Saturday, January 25, 2003

Nigerian e-mail scams flourish despite global crackdown
WASHINGTON, 25 JAN 2003 --Nigerian e-mail scams continue to defraud investors of savings despite efforts by the United States and foreign governments to crack down on the schemes.
EDITOR'S PICK:
ARAB NEWS EDITORIALl: BY OTHER NAMES

JEDDAH, 26 JAN 2003--When William Shakespeare wrote “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet”, he could have been anticipating the modern trend of finding new verbal disguises for awkward truths. Slaughter by any other name, be it the Americans’ “taking out” or Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution”, is just as deadly, just as barbarous.

Jeddah school bans girl for wearing scarf
JEDDAH, 26 JAN 2003 — An international school in Jeddah, which has boys and girls of varying nationalities on its rolls, has banned an Egyptian Muslim girl for wearing a head scarf. The girl, Lujain, was banned from Jeddah Prep and Grammar School and was forced to look for another in order to continue her studies.
Somali Refugees Deny Reports of Recruiting by Muslim Extremists
NAIROBI, 26 JAN 2003 (VOANEWS)--Somali refugees living along Kenya's border with Somalia deny reports their camps have become a recruiting and training ground for Muslim extremists.

Friday, January 24, 2003

EDITOR'S PICK: When will we resist?
Edward Said: The US is preparing to attack the Arab world, while the Arabs whimper in submission
LONDON, 25 JAN 2003 *GUARDIAN)--One opens the New York Times on a daily basis to read the most recent article about the preparations for war that are taking place in the United States. Another battalion, one more set of aircraft carriers and cruisers, an ever-increasing number of aircraft, new contingents of officers are being moved to the Persian Gulf area. An enormous, deliberately intimidating force is being built up by America overseas, while inside the country, economic and social bad news multiply with a joint relentlessness.

ETHIOPIA: Violence on the increase in remote Gambella region
ADDIS ABABA, 24 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Dozens of people have been killed amid spiralling ethic clashes between rival groups in Ethiopia's western Gambella Region, on the border with Sudan.
ETHIOPIA: Government accused of "intellectual repression
NAIROBI, 24 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - The Ethiopian government is muzzling educators and students with a policy of harsh repression, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Friday.
KENYA: Bribery highest among police force
NAIROBI, 24 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - The Kenyan police retained their position in 2002, for the second year running, as the most corrupt officials in the country, Transparency International (TI) announced on Friday.

Musyoka: Somalia Crisis a Burden to Kenya
NAIROBI, 24 JAN 2003--Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) member states have made the Somalia peace process a financial burden to Kenya. Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said yesterday Igad was not honouring pledges towards funding the peace process.

Minister Khalif killed in plane crash
NAIROBI, 24 JAN 2003--One Cabinet minister was killed and two others were seriously injured when their light aircraft crashed on take-off. Labour minister Ahmed Khalif died at the scene.

Thursday, January 23, 2003

Climate Change Spells Disaster for African Agriculture - Unless We Adapt
JOHANNESBURG, 23 JAN 2003--Sub-Saharan African countries are vulnerable economically, socially and environmentally as things stand. Most of their populations are in agriculture. They rely on agricultural exports; they are at the mercy of the world trade market.

Given this vulnerability, on top comes climate change. There are five major models of climate prediction. Now if you look at any of the climate change models, we find that Africa suffers in the sense of extreme temperatures well as extreme precipitation.
To take one example, climate change in 2080 will result in the arid area in Africa increasing by some 10 percent; 180 million people live in this zone at the moment, and the livelihood of the future populations in this zone will be threatened.



Somaliland runs out of patience with Abdullahi Yusuf
HARGEISA, 23 JAN 2003--Somaliland warns Col. Abdillahi Yusuf that its patience is taxed to the limit and accuses him of working towards the failure of the Eldoret Conference.
Even God is looking at you (Somali people) to honour him by finding solution:Kenyan Foreign Minister
NAIROBI, 23 JAN 2003--The Somali peace talks continued yesterday after a month-long break with the Kenya Government committing itself to help to establish a legal and all-inclusive government for the war-torn country
Djibouti President Says his Country Will Not Serve as Base for Iraq War
WASHINGTON, 23 JAN 2003 (VOA)--Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh says his country will not serve as a base for a war against Iraq.

For Saudi royal family, rising fears of a postwar Iraq
RIYADH, 23 JAN 2003 (IHT)-- It is hard to say what the princes here fear more - a war in Iraq that leads to chaos or a war that brings democracy to the Arabian peninsula.

