20100330
SABC

The 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Premier Soccer League chairperson Irvin Khoza has dismissed reports that he is behind a plot to overthrow the newly elected South African Football Association (Safa) leadership under Kirsten Nematandani.

Such talk follows weekend newspaper reports that Khoza has already had meetings to seek support from top government officials and ANC leadership for him to take over as president of SAFA. It was also reported that Khoza was lobbying Safa structures to cast a motion of no confidence in Nematandani after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Khoza says he deliberately ignored all negative media reports since he withdrew from Safa's presidential race for the sake of unity in local football. He says he will not put his selfish interests ahead of the interests of the country. Khoza says he has already written the letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter to explain his stance.

Khoza says he has already had a meeting with LOC chief executive Danny Jordaan and they have agreed to work tirelessly to ensure that there is a lasting legacy in South African football post the World Cup.

He says the last Safa meeting held over the past weekend took a resolution that there should not be any negative media coverage leading up to the World Cup in June.

20100330
SABC

Taxi bosses in the Western Cape decided at a formal meeting of the various associations and unions today to put any strike actions on hold for the time being.

Western Cape Provincial Taxi Alliance (WCPTA) spokesperson Mvuyisi Mente, says they have received a formal response from the MEC of Transport and Public Works, Robin Carlisle, after last Tuesday's taxi strike that caused havoc in the Mother City.

Commuters had to scramble to find alternative transport due to the strike whilst angry taxi bosses and operators illegally marched on the department last week demanding, among others, that the alleged harassment of their members and the impounding of vehicles should stop.But the department refused to speak to operators unless unruly behaviour seized.

In a formal response dated the 26th of March, the department acknowledged the memorandum of grievances. Mente says they hope to sit down with the department and all tiers of law enforcement soon for a formal meeting to discuss concerns before the World Cup which kicks off on June 11.

WCPTA spokesperson, Mvuyisi Mente, says: "Carlisle highlighted issues that we have raised with him before. When he opens up the door to talk, within ten days we need to solve everything because we are left with no time."

30100330
presstv

An 11,000-ton cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden does not belong to Iran, a state media reports.

The Bermuda-flagged ship, named Talca, belongs to a firm based in the Virgin Islands, IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

The Talca left the Egyptian port of Sokhna for the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr in Iran, carrying $4 million worth of oranges. The ship was hijacked 120 nautical miles (222 km) off the coast of Oman on March 23.

The vessel was carrying 5,000 tons of oranges to Iran when it was seized by pirates while passing outside the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).

As the Indian Ocean-Red Sea Corridor has become notorious for pirate attacks, the IRTC 'secure' corridor has been established, and ships are advised to travel in convoys.

The hijacked ship has 25-strong crew, including 23 Sri Lankans, plus a Filipino and a Syrian national on board, the report added.

Despite the presence of warships and maritime patrol aircrafts aimed at securing the busy transit route, Somali pirates have stepped up their attacks in recent months.

20100330
africanews

Zimbabwean artist Owen Maseko has sought bail after being arrested under public order and security laws. Maseko was staging an exhibition in Bulawayo about the 1980s Matabeleland massacres carried out by troops loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

Reports out of Zimbabwe say the artist was arrested at the National Gallery in Bulawayo along with the gallery curator.

Maseko faces incitement charges and spent the weekend in jail.

According to human rights campaigners, the Public Order and Security Act is being used to stifle political dissent in Zimbabwe.

Maseko's arrest comes just days after police closed a photography exhibition in Harare showing recent human rights violations by Mugabe's supporters.

One of the main subjects of the Bulawayo exhibition was the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Ndebeles in Matabeleland by the Zimbabwe military after the country achieved independence in 1980.

They were accused of supporting Mugabe's political rival, Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe is currently in a power-sharing government with another long-time opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai.

But Tsvangirai's supporters say they are still being persecuted by the security forces.

20100330
africanews

Former Nigerian striker Samson Siasia currently champions the new generation of African coaches, having successfully led Nigeria's Flying Eagles to the final of the 2005 Under-20 World Cup against Argentina and winning Olympic Silver Medals with the Under-23 team in 2008.

