20100729
africanews

The Zimbabwe Football Federation, ZFF, has announced the suspension of its Chief Executive Officer, Henrietta Rushwaya on suspicion of fixing the national team's matches during a tour of Asia last year.

20100729
africanews

Two separate highway accidents have killed 13 people over the weekend in Cameroon. Ten people slept lifeless on the highway linking the economic capital, Douala and political capital, Yaounde on Sunday when their bus crashed into a stationary truck at Sikoum near Edea.

20100729
africanews

Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika has given the nod to change the national flag of the Southern African country, according to the Speaker for the National Assembly, Henry Chimunthu-Banda. The news follows wa Mutharika's assent to the Flag Change bill after a 21-day grace period.

20100729
africanews

A man in Kwa Kwa village in Mbonge sub-division in the South West region of Cameroon has reportedly been roasted to death for allegedly killing his girlfriend Akwe Angeline Tenjoh.

506089
An Islamist group, Hizbul Islam, has rejoined the struggle against the Transitional Federal Government and the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia (Amisom). The group, led by hardliner cleric, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, on Tuesday attacked Amisom positions in Hodon District in South Mogadishu.

About 20 people died and scores were injured, according to ambulance servicemen in Mogadishu. Sheikh Mohamed Osman Arus, the spokesman of Hizbul Islam said the assaults on Tuesday were just a preparation for even more violent attacks during the upcoming holy month of Ramadhan, the fasting month for Muslims around the world.

Call for ceasefire
Ramadhan is expected to start mid next month and various groups in Somalia, including government officials, have asked all sides to observe a ceasefire. The attack followed a statement issued by Sheikh Aweys on Monday that his combatants were to start a jihad against the TFG and Amisom peacekeepers.
However, observers of the local jihad suggest that al-Shabaab, another radical lslamist group, could be responsible for Hizbul Islam’s attacks. In recent months, Hizbul Islam suffered a series of setbacks, after many of its loyalists joined al-Shabaab and others killed by al-Shabaab agents.

In June, Sheikh Abdulkadir Haji Ahmed, the Chief of Hizbul Islam’s mobilisation officer in Beledweyne town, announced that his group had resolved to join al-Shabaab.
Talking to an audience, the sheikh recited verses of the Holy Koran, pointing to the need to unite the insurgents in Somalia.

“We are hereby declaring our resolve to unite with our fellow jihadists (holy warriors) in this strategic Hiran region,” said Sheikh Ahmed. “Unity is certain to arouse strength.” He urged other Islamists to take their example and join Al-Shabaab. “I am an elder and the sheikh of Hizbul Islam in this territory and I am leading you to unite with your fellow jihadists,” remarked Sheikh Ahmed amid chants of Allahu Akbar (God is Great) by those present at the ceremony.

It is not clear when the group broke away from al Shabaab, to be able to launch an independent attack. Both the government and Amisom officials said no matter how hard the rebel groups tried to reach Villa Somalia, the State House in Mogadishu, their efforts will yield nothing.

506088
[i]Top US diplomat for Africa, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, at a press conference in Kampala on Tuesday, outlined Washington’s key involvement and strategies in Africa Afran/AMIN REPORTER NASSER attended the briefing, and below, brings an abridged version starting with what Ambassador Cason said African Heads of State agreed on Somalia during a closed-door session on Monday.

We did hold a very lengthy meeting to talk about Somalia; to express our growing concern about the situation in that country. Somalia is a problem on three dimensions and levels: A domestic problem of an imploded state with a very weak central government with lack of capacity to deliver services and a large number of internally displaced persons.

It’s also an enormous regional challenge because of the large number of its refugees in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Tanzania, causing enormous social burdens and the collapse of the Somali state has resulted in high levels of smuggling of major contrabands and movement of weapons across borders.

Somalia is also a problem due to the emergence of piracy that affects commerce over the Red Sea. We note with great concern that Somalia has become host to a number of violent extremists and we have seen that extremism play itself out in the July 11 bomb attacks in Kampala.

Our successful discussion gave an opportunity to define a strategy of how we could increase the number of troop contributions to Africa Union Peace-keeping Mission in Somalia or Amisom and supportive resources and materials. I think we now have way forward.

