20100424
inform

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Nigerian military fired in the air to contain violence in the central city of Jos on Saturday, after the killing of a Muslim man triggered a rampage by an angry mob, an army spokesman and witnesses said.

Four others died in the unrest, underscoring continued tensions in the region at the crossroads between Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south. Sectarian clashes have killed hundreds of people this year.

A mob began rioting after the body of a Muslim man, who had apparently been strangled, was dumped in a sack on a main street, according to the military taskforce (STF) set up to police Jos and the surrounding area after clashes in January.

"When the Muslims discovered the body, they took to the streets and barricaded roads, stabbing passers-by indiscriminately," STF spokesman Donald Oji said, adding that three of those attacked had later died in hospital.

A fifth body was later discovered by soldiers on the other side of the city, he said.

Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups and Muslim settlers from the north have repeatedly sparked violence in central Nigeria's "Middle Belt" over the past decade.

Security forces say they have the situation under control, maintaining a night curfew in Jos. But killings have continued, raising fears of a repeat of clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs which killed hundreds in January and March.

Sporadic violence killed at last nine people last week, seven of them discovered in shallow graves around 30 km (20 miles) south of Jos. Residents said they were killed after stopping at a roadblock set up by a local gang.

20100424
inform

Two German hostages were freed on Saturday in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, a volatile region where kidnappings often occur.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement the kidnappers released the two men somewhere near Port Harcourt, the main city tucked among the creeks and rivers of the Niger Delta. Westerwelle said the men were in good condition and remained in Nigeria.

The minister did not say whether his government or the men's employers paid a ransom for their release.

"I thank the crisis committee and the German and Nigerian authorities involved for their untiring work, which made a fast and happy end possible," Westerwelle said.

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped the two men as they visited a beach April 18 along the Imo River in Abia state. The men had started walking back to their car where their driver waited when gunmen seized them.

The two Germans apparently traveled to the area, long known for its instability, without any guards. Typically, foreign oil workers and other expatriates living in the region travel with private security guards or in police escorts.

Militants in the delta have targeted oil workers for kidnapping in the past during their campaign to bring more oil money to a region that suffered environmental damage and economic neglect over 50 years of production. However, criminal gangs increasingly target wealthy Nigerians and politicians for kidnappings, as well as foreigners who stumble into their path.

Attacks in the region have sharply increased global oil prices in the past and could in the future, as Nigeria exported almost 1 million barrels of crude a day to U.S. in January alone, more than Saudi Arabia.

A peace deal with the government that halted fighting for several months now appears to be faltering, especially after militants detonated two car bombs March 15 during a newspaper-sponsored discussion about the amnesty program.

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania's parliament has passed a new mining law that increases the rate of royalty paid on minerals like gold from 3 percent to 4 percent and requires the government to own a stake in future mining projects.

Tanzania is Africa's third largest gold producer, but also has reserves of uranium, nickel and coal. Gold exports alone earned it $1.076 billion in 2009, up from $932.4 million the previous year.

The Mining Act 2010 passed late on Friday also requires mining companies to list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

As part of the new legislation, Tanzania will not issue new gemstone mining licences to foreign companies. Current agreements with foreign mining companies remain unchanged.

"This bill makes comprehensive provision for prospecting for minerals, mining, processing and dealing in minerals, for the granting, renewal and termination of mineral rights, for payment of royalties, fees and other charges and for any other relevant matters," said part of the legislation.

"The bill is a response to challenges faced and experience gained during 12 years of the implementation of the Mining Act ... that was enacted in the year 1998."

African Barrick Gold has four gold mines in Tanzania while Australia's third largest gold miner, Resolute Mining and South Africa's Anglogold Ashanti also have gold operations there.

British mining company African Eagle Ltd. is raising funds for its nickel project in Tanzania.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council has rescheduled for mid-May a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo called off last week amid travel chaos caused by ash from an Icelandic volcano, diplomats said on Friday.

The trip to discuss with Congo's government the future of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the central African country, originally set for April 17-20, will now take place May 14-16, a diplomat said following Security Council discussions.

Although the ash cloud was the official reason given for the postponement, several diplomats said last week that intensifying talks on a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program also played a role.

The United States is keen to get a sanctions resolution through the council by early May.

