MOGADISHU, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A senior Islamist military commander close to Sheikh Dahir Aweys, a radical insurgent leader in Somalia was on Tuesday shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Somali capital Mogadishu, insurgent officials confirmed.

Bare Ali Bare, who was a senior commander with the insurgent group of Hezbul Islam, was shot dead as he walked in the main Bakara market of Mogadishu and the attackers escaped the scene, Ibrahim Bare Mohamoud, an official with Hezbul Islam confirmed to reporters in Mogadishu.

"We know that the commander was murdered by gunmen who escaped. We are investigating the killing of Bare Ali Bare," Mohamoud told reporters.

Bare was critical of the rival Islamist group of Al Shabaab which it fought in a number of southern Somali districts and has been vocal opponent of union between a faction within Hezbul Islam and Al Shabaab.

WASHINGTON, march 10 (Reuters) -- The U.S. State Department apologized on Tuesday for dismissive comments its spokesman made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for "jihad," often translated as "armed struggle," against Switzerland.

"I understand that my personal comments were perceived as a personal attack on the president," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who made the comments, told reporters. "These comments do not reflect U.S. policy and were not intended to offend. I apologize if they were taken that way."

In apologizing, he appeared to be trying to end a dispute that prompted the head of Libya's state oil company to summon executives from U.S. energy companies Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips , Occidental, Hess and Marathon last week and warn them the dispute could hurt U.S. businesses in Libya.

The fracas centered on a February 25 speech Gaddafi made calling for a "jihad" against Switzerland. The term is often translated as "armed struggle," but a Libyan official has since said Gaddafi meant an economic boycott.

Asked about the speech, Crowley on February 26 said it reminded him of a previous Gaddafi address which, he said, involved "lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place, not necessarily a lot of sense."

Libya's ambassador to the United States last week told Reuters that his country wanted good relations with Washington but would not allow its leader to be insulted.

Crowley said he was sorry the dispute had become an irritant in the relationship and said that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeff Feltman, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, would visit Libya next week for consultations.

LONDON, march 09 (Reuters) - Somalia's government would welcome U.S. air support for an expected offensive aimed at retaking control of areas from al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Tuesday.

Speaking on a visit to Britain, Sheikh Sharif added that international aid for reconstruction would be needed to secure any areas gained in the push, expected in coming weeks in a test of attempts to restore stability in the Horn of Africa nation.

The New York Times reported on March 5 U.S. forces could get involved by providing airstrikes and Special forces Operations if the offensive succeeded in dislodging al Qaeda fighters.

Asked to comment, Ahmed said: "If the U.S. government provides us with the air support, it will help the situation."

"If that is true, as written in the New York Times, then we would welcome it," he told a news conference through an interpreter.

It was not immediately clear whether Ahmed was referring to the possibility of air strikes or of supporting aerial surveillance. U.S. forces are believed to have conducted aerial reconnaissance of parts of Somalia for several years.

FOREIGN FIGHTERS "ROAMING"

Asked whether he also saw a role for U.S. ground forces in the push, Ahmed said: "I cannot answer that."

Any direct use of U.S. military power would be sensitive. American troops who were part of a U.N. humanitarian mission to Somalia in 1992 and 1993 were forced to pull out after Somali militia killed several marines in an attack on a U.S. helicopter.

Ahmed's U.N.-backed administration intends to oust the rebels from the capital and possibly other areas of the country, which has had no effective central government for 19 years.

His government has struggled to establish its influence, something that has been whittled down by a three-year-old revolt against his administration, which only controls parts of the capital.

Asked how he planned to hold any areas gained in the offensive, a critical task to establish authority, he said: "Our strategy is to mobilise the people, to secure the environment, to return the services and to start reconstruction."

"Our forces have prepared well," he said, but added: "We will need international assistance in the form of humanitarian aid and reconstruction after the liberation of these areas."

The offensive did not close off reconciliation efforts, he said, but he described al Shabaab as having a direct tie to al Qaeda and said both groups cooperated with Somalia's pirates.

