2010-04-20
ABOARD USS GUNSTON HALL (Reuters) - Men in blue overalls haul on the ropes alongside American crewmen sporting hardhats shaped as Stetsons and decorated in the stars and stripes.

"Pull harder! Coil the ropes!" one of the Americans barks at the "ship riders", a term used for the West African sailors aboard the U.S. amphibious landing vessel as she slips her moorings in the port of Dakar.

This is a floating academy, part of an effort by the U.S. military to train local navies and coast guards to combat rising instability in the Gulf of Guinea -- an increasingly important source of oil and other raw materials for western markets which has drawn huge international investment.

The United States says the destabilizing effects of piracy, drug smuggling, and illegal fishing in the area are also costing West and Central African coastal economies billions of dollars each year in lost revenues.

"You have an area that is traditionally a landward-focused region which is awakening to the impact of the maritime domain," said Captain Cindy Thebaud, commander of the U.S. Navy's Destroyer Squadron Six Zero and head of the project.

After two weeks of training in Senegal, the African officers and deckhands will spend a week at sea on the USS Gunstall Hall alongside their U.S. counterparts learning skills ranging from basic navigation to anti-piracy techniques.

The training is part of U.S. efforts to make Gulf of Guinea maritime security more robust but, with navies often coming low in the pecking order in African militaries, there is a need for increased investment in boats and other equipment.

"There are challenges with resource allocations everywhere in the region," Thebaud said. "But the education and the visibility is continuing to increase and, bit by bit, we are seeing increases in allocations in resources."

THREATS HUGE, IGNORED

The Gulf of Guinea, which runs down from West Africa through Nigeria and Angola, is becoming increasingly important due to its vast potential energy reserves.

Ghana will soon join traditional Gulf of Guinea oil producers Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, while Liberia and Sierra Leone have also made offshore energy finds.

Critics say U.S. policy is purely in self-interest, as the world's top consumer will rely on the region for a quarter of its oil supplies within the next five years.

But sailors said countries in the region were keen on the project as they understood the threat insecurity posed to governance and economic growth.

"(Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea) is not the same level as Somalia but it could have the same consequences," said Lt Commander Emmanuel Bell Bell, a Cameroonian officer onboard.

Earlier this month Cameroon partly blamed piracy for a 13 percent fall in oil production last year.

"In Cameroon we have shipping and oil. The slightest act of piracy creates an atmosphere of fear. It could lead to things shutting down," Bell Bell added.

The training is part of Africom, the U.S. command centre for Africa, but European nations have begun to take part in an effort to broaden the programme and cooperation.

Commander David Salisbury, a British naval officer, said a thwarted hijacking of a ship off Benin and a Ghanaian raid on a fishing vessel in December were evidence of improvements. But he warned that threats were "huge and had been largely ignored" and "we should talk about progress in decades".

"GRANDPA ZODIACS"

The size and power of the USS Gunston Hall -- a heavily armed ship that can deploy smaller landing vessels, machine gun-mounted speedboats and hundreds of soldiers -- is far cry from the kit most of the sailors onboard are used to.

"We are working with grandpa zodiacs with 42 horse power motors," said Blawah Charles of Liberia's newly established Coast Guard.

Some navies in the region are so limited in boats and fuel that their patrols cannot venture far out to sea and pose little threat to illegal fishing vessels or smugglers.

Instability in the Gulf of Guinea has also attracted the interests of private military contractors.

U.S. private security company MPRI, a division of L-3, earlier this year announced it had won a multi-year contract worth $250 million improve maritime security for Equatorial Guinea.

Some fear this pointed to increased competition and the potential for military confrontation. But Thebaud said private military companies' involvement would be "complementary".

2010-04-20
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's top opposition leader called on the international community on Tuesday to help guarantee a fair election next year and not wait till it is too late as was the case with Kenya's post-election bloodletting.

After a disputed election in 2007, Uganda's neighbour slid into bloodshed that ended only after a power-sharing pact brokered by former U.N. head Kofi Annan. The violence has become a benchmark for outside observers eyeing east African polls.

Kizza Besigye of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change told Reuters in an interview that outside actors such as the African Union and the United Nations must come to Uganda and help ensure a fair vote.

"The time to engage is now ... not to send Annan walking over corpses. They should come in now and cause a situation where all parties sit around the table and agree upon how to have a credible election," Besigye said.

"We always engage all these people to intervene at the appropriate time but they don't ... they come to put out the fire," he told Reuters.

The former guerrilla is widely expected to face a rematch -- after losing the previous two ballots -- against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 election.

