| DRC: UNHCR set to recommence work in Moba - UN official |
 KINSHASA, 10 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - The UN Refugee Agency said it will resume operations in Moba, in Katanga Province, southern Democratic Republic of Congo - a week after a demonstration rocked the town and led to the evacuation of UN staff.
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KENYA: Call for stronger laws to curb small arms’ proliferation |  NAIROBI, 10 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - The Kenyan government is grappling with rampant trafficking of illicit small arms and light weapons but needs to pass tougher laws to contain the problem, officials said.
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SOMALIA: Five police stations attacked overnight in Mogadishu |  MOGADISHU, 10 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Armed opponents of Somalia's transitional government attacked the police in the capital, Mogadishu, on 9 August, carrying out raids on five stations overnight before being repulsed, police said.
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SIERRA LEONE: Who will lead new phase in country stepping away from war past? |  DAKAR, 10 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Elections in Sierra Leone will have an impact on the future role the UN will play in the country, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Until recently the country had the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world and still hosts a substantial UN support office. The elections will "help define an exit strategy" for the UN the Secretary General said in a May report
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SIERRA LEONE: The election issue -- basic services |  FREETOWN, 10 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Sierra Leoneans go to the polls on 11 August having the second lowest standard of living in the world, according to UN Human Development Report. Of the country’s some six million people, nearly 2.5 million have no access to clean water and even fewer have access to electricity. An estimated 1.5 million live in extreme poverty and at least 4.8 million are jobless. Basic health care remains unavailable to most people. The average Sierra Leonean has a life span of just 40 years.
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KENYA: Displaced numbers grow as more flee attacks in volatile district |  NAIROBI, 9 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Fresh killings in the Mt Elgon District of Kenya – where a long-standing dispute over land ownership has sparked violent clashes between two communities – have left more people displaced and heightened tensions in the area, aid workers said.
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SUDAN-CHAD: Give Chadian arrivals refugee status, Sudan urged |  NAIROBI, 9 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Thousands of Chadians who have fled violence in their country and crossed into the western Sudanese region of Darfur should be granted refugee status, two agencies said.
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AFGHANISTAN: Health services under increasing strain in Helmand Province |  LASHKARGAH, 9 August 2007 (IRIN Asia) - The number of patients and other people in need of medical assistance has tripled in insurgency-hit Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in the last three years, provincial health officials told IRIN.
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SIERRA LEONE: As vote nears less violence than expected |  DAKAR, 9 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Almost five years after the civil war ended the majority of Sierra Leoneans still live in grinding poverty, yet even as tensions mount ahead of general elections renewed violence appears unlikely.
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CAMEROON: Help arrives for 26,000 refugees from Central African Republic |  DAKAR, 8 August 2007 (IRIN Africa) - Some 26,000 refugees from Central African Republic who are scattered along the eastern border of Cameroon are set to receive assistance starting 8 August but the lead aid organisation warns there may be some delays.
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