The government says hundreds of foreign fighters have joined the revolt from countries in south Asia and the Gulf region and Western nations such as the United States and Britain.

Ahmed said it was hard to tell put a number on al Qaeda fighters in Somalia. "But it's also hard to exaggerate the presence of al Qaeda. It can be seen openly by people inside Somalia -- foreign fighters who are roaming," he said.

"The announcements by al Shabaab and al Qaeda make clear their presence in force. Recent events in Yemen are also a clear indication of the presence of al Qaeda in the area".

He denied reports that Somalis in nearby countries were being recruited to join the offensive, explaining there were plenty of Somalis in Somalia who wanted to serve in the army.

Abuja, march 09 (Reuters) -- Nigeria must prosecute those behind a weekend massacre and address underlying issues of poverty and discrimination if it is to end a cycle of violence in the zone between its Muslim north and Christian south, rights groups and diplomats said.

The United Nations, United States, rights groups and opposition politicians all urged the authorities to ensure those responsible face justice after attacks on Sunday on three Christian villages in which hundreds are feared to have died.

Residents of Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Ratsat, about 15 km (9 miles) south of the central city of Jos, buried dozens of bodies including those of women and children in a mass grave on Monday following the attacks, which they blamed on Muslim herders.

The raids were in apparent retaliation for four days of violence around Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in January which killed several hundred people, many of them in an attack on the mostly Muslim settlement of Kuru Karama.

"Better security is clearly vital but it would be a mistake to paint this purely as sectarian or ethnic violence, and to treat it solely as a security issue," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.

"What is most needed is a concerted effort to tackle the underlying causes of the repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence which Nigeria has witnessed in recent years, namely discrimination, poverty and disputes over land."

The latest unrest at the heart of Africa's most populous nation comes at a turbulent time, with Acting President Goodluck Jonathan trying to assert his authority while ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua remains too sick to govern.

Jonathan deployed troops to quell January's unrest and pledged that those found to have "engineered, encouraged or fanned" the violence would be brought to justice.

But a dusk-to-dawn curfew was still in place when Sunday's attack took place. Some villagers were hacked to death with machetes as they tried to flee their homes after hearing gunfire. Others were burned alive.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said the military deployment had been limited to major roads and failed to protect small communities. It called for a credible investigation into what it said had been a massacre of at least 200 Christian villagers.

"This kind of terrible violence has left thousands dead in Plateau state in the past decade, but no one has been held accountable," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "It's time to draw a line in the sand."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on political and religious leaders to find a "permanent solution" to the crisis in Jos. The United States urged the government to ensure those responsible faced justice in a "transparent manner".

"CROCODILE TEARS"

Plateau state lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south and fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between indigenous groups and settlers from the north have repeatedly triggered unrest over the past decade.

Its position on Nigeria's main ethnic and religious fault line means it is viewed as a microcosm of the wider country, a patchwork of more than 200 ethnic groups.

The instability underscores the fragility of Africa's top energy producer as it approaches the campaign period for 2011 elections with uncertainty over who is really in charge.

"The killings are more political than religious ... The government is the problem. It has the power of arrest and prosecution. It has the ability and resources to gather intelligence," the opposition Action Congress party said.

"Concrete action to stop the cycle of impunity, rather than crocodile tears, will end the violence," it said.

Police spokesman Mohammed Lerama said 93 people had been arrested after Sunday's violence.

But Plateau state has been here before. Large numbers of arrests have not translated into large numbers of prosecutions.

More than 300 people were arrested in January and about half of them were due to be sent to the capital Abuja for prosecution, but it is unclear how many actually faced justice.

Local officials said many of those responsible for January's violence were the same people arrested but not prosecuted after similar unrest in November 2008.

Many of Nigeria's prisons are overcrowded and the legal system overburdened with cases. It is not uncommon for communities to punish criminals themselves and blame their actions on the country's weak judicial system.

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A senior U.S. military commander said on Tuesday the United States would support the Somali transitional government to retake the national capital Mogadishu.

