Somali Pirates

This year the war-torn country Somali has had the most dangerous waters in the world. There has been 26 ships attacked, including three caring food aid. Not only have they been being attacked by there has also been a serious drought continuing on land. Due to this nearly 580,000 Somalis have left their homes hoping to find safer better conditions. However, many of these people are living in very desperate conditions. They are living on the sides of roads during the rainy season without shelter, or medical help.

France has reported to continue helping for the next two months. They have shipped 3,650 tons of food from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Merka which is 60 miles south of Mogadishu. The pirate acts has made it very difficult to reach Somalia's most vulnerable people. The attacks have also led to food being transported by road, which is a lot more expensive for those helping.

It is going to take more than just the French helping for only two more months to help the situation in Somali. These people are in desperate need during this war and drought and they are being surrounded with people making sure they aren't going to get any help.

Chad tightens control on charity

After a incident with six French aid workers Chad must now watch and screen outside help. These workers are awaiting trial after capturing and trying to take 103 children out of Chad and into Europe. They were planning on putting them all up for adoption. However, none of these children were orphans or Darfur victims. From now on the Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mi stated there shall be preliminary checks conducted on all aid agencies.

Non Governmental Organizations such as United Nations and the Red Cross will not be affected since they have had partnerships with them for many years. Humanitarian NGOs which include those that give emergency aid will be screened for nationality, capacity, loyalty, and honesty. As of now there are between 150-200 aid agencies working in Chad.

This is hard to believe that people going through so much pain and suffering already now have to be concerned with outsiders coming in trying to steal their children. There are already 240,000 refugees from Darfur in Chad trying to get away from the violence and now they have even more to worry about. It's a shame that they can't even trust charity groups now.

Angolan Sickness (BBC News)

The UN has reported that an unidentified disease in Angola has killed four people. Around 200 other victims have been reported to the local hospitals. Symptoms include a fever and extreme drowsiness. The first report came from Luanda's northern Cacuaco suburb in October. Specialist have been studying the disease in the suburb for two weeks.

The World Health Organization said that anyone anyone with these symptoms in the area is to report to the hospital. They have said not to panic, but more and more have become ill and they still can't identify the cause. They are currently still doing tests and believe that it may have come from a toxic substance. They are unsure if it is infectious but are working to find out more.

This can be a very serious issue if they can't even tell where it is coming from and if it can be spread by those already infected. They have no clue what it is or how it spreads. This outbreak started in October and now it being the middle of November and they still are unsure, means it could continue on a lot longer causing more deaths.

The life of Mohammed (BBC News)

Somalis is said to be a war-torn country. Many people deal with sickness and dying. Mohammed gave his story as being a nomadic farmer living near the Somalia-Ethiopian border but is currently displaced in Galcayo in Puntland because of being so sick. He was unaware that he had tuberculosis. Once while farming he started coughing heavily and the man he was working with said he too had the same symptoms and found out he had tuberculosis. He told Mohammed that he had traveled to Galcayo to receive treatment.

Mohammed herded goats and camels. In order to pay for his trip and treatment he had to do what most other farmers in need of money do, sell his animals. Do to a drought he had to wait for the weather to recover so his animals could get fat again in order to get more money for them. During this wait he got more and more sick. He only ended up selling one camel so he could keep the rest of his animals for his family to take care of while he was gone.

Mohammed stated if it wasn't for that man that say he would have never found out about his illness and probably would have died. He said that this occurs quite often and women often die due to child birth complications. Its hard to believe that so many people die from these things due to a lack in money and medical advances in their community.

Nigerian Robbers shot (BBC News)

In only 100 days the new chief of police in Nigeria Mike Okiro has changed many things which also has resulted in many deaths. There has been 785 suspected armed robbers killed by the police force in the past three months. This has caused a large negative response from the public asking why they must kill instead of just arresting them. Okiro responded by stating that another 1600 suspected armed robbers where also arrested and charged during this time.

He is trying to crackdown on the crime in north-eastern Nigeria. However during this raid there has also been 62 police officers who have been killed while dealing with the armed robbers. Okiro has also fired 28 police officers who were seen taking bribes from locals on off roads. He has asked for $26 million from the state to fund the police to help fight the on going crime.

