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End of fuel subsidy increases economic woes

Photo: Nicholas Reader/IRIN

Fuel on sale in Guinea

CONAKRY, 1 April 2008 (IRIN) - The day after Guinea’s powerful trade unions put on hold a general strike aimed at pushing the government to improve living conditions, Guineans woke up to find the government had ended subsidies on diesel, gasoline and oil.

The price of a litre of petrol rose by more than 60 percent, from US$0.99 to $1.62, overnight. The cost of fuel at pumps will now rise and fall in line with international petrol prices, within a 4 percent margin.

“This [price] increase is the logical consequence of the soaring price of oil on the international market,” Mamady Traoré, the Guinean trade minister declared in a televised address on 31 March.

Tracing roots of conflict in Laikipia

Photo: Allan Gichigi/IRIN

The displaced in Rumuruti, Laikipia West

NANYUKI, 31 March 2008 (IRIN) - 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 pastoralists and cultivators or between different groups of pastoralist communities.

Decision time

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Still strong, 28 years in power

HARARE, 28 March 2008 (IRIN) - Political tension hit a new high in Zimbabwe on the eve of crucial general elections at the weekend in which an embattled President Robert Mugabe will be seeking a sixth consecutive term in office.

The veteran leader, 84, helped set the tone in a campaign speech in the eastern border town of Nyanga on Thursday, when in response to opposition allegations of planned rigging, dared them to come on the streets to demonstrate.

“We have received information that the opposition has promised to make violent protests after losing the elections. I dare you to protest against the outcome of the elections and you will see what will happen to you. We want people to vote in peace, but no nonsense after my victory.”

Killer wheat fungus a threat to global food security?

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN

Pakistan's wheat crop is vital to the country's 160 million inhabitants. With the long distance travel of rust spores, Ug99 could soon affect farms in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia

DUBAI, 27 March 2008 (IRIN) - The Ug99 strain of the killer wheat fungus (stem rust), which recently infected wheat farms in western Iran, is a serious threat to global food security, agricultural scientists have warned. They have said the fungus may affect additional wheat-producing countries.

Mahmoud Solh, director-general of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), was quoted in a 20 March ICARDA press release as saying that he and his fellow scientists were convinced that Ug99 would quickly spread beyond Iran and that, with the long distance travel of rust spores, Ug99 would soon affect farms in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia.

Rights NGOs condemn xenophobic attacks

Photo: Anthony Kaminju/IRIN

South Africa as the regional superpower attracts migrants from across the continent

JOHANNESBURG, 26 March 2008 (IRIN) - Human rights organisations in South Africa have condemned a spate of xenophobic attacks that have reportedly left four people dead and hundreds homeless.

In the latest incident on 24 March, two foreign nationals were reportedly killed when a mob burnt torched their dwellings in a township outside the capital, Pretoria. "At least a 1,000 people have also been left homeless in the latest attack - we are really concerned," said Vincent Moaga, spokesman for the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which has launched an inquiry.

Rising tension in Abyei as clashes displace hundreds

Photo: Derk Segaar/IRIN

Local leaders in Abyei say civilians in the villages are being harassed

JUBA, 24 March 2008 (IRIN) - 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 field," Edward Lino, the SPLM-appointed governor, said in Juba on 23 March.