The Week in Review

Catch-up on major news events you missed in the past week-Plus the weekend’s top stories!

• Monday- October 2, 2006

Living Dangerously in Ethiopia, Will Egypt Go Nuclear Too? And Just How Soon? , harder for Ethiopia to attract tourists, SIC fighters withdraw from Village


• Tuesday- October 3, 2006

Serious misconduct on the part of the prosecution: U.S EU joint report on the trial of opposition leaders in Ethiopia, Somali Government getting weapons from Ethiopia, Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) getting support from Eritrean, Prominent Hastert constituent questions blockage of H.R. 5680, Lidetu Ayalew denounces Dr Berhanu’s Book, Kenya Having Second Thoughts On Supporting Ethiopia


• Wednesday- October 4, 2006

Kinijit Leaders Trial Resumes Tomorrow, let the healing start, CIVICUS urges a swift trial, Thousands Rally In Somali, Regional war looms


• Thursday- October 5, 2006

ICU: Ethiopian army has started shelling Somali town, Teachers and trade unionists in danger, Register to vote! A message for HR5680 coalition, Amsterdam Conference final remainder, Betrayal of Democracy in Vancouver Canada, Somali MPs leaving government


• Friday- October 6, 2006

Trial update: High Court postpones hearing, *Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet released* , Support the Ethiopian free press!, Rising Tensions Southwest Ethiopia, ICU facing off with Ethiopian troops, Ethiopia one of Russia’s biggest customers

weekend top stories

Ethiopian and Somali refuges hurled overboard to drown, by gun-toting traffickers – UN

With some 35 smuggling boats carrying over 3,500 people on the sometimes deadly trip from Somalia to Yemen in the past month, the United Nations refugee agency today reiterated its calls for international action and donor support to tackle the root causes of the problem, including protection for the victims and prosecution of the smugglers.

At least 54 people have died and 60 others are missing since the smugglers once again began sailing rickety, overcrowded boats across the Gulf of Aden with the onset of calmer weather at the beginning of September, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.

The smuggling increased significantly in the first four months of this year when 10,500 Somalis and Ethiopians made the perilous journey and hundreds were reported to have been hurled overboard to drown by the gun-toting traffickers.

The migrants are mostly men who cite insecurity, drought and economic hardship in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan as reasons for leaving. The fees charged by the smugglers dropped by 50 per cent in late September but have reportedly gone up again, from $50 to $70, in the last few days. With the Bossasso crackdown, boats now appear to be leaving from other departure points along the 700-kilometre Puntland coastline.(More...)

International News

-Unveiling Somalia's Islamists
-Sex, lies and Election Day: The fallout from Foley and the House page scandal
-Castro Is Reported to Have Cancer: TIME
-2 German journalists shot dead in Afghanistan
-Departures and demonstrations as Russia-Georgia crisis continues
-Shots fired amid Korean tension
-Somalia: Islamists ban women from swimming