Nairobi- The United Nations Special Humanitarian Envoy on Thursday called for the international community, in particular Muslim nations, to step up aid to war-torn Somalia, which is facing a growing humanitarian emergency.

"Today, as we are about to enter the Holy month of Ramadan, I urge the international community, and in particular the global Muslim community, to exercise their moral and religious duty in support of the Somali people," Abdul Aziz Arukkban said.

Nairobi/Addis Ababa  - Ethiopia could withdraw its troops from war-torn Somalia even if the transitional government is not stable but will hold on at least until the African Union deploys additional peacekeepers, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said.

Ethiopian troops invaded neighbouring Somalia in 2006 to help kick out the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and put the transitional federal government back in power.

Ethiopia has long worried that instability in Somalia and the existence of Somali separatist groups in Ethiopia's Ogaden region only increases the anxiety.

Nairobi  - Somali gunmen have released the head of the UN refugee agency's office in Somali capital Mogadishu after two months in captivity, the agency said Wednesday evening.

Hassan Mohamed Ali, popularly known as Keynaan, was seized by gunmen on June 21, prompting protests by hundreds of people at internally displaced camps outside Mogadishu.

"UNHCR would like to thank all Somali organizations and members of civil society who organized demonstrations to call for his release," the agency said in a statement.

UNCHR said that Ali was in good health and was about to be reunited with his family.

Nairobi/Khartoum - The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur UNAMID has slammed the Sudanese government for killing dozens in a refugee camp in the restive province, accusing it of violating the Darfur Peace Agreement.

Sudanese security forces Monday opened fire in the Kalma internally displaced person camp near the capital of South Darfur, Nyala, when it launched what it said was an operation to retrieve a rebel weapon stockpile.

"While the alleged presence of weapons in the Kalma camp is a real security concern for the... authorities, the actions taken to address it are a clear violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement," UNAMID said Tuesday in an unusually critical statement.

Nairobi/Khartoum - At least 24 people died and over 50 were injured after Sudanese security forces opened fire inside a refugee camp in Sudan's restive Darfur province, a United Nations official said Tuesday, confirming earlier reports from Sudanese rebels.

The Sudan Liberation Army Monday said that at least 27 people died in the Kalma camp - near the capital of South Darfur, Nyala - when Sudanese troops opened fire indiscriminately.

However, South Darfur state's security committee, in a statement released through state news agency SUNA, said that nobody was killed in the incident. It said that police were fired upon as they tried to seize a rebel weapons' cache inside the camp.

Nairobi/Khartoum - The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Sudan's restive Darfur province said Monday it was checking up on claims that Sudanese troops had killed dozens in a refugee camp.

The BBC, quoting a rebel spokesman, said that Sudanese troops opened fire killing 27 people in the Kalma camp, where almost 100,000 people live after fleeing fighting.

"We have our people inside the camp and they are assessing the situation," UNAMID spokesman Noureddne Mezni told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Various sources put the death toll in the camp, which is near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, both higher and lower.