He was part of the Nigerian squad that made Africa proud at the USA ‘94 World Cup, after clinching a continental title earlier that year.

The 42-year-old, who now shares his time between coaching and running his football institute - SiaOne Soccer Academy - based in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, takes a look at the fitness of African teams before South Africa 2010.

AfricaNews: You have tasted both sides of the soccer career, as a player and coach, which did you enjoy more?

Samson Siasia: Both give beautiful experiences, but I feel more relaxed and less feverish being a player. You’d be there listening to your coach and doing your best to play your role in the team. If anything goes wrong you aren’t the only one to handle it, it’s for the whole team. But as a coach, the whole pressure is on you. You hardly catch sleep, because the blames will fall on you if the team fails, whether you caused it or not.

AfricaNews: South Africa 2010 is three months away; how do you rate African representatives?

Samson Siasia: I don’t think African teams are set if we’re to judge by the last African Nations Cup. African representatives for the World Cup are in ugly posture. Teams like Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria and Nigeria did not display encouraging performances. Their back lines were so porous, making them to concede too many goals. You don’t do that at a World Cup. Only Ghana seem to be dependable.

AfricaNews: As a coach, what do you think African teams lack at this stage and what should be done before the kick off of South Africa 2010?

Samson Siasia: Look, football takes place in the midfield. That’s where the game is cooked. That’s where the forwards feed from. That’s where the defence relies on to do its work. African teams need to work on their midfield. Be capable of holding and circulating the ball there and then creating a number of goal-scoring chances for the strikers. If you can observe very well, you’ll see that African teams concentrate too much on the attack, except for Egypt. The attack can’t be efficient without a dense midfield.

AfricaNews: Are you sure an African team would make it far?

Samson Siasia: I am afraid, but you’ve got to get the job done so long as you’re there as a qualified team. Besides game work, Africa teams need more aggression. They should be mentally strong, believe in themselves and go out there regarding themselves equal to every other team coming to South Africa 2010.

AfricaNews: Ivory Coast is one of the most potentially solid teams in Africa, but they keep flopping in major tournaments, what are they suffering from and how do we cure that before the World Cup?

Samson Siasia: Ivory Coast were supposed to be the best team in Africa at the moment, considering the bunch of awesome talents they carry, but they keep flopping in major tournaments, it’s painful. I think Ivory Coast’s problem is lack concentration, weak defence, slacking midfield and I suspect ego problems among the players. Such problems should be kept at home and not to be brought along to the pitch.

AfricaNews: Can you coach Ivory Coast?

Samson Siasia: Why not? But the problem is that African Football Federations are slaves to White coaches.

AfricaNews: Do you think hosting the World Cup in South Africa will favour African teams?

Samson Siasia: I don’t think so. The crowd won’t play for you, don’t count on them. See, Africa has some of the worst and unfaithful supporters in the world. When their team starts loosing they lose courage or start supporting the adversary team.

AfricaNews: Can you place the African representatives (teams) in order of strength and chances at the World Cup?

Samson Siasia: It’s hard to say at this point, but I think Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Algeria and South Africa will not be a bad chart.

AfricaNews: Can you predict the teams that will get to the quarter finals?

Samson Siasia: No! No sane coach will tell you a thing.

AfricaNews: Can you predict the finalists and eventually the winner?

Samson Siasia: Never, those who did in the past failed.

20100330
africanews

Nigerian police and immigration agents are on alert after text messages threatened new violence by a radical Islamic sect, authorities said.

The increased security presence comes after police received text messages that promised the group would rise again and attack around Maiduguri.

Violence between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria has left more than 500 people dead since the start of the year, sparking recent calls from an al-Qaida-affiliated Web site for a Muslim uprising against Christians.

Officers set up checkpoints in armoured tanks around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where rioting by the Islamic sect Boko Haram and an ensuing police crackdown left 700 people dead. Immigration agents in the state that borders Chad, Niger and Cameroon also are watching for Boko Haram members who may cross the border to spark new violence in the area, said Adamu Isa Azare, an assistant superintendent of police in Borno.

