LOME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Jean Pierre Fabre, the candidate for Togo's biggest opposition United Forces for Change (UFC), said on Sunday he would soon name a prime minister despite the provisional results showed that he had lost in Thursday's presidential election.

According to the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), which has the mandate to publish the results, the 58-year- old UFC chief scored only 33.94 percent of the vote, far behind outgoing President Faure Gnassingbe, who was re-elected with 60.92 percent.

In a statement by the UFC-led four-party coalition, the Republican Front for Change (FRAC), Fabre claimed himself the "president-elect," rejecting the provisional results unveiled by CENI.

He declared that the appointment of a prime minister is a "timely thing" that will help "to preserve social peace" in Togo.

Fabre made the statement while the opposition was staging protests on the streets against the provisional results, which he dismissed as "neither verified nor validated."

"This is obviously an electoral fraud," the statement said, accusing CENI of declaring results other than from the ballot boxes.

"Beginning today, the fight to take over power will be an everyday affair," said the statement signed by Kofi Yamgnane, the spokesperson of FRAC.

On Sunday, the security forces used tear gas to disperse supporters of the UFC. Sources close to the UFC and FRAC said 10 members of the opposition were arrested, including Adja Gerard, an advisor to the leader and candidate of the Organization to Build Togo in Unity and Solidarity (OBUTS), and those from the Citizens' Movement for Change (MCA).

Adja was arrested when he was found in possession of "materials that were calling for civil disobedience," a senior official of the presidential election security forces (FOSEP) explained.

FOSEP also confirmed that some members of MCA were apprehended when they were preparing to carry out acts of violence.

PARIS, march. 08 (Reuters) -- A French frigate operating off the coast of Somalia has captured 35 pirates in just 48 hours, the French Defence Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

It was the biggest such haul since European Union navies started patrolling the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean in December 2008 in an effort to end a spate of hijackings in the busy shipping lanes.

The French frigate, the Nivose, seized four "mother ships" and six skiffs in various sweeps on pirates over the past two days, with a Spanish aerial patrol and two helicopters identifying and tracking down the pirates.

"Some warning shots were needed to dissuade the pirates from fleeing," the ministry statement said.

They did not say where the men would be taken, though both Kenya and the Seychelles have been prosecuting pirates on behalf of Western nations patrolling the seas.

The coast off Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous places for shipping. The number of attacks worldwide jumped by 40 percent last year, with gunmen from the failed Horn of Africa state accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents.

The pirate gangs and their backers within Somalia and abroad have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.

HARARE, march. 08 (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday Zimbabwe should invite international observers and a peacekeeping force to ensure that its next national election is free and fair.

Tsvangirai formed a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe a year ago to end a political and economic crisis, but analysts say mutual suspicion and strategic positioning are delaying democratic reforms meant to clear the way for a poll next year.

Addressing a party rally just outside Harare, Tsvangirai told supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that Zimbabwe could guarantee that violence which has marred previous parliamentary and presidential elections is avoided by accepting observers and a peacekeeping force.

"Lets bring in foreign observers for the next elections... We can use the African Union and SADC (Southern African Development Community) forces for peacekeeping during the election period," he said.

There was no peacekeeping force in 2008. Mugabe allowed poll observers from SADC and the AU but refused those from Western countries, saying they were biased against his ZANU-PF party.

"We want a peacekeeping force so that we can have a free and fair election," he added.

Tsvangirai charges that Mugabe -- 86, and in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 -- has remained in office by using violence and rigging elections, including a 2008 presidential run-off which the MDC boycotted over violence.

Under a global political agreement that brought together Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC party into a power-sharing government, Zimbabwe must free the media sector and write up a new constitution and hold elections in two years, but the whole process is running months behind schedule.

On Thursday, Mugabe said he would stand for re-election if his party nominated him, brushing off calls for him to make way for a younger successor after 30 years in power.

Tsvangirai told his supporters on Sunday that his MDC was fed up with Mugabe's party over "endless talks" on disputes in the unity government, including the sharing of executive power and the appointment of various senior state officials.

"We are sick and tired of endless talks. We shall take measures so that there will be no more dialogue for dialogue's sake," he said, without elaborating.

