UNHCR in Somalia 'human tragedy' warning

The levels of malnutrition among children fleeing Somalia's drought could lead to a "human tragedy of unimaginable proportions", the UN refugee head Antonio Guterres has said.

Young children are dying on their way to or within a day of arrival at camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, the UNHCR says.
It estimates that a quarter of Somalis are either displaced within the country or living outside as refugees.
The drought is compounded by the violence in south and central Somalia.
The warning comes as the UK aid agencies Oxfam, Save the Children, and the Red Cross launch emergency appeals in response to the food crisis which is affecting more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa.
The agencies are collectively asking for nearly $150m (£93m).
The UNHCR says the need for food, shelter, health services and other life saving aid is urgent and massive.
New camp opened According the UN refugee agency, more than 50% of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are seriously malnourished.
In Kenya that figure is between 30% and 40%.

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The relentless violence that's compounded by a terrible drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee Somalia so far this year”

End Quote Melissa Fleming UNHCR spokesperson

• Counting the cost of anarchy

"What is the most tragic for us to witness, is that there are children who do arrive in such a weakened state that despite our emergency care and therapeutic feeding, they're dying within 24 hours," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a press briefing in Geneva.

"We estimate that one quarter of Somalia's 7.5 million people are now either internally displaced or are living outside the country as refugees," she said.
The UNHCR recently opened a third camp in south-eastern Ethiopia, which is quickly reaching its capacity of 20,000, and is now planning further camps.
A relief plane chartered by the agency is flying to Addis Ababa on Tuesday and a convoy of 20 trucks carrying tents and other aid is on its way as well.
In north-east Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, some 1,400 refugees are arriving every day.
Ms Fleming said there was no sign of the exodus of Somalis ending.
"The relentless violence that's compounded by a terrible drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee Somalia so far this year," she said.
"In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, and that is three times the number [of people who fled] in May. So this is a huge spike."
Somalia has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years - its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.

BBC News

Syrian gnl Hundreds of soldiers, police killed by armed gangs

Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- Syria's military spokesman says more than 400 members of security forces have been killed in the months-long unrest that has taken hold in the country, a charge that came as videos surfaced allegedly showing children killed in the violence.
In an interview with CNN in Damascus, Maj. Gen. Riad Haddad 1,300 security personnel also were wounded, and that 300 soldiers, 60 security officials and 50 police died in the violence.
He also has said 700 people, whom he described as terrorists, and their families had fled Syrian authorities to Turkey.
Haddad offered no details about the killings of the security forces other than to blame the deaths on armed gangs. CNN cannot independently verify the claim.
President Bashar al-Assad has faced growing criticism from leaders in the United States, Europe and elsewhere over his government's violent clampdown on demonstrators. Al-Assad has repeatedly blamed "armed gangs" in explaining its military crackdowns, which have led thousands of Syrians to cross into Turkey.
Months of protests have left more than 1,100 dead, according to human rights activists. But the extent of the carnage is not clear. About 10,000 people have been jailed since mid-March when the protests began, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the London-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian official: 'No crackdown'

Syrian student: 'We will carry on'

A tale of two Syrias

Syrian refugees desperate

CNN cannot independently verify the claims of the activist or the human rights group.
Haddad's claim came as two videos surfaced on YouTube purporting to show a 13-year-old boy killed Friday in al-Kiswah, a suburb of Damascus. In the video, a hand is seen turning the head of the boy to reveal what appears to be a surgical scar. The boy's mom is also seen in the video moaning and cursing al-Assad and his security forces.
A voice on the video identifies the boy as Ridah Alawiyah.
In another video, mourners are seen at a funeral for two children and a man who were said to have been killed in a Damascus suburb. Mourners can be heard chanting: "Patience oh Assad, patience, we will dig your grave."
While the videos appeared to be from Syria, CNN was not able to independently verify their authenticity. The network's reporters had been barred until recently from officially entering Syria, and its reporting about events inside the country had been limited largely to what the network was able to piece together based on official government reports, witnesses in the country and accounts and videos posted on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Syrian state TV reported that some of the thousands who fled to Turkey to escape a military offensive have begun to return to their homes.
About 730 people returned to the town of Jisr al-Shugur, SANA -- the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency -- reported. But more than 11,400 Syrians are still in Turkey, the Turkish government said Sunday.
SANA said some residents returned to find electricity, water and phone lines ransacked by armed groups.
But opposition activists countered SANA's report, saying about 500 people were detained in neighboring villages and sent to Jisr al-Shugur ahead of the media's arrival.
Jameel Saib, a Syrian activist who lives on the other side of the border in Turkey, said he saw an interview with an alleged shop owner of a store in Jisr al-Shugur but "everyone knows that is not actually the man that owns the store."
Mohammed Fedo, another activist who lives on the Turkish side of the border, said about 300 to 400 Syrians returned to Jisr al-Shugur because conditions in the refugee camps in Turkey were unbearable.
Fedo said residents who were returning to Jisr al-Shugur were reporting arrests and killings by security forces.
Both activists said they had received reports from residents who said Syrian security forces had entered two towns, Najay and Habosh. Fedo said residents were reporting that Syrian forces were firing indiscriminately.
Haddad, the military spokesman, told CNN the military did enter Habosh but there was no evidence of violence, arrests or casualties. He denied security forces entered Najay.

