Independent reporting on human rights, environmental and conflict issues

Africa

Jose Cendon and Collin Freeman Released

Jose Cendon and Collin Freeman were freed today against ransom and are on their way to Nairobi. The photographer and writer team were reporting on piracy in Somalia when they […]

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ALERT: Somali Kidnappers Threaten to Kill Canadian and Australian Journalists

Amanda Lindhout While I was in Afghanistan last summer I met a young, budding photojournalist named Amanda Lindhout.  She was kidnapped this past August in Somalia along with her Australian […]

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And Now for Something Completely Different II

On my recent trip to London, I had the great fortune of spending some time with a few admired and celebrated poets from Africa who were on tour in the […]

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EUFOR in the Chadian Theatre

by Anne Holmes When the sun comes up in eastern Chad, the dawn of a new day brings with it a host of daunting challenges. Soon the temperatures will rise […]

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Notes on the Darfur Refugee Crisis

Camp Iridimi, Eastern Chad I spent a month wandering around eastern Chad, along the border with Sudan, where some 250,000 Darfuris fled a genocidal conflict to settle in massive refugee […]

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Burning the Master’s House

by Onyango Oketch Now let the blame game begin. Schools in Kenya are going up in flames, together with the ideologies they espouse. We might say nothing new in these. […]

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Firefight in Abeche

by Anne Holmes In Abeche now, the day was very calm. After checking with various people about the security situation, we took a drive up north to Biltine to have […]

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Chad Day 1

Arrival in N’djamena, Chad June 17, 2008. Things are calm in the capital after a series of rebel attacks in the east destabilized regular proceedings and raised the alert levels […]

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New Multimedia Slideshow

For those of you who have been keeping up with my regular posts, thanks for stopping in. I will be taking a break from my reporting on Kenya and shall […]

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Kenya Rocked by Mungiki Surprise Attacks

The cities of Nairobi, Nakuru, Naivasha, Nyieri and Eldoret were all affected by yesterday’s Mungiki demonstrations. A day after President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga named the cabinet […]

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Pulling the Railway Line

A young man hacks at bolts holding the railway line together in Kibera slums. © Anne Holmes Residents of Nairobi’s Kibera slum continued to pull up the railway line late […]

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Tensions Rise in Kenya

Stalled negotiations over the naming of cabinet ministers by Prime Minister Designate Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki under the power-sharing deal struck in late February of this year, has […]

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US Foreign Policy and the Kenya Peace Deal

by Anne Holmes Before Kofi Annan enters the history books with merits on a job well done in Kenya, before you buy into the propaganda of American goodwill in this […]

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ALERT: Demos Rock Downtown Nairobi

A large mob of several hundred people poured into the streets of downtown Nairobi today in support of jailed mungiki leader Maina Njenga. Clashes with police ensued. UPDATE: Several hundred […]

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ALERT: US Bombs Kenya Somali Border

REPORT: One AC-130 bomber flew over the Somali-Kenyan border yesterday Sunday March 2, 2008, in an airstrike upon the Somali town of Dhoble, killing 6 and injuring 20 according to […]

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Power Sharing Deal Struck

Supporters of ODM cheering outside Harambe house were dispersed with tear gas this afternoon as President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga signed a power sharing deal. The deal struck […]

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Negotiating Talks Break Down

Internally displaced persons at a camp just outside Nairobi’s slum of Mathare © Anne Holmes Chief mediator Kofi Annan announced today that he was suspending talks in order to deal […]

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Constitutional Crisis in Kenya

By Prof. Alberto Bencivenga (http://www.ogiek.org) Whoever reads Mr. S. N. Waruhiu’s book “From Autocracy to Democracy in Kenya” will be impressed by the amount of information and by the clarity […]

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Three Consecutive Nights of Raids in the Slums and More Reasons for Concern

Residents of Huruma gather around the body of a man shot dead by police in a late-night confrontation. © Anne Holmes The Nation published an article yesterday about the police […]

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Tensions Return

A mob in Mathare North attacks a man they accuse of being Mungiki. © Anne Holmes An overnight raid by police sparked a minor violent scene in Mathare North this […]

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What’s Next for Kenya?

Kisii Warriors in Chepilat on Tuesday. © Anne Holmes Standing by. That’s what I’m doing these days. The negotiations with Annan have helped to quiet things down a bit in […]

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They Are Young

By Onyango Oketch Move over grand pa They are young. They are angry. They are articulate and sophisticated. Nearly three quarters of them live in the sprawling slums of major […]

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Saved From a Lynching

My first day on the ground in Kenya, I went into Mathare with a group of photographers after hearing that there had been some problems. Two mobs were facing off […]

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Another Assasination?

ALERT: AN ODM MP HAS JUST BEEN SHOT DEAD BY A TRAFFIC POLICE OFFICER IN ELDORET. UPDATE: It appears the killing is a crime of passion. The MP in question […]

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