Italian police seize fishing boat with 171 illegal immigrants
Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:39pm GMT
ROME Nov 5 (Reuters) - Financial police in Italy said on Monday they had
seized a fishing boat the previous night with 171 illegal immigrants
onboard, including 34 children, that had been trying to enter the European
Union undetected.
Police stopped the 25-metre boat off the coast of Calabria, the toe of the
Italian boot, and escorted it to the port of Reggio Calabria, the police
said in a statement. The immigrants appeared to be in good health.
Financial police said they were trying to identify the Greek-flagged boat's
crew, who may be charged with people trafficking.
Over the weekend, the Italian coastguard pulled 11 bodies from the sea off
the coast of Libya, and rescued 70 others, when a motorised Italy-bound raft
carrying Somali nationals sank.
Italy has borne the brunt of clandestine seaborne migration to southern
Europe which has ebbed and flowed for several years.
Last year, tens of thousands of refugees and would-be migrants landed on the
southern Italian island of Lampedusa during the Arab Spring uprisings,
setting off a crisis that threatened to overwhelm the island.
Most migrants risk the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea in
small overcrowded fishing boats. Thousands have died as a result of
shipwreck, harsh conditions at sea or a lack of food and water. (Reporting
by Steve Scherer; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
U.S. expects Ugandan peacekeepers to stay in Somalia
Mon Nov 5, 2012 4:43pm GMT
* Uganda seen continuing its peacekeeping role
* US says central and east Africa needs Ugandan leadership
* Uganda accused by U.N. of arming M23 rebels in Congo
By Drazen Jorgic
NAIROBI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The United States expects Uganda to keep its
peacekeeping forces in Somalia despite a threat to withdraw in protest at a
U.N. report, a senior State Department official said on Monday.
The government in Kampala said on Friday it would pull out of peacekeeping
missions in Africa unless the United Nations amends a report accusing it of
supporting rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wendy Sherman, under secretary of state for political affairs, who met
Yoweri Museveni last week, said the Ugandan president had raised concerns
about the U.N. report but that she expected him to keep peacekeeping troops
on the ground.
Ugandan troops account for more than a third of the 17,600 U.N.-mandated
African peacekeepers battling al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in Somalia,
and their withdrawal could hand an advantage to the weakened al Shabaab
rebels.
Backed by U.S. special forces, the soldiers are also leading the hunt for
fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in Central African Republic, with some
stationed in South Sudan.
"I fully expect because of (Museveni's) commitment to peace and security in
the region that Uganda will continue to play the leadership role it has,
both diplomatically and in terms of military security," Sherman told
reporters in Nairobi.
Uganda and Rwanda have denied accusations in a leaked U.N. Group of Experts
report which said the two neighbours were arming Congo's M23 rebels, whose
warlord leader has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
The experts called for sanctions on those who violated an arms embargo.
Uganda's foreign ministry said over the weekend it was "inevitable" Ugandan
forces would leave Somalia unless the U.N. corrected "false accusations"
against the country.
Somalia's Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid told Reuters on Saturday
he hoped Uganda would not pull out its troops at what he said was a critical
moment in the fight against al Shabaab.
Sherman said the east and central Africa region needed Uganda's diplomatic
and military leadership, which includes Museveni's chairmanship of peace
talks between Congo, M23 rebels and Rwanda.
"President Museveni and Uganda have played critical roles, not only in terms
of their military capabilities but their diplomatic capabilities to try to
navigate, negotiate and mediate concerns in the region," she said.
(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Johannesburg; Editing by Duncan
Miriri and Robin Pomeroy)
Somalia picks cabinet, balances old guard with newcomers
Sun Nov 4, 2012 8:14pm GMT
By Abdi Sheikh and Omar Faruq
MOGADISHU Nov 4 (Reuters) - Somalia unveiled a new cabinet on Sunday,
keeping a delicate balance among rival clans as it tries to shake off years
of conflict that still plagues the country despite a recent push against
al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The formation of the government is the culmination of a regionally brokered,
U.N.-backed effort to restore central control and end close to two decades
of fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people.
In September, Somalia inaugurated President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud - elected
in the first vote of its kind since warlords toppled military dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving the African nation without an effective
central government.
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, chosen by Mohamud because he is
untainted by clan rivalry, will have to tackle corruption, the Islamist
insurgency and piracy off the coast along strategic Indian Ocean shipping
lanes.
"Taking into account the current situation, I have appointed a lean,
effective cabinet that can lead the government in this difficult situation
and that can bring full, reliable peace," Saaid told reporters and officials
at the presidential palace as he unveiled his 10-minister cabinet line-up.
He appointed Fozia Yusuf Haji Aden as foreign minister, the first woman to
hold such a senior position. "It is a victory for Somali women," she said.
Somali, Ethiopian and African Union peacekeeping troops have pushed the al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents out of the main areas they took over in
their five-year-old revolt, encouraging many Somalis to return to rebuild
their country. But the militants are still capable of launching attacks in
Mogadishu.
Saaid retained three ministers who had served in former President Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed's transitional government, among them Abdihakim Haji Mohamud
Fiqi as the minister for defence.
"What we are trying to do is address the demands, the concerns and the
expectations of all the different components and players in Somalia," Saaid
told Reuters on Saturday after meeting the EU's special envoy for Somalia.
Mohamud said not all sub-clans could be included in cabinet. "We made the
cabinet 10 to save Somalia - those (sub)clans who missed themselves in the
list should know that they are not hated," he said.
Parliament speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari said the cabinet line-up
would go before parliament as soon as possible for approval. (Additional
reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Nairobi; Writing by George Obulutsa; editing by
Philippa Fletcher)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Mon Nov 05 2012 - 14:45:34 EST
