DOZENS DIE IN MOZAMBIQUE FIRES!
Bush fires in central Mozambique have killed at least 32 people and left thousands more without shelter, state media and relief officials have said. The fires also destroyed homes and 16,000 hectares of agricultural land.
In Sofala province, the governor told the newspaper Noticias that 21 people had died and more than 700 homes had been burnt down.
The governor, Alberto Vaquina, said the government is providing tents and other assistance to those affected.
Zambezia province was reported to have been affected, as was Manica, on the border with Zimbabwe, where the fires killed 11 people and injured 26 others.
The fires, which began on Monday, have been driven across the region by strong winds.
The director of Mozambique's relief agency, Joao Ribeiro, said the number of victims may be higher than officially recorded because many people were burnt so badly they could not be immediately identified.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
WORLD CUP FATES HANG IN BALANCE !
Burkina Faso and Cameroon can make sure of progress into the final round of qualifying for the World Cup in 2010 this weekend.
But South Africa, who host the World Cup, need victory just to retain any hope of making it to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, also in 2010.
They face Nigeria in Port Elizabeth on Saturday with the Super Eagles already certain of topping their group.
Failure to make it to Angola would be a severe embarrassment to Bafana Bafana and would damage their chances of a successful campaign on home soil.
Other teams far from certain of making it through include African Champions Egypt and 2006 World Cup contenders Angola.
A total of 21 qualifiers across 12 groups are being played this weekend, starting on Friday.
Burkina Faso will ensure top place in Group Nine if they beat Tunisia in Ouagadougou to keep their 100 percent record.
They began their campaign with a shock away win in Tunisia in June and have continued on a winning streak which has given them a three-point lead in the standings.
Cameroon will be without suspended striker Samuel Eto'o but should still be too strong for Cape Verde in Praia on Saturday.
An away win will ensure top place in Group One for the Indomitable Lions, whose failure to qualify for the 2006 finals came after they had competed in the four previous events.
The 12 group winners and best eight second-placed finishers advance to the last round of qualifiers.
A win for Ivory Coast in Mozambique would assure them of top spot in Group 7 if second-placed Botswana do not secure maximum points at bottom-of-the-table Madagascar.
Egypt, African champions a record six times but World Cup qualifiers only once, face a difficult Group 12 assignment against the DR Congo in Kinshasa.
The countries share top place with nine points and Malawi will remain in contention provided they triumph away to whipping boys Djibouti.
New Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac will put squad captain Stephen Appiah on the bench, but must do without injured striker Asamoah Gyan for a Group 5 showdown with fellow leaders Libya in Tripoli.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
ZAMBIAN VP TO LEAD RULING PARTY !
Zambia's ruling party has chosen the current Vice-President, Rupiah Banda, as its candidate to succeed President Levy Mwanawasa, who died last month.
Mr Banda, a former foreign minister, will stand as the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) candidate in an election due before December.
He is likely to face a strong challenge from opposition leader Michael Sata, who narrowly lost the election in 2006.
Mr Mwanawasa died in France, having suffered a stroke in June.
Under the constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the president's death. The process of choosing a successor to Mr Mwanawasa had created deep divisions in the MMD.
The BBC's Musonda Chibamba says Mr Banda only joined the MMD a few years ago. He was a member of the United National Independence Party, founded by Zambia's first leader Kenneth Kaunda. He is seen as an experienced politician, having served under Mr Kaunda.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
COURT ANNULS SOMALI ASSETS RULING !
Europe's highest court has overturned a ruling to freeze the funds of a Sweden-based foundation that used to be one of Somalia's biggest money transfer firms.
The European Court of Justice has given the EU three months to inform al-Barakaat International Foundation why its funds were frozen. The court also overturned the decision to freeze the assets of Saudi businessman Yassin Abdullah Kadi.
EU governments froze the assets in 2001 because of suspected links to al-Qaeda.
The court's decision breaks with a UN ruling ordering member states to freeze the assets of people or groups accused of links to terrorism. With the chaos and conflict in Somalia, many people survive through funds sent by their relatives abroad, using money transfer agencies.
Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991 and firms such as al-Barakaat are the closest institutions to banks which still exist.
