Unconfirmed illness kills 18 people in central Ethiopia

July 28, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA)

Unconfirmed disease has killed 18 people and infected other 143 in central Ethiopia region of Amhara region, says a report attributed to World health Organisation (WHO) today.

The outbreak of mysterious illness occurred between 4 and 21 July 2009 in two villages in Kelela woreda, South Wollo zone, Amhara Region, reported said today a report issued by The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Suspected to be meningitis, the symptoms of the disease include headache, fever, neck stiffness, diarrhea and vomiting. Samples have been sent to the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute for testing.

"Investigations supported by WHO and NGO partners are in progress," said OCHA.

Save the Children UK provided emergency drug kits to neighboring Legambo district (woreda).

Ethiopia is also facing food shortages in some parts with over six million of its people needing food aid due to poor rains, according to the UN.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian federal ministry of health reported 579 new cases of acute watery diarrhea, with 11 deaths in 29 districts (woredas) across Addis Ababa, Somali, Oromiya, Harari and SNNP Regions between 6 and 12 July 2009.

Further, the OCHA reported an outbreak of typhoid fever that has killed one person and affected more than 100 in the northern Tigray region.

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French agents face sharia trial in Somalia

French agents face sharia trial in Somalia

Two French agents kidnapped in Somalia will be tried soon under Islamic Sharia law for aiding "the enemy of Allah," an official of the hardline Shebab rebel group holding them said Saturday.

A Somali minister said the pair had been taken out of the capital and there was concern for their safety.

Separately, three foreign aid workers were also reported kidnapped overnight in a Kenyan town close to the Somali border.

The French agents "were caught assisting the apostate government and their spies," a senior Shebab officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said they will "soon be tried and punished under the Sharia law, they will face the justice court for spying and entering Somalia to assist the enemy of Allah.

"The decision about their fate will depend on the outcome of the Islamic court that will hear the charges against them," he added.

The two agents, in Somalia to train government forces, were snatched at gunpoint from their hotel in central Mogadishu early Tuesday.

Shebab is one of two allied Islamic insurgent groups battling to overthrow the transitional government which is supported by the international community.

Somalia's Social Affairs Minister Mohammed Ali Ibrahim told French news channel France 24 Saturday from Mogadishu that the two men had been taken out of the capital.

"As long as they were here, there were contacts," he said. "Intermediaries were in contact with Shebab and we knew they were in good health, but since this morning they have been taken away."

"We must be concerned about them and take strong action", he added.

He said France was putting pressure on Eritrea, which allegedly arms Shebab and other extremists in Somalia -- something Asmara denies -- and the Somali government was also sending envoys to Shebab.

"They trade in human beings," Ibrahim said. "Either they kill them or they demand an enormous ransom."

On Friday, Ibrahim said the "main reason for the kidnapping is that certain Shebab have associates imprisoned in France, pirates."

French President Nicholas Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant said Friday that Paris did not believe the men were in imminent danger, but "tortuous bargaining... could take a while."

Fifteen Somali pirates are being held in France after being captured by the French navy in the Gulf of Aden. They are accused of taking part in the hijacking of two French yachts.

Earlier Saturday, a Somali government official said three foreign aid workers were kidnapped overnight in Mandera, a Kenyan town close to the Somali border.

"We are investigating the incident by tracing the kidnappers," Sheikh Adan Mohamed, a senior official in the neighbouring Somali town of Bulohawo, told AFP by telephone.

The nationalities of the three and the organisation for which they worked were not immediately known.

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Lack of rain causes famine in Ethiopia

Drought in the south of Ethiopia is causing severe famine.

Up to 10 million people in the country are in need of urgent assistance.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Konso, where people say that
without proper rains, their lives are in danger.

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Three Burundian peacekeepers based in Somalia have died from an unknown illness

Three Burundian peacekeepers based in Somalia have died from an unknown illness and 18 more are in a Kenyan hospital with the same symptoms, an African Union (AU) official said on Thursday.

There are some 4,300 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda in Somalia's capital defending key sites and helping government forces fight off regular attacks from hardline insurgents with links to al Qaeda.

"The African Union and the Burundian government have dispatched a team of medical experts to ascertain what has caused an illness in a Burundian contingent," said Gaffel Nkolokosa, spokesman for the AU envoy to Somalia.

"Twenty-one soldiers were evacuated earlier this week after exhibiting similar symptoms and three of those have since died," he said, declining to speculate on the cause of the illness or what the symptoms were.

Somalia's transitional government is hemmed into a few blocks of the capital Mogadishu by rebels bent on toppling President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and imposing their own harsh version of sharia law throughout the country.

Western nations fear that if the al Shabaab group, and the foreign fighters within its ranks, seize control of Somalia, they could destabilise neighbouring countries and train militants to launch attacks elsewhere.

While al Shabaab controls much of southern and central Somalia, the presence of AU troops has effectively led to a military stalemate in the capital with neither side able to deliver a knock out blow.

At least 15 people were killed and 53 wounded in heavy fighting in three districts of Mogadishu that started late on Wednesday and continued on Thursday morning, according to Ali Muse from the Life Line ambulance service.

Residents said the insurgents attacked positions held by government soldiers and AU peacekeepers.

An estimated 223,000 people have fled Mogadishu since May 7, when fighting erupted between government troops and al Shabaab.

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