Besigye clinched the role as his party's flagbearer last week, but must still face-off with other opposition leaders to stand for an alliance against Museveni's ruling National Resistance Movement.

Besigye, who was Museveni's doctor in a bush war, said the alliance would likely pick a presidential candidate by end of June.

Ruling party spokeswoman Mary Okurut said that Ugandan elections had been free and fair. "(Besigye) wants to set the stage (to contest the election in court) ... that's one of their methods," she said.

After years of political upheaval, Uganda has enjoyed two decades of steady growth and economic stability after Museveni's rebels took power in 1986.

OIL CONTRACTS

East Africa's third largest economy has seen increasing interest in its oil sector and debt markets. Foreign oil players have found an estimated two billion barrels and are expected to enter the production phase over the next few years.

Besigye said that oil contracts -- which have not been made public -- would be reviewed if he took power next year.

"A review can lead to any kind of outcome, it could lead to a renegotiation, it could lead to cancellation, it could lead to any form of outcome depending on what we find."

Foreign investors in Uganda's debt markets are not widely expected to roll over positions in government Treasury bills and some analysts say capital expenditure and some investments might slow as the election approaches.

Besigye said there was no way the 2011 poll -- the previous ballots had been marred by allegations of fraud -- would be fair, and there were credible fears of violence.

"We've had very violent elections ... There is therefore a basis from within our own experience for having that fear," he said. "There is a lot of pent up anger within the population."

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Pirates hijacked three Thai fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean during the weekend, a Kenyan maritime official said on Tuesday.

"This was in the Indian Ocean but far away from east coast of Africa," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme. "This is the farthest hijacking to date. They are now operating near the Maldives and India."

HARARE (Reuters) - Hundreds of foreign firms in Zimbabwe have submitted plans to sell majority stakes to local blacks, state media said on Tuesday, despite confusion over an affirmative action law that has divided the unity government.

Zimbabwe's Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, an ally of President Robert Mugabe, last month ordered firms to report details of ownership and plans to achieve majority local control.

Under the regulations, which took effect on March 1, foreign-owned companies must submit plans to show how they will sell 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans within five years.

The power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last year is divided over the regulations, which Tsvangirai has said were issued without consulting the cabinet.

A spokesman for Tsvangirai said last week the regulations had been suspended, a statement that was quickly denied by both Mugabe and Kasukuwere.

Kasukuwere told the state-controlled Herald newspaper on Tuesday that foreign firms were complying.

"We have so far received more than 400 submissions from various companies and as government we are happy with such an overwhelming response," he told the newspaper.

Units of British American Tobacco Plc, Unilever and South Africa's Impala Platinum are among the companies that have submitted plans, the newspaper said.

Firms that have not yet submitted plans will get a 30-day extension from the April 15 deadline, Kasukuwere told the newspaper, adding the government could terminate licences of companies that did not comply.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF government passed an indigenisation and economic empowerment law in 2007, before the formation of a unity government with Tsvangirai's MDC last year.

Analysts have said the empowerment policy would discourage foreign investment and hurt efforts to fix Zimbabwe's crippled economy.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Some 50,000 workers could go on strike at South Africa's port, rail and pipeline operations after wage talks with logistics group Transnet failed, a transport union said on Tuesday.

A strike at monopoly Transnet could cripple transport of coal and iron ore exports, distribution of fuel and shipping in Africa's biggest economy.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said Transnet had offered to raise wages by 8 percent, while the union demands increases of 15 percent. The country's inflation rate stands at 5.7 percent.

The union said it will present Transnet's final offer to its members on April 22, when it will decide on whether to strike.

"Conciliation in a wage dispute between the two recognized unions and Transnet came to an end late last night, making way for the possibility of strike action across South Africa's port, rail and pipeline systems," Satawu said in a statement.

Transnet's staff are represented by Satawu and the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu).

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's outspoken ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema will not be disciplined by the party despite defying President Jacob Zuma's warning to stop inflammatory comments, a youth league source said on Tuesday.

The source said it had been decided after a five hour meeting of the top six officials of the African National Congress, including Zuma, that the Youth League should deal with Malema rather than the ruling party.

"His comments were made on behalf of the Youth League and not the ANC. We are independent and if there needs to be any disciplinary hearing it should be conducted by us," said the source who attended the meeting.

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe declined to comment saying that the party's position would be revealed at a press conference later on Tuesday.

Malema came under fire from Zuma earlier this month over his support for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and his controversial land reform policies.

