raging in the city for nine days, in an effort… Read moreSomali PM claims victory in Mogadishu
Two prominent Somali clan leaders, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, have issued an ultimatum to the Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia now or prepare to fight to the death. The two leaders of the Hawiye clan that dominates… Read moreSomali sub-clans unite against Ethiopian occupation