Council members plan to meet in Kinshasa with President Joseph Kabila, who has been pressing for a swift withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers from Congo with the approach of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections in 2011.

Kabila wants the Congo peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing within months and the last blue helmet out in 2011.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a slower three-year phased withdrawal.

Japan's U.N. Ambassador Yukio Takasu said the council wants to visit Congo before MONUC's current mandate expires at the end of May.

Council members hope to press Kabila to allow a more gradual exit of MONUC, which diplomats and U.N. peacekeeping officials say is vital to maintaining peace in the country's turbulent east.

Since its establishment in 1999, MONUC has become the world body's largest force with 22,000 troops and police, and assumed many of the responsibilities of the Congolese state, which was torn apart by a 1998-2003 war that killed millions.

But local and Rwandan Hutu rebels still roam much of the two Kivu provinces in the east. Ugandan rebels continue to wage a campaign of terror in the remote northeast and a new rebellion has emerged in recent months in Equateur province.

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - At least two people were killed during a clash between security forces and supporters of an independent candidate in elections in south Sudan's oil-producing Unity state on Friday, the United Nations said.

The deaths were the first serious violence reported during the announcement of results in Sudan's complex presidential, legislative and gubernatorial ballots.

Sudan is in the closing stages of its first open polls in 24 years, a process already marred by delays, boycotts and opposition accusations of widespread vote rigging.

The elections, set up under a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war, were designed to help transform Africa's largest nation into a democracy.

The violence erupted in the state capital Bentiu after a radio announcement said Angelina Teny had lost the race to become Unity governor to incumbent Taban Deng Gai, a member of Teny's campaign team told Reuters, asking not to be named.

"From what I understand there was some sort of a demonstration over a gubernatorial radio announcement," U.N. regional coordinator for southern Sudan David Gressly told Reuters.

"It's not clear how it happened but there seems to have been some shooting and two people were killed and four were wounded."

Gressly said it appeared security forces had tried to disperse the crowd. The dead and injured were all civilians, he added.

Teny, the wife of South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, told Reuters she had reports one of the injured people died later from their wounds.

Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) announced late on Friday that Gai, from the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), won the gubernatorial race with 137,636 votes, with Teny in second place with 63,500 votes.

Teny said that she would contest the outcome. During the election period she complained her agents had been harassed and arrested.

Teny was running as an independent after failing to get the SPLM nomination.

Southern officials told Reuters they were tightening security in two other southern states where independents ran against SPLM candidates.

Earlier on Friday, SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum told reporters the party won overwhelming victories at all levels of elections in the south.

The 2005 accord set up a semi-autonomous southern government and promised a referendum on southern secession in 2011.

Early results suggest Sudan's incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir will keep the top job while his northern National Congress Party will retain control of the national assembly.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the head of Western Sahara's independence movement Polisario on Friday he was worried about alleged violations of human rights in the resource-rich territory.

After a meeting with Mohamed Abdelaziz, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, the U.N. press office said in a statement that Ban had expressed his commitment to finding a solution to the 35-year-old conflict "that provides for the self determination for the people of Western Sahara."

"The Secretary-General stated that he remains very concerned about alleged violations of human rights," the statement said. "(Ban) said that his personal envoy, Christopher Ross, and the (U.N.) Secretariat will continue to work to promote the human rights of Sahwaris."

Earlier this month the Polisario sent Ban a letter complaining about his latest report on Western Sahara to the U.N. Security Council, accusing him of inadequately addressing their concerns about human rights abuses by Morocco.

The conflict centers on a disputed territory slightly bigger than Britain with fewer than half a million people known as Sahrawis. The area is rich in phosphates -- used in making fertilizers -- and, potentially, offshore oil and gas.

Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara in 1975 and is now offering it autonomy. But the Polisario Front, which fought a guerrilla war until 1991, demands a referendum with independence as one option.

Western Sahara is littered with landmines and the remnants of unexploded ordnance from the war.

Morocco and Polisario, which is backed by Algeria, put forward their latest proposals three years ago but formal negotiations broke down in acrimony after less than a year.

The two sides failed to make any progress in informal talks in Austria in August 2009 and in New York state in February 2010. Ban said in his report, published earlier this month, that Morocco-Polisario talks remained deadlocked.

