By Shout-Africa Gambia Correspondent – The Minister of the Interior, Ousman Sonko, has denied media reports of a hunger strike embarked upon by inmates at the maximum security wing of the State Central Prison Mile 2. His comments followed reports on Monday that inmates at the prison have started a hunger strike since Thursday 20th October in protest against what they considered “unbearable and inhuman treatment that they say are prevailing at the central prisons.” In an interview with this paper yesterday, Interior Minister Ousman Sonko said “there was no hunger strike at Mile 2 prison” as reported. “When I... Continue Reading
NAIROBI, 18 October 2011 (IRIN) – Civil society sources in Mogadishu estimate there are between 1,000 and 2,000 children in the ranks of Somalia’s Al-Shabab insurgency, some as young as nine. IRIN spoke to relatives and child protection advocates about the group’s recruitment methods. Halimo Hassan had been looking for her 14-year-old brother for three months. Her mother and other siblings live in a camp for displaced people (IDPs) in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. “They [the insurgents] send young ones to the IDP camps,” she said. “These children are carrying mobile phones, they have some money to buy tea and... Continue Reading
HARARE, 14 October 2011 (IRIN) – Stallholders at the Mupedzanhamo market on the outskirts of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, thought they were immune to the 2008 Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which requires large businesses such as banks and mining companies to relinquish at least 51 percent of their shares or interests to indigenous Zimbabweans. They were wrong. Bustling Mupedzanhamo, where shoppers can buy anything from hairpins to refrigerators, has for many years provided traders with a small income and an escape from the country’s economic woes, but recently groups of youths have descended on the market, brandishing letters they claim... Continue Reading
By Nangayi Guyson in Kampala Uganda – Kenya’s deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has denied claims that he incited violence after the 2007 election, in a preliminary hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to BBC, he told judges at The Hague that some of the prosecution’s evidence were wrong and asked the case to be dismissed before the ICC brings him to trial. The violence began as clashes between supporters of the two rival presidential candidates – Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki and ended up leaving more than 1,200 people dead and 600,000 fleeing their homes in weeks of unrest after the 2007 election. Mr Kenyatta,... Continue Reading
Measles. It starts with a fever, runny nose and a cough. Then a rash. For children who are not immunised this often spells disaster. Today, in Somalia measles is among the biggest threats to the survival of tens of thousands of vulnerable malnourished children when the disease sweeps quickly through overcrowded displacement camps where malnutrition levels are high and immunity low. Vicious circle In Somalia Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operates 13 medical-nutritional programmes. Around 5,500 malnourished children are receiving therapeutic feeding while nearly 500 children suffering medical complications on top of severe malnutrition, are being nursed back to... Continue Reading