Despite his frustrations with ZANU-PF tactics, Tsvangirai has said there is no alternative to the current power-sharing deal, which Zimbabweans hope will eventually produce democratic reforms and lead to elections acceptable to all.

KHARTOUM, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Two peacekeepers of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), who had been missing following an attack by unknown gunmen in Sudan's Darfur region Friday, returned to their base, the UNAMID announced in a statement on Sunday.

A UNAMID team at Kass, 85 km northwest of Nyala, capital of the South Darfur State, reported that the two peacekeepers had safely returned to the base with the assistance of local people, according to the statement.

The soldiers managed to contact the team in Kass on Sunday and told the team their location, and a search and rescue patrol was immediately dispatched to collect them.

The two peacekeepers were found suffering from dehydration but were in stable conditions after receiving appropriate medical treatment.

On Friday, a UNAMID assessment patrol was sent to Deribat, in the Jebel Marra region of South Darfur, to assess the security and humanitarian situation following unconfirmed reports of armed clashes in the area, to pave the way for the provision of humanitarian emergency relief.

The patrol was ambushed and its peacekeepers detained before being released the next day.

Two soldiers of the UNAMID Protection Force were able to escape during the ambush, trekking over long distances at night in the desert, before returning to their team site.

They encountered locals who helped them find their way to a place from where they could contact their comrades and command.

In its statement, the UNAMID expressed its thanks and gratitude to the local people for the assistance to its peacekeepers.

The UNAMID also reiterates its commitment to find a lasting solution to the Darfur conflict.

CAIRO, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in stable condition after a cholecystectomy surgery in Germany, the office of Egypt's Information Minister said in a press release on Sunday.

"President Mubarak spent an uneventful night with uninterrupted sleep in the intensive care unit, his recovery continues to progress satisfactorily," according to the release obtained by Xinhua.

"He is clinically stable, with normal vital signs, and his condition is really good this morning. ... He remains under our utmost medical care in the forthcoming days as he continues to recover," the release said quoting a joint brief made by Dr. Marcus Buchler of Heidelberg University Hospital and Egyptian Health Minister Hatem El Gabaly in Germany.

Mubarak, 81, has undergone on Saturday a successful cholecystectomy surgery in Germany after he suffered acute gall bladder inflammation accompanied by gall stones.

LAGOS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- At least 500 were killed in a communal violence in Nigeria, said a government official on Monday.

The clash followed the crisis on Jan. 17 in the northern city of Jos in Plateau State, when some youths attacked worshippers at St. Michael's Anglican Church in Nasawara Gwom.

Police spokesman in Plateau State Muhammed Lerama has confirmed the latest incident and said the acting Commissioner of Police in the state, Ikechukwu Aduba, would address the press on the crisis on Monday.

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.

Guinea, march. 07 (AFP) -- Guinea is to hold a presidential election on June 27 for the first time since a military coup in December 2008, according to an official decree published on Sunday.

The decree was signed by interim leader General Sekouba Konate.

"The transition president, interim president of the republic, sets the date of the first round of the presidential election for June 27," the decree said.

The main electoral commission proposed the date last month and said a second round should be held on July 18 if no candidate gets an absolute majority.

The commission also proposed that the campaign run from May 17 to June 26.

Military rule was imposed on the resource-rich west African nation within hours of the death of long-time ruler general Lansana Conte in 2008.

A crackdown by the army against a rally in September last year killed 156 protesters, with troops shooting, stabbing and raping opposition supporters.

Guinea's Junta Chief Moussa Dadis Camara, who led the coup, is being treated in Burkina Faso after a trusted lieutenant tried to kill him in December

kigali, march. 06 (AFP) -- Rwanda said Saturday it had arrested a suspected mastermind of recent grenade attacks in the capital which injured 16 people this week and killed two others last month.

Attorney General Martin Ngoga said Deo Mushayidi, a former member of the then rebel group Rwandan Patriotic Front that ended the 1994 genocide, was arrested in neighbouring Burundi.

"Deo Mushayidi, one of the main perpetrators of these acts, was arrested in Burundi and is currently in the hands if the police," Ngoga told the state-run Radio Rwanda.