"We are not (sure) if it is Boko Haram per se, because some people we are yet to identify were just sending text messages to people that there was going to be attacks," Azare said. "For this reason, we stepped up our security apparatus as proactive measures to ensure we were not caught unaware. We want to ensure the people are well-policed. We don't want to take anything for granted."

Azare also asked the public to call authorities if they saw large groups of unfamiliar people moving into the region.

20100330
africanews

South Sudanese authorities arrested and beat seven members of the opposition party, a senior party member said on Monday.

South Sudan's semi-autonomous government's democratic credentials will be scrutinized in April's first multi-party presidential and legislative elections in 24 years especially as many believe southerners will vote to secede in a January 2011 referendum, creating Africa's newest nation state.

"They arrested nine people, including two journalists, and beat them up," said Charles Kisanga, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) Secretary General, adding that they were released after 90 minutes.

The SPLM-DC, headed by former foreign minister Lam Akol, split last year from the mainstream SPLM which dominates 80 percent of the southern government.

The elections and referendum are benchmarks of a 2005 north-south peace deal ending 22 years of civil war, which claimed two million lives and destabilised the region.

When Akol and his team flew into Wau, south Sudan, on Sunday they were kept on their plane for an hour as local security agents wanted to disarm Akol's bodyguards, Kisanga said.

"Then the security organs of the state aligned to the SPLM said they wanted to arrest us saying we came without prior information," Kisanga said.

The SPLM's deputy secretary general, Anne Itto, told journalists on Monday that she had not heard about the Wau arrests or any other arrests in the south during her trips with South Sudan President Salva Kiir's campaign team.

Most analysts say that Akol is unlikely to win but that he may pull some voters, tired of graft in the post-war government.

Agents from the SPLM-DC have been arrested before in several places in the south, including Western Bahr el Ghazal district where Sunday's arrests took place. In one case four party agents were jailed for several months.

Independent candidates Anglina Teny in Unity State and Joseph Bakosoro in Western Equatoria have also complained that their supporters have been arrested and stopped from travelling.

20100330
africanew

The cholera death toll in Zambia has risen from 11 to 49 since it was last reported on October 23, 2009. Health authorities in the southern African state say to date, 2514 cases of cholera have been recorded nationwide with Lusaka having the highest number of cases, followed by the mining region of Copperbelt and then southern Zambia.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Reuben Kamoto Mbewe told reporters the death toll had risen from 11 to 49 as at Monday, March 22, 2010.

Mbewe said, his department is working round the clock to ensure that the outbreak does not escalate and take a toll on more lives.

“I wish to state that as a way of controlling the spread of cholera, the Ministry of Health would like to discourage unnecessary public gathering which mostly raise health hazards,” he said.

Several parts of Zambia are under severe flooding following days of heavy rains.
Close to 1000 people in Lusaka alone have been evacuated from their usual habitants to a makeshift site on higher grounds outside the Independence Stadium, north of Lusaka.

Fears are growing that the rising population at the temporal campsite might spark a humanitarian crisis as demand for basic social and sanitary services continues to grow.

Zambia is yet to declare the flood surge a national disaster and win the support of the international community.

President Rupiah Banda’s administration has remained confident that it will handle the flood surge while the opposition continues to accuse government of failing Zambians by not declaring the floods a national disaster.

20100330

africanews

Hundreds of Mogadishu residents are protesting against the Al Qaeda linked group of Al-shabaab in Somalia.
somalia 1.JPG
The protesters, mostly women and children, chanted words against Al-Shabaab operations to dig up graves of old clerics in the capital Mogadishu.

The protesters also declared their support for the weak Somali government led by former Islamist union courts in Mogadishu Sharif Sh Ahmed.

Muhyadin Hassan Afrah, Head of Mogadishu’s civil society umbrella group, said residents were protesting against Al-Shabaab’s actions to destroy the tombs of respected Sufi clerics. Sufi clerics are old religious teachers in Somalia.

But Al-Shabaab spokesman said people are worshipping the remains of the dead bodies in tombs. "That is why we want to eradicate them, because there is nothing to worship or to ask help from but Allah," Ali Mohamed Husein, the head of al-Shabab told reporters in Mogadishu.

Sheikh Somow, member of Ahlu Sunna group in Mogadishu, called for a holy war against Al-Shabaab.