Ban recommended to the U.N. Security Council that the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara stay in place for another year, through April 30, 2011. The 233-strong mission includes military observers, troops and police.

KINSHASA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has rejected accusations by a human rights watch that its army was responsible for killing civilians in fighting rebels early in the month in the northwestern city of Mbandaka.

The African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO) recently reported that DR Congo's Armed Forces (FARDC) and the rival Enyele militia were "responsible for the summary executions" of 49 civilians, the Congolese press reported on Friday.

Communication Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga dismissed the charges as "malicious" propaganda.

"The ASADHO report was drafted on the basis of a statement which was written from far away and they never took any minimal time to verify its authenticity, the credibility of the correspondent or even his intentions," he pointed out.

The minister also denied the allegations that there were confrontations between the FARDC and the Enyele insurgents around Wengji Secli, 24 km from Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province.

Enyele insurgents who are now calling themselves "Nzombo ya Lombo" (village bandits) have fought with the Congolese national police and the FARDC since October 2009 in different localities of Equateur province.

On April 4, the insurgents launched an attack on Mbandaka and briefly occupied the city's airport before driven out by FARDC with the support of the UN mission in DR Congo.

NIAMEY, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Niger's National Transitional Council on Friday proposed holding the first round of presidential elections on Dec. 26, the first time an election date has ever been made public since the military coup in February.

The council made the proposal in its report to the government and the military junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), recommending a transition beginning from Feb. 18, 2010, when CSRD leader Salou Djibo toppled former president Mamadou Tandja in the coup.

According to the report, the proposal has taken into account the experiences of other transitional periods of 1996 (five months) and 1999 (nine months), the feasibility of launching an election process within 12 months and the eventual political interference in case of a long transition.

The proposed duration matched with a timetable which is specifically tailored with activities of organizing the next electoral cycle, the report said.

The National Transitional Council, among other things, proposed the forming of a National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) on May 5, a referendum on a new constitution on Oct. 24 and its promulgation on Nov. 11.

The first round of presidential elections which will be coupled together with the legislative elections will be held on Dec. 26, and the second round which will be coupled with the municipal elections will be held on Jan. 26, 2011, marking the end of the transition.

The council also reported its activities including a clean-up drive in the management of public finances.

It said it would promote national reconciliation by organizing forums and a "Truth, Justice and Reconciliation commission."

To ensure the implementation of the timetable, the National Transitional Council recommended that CENI be provided with necessary means as soon as it is established.

ENTEBBE, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived here on Friday to among others ask for Uganda' s support to lobby the United Nations Security Council not to impose sanctions on Tehran over its uranium enrichment program.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni welcomed Ahmadinejad at State House Entebbe, 40km south of the capital Kampala.

He was given a 21 gun salute and thereafter inspected a guard of honor before he proceeded for a State Banquet.

James Mugume, the permanent secretary of ministry of foreign affairs Uganda told Xinhua that the two leaders might discuss Tehran's nuclear enrichment program.

"He (Ahmadinejad) might consult on nuclear enrichment program because this is the debate in the Security Council. We believe we can solve this issue peacefully," he said.

Uganda is a non permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

The United States and its allies have been pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions to restrict Iran's nuclear efforts, which they say are aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Iran denies the accusation, saying its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and is intended to generate electricity for its people.

Museveni has previously argued that developing countries have a right to acquire, develop and use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Ahmadinejad's two-day state visit to Uganda is seen as the country's move to have talks with the 15 Security Council members in search for an agreement.

COLOMBO, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's detained former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka is to attend the openning session of the new parliament and debut as a legislator on Thursday, party officials said.

"We have been told that all arrangements have been made to bring General Fonseka to parliament. So he will be there," said Vijitha Herath, General Secretary of Fonseka's Democratic National Alliance (DNA) which won seven seats of the 225-member legislature in the April 8 election.

Fonseka was expected to be escorted to parliament by military officials for the inaugural session of the new parliament.

Fonseka was elected to be a Colombo district member of parliament.

Fonseka was defeated in the Jan. 26 presidential election and has been under military custody since Feb. 8.

He faced two court-martials on charges of indulging in politics while still in military service and impropriety in defence procurement.

He denies charges as political motivated.

