Fidelity Investments of Boston is denying that a sharp reduction in holdings of oil companies doing business in Sudan is a result of activist pressure over Darfur. Anne Crowley, a spokeswoman for the mutual-fund giant, said the sales were decided by the managers of individual Fidelity funds. "Fidelity doesn't tell fund managers how or when to buy or sell any given stock," she said. Fidelity documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week show its ownership of PetroChina Co. shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange declined from about 4.5 million earlier this year to 420,916 as of the end of March—a decrease of more than 90%. (Boston Globe, May 17)

Two radio reporters covering a provincial governor in south-central Somalia were gunned down May 16 when the official's motorcade was ambushed by clan militia. News editor Abshir Ali Gabre and reporter Ahmed Hassan Mahad of Radio Jowhar were killed when the motorcade of Mohammed Omar Deele, governor of the Middle Shabelle province, came under attack from gunmen of a rival sub-clan. Deele was unharmed, but at least six people were killed and several injured in the ensuing gun battle.

An African Union convoy was struck by a road-side bomb in the Somali capital of Mogadishu [May 16], killing an unknown number of Ugandan peacekeepers. [AlJazeera, May 16] A pair of aid workers—a Kenyan and a Briton—remain in the custody of their kidnappers in northern Somalia. The kidnappers are demanding "minor" political concessions from the authorities of Puntland, the semi-autonomous and relatively stable northern region of the country. [Reuters, May 15] Two South Korean fishing boats have been seized by pirates off Somalia's increasingly unprotected coast. [BBC, May 16]

John Holmes, the United Nations (UN) emergency humanitarian co-ordinator, has said that the UN will investigate accusations that human rights were violated during recent fighting in Mogadishu. Somalia has agreed to the inquiry. [AlJazeera, May 14] Aid workers are said to only be reaching one third of those civilians affected by the violence in Mogadishu. [Reuters, May 14]

Nigeria's outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo visited the restive southern Niger Delta region [May 14] to perform a ground-breaking ceremony for a new $8 billion gas plant. Militants in the region have waged an intensifying campaign against the many foreign oil companies present in the Delta. [The Brass LNG plant is a partnership of Italy's Eni, France's Total, and ConocoPhillips] [Reuters, May 14] [Also May 14,] militants kidnapped a manager working for Italian company Agip. [Reuters, May 14]

Israel's Foreign Ministry has prepared an aid plan for the refugees of Darfur which it will submit to the cabinet for approval in the coming days. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Haaretz that the ministry's aid plan is intended to help relieve the "intolerable situation" in Darfur. "As I said when I spoke before the United Nations last year, there are certain places in which the world must act."

Sudan has asked a UN team to travel to Darfur to evaluate the status and needs of 45,000 men, women and children who have crossed over from Chad in the last three months. Gathered in camps near the Sudanese border post of Foro Baranga, West Darfur, they appear to be Arab nomads, but it is not clear if they are refugees fleeing conflict in Chad. "The Sudanese government has asked us to provide assistance," UNHCR spokeswoman Helene Caux told Reuters in Geneva. "At this point we don't know who they are and we need more information—are they refugees or nomads, have some been fighters in Chad? We have to determine their status."

The Chinese foreign ministry has announced the appointment of a new special representative to Africa and confirmed plans to send 275 military engineers for UN peacekeeping operations. The move comes just as China is coming under international criticism for its economic and military support of the Sudanese regime. In an open letter to President Hu Jintao earlier this week, 108 US congressmen warned that the 2008 Beijing Olympics could be marred by protests if there was no change in the host nation's position on Sudan. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu refuted the charges, saying China's non-confrontational approach to Sudan is yielding results: "We hope to solve the issue by political means, so we are ready to make joint efforts with the international community, including the US." She said the new special representative on African affairs, Liu Guijin, would focus on solving the Darfur crisis. (The Guardian, May 11)