Zuma also rebuked Malema for continuing to sing apartheid era songs that racially polarised South Africans and embarrassing the ruling party by throwing a foreign journalist out of a news conference.

"Malema's comments were made on behalf of the Youth League and individuals should not be singled out," the source said.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will face a power supply crunch between 2011-13 and 2018-24 unless more power plants than are planned are built, state-owned power utility Eskom said on Monday.

Eskom has launched an extensive power generation expansion programme, but Head of Generation Brian Dames said that much more needed to be done to meet fast rising demand in Africa's biggest economy.

"We are confident for the World Cup and we must say that since 2008 we've had no interruptions," Dames told a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) conference.

"But the period between 2011 and 2013 when there is no major additional capacity coming online and again in 2018 after we've had Kusile (plant) commissioned, then again we will have quite a capacity crunch in the country."

The power utility is under pressure to build new power plants after the national grid nearly collapsed in early 2008, forcing mines and smelters to shut for days and costing the country billions of dollars.

Dames said some 50 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity needed to be built by 2028 to meet demand. Eskom's own expansion programme for now plans for 18,000 MW of new capacity, out of which nearly 5,000 MW has been built since 2005.

He said Eskom was committed to completing the Medupi and Kusile power stations, each expected to supply 4,800 of MW, with Medupi's first unit due in 2012 and that for Kusile in 2013.

The new power needs to partially compensate for ageing power plants which must be decommissioned, Damas said, adding some plants, with a total capacity of 10 GW, are nearing the end of their life. Continued...
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has issued a new rule allowing corporations and other bodies to issue bonds in batches once they receive approval from the regulator, the ministry of investment said on its web site.

Egypt, seeking to spur its bond trading, has been streamlining its rules for both corporate and government instruments and plans more measures in the coming months. It hopes to set up a secondary bond market this year.

Under the new rule, a company can sell bonds in tranches for up to a year after the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority approves their issuance. This will give companies greater flexibility when it seeks to raise funds, the ministry added.

Bonds currently must be issued all at once.

"This comes within a plan to develop, deepen and promote the Egyptian bond market into an effective market for mobilising savings and funding companies operating in Egypt," it said.

The government also plans to reactivate its repurchase agreement (repo) market and introduce bond lending, an investment ministry official told Reuters earlier this year.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's government will endorse a new mining charter next month to increase black ownership in the sector after the previous agreement failed to do so, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said on Monday.

Shabangu said she had received sufficient feedback from mining sector players in the first major review of the country's Mining Charter -- an agreement requiring mining companies to sell a portion of their ownership to black people, to reverse decades of exclusion under white apartheid rule.

She said so far the current charter had been a "disappointment", because not much had been achieved in its aim of de-racialising the mining industry in Africa's largest economy, and the top platinum and major gold producer.

"So far it (transformation) has been a disappointment," she told Reuters.

"The changes to the charter have not fundamentally shifted the goal posts, but aim to enhance compliance with black economic empowerment. We have set no new targets."

She said all feedback from mining companies would be in by the end of April, but declined to give details, saying these would be disclosed once the charter is endorsed by the cabinet.

"(In) early May, the cabinet will endorse the changes and it will strengthen this tool of transformation," Shabangu said.

She spoke at a function at the Wits University in Johannesburg where gold miner Gold Fields said it would spend 26 million rand over three years in the mining engineering faculties to help fight skills shortages.

When she took charge last year, Shabangu said her first task would be overseeing the review of the charter, which oversees the mining industry -- a key pillar of the economy and a major employer.

Analysts have said the revised charter will seek to plug loopholes that have allowed the marginalisation of black people in the mining sector to continue, five years after the agreement to transform ownership was signed.

BLACK OWNERSHIP

The charter set a target to transfer 26 percent of ownership to black people by 2014, and the review was prompted by concerns that this target may not be met.

The revised charter will seek to speed up black ownership, skills development, employment equity, procurement, housing and living conditions, and mining beneficiation, Shabangu said.

The slow pace of transformation in the industry is seen as fuelling demands by the ruling party's youth wing to nationalise mining companies, analysts said.

Media reports say about 10 percent of the industry was in black hands last year, far from the 15 percent target set by the mining charter.

Shabangu declined to comment on these reports.

Mining companies have said they hope there will not be major changes, which could affect their operations and costs.

Shabangu said the mining department had finalised an inventory of all mineral resources still under state control and would present these findings to the government, which would next month decide whether to keep all the assets or sell some.