CNN cannot independently verify the claims of the activists or Haddad.

Group: 20 protesters killed in Syria

Syria's deputy foreign minister says the grassroots violence engulfing his country was ignited and fueled by "extremist" groups with religious affiliations.
Fayssal Mekdad, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN's Hala Gorani in Damascus, said the people are members of "extremist religious groups" and they are "financed" outside Syria.
But, he didn't elaborate on the identities of the groups, their makeup or their backers. The majority of people in Syria are Sunni Muslims but the government is dominated by Alawites, a minority group whose faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Government media have consistently blamed the killings on extremists and armed groups without providing much context on who they are.
More than 1,600 people -- the vast majority of them demonstrators -- have died since the unrest in Syria began, Rami Abdelrahman, head of the London-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights, said Saturday.
But Mekdad disputed the steady stream of accounts that the military and security forces have enforced a violent response to demonstrators.
"There is no crackdown," said Mekdad, speaking to CNN after another bloody day of demonstrations on Friday. "There is a crackdown from these military groups against the government and against civilians."

Deadly clashes in Syria

Syrian student: 'We will carry on'

A tale of two Syrias

Syrian refugees desperate

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• Syria
• Bashar Assad

Until Thursday, CNN has been barred from officially entering Syria and its reporting about events inside the country had been limited largely to what the network was able to piece together based on official government reports and accounts and videos posted on the Internet.
CNN journalists arrived Thursday in Syria, where they were assigned government minders to accompany them on video shoots.
The minders said they had not received permission to take the journalists to the areas where protests were occurring. Instead, they took the journalists to Damascus' historic old city, where their appearance on the streets prompted a crowd of a few dozen Syrians to erupt into pro-government chants. Posters and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad quickly materialized.
Violence raged in demonstrations after Friday Muslim prayers.
One Syrian activist group reported 20 anti-government protesters dead during Friday demonstrations and the government. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria -- an organization pushing for regime change in the country -- said five youths, including three 17-year-olds, were among those killed. The group said clashes occurred in several cities of Daraa, Homs, and Hama.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) put Friday's death toll during the protests at seven civilians and law-enforcement personnel.
CNN could not immediately verify the reported death tolls.
SANA also said Syrian TV on Friday aired "confessions of three members of the armed terrorist groups that murdered and mutilated security forces personnel, terrorized citizens and committed rape in Jisr al-Shugur."
One of those three said members of families distributed weapons to the people, and another said weapons were purchased in neighboring Turkey, according to the SANA report.
Many people in and around Jisr al-Shugur fled to Turkey in recent weeks to escape a military offensive. The governor's office in Turkey's southern Hatay province said Friday that the number of Syrian refugees in the country has reached 11,739.
Anger toward the Syrian government has spread across the world. The European Council condemned Syria on Friday, saying the "regime is calling its legitimacy into question" by opting for a "path of repression instead of fulfilling its own promises on broad reforms."
The council -- comprising the heads of state of European Union member states -- deplored the "ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its own citizens."
The European Council expressed grave concern about reports of Syrian military activity near the Turkish border at Khirbet al-Jouz and urged "maximum restraint."
The statements came after the Council of the European Union voted Thursday to expand sanctions against Syria by freezing the assets of seven people and four businesses with connections to the regime.
The detail was published in the European Union's Official Journal on Friday, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague hailed the measures.
"These measures are carefully targeted and focused on those responsible for violent repression," Hague said. "Contrary to the Syrian authorities' claims, the economic problems Syria is facing are a direct and predictable consequence of the Syrian authorities' decision to choose repression over reform."
Among those sanctioned were three commanders in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps accused of helping the "regime suppress protests" and "providing equipment and support" to the government, according to the European Union Official Journal. One of the three is Brig. Cmdr. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the corps' general commander.
Two of those sanctioned were first cousins of the president. They are Zoulhima Chaliche, head of presidential security, and Riyad Chaliche, director of the military housing establishment. Two others were business associates of Maher al-Assad, the president's brother and commander of the army's 4th Division and "strongman of the Republican Guard."
Anti-government protests have raged in Syria for more than three months, with demonstrations gaining momentum amid a tough government crackdown.

