Mediawatch listing
Monthly press listing September 2012
Kenya
1. Politics pastureland and conflict
IRIN News August 29 2012
ISIOLO, 29 August 2012 (IRIN) - Thousands of people have fled their homes amid renewed clashes between rival communities in Kenya’s North Eastern Province, in which some 17 people were killed, according to officials.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96201/KENYA-Politics-pastureland-and-conflict
2. Repatriating Dadaab refugees unrealistic
IRIN 16 August 2012
JOHANNESBURG/DADAAB, 16 August 2012 (IRIN) - Repeated calls in recent months by Kenyan government officials to repatriate half a million Somali refugees currently living in the Dadaab refugee complex to so-called safe areas of southern Somalia have been described as unrealistic by aid agencies and by the refugees themselves.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96116/KENYA-SOMALIA-Repatriating-Dadaab-refugees-unrealistic
3. Domestic workers see hope of a better deal in new ILO treaty
Daily Nation 15 September 2012
The law providing for better pay and enhanced benefits for domestic workers has gained international status, giving urgency to the push to fully implement it locally. This follows last week’s move by the Philippines to ratify Convention 189 of the International Labour Organisation that sets out salary schemes and benefits that have so far remained a pipe dream for most domestic workers.
4. Political link to mass graves in Kenya's Tana River Delta?
BBC 18 September 2012
Two mass graves holding an unknown number of bodies have been discovered in Kenya's coastal Tana Delta region, according to police. More than 100 people have been killed in clashes in the area in the past month between the Pokomo people - mostly farmers growing cash crops by the Tana River - and the Orma, semi-nomadic cattle herders, in a dispute over land and water.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19644750
5. UN presses Kenya on Kismayu civilian protection
VOA 19 September 2012
As Kenyan troops close in on the al-Shabab militant stronghold of Kismayo, Somalia, United Nations officials are urging armed forces to try to minimize civilian casualties.
6. Kenyan forces in Somalia to try to minimize civilian casualties: UN official
Refworld 27 September 2012
Kenyan military troops serving with a UN-backed African Union force in Somalia will endeavour to reduce the potential of civilians being hurt during an ongoing operation, according to the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Horn of Africa country.
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/505c22902.html
7. Kenya: Ethnic violence and displacement in Tana River district; a sign of worse to come?
Refworld 27 September 2012
While the violence that erupted between the Pokomo and Orma tribes on 13 August in Tana River district, where at least 116 people have been killed and more than 12,000 displaced, is widely seen as a dispute over water and land, some analysts are concerned that it is also linked to the upcoming general elections in March next year.
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/505aee352.html
8. Kenya: Needs rise among Tana River violence survivors, displaced
Refworld 27 September 2012
The month-long violence in Kenya’s Tana River District has left a broad wake of destruction and need. Health facilities, inundated by people injured in the conflict, are struggling to cope with insufficient medical supplies, say officials, and tens of thousands remain displaced.
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/5058657f2.html
9. 42 Kenyans stranded in Saudi Arabia rescued
The Standard 25 September 2012
More than 40 Kenyan women who were stranded in Saudi Arabia for months where they had gone to seek employment as domestic workers have been rescued. The women returned to Kenya on Monday and Tuesday following intervention by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who visited Riyadh last month
Somalia
10. A new president for Somalia
The Independent 15 September 2012
The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud by Somalia’s Transitional Parliament earlier this week was an unexpected success for the hugely discredited political process in Somalia. It could prove to be a turning point in the country’s recovery
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/15/a-new-president-for-somalia/
11. Kismayu feels the heat ahead of AMISOM attack
IRIN News September 04 2012
Hundreds of civilians have over recent weeks fled the Somali port city of Kismayo, where tension is rising amid sporadic shelling by the Kenyan navy in the run-up to an African Union military operation to dislodge Al-Shabab militants from their last stronghold in the country.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96253/SOMALIA-Kismayo-feels-the-heat-ahead-of-AMISOM-assault
12. Increasing hostility towards Chinese traders
IRIN News September 07 2012
In the last decade, Asian migrants have fanned out through southern Africa, opening shops in small towns and rural backwaters. While consumers in countries facing increasing economic hardships have come to depend on their low prices, local shop owners complain they are being forced out of business, pressuring governments to introduce restrictions on foreign traders.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96266/SOUTHERN-AFRICA-Increasing-hostility-towards-Chinese-traders
13. Mammoth task ahead for new president
IRIN September 12 2012
MOGADISHU, 12 September 2012 (IRIN) - Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s election as president of Somalia has been heralded as the start of a new era for the troubled Horn of Africa state, which has been mired in conflict for over two decades. Residents of the capital, Mogadishu, say the new president has his work cut out for him.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96291/SOMALIA-Mammoth-task-ahead-for-new-president
14. Amid tension, thousands flee Somali port city of Kismayo
Refworld 21 September 2012
UNHCR is closely following the situation around the Somali port city of Kismayo as thousands of city's residents flee in anticipation of military activities and new clashes. So far this month, more than 10,000 people have fled from Kismayo fearing the resumption of fighting. Movements substantially increased on Monday and have been continuing since. Some 7,500 people fled the area in the past four days amid growing tension.
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/505c63032.html
15. EU navy task force rescues 68 off Somalia coast
EU Business 10 September 2012
BRUSSELS) - A Spanish warship on anti-piracy patrol off the Somali coast has rescued 68 people found drifting in a small boat in the Gulf of Aden, the EU navy task force said Monday.
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/somalia-piracy.i9z?
