A camp housing thousands of mainly Somali refugees in north-eastern Kenya has been completely flooded following almost three weeks of constant rain. Reports indicate that the main road into the area has been cut off by flooding.

With the US intent on continuing its funding for counterterrorism efforts against 'al-Qaeda' in Mali, Vijay Prashad argues that blindly channelling funds to the Malian military might well lead to the country going 'the way of Guinea'. Washington's focus is entirely on counterterrorism efforts, Prashad stresses, with the military support on offer to Mali dwarfing that available for development while enabling former military general and current President Amadou Toumani Touré to consolidate his power.

Immigration officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008.

The US is preparing to give Mali's army millions of dollars worth of military hardware to help them fight al-Qaeda's North African branch. Trucks, powerful communication devices and clothing are among $5m (£3m) of equipment being handed over.

The authorities of Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have begun cracking down on would-be migrants and people smugglers, who have been using its ports to reach the Gulf States, a senior police officer has said. He said thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians had gathered in Bosasso, the commercial capital, with the aim of attempting to cross the Gulf of Aden into Yemen.

The refugees are arriving at an overwhelming average rate of 6,400 a month, adding more pressure on the already overstretched facilities and resources in Dadaab camps in northern Kenya, which currently host three times the population they were designed to hold.

The report, titled “Media Freedom Kept within Bounds”, unearths evidence-based information from journalists and media managers who recounted unrestrained and vituperative attacks on journalists and media houses. The media professionals signify that Somaliland authorities are responsible for outrages and structural suppression against media.

Clan elders in northern Somalia's breakaway enclave of Somaliland voted on Friday to extend President Dahir Riyale Kahin's term on condition that a voter list be finalised and a date set for a presidential election. It was the third time since April 2008 that Somaliland's upper House of Elders has extended Kahin's term, which was due to expire on October 29. Opposition politicians in the lower House of Representatives have demanded the president be impeached.

Land grabbing of small farmers’ land by large national and foreign companies is becoming an increasingly concerning issue in Mali. After investing in various sectors of the economy in Mali and in Africa, these national or multinational corporations are looking for new avenues of opportunity, namely land.

Chased Chased by bullets In fumigated environment
Instinctually they run
Without a shelter.
Not knowing
What is ahead In that dark world.

My boys
Where are you running
Without knowing
What is ahead?
My boys
Do not be deceived
You can not
Outrun the bullets.

One of them uttered,
I run
To grow up somewhere,
With the hope
To return and pay back
With a barrel of a gun.

My boys If I take you out
From the fumigated environment
Which is full of hate and deceit,
Would you have a heart
To forgive and
A mind to forget?

One of them uttered,
I am that boy
Chased by a bullet
No doubt.
It is a promise not to forget,
But to pay them back. Here is my plea to the almighty,
To intervene and have mercy,
To stop such madness
Without divine interference.
The cycle continues In the name of nationalities
And boundaries.

Legislators in Mali will have to try harder to win support for the next draft of their new family code after the president sent it back to parliament on 27 August for re-drafting. The current draft code recognizes only secular marriages, increases the legal marrying age to 18, gives girls inheritance rights, and makes women equal with their husbands at home, according to lawmakers who said they had not done enough to get backing for controversial parts of the family code.

Ethiopian troops have crossed into neighbouring Somalia and seized control of a town from Islamist fighters, witnesses say. Hundreds of troops reportedly entered the strategically important town of Beledweyne.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the conflict in Somalia are being forced to live in woeful conditions, the aid agency Oxfam says. It says overcrowded and badly managed refugee camps in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are "barely fit for humans". Dadaab camp in north-eastern Kenya was meant to hold 90,000 refugees, but is now home to almost 300,000 people, and a further 8,000 arrive each month.

The Somaliland government's disregard for the law and democratic processes threatens the territory's nascent democracy, Human Rights Watch has said in a report. The administration of President Dahir Riyale Kahin has committed human rights violations and generated a dangerous electoral crisis.

In the third shooting incident in less than two weeks on Egypt’s border with Israel, two Somali refugees were shot dead Thursday morning by Egyptian border guards, according to a Somali refugee living in Cairo. He said that the refugees had been attempting to sneak into Israel, but were stopped and shot by Egyptian police before they were able to enter the Jewish state. At least 6 people have been killed on the border in the past month and a half weeks.

Mali consumes 65 million tonnes of wood per year, which represents 90% of the country's energy consumption, according to the Malian government. Despite the adoption of a national programme for the increase in the use of butane gas and the Domestic Energy Strategy (SED), wood consumption remains high in the country.

cc Following the assassination of Radio Shabelle's Media Director Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe in Mogadishu on 7 June, the Somali Speaking Centre of International PEN (SS PEN) condemns the attack and decries the inability of Somali journalists to operate without risk of physical harm.

The Kenyan government should rapidly fulfill its February 2009 pledge to provide more land for its mushrooming Somali refugee population, and donors should step up their financial support for the refugee camps, Human Rights Watch has said. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced four months ago that Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya had made a commitment to provide land to help relieve congestion in three chronically overcrowded camps near Dadaab in northeastern Kenya. But the Kenyan government has yet to make any land available.

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has loaned Mali a bout US$14 million for the partial financing of road projects in the capital, Bamako. Official sources said the money would be used to help build a multiple interchan geat La Paix roundabout in Bamako, develop the city section of the Main Road (RN 5) and Kwame Nkrumah Avenue.

Dadaab, in north-eastern Kenya, is the world's biggest refugee camp, home to 260,000 people. It was built in 1991 for Somalis fleeing the fighting that erupted with the collapse of Siad Barre's military regime. Eighteen years on, conflict is still raging and Somalis continue to seek safety there.