Sudan bars aid groups from huge Darfur camp: UN
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan has barred aid groups from the huge Kalma refugee camp in Darfur in the wake of clashes between groups for and against the peace process, the United Nations said on Friday. “No humanitarian (groups) have been allowed to Kalma and Bilal,” the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs…
South Sudan prepares ‘national anthem’
Juba – Sudan (AFP) – South Sudan is preparing a national anthem, a military spokesman said on Thursday, less than six months ahead of a crucial referendum that could lead to the partition of Africa’s largest country. “We have asked southern Sudanese musicians, writers and artists to help us write…
New Kenyan Constitution Ratified
Mariama Diallo | Washington06 August 2010 Photo: AP Kenyans wait in long line up to cast their votes during the referendum for Kenya constitution in the Kibera slum, Nairobi, 04 Aug 2010 Share This Related ArticlesPartial results from a referendum in Kenya show that voters overwhelmingly backed a new constitution…
Darfur JEM to demand self-rule if conflict goes on
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Darfur’s most active rebel group said on Wednesday it would demand self-determination for the devastated Sudanese region if conflict with the government continues, a spokesman told AFP. Justice and Equality Movement spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam said the group, which withdrew from peace talks with Khartoum in May after renewed…
SOMALIA: Sent back to a war zone
Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN Somali officials have urged Saudi Arabia to halt the deportations (file photo) MOGADISHU, 26 July 2010 (IRIN) – Somali citizens among thousands recently deported from Saudi Arabia have failed to trace their families in Mogadishu, the capital, due to the frequent displacement caused by ongoing fighting between government…
HRLHA URGENT ACTION No 4 July 2010
Appeal To: The President of Puntland His Excellency Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole), President of the Puntland State of Somalia, Garoowe. Tel: + 2525 844151, or + 2525454764 Fax: + 2525 4 54764 Your Excellency, First of all, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to…
African nations divided over Bashir genocide charge
By Barry Malone KAMPALA, July 25 (Reuters) – African countries are divided about whether they should arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on suspicion of genocide, diplomats at a summit told Reuters on Sunday. Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur last year….
SOMALIA: Somaliland clashes displace thousands
WIDHWIDH, 23 July 2010 (IRIN) – Several thousand people in northern Somalia have been displaced in recent weeks by clashes between Somaliland troops and a new rebel group, according to local and UN sources. The armed group is called Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC) after the regions it hopes to…
HRLHA Press Release No 6 July 2010
Powering Burning Fire with Fuel It is obvious that the Horn of Africa is one of the most unstable and volatile regions in the world. The statelessness of Somalia since 1991 is the main source of instability in the region. Somalia’s problems range from the war among War-lords to control…
SUDANESE SECURITY SERVICE CARRIES OUT BRUTAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST OPPONENTS
19 July 2010 “I was planning to kill myself that night… Every hour I was at risk. I knew it was a matter of time until they [the security service] reached me”* The Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is carrying out a brutal campaign of arbitrary detentions, torture,…
Yemen to deport 63 Ethiopian illegal immigrants
Yemen said Sunday it will deport about 63 Ethiopian illegal immigrants to their home country in a week. The Ethiopians, all of them women, are now in the custody of the Immigration and Nationality Passports Authority in Taiz Province near western Red Sea, according to a statement from the Interior…
UGANDA: Kampala urged to end “gunpoint” deportations
KAMPALA, 15 July 2010 (IRIN) – Uganda has begun “forcibly” deporting hundreds of Rwandans from two southwestern refugee camps, at gunpoint according to one witness, prompting the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to call for a suspension of the operation. Both countries have long tried to rid Uganda of Rwandan refugees…
KENYA-SOMALIA: Refugees moved after camp killing
Photo: Allan Gichigi/IRIN Tension is high at Dadaab refugee camp following the killing of Abdullahi Mahmud Osman on 13 July (file photo) NAIROBI, 14 July 2010 (IRIN) – Hundreds of refugees have been moved from a camp in northern Kenya after the killing of a teenager sparked riots in the facility…
SOMALIA: Conditions worsen for IDPs in and around Mogadishu
MOGADISHU, 14 July 2010 (IRIN) – Conditions for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in and around Mogadishu continue to worsen daily, with hunger, disease and lack of shelter taking their toll on an already vulnerable population, according to local sources. “We have so many problems, including continued fighting and…
UN Human Rights Committee to review Ethiopia
The United Nations Human Rights Committee opened its 99th Session in Geneva and will address the human rights situation of Ethiopia Despite supporting four Ethiopian partner organisations to submit their joint report and participate in Geneva at last year’s Universal Periodic Review of their own country, the Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF)…
Eritrea still far from sanctions’ lift
afrol News,;- While Eritrea is hailed for its new peace agreement with Djibouti, the Asmara regime still is not complying with the world’s demand not to destabilise its neighbours. Sanctions therefore will not be lifted, the UN concludes. “Despite the government of Eritrea’s long-standing positions on Somalia and Djibouti, it…
Bomb Blast In Uganda Killed 74
By MAX DELANY The Associated Press; KAMPALA, Uganda — East Africa saw the emergence of a new international terrorist group Monday, as Somalia’s most dangerous al-Qaida-linked militia claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in Uganda that killed 74 people during the World Cup. Lifeless bodies lie on the ground after a…
SUDAN: Clashes and demos in Abyei
Photo: Timothy Mckulka/UNMIS A past redeployment of SPLA soldiers from the Abyei area: On 5 July, Abyei town residents took to the streets to call for border demarcation and protest the non-formation of the Abyei Referendum Commission (file photo) JUBA, 7 July 2010 (IRIN) – Tension over the future of…
KENYA: Rape risk from slum toilets
AIROBI, 8 July 2010 (IRIN) – Judy Wanjiku, 26, lost a tooth during an attempted rape in Nairobi’s Mathare slum as she walked to a toilet near her home one evening. “It was around 8pm and I needed to use to the toilet. As I walked towards one, I saw…
Cuban visit will not take place, says UN expert on torture as he voices frustration
Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak 9 June 2010 – The United Nations independent expert on torture said today he was deeply disappointed that he will not be able to visit Cuba to carry out a fact-finding mission this year because the country’s authorities declined to consent to any of the dates…
International human rights instruments
International human rights instruments can be classified into two categories: declarations, adopted by bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, which are not legally binding although they may be politically so; and conventions, which are legally binding instruments concluded under international law. International treaties and even declarations can, over…
“Mogadishu faces a catastrophe”
NAIROBI, 6 July 2010 (IRIN) – Heavy fighting in the northern areas of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has trapped many residents in their homes, with some unable to bury their dead, civil society sources said on 6 July. The fighting has rendered the areas inaccessible to those who could provide…
Clinton: Activists Being Crushed By ‘Steel Vise’ Around the World
KRAKOW, Poland — Intolerant governments across the globe are “slowly crushing” activist and advocacy groups that play an essential role in the development of democracy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday. She cited a broad range of countries where “the walls are closing in” on civic organizations…
Africa Failing Democracies
When human rights Watch criticized the results of Ethiopia’s May elections, in which the ruling coalition “won” an improbable 545 out of 547 seats, leaders in Addis Ababa didn’t ignore the influential NGO. Instead, they paid tens of thousands of demonstrators to gather in the capital and denounce the report….
EAST AFRICA: Freedom of movement to help pastoralist lifestyles
NAIROBI, 30 June 2010 (IRIN) – Pastoralists across East Africa are set to benefit as the region’s national borders are relaxed amid joint efforts to mitigate the risks associated with their migration. “With the coming into effect [on 1 July] of the common market protocol, pastoralists like the Maasai,…