The demonstration was the second public protest against Al-Shabaab, which runs much of southern Somalia, while Somali government controls a few parts of the capital, where Africa Union have 5000 strong troops.

Somalia has not had an affective government since warlords overthrew long time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

20100330

AfricaNews

The Office for Ethiopian Government Communication Affairs (OEGCA) has criticized the recent Human Rights Watch's (HRW) report.

The statement, which labelled HRW as ‘mercenaries of neo-liberal extremist forces’, said that Ethiopia cannot be deterred from pursuing democratic and development path by series of pressures of organizations such as HRW.

OEGCA stated that any attempt intended to rock the nation whenever there is an election and any attempt being made to manipulate the country by mercenaries of neo liberal extremist forces would be futile.

The statement said the government has tried to create an opportunity to the people of the Human Rights Watch to discuss ways of working together for constructive objectives while they were in Addis a few months ago.

Instead of using the opportunity for constructive purpose, the leaders of Human Rights Watch have launched new anti-Ethiopia campaign, the statement said.

In its report released March 24, 2010 Human Rights Watch said that the Ethiopian government is waging a coordinated and sustained attack on political opponents, journalists, and rights activists ahead of the May 23, 2010 elections.

Punishment

The 59-page report, "‘One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure': Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia," documents the myriad ways in which the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has systematically punished opposition supporters.

Responding to these allegations, the OEGCA said that the government had carried out an investigation concerning the allegation reported by Human Rights Watch saying a massacre of people took place in Ogaden two years ago.

According tonewbusinessethiopia.com the investigation had found that the people who were alleged to have been massacred were alive while the villages which were alleged to have been burnt were not actually burnt. The investigation had also found that those ‘chat’ plantations which were alleged to have been destroyed were also found untouched.

The statement further said the government had made official the results of its investigation in case Human Rights Watch and the likes would refrain from their anti-Ethiopia campaign.

However, the statement said, Human Rights Watch had issued a report under a topic "One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure: Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia", which it says shows how the organization is bent on interfering in the internal affairs of Ethiopia.

It further said the fact that the attempt being made by the Human Rights Watch and the likes, whose opportunity of manipulating Ethiopia had been closed following the promulgation of the new Civil Societies and Charities Law, to order federal and regional governments shows that they never refrain from tarnishing the image of Ethiopia.

If the leaders of Human Rights Watch and the likes are truly concerned to issues of human rights, they should have seen the positive sides such as the election code of conduct governing political parties that was adopted following democratic negotiations, and establishment of joint political parties’ council, the statement said.

It also said they should have also appreciated the measure taken to drop the charges of 181 persons in relation with the 2005 post election period violence.

“These parties have also forgotten that the Ethiopian government had pardoned opposition political leaders who were convicted of instigating violence during the 2005 elections and the media access in which opposition political parties had been enjoying at the period, which was made possible by the government,” OEGCA said.

DAKAR, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Since Gen. Sekouba Konate became Guinea's interim president in January, there has been hope that the Ougadougou peace deal signed in the month will be implemented to end the crisis in Guinea, observers in Dakar say.

For months, Konate has been promoting a process to implement the agreement with the creation of the National Transition Council (CNT), the appointment of a prime minister from the opposition and a planned presidential vote within six months.

His latest move to carry out the Ouagadougou accord came on March 14, when he promulgated a decree, vowing not to contest in the upcoming elections, just as all the other members of the transition government.

"None of the transition actors, regardless of their positions, will be a candidate in the forthcoming elections," he pledged while addressing to the troops at Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo.

Optimism also comes from the fact that on Jan. 21, the interim president named Jean Marie Dore, the leader of the opposition Union for Guinea's Progress (UPG), as the prime minister in conformity with the Ouagadougou accord.

Dore was then the spokesman of the pressure groups, a coalition of opposition parties, civil society and trade unions, which were opposed to the military junta's National Council for Development and Democracy (CNDD).

The CNDD was created by the junta after seizing power on Dec. 23, 2008, taking advantage of the death of president Lansana Conte.

The forming of a national unity government came three weeks after the appointment of Dore and then the CNT headed by the secretary general of Guinea's National Workers Confederation, Rabiatou Serah Diallo.