My colleague Scott Gration (US Special envoy to Sudan) was here and spoke with President Museveni and met southern Sudan leadership as well. We are committed to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the January 9, 2011 secession referendum in south Sudan and are working to ensure those elections will be held; that they will be held fairly, transparently and in peaceful circumstances.
The US is a strong supporter of the AU, an increasingly more important, sophisticated and mature organisation.

Q: The international community has got to Somalia to resolve its crises a number of times without success. Mogadishu was most pacified under the Union of Islamic Courts. So why do you think it will be different this time?
A: The one thing that has characterised international policy towards Somalia more than anything else is lack of consistency, lack of resolve, lack of commitment and unwillingness to recognise that the restoration of political stability requires a long-term effort - one in which there cannot be constant shifts in commitment and policy.
The period under Islamic Union Courts (2006-2008) saw great draconian punishment in which you had Islamic extremists doing things which we would all regard as ruthless: restricting the rights and liberties of women, the media, access to music and instituting policies and procedures which not only produced calm but also clear violation of human rights.

Q: IGAD wants to move aggressively on Al Shabaab with 20,000 troops. Only Uganda and Burundi and maybe now Guinea are sending troops. Can participation of other Africa countries be secured?
A: The July 11 Kampala bombings were a wake-up call and I think there is more determination than ever before, not only in East Africa, but around the continent to respond to the Somalia crisis.
I heard during Monday’s closed-door meeting mention of at least four states – three in West Africa and one in southern Africa - prepared or seriously thinking of committing troops to Somali peace keeping exercise. These are beginnings of very serious offers.
In addition, Ugandans have indicated the willingness to muster another 2, 000 troops and Burundi is interested in putting in an additional 1,300 troops.

Q. South African Foreign Minister [Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane] was in your meeting and AU chairman Jean Ping sent a personal letter to President Jacob Zuma requesting him to send troops to Amisom. Can you talk about that?
A. Chairman Ping has indicated that he has requested that South Africans to be of assistance, and as I understand it, they are still considering this but that was not the country I was speaking of when I referred to a southern Africa country.

Q: The conflict in Somalia seems to have been perceived as a war being fought on behalf of America and against Islam. How are you engaging influential Muslim countries to resolve the conflict?
A: Somalia is a country that requires enormous development assistance and political aid to restore it to a place that is both manageable, peaceful and working normally.
We would like to see a more stable, prosperous and peaceful Somalia. The US [and other international actors] walked away from Somalia in 1993 after the famous Black Hawk downing incident.
All of us probably thought the situation there would stabilise and normalise, and we have [instead] seen Somalia’s problems bleed over into the region. This has had dramatically negative impact on the states of East Africa.
We don’t see this as a US conflict, whatsoever. This is a problem for the international community...This is not, and should not, be where the US is regarded as the villain.

Q: Does the new Somalia strategy include the US providing a bigger budget and military hardware to bolster fighting capability of Amisom troops?
A: The US will continue to be a primary supporter of Amisom as it has been in the past and we have indicated that we will support the augmentation of Amisom troops into Somalia and we hope that others will do the same.
At this juncture, we do have American naval vessels on the Indian Ocean as part of anti-piracy operation. But what is most important now is the augmentation in the number of Amisom troops on the ground and augmentation in the resources - both financial and material.

Q. President Museveni has said for Amisom to be effective in deterring the Al Shabaab, its mandate should change from peace-keeping to peace enforcement. What is the outcome of your discussions on this?
A: There was a healthy discussion of the mandate and the new [UN] secretary-general’s Special Representative for Somalia, Ambassador [Augustine] Mahiga’s view was that the mandate that currently exists is sufficiently broad to provide the Amisom forces with the capacity to do the job that is required. That the mandate is broad enough so that the Amisom troops can in fact act robustly in the defence of their troops; protection of the Transitional Federal Government or TFG; its leadership; its buildings; its key installations and the protection of humanitarian operations.