William Ward, who runs the U.S. Africa Command, told a Senate hearing the Somali government's effort in retaking Mogadishu is " something that we would look to do in support."

He said the military would do this "to the degree the transitional federal government can in fact re-exert control over Mogadishu, with the help of AMISOM and others." AMISOM stands for the African Union Mission in Somalia.

Mogadishu witnesses near daily attacks on Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers based there. The internationally recognized government of Somalia is struggling to fight off an Islamist insurgency poised to run over parts of the city with protection from a few thousand African Union peacekeepers.

Clashes have intensified recently in Mogadishu, with the office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) saying last week nearly 26,000 people have been forced to escape violence in the capital since Feb. 1.

The New York Times reported on Friday the United States is helping the Horn of Africa nation's government put together a major offensive to take back the capital, providing training and support. The broadsheet also cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying Pentagon may send special forces to help, as well as striking militants from the sky.

Ward said the United States supports the transitional government, which "has for now our best potential for helping to turn around some of the instability and lack of governance."

Mogadishu is a sore spot in American memory, where 18 U.S. soldiers died in an operation there in 1993. Some of their bodies were dragged along the streets, and the images prompted the end of that intervention. The battle was made into a movie called Black Hawk Down.

HARARE, MARCH 09 (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe's High Court on Tuesday refused to overturn the election of the first opposition Speaker of Parliament since independence, after a challenge by a lawmaker from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The ruling will ease concerns within the MDC, which accuses its coalition partners in ZANU-PF of carrying out actions that seek to undermine the fragile unity government.

Lovemore Moyo, a senior official from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, became the first opposition Speaker in August 2008 after the MDC ended ZANU-PF's majority in parliament in earlier elections.

But his election was immediately challenged by former information minister Jonathan Moyo -- elected on an independent ticket but rejoined ZANU-PF last year -- who argued that the vote failed to meet the test of a secret ballot.

Moyo said some MDC members had openly shown their ballot papers to other legislators in a move meant to influence them in their voting and that the whole process was chaotic.

High Court Judge Bharat Patel on Tuesday described the vote as "exuberant" and said while some MDC members had shown their ballot papers to colleagues, the actual voting was done in secret.

"It's clear that all members marked their ballot papers in secrecy and none were coerced to vote for any candidate," Patel said. "The application is therefore dismissed with costs."

KAMPALA, MARCH 09 (Reuters) -- Uganda's opposition will revoke existing production sharing agreements and force oil companies in the country to renegotiate their deals, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The east African country struck vast oil deposits around the Lake Albert region along the border with Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, prompting a giddy scramble by foreign oil firms for stakes in the nascent sector.

Civil society organisations have attacked the deals, saying they favour the companies and have asked for more transparent and equitable revenue sharing with the Ugandan government.

"These agreements have a lot of loopholes and that's why the government has obstinately defied the wishes of its citizens and refused to disclose them," Beatrice Atim Anywar, shadow minister for natural resources and environment, told Reuters.

"Our objective is to immediately revoke these agreements and renegotiate with the companies afresh once we come into power."

Uganda is due to hold elections in February 2011 and the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), is seen posing a formidable challenge to incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, whose support has shrunk during his 24-year rule.

Uganda has five production sharing agreements (PSA). Among them, Tullow Oil has made the biggest advance in exploration and development and says it will begin commercial production later this year.

Anywar said her party opposed a clause in the agreements that says arbitration cases in any disputes with the exploration firms must be taken to London.

She said that if a dispute involved injustice suffered by local communities their members should be able to give testimony in person.

"How many people will our government be able to fly to London to bear witness to such a process?" Anywar said.

The opposition also objects to provisions compelling the government to compensate the companies in case of revenue losses resulting from amendments to PSA terms.

Anywar said that would curtail the government's prerogative to regulate activities that imperil environmental safety.

The government dismissed the FDC's threats.

"They are talking out of ignorance and populist propaganda. Let them come to government and may be they will appreciate how this industry works," said Energy Minister Hilary Onek.

