AFRICAN MIGRANTS DEFY FLOOD, CROSS INTO SPAIN

As many as 30 African migrants have taken advantage of flood damage to cross into the Spanish enclave of Melilla, from neighbouring Morocco.Heavy rains have caused two rivers to breach their banks in the Spanish city on the north African coast.

The floodwaters swept away part of a barrier erected to prevent migrants crossing into Melilla.Police are looking for the sub-Saharan African migrants, who waded through mud and water near a floodgate.

Melilla is a target for hopeful migrants, aiming to make the journey on to Spain or other EU countries.Spain has heavily fortified the fence that divides it from Morocco.

Police said they managed to prevent most of the group from entering, but say some managed to get past.”We had people there but they came at us in force and we couldn’t stop so many,” said a spokesman for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla.

The town has suffered some of its worst flooding in 30 years, and weather forecasts suggest heavy rain is set to continue.The conditions have cut access to Melilla by cut off by land, air and sea.Both Melilla and another enclave, Ceuta, are claimed by Morocco.

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DRC BOILS OVER;PROTESTERS ATTACK UN OFFICE

Hundreds of protesters are reportedly attacking the UN’s headquarters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

A UN spokeswoman said that cars were being damaged and windows shattered in the regional capital, Goma.

The protesters are angry that a 17,000-strong UN force has not better protected them against an offensive by rebel forces.Tens of thousands of people are said to be fleeing towards Goma as government troops retreat.

The rebel troops are loyal to renegade general, Laurent Nkunda.UN spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg told Associated Press news agency protesters were throwing stones over the wall of the UN compound.

United Nations peacekeepers are now reportedly moving towards the area where fighting with the rebels is taking place.

Over the weekend the rebels, who say they are protecting the area’s Tutsi minority, captured a major army camp at Rumangabo and the headquarters of Virunga national park.

A BBC reporter in eastern DR Congo says the main Kibumba camp for displaced people near Rumangabo has emptied, as people flee towards the city.Gen Nkunda has threatened to take control of Goma.

The UN accused his soldiers of firing rockets at two UN vehicles on Sunday, injuring several troops.

A Nkunda spokesman denied the rebels were involved.The UN told AP it was considering using helicopter gunships against the rebels in Rumangabo but that government troops were also in the area and could be hit.

Gen Nkunda’s rebels attacked Goma last December. Hundreds of them died as the UN used helicopters under its mandate to protect civilians.

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NIGER FORMER SLAVE WINS IN COURT

A West African court has found Niger’s government guilty of failing to protect a woman from slavery in a landmark case for the region.The court found in favour of Hadijatou Mani, who says she was sold aged 12 and made to work for 10 years.

A judge ordered the government – which says it has done all it can to eradicate slavery – to pay Ms Mani 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750).Despite being outlawed, slavery also persists in other West African states.

Ms Mani was quoted as telling reporters in court that she was “very happy” with the decision.”We are law-abiding and will respect this decision,” Mossi Boubacar, a lawyer for Niger’s government, told Reuters news agency.

BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says the ruling is embarrassing for the government of Niger and sends a strong message that it needs to do more to implement the law and end slavery.It could also have huge consequences for thousands of other people who have been kept in conditions of slavery across the region, he says.

Jailed

Ms Mani, now 24, says she was sold to a man called Souleymane Naroua when she was 12. The price was the equivalent of about $500 (£315).She says she was forced to carry out domestic and agricultural work for the next 10 years.Ms Mani says she was raped at the age of 13 and forced to bear the man’s children.

“I was beaten so many times I would run to my family,” she told the BBC’s World Today programme. “Then after a day or two I would be brought back.”At the time I didn’t know what to do but since I learned that slavery has been abolished I told myself that I will no longer be a slave.”

In 2005, her master freed her and gave her a “liberation certificate”, reports Anti-Slavery International, which helped her bring the case.But when she left him and tried to marry another man, her “master” said they were married.

A local court found in favour of Ms Mani and she went ahead with her new wedding.But this was then overturned on appeal and she was sentenced to six months in prison for bigamy.She took her case to the Court of Justice of the West African regional body Ecowas earlier this year.

Ms Mani accused the government of Niger of failing to protect her from slavery, which was criminalised five years ago.

A local organisation fighting to end the practice says there are more than 40,000 slaves in Niger.But the government has said such figures are exaggerated.

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TSVANGIRAI, MUGABE RESUME TALKS

Efforts to form a power-sharing government in Zimbabwe have resumed between President Robert Mugabe and his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.They are taking place in the capital Harare under the continued mediation of South African ex-leader Thabo Mbeki.

The process has been deadlocked over the allocation of key cabinet posts.Six weeks have passed since Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai shook hands in Harare and signed what appeared to be an historic power-sharing agreement.

But attempts to form an inclusive government have run into serious trouble, BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles reports.This meeting, which included several regional leaders, was due to take place last week in Swaziland, but Mr Tsvangirai said he could not attend as the Zimbabwean authorities had refused to give him a passport.

Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change says President Mugabe and his party, Zanu-PF, seem intent on controlling all the important ministries and sidelining the MDC.

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