LOME, April 21 (Xinhua) -- At least four were injured on Wednesday in clashes between opposition protesters and security forces, a government statement said.

The government was launching a probe to interrogate the perpetrators and would "bring them to justice," the statement said, adding that the opposition demonstration was "illegal."

Hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre gathered on Wednesday for a pray and then marched on the street to protest the re-election of incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe.

The protesters set tyres into fire, erected road blockades and threw stones at the security forces when the troops used tear gas to disperse them.

Fabre protested the March 4 election results, which put Gnassingbe in the lead with 60.88 percent of the total votes. Fabre got 33.93 percent of the votes.

Six candidates including a woman ran against Gnassingbe. Gnassingbe came to power in April 2005 after the fiercely contested election that was organized following the death of his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who was in power for 38 years.

KHARTOUM, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) Wednesday said the final results of the elections are expected to be announced early next week.

"What we can confirm is that all the results of the elections in 15 northern states will be announced on Thursday, and until early next week we may announce the final results," NEC member al- Hady Mohamed Ahmed told reporters here Wednesday.

However, he failed to give a specific date of the final results, saying the results of the presidential elections would be announced when results of all the polling stations across the country are submitted to the NEC.

He ruled out any problems facing the ballots counting process, saying that "there are no problems generally, but there are some difficulties in southern Sudan due to the rain which hinders movement on roads."

The NEC Wednesday announced partial results of the elections at the levels of state governors and national and state legislative bodies, which reflected a clear lead of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

The general elections in Sudan, which were held from April 11 to 15, were the first multy-party elections in the African country for 24 years.

CAIRO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Wednesday convicted 58 officials of involvement in a sunken ferryboat case, in which around 1,400 people died after the boat sank into the Red Sea off Saudi coast, state-run MENA news agency reported.

Egypt's Supreme Disciplinary Court ordered dismissing 11 employees of the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Navigation Safety and the Ministry of Transport of their jobs, sending 15 others to early retirement and suspending 21 for six months.

The court also ordered reducing one-month salary from three employees, fining six others five-fold their monthly salary whereas the last two were reprimanded.

The al-Salam 98 ferry sank in the Red Sea in February 2006, claiming the lives of around 1,400 people.

According to the verdict, the convicts have facilitated granting the owner company passenger safety certificates despite its lack of the "least maritime safety devices." They also issued certificates that allowed the owner company to overload the ferry.

On March 11, the ferry owner was sentenced in absence to seven years behind bars while two senior officials of the company received three years each.

Four Saharan states open joint anti-Qaida military base in Algeria
English.news.cn 2010-04-21 23:51:29 FeedbackPrintRSS

ALGIERS, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Four Saharan countries are opening a joint command headquarters in southern Algeria in a bid to untie efforts against terrorism and a growing threat of al- Qaida's North Africa branch.

The command headquarters for Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger is being officially inaugurated Wednesday in the town of Tamanrasset, in the Saharan desert about 2,000 km south of the Algerian capital Algiers, a statement by the Algerian Defense Ministry said.

The joint command aims to oversee the intelligence and military cooperation between the Saharan countries in operations against terrorism, kidnappings and trafficking, the statement said. However, it did not give details about the capabilities of the command or the powers it would have.

The announcement came eight days after a meeting that brought together top military officials from seven African Sahel-Sahara countries to discuss how to activate agreements they reached last month to confront the al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)'s threat.

The meeting had built up on a gathering of foreign ministers and representatives from the seven countries in the Algerian capital to explore means of joining hands in combating terrorism and transnational crimes in order to sustain stability and development.

Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been recently very active across the North African countries, kidnapping a number of foreigners, and carrying out many attacks on the security forces of Algeria, Mali and Mauritania. Transnational crimes including drug and arms smuggling were also rampant, threatening security and stability of the countries in the region.

The AQIM insurgents drew international focus when they kidnapped a number of Westerners last year and used them as a bargain tool to see their demands met. The group is believed to be holding two Spanish aid workers kidnapped in Mauritania last November. An Italian couple kidnapped in the same country a month later were last week freed in Mali.

They also killed a British national they kidnapped on the border between Niger and Mali and claimed responsibility for killing a U.S. aid worker in Nouakchott last June.