"The rights of the defence, in particular the right to be heard and the right to effective judicial review of those rights were patently not respected," the court said in its ruling. But it was not immediately clear whether the assets would be released.
The court said it was still "conceivable" that the measures might be justified. Other groups or individuals have won rulings for similar reasons, but their assets have remained frozen.
EU governments argue that the court rulings do not oblige them to remove people from a blacklist - only to inform them that their assets have been frozen.
Swedish lawyer Thomas Olsson, who represented al-Barakaat, told the AP news agency he would examine ways of having assets released to the Somali immigrants in Sweden who used the network to send funds to relatives in Somalia.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said the EU would try to rectify its failure to respect the parties' rights of defence.
"We have roughly three months to repair this," she said.
The court's decision overturns an earlier ruling in 2005.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
DR CONGO PLANE CRASH BODIES FOUND !
Seventeen bodies have now been recovered from the site of a crashed plane in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN says.
The plane, carrying two crew members and 15 passengers, went down as it tried to land on an airstrip in the town of Bukavu on Monday. The passengers on board were aid workers - seven of whom worked for the United Nations. Others worked for private international humanitarian agencies.
The victims include Canadian, Indian, French and Congolese nationals - some of whom were working for aid groups, Medicins Sans Frontieres and Handicap International.
The plane's black box flight recorder has been recovered and will be examined to find out what caused the plane to crash. The wreckage of the Beechcraft plane was found by UN peacekeepers who are deployed in the region.
A UN spokesman said fragments of the plane were scattered over a forested mountain area, 15km (nine miles) north-west of the airstrip in Bukavu.
"We have recovered 17 bodies of the victims and we are going to transport them to Bukavu," Lt Col Jean-Paul Dietrich, military spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo, was quoted as saying.
The plane, which had started its journey in the capital, Kinshasa, had made several stops on its way to Bukavu. But it lost contact with ground control after leaving its last stop, Kisangani, on Monday evening. It was originally believed that the plane had crashed into the mountain, but Col Dietrich said it broke up across the mountain and the bodies were in good condition. "It's possible that their death was not instantaneous," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
While the wreckage was seen on Tuesday, heavy fog had prevented rescuers from getting to the site, Col Dietrich added. The plane was operated by Air Serv. It provides air transport for international aid agencies who arrange their own air travel for staff in DR Congo because of the country's poor air safety record.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at September 04, 2008 19:32 |
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africa
NIGERIA ARRANGES 'HIV MARRIAGES' !
HIV-positive couples are being paired up for marriage by a northern Nigerian state in an attempt to reduce the spread of the disease.
But international Aids experts have voiced concern at the plan. Warren Naamara from UNAids said the two people could have different strains of the virus, which could interact. He said the couples should use condoms. Around 70 couples have been matched up in the last few weeks, Bauchi state authorities told the BBC.
Authorities in the state say they are trying to stop HIV spreading and battle the "isolation and stigma" of the disease.
Some 3% of Nigeria's adult population - 2.4 million people - is estimated to be HIV-positive Bauchi State operates under Sharia, or Islamic laws, and the use of condoms is not encouraged.
Dr Lirwan Mohammed, the executive secretary of the Bauchi Action Committee on Aids, said the polygamous culture of northern Nigeria had increased the spread of the disease. Authorities say the move would stop the spread of HIV.
"Polygamy, as we have discovered, has become a potent source of spreading the HIV scourge in Nigeria," he said. The marriages were arranged under strict confidentiality, he said. "Suitors who have tested positive and are willing to wed each other, can reduce the spread of the virus and also cushion the psychological trauma of isolation."
Couples are introduced to each other during counselling sessions and are free to say yes or no to each potential partner, says the BBC's Shehu Saulawa.
One groom, speaking to the BBC's Hausa service on condition of anonymity, said he was confident the plan would combat the spread of Aids in Nigeria.
"If we should fear God, we should stop spreading the HIV virus through indiscriminate marriage, thereby infecting innocent people," he said. "Marrying someone with the same HIV status will reduce the spread of the scourge."
But the head of the United Nations agency in charge of battling the disease in the country said the scheme was dangerous.
"There may be a very big danger in terms of the spread of the disease," said Mr Naamara He also said it was "not advisable" for such couples to have children. "The chances are that child would become a double orphan, they would lose both parents." "Our advice is they should use condoms."