Comprising 101 members of civil society, trade unions, political parties and the CNDD, the council is charged with the duty of the National Assembly, which was dissolved by the military junta.

The interim president has also confirmed through a presidential decree that on June 27, 2010, the date proposed by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), the first round of the presidential elections will be held.

Such acts are seen as likely to restore stability in Guinea.

"Today there's hope that there will be elections in Guinea. I do not think, considering the prevailing situation, that there will be any problem. General Konate is implementing the Ouagadougou accords," affirmed Alioune Tine, the president of an NGO called the African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO), one of the actors in Guinea's peace process.

According to him, there is no longer any fear even from the army side. "But we must at this time help Konate to continue with the military reforms," he added.

"We know that there is general Lamine Cisse who was sent by the ECOWAS (Economic Community for West African States) and who has a lot of experience in dealing with difficult situations and on whom we must count. With his competence and experience, if there are adequate means, then the army reforms should be done," Tine explained.

However, the RADDHO president thinks that the support of the international community should continue even after the elections.

This is because "Guinea is a weak state, the administration is almost inexistent. They must be helped in all the domains," he recommended.

On his part, Senegalese political scientist Babacar Justin Ndiaye remains cautious in his analysis of the Guinean situation.

"The Guinean political scene is always slippery and consequently can go either way and disapprove the optimism of a number of observers," he said.

However, he admitted that "general Konate seems to be disinterested in politics and therefore could go ahead and implement the Ouagadougou accord."

On the other hand, he said, Konate might not be totally out of the military circles where there is the existence "of groups still opposed to transition, those with the nostalgia of their authority and some who still have Moussa Dadis Camara's ghostly thoughts."

Camara, the junta's No. 1, agreed to hand over power to his deputy Konate under the Ouagadougou peace deal and has stayed in Burkina Faso for medical treatment of wounds after shot in the head by an aide-de-camp on Dec. 3, 2009. E

NEW DELHI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have seized eight boats with nearly 120 Indian sailors taken hostage on their way from Somalia to Dubai, reported local TV channel Times Now on Tuesday.

The report quoted relatives of one of the sailors as saying they appealed to the government for help in securing the release of the sailors.

The report also said the hijacked Indian vessels have been traced near Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

The sailors belong to the Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat state in western India, said the report.

They had anchored last in the rebel territory of Kismayo in Somalia where they loaded cargo into their boats. After they left the port, pirates captured them. So far, the pirates have not asked for any ransom, according to the report.

The Indian Navy have confirmed the hijacking and said efforts are being made to contact the pirates and get the Indians back safely, said the report.

2010-03-30
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Africa's economy is likely to grow by an average 4.3 percent this year from just 1.6 percent in 2009, but poverty could still increase as there may not be an similar increase in employment, a U.N. report said on Tuesday.

The United Nations' Economic Commission for Africa report predicted that oil exporting countries in the sub-Saharan region, which excludes North Africa, would grow by 5.1 percent in 2010 while oil importers would expand by 4.9 percent.

The projections are well short of the 7 percent needed to achieve the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015, it said, adding that the growth rates were not enough to create large numbers of jobs.

"This means that unemployment and vulnerable employment as well as working poverty in Africa are likely to increase in 2010," said the report, released at an African Union finance and economics ministers conference.

The Commission also said inflation in southern African countries could rise to double-digit figures because of lagged effects from high oil and food prices in the region.

"Malawi's headline inflation for 2010 is forecast to rest at 10 percent, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola would rest at 10.2 percent, 14.6 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively," it said in its report.

The issue of creating good jobs to lift millions out of poverty dominated the two-day meeting of senior government officials in the Malawi capital, Lilongwe.

Despite growth averaging 5 percent or more in much of the previous decade, millions of Africans still live below the breadline as the economic gains have failed to translate into more and better jobs.

Fallout from the global economic crisis last year has only exacerbated the situation.

"The problem is widespread; of the four countries studied, economic growth was accompanied by increasing unemployment in three of them, while the fourth showed a drastic rise in informal sector employment," the report said.

"The problem of high and rising unemployment persists, making it difficult for the continent to reduce poverty rapidly."

