Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN |
| The Jatropha’s deceitfully luscious yellow fruit are poisonous; however, these glossy black seeds have an oil content of 37 percent |
NAIROBI, 13 August 2008 (IRIN) - The oil-rich seed of a poisonous shrub that thrives in arid climates with poor soil lies at the heart of plans by Kenya to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels without threatening food security.
“We are definitely focusing on the jatropha plant for oil production,” Faith Odongo of the Ministry of Energy told IRIN.
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Photo: Abdullahi Salahi Salat/IRIN |
| Children at Bilis-did camp on the outskirts of Beletweyne town |
NAIROBI, 12 August 2008 (IRIN) - Drought and recent fighting around the town of Beletweyne, in central Somalia's Hiiraan region, have aggravated the plight of at least 1,000 Ethiopian refugee families, who were already facing acute food shortages, local sources told IRIN.
Most of these refugees, living in camps for the displaced in Bilis-did and Bulo-korah (on the outskirts of Beletweyne), are Somalis from Ogaden in Ethiopia's Somali region. They fled in 1977 during the war between Ethiopia and Somalia. |
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Photo: Lilian Liang/PlusNews |
| Good medicine |
MAPUTO, 11 August 2008 (IRIN) - Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are free in Mozambique, and access to them is relatively easy, but for many HIV-positive Mozambicans the real challenge is a far more basic problem of finding enough food.
ARVs are powerful drugs that need to be taken with nourishment. Regular and nutritious meals are also needed to help the body's own defences fight the opportunistic infections associated with AIDS. |
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Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN |
| A boy plays with toy pistols in a slum: Post-election violence early this year forced many children into the streets in Eldoret, a town in Kenya's Rift Valley province |
ELDORET, 9 August 2008 (IRIN) - William, 11, sleeps in an alleyway between two shops in Eldoret town of Kenya's Rift Valley Province, in constant fear of being beaten by police and other security agents.
"The thing I fear the most is being beaten," he said. "Secondly is the fear of going without food and clothes.
"The bad thing is that we are always chased and beaten by government and municipal police," said William, who asked IRIN not to use his real name. "Also when we sleep our things can get stolen ... it's not a safe place for us." |
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Photo: Manon Riviere/IRIN |
| President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi |
DAKAR, 8 August 2008 (IRIN) - Straddling Arab and sub-Saharan Africa, the desert nation of Mauritania has had two changes of government in three months, ending in a military coup earlier this week. Ex-presidential guard leaders have formed a military council, which they say has assumed power.
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi remains in detention as of Friday, and a military blackout of state media continues.
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| Waiting for a deal |
HARARE, 7 August 2008 (IRIN) - Negotiations for a power sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe's government and Zimbabwe's main opposition parties have nearly been concluded, people involved in the talks told IRIN.
An agreement is expected to be signed in the next few days between both factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling ZANU-PF party, which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980. |
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