Shabangu said rather than grabbing mines, the country would run a state-owned firm focused on strategic minerals such as coal and uranium, which were required for power generation.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) agreed on Monday pipeline and liquefied natural gas suppliers should not compete with each other and should work to raise gas prices on a par with oil, but did not agree to coordinated output cuts.

The GECF, whose members hold about 70 percent of the world's conventional gas reserves, met on Monday in Algeria to plan an escape from a gas glut that has pitted LNG and pipeline gas suppliers against each other, driving down prices and profits over the last year.

"All ministers agreed that our aim is to continue to support the linking of gas to oil parity ... We also believe that there should not be competition between different types of gas," Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko said after the meeting.

"We believe that there is today a certain conflict between long-term contracts and the spot market."

Russia, the world's largest pipeline gas exporter, has seen its sales to Europe shrink because of competition from LNG sellers who have been forced to find markets for fuel earmarked for North America before a surge in U.S. shale gas production.

Plentiful supply has driven gas prices down on both sides of the Atlantic, slashing profits for LNG sellers too. Gas currently sells for less than $4 per million British thermal units in the U.S., down from a 2-1/2 year peak of $13.69 in mid-2008, and $5 in Britain.

With oil trading in a range of $80-85 over the last month, oil parity would mean gas selling for around $11.

Algerian energy minister Chakib Khelil said earlier this year the forum -- which is dominated by Europe's three biggest suppliers Russia, Algeria and LNG giant Qatar -- should agree to coordinated cuts in spot market supplies to support prices.

But the GECF has made no serious attempt to coordinate supply policy so far, and ministers did not discuss practical cuts on Monday, the GECF's Russian secretary general Leonid Bokhanovsky said.

"The (Algerian) proposal was not discussed in detail... No practical steps on the percentage of the cuts or the segment of the cuts were discussed in the open session," Bokhanovsky told Reuters after the meeting.

Although often refered to as "gas OPEC", many analysts say it cannot hope to emulate the power of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries soon because most gas is delivered under long-term contracts and competition for spot sales from non-members is strong.

"When you drop the (OPEC) quota, someone else is not taking your place, but in gas, you have two important countries that are not members -- the United States and Australia," Khelil told journalists after the meeting, adding the group had instead decided to strive for oil-gas parity -- someday.

"How you do that is for each country to achieve that with the sales contracts that they have," he said.

OFFICIAL DECLARATION

The GECF, which Bokhanovsky said would hold its next ministerial meeting in Qatar on December 2, 2010, hopes instead to convince customers that they should pay more for gas to ensure the investments needed to secure supplies of the cleanest burning fossil fuel in future.

"We agree that ensuring adequate and reliable supplies of gas at prices reflecting parity with oil prices and the advantages of natural gas is a challenge," the final GECF declaration, read by Khelil, said.

"Natural gas is an essential part of the fuel mix and plays an important role in satisfying the global need for an environmentally friendly energy source."

The declaration says the GECF wants big gas consumers to participate in more upstream gas projects in producing countries, while allowing gas exporters to invest in mid and downstream networks in consuming countries.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday Sudan's elections were neither free nor fair but it will deal with the victors to try to settle internal disputes before a referendum that could bring independence to southern Sudan.

Early results from the election, the oil-producing nation's first in 24 years, suggest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his party are headed for a strong win in presidential and parliamentary polls marred by boycotts and alleged fraud.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of war crimes in Darfur, scored majorities of up to 90 percent in a sample of results from northern Sudan reported by state media.

"This was not a free and fair election," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "It did not, broadly speaking, meet international standards."

"That said, I think we recognize that the election is a very important step" toward carrying out a 2005 peace deal that gave the south autonomy, a share of oil revenues and a route to independence via referendum by January 2011, he told reporters.

The so-called Comprehensive Peace Agreement was designed to end a 22-year civil war between the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in Sudan's mostly Muslim north and the largely Christian and animist south.

"EMERGENCE OF A NEW COUNTRY"

Crowley said many of those elected in the Sudanese poll, however flawed it may have been, would play important roles in whether "we have a credible referenda process that, quite honestly, is likely to yield the emergence of a new country."

His comment was an allusion to the widely held expectation that southern Sudan will choose to secede from the north.

"So while we understand that there were flaws and failures in terms of this electoral process, we will recognize that there is a lot of work to be done," he said. "The United States will continue to work with the government in the north, the government in the south, as we move forward with ... the vitally important referenda that'll happen in January of next year."

In a separate statement, the United States, Britain and Norway said Sudan's elections were marred by poor preparation and other suspected irregularities and they called on Sudanese officials to take to fully implement the 2005 peace accord.

