Your daily selection of IRIN Africa English reports, 1/19/2015

	humanitarian news and analysis

Table of contents 1. Eyewitness: Malawi's floods 2. Violence, arrests and mistrust ahead of Burundi polls 3. Nice and dirty – the importance of soil Eyewitness: Malawi's floods NAIROBI, 16 January 2015 (IRIN) - The scale and impact of the current flooding in southern Malawi seems to have caught the authorities by surprise. Some areas were deluged with a month's worth of rain in 24 hours, and forecasts suggest there is more to come. Read report online

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Violence, arrests and mistrust ahead of Burundi polls

BUJUMBURA, 16 January 2015 (IRIN) - This year's polls are supposed to move Burundi further away from a conflict-blighted past towards stable democracy. But a major battle with unidentified rebels, the arrest of politicians and increasing mistrust between the government and opposition are creating a tense electoral climate.
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Nice and dirty – the importance of soil

NAIROBI, 16 January 2015 (IRIN) - Be it laterite, loam, peat or clay, soil is life. It's the foundation of food security, and so the UN has declared 2015 as the year to draw attention to the stuff.
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