BERLIN, MARCH 09 (Reuters) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's condition is improving after successful gallbladder surgery in Germany on Saturday, a hospital spokesman said on Tuesday.

The spokesman added it was unclear how long the 81-year-old Mubarak would remain in the hospital in the western city of Heidelberg, but the medical team would give an update on his condition in the next two days.

Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali, who is with Mubarak, said late on Monday that the president was surrounded by his family.

"President Mubarak is ... under the supervision of the medical team in the intensive care unit where the president is moving inside the room and is having semi-solid food," he said in a statement.

Mubarak, in office for almost three decades, handed power temporarily to his prime minister before the operation last week, Egyptian media said. He had shown no signs of frailty at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.

MOGADISHU march 09 Reuters) -- Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab rebel group vowed on Monday to defend itself against any government offensive and to subject the U.S. to a failure worse than one it suffered in 1992 should it back the attack.

Unconfirmed media reports said over the weekend American military experts were advising Somali government troops ahead of their push to oust the rebels from the capital.

"We shall defend ourselves if they (government forces) attack us," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told a news conference.

"They typically repeat offensive words, why don't they attack us? We shall never enter talks with the so-called government. America can do nothing to us -- it will face something worse than its failure in 1992 in Somalia."

American troops who were part of a U.N. humanitarian mission to Somalia in 1992 and 1993 were forced to pull out after Somali militia killed several marines in an attack on a U.S. helicopter.

The U.N.-backed administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is keen to drive the rebels out of the capital as a key part of restoring stability in the Horn of Africa nation which has had no effective central government for 19 years.

Sources said his troops are likely to attack rebel positions once the president returns from a trip to Europe and signs a political deal with the Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a moderate group which backs the government.

Al Shabaab will likely count on the help of another rebel group, the much smaller Hizbul Islam, which is led by Sheikh Dahir Aweys.

Al Shabaab, which Washington views as al Qaeda's proxy in the region, seeks to impose a strict version of Muslim law in the country.

Last month, it asked the U.N. food agency, World Food Programme, which has been central to the international community's response to the country's massive humanitarian crisis to leave.

"WFP will never operate again in the areas under our control," Rage said.

CONAKRY, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Guinea's former ruling party, the Party of Unity and Progress (PUP), is warming up ahead of the post- coup elections in June, according to party officials.

A popular meeting was held over the weekend at the headquarters of PUP by its members and supporters. The party had ruled the West African country for years before the military took over power on Dec. 23, 2008, hours after the death of president and PUP leader Lansana Conte.

Parties officials said on Monday that it was a grassroot warm- up in preparations for the party's congress before the presidential elections months away.

Under a decree signed on Sunday by the interim president of transition, Gen. Sekouba Konate,Guinea is to hold the first round of the presidential elections on June 27.

The PUP meeting was attended by the party's Secretary General Sekou Konate, former speaker of the National Assembly Aboubacar Sompare and the members of the political bureau.

In his speech, the former National Assembly speaker asked the members of the party to renew their strength and work in line with the wishes of the late president Conte.

Sompare told the party meeting that PUP should once again prove its power through unity and cohesion among members.

"We should not allow politicians and other Guineans who have looted from our country to have the power to determine the destiny of our nation," Sompare declared

NAIROBI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 people have been killed by raging floods and more than 10,000 others affected, the Kenya Red Cross Society said on Tuesday.

The Red Cross Communications Manager Titus Mung'ou said at least nine people had died as a result of floods and landslides while four others had been killed by lightning.

"At least 10,117 people have been affected by floods, landslides and heavy rains across the country in March," Mung'ou said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said those affected included 2,100 in Mandera, 600 in Samburu and Isiolo, 1,200 in Garbatula, 2,000 in Tinderet, 3,600 in Lokori, 420 in Marsabit and 197 in Moyale.

In Isiolo, the local Kenya Red Cross branch had started distribution of non-food items to 120 households in Garfasa area in Garbatula, said Mung'ou.

KRCS staff and volunteers worked jointly with the locals, Kenya police, Kenya Wildlife Service, British Army and Provincial Administration teams in evacuation of affected to safety.