"We note initial assessments of the electoral process from independent observers, including the judgment that the elections failed to meet international standards," the three countries, guarantors of the peace deal, said in a statement.

"We are reassured that voting passed reasonably peacefully, reportedly with significant participation, but share their serious concerns about weak logistical and technical preparations and reported irregularities in many parts of Sudan," the statement said.

European Union and Carter Center observers have said the elections did not meet international standards, but stopped short of echoing opposition charges of vote-rigging.

The three countries noted the limited access of observer missions in Darfur and voiced regret that electoral officials did not do more to address such problems before the voting.

"It is essential to build upon the progress made so far to expand democratic space in Sudan," the statement said, adding that Sudanese officials should "draw lessons" to ensure future polls and a referendum due next year on independence for South Sudan do not suffer from the same flaws.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan's main party on Monday accused the north of building up troops in the country's highly sensitive Blue Nile border state during a vote count at the climax of troubled national elections.

Blue Nile, on Sudan's north-south border next to Ethiopia, was one of the main battle grounds in the 1983-2005 civil war between north and south Sudan.

It remains a potential flashpoint as the oil-producing country moves through elections towards a 2011 referendum on southern independence.

The elections were set up under the 2005 peace deal that ended that conflict and were supposed to help bring the country back to democracy.

A Sudanese police source said they were increasing their presence ahead of the results announcement. "They are executing the security plan that was set out for them ahead of the elections," the source said. "These are ordinary measures."

The southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), a former rebel group, said it had information the north had been building up troops in the region over the past two days and said it would not accept any attempt to influence the results of a hotly-contested race for state governor.

"They are building up forces there ... They are trying to rig the elections ... It is unacceptable. It is a red line and we will not accept it," SPLM presidential candidate Yasir Arman told Reuters after a news conference.

Arman would not say what the SPLM would do, but said his party's leadership would discuss a response.

An SPLM official in Blue Nile, Suleiman Osman, told Reuters more than 2,000 heavily armed police with 18 vehicles mounted with machine guns moved onto the streets of the state capital of Damazin overnight.

Senior NCP member Rabie Abdelati said: "The early figures show that the NCP will get the victory in Blue Nile. Yasir Arman knows this and this is why he is making these falsehoods."

HOTLY CONTESTED

Both SPLM and NCP have claimed victory in the hotly contested state ahead of the announcement of official results.

Northern and southern leaders could not agree on the future of Blue Nile and neighbouring South Kordofan when they negotiated the 2005 peace deal.

Both states remain in northern Sudan but the residents were promised "popular consultations" giving them a vague right to voice a desire for more autonomy if they are unhappy with the government in Khartoum.

Sudan's elections were marred by poor preparation and suspected irregularities, the United States, Britain and Norway said on Monday, calling on Sudanese officials to take further steps to fully implement the country's 2005 peace accord.

Early results -- Sudan's first open polls in more than two decades -- suggest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his party are heading for an overwhelming victory.

Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes in Darfur, scored majorities of up to 90 percent in a sample of results from northern Sudan reported by state media.

Elections officials told Reuters it would likely be some days before presidential results are announced because of technical delays in the reporting systems.

European Union and Carter Center observers have said the elections did not meet international standards, but stopped short of echoing opposition charges of vote-rigging.

The SPLM and other parties boycotted large parts of the voting.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel may come under new pressure next month at a U.N. meeting on atomic weapons as the United States, Britain and France consider backing Egypt's call for a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear arms, envoys said.

The 189 signatories to the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will meet at U.N. headquarters in New York for a May 3-28 conference on the troubled pact whose credibility, analysts say, has been harmed by the atomic programs of Iran and North Korea and the failure of the big nuclear powers to disarm.

Israel, like India and Pakistan, never signed the treaty and is not officially attending the conference. The Jewish state is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal, although it has never confirmed or denied having atomic weapons.

NPT review conferences take place every five years. At the 1995 meeting, member states unanimously supported a resolution backing the idea of "a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction."

In a working paper Egypt submitted to fellow treaty members ahead of next month's meeting, Cairo said the conference should formally express regret that "no progress has taken place on the implementation of the (1995) resolution" and call for an international treaty conference by 2011.

The point of such a conference would be "to launch negotiations, with the participation of all states of the Middle East, on an internationally and effectively verifiable treaty for the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East," the Egyptian paper says.

Egyptian initiatives at NPT meetings are nothing new.

But Western diplomats familiar with the issue said the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- might be ready to support such a conference, although not with a negotiating mandate.