ETHIOPIA: Clergymen, demonstrators reportedly beaten up by police
ADDIS ABABA, 23 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Ethiopia’s federal police have beaten up clergymen and tortured religious demonstrators, the country’s human rights watchdog claimed on Thursday.
HORN OF AFRICA: Appointment of UN special adviser extended
NAIROBI, 23 Jan 2003 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, citing progress in peace talks on Somalia and Sudan, has extended the appointment of his special adviser for the Horn of Africa, Muhammad Sahnoun, until the end of the year.
SOMALIA: New mediator promises more transparency at peace talks
ELDORET, 23 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - New Kenyan mediator Bethwel Kiplagat on Thursday promised more transparency and consultation to give fresh impetus to the Somali peace talks.

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

ETHIOPIA: Shortage of supplementary food
ADDIS ABABA, 22 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Ethiopia is facing major shortages of high calorie blended food which often provides a lifeline for children weakened through hunger by recurrent droughts.
ETHIOPIA: State of the art airport terminal opens
ADDIS ABABA, 22 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - One of Africa’s largest airport passenger terminals opened in Addis Ababa this week ahead of a key summit by the continent's political leaders.

Sharia row threatens Sudan peace talks
LONDON, 22 JAN 2003 (BBC)--Sudan's Government has angrily dismissed rebel demands that Islamic or Sharia law should not be enforced in the capital, Khartoum..

Paris police suspended after Somali's death
PARIS, 22 JAN 2003 (BBC)--French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has suspended three police officers after the death of a Somali man they were told to deport last week.
Somali refugees shift to the US hits a snag
NAIROBI, 23 JAN 2003--Plans to resettle some Kenyan-based Somali refugees in the US will be delayed by the on-going security checks on immigrants, the International Organisation for Migration said yesterday.

Somali delegates reopen peace talks
NAIROBI, 23 JAN 2003--The Somali peace talks continued yesterday after a month-long break with the Kenya Government committing itself to help to establish a legal and all-inclusive government for the war-torn country.
Aydid opposed to presidential system
NAIROBI, 22 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Mogadishu-based faction leader Husayn Aydid has called on the Somali delegates meeting in the Kenyan town of Eldoret not to set up a presidential system of government.
SOMALIA: Kenyan foreign minister, new mediator arrive in Eldoret
NAIROBI, 22 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka and the newly-appointed special envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, have met Somali delegates gathered in the Kenyan town of Eldoret for peace talks.
A lesson from the Third World
James Tooley on the extraordinary success of private education in Africa and India
LONDON, 18 JAN 2003--In the Horn of Africa, the same story is repeated. Professor Suleyman, the vice-chancellor of Amoud University, the first private university in Somaliland, drives me up impossible roads to a hill overlooking Boroma, a city of 100,000 souls on the road to Ethiopia, and points out the location of each private school, some only half built. Boroma has no water supply (donkey carts deliver water in leaking jerricans), no paved roads, no street lights and plenty of burnt-out tanks, remnants of its recent civil war. But it has two private schools for every government school. The Spectator

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

7 arrested as police raid Wahabi mosque in London
LONDON, 21 JAN 2003--Police arrested seven terror suspects early Monday after raiding the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, Scotland Yard police headquarters said in a statement.
SOMALIA: Humanitarian agencies unable to access Baidoa
NAIROBI, 21 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Ever since the outbreak of fighting in the southwestern town of Baidoa last July, humanitarian agencies have been unable to access the town, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Tuesday.
'Somali Factions Want a Solution,' says Mediator
NAIROBI, 21 JAN 2003(VOANEWS)--The man who was recently appointed to mediate the peace talks on Somalia says he believes the political will exists to bring peace to the war-torn country, which has been without a central government since 1991.
SUDAN: Peace talks to resume on Wednesday
NAIROBI, 21 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Peace talks are to resume on Wednesday in a suburb of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, between the government of Sudan and the country's main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army.

Monday, January 20, 2003

Africa needs help to help itself
KAMPALA, UGANDA, 20 JAN 2003 (IHT)-- Postponement of the visit to Africa by President George W. Bush, originally scheduled for this month, is the latest in many disappointments for Africans gauging the commitment of the major powers to their troubled continent. With the recent terrorist bombing in Kenya and the stationing of American forces in Djibouti, some have expressed concern that Africa may be seen by the Bush administration solely through the prism of its war against terrorism.