Mung'ou said property of unknown value had been destroyed Samburu, Isiolo, Nakuru and other parts affected by floods

LAGOS, March 9 (Xinhua) - Nigerian Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday appointed Aliyu Gusau as a new security adviser.

Retired Lt.-Gen.Gusau took the position from Sarki Mukhtar. The new national security adviser held the same position for former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ima Niboro, spokesman for the acting president, said in a statement that Jonathan thanked Mukhtar for his services to the nation and wished him well in his future endeavors.

No reason for the move was given in the statement.

The decision was made after a marathon meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) presided over by the acting president, the statement added.

The crisis in Jos, central Nigeria, took the center stage at the meeting, according to the statement. The meeting was attended by top government officials and security chiefs, including the sacked national security adviser.

On Sunday morning, Islamist pastoralists wielding machetes attacked the town of Jos, a Christian village in Nigeria's Plateau State. At least 500 people were killed, mostly women and children, according to the state police spokesman.

The development came after more than 300 people died during the crisis that erupted on January 17 in Jos in Plateau State, when some youths attacked worshippers at St. Michael's Anglican Church in Nasawara Gwom.

The National Assembly by a unanimous resolution on Feb. 9 empowered Jonathan as acting president after a prolonged power vacuum created by President Umaru Yar'Adua's emergency medical trip to Saudi Arabia in November.

The president was brought back to the country in the early hours of Feb. 24.

LAGOS, March 09 (AFP) -- Nigerian troops were patrolling villages near the northern city of Jos Tuesday after the massacre of more than 500 Christians there that sparked international shock and outrage.

But survivors of the latest wave of inter-ethnic violence, in which women and children were hacked to death or burned alive in their homes, denounced the authorities for having failed to intervene in time.

Relatives of the dead meanwhile attended funerals Monday for the victims of the three-hour orgy of violence in three Christian villages close to the northern city of Jos.

Witnesses have blamed the massacre on members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group, and according to media reports Muslims villagers were warned two days before attack via text messages to their phones.

The security forces said they had detained 95 suspects in the violence.

"We have over 500 killed in three villages and the survivors are busy burying their dead," said state information commissioner Gregory Yenlong.

"People were attacked with axes, daggers and cutlasses -- many of them children, the aged and pregnant women."

Around 200 people were being treated in hospital, said the information ministry.

Much of the violence was centred around the village of Dogo Nahawa, where gangs set fire to straw-thatched mud huts as they went on their rampage.

The explosion of violence was just the latest between rival ethnic and religious groups.

In January, 326 people died in clashes in and around Jos, according to police although rights activists put the overall toll at more than 550.

"The attack is yet another jihad and provocation," the Plateau State Christian Elders Consultative Forum (PSCEF) said.

It had taken the army two hours to react from the time a distress call was put through and "the attackers had finished their job and left", they added.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has already sacked his chief security advisor.

John Onaiyekan, the archbishop of the capital Abuja, told Vatican Radio that the violence was rooted not in religion but in social, economic and tribal differences.

"It is a classic conflict between pastoralists and farmers, except that all the Fulani are Muslims and all the Berom are Christians," he said.

Fulani are mainly nomadic cattle rearers while Beroms are traditionally farmers.

Locals said Sunday's attacks were the result of a feud which had been first ignited by a theft of cattle and then fuelled by deadly reprisals.

Rights activists also said the slaughter appeared to be revenge for the January attacks, in which mainly Muslims were killed.

The Vatican led a wave of outrage with spokesman Federico Lombardi expressing the Roman Catholic Church's "sadness" at the "horrible acts of violence".

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters he was "deeply concerned", but added: "I appeal to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint.

"Nigeria's political and religious leaders should work together to address the underlying causes and to achieve a permanent solution to the crisis in Jos."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged "all parties to exercise restraint."

She added: "The Nigerian government should ensure that the perpetrators of acts of violence are brought to justice under the rule of law and that human rights are respected as order is restored."

