Mali Follow

In Somalia US warplanes and Ethiopian attack helicopters have killed up to 70 nomadic tribesmen, while the pro-US militia is spreading terror among ordinary people. So says Dahabo Isse of the Somali Civil Liberties and Human Rights Organisation.

US aircraft rained death on Somalia, east Africa, this week, in a further horrific escalation of the "war on terror".

Letters

The recent Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is a direct product of the US-British "war on terror". It threatens to further destabilise a region which has repeatedly been torn apart by war and famine.

So Mrs Thompson, we wish you, your husband and family no ill will or malice, in fact we hope that you all have a truly wonderful Christmas, as it will at least give us some sense of satisfaction to know that your family is at least reaping the benefits of the values that we had instilled in us as children, that if we wanted something we worked for it, and by us doing so it may not have proved very beneficial for us or our families, but, on Christmas morning, when you turn over in bed, and your husband hands you a gift, beautifully wrapped, and in the moment before you unwrap it, when you are feeling excited, and wondering what it contains, could you just stop a minute, and ask yourself, a

Sometimes it seems that the Western powers, the multinationals and the banks get away with murder, confident that no one can challenge them. Anti-capitalists rage that the impoverishment of Africa is a crime and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be put on trial. I spoke to director Abderrahmane Sissako whose forthcoming film, Bamako, literally puts them in the dock.

The massacre at Qana is typical of the malicious brutality with which Israel has conducted all its wars, not just the present one. It poses the perennial question of how Israel can ever coexist peacefully with the rest of the Middle East.

For the first time for many years there is a sense of relief and hope among many people in Somalia.

Read our new monthly supplement SR, with this issue, with a lead article by Chris Jones on New Myths of the East End, an interview with Us author Studs Terkel and Third World Reports on Mali, Thailand, Iraq and Latin AMerica

"Mali is first and foremost a library of the history of African music," said Ali Farka Toure.

Some 600 people took to the streets of Plumstead last weekend to protest over the death of Nuur Saeed. He died on 24 January from injuries sustained following a police raid on a flat in south east London.

Nuur Saeed died on 24 January from injuries he sustained following a police raid on a flat in south east London. He is the most obvious victim of what local residents are calling a "wave of harassment" of the Somali community in recent months.