Last month Bauchi state reportedly locked up sex workers who had tested positive for HIV.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NEW DEATHS IN S. AFRICA BUSH FIRES !
At least 40 people have been killed in bush fires across South Africa since the weekend, officials say. The worst-affected region is KwaZulu-Natal, where 34 have died. One area had "very little left", after 179 houses burnt down, an official said. Another six people are reported to have died elsewhere in fires, which also left dozens homeless in Cape Town.
Neighbouring Mozambique was also affected where wildfires were reported to be still raging on Tuesday. State radio in Mozambique said that at least four people died and 20 were injured when a fire gutted a village, South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper reports. Among the dead was a woman and her three grandsons, who were burned in their house. The fires, common in the region during the dry season, have being fanned by strong winds.
KwaZulu-Natal health department spokesman Sebe Zwane praised the efforts of the Emergency Medical Rescue Service (EMRS) over the weekend. "They worked long hours to ensure lives were saved," he said. Mr Zwane said that 56 people had been admitted to hospital in two municipalities.
The province's Agriculture Union head Sandy La Marque said that in one area alone, the damage was estimated at $37.5m. On Monday, it was reported that about 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres) of land has been burnt across the country.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
MUGABE GIVES DEAL DEADLINE TO MDC !
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has said the opposition MDC has until Thursday to agree a power-sharing deal, or he will form his own government. "We feel frozen at the moment [without a government]," he told state media.
The MDC has rejected the ultimatum and says it will not be "bullied" into signing a deal.
Both Mr Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai say they won elections earlier this year. The MDC says it was subjected to state-sponsored violence. At talks mediated by South Africa, the two rivals agreed that Mr Tsvangirai would be named prime minister while Mr Mugabe remained president, but they cannot agree on how to share powers.
The MDC wants Mr Mugabe to become a ceremonial president, while the ruling Zanu-PF party insists he retain control of the security forces and the powers to appoint and dismiss ministers.
"If after tomorrow [Thursday], Tsvangirai does not want to sign, we will certainly put together a cabinet," the state-owned Herald newspaper quotes Mr Mugabe as saying on his return from Zambia on Wednesday.
"We are a government and we are government that is empowered by elections. We should form a cabinet. We would not allow a situation where we will not have a cabinet forever," he said.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa dismissed these "threats", reports the Reuters news agency. "Where on earth have you seen dialogue held on the basis of threats and ultimatum? They want to bully us into an agreement, but that's completely unacceptable," he said.
"Zanu-PF must understand this is not about clinging onto power, it is about genuine power-sharing," he told the BBC.
BBC Southern Africa correspondent Jonah Fisher says that if a cabinet is formed, it would almost certainly mean the end of the talks process. In July, the two rivals met for the first time in a decade and agreed to hold talks about forming a coalition government.
Mr Tsvangirai is due to go to West Africa on Friday to lobby the region's leaders to put more pressure on Mr Mugabe. The MDC leader gained more votes than Mr Mugabe in March elections but official results show he did not pass the 50% threshold for outright victory. The MDC leader pulled out of the June run-off, saying 200 of his supporters had been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes in a campaign of violence led by the army and Zanu-PF militias.
The ruling party has denied the claims and accused the MDC of both exaggerating the scale of the violence and being responsible for it. Numerous human rights reports have backed the opposition claims.
Last week, MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo was elected speaker of parliament, where the MDC has a majority following the March general elections. The MDC had said parliament should not be opened until a power-sharing deal was finalised.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'SNOWFALL' SHOCKS KENYAN VILLAGE !
Residents of a village in central Kenya were shocked to see a blanket of hail resembling snow covering their land. "I have not seen such a thing ever since I was born," said one resident of Nyahururu. "Where shall we graze our cattle now? We do not know when this thing will melt," said another.
The Meteorological Department dismissed claims that the area had experienced snowfall, saying it was just hail which did not melt because of cold weather.
There is snow in Kenya - but only on the summit of the nearby Mount Kenya.
The storm caused widespread damage to food crops, grazing fields and greenhouses at a nearby flower farm.
The hail covered 100 acres (40ha) of land and was at least four inches deep, privately-owned NTV station reported.
