AFRICANEWS

WAR AND PEACE

Algeria Members of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group (GIA) killed the leader of a rival rebel group, Mr Said Makhloufi, in an attack in the Southwest of the country, Algerian newspaper, La Tribune, reported on November 6. Algerian troops, backed by helicopter gunships, killed 26 Muslim guerrillas at a rebel camp South of the Algerian capital, where 25 civilians had been slaughtered at a roadblock, a national daily, Al Khabar, reported on 30 November. Two armed groups killed six civilians in Ageria in separate attacks and two people died in a bomb attack. Algeria newspapers said on 11 December. Four people were killed at a professional training centre in Frenda town, some 250 km south-west of the capital Algiers, between 9th and 11th December morning, (source Le Matin newspaper said).

Cairo Somali faction leaders have reached an agreement here to setup an interim government for their strife-torn country, amid continuing sporadic fighting among supporters of rival warlords backs home, source at the peace parley said mid-last week. The sources said a formal pact could be signed in the Egytian capital. Hudled togethe at an undisclosed location location for reconciliation talks were representative of the 26-faction Somali National Salvation Council (NSC), wjich was formed in January, and key warlords Hussein Mohammad Aideed of the United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance USC/SNA and Ali Mahdi Mohammad of the Somali Salvatio Alliance (SSA).

CHAD Chadian rebels attacked and overran a small town in the south of the county killing at least seven civilians, some of whom were burned alive, chad's radio reported on November 30. According to the radio report, the rebels, belonging to the Armed Forces for a federal Republic (FARF) of Laokein Barde, overran the town, 40 Kilometers from Moundou, on 29 November shooting and hacking civilians with knives. Several people were burned to death while three vehicles were also set ablaze. The report quoted a priest who fled the massacre. "As many as 40 people may have been killed, while others were taken prisoners by the rebels," said the priest.(source APS).

Congo Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have lifted a ban on FM broadcasts by Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Radio France Internationale, officials said on December 4. A forum on unity and national reconciliation in Congo will be held from January 5 to 11, the government spokesman in the country's capital Brazzaville, Mr Francois Ibovi, announced on December 5, through Radio Liberte.

Kenya Attacks and rapes by gangs of bandits are endangering both residents and aid workers in refugee camps in northeastern Kenya, where recent flashflooding has made life even more harzadous, aid officials said on November 28. Three rows of thorn bushes and a double screen of barbed wire surround a large compound aid agencies built to house staff and support offices running three camps holding 122,000 people, most of them from neighboring Somalia.

Nigeria On November 27, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) published a list of 120 political detainees to benefit from military ruler General Sani Abacha's promise to release prisoners. In a speech on November 17 to mark four years of his rule in Nigeria, Abacha promised to review the cases of detainees and release those who do not pose any security risk.

Rwanda Nearly 400 people were killed when Hutu rebels attacked a prison in an apparent attempt to free Hutu inmates, a military spokesman Richard Sizibera said on November 20. He added that 93 prisoners escaped and the army was pursuing the inmates and survivors of the rebel force estimated at 1500. Rwandan authorities have freed 2129 prisoners since September, when they launched a policy to release very young, sick or elderly detainees the Ukuri (truth) newspaper reported on December 1.

Somalia Aid workers cruised in flooded Southern Somalia with boats, dropping food to pockets of marooned villagers and ferrying others to higher grounds, a UN official, Michele Quintaglie, said on November 23. Aid agencies say up to 1311 Somalis have drowned since the rains began in early October . Another 227,914 people have been forced from their homes by the surging Juba and Shebelle rivers, fighting poisonous snakes and hyenas from control of higher grounds.

Tanzania A freak lightning strike on a primary school in Central Tanzania killed eight children and their teacher and injured 15 others, the Guardian newspaper reported on November 20.

Uganda 18 people drowned when a heavily loaded canoe capsized on Uganda's Lake Kyoga on November 15, the government owned newspaper, Sunday Vision reported. Officials from Apac district about 300 Km north of Kampala said the victims were mainly traders and students. At least 14 people, including eight babies were killed when the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels attacked a village in Gulu district, the New Vision, a local newspaper reported on November 27. 20 people were killed on November 21 by a landslide following heavy rains in the Eastern Ugandan district of Mbale, Police sources said on November 24.

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