Kenya

Football stadium tragedies all too common in Africa

Football stadium tragedies all too common in AfricaNairobi - Sunday should have been a day of celebration for the tens of thousands of Ivorians who flocked to the Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan to see their hero, Chelsea's Didier Drogba, score twice in Ivory Coast's 5-0 route of Malawi in a World Cup qualifier.

Yet before the game had even begun, 22 football fans were dead and over 100 injured in a crush that came after a wall collapsed beneath a mass of bodies - a disaster all the more tragic for its commonality in the African game.

Kenyan police arrest former Yugoslavia war crimes suspect

Kenyan police arrest former Yugoslavia war crimes suspect Nairobi  - A man suspected of being a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes has been arrested in the Kenyan port town of Mombasa, police said Friday.

"We arrested a man, from Eastern Europe, who is alleged to be a man wanted by the war crimes tribunal," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told German Press Agency dpa.

Kiraithe refused to reveal the suspect's name, but said that his identity should be verified by around 1200 GMT.

Humanitarian crisis looming in huge Somali refugee camp

Humanitarian crisis looming in huge Somali refugee camp Nairobi - Some 250,000 Somalis living in one of the world's largest refugee camps are on the verge of a humanitarian emergency that can only be averted by urgent action, international charity Oxfam warned Friday.

The Dadaab refugee complex in north-eastern Kenya has become dangerously over-crowded as Somalis continue to flee a bloody insurgency that has claimed the lives of over 15,000 civilians since early 2007.

Oxfam warned that a public health crisis is brewing, with basic services stretched to breaking point by the mass of refugees.

Around 750 dead in cattle rustling clashes in Sudan

Around 750 dead in cattle rustling clashes in Sudan Nairobi - As many as 750 people have died this month in South Sudan during clashes over cattle rustling, worsening the security situation and preventing refugees from returning, according to the United Nations.

A statement available on the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR website on Thursday said that fighting between the Nuer and Murle ethnic groups in Jonglei state, sparked by cattle rustling raids, was still spreading.

Somali insurgents seize five Kenyans on border

Somali insurgents seize five Kenyans on border feNairobi - Kenyan police on Thursday said five Kenyans have been seized by Somali insurgents near the border between Somalia and Kenya.

The five, four education officers and their driver, were on a visit to the north-eastern Kenyan town of Mandera.

They crossed the border to Somali, supposedly to go shopping, and were taken by Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab on Wednesday.

Al-Shabaab, which continues to wage a bloody struggle against the Somali government, said it had arrested the Kenyans for crossing the border with no papers.

Aid worker with Canadian agency shot dead in Darfur

Aid worker with Canadian agency shot dead in Darfur Nairobi/Khartoum- A Sudanese aid worker employed by a Canadian agency has been shot dead in Sudan's restive Darfur province, the agency's country director said Tuesday.

Mark Simmons, Sudan director for The Fellowship of African Relief (FAR), said that gunmen first ambushed Adam Khatir, 39, on Saturday night in the town of Kongo Haraza to demand his satellite phone.

This attempt failed, but they came to Khatir's home on Monday evening to try again.

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