"You can see this is heavy, it's not powdery the way you'd expect snow to be," said Samuel Mwangi, the assistant director for weather forecasting at the Meteorological Department. "Nyahururu is cooler so when the hail falls, it will tend to linger for hours on the ground," he said.
James Kariuki, a local journalist, said at least 50 acres (20ha) of maize and 10 greenhouses at a flower farm were damaged by the storm.
Many of the villagers said they had never witnessed such an occurrence.
"This is not even rain, it is something that just fell suddenly. Even if you try digging into it, you will not find any water, it just looks like stone," one villager said.
Mr Mwangi said that parts of western Kenya frequently experience hail storms, but there the stones melt instantly due to high temperatures.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
S. AFRICA PLANS TO STOP BLACKOUTS !
A massive investment in new energy in South Africa is needed to prevent more power cuts, according to a senior government minister.
The Public Enterprises minister, Alec Erwin said that new power stations must be built, some of them nuclear.
An investment of at least 1 trillion rand (£72bn) was needed to secure a reliable electricity supply, he said.
An above-average demand for electricity and a lack of investment has led to an energy shortage in the country.
He acknowledged that the recent supply problems and blackouts had become familiar challenges in South Africa.
However, he said the energy crisis was a global problem, with many countries struggling to attract investment for renewable energy and a global shortage of power-generating infrastructure.
The building programme in South Africa will take over eighteen years to complete, with two new power stations due to open in 2012 and 2013.
The programme aims to add 40,000 MEW to South Africa's generating capacity, with half coming from nuclear power.
In the meantime Mr Erwin made a call for greater energy-saving initiatives to reduce demand, and said it was important for South Africans to make a real effort to reduce their electricity use.
"There is no quick fix," he said, "but we can alleviate the problem with energy efficiency."
BBC NEWS REPORT,
"Sayings"
"THERE NEVER HAS BEEN, AND CANNOT BE,
A GOOD LIFE WITHOUT SELF-C0NTROL " !
________
Posted by: Mara at September 01, 2008 12:29 |
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sayings
GADDAFI 'TO HAND OUT OIL MONEY' !
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said oil profits should be given directly to citizens, as part of sweeping economic and political reforms. Speaking during celebrations to mark 39 years in power in Libya's second city, Benghazi, Col Gaddafi extolled the virtues of privatisation. The Libyan leader said society would "reformulate itself in a new, free, and democratic way".
The changes will take place in the next four months, he said. "The money that we put in the education budget, I say let the Libyans take it," Col Gaddafi said in a televised speech to the General People's Congress, Libya's equivalent of a parliament. "Put it in your pockets and teach your kids as you wish, you take responsibility." "As long as money is administered by a government body, there would be theft and corruption".
The BBC's Rana Jawad in the capital, Tripoli, says a leader who once favoured socialism seems to be fully embracing capitalism. Reuters news agency says many Libyans feel they have not benefitted from the recent rise in the oil price and the return of foreign investment since the end of Libya's international isolation. Reuters says that the only government departments to be spared a purge are those of justice, defence, interior and foreign affairs.
Much of what Col Gaddafi said endorsed the recent calls made by his son, Sayf al-Islam Gaddafi, our correspondent says. Sayf al-Islam Gaddafi has been a leading proponent of reform, but announced his retirement from politics last month.
Over the weekend, Libya signed a $5bn deal with Italy to resolve colonial-era disputes. Italy agreed to fund huge infrastructure projects, including a motorway all the way along the Mediterranean coast.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
KENYANS DISMISS TORTURE PAY-OUT!
Kenyan activists have dismissed as paltry, compensation they were awarded for being tortured by government agents under former President Daniel Arap Moi.
A court last week awarded $20,000 to each of seven victims. They had demanded $180,000. Their lawyer, and a victim himself, Rumba Kinuthia, said they also want the torturers to face justice. At least 2,000 people were tortured at the infamous Nyayo House in Nairobi, which is now open to the public.
President Mwai Kibaki succeeded Mr Moi in 2003 and promised to compensate torture victims but some human rights activists have accused him of dragging his feet.
Mr Kinuthia said the court award was "not reasonable". "The spirit of the judgement was fine but the award was out of tune, as the people sustained injuries of permanent nature - either physical or psychological - and it only fair they got reasonable compensation," he told the BBC Network Africa Programme.