Survivors said the attackers were able to separate the Fulanis from members of the rival Berom group by chanting 'nagge,' the Fulani word for cattle. Those who failed to respond in the same language were hacked to death.

Witnesses said armed gangs had scared people out of their homes by firing into the air but most of the killings were the result of machete attacks.

"We were caught unawares... and as we tried to escape, the Fulani who were already waiting slaughtered many of us," said Dayop Gyang, of Dogo Nahawa.

Gbong Gwon Jos, a Muslim resident of Dogo Nahawa, told The Nation daily he received advanced warnings of the attacks.

"I got a text message about movement of the people."

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that some of the attackers were former residents of the villages who had fled previous inter-community conflicts.

"I recognized a few of [the attackers'] voices," one witness told them.

Another witness told the group many of the attackers had their heads wrapped in cloth to make it hard to identify them, and that some had cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

Amid continuing tension Monday, Christian youths set upon a Muslim journalist covering one of the mass burials near Jos, an AFP reporter said. Police had to pull him to safety and he needed treatment for a broken nose.

LAGOS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The police have arrested 93 suspects following the Sunday violence killing in Jos, the capital of northern Nigeria's Plateau State, according to an official.

Mohamed Lerama, state police spokesman, said in a statement reaching here that several weapons have been recovered after Sunday's violence, where at least 500 were killed in a communal violence.

"The Police arrested 93 person and they are in two categories," the statement said.

"The police arrested 19 Fulani's with sophisticated weapons in Anjuri village in Jos east Local Government Area," it added.

According to the statement, the 19 Fulanis' said they were on a revenge mission with the weapons.

"We also arrested 74 people from Mangu area of the state, with different weapons," the police said.

Weapons recovered includes, four double barrel guns, two locally made double barrel, five AK 47, 5 mm ammunition, 34 live cartridge and many local made charms, the statement said.

According to the statement, troops had been seen in Nigeria's northern city of Jos after the communal violence.

The latest military move came after a Nigerian government official confirmed on Monday that at least 500 had been killed in a communal clash in Jos, which followed the crisis on Jan. 17 in the same region when some youths attacked worshippers at St. Michael's Anglican Church in Nasawara Gwom.

Meanwhile, the country's newly appointed Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said all the security services in northern Plateau State and neighboring states should be on red alert so as to stem any cross border dimensions to this latest conflict.

LOME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- One of the seven candidates in Togo's presidential election has acknowledged the victory of incumbent Faure Gnassingbe after Thursday's vote.

Nicolas Lawson, the candidate for the Party of Renewal and Redemption (PRR), told a press conference here on Monday that he "is forced to acknowledge the victory" of outgoing President Faure Gnassingbe, who was re-elected with 60.94 percent of the votes cast.

"Our PRR party is forced to acknowledge this victory even if we have some misgivings," he declared, encouraging the president- elect "to transcend the rejoicing of his supporters and to tame the destabilizing opposition."

Lawson also called on Faure to "restore without any delay, the state authority and to return the country to order and discipline. "

He reiterated that the reports of this election were signed by presidents, vice-presidents and rapporteurs of the Local Independent Electoral Commissions (CELI) coming from the different groupings of the ruling Assembly of Togolese People (RPT), the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR) and the United Forces for Change (UFC).

To this effect, he recognized the victory of Faure "that was ratified and announced by the three cited parties."

Meanwhile, the PRR leader said he had observed that in Togo "nothing has changed and nothing is about to change."

On demonstrations to protest against the re-election of Faure, the PRR candidate warned that "it will be national suicide to continue finding excuses for discussions and making demands."

UFC candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre who got 33.94 percent of the votes, according to the provisional results, is contesting the 60. 92 percent attributed to Faure, vowing to form a parallel government very soon.

Six candidates including a woman were in the race against Faure who came to power in April 2005 and sought for his second term.

MOGADISHU, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The radical Islamist group of Al Shabaab in Somalia on Monday said it will not be weakened by moves by a number of governments to ban it from operating and seeking funds in their respective countries.