The militants also threatened to kill a French man they held hostage on Nov. 25 before letting him go last month only after the Malian government freed four al-Qaida militants whose release was set by their comrades as a condition in return for sparing the hostage's life.

The move angered Algeria and Mauritania which recalled their ambassadors in Bamako, capital city of Mali, in protest. Mali said the four suspects were sentenced to imprisonment terms that they had already spent in jail, opening the door for their release.

Algeria per se has faced an increasing threat by Islamist militants since 1990s, and security forces have recently stepped up military operations against pro-al-Qaida groups.
Editor: yan

MANILA, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Another batch of 21 Filipino sailors on board a Liberian vessel were snatched by heavily armed Somali pirates Wednesday morning.

The Philippine Embassy in Nairobi, in a report to the Home Office in Manila Wednesday, said the Panamanian-flagged, Liberian- owned bulk carrier Voc Daisy was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, 190 miles southeast of Salalah, Oman.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the Philippine government coordinating with the vessel's local manning agency to determine the condition of the Filipino seafarers.

The European Union Naval Force said at the time of the attack, the ship was heading west from Ruwais, United Arab Emirates making its way to the eastern rendezvous point of the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), for onward transit through the Suez Canal.

"MV Voc Daisy was able to raise the alarm before the four armed pirates, carrying three AK47s and one RPG, stormed onboard and cut their lines of communication," an EUNAVFOR statement said
The EU NAVFOR, which is helping Philippine authorities in monitoring the situation, confirmed that all the Filipinos sailors are safe.

EU's naval force in Somalia escorts merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program and vessels of African Union Mission for Somalia, and protects vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

The Philippines is the world's leading supplier of ship crew with over 350,000 sailors, or about a fifth of the world's seafarers, manning oil tankers, luxury liners, and passenger vessels worldwide, exposing them to piracy attacks.

Since late 2008, more than 200 Filipino seamen have been abducted by pirates off Somali waters.

As a policy, the Philippine government does not negotiate nor pay ransom to kidnappers, but gives ship owners the free hand in negotiating for the release of abducted Filipino sailors.

ANTANANARIVO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- While supporters of Madagascar's Highest Transitional Authority (HAT) President Andry Rajoelina link Sunday's attempted attack on the premiership to former president Marc Ravalomanana, those of Ravalomanana's group calls it a cinema.

On Sunday, colonel Rene Lilison of the Special Intervention Forces (FIS) close to Rajoelina announced that an attempted coup d'etat was thwarted and that the military officers and some civilians were arrested for having planned the overnight attack on the prime minister's palace, which is situated in the southeast of the capital Antananarivo.

According to the website www.actumada.mg, which is considered to be pro-Rajoelina, the arrestees included two military officers close to Ravalomanana.

One was identified as chief warrant officer Rodolphe, a former member of the presidential guard under the regime of Ravalomanana. Another was reported to be lieutenant colonel Cesar, who was guarding Fetison Rakoto Andrianirina, the co-transitional president from Ravalomanana's camp.

General Raoelina, the head of presidential guard under Ravalomanana was also mentioned in the coup attempt, although he was suffering from cardio-vasicular disease and hospitalized in Antananarivo.
The same website said Rodolphe had admitted that the money they spent in planning the coup was from former president Ravalomanana. Cesar was quoted as saying, "Besides the 20 U. S. dollars they were paid every day, they were each going to be compensated with a sum of 1,000 dollars if the mission is successful."

FIS led by colonel Lilison has arrested 21 people including a general who turned up for investigation on Monday.

General Desire Ramakavelo of HAT declared, "Some people are seeking nothing else than to create disorder in this country even though they know a solution to get the Great Island from the crisis is being sought."

"No other group wants to do this except Ravalomanana's movement," he said.

Ramakavelo accused Ravalomanana's camp and the other two led respectively by former presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy of rejecting "the proposals advanced by the Madagascan people to resolve the crisis."

On the side of Ravalomanana's camp, Congress Transitional President Mamy Rakotoarivelo declared, "It was a coup of a splinter group and not a coup d'etat."

Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro, the spokesman for Ravalomanana's party Tiako i Madagasikara (TIM), which means "I Love Madagascar", announced, "We are pushing towards a negotiated solution to the crisis. We condemn all acts of violence irrespective of where they are coming from."

