There’s an Obama baby-naming boom in Kenya. Ever since President-elect Barack Obama won the election over his Republican rival last week, little baby “Obamas” have been popping up all over the world, reports United Press International. This is especially the case at a hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. Officials at Nyanza Provincial Hospital say that 43 babies, between Nov. 4 and Nov. 8, were named after Obama or some of his family members. Twenty-three boys were given “Barack Obama” as their first and middle names and 20 girls were named after his wife, Michelle Obama. One mother, Pamela Odhiambo, says she gave birth to little “Michelle Obama” during Obama’s victory speech. “It’s a new start, a new beginning,” said Odhiambo.

The U.N. is forced to cut food aid to Zimbabwe. The United Nations’ food charity has to cut back on food distribution in Zimbabwe because the international aid agency is running low on money. Although the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) has fed 2 million people in October, a number they expect to grow to 4 million this month and rise to more than 5 million by early 2009, it lacks the funds to keep it going in 2009. “There is currently no food in the pipeline for distributions in January and February – just when the crisis is reaching its peak,” said the agency in a statement. The U.N. also asked for $140 million in more funding so it will be able to keep distributing aid in the nation until at least the end of March. A “disastrous” harvest in the country has resulted in millions of Zimbabweans being hungry; the demand was such that the WFP had to reduce cereal and pulse rations. The country has had a rough time with food shortages for the past seven years. Critics of longtime leader Robert Mugabe say that the country’s food problems were made worse when he enforced his policy of kicking White farmers off their land to redistribute to Blacks. Black Zimbabweans gained their independence from White rule in 1980.

Albinos in the east African nation of Burundi have left their homes over fears they will be killed by people wanting to sell their body parts in nearby Tanzania.  At least four are currently under the watch of police in Ruyigi, reports the BBC. The actions come after an Albino girl was murdered in August and after two murdered albinos were found with their legs and arms missing. There have been 26 albinos killed in Tanzania in under a year. Witchdoctors, who believe they use albino body parts to create potions to make people rich, are thought to be behind the bizarre killings. In fact, after the killing of a teen albino, six of her attackers came back to the murder scene to get her body parts. After they were arrested, they told police they wanted to sell her parts in Tanzania. There are an estimated 200 albinos currently living in Burundi.

Thieves steal food from Haiti’s needy. Thieves recently stole food that was supposed to go to Haiti’s storm victims and tried to sell it, reports Reuters. Authorities in the nation devastated by four back-to-back tropical storms, raided three storehouses of the stolen food on Tuesday. Officials were tipped off by residents who were upset that rice, that was supposed to be free for people who needed it, ended up being sold for profit. “A lot of people were buying the rice because it was much cheaper compared to prices on the regular market. You can read on the bag ‘Donated by Taiwan’ and on some other bags we read, ‘U.S. Rice,” said Yvon Jerome, mayor of Carrefour, the city where the crime took place. The food will be given out to needy families again, the mayor said. The consecutive storms that battered Haiti, which was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, killed at least 800 people and left almost the entire town of Gonaives under water. Police are still investigating and looking for suspects in the food thievery but are still unsure how big the operation was.

Uganda wants charities to stop giving aid to rebels. Ugandan leaders want to starve rebel leaders into ending the country’s 20-year-old war. The Minister for Disaster Preparedness Tarsis Kabwegyere is asking that charities stop giving food aid to the rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), so its members will be starved out of their camps and be more likely to sign a peace deal with the government. The LRA backed out of signing an agreement earlier this year because some of their leaders had international arrest warrants. And Kabwegyere thinks they manipulated the talks to get food and medicine.  ”Whoever is giving food to LRA should say, ‘We’re giving you food only when you can sign,’” he told the BBC. The rebel group’s leader, Joseph Kony, should “know that ending the war is the best thing to do,” he continued. Many in the LRA have moved to camps on the Sudan-Congo border. Just last week, 75,000 people escaped LRA-led fighting in the Congo. Two million people were made homeless during the 20-year war.

Angolan opposition party concedes election

An Angolan opposition party recently accepted its landslide defeat in the country’s parliamentary elections last weekend, reports The Associated Press. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), a former rebel group led by Isaias Samakuva (above) that turned to violence against the government when it lost in elections 16 years ago, made the announcement at a news conference on Monday. The results were not even close, with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ party (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) receiving 80 percent of the vote. His party has ruled Angola since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975. The nation last held elections in 1992; UNITA did not accept its loss in that election and turned to fighting, resulting in a civil war that ended in 2002. This weekend’s elections were criticized earlier in the week by European observers for being disorganized, but voting itself was generally peaceful.

