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Amid continuing political instability following a rebel takeover in the north and a military coup in the capital in March, Reporters Without Borders has compiled the following summary of media freedom violations in Mali during the past three weeks.

Halt and Investigate Police Beatings, Looting in Dadaab Camps

(Nairobi, May 23, 2012) – Kenyan police arbitrarily arrested, detained, and beat refugees following the discovery of explosives and an attack on a police vehicle in the Dadaab refugee camps in mid-March 2012, Human Rights Watch said today after interviewing victims. Senior officials visiting the camps on May 23 should ensure a full and speedy investigation leading to the identification and disciplinary measures against any officer responsible for abuse and the compensation of victims, Human Rights Watch said.

By Sarah Oughton in Burkina Faso

Habsatou Abdulaye, 53, lives in Niaptana – one of many communities in Burkina Faso which regularly face food crises and where the Red Cross has helped women establish vegetable gardens, which provide a valuable source of nutrition.

Habsatou, who has eight children and is president of the Sandari vegetable garden group, says: “It’s a good programme that is working according to our needs. Thanks to the Red Cross we have this land here, which was not possible before.

05/23/2012 14:45 GMT

MOGADISHU, May 23, 2012 (AFP) - African Union and Somali government troops have made "strong progress" in a push towards an Islamist Shebab stronghold, site of the world's largest displaced people's camp, officials said Wednesday.

Hundreds of civilians have fled as long columns of Somali and AU troops backed by tanks advanced for a second day, moving from the capital Mogadishu towards Afgoye, a strategic town and a key base of the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab fighters.

The growing human cost of Niger’s hunger emergency can be seen in the dwindling frame of nine-month-old Karima.

Over the last four months she has lost half her body weight, coinciding with the failed harvest in this southern Dosso region of the country.

In recent weeks her condition has worsened and her mother, 25-year-old Dayaba, has brought Karima to Soukoukoutane health centre after a long journey by foot which began the previous day.

‘I feel weak and I have no breast milk for my baby which makes her cry,’ said Dayaba.

The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has condemned the physical assault on 21st May 2012, on HE. Mr Dioncounda Traore, the Interim President of the Republic of Mali, by protesters who broke into the presidential palace in the capital, Bamako.

Prof Ihsanoglu who expressed dismay at the violence targeting the Interim President on the eve of a political accord brokered by ECOWAS on the political transition in Mali, called for calm and restraint by all sides.