Jean-Louis Rakotoamboa, the leader of activists in Ravalomanana's camp, said, "If this kind of attempted coup exists, it is because there are people who are disappointed."

"It is difficult to start accusing people especially Marc Ravalomanana over this situation. The supporters of the former president chose to organize peaceful but determined protests. If they had opted for this kind of attempts, they would have done it in broad daylight," he pointed out.
"We condemn all actions that are aimed at destabilizing the country. HAT has always reneged on the conventional agreements that were signed in Maputo and Addis Ababa," he said, ruling out the intention from the movement of Ravalomanana to attempt any takeover of the kind.

"Whenever a solution to the country's crisis is about to be found, these kinds of acts take place," he argued.

Concerning the former presidential guards arrested for the coup attempt, the official of Ravalomanana's camp reiterated, "Since the withdrawal of the guards in the month of December, we have not had any contacts with them."

Ravalomanana has himself declared that he "supports a democratic solution."

"Rumors suggesting anything on the contrary are totally false and any thoughts on the contrary want to achieve political ends and they are not only cynical but also have destabilizing potential," the former president said.

In Zafy's camp, Dr. Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, the transitional co- president, affirmed that in the face of this situation, "we demand to know whether the HAT president will go to Johannesburg for the dialogue with Ravalomanana scheduled for April 28, since last time his vehicle was attacked and they talked of homemade petrol bombs."

"Unfortunately, despite this act, no inquiry has been opened into the issue of petrol bombs, while as for the Sunday case, people were arrested without any evidence being produced," he complained.

The coup attempt was reported after Prime Minister Camille Vital dismissed former minister of armed forces Noel Rakotonandrasana On April 7.

Vital said Rakotonandrasana had held suspicious meetings with senior officers without informing him, accusing him of causing confusion in the military ranks.
But Rakotonandrasana insists that he will still hold his post unless the prime minister himself comes to him so that he could hand over power. He says he will accept the dismissal if all the military officers want him to leave.

Rakotonandrasana was the main actor in the process of power transfer to Rajoelina, who ousted Ravalomanana with the backing of the military in March 2009. The change is widely seen as unconstitutional.

Last month, the African Union imposed sanctions on Rajoelina and 108 other officials for failing to form a new government with the three former presidents.

The four parties reached agreements in Maputo and Addis Ababa last year on power sharing, but failed to carry them out amid differences.

Last week, Rajoelina admitted that France, South Africa and the Southern African Development Community had proposed a new roadmap to end the crisis after last year's international mediation failed.

He said he had accepted the offer and would meet Ravalomanana in Johannesburg, South Africa, in late April to discuss the signing of a new agreement. He also promised that the other two camps would share the future government if the planned talks turn out a success.

There were rumors saying the coup attempt was a trick by extremists from Rajoelina's camp to block the planned dialogue in South Africa.

NAIROBI, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked a Liberian-owned bulk carrier with 21 Filipino crew on board, the European Union Naval Force confirmed on Wednesday.

EU Naval Force spokesman John Harbour said the Panamanian- flagged Voc Daisy, with a dead weight of 47,183 tonnes, was hijacked on Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden, 190 nautical miles East South East of Salalah, Oman.

The spokesman said at the time of the attack, the ship, owned by Middleburg Properties Ltd. of Liberia and operated by the Greek company Samartzis Maritime Enterprises, was heading west from Ruwais, U.A.E, making for the eastern rendezvous point of the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), for onward transit through the Suez Canal. She was 280 miles from the IRTC when she was hijacked.

"The EU NAVFOR is monitoring the situation and can confirm that all the 21 Philippino crew," Harbour said.

He said the vessel was registered with Maritime Security Center Horn Of Africa (MSCHOA) and was able to raise the alarm before the four armed pirates, carrying three AK47s and one RPG, stormed onboard and cut their lines of communication.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

KHARTOUM, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-two civilians have been killed and 55 others wounded in renewed tribal clashes in Sudan's South Darfur State, Khartoum media reported Wednesday.

"Violent clashes broke out Tuesday between Rizeigat and al-Sada tribes at various areas, some 61 kilometers north of Nyala, the capital city of South Darfur State," Khartoum's Al Ahdath daily reported.

The clashes, which involved heavy weapons and lasted for more than five hours, resulted in the killing of 40 members of al-Sada tribe and 12 members of Rizeigat tribe, according to the newspaper.