Growth will be driven by demand for African exports -- in most cases oil and minerals -- and continued fiscal and monetary stimulus.

While the developed world has started raising interest rates, many African economies are still easing monetary policy.

South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, cut interest rates by a shock 50 basis points last week, taking its repo rate to the lowest in decades. Ghana has also cut rates and indicated further monetary loosening as inflation moderates.

The report also said Africa needed to look at ways of mobilising its own capital to finance investment and growth.

"The current global economic crisis has demonstrated the vulnerability of Africa to the fortunes of the global economy. It has also demonstrated that Africa cannot rely on external sources to finance its development in a sustainable way."

2010-03-30
NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel

clinched a deal on Tuesday to buy most of the African operations of Kuwait's Zain for $9 billion, making it the No.2 cellular firm on the African continent and setting India's biggest carrier a tough financial and management challenge.

The two companies, which entered exclusive talks in mid-February, signed a legally binding definitive agreement in Amsterdam, where Zain's Africa subsidiary is based, Bharti said in a statement.

Bharti said the acquisition -- the second biggest overseas purchase by an Indian company after Tata Steel's $13 billion purchase of Corus in 2007 -- would make it the world's fifth-largest wireless company with operations across 18 countries and with a total customer base of about 179 million.

"We are excited at the growth opportunities in Africa, the continent of hope and opportunity," Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal said in the statement.

Zain said in a separate statement that it intended to distribute a large proportion of the upfront net proceeds from the deal to shareholders in the form of dividends, subject to approval and the repayment of its $4 billion revolving credit facility.

"The transaction allows Zain to focus on its highly cash generative operations in the Middle East and to substantially improve its balance sheet," said Zain Chief Executive Nabeel Bin Salamah.

CHALLENGES TO FACE

Bharti, which is 32 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications, selected Zain as its second choice for building a major presence in Africa after it twice failed to finalise tie-ups with South Africa's MTN, the continent's biggest operator.

The Indian company is facing ferocious competition at home and betting that the opportunities in Africa are worth the risks of operating there and is paying what many regard as a full price, at 10 times enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) as a cost of entry.

The deal will give Bharti 42 million subscribers in 15 African countries, but still needs regulatory clearances.

In a sign of the challenges Bharti may face, the government of the small central African nation of Gabon on Monday weighed in against the deal, saying Zain Gabon had not complied with regulations and that it reserved the right to take "all necessary measures".

Bharti's Sunil Mittal told India's CNBC TV18 in an interview over the phone from Amsterdam that he did not see any issue with Gabon.

"Not only Gabon, every other country...I have no doubt there will be tremendous support," Mittal said, adding only a few countries will require specific approvals, which will be filed "in the coming days".

Minority ownership of Zain's operations in Nigeria, the biggest market in the deal, is also in dispute.

South Africa-based Econet Wireless Holdings, which owns 5 percent of Zain's Nigerian assets, is seeking to overturn a 2006 deal by Zain -- then called Celltel -- in which it bought a majority stake in Nigerian mobile operator Vee Networks Ltd, now called Zain Nigeria.

"We're happy to work with our local Nigerian partners. In the coming weeks we'll sit with them and assure them of our strategy for Nigeria," Mittal said in the TV interview.

Bharti director Akhil Gupta told the channel that "sufficient indemnities" were in place in the event of any problems with the transaction.

2010-03-30
JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - The junior partner in Sudan's coalition government may unite with opposition parties to boycott April elections in the north to defend free and fair voting, a senior party official said on Tuesday.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday warned former rebel group Sudan People's Liberation Movement if it boycotted the election there would be no southern referendum on secession in 2011, heightening tensions in Africa's largest country.

But SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum dismissed Bashir's warning, "In the case of northern Sudan, if the political parties boycott the elections in defence of free and fair elections in the north, the SPLM will join them."

"He is threatening the people of southern Sudan to obstruct the right of referendum -- this is a very dangerous position."

A Tuesday meeting between Bashir and his deputy, SPLM chief Salva Kiir, was cancelled abruptly because Bashir's National Congress Party refused to add opposition concerns to the agenda.

