Africanews

WAR AND PEACE

EGYPT Egyptian police have detained 500 suspected Muslim Militants in raids across the country, seizing weapons and explosives, the government newspaper al Masa said on 31st May. The militants belonged to the al Islamiya (Islamic group), the Jihad (Holy struggle) group, the Shawqiyoon and other illegal organisations.

ETHIOPIA On 31 June, African military chiefs discussed the setting up of a multi- national peacekeeping force and its possible deployment to prevent tragedies such as the the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The main objectives of their talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa was to outline options to establish "effective peacekeeping operations", African diplomats said. The three day conference of the O.A.U.'s Central Organ for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, was headed by Nigerian Major General Abdusalam Abdubakar.

KENYA On 2nd June, two men armed with motor vehicle accessories stormed into the Holy Family Basilica, Nairobi, during mass being conducted by Father Kenney and smashed statues and the main crucifix at the altar before being subdued and arrested. At the moment no one seemed to know who they were and on whose instructions they were acting. After a cleansing ceremony, following the act of desecration, the Head of the Catholic Church in Kenya, Maurice Cardinal Otunga on 10th June blamed the act on the prevalent violence and moral decadence.

LIBERIA On 9th June, Liberian rebels crossing into Cote D'Ivoire killed 14 people and wounded four others, Police in Guiglio , 400 Km Northwest of Abidjan, said. The incidents were in the border village of Basobli, near Toulepleu, in Guiglio district, and were carried out by the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of Charles Taylor, sources said. Liberia's Catholic Church says its schools will remain closed until there is lasting peace, and it will expel any catholics involved in any warring factions from the Church. Archbishop Michael Francis said this in his sunday sermon of 16 June.

RWANDA Twenty Rwandese Hutu refugees were wounded by a grenade tossed into a refugee camp in North east Burundi, the UN refugee agency said on 14 June. The attack took place in the morning near a food distribution point at Rukuramigabo camp in Kirundo Province, Mr Hitoshi Mise of the UNHCR told Reuters.

SOMALIA Three people were killed and six wounded in clashes between the Murusade and Abgal sub clans in Bermuda district of Southern Somali , witnesses said on 16 June. They said the shoot out begun the day before when looters were caught trying to enter a house occupied by two militia men on the Green line battle zone dividing the shattered Somalia capital.

TANZANIA African Presidents trying to pull Burundi back from the brink of all-out ethnic war met on 25 June in Arusha, the Tanzanian town laden with symbolism for Tutsis and Hutus. Participants were from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire.

MAURITANIA Interior Minister of Mauritania, Mali and Senegal met on 1 June to discuss ways of cooperating to maintain regional stability and of curbing drug and arms smuggling, officials said. The meeting which took place in Mauritania's capital Noukchott, focused on efforts to boost security in the sub-region and in each of the three countries.

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