In the meantime, Khartoum's Al Ray Al A'm daily quoted commissioner of Wohda in South Darfur State as saying that two security committees of the state and Wohda are present at the sites and that the situation has been under control.

He said that a committee has been formed to calm the tension between the two sides and tackle the root-causes of the problem, according to the newspaper.

He attributed the causes of the problem to the robbery operations and that some criminals seek protection from the tribes after committing crimes.

The western Sudanese region witnesses repeated tribal confrontations due to several reasons including banditry activities and disputes over pastures, besides spread of vengeance among the tribes.

2010-04-23
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali has put its security forces on high alert after a French tourist and his Algerian driver were seized in neighbouring Niger.

A Nigerien military officer said he believed the hostages have already been moved to Mali, where an official warned of the challenges of tracking kidnappers in the vast West African desert region.

The kidnapping late on Wednesday occurred just days after Mali, Niger, Algeria and Mauritania set up a joint command post aimed at improving regional collaboration to counter a growing threat from al Qaeda in their shared Sahara zone.

"As soon as there is a kidnapping, everyone looks towards Mali, especially the north, which everyone says is the rear base for al Qaeda," a military source close to Mali's defence minister told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"That is why ... we have alerted our security forces on the border with Niger, in case, as usual, they try and cross the border to seek refuge in Niger. But the borders are very long and the kidnappers know the terrain, which is huge."

The pair were seized near Tiguidan Tessoun, which is in Niger's remote north and equidistant from the border with Mali and Algeria, according to Nigerien and diplomatic sources.

A Nigerien military officer, who asked not to be named, said that Niamey believed the kidnappers had already crossed the border despite Mali's efforts to cut them off.

"We think they are somewhere in the Azaouagh strip," he said, referring to a valley in Mali's remote north.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Friday it was trying to verify the incident. No group has claimed responsibility.

An increase in kidnappings of foreigners in the desert region, where a combination of bandits, former rebels and smugglers have long operated has pointed to a growing influence of groups linked to al Qaeda.

Analysts say the kidnappings are often carried out by local gunmen, who then pass hostages on to members al Qaeda's North Africa wing, which is known as AQIM.

Six Europeans were kidnapped in the region late last year. Since then, four of the hostages have been released, while two Spaniards are still being held. Last May, AQIM killed a British hostage seized in a previous round of kidnappings.

The reported payment of ransoms for hostages and the release of arrested Islamist fighters has strained relations between the regional states at a time when Western governments are seeking greater regional cooperation to curb al Qaeda activities.

Mali, in particular, has been picked out by Algeria and Mauritania for failing to crack down on Islamists who have taken advantage of vast ungoverned zones and a long tradition of smuggling to operate out of its northern area.

2010-04-23
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven suspected pirates from Somalia have been brought to the United States to face piracy and other charges for attacks on two U.S. Navy ships off the coast of Africa, the Justice Department said on Friday.

It said the suspects were scheduled to appear on Friday in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. The 11 men had been held on U.S. ships for weeks off Somalia's coast as U.S. officials decided what to do with them.

Five defendants were captured after the March 31 attack in which the Navy frigate, the USS Nicholas, exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles, sinking a skiff and confiscating its mother ship.

Two of the accused pirates opened fire at night on what they believed to be a merchant ship, but it actually was the Navy vessel, according to U.S. court documents filed in the case.

In the other incident, six defendants were charged with the April 10 attack on another Navy vessel, the USS Ashland, in the Gulf of Aden. They allegedly opened fire on the vessel with small arms from their boat.

In addition to piracy, the criminal charges included attacks to plunder a vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

If convicted of piracy, the suspects face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, a Justice Department spokesman said.

It was not the first time an accused Somali pirate has been sent to the United States to face criminal charges.

Last year, a teenager from Somalia was extradited to New York to face charges he attempted to hijack a U.S. ship in the Indian Ocean.

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the sole surviving accused pirate from the foiled bid to hijack U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama in April 2009, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have stepped up hijacking attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.

On any given day, between 30 and 40 international ships are involved in anti-piracy efforts in the Somali basin and the western Indian Ocean. That includes five to 10 American vessels, a top U.S. Navy admiral has said.