Bashir's NCP and the SPLM signed a 2005 peace deal ending more than 20 years of civil war. The accord gave the south its own semi-autonomous government and formed a coalition government in Khartoum.

But SPLM officials have said the NCP remained in full control of authority and their own ministers were "rubber stamps". Relations are at an all-time low and Monday's comment was the first time Bashir had threatened the secession vote.

The first multi-party presidential and legislative polls in 24 years are to begin on April 11, but opposition parties accuse the National Elections Commission of bias towards the NCP, which the commission denies.

On Tuesday, the latest in a string of errors emerged as the government agency charged with printing presidential and governors' voting papers, said it had only printed presidential ballots in Arabic. South Sudan is mostly English-speaking.

The NEC error adds to a string of problems with the polls, already some of the most complex in the world with 1,000 different ballots and with voters making at least eight different votes.

International observers said hundreds of thousands of names were missing from the electoral register and opposition parties are outraged by a NEC decision to allow a state-owned printing press to print ballots and the voter registration books.

"We were given designs for the ballots in Arabic only," Mahmoud Osman al-Tayyib, production manager at the governmental Sudanese Currency Printing Press told Reuters.

One official from the National Elections Commission said the error was due to haste and that lists of candidates in English were being sent to southern voting centres as a reference for those who could not understand Arabic.

Another NEC member Mokhtar al-Asam told Reuters, "As long as the party symbols and pictures are there it should be fine."

But the SPLM said the error was deliberate and aimed at excluding southern voters. With 25 percent of the electorate in the south, the SPLM's presidential candidate Yasir Arman is widely seen as Bashir's biggest competitor.

"I don't think it's an error, it's a calculated thing," said senior SPLM official Waleed Hamid.

"They are taking Sudan into chaos."

2010-03-30
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has started installing body scanners at international airports, a senior aviation official said on Tuesday, three months after one of its citizens was suspected of trying to blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane.

The scanners, which generate an image of the body and identify unusual objects, have caused unease among some human rights campaigners who fear an invasion of passengers' privacy.

"We've started in Lagos and we still have to get and install scanners in the other international airports in Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja," Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) spokesman Akin Olukunle said.

He said staff were being trained and the machines would begin operation once the public had been prepared for their use.

"It is part of beefing security at airports to ensure that we are operating at international standards ... We have to move with the trends and the full-body scanner is one security measure among others," he said.

The United States put Nigeria on a list of countries needing tighter air security after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested on suspicion of trying to set off a bomb on board a Detroit-bound airliner in December using materials hidden in his underwear.

Investigators say Abdulmutallab boarded the U.S. flight at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, which already has 15 body scanners and plans to install more, after flying there from Lagos.

Nigeria's aviation minister said in January the West African country would soon allow U.S.-trained air marshals on flights to the United States in a further effort to boost security.

2010-03-30
CARNARVON, South Africa (Reuters) - Africa stands a good chance of beating Australia in a race to host the world's most powerful radio telescope able to peer back billions of years in time, a South African minister said on Tuesday.

An international panel is expected to announce the winner from the two shortlisted continents in 2012, enabling the victor to host the 1.5 billion euro Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, which will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any other radio imaging telescope built.

"It is a huge endeavour we are undertaking," Naledi Pandor, South Africa's minister of science and technology, said at the Northern Cape location identified as the core site for the new telescope if the African bid succeeds.

"We believe we have a good chance of being successful," she said. "SKA represents an unprecedented opportunity for the development of scientific and technological skills and expertise in Africa."

The SKA telescope would eventually consist of about 3,000 antennas, half of them concentrated at the main site on the outskirts of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, with the rest distributed in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Zambia.

Already at Carnarvon, chosen because of minimal interference from cell phones or broadcast transmitters, South Africa has built the first seven antennas of its Karoo Array Telescope.

"The SKA will look back into the beginnings of the universe, over 12 billion years ago, when galaxies started to form out of the Big Bang. We will be able to study the evolution of the universe," project scientist Deborah Shepherd told Reuters.

The SKA telescope will also be able to scan for alien life in distant galaxies, shed light on so-called "dark energy" which is causing the universe to expand, and probe the first black holes and stars. SKA is expected to be fully operational by 2022 with an expected lifespan of at least 50 years.

