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DEUTSCHE WELLE/DW-WORLD.DE Newsletter
English Service News
31.12.07, 17:00 Uhr UTC
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Today's highlight on DW-WORLD:
EU Election Observers Critical of Kenyan Vote Result
European Union election monitors have said Kenya's presidential poll
lacked credibility. Dozens have been killed in violence that has
convulsed the country in the wake of the election.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evx9djI4501ileI0&req=l%3Devx9diI4501ileI0
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Around 100 killed in Kenya violence
More than 100 people are said to have been killed in riotting that
broke out across Kenya following the re-election of President Mwai
Kibaki on Sunday. Police have been using water cannon, tear gas and
live ammunition in an effort to quell the violence. A day-time
curfew has been imposed in the town of Kisumu, and police there have
been given orders to shoot violators on site. Correspondents report
that some of the fighting is between President Kibaki's ethnic
Kikuyu group and the Luo ethnic group of his main challenger in the
election, Raila Odinga. Odinga, who was ahead in opinion polls prior
to the vote, has accused Kibaki of rigging the election. European
Union and other election observers have expressed grave concerns
about the credibility of the vote. The United States has withdrawn
its congratulations to President Kibaki.
Pakistan vote likely to be postponed
Pakistan's electoral commission says that a decision on whether a
parliamentary election will go ahead as scheduled on January 8 will
be announced on Tuesday. Senior government officials, though, have
said that it would likely be postponed for several weeks. On Sunday,
the Pakistan People's Party appointed the son and husband of slain
leader Benazir Bhutto to succeed her. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is a
19-year-old student at Oxford University in Britain. He has been
formally named as the PPP's chairman, while his father, Asif Ali
Zardari, is to take over the day-to-day running of the party. More
than 40 people have been killed in rioting that followed Benazir
Bhutto's assassination after an election campaign rally in
Rawalpindi last Thursday.
Jung warns Pakistan against delaying vote
German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung says the Pakistani
government would be ill-advised to postpone a general election
scheduled for next Tuesday. In an interview with German public radio,
Jung said it was important for Pakistan to hold the election on
schedule in order to give the country a democratically elected
government. Putting the vote off, he said, could create instability
in the country, which would play into the hands of insurgents along
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. At the same time, he ruled out
sending more Bundeswehr peacekeepers to Afghanistan. He said the
3,500 troops already deployed to the country were sufficient to
carry out Germany's obligations as part of the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force.
German chancellor vows to continue reforms
Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany is far better off than when
the grand coalition of her Christian Democrats and the Social
Democrats took office in 2005. In her annual New Year's address, the
chancellor said that for the first time since Germany's
reunification in 1990, the country had come close to a balanced
budget, while improving its standing in the fields of research and
education. She said that one of her government's greatest
achievements was a sharp reduction in the number of unemployed in
Germany. At the same time, the chancellor warned of continuing
global factors that could put Germany's economic success at risk.
She vowed that Europe's largest economy would maintain its agenda of
reforms aimed at tackling unemployment.
UN-AU force takes over in Darfur
In Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, the African Union has transferred
authority to a new joint AU-United Nations peacekeeping force. The
official handover came in a ceremony held at the new mission's
headquarters outside of the town of El Fasher. The move follows
months of international pressure on Sudanese President Omar al-
Bashir to allow UN troops to enter the country. The mission in
Darfur, which is to be known by the acronym UNAMID, is to be the
UN's largest force, with 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 police and
civilian personnel. So far, only around 9,000 troops are on the
ground.
North Korea misses six-party deadline
North Korea has missed a deadline to provide a full account of its
nuclear weapons programme under a disarmament agreement. A US state
department spokesman in Washington said Pyongyang had given no
explanation as to why it had let the deadline pass. North Korea
reached a deal in back February with China, Japan, Russia, South
Korea and the United States to disable its main nuclear plant and
come clean on its nuclear activities by the end of this year in
exchange for an aid package. The US state department said it
expected to begin consultations with the other five parties to the
agreement soon, aimed at agreeing a way forward.
Palestinian pilgrims stuck in Egypt
Over 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims stuck in Egypt on their way back to
Gaza have set fire to temporary camps in the Sinai provided for them
by the Egyptian government. The Palestinians who had been attending
the annual pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites, known as the hajj,
arrived by bus at 11 temporary camps outside the Mediterranean
coastal city of el-Arish on Sunday but refused to occupy them.
According to Hamas the pilgrims did not want to go back to Hamas-
controlled Gaza through the Israeli Kerem Salem crossing because
many of them are relatives of people wanted by Israeli authorities.
Israel insists they must all be subject to security checks accusing
some of them of carrying arms or money for the Islamist movement,
Hamas.
12 killed in fighting in Somali capital
Renewed fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu claimed the lives
of 12 people on Sunday including eight members of one family. The
family died when their house was hit during an exchange of mortars
between Somali insurgents and Ethiopian troops near to the main
sports stadium. During the last year the fighting has killed more
than 1,000 and caused some 600,000 people to flee the city.
Ethiopian troops began to support the Somali government about one
year ago and swiftly ousted an Islamist militia that had gained
temporary control of large areas of south and central Somalia.
Air attack destroys Tamil training base
Sri Lanka's air force claim to have successfully bombed a Tamil
Tiger training base in the north of the country, although there were
no reports about casualties. Elsewhere, the military said that nine
rebels and two soldiers were killed in ground battles, also in the
north. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are seeking an
independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, did not comment on
the claims. More than 5,000 people have been killed in fighting
between the military and Tigers since early 2006.
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For more information please turn to our internet website at
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