Abdelrahman said 1,337 protesters and 341 soldiers and security forces have been killed, and about 10,000 people have been jailed since mid-March.by cnn.

Senegal: Abdoulaye Wade drops poll plans after riots

Senegal's president has dropped proposed changes to the country's constitution after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of protesters outside Dakar's parliament.

Abdoulaye Wade had wanted to reduce the proportion of votes needed to win a presidential election, and avoid a run-off, from more than 50% to 25%.
He had also wanted to create an elected post of vice-president.
The proposals sparked the most violent protests of Mr Wade's 11-year rule.
Critics had said the run-off amendment was designed to ensure that Mr Wade, 85, was re-elected next year against a fractured opposition.
He dropped that element of the proposed bill earlier on Thursday, but withdrew plans to create the position of vice-president after clashes continued outside parliament, Justice Minister Cheikh Tidiane Sy told MPs.
The president had taken into consideration MPs' concerns, AFP quoted Mr Sy as saying, adding to applause that: "He asked me to withdraw the draft legislation".
'Father's shoulders' Earlier on Thursday, clouds of tear gas hovered over the square in front of the National Assembly, where lawmakers had gathered to vote on the proposed changes to the constitution.
The city centre was cut off as protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at riot police.
Local reports said some ruling party MPs had been blockaded in their houses to prevent them voting.
There were also violent protests elsewhere in the city and in other towns in Senegal.

Critics feared Abdoulaye Wade (l) will make his son (r) vice-president

Many people feared Mr Wade intended to give the post of vice-president to his son Karim, who is already a powerful minister in the current administration, said BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy.
Critics of the proposed measures said Mr Wade could have then stepped down and handed power to his son.
"We're not against Karim Wade," said protesting student Assane Ndiaye.
"Karim can be a candidate like any other, but he shouldn't be carried into office on his father's shoulders."
The government had said the proposed new post was aimed at reinforcing democracy by sharing power between the president and vice-president.
Riot police also clashed with protesters earlier this week.
The opposition had established a coalition called "Don't Touch My Constitution", while world-famous singer Youssou Ndour criticised the "abuse of authority".
Mr Wade first came to power in democratic polls more than a decade ago but he is now facing growing anger at daily electricity cuts and the rising cost of living.

Michelle Obama meets Nelson Mandela in South Africa

US First Lady Michelle Obama has met South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela, on the first day of her two nation-tour of southern Africa.

Mr Mandela's charity said Mrs Obama, her mother and two daughters made a short courtesy visit.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg says the 92-year-old hero of the struggle against apartheid is now frail and rarely receives visitors.
The trip is intended to champion the importance of youth leadership.
The tour is the first lady's second official solo visit abroad since her husband Barack Obama became president in 2009.
She is due to meet South Africa's current leader Jacob Zuma before going to Botswana.
Jail visit The first lady met Mr Mandela after visiting the archives at Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg where Graca Machel, Mr Mandela's wife, showed the group around.

Michelle Obama's daughters were given blankets after they landed to ward off the chill

She is also expected to visit the apartheid museum in Johannesburg and the township of Soweto, which lay at the heart of the fight against white minority rule.
The visit to South Africa will also include going to Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 18 years of his 27 years in jail.
Mrs Obama was welcomed to South Africa on Thursday evening after landing at a military airport in the capital, Pretoria, where her daughters Malia and Sasha were given large blankets with colours of the South African flag to ward off the chill.
Our correspondent says the first lady is seen as role model in her own right and will meet South Africa's young women leaders on Wednesday as she makes her keynote address.
"This trip by the first lady is very directly connected to the president's agenda in Africa and the Obama administration's foreign policy in Africa," Mr Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said last week, according to Reuters news agency.
"It's no coincidence that she would be visiting countries that have embraced democracy," he said.