Sixteen people were injured Thursday in two near-simultaneous grenade blasts in Kigali, less than a month after two others were killed in the capital city by multiple grenade explosions.

Ngoga said police had "sufficient evidence" against Mushayidi.

The government has also accused two former senior army officers now exiled in South Africa of being behind the attacks.

Mushayidi fled to Belgium in 2000 and joined several diaspora opposition groups and last year formed his own party. He has been travelling around the region in recent months.

Lomé, March. 07 (AFP) -- Security forces in Togo fired teargas on hundreds of protesters on Sunday as the opposition vowed to contest the results of an election won by the west African nation's President Faure Gnassingbe.

Jean-Pierre Fabre, the main defeated candidate in the poll who was at the protest, took shelter in the party headquarters of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) along with other opposition leaders after armed riot police moved in.

There were between 200 and 300 opposition supporters at the protest.

The crackdown came as the UFC threatened a wave of protests against Gnassingbe, who first came to power amid violent clashes that left hundreds dead in 2005 and is the son of the country's former strongman leader.

Gnassingbe was returned to office in Thursday's election with 60.9 percent of votes cast, defeating his main rival Fabre who took 33.94 percent, according to official results announced on Saturday.

But Fabre accused the official electoral agency CENI of falsifying the results of the poll, seen as a test of democracy for Togo, which was ruled for four decades by Gnassingbe's father.

"I do not recognise the so-called victory of Faure Gnassingbe," he told hundreds of supporters at the headquarters of his party.

"I have never wanted to use violence, but if I am stolen from, I will not give up the fight," warned the opposition leader, an economist.

"We are going to stage protests, we are not going to take this lying down."

"I totally contest the figures," said Fabre, who claimed to have obtained between 55 and 60 percent of the vote.

Ayih Folly, a 23-year-old activist, said: "If they think it is all over, they are mistaken.... We shall mobilise ourselves and pour on the streets to show them this time round that our victory is dear to us."

A young opposition protester near UFC offices told AFP: "Even if we are only three, we shall fight till the end. It is either Faure (Gnassingbe) goes or death."

In the same area, a woman screamed: "I myself will protest, even with bare hands until we take power. Lome rejects the family of Gnassingbe, in power since 43 years."

In another part of town, a young Gnassingbe supporter -- in a black tee-shirt emblazoned with the president's picture -- warned his camp was ready to fight back.

"They accuse us each time that we stole their votes, threatening to pour on the streets," said Evariste Adoul. "We shall show them that we also can take to the streets."

As tensions mounted, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for "calm and restraint" and for any grievances to be dealt with through legal channels.

Gnassingbe is the 43-year-old son of former leader Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled with an iron fist for 38 years over the poor country of 6.5 million.

Bloody unrest broke out in the capital of 1.5 million people following his election in 2005, claiming between 400 and 500 lives, according to the UN.

Thursday's election passed off without major violence but observers from regional bloc ECOWAS reported problems with ballot papers and a dozen opposition activists have been arrested since Saturday.

Riot police have been deployed across the seaside capital, where the streets were deserted for fear of violence. Another protest was teargassed on Saturday.

Security forces arrested the two main leaders of a UFC-linked youth movement, Dupuy and special forces commander Colonel Yark Damehane said.

They also picked up another 10 people including two aides to a defeated fringe candidate in the election, Messan Agbeyome Kodjo of the OBUTS movement.

Dahemane told AFP Kodjo's aides were detained for "distributing tracts and leaflets calling for a general uprising."

Kodjo, a former prime minister, accused the authorities of intimidation.

"These were not tracts, it was a statement signed in my name. This is arbitrary, it is an act of intimidation," he told AFP.

Dupuy also accused activists of the ruling Rally for the Togolese People of "intimidating and hunting UFC activists" in the Bassar region in northern Togo

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:17:02 GMT
Alalam :
Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election as leader of the West African state, preliminary results showed on Saturday.

The election was seen as a test for democracy in a region that in recent weeks has seen a coup in Niger and street riots over delayed elections in Ivory Coast. Togo's last presidential poll triggered violence that killed hundreds.

