AU deaths under spotlight

Photo: TS/IRIN

An AU peacekeeper on patrol in Mogadishu. Health officials are investigating the deaths of several soldiers (file photo)

(IRIN) – Ugandan public health experts are investigating a disease that has killed at least five African Union peacekeepers in Somalia and infected another 50, who have been evacuated to a Kenyan hospital, officials said.

“Our head of public health, Lt-Col Sam Kasule, is in Mogadishu [the Somali capital] to investigate and we are waiting for his report to find a proper response to the outbreak,” Col Felix Kulaigye, spokesman for the Ugandan army, told IRIN on 30 July.

Uganda and Burundi have contributed a total of 4,300 troops to the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with the majority (2,700) Ugandan.

The symptoms include chest pain, fever, headache, swelling of the lower limbs, rapid heart-beat and respiratory problems.

“The ailment first hit the Burundian contingent… [several] were flown to Nairobi for treatment,” Kulaigye said. “It eventually hit our camp and has since killed two, while 17 are in intensive care in Nairobi.”

He said preliminary reports pointed to an outbreak of Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. Its early stages include high fever, severe headache, muscle pain, chills, redness in the eyes, abdominal pain, jaundice, haemorrhages in skin and mucous membranes, vomiting, diarrhoea and a rash.

Humans become infected through contact with water, food or soil containing urine from infected animals, such as dogs or rats, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water, through skin contact, such as the eyes or nose, or contact with broken skin.

WHO says the disease is often difficult to diagnose clinically, requiring laboratory support.

The CDC says if untreated, a Leptospirosis patient can develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure and respiratory distress.

The disease is not known to spread from person to person. The time between exposure and developing symptoms is about four weeks and the illness lasts from a few days to three weeks.

Leptospirosis is an occupational hazard for people who work outdoors or with animals, such as farmers, veterinarians, fishermen, or the military.

AU peacekeepers to quit Somalia:Ethopia

(Reuters) – African Union peacekeepers in Somalia have asked Ethiopian troops planning to leave the country at the end of the year to help them quit Mogadishu too, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Thursday.

There are 3,200 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi guarding strategic sites in the capital, which has been the focus of a two-year Iraq-style insurgency by Islamist rebels battling the Horn of Africa nation’s Western-backed interim government.

The withdrawal of the foreign forces could leave the door open for an insurgent assault.

Ethiopian troops have been supporting the administration, but Meles has become increasingly frustrated by feuding among its leaders, the financial cost of the operation and the absence of any serious, international effort to pacify Somalia.

Addis Ababa says it will withdraw its forces at the end of December, and Meles said the AU soldiers wanted to leave too.

“The African Union, Uganda and Burundi have all asked us to stay behind and provide protection for the safe passage of their troops,” Meles told parliament.

“The AU troops in Somalia are our comrades in arms, we have responsibility to provide safe passage during their withdrawal.”

Ethiopia’s decision to pull out was final, he said, and he blamed the international community for failing to fund the AU mission, AMISOM, to its planned strength of 8,000 troops.

An Ethiopian withdrawal could create a power vacuum and leave Mogadishu vulnerable to a takeover by the Islamists, who now control most of the south and central regions and are camped on the outskirts of the city.

The ill-equipped AU troops would not be able to stop that, even if it were in their mandate. Ugandan and Burundian military spokesmen were not immediately available to comment.

SHARIF CONDEMNS FIGHTING

Some residents were cheered on Wednesday when moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu for the first time in two years. His opposition faction is in U.N.-led talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government.

But the rebels remain deeply divided, and witnesses said clashes between other Islamist gunmen and pro-government forces killed at least 10 people in the city early on Thursday.

“We attacked five government bases and even neared the presidential palace this morning,” Sheikh Abdirahman Isse Adow, spokesman for the Islamic Courts, told Reuters.

Experts say Sharif has little influence over Islamist hardliners including the al Shabaab group, which the United States accuses of having links to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.

At a news conference, Sharif condemned the bloodshed and urged the opposition to unite.

“All Islamists must stop fighting and resolve their differences at the negotiating table,” he said. “We are very disappointed with those who claim jihad and attack Ethiopian troops who have already agreed to pull out.”

