A pretty astounding figure. But as we noted the last time it happened, in May: when resource hyper-exploitation co-exists with dire poverty, such incidents are absolutely inevitable. From IRIN, Dec. 28: LAGOS – The Nigerian Red Cross has taken the… Read moreNigeria: 2,000 dead in ten years of pipeline blasts
Fighting exploded between Islamic Courts Union (ICU) forces and the “official” Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia Dec. 20, just as the ICU’s deadline for Ethiopian troops to quit the country or face a declaration of “jihad” expired. Rocket, mortar… Read moreSomalia: “jihad” against Ethiopian forces opens
From The Independent, Dec. 15: France yesterday defended recent fighter jet raids on towns bordering Sudan’s Darfur region by claiming the aggressive action was aimed at preventing regional chaos. In the past two weeks, with minimal publicity, Mirage F1 jets… Read moreFrench air-strikes in Central African Republic; Darfur crisis spreads
A press release from the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Harvard, Dec. 13: Retaliatory Attacks Also Kill Highlanders in Gambella Region Cambridge, MA – Soldiers in the Ethiopian military have killed, raped, and otherwise abused hundreds of Anuak civilians… Read moreEthiopia: military atrocities against Anuak civilians
The US and Ethiopia appear to be grooming the northern autonomous regions of Somalia—Puntland and Somaliland—as proxies to fight the Islamic Courts Union that controls the traditional capital, Mogadishu. So: should we be supporting this as a defense of freedom… Read moreSomalia: Ethiopia grooming Puntland to fight Islamists?
From Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali, Dec. 8 (awkward translation as provided by BBC Monitoring): Somalia: Demonstration against deployment of foreign troops held in Mogadishu [Presenter] A demonstration condemning the UN Security Council’s decision to deploy foreign troops in Somalia… Read moreSomalia: 3,000 demonstrate against Ethiopia, US and UN
Thousands of Somalis chanted anti-US slogans at an Islamist protest against a Washington-backed plan to send foreign peacekeepers to prop up the country’s weak interim government Dec. 4. In a decrepit Mogadishu football stadium, Somalis shouted “Down with the USA!”… Read moreUS backing Ethiopia’s Somalia intervention?
Gus Selassie for Global Insight Daily Analysis via BBC Monitoring, Dec. 5: Ethiopia and Somali Islamists in Last-Ditch Talks to Avert All-Out War Despite the recent war of words and the deep-rooted animosity that appears to exist between the two… Read moreLast ditch talks to avert Ethiopian-Somali war
Via the Sudan Tribune, Nov. 28: Ogaden National Liberation Front Statement on Events Unfolding in Somalia There has been much written about the events unfolding in Somalia with frequent mention of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and speculations on… Read moreOgaden rebels blast Ethiopia’s Somalia intervention
Via BBC Monitoring: Ethiopian rebel group terms parliament’s decision on Somalia “reckless” Text of statement issued by Ethiopian armed opposition Oromo Liberation Front, OLF, on 30 December The Ethiopian parliament, on its session of 30 November 2006, ratified a declaration… Read moreOromo rebels blast Ethiopia’s Somalia intervention
It is vindicating that French complicity in the 1994 Rwanda genocide is finally coming to light. But it was actually Paris’ tit-for-tat of a judicial order for the arrest of Rwandan military officers following Rwandan charges of French support for… Read moreHistorical truth at issue in France-Rwanda breach
Since seizing power in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, in June, the Islamic Courts Union has banned khat leaf, the mild stimulant which has been traditionally chewed by Somalis for centuries. Imports of khat from Kenya, a main supplier, are being intercepted… Read moreNext for Somalia: khat wars?