He said they are still expecting the ruling for 18 victims. They also plan to file 50 new cases. The compensation was awarded after the torture victims filed a case against the government in late 2003. Mr Kinuthia also urged the government to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to enable the torturers to confess.
Although the Nyayo House torture chambers were opened to the public by the new government, correspondents say serious doubts remain about the government's real intentions. Not only has no-one been arrested and prosecuted for these crimes, but some alleged torturers have actually been promoted - or even appointed to the government by Mr Kibaki.
The use of torture became increasingly commonplace after a coup attempt in 1982, after which Mr Moi began to become increasingly concerned about political opposition.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIAN MAN TO DIVORCE 82 WIVES!
A Nigerian religious leader with 86 wives has accepted an Islamic decree ordering him to divorce all but four of them, local authorities say.
A spokesman for the emir of Bida told the BBC that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, 84, agreed on Saturday to comply with the decree.
Last week one of Nigeria's top Islamic bodies, the Jamatu Nasril Islam, sentenced him to death.
The sentence was lifted but he was threatened with eviction from his home.
Earlier, Mr Abubakar had challenged Islamic scholars, saying there was no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.
"I have not contravened any established law that would warrant my being banished from the land... There is no law that says one must not marry more than four wives," the AFP news agency reported him as saying. Many of the wives live three to a room, some have seven children
"All my wives are with children and some of these are people I have married and stayed with for over 30 years. How can they expect me to leave them within two days?" he reportedly told local newspapers.
The former teacher and Islamic preacher lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children.
Niger is one of the Muslim majority states to have reintroduced Sharia punishments since 2000.
Several people have been sentenced to death for adultery by Sharia courts but none of these sentences have been carried out.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at September 01, 2008 12:11 |
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africa
Cathy Buckle's Letter from Zimbabwe !
Shiny brown seeds !
Saturday 30th August 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
It's a noisy afternoon as I sit writing this letter. The Msasa trees are throwing out their seeds in preparation for the new season. Every few seconds another pod loses control and cracks. There is a distinct click and then the pod splits, curls and falls onto the hard, dry ground, scattering shiny brown seeds into the dust. Summer is almost upon us and change is in the air. Smoke is also in the air as yet again uncontrolled fires burn in every direction and on every horizon but we look upwards as we wait for clouds and rain and pray for relief from the tragedy engulfing our country.
Amidst our desperate struggle to survive eleven million percent inflation and with so very many people going to bed hungry every night, there have been some dramatic developments in Zimbabwe this week that bring change another step closer. Just when we'd given up hope of the people's March 29th votes ever being respected, Parliament was suddenly re-convened and MP's sworn in. Then, for the first time in 28 years, Zanu PF lost control of the House of Assembly as an MDC MP was voted Speaker of The House.
The ceremonial opening of Parliament was a spectacle not to be missed and unbelievably the electricity stayed on during the entire procedure. Even more amazing was that ZBC TV filmed all the events that followed, live and uninterrupted. Zimbabwe saw Mr Mugabe arrive in the black open topped Rolls Royce alone, without his wife. We saw the long, long line of MP's going into Parliament. The MDC MP's were easily recognisable as they smiled and waved to the crowds - perhaps acknowledging that it was their votes and their sacrifices that had resulted in this day. The MDC MP's have not yet got that arrogant, I'm indestructible look that is so common to Zimbabwean politicians.
Many shocking things followed in the next hour, filmed live by ZBC TV for all to see. When Mr Mugabe walked into the House of Assembly only the Zanu PF MP's stood up. For half an hour Mr Mugabe's voice was drowned out by talking, jeering, singing and clapping MDC MP's. Never, in 28 years, has Zimbabwe seen their elected MP's do anything like this. Never, in 28 years, have Zimbabweans seen Mr Mugabe being openly challenged like this.
The final wind of change that blew into Zimbabwe this week came with the government lifting its ban on international and local charitable organisations. People who are hungry, sick and desperate have been given back the right to ask for and receive help from people other than a bankrupt government.
Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy
SOMALI REFUGEES FLEE TO CRISIS CAMPS !