Even though Okiro is being look down upon by many of the Nigerian citizens for large amount of deaths I feel he is on the right path. He is trying to rid the community from its corrupt ways and get it to a safer state. The loss of killers and people coming harmful crimes in the state should not be looked down upon. Although killing them off isn't the best choice I'm sure many of those instances dealt with defending themselves or other people from being harmed otherwise they wouldn't have only arrested 1600 they would have killed all of them too. He is doing his best to clean up the state so they should be happy with what he has done so far.

President Chissano's son died (bbc news)

The oldest son of former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, died while under investigation. Nympine Chissano was found in Maputo in his home dead. They are currently unsure of the cause of death, but it was stated that Chissano has been reported sick for quite some time.

Chissano was being investigated for the death of journalist Carlos Cardoso in 2000. He was killed while reporting corruption alligations. Anibal dos Santos was charged with the murder of Cardoso. He stated that Chissano ordered the assassination, immediate investigations were made.

Cardoso was investigating and reporting about the robbery of $14 million dollars from the Mozambique main state bank when he was killed by Santos. Santos has a 30- year sentence to jail but has escaped twice only to be recaptured.

I hope they continue the investigation even though Chissano has passed. The family of Cardoso has a right to know what was being arranged and by who.

Ethiopia attacks Ogaden Villages (BBC News)

The Ogaden National Liberation Front, founded in 1984, fights for the rights of local Somali-speaking population. In April, rebels attacked and oil unit killing 74 people, since then there has been continuous violence and fighting in Ogaden. Helicopters fire guns over top the village constantly. The red cross is not allowed in the villages so there is no outsiders that can tell whether the claims against the government are true or if the rebels are the ones attacking.

Recently 1500 refugees crossed into Kenya to get away from the fighting. Roughly 100 rebels were killed this month by the Ethiopian army. In October more then 500 families fled to Dadaab camps in Kenya. The refugees have stated many stories about being raped and abused. They also said men were hung from trees. They think that the Ethiopian army is only coming in to kill, rape, and abuse the villagers.

I have heard many stories of violent attacks on villages but never have I heard the the people fleeing are saying it was the government and its arming doing the harm. It is hard to believe that they are both pointing their fingers and one another and no on can tell who is telling the truth.

Voting Causes Chaos(BBC News)

Six people were killed in Nigeria during a local government election in the northern state of Kano. The commissioner Mohammed Aminu Yesafu and his officers arrested many people and found numerous weapons on them including machetes and guns. Voters started casting votes on November 17Th and this is also when the violence began due to results being reported.

A total of 254 people were arrested for committing crimes such as arson, assault, murder, and damage to government property. Although it is just a small local election many people were outraged since it still dealt with money and power over the people. Kano is governed by the opposition, and it was the supporters of this party that were causing the chaos and violence. The current president is hoping to change the electoral system before the April elections to lessen the outbreaks and violence.

It is hard to believe how many people got out of control and reacted in killing others and destroying buildings. I know that the change of a leader can cause a great deal of difference in a political system but I didn't know that it could anger people this much. This was a very interesting article to read how just a small local election can affect so many people. Its hard to believe so many chose anger and violence.

Buses in Lagos (from BBC News)

Lagos is the capitol of Nigeria and home to more than 10 million people. One of the cities biggest problems besides its filth and over population is its transportation. Many people in the city can't afford taxis let alone their own vehicles so they depend on the large number of school buses as they way to get around the city. There are two types of buses the large ones are called molues and are suppose to sit 44 and the smaller ones called danfos are to sit 12. There are said to be around 1000 buses in the city. These buses are referred to by many as death traps for many reasons.
Even though the buses bring cheap transportation they have also brought many problems for the city. The buses are always over crowded and never stopping long enough for people to get on. The bus drivers are always wanting to stay on the go partly because that's what the people want. On the other hand many bus drivers are said to be drinking on the job and crazy. The over crowding and crazy drivers has caused a lot of mayhem in the city. There has been theft on the buses and many car accidents because of the drivers not obeying the law. I found another story from news24.com talking about an armed robbery where 8 people were killed and three buses were ambushed. It was said that the buses are targeted often because many people bring home large amounts of cash from the down town markets.
I found these articles to be very interesting. I had no clue that transportation in the larger towns would be this problematic. I figured that there would be a lot of chaos but not to the extent that many people fear their lives and have to pray when traveling on the buses. I also found on wikipedia's travels guide that they advise people coming to the town not to use the buses at all and pay the extra amount for taxis since there is so much crime and accidents involved with the buses.