THE LRA rebels killed over 400 people in Congo during the Christmas period, fresh details have emerged.

The simultaneous attacks on several villages in the Orientale province show a trail of bloody killings, looting, abductions and torching of villages, Caritas International, a Catholic charity operating in the province, said in a statement.

Four independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild the country's health system, end the worst cholera epidemic ever recorded there and ensure adequate food for all people as millions face hunger.

Still saddled with high food prices, most Cameroonians are turning to maize as the most affordable staple. But a local NGO says a combination of increasing demand and high production costs - allegedly complicated by embezzlement – could trigger severe food insecurity.

Flash floods in south-western Gedo region have displaced hundreds of families and inundated hectares of farmland in and around Bardera, the regional capital.

Abdirisaaq Mohamed Geriyow, executive director of the Social and Agricultural Development Organisation (SADO), an NGO based in Bardera, said the floods followed heavy rains in the town and in the hilly areas around it.

Kenya: Sea and land patrols have been intensified at the Kenyan coast to check on threats posed by international terrorism and drug traffickers.

This comes after families fleeing renewed hostilities in central and Southern Somalia trickled into the country seeking refuge, a chance that can be seized by terrorists to enter the country illegally.

Kenya: An international humanitarian agency, Medicins Sans Frtontieres (MSF), said Monday that its staff have been blocked from continuing assistance to civilians affected by conflict in Mount Elgon district, west Kenya.

Johannesburg: Six boys were burnt to death in an initiation school house in Mtasane, East London, South Africa's Eastern Cape Health Department said on Saturday.

Somalia: Officials in Somalia's Middle Shabelle Region have raised the alarm over the plight of a community of drought-stricken hunter-gatherers there, who are in urgent need of food and water.

Somalia: The UNDP has pulled out its staff from Baidoa town, the HQ of Bay Region on reasons related to security Bay regional administration has commented on the matter.

Somalia: Increased maneuver fighting inside Somalia's Hiran region, has led to another exodus of the population, adding to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) who have already fled and those fled to the neighboring middle Shabelle region.

Hodeidah: The security forces in the province of Hodeidah have arrested 19 Somali displaced refugees including two women, local source has said.

Somalia: Despite 17 years of war and anarchy that caused death and injury of thousands of people and the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of others inside and outside the war-torn horn of African country, Somalia has been a "haven" for hundreds of foreign refugees from other African countries, particularly the Tanzanian island of Pemba, for the past eight years.

Kiev: Somali pirates who have taken over a German dry cargo vessel have threatened to kill the crew unless they receive a ransom for the sailors' release, a Ukrainian TV channel reported Friday.

Somalia: The Union of Islamic Courts has once again captured the central Somalia region of Hiiran, forcing Ethiopian soldiers out of their bases.

Somalia: The situation at displaced peoples' camps both inside and near the provincial town of Beletwein in central Somalia is reported to be worsening by the day.