By Peter Greste - BBC News, Eastern Kenya.
At least 200 Somalis arrive in Dadaab refugee camp each day. The dusty faces pressed against the chainlink fence that surrounds the Dagahaley refugee reception centre are telling. Mostly young or female, they show a mix of weariness and desperation that only barely hints at what they have been through.
The reception centre is in the midst of the Dadaab refugee camp. More accurately, Dadaab is a collection of three sprawling tented cities on Kenya's frontier with Somalia. Together, they are home to more than 210,000 refugees - almost all of them Somalis.
Relatively safe - Nobody is here because they like it. It is brutally hot in the summer, with dust that grinds its way into every corner.
There are only a handful of wells to provide water, food is carefully rationed by the World Food Programme, and most people live in flimsy huts made from bits of twig bound together with string and covered in plastic sheeting from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The land is flat, and the shrubs are almost exclusively thorn bushes with spines as long and hard as nails.
And yet still the Somalis come, at a rate of at least 200 a day. Those thronging the fence are hoping to jump the queue for registration as refugees - a status that gives them a fighting chance at a relatively safe and stable life denied to them at home in Somalia.
Take Dahawa Mohammed Noor. Back home in Mogadishu, she had a good life as a wife, a teacher and a mother of nine.
But the fighting between the Islamist insurgents on the one hand and Ethiopian forces backing the Transitional Federal Government on the other, has grown ever more bitter over the past few months.
Dahawa and her family managed, but only just. She and her husband struggled to keep their children fed as the cost of food more than trebled over the past six months. But Dahawa and her family were determined to stay - Mogadishu was their home, after all. Then the fighting drifted towards their corner of the city. In one bloody, terrifying night, Dahawa said soldiers raided their neighbourhood.
With tears streaming down her face, she was unable to explain exactly what happened, except that her husband and five of her children were all killed. With the surviving members of her family, Dahawa fled Mogadishu, and spent three weeks trekking and hitching rides through Somalia's western desert to the Kenyan border and the relative security of Dadaab.
Dahawa's story is tragic, but it is hardly unusual. Bloodshed, drought and starvation are all contributing to what amounts to a perfect storm for aid agencies. A UN analysis of food security in Somalia found 3.25 million people desperately in need of humanitarian support - a figure 77% higher than their estimates at the beginning of the year, and one which represents 43% of the entire population.
The escalating battles between the mosaic of factions and clans have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. They have also created a culture of banditry and piracy that makes it all but impossible for aid agencies to deliver food, medicines or shelter to large parts of the country.
The UN describes the current security situation as the worst since the conflict began 17 years ago. The violence has also contributed to an economic crisis made worse by the uncontrolled printing of cash to fund the war. Together with soaring prices for imported fuel and food, the surplus of Somali shillings has triggered hyperinflation that has forced the cost of food up 700% in the past year.
That, in turn, has created a new class of urban poor, unable to feed themselves. And on top of it all, a drought - now in its fourth year - has all but destroyed crops and livestock across much of the south.
For the UN Secretary General's Humanitarian Envoy, Abdul Aziz Arrukban, the situation is exasperating.
The number of refugees is expected to surge in the coming months He has just completed a tour of the region, including a brief visit to the town of Wajid in the south of Somalia.
On a tour through the Dadaab refugee centre, the Saudi-born diplomat waved his hands in frustration. "In the market (in Wajid), I picked up an egg, and I asked how much it was. Do you know that egg cost 20 US cents?" Mr Arrukban asks.
"That is more than five times what it cost six months ago. That's just too much," he continues. "How can these people pay for that? It's impossible." Mr Arrukban's job is to facilitate the humanitarian response to the crisis, but he was also quick to admit that it is just a band-aid. "I'm telling the Somalis 'enough, enough' - 18 years (they've been at war) and I think it's the right time now that they sit together," he says. "They must figure out some way to find peace because building more camps (like Dadaab) is not the solution," he adds.
That prospect appears a long way off. The UNHCR says while the daily numbers of refugees now arriving in Dadaab are at an all-time high, they expect them to surge still further over the coming weeks and months.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ZIMBABWE SWIMMER GETS CASH PRIZE !
