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BURUNDI: Female ex-combatants picking up the pieces
Mon, 8/02/10 – 19:02 |
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Photo: Judith Basutama/IRIN
Odile Nibizi and Annabella Nshimirimana: Many women in Bujumbura Rurale were forced into war. Others who stayed in the villages ended up performing chores either for the army or the FNL

BUJUMBURA, 5 February 2010 (IRIN) – By age 15, Annonciata Nduwimana was an accomplished fighter for Burundi’s opposition Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and knew how to kill in battle.

“My father was killed, accused of sheltering rebels. We [her mother and two elder brothers] then fled to Bujumbura to seek safe haven,” she said.

Life in the capital, however, proved tough for a widow with three children. Unable to pay rent, the family returned to their village of Muyira in Bujumbura Rurale Province.

The area was an FNL stronghold. “The army was convinced that we pretended to be school pupils by day but turned into FNL fighters during the night,” Nduwimana told IRIN. “I knew by staying here, I would be killed. I chose to die on the battlefield.”

That was 2003. Two weeks after joining the FNL, she had completed basic training and was deployed on the battlefield.

“I was afraid, I couldn’t figure out I could kill people,” she said. “But there was Read full entry »

Four years for corrupt police officer
Mon, 8/02/10 – 16:14 |
Four years for corrupt police officer

BRITAIN’S most senior Asian police officer has been jailed for four years after he tried to frame an innocent businessman over a financial dispute.
Metropolitan Police commander, Ali Dizaei, threatened and falsely arrested website developer Waad …

China crackdown unearths more tainted milk
Mon, 8/02/10 – 16:07 |
China crackdown unearths more tainted milk

More than 170 tonnes of milk powder have been recalled in China amid a 10-day nationwide crackdown on melamine-tainted dairy products, authorities have said.
The recall is the latest of dairy products to resurface from …

Media boss shot dead in Nepal
Mon, 8/02/10 – 15:19 |
Media boss shot dead in Nepal

Nepali media entrepreneur, Jamim Shah, has been shot dead in the heart of the country’s capital, Kathmandu.
Two masked gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at the chairman of Channel Nepal Pvt Ltd in the busy …

DRC: Security beefed up for North Kivu IDPs
Mon, 8/02/10 – 14:03 |
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DRC: Security beefed up for North Kivu IDPs

Photo: Gratien Ira/IRIN
People displaced by fighting in North Kivu (file photo)
NAIROBI, 8 February 2010 (IRIN) – Internally displaced people (IDPs) are still being abducted by armed groups for forced labour in several territories …

Peace dividend unlikely for Sri Lanka
Mon, 8/02/10 – 12:18 |
Peace dividend unlikely for Sri Lanka

Newly re-elected Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse made all the right noises in his address marking the country’s independence day on Feb 4 but questions remain over his sincerity. And his intentions.
The Jan 26 presidential …

Opposition parties in Macedonia join forces
Mon, 8/02/10 – 12:17 |
Opposition parties in Macedonia join forces

United opposition parties — calling themselves “The Front” — want significant changes in Macedonia, beginning with a a new government.
By Zoran Nikolovski for Southeast European Times in Skopje — 08/02/10

The multiparty union wants to install …

Costa Rica elects Chinchilla first woman president
Mon, 8/02/10 – 9:05 |
Costa Rica elects Chinchilla first woman president

Chinchilla, 50 is a political scientist, protégé of president Arias
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Chinchilla, formerly Arias’ vice president, has vowed to continue his pro-business policies in the Central …

SOMALIA: Bomb survivors tend to IDPs
Mon, 8/02/10 – 8:16 |
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SOMALIA: Bomb survivors tend to IDPs

Photo: SOYDA/IRIN
A doctor attends to a displaced woman at an IDP camp near Mogadishu: Several graduates who survived the 3 December 2009 blast vowed to continue the work of their dead colleagues
NAIROBI, 8 February …

SOUTH AFRICA: Inequality not so black and white
Mon, 8/02/10 – 7:01 |
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SOUTH AFRICA: Inequality not so black and white

Photo: Bonile Bam/IRIN
Poverty levels remain
INEQUALITY NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE , 8 February 2010 (IRIN) – The growing gulf between the haves and have-nots in the black population has given South Africa the …

Anwar tries to get judge disqualified
Mon, 8/02/10 – 6:01 |
Anwar tries to get judge disqualified

Day 4 of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial was sidetracked after the defence applied for High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to recuse himself.
Anwar’s lead counsel Karpal Singh brought up …

US jobless rate down to 9.7% in January, five month low
Mon, 8/02/10 – 3:08 |
US jobless rate down to 9.7% in January, five month low

Unemployment queues are still long and many have given up looking for work
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One poll of analysts had forecast that the unemployment rate would edge …

WEST & CENTRAL AFRICA: Communities on the edge WEST & CENTRAL AFRICA: Communities on the edge

Photo: Helen Keller International
A woman and a malnourished child in the Guinea capital Conakry (file photo)
DAKAR, 5 February 2010 (IRIN) – Natural disasters, epidemics and political unrest deal a particularly heavy blow to communities …

Letter: Response to Charlyne Sealy on economic freedom
Mon, 8/02/10 – 2:12 |
Letter: Response to Charlyne Sealy on economic freedom

Dear Sir:
Ms Charlyne E Sealy, in a thoughtful letter to the Tribune on January 25, responds to the Heritage Foundation report showing decline of economic freedom in the Bahamas. Her remarks were directed to Rick …

China shuts down ‘biggest hacker training site’
Mon, 8/02/10 – 2:08 |
China shuts down ‘biggest hacker training site’

Chinese police have shut down what is believed to be the country’s biggest hacker training site.

Three people were also arrested, local media reported.
The three, who ran Black Hawk Safety Net in Central China’s Hubei province, …

Russia displaces the US as main supplier of arms to Latinamerica
Mon, 8/02/10 – 2:07 |
Russia displaces the US as main supplier of arms to Latinamerica

Aircraft, tanks, missiles figure among the items purchased by Venezuela
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However, two of the countries with the largest defence budgets, Colombia and Mexico, remain faithful …

Bhutan pushes for eco-literacy in schools
Mon, 8/02/10 – 1:04 |
Bhutan pushes for eco-literacy in schools

Bhutan is formulating policies for the construction industry to employ green technology and practices, said Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, while speaking to world leaders and other members at the Delhi sustainable development summit in India …