Britain this week said it plans to follow suit with the U.S., Canada and Australian in listing the hardline group as a terrorist entity and banning its operation within their respective countries.

"(The move) is part of the wider conflict between Muslims and Christians and it will not harm us but will only confirm to us that ours is the right path," Ali Mohamoud Rage, spokesman for the group told reporters in Mogadishu.

The Islamist movement which is waging a deadly insurgency against Somali government and African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces has recently declared its association with Al Qaeda.

The UK move to ban the movement comes as the Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed plans to go on an official state visit to Britain where he is expected to meet the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior officials.

The Islamist spokesman attributed the timing of the British plan to ban the organization as an attempt to pressure the Somali Diaspora in the UK who he said are opposed to the British support for the peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu which the group sees as an occupying force.

"It is meant to pressure Somali Diasporas to welcome the leader of the apostate government and that they will be branded as supporters of Al Shabaab if they did not," Rageh told reporters in Mogadishu.

Two British citizens are currently being held hostage by Somali pirates after they sea-jacked the elderly couple's yacht last October as it sailed across the Indian Ocean towards Tanzania. The pirates are demanding a ransom of seven million U.S. dollars for the release of the British hostages.

Al Shabaab, which says it has no links with the pirates, controls much of south and center of Somalia and have carried out a number of high profile attacks against Somali government officials and African Union peacekeeping forces.

The group has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks in Somalia using car bombs and explosive vests as well as deadly roadside bombs and near daily attacks on Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu.

NOUAKCHOTT, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Mauritania remains at the center of finding the solution to the kidnappings of five Europeans -- three Spanish humanitarian workers and an Italian couple, who were kidnapped in November and December in the African country by members of North African wing of Al-Qaeda (AQMI).

These hostages have become the bargaining instruments of AQMI, which managed to let go four terrorists detained in Mali recently in exchange for the release of a French hostage Pierre Camatte.

The group is now demanding the release of four more terrorists in a Nouakchott prison in exchange for the five Europeans.

AQMI threatened to execute the Italian hostages if Mauritania does not release their members before March 1.

This ultimatum has expired. Nouakchott remains firm on its position resisting any form of pressure.

On Thursday, Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulay Ould Mohamed Laghdhaf reiterated the refusal of his government to negotiate with the Al-Qaeda terrorist groups, saying the country would never accept a swap of prisoners and hostages in their possession, or make any gesture to show that they have bowed down to pressure from terrorist groups.

"There will be no negotiations with terrorist groups and there will be no exchange of any one with whoever was kidnapped," the premier declared.

Meanwhile, Laghdhaf pledged that Mauritania "is doing all within its powers to ensure that the hostages held on our country's territory can get back their freedom and that they are able to return to their country."

Mauritania, which vows to remain faithful to a common stand by regional countries in the fight against terrorism and not fall prey to the blackmail of terrorists, condemned Mali's release of four terrorists in exchange for Camatte.

In protest of the swap, Nouakchott recalled its ambassador from Bamako. "It's true that we responded in a diplomatic way to this act which we considered to be unfriendly, but for other things, nothing has changed," Laghdhaf explained.

Malian Foreign Minister Moctar Ouane, on his part, played down the differences between the two neighboring countries.

"The Malian government remains strongly attached to the secular and friendly relations and also good neighborliness in particular with the People's Republic of Algeria and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania," Ouane said in reference to the recall of ambassadors by both countries.

It's clear according to the observers that with good coordination between the sub-regional states and the support of Europeans, a better strategy in the fight against terrorism will be developed.

One of the goals is to cut off the logistical chain of terrorists who collude with the traffickers of drugs and arms, as in a recent case where some drug traffickers working together with terrorists were arrested.

For the moment, the crackdown is limited by the fact that the European governments are being held hostage by the public opinion of their citizens, who are calling for saving the lives of those in the hands of kidnappers.

They are haunted by the memory of the execution of a British hostage at the expiry of Al-Qaeda's ultimatum.