Zimbabwe's top Olympic swimmer has been given a $100,000 dollar reward by the country's president, Robert Mugabe. Kirsty Coventry won all of Zimbabwe's four medals at the Beijing games, taking them to 38th in the medal table.
She was given the money, worth £54,890, in a suitcase by the governor of the central bank. In a ceremony carried live on state television, Mr Mugabe called the swimmer "a daughter of Zimbabwe" and a "golden girl".
She smashed the world record to win gold in the women's 200 metres backstroke.
BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher, based in neighbouring South Africa, says Ms Coventry is lucky her reward is in American dollars, because a suitcase of Zimbabwean currency would scarcely have bought her a loaf of bread.
Inflation is currently running at 11,000,000% and there are widespread shortages of food and fuel.
As he presented Ms Coventry the cash, Mr Mugabe said: "You have done well, daughter of Zimbabwe. "We wish you well in life. We should praise her. She is our golden girl. Take care of her."
It was rare praise for a white Zimbabwean, our correspondent notes: Mr Mugabe has spent much of the last 10 years repossessing white owned farms and railing against Britain and the West.
During the ceremony, Mr Mugabe also handed out $10,000 (£5,520) to Zimbabwe's other Olympic finalists, while others who were part of the national team were given $2,000 (£1,103).
The 24-year old swimmer, who also won three silver medals in Beijing, is expected to return to her home in the United States this weekend, after a flying visit to the country of her birth.
Mr Mugabe also gave Ms Coventry $50,000 (£27,450) and a diplomatic passport after the Athens games in 2004, where she won three medals comprising of a gold, silver and bronze.
BBC NEWS REPORT
ZIMBABWE REVERSES FOOD AID BAN !
Zimbabwe's government has lifted a ban on aid organisations, whose work was restricted ahead of the controversial presidential run-off in June. President Robert Mugabe accused the agencies of backing the opposition.
It is estimated that two million people need aid, with that number set to rise to five million by early next year. The lifting of the ban comes as negotiators met in South Africa to try to revive crisis power-sharing talks, which broke up two weeks ago. The negotiations were suspended over how to share power between Mr Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who both claim victory in the polls. The BBC's Karen Allen says both sides appear to have hardened their positions during the hiatus.
President Mugabe says he will form a government alone, while opposition MPs this week jeered him in public. Deputy South African Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said he hoped the negotiation would lead to the "finalisation of... outstanding matters".
The aid agencies always denied government accusations that they were helping the opposition. Critics said the ban was imposed to tighten the government's control of food aid - the ruling party was accused of not distributing aid to opposition areas. Since the ban was imposed, aid agencies were banned from going to rural areas, leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people without food.
Correspondents says another failed harvest has added to the problem for ordinary Zimbabweans who struggle to make ends meet in the midst of economic collapse and hyperinflation. UK charity Save the Children says a 120-strong team will be heading back to its operational areas next week. "It's impossible to know how bad the situation has got until we're on the ground, although our local partners have confirmed our fears of increased rates of malnutrition among children," the aid agency's country director, Rachel Pounds, said in a statement.
"We also know that thousands of children have had to drop out of school in order to try and find food for their families. "We fear some girls will have been forced into prostitution, and that others will have been pushed into early marriage with their families unable to look after them."
On Thursday, the Red Cross federation made an urgent appeal for almost $27m. It said this year the food security situation was likely to be the worst on record, because of soaring prices and the lack of foreign currency to pay for imports. Before the power-sharing talks broke up earlier this month, both sides agreed that Mr Tsvangirai would be named prime minister but they could not agree on how to divide powers between him and Mr Mugabe.
The opposition wants Mr Mugabe to become a ceremonial figure, while the ruling Zanu-PF party wants the president to retain most powers, such as appointing ministers and the security forces. Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that if Mr Mugabe names a cabinet unilaterally, that would scupper the talks.
The negotiations between senior officials from both parties are taking place at a secret location near the South African capital, Pretoria. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been charged with mediating a solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis. On Tuesday, MDC MPs heckled and jeered Mr Mugabe when he formally opened parliament against their wishes. The MDC has a majority in parliament and its chairman Lovemore Moyo was elected speaker of parliament on Monday.