Shepherd said data from SKA could be used together with studies at the CERN super-collider project, where sub-atomic particles are being smashed to recreate conditions that gave rise to the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

Pandor said South Africa had allocated 234 million rand for two stages of building at the Karoo site, and had international funding commitments for the larger SKA project.

"The U.S has indicated that it might provide 40 percent of the total (1.5 bln euro) cost, while ... France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will together provide another 40 percent," she said.

2010-03-30
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The Italian firm building Africa's biggest hydropower dam in Ethiopia on Tuesday denied allegations that the dam would deprive 200,000 self-sufficient people of a living and make them dependent on aid.

The ethnic rights group Survival International said last week that the dam would disrupt fishing and farming and displace more than 200,000 people, among them the Kwegu and Hamar tribes.

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"The project will not cause drought: the dam will not block the flow of water to the river indefinitely, but merely redistribute it during the course of the year," Salini Costruttori said in a statement.

"Activities connected to the local fishing trade will not be destroyed. Agriculture will be able to benefit from a constant supply of water through the year."

The Gibe 111 dam, costing 1.4 billion euros and expected to generate 1,800 megawatts, is one of five Ethiopia is building in a drive to beat power shortages and export electricity. It will almost double current Ethiopian capacity of just under 2,000 MW.

Survival International director Stephen Corry said last week that no respectable body should fund "this atrocious project.

An SI representative who did not wish to be named said then that the dam would ruin the economy of those living near it.

"It will end the annual flooding some rely on to make the land they farm fertile, and for tribes who rely on fishing, it will deplete stocks. They will need aid."

The Ethiopian government has said that people affected by hydropower dams will be compensated or relocated.

Ethiopia is negotiating funding for Gibe 111, whose construction began in 2006, with the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Italian government.

Hydropower supplies about 90 percent of Ethiopia's electricity, and the country plans to spend $12 billion over 25 years on generating plant with the aim of exporting to a continent where shortages are common despite abundant potential resources of solar, hydro and other power.

2010-03-30
ABUJA (Reuters) - A Nigerian civil rights group on Tuesday lost its appeal against the shut down of its chat forums on Facebook and Twitter that criticise the practice of Islamic law in northern states.

An Islamic appeals court upheld last week's ruling for the Association of the Muslim Brotherhood of Nigeria, which sought to censor debate on the social networking sites over an amputation case that occurred 10 years ago.

"The sharia (Islamic) court judge just finished judgment and upheld the ban of Facebook and Twitter," said Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress.

The rights group began the debate on Facebook and Twitter two weeks ago, asking members for their opinions over the amputation of a peasant farmer's hand in March 2000 after he was convicted by an Islamic court for stealing a cow.

Sani said he started the discussion to highlight what he believes is the unfair practice of sharia law by Nigeria's northern states. The chat forums were shut down last week following the lower court's ruling.

Africa's most populous nation is roughly equally divided between a mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.

More than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side but there have been regular outbreaks of violence, particularly in the "Middle Belt" separating the north and south, where sectarian clashes have killed hundreds this year.

Islamic jurisprudence in Nigeria is based on the moderate Maliki school of Sunni Islam.

The enforcement of sharia law in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states in 2000 alienated sizeable Christian minorities in the north and sparked clashes which killed thousands.

2010-03-30
BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic will delay its presidential election by three weeks to May 16, a presidential decree said on Tuesday.

The poll, the first since President Francois Bozize won a five-year term in 2005, had been set for April 25 but donor countries and the electoral commission said a free and fair vote would not be possible by this date.

"The president, following the suggestion of the president of the electoral commission ... orders that presidential and legislative elections will be held on Sunday, May 16, 2010," the decree said.

Earlier this month Bozize accepted opposition calls to push back the election date in the country that holds deposits of gold, uranium and diamonds, but has been bedevilled by internal rebellions that have discouraged large-scale investment.

Bozize, who came to power in a 2003 coup, has held talks with rebels and unarmed challengers, but many insurgent groups continue to operate in the north, close to the border with Chad, while opposition parties have said they fear the election will be rigged.