Starved, no air to breathe - 42 immigrants die in truck

Starved, no air to breathe - 42 immigrants die in truck 27-JUN-2012 | SAPA-AFP | 9 COMMENTS Believed to be en route from Somalia to South Africa. Found dead in Tanzania Somali refugees at a UNHCR reception center in Yemen. Photo: AFP RELATED ARTICLES Durban couple share horror of kidnap Fears of growing African extremism DAR ES SALAAM - Forty-two immigrants were found dead in a truck in central Tanzania after suffocating, Deputy Interior Minister Pereira Silima said. “They died of suffocation and had no food,” Silima said. “There were more than 100 people in the truck,” a local administration official said. “After he had learnt of the dead bodies, the driver abandoned the truck and ran away.” The bodies were discovered in the truck in Dodoma province, about 400 kilometres west of Dar es Salaam. In December, 20 Somali immigrants were found dead in Tanzania. Foreign ministry spokesman Isaac Nantanga said at the time that an increasing number of Ethiopians and Somalis were crossing the country to make their way to South Africa, the continent’s top economy. Sowetan News Comments by Sonny What is the ANC Conference in Midrand planning for all these illegal immigrants? Jobs, houses, cars & Chivas? When will they focus on the real SA issues? Our own poor, needy & uneducated Citizens? Or, will they just go about their routine - Window Dressing for the civilised world at large? TIME FOR A RADICAL CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT IS NEEDED! Fears of growing African extremism 26-JUN-2012 | REUTERS | 11 COMMENTS Can the African Union step up to deal with security threat? Clergymen gather around the coffins of the victims of the Christmas day bombing at St Theresa Catholic Church Madalla, during a mass funeral for the victims, outside Nigeria's capital Abuja February 1, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde RELATED ARTICLES 100 lashes for child out of wedlock Islamic sect claims responsibility for Nigeria church attacks Boko Haram says will 'devour' Nigeria president Troubled Kano state finds husbands for 1000 women Mali arrests two suspected al-Qaeda men Somali football chief and Olympic boss killed in bombing South Africa warns about sea pirates Freed SA couple leave Somalia Durban couple freed by captors! Iraq bomb kills 9 young soccer players, fans Grenade attack in Kenya bar during Euro 2012 football match Mombasa blast deaths rise to 3, suspect arrested Three of Africa's largest extremist groups are sharing funds and swapping explosives in what could signal a dangerous escalation of security threats on the continent, the commander of the U.S. military's Africa Command said. General Carter Ham said there are indications that Boko Haram, al Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - groups that he labelled as the continent's most violent - are sharing money and explosive materials while training fighters together. "Each of those three organizations is by itself a dangerous and worrisome threat," Ham said at an African Centre for Strategic Studies seminar for senior military and civilian officials from Africa, the United States and Europe. "What really concerns me is the indications that the three organizations are seeking to coordinate and synchronize their efforts," Ham said. "That is a real problem for us and for African security in general." The United States classified three of the alleged leaders of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, based in remote northeast Nigeria, as "foreign terrorist," on June 20. But it declined to blacklist the entire organization to avoid elevating the group's profile internationally. Police in Nigeria said members of the group seized a prison there Sunday and freed 40 inmates. Islamist militant group al Shabaab is active in war-ravaged Somalia and has been blamed for attacks in Kenya. Last year it claimed responsibility for the death of Somali Interior Minister Abdi Shakur Sheikh Hassan. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an affiliate of al Qaeda based in North Africa, is mainly a criminal organization operating in the Sahel region. It kidnaps Westerners for ransom and aids Africa's drug trade, according to intelligence officials. MALI FEARS U.S. and regional officials fear that a power vacuum in northern Mali following a military coup in March may open an expanded area of operations for Islamist militants. Some western diplomats talk of the country becoming a "West African Afghanistan". Ham said AQIM was now operating "essentially unconstrained" throughout a large portion of northern Mali, where Islamists have imposed a harsh version of Shariah law. The group was a threat not only to the countries in the region, but also has "a desire and an intent to attack Americans as well. So that becomes a real problem," Ham said. Emphasizing that the U.S. military plays mainly a supporting role in Africa, Ham said the United States is providing intelligence and logistical help in the hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and hacking off limbs of civilians. The International Criminal Court in The Hague indicted Kony for crimes against humanity in 2005, and his case hit the headlines in March when a video entitled "Kony 2012" put out by a U.S. activist group and calling for his arrest went viral across the Internet. Ham said he was confident that Kony would ultimately be apprehended by African troops. "This is an African-led effort," Ham said. "It is the African Union increasingly taking a leadership role with a little bit of support from the United States military. We think that is the right approach." SOWETAN NEWS Comments by Sonny Is the writing on the walls? African Spring in the making? Whil

e the King eats cake, the Country shall burn!