Following the March elections, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF lost its majority in the House of Assembly for the first time since independence in 1980. Mr Tsvangirai won the first presidential round in March, before pulling out of a June run-off, citing a campaign of violence against his supporters. The MDC says some 200 people were killed and 200,000 forced from their homes.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ZIMBABWE VOTERS' VIEWS !
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says he may form a government without the opposition, as power-sharing talks are deadlocked.
On Tuesday, MPs from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), now in the majority in parliament, booed and heckled him, accusing him of using violence to rig this year's elections.
Here, Zimbabweans share their views on the country's latest political developments and their expectations for the future with the BBC News website.
DEBBY, 51, FINANCIAL MANAGER, HARARE
After the March elections feelings here were of great anticipation, but then there was the non-event of the second election in June, and since then it's just been downhill. The talks seemed to fail, nothing came of it. We were not happy with the fact that Robert Mugabe was given any executive powers. It's just been a time of "wait and see" and everybody is tired of it and depressed by it.
The fact that parliament is now clearly in the hands of the party that should be ruling this country means everybody's really excited about it. It's the first time that we've had something to shout about in quite a while because the talks process has been very draining.
I'm not overtly leaping up and down. I want to see things translated into something positive. But the fact that the speaker in the house of parliament - and he has a lot of power - is now someone sensible and someone who will adhere to the rule of law, yes, that gives me hope.
I would be in favour of them boycotting parliament until we've got a government. Until there's an infrastructure here, they can sit and make rules and laws in Zimbabwe over a pile of rubble. We desperately need resources from the West and the outside world and that's not going to happen as long as Mugabe is anywhere near the presidency.
To envisage something based on one speaker of parliament being elected from the right party, is a very small step but the most important thing to us is that it's a step. So I can't say that I envisage huge changes - that would be naïve, given the history of our country and recent events - certainly those in 2008.
RICHARD, 53, OPERATING SUPERINTENDENT, HWANGE
My feeling is that this was the democracy that everyone wanted. The way the Zimbabwean people voted meant that they didn't want any one dominant party anymore. They wanted the parties to be united. They wanted a unity government with representatives from all sectors. I'm happy because it's not only that the speaker was elected from the MDC but that the deputy speaker was elected from the smaller parties and that the senate has the president who is from the ruling party the Zanu-PF and that for me is quite ok.
The heckling reflected the feeling of the day. People were venting their feelings. It happens in any democracy but I also think it was because Tsvangirai was not present. When Tsvangirai is there, when he is the next prime minister, I think he will control his crowd.
I feel much more positive about the future. The state of the economy is going to determine what happens in the future. We - who are not in parliament - don't really care very much about what is happening there right now but it is important that the next government is going to comprise both Zanu-PF and the MDC.
It's going to be an inclusive government - that is what we are waiting for. We are waiting for Tsvangirai to sign up so that we can start a new phase in our lives.
When we look and talk about the future, we would rather that when voting came again we would have two or three parties so that it would be difficult for any one government to dominate. But if we are talking of the immediate future right now, our wish is that when Tsvangirai is going to sign and they are going to form government of national unity. The settlement must be negotiated in good faith and whatever agreement comes out is our agreement and the United States, Britain and the world should respect what we are going to say as what Zimbabwean people want.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ORRIGATION BOOST FOR MALAWI FARMS !
Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has announced plans for a massive irrigation project to increase the country's food production. He said a green belt would be established along Lake Malawi, which straddles a third of the country.
Although Malawi has huge supplies of fresh water, only 2% of the land is irrigated, experts say. Most farming is done on a small scale mainly by peasant farmers who grow maize, the country's staple food.
President Mutharika said he would appeal for international investment to increase food production not just for Malawi, but for the world. "Where there is a river, we will try to start irrigation. We should grow everything so that we have food all the time," he said as he prepared to leave for Norway to attend a conference on how to bring about a "Green Revolution" in Africa. "God gave us water. We have a lot of rivers and lakes. We are going into irrigation farming in a big way," he told state radio.
He said his country would no longer beg for food, and would boost its food production to start exporting to other countries. "We don't eat much rice but we are going to produce a lot of rice to feed the rest of the world."
In 2005, the government imported more than 300,000 tonnes of food as up to five million people faced starvation following drought. The government has also spent $50m on a programme which provides subsidised fertiliser to small-scale farmers.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