Q: As we speak, more than 30 people, one of them Arua Woman MP Christine Bako, who were staging peaceful demonstrations to demand for credible elections next year have been arrested by police who say they did not authorise the demonstrations. Is there a worry that terrorism could be used by government as a pretext to suffocate civil liberties?
Secondly, on May 1, 2005, you wrote in the Boston Globe that President Museveni has “thirst for power” for removing presidential term limits. Five years on, do you still consider him a dictator as then?
A. I do not believe that President Museveni is a dictator (laughter). I think that President Museveni is the duly elected leader of the country; that he’s been elected openly and transparently in free and fair elections and he’s the senior representative of the country.
We hope that the elections next year will go extremely well and that political space will be accorded to all including those within the ruling party running for elections as well as all those who are in the opposition who are seeking office as well.
With respect to the article, it was written five years ago. I believe that as I said then that the elimination of (presidential) term limits was not a good idea; I think that in general where they are in place, they provide a useful part of the democratic structure and I think are a healthy thing to have.
For the first question, we want here, as we want around Africa and in general, a continued strengthening of democratic institutions. That strengthening of democratic institutions is essential here as well as in places like the United States in order to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be able to fulfill both their economic and political ambitions.

Q: The option being pursued in Somalia now is a military one. Why don’t you encourage Muslim religious leaders in the region to pursue another course of action?
Secondly, why don’t you just install a dictator to run Somalia and give him money he can use to buy off the Al Shabaab...?
Third is about Sudan. How prepared are you regarding the almost expected breakup of the country into two autonomous entities and won’t the expected secession repeat itself on the continent?
A. I think that we want to encourage the people of Sudan to fulfil the obligations that they have agreed to under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That agreement ended two and half decades of conflict between the North and South.
The south felt enormously aggrieved, neglected and disadvantaged by its relationship with the northern part of Sudan. But as a way of ending the conflict, those who were in combat and those who represented the political forces there agreed among themselves that one solution might in fact be the separation of North and South...the people there will have an opportunity to decide in the referendum whether they want to remain as a unitary state or become an independent state.
This is not a precedent for other places; it is unique to Sudan as a result of this long conflict. So it is the best way to possibly find a more enduring solution to what has been a very difficult political history for the country.
With respect to Somalia, I would characterise the efforts there in very different ways; it is not a military solution under way but Amisom’s efforts to stabilise the situation in favour of a political process that was agreed to in Djibouti, an agreement which is under assault by the al-Shabaab, the Hizbul Islam and other violent extremist groups.

Q. Has the urgency of the situation in Somalia overtaken your government’s earlier interest in ending the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion and secondly, do you foresee US re-entering Somalia?
A: First, we are committed to working with Ugandan government to do everything possible to eliminate the threat posed in the region by LRA and track down and capture its leaders Joseph Kony.

Q. Amisom has been plagued by a shortage of resources. To what extend is US willing to support an expanded mission in Somalia?
A. We support the views of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development that Amisom should be expanded from its current mandated level of 8, 000 to a much higher level of 20, 000 troops.

Q: (Fairly inaudible) but on where mission resource will come from?
A. This is an issue of international importance and the global community should work with IGAD States to find the resources both material and financial to assist Amisom on the ground. This is not an American project; this is a project for the international community.

Q: AU Peace Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said at your meeting yesterday that the US government has committed, along with Norway, a direct budget support to TFG. Could you comment on the figure? Secondly, there was report that an AU delegation was calling for dialogue with the Al Shabaab. How realistic is this an avenue for future peace in Somalia?
A: United States has provided assistance to the TFG but it has not been what I would call a budgetary support. It has been project-related assistance given for very specific purposes at very specific times.
The United States government has and will continue in the future to fund a number of programmes that help the TFG to deliver services to the people of southern Somalia. Most of these will go through intermediate organisations that can provide both technical oversight and financial support for whatever is done. I heard absolutely no call, no calls, for any kind of reaching out to al-Shabaab. To the contrary, there was very clear warning about its dangers.

506087
Amisom spokesperson Maj. Ba-Hoku Barigye yesterday said the force had killed scores of al Shabaab fighters in fresh fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu. UPDF peacekeepers on Wednesday battled and killed dozens of the Islamist group al Shabaab when they attacked African Union peacekeepers’ positions at Ulba and Juba hotels in Mogadishu, Maj. Barigye said,

Casualties
“We are not able to establish the number of those killed because we do not do charge [count the dead]. But they were repulsed with heavy casualties,” he said.
Different sources gave different figures of the number of al Shabaab that could have been put out of action by the UPDF fire.

