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Still victims in news fights in Mogadishu.
At least 2 people have dead and 5 wounded in clashes occurred in centre, near Bakara market, between al-Shabaab rebels and Africa Union peacekeepers (UA).
One hundred of mothers were in the streets to protest against continuing violences.
Men carrying AK47s and rocket-propelled grenades are marching in unison, following the instructions of a battle-hardened commander.
In their combat fatigues, they could easily be mistaken for government soldiers, except for a red badge on their left shoulder and the periodic cry of “Allah Akbar!”, the Arabic for “God is great!”
They are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a rebel group fighting for the rights of the Bangsamoro people - a Muslim community in a country that is more than 80% Catholic.
Moro rebels have been fighting against the government for nearly 40 years, in one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies. An estimated 120,000 people have been killed.
It is a conflict that has nearly been resolved several times, and a fragile ceasefire has been in place since 2003.
But despite repeated attempts from both sides, something always seems to prevent a lasting settlement.
In May, there was renewed hope that a solution might be reached. A popular new president, Benigno Aquino, had just been elected into office in Manila, and one of his main campaign pledges was to restart peace talks and bring an end to the violence.
But nearly six months on, nothing has happened, and the Bangsamoro people are angry.
Kenyan forces have killed at least five Ethiopian fighters from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in an operation to flush the rebels out of the country’s north, a local official and residents said Saturday.
OLF rebels have made repeated raids inside Kenya to attack individuals they accuse of opposing the Oromo’s quest for secession. Kenya has conducted several missions to force the militants who also often use Kenya as a hideout back across the border.
“So far we have received reports about the killing of five OLF rebels. I am informed those killed could number even more,” Moyale District Commissioner Joshua Nkatha said by telephone.
Three Kenyan paramilitary troops were injured in the clash.
The people of Southern Sudan regard January’s referendum as their first genuine opportunity to exert their right to self-determination, as enshrined in the 1945 UN Charter and underlined in the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between North and South.
Below are some key milestones on the road to this referendum:
Pre-1946: The British and Egyptian governments administer South and North Sudan as separate and distinct regions.
1946: The South and North are merged into one administrative region by the British government. The Southerners are not consulted about the decision and have concerns about being subsumed by the larger and more powerful North.
1954: Southern Sudanese politicians formally call for a greater role in their own governance, failing which they reserve the right to self-determination.
August 1955: Months before independence, there is a mutiny in the Southern town of Torit. By the early 1960s this develops into a full-scale rebellion and what became known as Sudan’s first civil war, Anyanya I.
1 January 1956: Sudan gains its independence from Egypt and Britain.
1962: Civil war intensifies in the mainly Christian region of the South.
27 February 1972: An agreement is signed in Addis Ababa to end the war and grant self-governance to the South.
Ivory Coast’s army has closed the borders of the country after the victory of Ouattara in the presidential elections. The choice that looks like a coup, is certainly pleasing to the outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo, but risks plunging the country into a civil war.
This was the announcement by which the Electoral Commission had indicated the former prime minister the winner of the presidential ballot. “Air space as well as land and sea borders of the country are closed to the movement of people and goods for an indefinite period”, said military spokesman Babri Gohourou.
The Supreme Court had annulled the Commission’s decision.
Moldova ’s Political Representative at the Transnistria negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Affairs Victor Osipov stated at the 2010 OSCE Astana Summit today that Moldova has been suffering for so many years due to the problematic, separatist territory that cannot be controlled by the Chisinau constitutional authorities.
In his words, the military peacekeeping mechanism used currently has long ago reached its goal, so it needs to be replaced with an up-to-date multilateral mission of civilian observers to work in Transnistria under an international mandate.
“Protracted conflicts remain to be unresolved, complex-like problems in the OSCE area. Tragic events in the Republic of Georgia, a bloody tragedy in Kirgizia have demonstrated once again how dangerous the problem is”, said the Moldovan Deputy Premier.
Victor Osipov reaffirmed the Moldovan government’s adherence to an internationally recognized position - that Russian troops and Russia’s military equipment must be evacuated from the Republic of Moldova territory in conformity with the decisions of the previous OSCE Summit, held in Istanbul in 1999, and with Russia’s own commitments.
The News:
http://www.azi.md/en/story/15128
Chad’s army says it has entered the northwest part of neighbouring Central African Republic and pushed out a group of rebels that had attempted to take a town there.
The army chief said late on Tuesday that soldiers crossed the border to the town of Birao which was occupied by rebels from the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace Movement.
The army says no children or women were killed in the short operation, but did not give details on combatant deaths.
The rebels had entered the town last week.