Kenya orders closure of "illegal" refugee camp

The district commissioner of Mombasa, Wilfred Legei, on Tuesday ordered the closure of Saint Ann's refugee camp in the Kenyan coastal city, giving 2,500 Somali refugees at the camp up to Friday, 6 August, to vacate or be arrested. Legei, who visited the camp with the district security team, said the government and UNHCR did not recognise the camp and that whoever was sponsoring it was committing a crime. The only recognised refugee camps in Kenya were Dadaab in the northeast and Kakuma in the northwest, and all Mombasa camps had been ordered closed last year, with refugees relocating to the two approved camps, Kenyan radio reported Legei as saying. He added that those unwilling to move would be repatriated to Somalia.

Elders broker ceasefire deal in Mogadishu

Armed factions involved in the latest round of violence in Mogadishu, in which the death total has been put at 17 by local media, have agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Somali elders. The fighting between militias loyal to rival Mogadishu warlords Musa Sudi Yalahow and Hussein Haji Bod was triggered by an attempt to "tax" a lorry carrying goods from Ma'an to Mogadishu, news agencies reported on Tuesday. The clashes, which involved mortar shelling and heavy machine-gun fire, ceased late on Monday night, they added. The security situation in Mogadishu was reported by humanitarian sources to have relatively improved recently - in spite of the killing of Hussein Aideed's security head, who was also responsible for the security of international agencies - as the Islamic courts continued to clear militia roadblocks.

Digil Salvation Army claims capture of Awdheegle from Aideed

In the Lower Shabelle region, the Digil Salvation Army (DSA) - a new militia reported to be allied to the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) - claimed on Monday to have captured the village of Awdheegle, 80 km south of Mogadishu, from Hussein Aideed's militia, news agencies reported. The two sides have also been battling for control of nearby Qoroley and Somali media report a build-up by Ethiopian and allied forces intending to take the town. A regional analyst told IRIN that Ethiopia appears to be successfully building a Somali coalition against Aideed - who has been repeatedly linked with Eritrea and the Ethiopian rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) - and that he is looking increasingly isolated in Somali politics.