Despite chaos at Somalia peace talks, there is hope for a deal ELDORET, KENYA, 20 JAN 2003 (IHT)-- The peace talks unfolding here aimed at ending Somalia's long civil war have turned as chaotic as the country itself. Warlords are trying to remove the mediator. Hotels are threatening to evict delegates over unpaid bills. The police were recently ordered to expel the many Somalis who arrived without invitations.

New Mediator in Somalia Carries Hope of Moving Peace Process ForwardNAIROBI, 20 JAN 2003--Somalia's neighbors are hoping that the appointment of a new mediator to the Somali peace talks will inject new momentum into the process. The appointment of former ambassador Bethwell Kiplagat as Kenya's special envoy to the Somali peace and reconciliation talks comes at a crucial stage of the talks.

FIFA bans Somalia boss for two years
ZURICH, Switzerland, 20 JAN (Reuters) -- Farah Weheliye Addo, president of the Somali Football Federation, has been banned from soccer two years following comments he made against FIFA president Sepp Blatter last year, the world governing body said on Monday.
Must the Refugees Starve?NAIROBI, 21 JAN 2003--Reports that at least 80,000 refugees face starvation in a Kenyan camp are extremely distressing, both on the humanitarian and national levels. Nobody in his right mind would want to flee his country to live amidst total strangers in a camp in a foreign country, where he has to depend entirely for his livelihood on the charity of humanitarian agencies.



Kenya's 10,000 Somalia refugees set for US
NAIROBI, 20 JAN 2003--About 10,000 Somalia refugees in Kenya are to be resettled in the US.
They will be airlifted from the Kakuma an d Dadaab camps in Turkana and Garissa districts from next month, the NGO facilitating the relocation programme said.
Somaliland announces dates for mayoral elections
HARGEISA, 20 JAN 2003--Somaliland's Interior Minister Ismail Adam Osman today announced dates for mayoral elections in the country's various districts.
SOMALIA: UN calls for respect of child rights
NAIROBI, 20 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - UN agencies working in Somalia have called on Somali leaders and all parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to ensure that children are protected from violence.
DJIBOUTI: President on official visit to the USNAIROBI, 20 JAN 2003 (IRIN) - Djibouti President Isma'il Omar Guelleh on Saturday left for a five-day official visit to the US at the invitation of the US government, a Djibouti official told IRIN on Monday.

OPINION: Somaliland's private sector thrives despite absence of proper economic system
BORAMA, 20 JAN 2003--Since the upheaval of Somali society and the collapse of government system
in Somalia early in 1991, Somaliland has undergone huge business and economic reforms. Despite the fact that there is no proper economic system and financial institutions currently in place, the economy is not idle.

Sunday, January 19, 2003

14-year-old girl's 60km escape from elderly suitor
NAIROBI, 20 JAN 2003--A brave 14-year-old pupil walked 60 kilometres to seek government protection from her father's' intentions to marry her off to a 60-year-old man.
Africa starves as rains fail and rulers reap profits ERITREA, MALAWI, 19 JAN 2003--Despite the half-light inside the dilapidated hospital at Sanafe, signs of famine are written clearly on Susana's body. Her skin is sallow and hangs loosely off her tiny body. She looks newborn, but is in fact a year old.

Outside, the Eritrean sun beats down. At least the hospital provides shelter from the heat. 'I brought her here because I have nothing to eat for her,' said her mother, Zaid Burher. 'I want her to live.'


Somali peace process: Mwangale is replaced
NAIROBI, 19 JAN 2003 (East African Standard)--The government has appointed former ambassador Bethwell Kiplagat to replace Mr Elijah Mwangale as the special envoy to the Somalia peace and reconciliation process. Sources close to the peace talks said yesterday that the changes are meant to inject new momentum in the reconciliation process.The talks, currently under progress in Eldoret, have been engulfed by confusion over the modalities of participation and funding. Mwangale’s fate was sealed at a meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) member countries held in Nairobi on Thursday. Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister Kalonzo Musyoka chaired the meeting. It was attended by a delegation from Ethiopia and the Igad Executive Secretary, Dr Ahmad Artalla.
Dire Dawa: Random Thoughts On a CentenaryADDIS ABABA, 17 JAN 2003 (ADDIS TRIBUNE)--On December 23, 1902, the first train of the Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer Ethiopiens or as the French railway was known then reached the hastily built station in the valley of Dire Dawa. This was five years after the rail tracks started to be laid inland from Djibouti, the newly founded port capital of Côte Française des Somalis or the French Somaliland.