The diplomats, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the three Western powers might also encourage Israel to participate, although their position was that there could be no mandate for negotiating such a treaty now, when many countries in the region refuse to recognize Israel.

Egypt is one of several Arab states that recognize Israel.

SHIFT IN U.S. APPROACH

Diplomats said backing from the five permanent Security Council members -- the NPT's five official nuclear powers -- would help ensure broad support for Egypt's plan next month.

One Western envoy said Egypt's insistence on a conference with a negotiating mandate was the main "sticking point," while another expressed the hope that Egypt would compromise during intensive negotiations on the issue in the coming weeks.

But Egypt's U.N. Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz told Reuters the sticking point was Israel's reluctance to participate.

"We want the Israelis to sit at a table and negotiate," he said.

"We're flexible on the location and the format of the conference," Abdelaziz said, adding that one possible idea was to have U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon oversee it.

Western diplomats said the U.S. willingness to entertain the idea of supporting such a conference highlighted the sharp shift in Washington's approach to Israel under President Barack Obama compared with his predecessor George W. Bush.

U.S. support for a regional nuclear conference could further alienate the Israelis at a time when relations are already tense due to disagreements over Israel's settlements policy in occupied areas the Palestinians want for a state.

One Western diplomat said the Israelis were "understandably reluctant" to take part, even if the conference's outcome would be merely symbolic. But it would be difficult to refuse if Washington began to put pressure on the Israelis, he said.

"They (the Israelis) have an interest here," another diplomat said. "If the Arabs get something they want on Israel, they'll be more supportive on Iran's nuclear program and further sanctions. Israel would benefit from that."

Israel, like the United States, European Union and others, suspects Iran is developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Iran, whose president has said Israel should be wiped off the map, says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Israel's U.N. mission had no official comment on the Egyptian proposal. But an Israeli diplomat told Reuters the Jewish state will be ready to discuss issues like establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone once there is peace in the Middle East.

Several diplomats told Reuters that Egypt has made clear it sees Israel as a higher priority than Iran and has threatened to prevent the NPT conference from reaching any agreements next month if it does not get what it wants on Israel. Decisions at NPT meetings are made by consensus.

The 2005 NPT review conference, which was widely seen as a failure, was unable to reach any agreements after Washington worked to focus attention on Iran and North Korea, while Egypt and Iran attacked Israel and accused the United States and others of reneging on disarmament promises.

2010-04-19
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Monday it will submit the fourth review of Liberia's loan program to its board in June, which could result in the country receiving an additional $6.8 million.

In a statement, the IMF said it also expected a document to pave the way for Liberia to clear its debt under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative would be reviewed by the IMF and World Bank management, parallel to the loan review.

"Significant progress was achieved in advancing structural reforms critical to the extended credit facility program and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative," the IMF said.

It said a preliminary understanding had been reached with Liberia on fiscal policies for the financial year beginning July 1 and on a revised debt strategy to prevent the reemergence of unsustainable levels of debt.

The West African country cut its foreign debt to $1.7 billion in August through a $1.2 billion buyback of outstanding government debt that had been in default since the 1980s, a key step in normalizing relations with the investment community.

Most of the remaining debt will likely be canceled when Liberia reaches the HIPC completion point, either through the HIPC program or under World Bank and African Development programs.

"The draft budget envisages concessional external financing and moderate domestic financing from a newly created treasury bill framework. The central government deficit is projected to remain below 2 percent of GDP," the IMF said.

Liberia, Africa's oldest independent republic, is still recovering from a 1989-2003 civil war, and the IMF said it expected economic output to rise at a faster pace in 2010 than last year, with growth estimated in the range of 6 percent.

2010-04-19
NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan flower farmer Jack Kneppers was forced on Monday to throw 6.5 tonnes of his exquisite roses into a compost pit after flights headed for Europe were cancelled because of the ash cloud.

Kenya's horticulture industry has already lost $12 million to the European airspace closure and it will take several weeks to recover even if flights resume now, its association of exporters said.

Kneppers' farm by picturesque Lake Naivasha in southwest Kenya produces 11 varieties of pristine roses worth tens of thousands of dollars every day.

"We have to throw them into big pits and turn them into compost," Kneppers said, standing in front of rows of boxes full of flowers that he fears will meet the same fate.

"Every day this happens it will cost us $35,000, more as we approach European mothers' day ... If you want to know what is being lost across the local industry, times that by sixty."

Horticultural exports are the leading hard currency earner in east Africa's largest economy, raking in 71.6 billion shillings last year. The sector provides thousands of jobs in a country with a high unemployment rate.

