■ Somalia
Clan rivals in fierce battle
Gunmen from rival wings of a Somali clan fought using rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and assault rifles in central Somalia on Monday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, witnesses said. It is unclear what sparked the battle between the Sa'ad and Suleiman wings of the Habargidir clan, said Muse Ali Kalgaal, a businessman who witnessed the clashes. Fighting broke out before dawn and escalated during the day, with both sides rushing in dozens of fighters in the Mudug region of central Somalia, Muse said. Clashes between the same groups killed more than 100 people last month.
■ Burundi
Rebels join new army
Burundi's President Domitien Ndayizeye has signed two laws setting up a new army and a police force which will include the central African country's former rebels, his office announced on Monday. The creation of new security forces is part of a political and military process under way to implement agree-ments on peace and a new administration to end a decade-long civil war which claimed more than 300,000 lives. "Theoretically, all armed fighters in this country are henceforth the responsibility of the government," presidential spokesman Pancrace Cimpaye said.
■ Kenya
`City of rats' cleaned up
Sanitation officers have cleared 6,000 rats from the biggest fruit and vegetable Kenyan market in Nairobi, where they shared food with human beings for the past decade, Local Government Minister Musikari Kombo said on Monday. "We cleared about 6,000 rats, 757 tonnes of garbage and 38 tonnes of human waste from the market," Kombo said. "That means nobody has cared to look after this market for years and years," he said. "This is a city of rats," he added. The market, the biggest of its kind in the east African nation, was closed last month after government health officers warned that an outbreak of diseases could emerge from the mountain of waste inside.
■ Italy
Dusty tourists sully David
Custodians of Michelangelo's David are thinking of blasting air at dusty, sweaty tourists to stop them sullying the Renaissance sex symbol. Months after a painstaking and costly clean-up of the 500-year-old nude statue, experts at Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia found dust and humidity brought in by streams of tourists had begun to tarnish their top crowd-puller again. "The tourists carry in heaps of dust from outside. Dust may sound innocent, but the city grime contains lots of chemicals. They also bring in humidity when it's raining," museum director Franca Falletti said.
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