KAMPALA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Over 500,000 people in mountainous areas and their surroundings in eastern and western Uganda are facing high risks of landslides and floods, an official warned here on Monday.

Musa Ecweru, Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees told a pressing briefing that the most risky areas are those neighboring Mt. Rwenzori and mountainous areas in Kigezi in western Uganda and those neighboring Mt. Elgon in the eastern part of the country.

"The total population at risk of landslides and floods is estimated to be about 500,000 people," he said, warning that more people could be affected after latest meteorological reports indicating possible above normal rainfall for the current rainy season which ends in May.

Ecweru's warning comes just after a week a devastating landslide engulfing four villages on a hilly slope in Bududa district, killing 83 residents whose bodies have been retrieved from two villages and leaving about 350 more still missing and feared dead.

Out of the 500,000 affected people, over 300,000 have fled their homes in fear of landslides and floods in the eastern districts of Butaleja, Budaka and Tororo, he said.

He said government plans to resettle some of the population at very high risk to safer locations once the emergency operations of the Bududa incident ends.

NAIROBI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday called on Africa to lay policy foundation for the continent's economic transformation, saying governance and climate change are major challenges facing the continent.

Speaking in Nairobi during a panel discussion, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Africa also faces the twin challenges of reviving strong growth and reinforcing resilience to the economic shocks that regularly batter the continent.

"The twin challenges for Africa are to revive strong growth and reinforce resilience to shocks," he said in a speech that set the scene for a panel discussion involving Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi.

Strauss-Kahn assessed the impact of the global economic and financial crisis on Africa. While noting that the crisis had struck Africa through many different channels, he said that "all across the continent, we can see signs of life, with rebounds in trade, export earnings, bank credit, and commercial activity."

The IMF chief who arrived in Kenya on Saturday will also visit South Africa and Zambia to reinforce the IMF's improved relations with the continent, talk with political and business leaders, and promote the continued transformation of Africa.

"After getting through the global economic crisis relatively well, Africa must now address longer term challenges to the continent's future, including governance issues and climate change, to be able to press ahead with the region's economic transformation," Strauss-Kahn said.

The IMF director said African countries were largely innocent victims of the global financial crisis. He said the war-ravaged continent will continue to face large, persistent and costly shocks, and these shocks will continue to cause great human suffering.

Without a secure standard of living, Strauss-Kahn said people might turn to unproductive or even violent activities, possibly leading to instability, a breakdown of democracy, or war -- all compounding the initial suffering.

LOME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The victory of outgoing President Faure Gnassingbe in presidential election was celebrated Sunday amid traditional dances at the headquarters of the ruling Assembly of Togolese People (RPT) in the capital Lome.

Hundreds of members and supporters of the party were gathering for the jubilation to hail the re-election of Faure, 43, who came to power in 2005.

According to the provisional results announced by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), the official organ to unveil the provisional results, Faure won the election with 60.92 percent of the votes cast.

His closest rival Jean-Pierre Fabre of the United Forces for Change (UFC) got 33.94 percent, despite his claim of win on Friday.

In front of the RPT headquarters, a crowd is dancing to the sound of drums and other traditional instruments to celebrate the publication of the results showing their candidate "genuinely" won the election.

"Faure has clearly won and we have emerged at the top," "a victory that cannot be contested," "Faure has won fairly this time round before the Togolese people and the international community," they repeated the words in their improvised songs of jubilation.

"You must guard your serenity and maintain the discipline which distinguishes our party," the RPT deputy secretary general, Bamenante Komikpime, told the cheering crowd gathering under the scorching sun.

He called on the supporters not to engage in any form of violence and to avoid anything that might lead them into violence, because the "re-elected presidential candidate" made non-violence the key word of his policy of Togo's reconstruction.

Bamenante also asked the supporters and party faithfuls to remain steadfast and work together with Faure in the next five years after the final results are declared by the Constitutional Court and the swearing-in ceremony is held.

Faure began to serve his first term after a hotly contested election in April 2005, following the death of his father Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema on Feb. 5 2005, after ruling the West African country for 38 years.