Flowers accounted for more than half of horticulture export earnings in 2009.

"It is bad. We have lost $3 million a night so that is a total of about $12 million as of last night," Stephen Mbithi, the head of the Fresh Producers Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) told Reuters from his Nairobi office.

SPANISH CORRIDOR

Mbithi said the country flies out 1,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables every night at this time of the year and only about 100 tonnes departed on Monday morning, destined for Spain.

"We want to see if we can open a corridor into Spain then we can send everything from Spain straight to Germany, Netherlands Belgium and everywhere we sell," he said.

Foreign exchange traders said the Kenyan shilling was likely to remain under pressure against the dollar as the flight ban was bound to hit hard currency inflows.

"This week there will be further losses whatever happens, even if cargo services resume, because there might be too much supply at once when the smoke stops," Mbithi said.

"If everything goes back to normal, we expect that within two-three weeks, then we will go back to normal, that is prices and everything," he said. "So it is going to be a major short-term loss."

Mbithi said a cargo flight was scheduled to take off Monday evening, but 10 flights every day were required to clear routine stock, not including the backlog.

Kenya Airways' Managing Director Titus Naikuni told a news conference the carrier was losing $1 million each day from cancelling flights to London, Amsterdam and Paris.

Neighbouring Ethiopia's smaller horticulture business, which earned $150 million in 2009, was also hit by the disruption.

"During the last six days we have lost 700 tonness of exports, equivalent to 1.75 million euros," Haileselassie Tekie, director general of the Ethiopian Horticultural Development Agency, told reporters.

"The horticulture industry has been seriously affected. Over 80 percent of our produce is marketed in Europe."

2010-04-19
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sudan's elections were marred by poor preparation and other suspected irregularities, the United States, Britain and Norway said on Monday, calling on Sudanese officials to take further steps to fully implement the country's 2005 peace accord.

"We note initial assessments of the electoral process from independent observers, including the judgment that the elections failed to meet international standards," the three countries, guarantors of the 2005 peace deal, said in a statement.

"We are reassured that voting passed reasonably peacefully, reportedly with significant participation, but share their serious concerns about weak logistical and technical preparations and reported irregularities in many parts of Sudan," the statement said.

Early results from the election -- Sudan's first in more than two decades -- suggest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his party are heading for a strong win in presidential and parliamentary polls marred by boycotts and accusations of fraud.

Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes in Darfur, scored majorities of up to 90 percent in a sample of results from northern Sudan reported by state media.

European Union and Carter Center observers have said the elections did not meet international standards, but stopped short of echoing opposition charges of vote-rigging.

The polls, set up under a deal that ended two decades of north-south civil war, were supposed to help transform the troubled oil-producing nation into a democracy.

The three western countries noted the limited access of observer missions in Darfur and expressed regret that electoral officials did not do more to prevent and address such problems prior to voting.

"It is essential to build upon the progress made so far to expand democratic space in Sudan," the statement said, adding that Sudanese officials should "draw lessons" to ensure future polls and a referendum due next year on independence for South Sudan do not suffer from the same flaws.

2010-04-19
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Security forces in Madagascar arrested 19 people on Sunday on suspicion of plotting a coup, the latest in a series of plot rumours to hit the Indian Ocean island's capital in the past few weeks.

Lieutenant Colonel Rene Lylison, the head of the security unit that carried out the arrests, told reporters the plan was to attack the prime minister's residence in the early hours of Monday morning.

"It was serious. Some officers had prepared a coup d'etat, to kill Malagasies ... fortunately, we were able to prevent the attempt," he said. "Their goal was to kill, and divide the military."

There is growing disquiet in Madagascar over the rule of President Andry Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital who seized power with the help of dissident soldiers in March 2009.

The African Union imposed sanctions on Rajoelina and 108 of his backers in March this year for failing to install a unity government with the country's three main opposition groups.

Analysts say some high-level military officials are frustrated at Rajoelina's failure to end the crisis and restore constitutional order.

On April 12, the army gave the president until the end of April to offer an acceptable way out of the political crisis and end the uncertainty that has hit foreign investment and left the economy struggling.

While some analysts said the army ultimatum might be just what is needed to bring the political groups to the negotiating table, there have been rifts within the army ever since dissident troops backed Rajoelina's power-grab.

Divisions within Rajoelina's government have also emerged. In early April, Rajoelina's prime minister sacked Armed Forces Minister General Noel Rakotonandrasana in a show of no confidence. But Rakotonandrasana has refused to leave his post.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the suspected coup plot, although some army officers and a number of civilians were arrested. Lylison said more arrests were likely to follow.