U.N. threatens to stop aid to Darfur

Violence in Sudan’s Darfur region is too out of control for the United Nation’s World Food Program, reports the BBC. It’s so bad that the group has threatened to stop sending aid to parts of the region if the security doesn’t get better. “It has become too dangerous for our drivers to continue doing their jobs,” said Rachid Jaafar, a group spokesman. Just this year, 43 drivers and 69 trucks went missing after being attacked by armed rebels, he said. This is a critical time for needy families in the region who have been suffering over five years of a notoriously violent civil war that has resulted in the deaths of 300,000 people and more than 2 million being displaced. September is the month when food collected last year runs out ahead of this year’s harvest. The almost 10,000 joint U.N. and African Union peacekeeping troops do help the World Food Program by providing security, but they don’t have enough troops to secure all food convoys, Jaafar said. Black Africans revolted against the mostly Arab government in 2003 alleging discrimination.

Nigerian city cracks down on prostitution. Authorities in Bauchi, a Nigerian city under Islamic rule, have decided to crack down prostitution, reports the BBC. Using a census by the Red Cross (which the charity conducted to help slow the spread of HIV) the Sharia commission ordered that the 320 women identified be rounded up. None of the women has been arrested, though; the city just wants to supervise and make sure that no illegal acts go on, according to a commissioner. The Sharia commission (which is ruled under the Islamic Sharia law) went to hotels to round up the prostitutes using only their own security forces and without the help of police. According to the BBC, officials were moved to act against prostitution to get rid of the idea that they were not adequately enforcing laws against prostitution. Sharia commission member Mustapha Babe, refuted any claims that the women were arrested or detained. The commission is just watching some sections of the city more closely, he said. “In every nook and corner and cranny, illegal acts were being committed contrary to Sharia law. As a result of this, we sent them to supervise the areas where something has happened,” he said. Of the 320 women rounded up, between 75 and 100 of them have tested positive for HIV.

Somali charity worker killed in his country. A Somali aid worker for the United Nation’s World Food Program was kidnapped and killed as he tried to escape his attackers, reports CNN. Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed was visiting his home town of Dinsor, Somalia this weekend, when he, along with people he was traveling with in a vehicle, were abducted. When he and the driver tried to escape, they were killed by their kidnappers, but a third passenger managed to escape. “I am shocked by this senseless and barbaric attack on one of our staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues,” said Josette Sheeran, the WFP executive director. Mohamed, who was an administration and finance assistant for the organization, joined the charity in June. According to the WFP, this is the first violent death of a worker in Somalia since 1993, although five drivers who were employed by the charity’s contractors were killed this year alone in Somalia.

International court seeks to arrest Sudan’s president
In a move that would be the first of its kind against an acting president, the International Criminal Court is seeking to arrest Sudan’s leader Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in his country, reports the BBC. ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who is leading the effort, wants Bashir arrested for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Since rebels began fighting the government in 2003, about 300,000 people died and more than 2 million people have been displaced, according to United Nation’s. estimates. Some have accused the government of supporting the notorious Arab Janjaweed militia, which allegedly are responsible for many of the atrocities and genocide against Black Africans. The Sudanese government denies involvement. After at least six weeks, the ICC judges will decide whether or not Moreno-Ocampo has a legit case. The Sudanese government actually does not recognize the ICC and, in fact, calls Moreno-Ocampo a criminal. Thousands of Sudanese (many of whom were government workers or connected to the government in some way) chanted “Down, Down, USA!” as they gathered in the capital city in support of their president Sunday, reports Reuters. In a statement, the protesters said, “The ICC does just what the European Union, the United States of America and Israel tell it to do.” A protester told Reuters, “The Sudanese people are all rejecting this – this is America targeting Sudan. We will not send Bashir. We would die first.” There are fears that the move by the ICC would cause more problems in a nation that is already unstable. In fact, UNAMID, which has 9,000 peacekeepers currently in Darfur, has increased its security alert to “level four” – a move that relocates some foreign staff, reports the BBC.

Charity workers are killed in Somalia
In Somalia, three charity workers were shot and killed in just a few days, reports CNN. Mohamad Mohamud Qeyre, deputy director of Daryeel Bulasho Guud (a German funded charity connected to Bread for the World), was shot and killed outside of an aid distribution facility in Mogadishu. Reports say that it looked like he was targeted by gunmen who might have waited for him to leave the facility. The charity will stop operating in Somalia for now, said the head of the group. Ali Baashi, who was a part of a nongovernmental organization aiding Somalia, was also killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack. World Food Program truck diver, Ahmed Saalim, was killed last week when convoy escorts and militia members exchanged fire at a checkpoint. Saalim is the fourth World Food Program driver to be killed in the nation this year. With the multiple scourges of drought, violence and high food and fuel prices, many Somalis depend on aid.