- The government of Djibouti has extended by two weeks the deadline for the departure of illegal immigrants from the country, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been struggling to cope with thousands of people who thronged a transit centre in a last bid to apply for asylum and legalise their stay.
Citing security and economic concerns, the government of Djibouti controversially had given illegal immigrants up to 31 August to leave the country. All immigrants were asked to register.
An estimated 10,000 people - instead of the expected 4,000 - had turned up at a stadium in the Djiboutian capital, Djibouti, where they had been asked to gather ahead of their transfer to a transit centre at Aour-Aoussa, some 120 kilometres away.
- By Saturday, the stadium was teeming with illegal immigrants mixed with asylum seekers, the former anxious to find ways of legalising their stay in Djibouti ahead of the 31 August deadline for their departure from Djibouti, UNHCR spokesman Rupert Coleville said in Geneva today.
The large turnout at the stadium on quickly outstripped the vehicle capacity arranged by UNHCR, forcing the government to provide additional trucks to transport the waiting crowds at the stadium to the transit centre.
- All activities at the transit centre were completely paralysed by the unruly mobs at the centre. Neither registration of genuine asylum seekers nor food distribution could be started over the weekend, Mr Coleville said.
Djiboutian government officials have since deployed military personnel to man the perimeter of the transit centre and police to instil order inside the facility.
UNHCR staff, working with Djiboutian government officials, yesterday begun to separate the large crowds of people into three distinct groups: asylum seekers with or without attestations, Somalis from areas south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu and others who are likely to include villagers from the local community.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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