A Kenyan court on Wednesday charged eight Somalis seized during a British naval operation off the coast of the lawless Horn of Africa country last week for hijacking a shipping vessel.

The suspects, wearing blue uniforms, pleaded not guilty to the charge of piracy before Mombasa chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi.

NAIROBI, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called Saturday for a quick end to Sudan's political crisis, following talks with the leader of the semi-autonomous region of South Sudan, Salva Kiir.

Kibaki, whose country was the lead negotiator in ending a two-decade conflict in South Sudan two years ago, also said he had 'contacted (Sudanese) President Omar al-Beshir on the latest crisis,' according to a statement.

NAIROBI, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - The Kenya Wildlife Service chief pilot has gone missing the country's central region with the helicopter he was flying, the agency announced Saturday.

Retired Major Solomon Nyanjui, the head of KWS airwing, left the capital with the helicopter on Thursday for a one-day trip but has not returned, KWS spokesman Paul Udoto said in a statement.

NAIROBI, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Rival Kenyan tribes clashed Friday, killing at least two civilians and wounding several others in a Rift Valley district beset by ethnic rivalries and fights, police said.

Dozens of houses were torched when suspected Kipsigis youth stole livestock from Kikuyu rivals, sparking clashes in Molo district, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northwest of Nairobi, Rift Valley's Deputy Police Commander James Ngului said.

NAIROBI, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Doctors in central Kenya have successfully removed an empty half-litre (one-pint) beer bottle from a man's colon, a report said Friday, but how it got there remains a mystery.

The 26-centimetre (10-inch) bottle was removed on Monday from the colon of the 33-year-old man after two operations in a Kiambu District Hospital, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital, the Daily Metro newspaper reported.

NAIROBI, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The family of a Kenyan man transferred to the US Guantanamo Bay detention facility early this year on Thursday sued the government in a bid to have him returned, according to court documents.

Mohammed Abdul Malik, 37 was transferred to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in March on suspicion of involvement in the 2002 bombing attacks of an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

NAIROBI, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Kenyan special envoy to Sudan on Wednesday pleaded with the country's government and ex-southern rebels to start dialogue aimed at ending a crisis that threatens the landmark peace agreement.

Kenyan former president Daniel arap Moi made the appeal days after the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew from the government of national unity, accusing the National Congress Party (NCP) of balking in implementating the accord.

NAIROBI, Oct 16, 2007 (AFP) - More than half of Kenya's 102,000 children with HIV lack access to anti-retroviral drugs, a key setback in the fight against AIDS, the country's top physician said Monday.

Of the total figure, only 13,000 have access to life-prolonging drugs while more than 60,000 are in dire need of them, said Director of Medical Services James Nyikal while launching a Clinton Foundation-supported programme to put an additional 10,000 children under ARV therapy by year-end.

NAIROBI, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - A South African-led consortium will invest 29 million dollars (20.4 million euros) in the 106-year-old Kenya-Uganda Railway by June next year to revitalise operations on the decrepit track.

The Kenyan and Ugandan governments handed over the money-losing colonial-era railway to Rift Valley Railways Consortium (RVRC) under a 25-year concession last year, and the company will pay an initial five-million-dollar fee to Nairobi and Kampala plus 11.1 percent of gross revenue.

NAIROBI, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Nairobi Stock Exchange has lost 230 million shillings (3.4 million dollars) over the past month owing to campaigns ahead of year-end general elections, Kenya's Finance Minister Amos Kimunya said Sunday.

Kimunya said market capitalization -- the value of companies at the NSE -- which previously stood at 830 billion shillings (12.48 million dollars) has dropped to 600 billion shillings (9.02 million dollars).