While one source said 18 al Shabaab fighters were killed, others told Daily Monitor the whole group of between 50 to 60 attackers was wiped at in heavy UPDF shelling.
Maj. Barigye said another Islamist Hizbul Islam led by hardliner cleric, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, which has declared war on Amisom was not a new force because it has always worked with the al Shabaab.
“In terms of operations and ideology, they are the same as the al Shabaab,” he said.
He also dismissed Hizbul Islam claims that they attacked Amisom men in Hodon District in south Mogadishu on Tuesday, saying the peacekeepers have no positions in that district.

“Mogadishu is not on fire. We are in charge and everything is in order,” he said.
The al Shabaab, seeking to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government, has declared war on the peacekeepers and claimed responsibility for the July 11 bomb attacks in Kampala that left over 76 people dead.

The group’s leadership said the attack was to punish Kampala for UPDF’s involvement in Mogadishu. President Museveni appealed, during the just concluded AU summit, for the Amisom mandate in Somalia to be changed to allow Ugandan and Burundian soldiers there to attack the al Shabaab but the UN blocked the appeal.

The UN Secretary General’s envoy to Somalia, Mr Augustine Mahiga, advised the presidents that the international law is presently on their side to tackle al Shabaab.

Mr Museveni, however, got the goodwill of four other unnamed countries – three in West Africa and another in the southern part of the continent – to commit more troops.

Djibouti and Guinea are said to be two of the four countries. With Uganda committing 2, 000 additional soldiers to Somalia, the number of Amisom troops will increase to 7,000.

Leaders of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development recently agreed to send 20,000 more troops to the war-torn region.

20100727
allafrica

Nairobi — HIV-positive people on treatment will be switched from regimens containing the antiretroviral Stavudine to less toxic combinations in line with UN World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, according to a senior official.

20100727
reuters

HARGEISA (Reuters) - Somaliland's new leader, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, was sworn in as president on Tuesday, furthering the breakaway Somali enclave's democratic credentials as it fights for international recognition.

20100727
allafrica

Pretoria — The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) estimates South Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be adjusted downwards to 3.1 percent for 2010.

20100727
allafrica

A Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) will be present during Rwanda's Presidential Elections due to be held on 9 August 2010. The COG will be led by former Tanzania Prime Minister Dr Salim Ahmed Salim

20100727
allafrica

The East African anti-corruption watchdog--the East African Bribery Index (EABI)--latest survey ranks Tanzania as fourth with a corruption prevalence of 28.6 per cent, followed by Kenya 31.9 per cent, Uganda 33 per cent and Burundi is the worst with 36.7 per cent.

20100727
allafrica

Abuja — CENTRAL Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said, yesterday, that deposit money banks in the country were strategizing towards a new phase of strengthening their capitalization.

20100727
allafrica

Bujumbura — The coalition of 11 major opposition parties which boycotted July 23 national assembly elections will also boycott elections to the senate on July 28.

20100727
allafrica

Johannesburg — African Peer Review Mechanism chairman Professor Adebayo Adedeji has announced he is to step down as chairman of the body.

20100727
allafrica

Leaders from East Africa and from the Horn of Africa agreed on Monday that additional troops would be deployed to Mogadishu to beef up the 6,000-strong African Union force. Somalia's foreign minister says the African Union and the international community must stand up to the new threat of terrorism emanating from the war-ravaged country and step in militarily.

20100727
reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Darfur rebels seized a Russian helicopter with four crew and five Sudanese passengers but three of the Russians and one Sudanese were later reported to be in safety, Russian media said on Tuesday.

20100727
reuters

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi's ruling party CNDD-FDD secured a big majority in the coffee producer's parliamentary election, winning 81.19 percent of the vote, official results showed on Tuesday.

20100727
reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Two German aid workers kidnapped in Darfur more than a month ago were released on Tuesday and are in good health, a United Nations official said.

20100727
reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptair, the country's flagship carrier and one of Africa's largest airlines, will begin flying twice a week to south Sudan next month as Egypt seeks improved ties ahead of a planned 2011 referendum on secession.