2010-04-19
OHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Uncertainty over South Africa's land reform programme meant to hand over 30 percent of farm land to the country's black majority by 2014 has slowed investment in its sugar sector, an industry official said.

Trix Trikam, executive director of the South African Sugar Association (SASA) said the industry supports the land reform initiative but so far just over half of the land has been transferred to black farmers, hindering investment.

The slow land reform programme in Africa's biggest economy has caused unease in the agricultural sector with white commercial farmers unsure of whether to reinvest in farms under claim by black farmers, he said.

"The finality of the land restitution programme is a necessity because the slow pace has meant that investment, and in particular capital expenditure on farms under claim, is sluggish due to the uncertainty that exists," Trikam told Reuters late on Friday.

After the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa's government set a target of handing over 30 percent of commercial farmland to blacks by 2014 as part of a plan to correct racial imbalances in land distribution caused by apartheid.

The government said earlier this year it would not meet the 2014 target of transferring commercial farmland to black farmers due to lack of funds to purchase land. So far only about 6 percent of agricultural land has been shifted to blacks since 1994.

The sugar industry set up a similar programme to run concurrently with the national plan and transfer 30 percent of commercial sugarcane farms to black farmers by the 2014 -- a deadline key to eliminating the unease and attract further investment.

Trikam said the sugar industry has so far given black growers 19 percent of its commercial farms.

"Should a further 10 percent of land claims be dealt with by 2014, the target of 30 percent will be met," Trikam said.

In addition to challenges around land reform, high input costs continue to weigh on production in the sugar industry.

Kathy Hurly, director of regional services at the South African Cane Growers Association said access to essential farm inputs like fertiliser, chemicals, as well as farming equipment was not easy for small-scale growers.

"This impacts negatively on cane production as all aspects of farming, rationing, planting and harvesting, are generally performed sub-optimally," Hurly said.

"The small-scale sector is currently operating below potential, yields have dropped sharply and the number of growers in this sector had declined by 20 percent over the past five years."

According to Hurly, about 10 percent of sugarcane in South Africa is produced by small-scale farmers who mainly farm on tribal land rather than commercial farms.

South Africa's 2009/10 sugar output fell to 2.18 million tonnes from 2.26 million tonnes a year earlier on the back of higher input costs, while sugarcane output declined to 18.7 million tonnes from 19.3 million tonnes.

The 2010/11 sugar output was estimated at 2.24 million tonnes in March, and sugarcane crush was forecast at 19.12 million tonnes in the same month.

press tv

Egypt is to open an international front to push Israel into signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty as pressure mounts on Tel Aviv to account for its atomic plans.

Cairo advocates holding a regional conference on an "internationally and effectively verifiable treaty for the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East," a draft paper addressed to the NPT said Tuesday.

It added that Egypt will invite all Mideast states to the planned meeting.

According to Reuters, three permanent UN Security Council members -- the United States, Britain and France have already announced their willingness to support such a summit, although not with a negotiating mandate.

The heat may also be turned up on Tel Aviv next month, when the 189 NPT signatories will gather for a review on May 3 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The appeal follows a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which in September 2009, urged Israel to open its entire nuclear program to the watchdog and join the NPT.

At the time, the decision was fiercely opposed by the US and its Western allies and Israel announced that it would not cooperate with the resolution.

Since 1958, when it began building its Dimona plutonium and uranium processing facility, Israel has reportedly manufactured over 200 nuclear warheads, earning the reputation of being the sole owner of atomic weapons in the Middle East.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, aerial footage and decades of recurrent reporting have attested to the existence of the armaments.

The IAEA resolution had likewise warned of 'Israeli nuclear capabilities.'

press tv

A new wave of violence has hit different parts of the war-torn Somalia, killing 17 people and injuring several others.

In the restive capital of Mogadishu, fierce shelling and gun battles erupted late Monday in the northern neighborhoods of Yaqshid, Hawlwadag, Hodon and Hiliwa, claiming the lives of at least 7 people, mostly civilians, a Press TV correspondent reported, citing eyewitness accounts.

The shelling, according to government reports, were in response to mortar attacks by al-Shabab fighters on a military base in the capital's southern area that houses government troops and African Union peacekeeping forces.

Another fierce clash erupted Monday between al-Shabab fighters and pro-government Ahlul-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa forces in a village in central Somali region of Galgadud has killed more than 10 people and injured scores of others, including civilians.