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COTE D'IVOIRE: Farmers return to land in west after deadly clashes

DAKAR Friday, November 28, 2008 (IRIN) - Some 70 long-displaced farmers - mostly immigrants - returned this week to a cocoa plantation in western Côte d’Ivoire, despite deadly clashes triggered when armed youths tried to block their return. UN and local officials say the clashes - in the sub-prefecture of Zeaglo, some 450km northwest of the commercial capital Abidjan - underscore the importance of reconciliation efforts in the volatile west, a zone long wracked by land disputes and hit by...

PHILIPPINES: Mindanao conflict undermines education

SAMBULAWAN Thursday, October 30, 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of children on the southern island of Mindanao are not attending regular classes due to ongoing clashes between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The mineral-rich island has witnessed an upsurge in fighting between the two groups following the collapse of a peace accord in August. "Classes are not the same as before," said Amelia Abdul, one of 354 students at the Sambulawan Elementary School,...

BURUNDI: Displaced civilians back home in Kabezi

Thousandsof civilians who fled their homes near the Burundian capital ofBujumbura in May following clashes between the army and oppositionfighters have returned to their villages, a senior official announced. "Theywent back because the situation has returned to normal although thereare still some cases of theft," Zenon Ndaruvukanye, the governor ofBujumbura Rural province, said on 5 June. "They received aid includingblankets, soap and jerry cans from the Burundi Red Cross and theInternational...

SOUTH AFRICA: The army is called in

TheSouth African army has been called in to bolster police efforts to endthe xenophobic clashes that have gripped the country's richestprovince. According to a statement by President Thabo Mbeki'soffice on 21 May, "[He] has approved a request from the South AfricanPolice Service [SAPS] for the involvement of the South African NationalDefence Force [SANDF] in stopping ongoing attacks on foreign nationalsin Gauteng Province." At least 23 people have died sincexenophobic violence erupted 10...

COTE D'IVOIRE: Food price hikes spark riots

At least a dozen protestors were wounded during several hours of clashes with police on 31 March as they demanded government action to curb food prices. “We have so far registered eight people wounded at the hospital in Yopougon and four others in Cocody,” said Thomas Kacao of the Ivorian Consumers Association (ACCI), one of the civil society groups behind the march. The demonstrations took place in Cocody, where Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has a residence, and in Yopougon, a thriving...

KENYA: Tracing roots of conflict in Laikipia

Many parts of Kenya experienced violence for the first time after the disputed December 2007 presidential elections, but Rift Valley's Laikipia region has been embroiled in conflict for generations. So much so that many Laikipia residents differentiate between the "usual" violence and the poll-related kind. Francis Wambua, the Laikipia branch chairman of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, says the region often experiences clashes between...

SUDAN: Rising tension in Abyei as clashes displace hundreds

Recent clashes between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) army and fighters from the mainly Arab Miserriya community have displaced hundreds of civilians from their homes and raised tension across Abyei, the governor of the region lying between the north and South Sudan, said. "I have received reports of fresh attacks, four days after the 16 March attacks [in which] our men, the SPLA [Southern People’s Liberation Army], exchanged fire with the Miserriya 20km east of the Heglig oil...

KENYA: Tension high as hundreds flee clash-torn Laikipia

Hundreds of civilians have fled Kenya's Rift Valley district of Laikipia, where fighting between two communities has resulted in deaths and at least 300 houses being burnt. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said reinforcements and an investigating team of officers had been sent to the scene. According to him, the death toll was 14. Tension remained high after three deaths at the weekend, causing more people to flee their homes. According to local leaders and officials of the Kenya Red Cross...

SOMALIA: Clashes force nomads out of south-central region

Hundreds of nomadic families have fled the Middle Shabelle and Hiiraan regions of south-central Somalia after clashes between two communities claimed dozens of lives, sources said. The latest clashes, which began on 18 February between the Hawaadle and Abgal sub-clans of the main Hawiye clan, were concentrated around the small towns of Eil Qoryaale, and Eil Baraf, 260km north of the capital Mogadishu, and the surrounding villages. "The clashes have displaced hundreds of nomadic families on...

SUDAN: "Abyei a potential flashpoint for conflict" - UN envoy

Sudan’s Abyei region is a possible troublespot from which conflict could resume, three years after a comprehensive agreement was signed to end civil war between the north and south, the UN special envoy to Sudan has warned. The oil-rich region, which lies between north and south Sudan, has experienced an administrative and political vacuum after disagreements over its status. "The Abyei area had not changed materially [and] remained a potential flashpoint for the resumption of conflict,"...