A prominent Islamist hard-liner, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, said Sharif’s return proved he had joined the “enemies.”

“This will only fuel war and bring more harm,” Aweys told Reuters by telephone from Asmara. “You saw there was more fighting in Mogadishu this morning and we shall not cease it.”

A local rights group says the insurgency had killed 16,210 civilians since the start of last year, when allied Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists from the capital.

About 1 million people have been uprooted, and 3.2 million — more than a third of the population — need emergency aid. The chaos has also helped fuel an explosion of piracy offshore.

Thousands receive aid in DRC as ceasefire holds

Thousands of people received aid supplies in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday as a ceasefire agreement brought a measure of calm to an area torn by suffering.

For the first time in weeks, aid workers were able to move freely in North Kivu province, the epicentre of the rebellion led by Laurent Nkunda, a renegade Tutsi general.

So far, a ceasefire is holding and Gen Nkunda has withdrawn his forces from two key locations 90 miles north of Goma, the local capital. This has allowed the creation of buffer zones between the rebels and Congo’s national army, patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers, and opened up large areas for aid workers.

A British-based aid agency, Merlin, was able to deliver essential drugs to the town of Kanyabayonga, previously fought over by government and rebels. “It has been 10 days since we were last able to get here and the clinics were running out of drugs,” said Louise Orton, from Merlin.

“We set off and we thought we’d get as far as we could and at each stage we made checks on the security situation. But we have been able to get through. Things are not back to normal, but they are much better.”

Fighting outside the town had forced thousands to flee into the rainforest nearby. Yesterday, hundreds of people had returned and many were waiting for treatment at clinics supplied by Merlin. After days spent sleeping in the open, often under torrential rain, they were in desperate need of help.

While Gen Nkunda has eased the tension by withdrawing from some key locations, his forces are still less than eight miles outside Goma. By controlling both of its access roads, the rebels keep a stranglehold on the city.

Gen Nkunda wants direct talks with President Joseph Kabila’s government in the capital, Kinshasa. Unless this takes place – and Mr Kabila has ruled out dealing with the rebel leader – the ceasefire may not hold.

Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, is mediating between the two sides and his intervention was crucial in bringing the present lull.- The Telegraph

US praises speedy Darfur peacekeeper roll-out

A senior U.S. official on Monday praised Sudan for speeding up the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur but stopped short of saying it had done enough to win support over a war crimes probe.

The top U.S. diplomat for African, Jendayi Frazer, struck a rare positive note saying Khartoum had shown “energy” and more flexibility in getting international troops into Sudan’s violent west.But the United States still needed to see more action on the ground to resolve the five-year conflict, Frazer told reporters at the end of a two-day trip to Sudan.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in Darfur in 2003, accusing it of neglect. Khartoum moved to crush the rebellion by mobilising mostly-Arab militias that have since been accused of murder, rape and other rights abuses.

In July, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accusing him of orchestrating genocide and other war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan has since stepped up diplomatic efforts to persuade members of the U.N. Security Council to use its powers to postpone the global court’s action.

Frazer said the United States had seen “a certain energy” from Sudan since the ICC move.

“We have seen the government of Sudan providing more visas and showing more flexibility to support the deployment of peacekeepers.”

Asked whether the increased cooperation was enough for the United States to support a postponement of the ICC case, she said Washington still wanted to see better humanitarian access in Darfur and serious talks to end the fighting.

“What we have always emphasised is that we need to see progress on the ground specifically to resolve the crisis which is why we have put an emphasis on a credible peace process.”

There are currently just over 11,000 joint U.N./African Union peacekeepers on the ground in Darfur out of a promised force of 26,000.

Senior force officers have repeatedly complained that under-manning and a shortage of equipment have hampered their mission to keep the peace.

Sudan initially received much of the blame for the slow deployment, with UN officials accusing it of obstruction. But Sudan earlier this year relaxed a ban on non-African troops, allowing units from Thailand and Nepal. – Reuters

Forces build up outside Darfur camp

(Reuters) – Sudanese forces accused of killing more than 30 people in a raid on a Darfur camp have started to build up their position outside the settlement, raising fears of a new attack, peacekeepers said on Wednesday.
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