Gnassingbe won 1.24 million votes, over half of the 2.1 million cast. His closest rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, scored around 692,000 votes, according to results read by Taffa Tabiou, president of the electoral commission.

A statement on the Togolese government website put turnout at just under 65 percent. International observers said the poll had gone smoothly, despite some procedural flaws.

Hours before the result was announced, police fired tear gas to break up a protest by supporters of Fabre, who on Friday had already claimed victory. Ten people were arrested in the clash.

But eyewitnesses said Lome was otherwise calm, with a heavy police presence. The protests that followed Gnassingbe's first victory in 2005 triggered a security crackdown in which up to 500 were killed, according to UN estimates at the time.

The leadership of the opposition movement in Nigeria under the auspice of the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) has described the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP as a failed political party led by puppets, stating that the current presidential logjam created by distrust in its presidency has finally exposed the party as very unreliable and weak.
Head of Secretariat of MSM, Olawale Okunniyi made this in a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend through a routine message used to contact teams of MSM in the six geo political zones of the federation. The movement said it is anticipating early general elections in November 2010.

The brief to zonal canvassers of MSM stated that one of the steps already taken by the movement is to convene two caucus meetings this week in Abuja and Lagos respectively to settle for a popular name and structure for the new party after which the group will hold the proposed National Leaders’ Summit in conjunction with similar ideological platforms at the end of March.
Okunniyi also disclosed that similar consultations are being held with the National Democratic Movement set up by Buhari, Atiku and Bafarawa and the leadership of labour, among others to find a common ground for social democrats and leaders of conscience in the nation.
The mega party scribe however took a swipe on the Peoples’ Democratic Party for its inability to nip in the bud the current presidential confusion foisted on the country by its presidency as a prove of its claims to be the largest party in Africa.
He said, “The PDP like some other parties in the current democracy is not a real political party, where party supremacy, discipline and internal democracy reign. Given weak party structure and power of patronage, PDP public officers, also at states levels, impose party leaders and order them around like robots. The result is the clique rule, which presently hold sway in Nigeria.”
He concluded by saying the leadership of the new mega party is very vigilant to ensure that the party is mass based and in clear ideological distinctions to all that PDP represents in the polity, affirming that the leadership will not allow any clique under any guise to hijack the new party.
50105-2010/03/03

The host communities to the ongoing River Niger dredging from the south to the northern part of the country have expressed concern over alleged diversion of fund meant for the projects to different projects, calling for Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to resign.
The call was made by River Niger host communities from Kogi and Niger states. The communities said the call for his resignation become imperative because he approve the diversion of N19 billion intervention fund for the dredging of River Niger from the Federal Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Niger Delta for shoreline protection.
President of River Niger Coast Youth Communities of Kogi State Barrister Mohammed Ndanusa and spokesman of the Nupe Congress of Niger State Engineer Yabagi Sani said this at separate press conferences in Abuja yesterday.
They said it was wrong of the acting president to meet with some people from a section of the country and issue directives diverting funds appropriated by the National Assembly, approved by the President and the contract approved by the Federal Executive Council.
Barrister Ndanusa said Jonathan’s action constitutes an impeachable offence for diverting money appropriated by the National Assembly from one Ministry to the other for purposes other than what the fund was originally appropriated for.
Engineer Sani said the action of the acting President is clearly unconstitutional and illegal because appropriation is the prerogative of the National assembly only. He asked the National Assembly to take up the matter and appropriately commence impeachment process against the acting President.
He also asked the EFCC to investigate the matter to ensure that the N600 million paid to the consulting firms responsible for the section (Warri to Ida in Kogi State) of the dredging being stopped is refunded to the government immediately.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had after a meeting with the steering council of the Niger Delta Amnesty Program that consist of Governors of the Niger Delta region, directed that the dredging of a portion of the river Niger from the Onya Bifurcation to the Nembe/Port-Harcourt course be suspended and the N19 billion earlier appropriated for the dredging work be transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Niger Delta as reportedly requested by the Niger Delta communities.
50104-2010/03/03

NAIROBI, march 02 (Associated Press) -- The U.S. stepped up its harsh criticism of Kenya, raising again the threat of sanctions against a longtime east African ally that has become riddled with infighting and allegations of corruption.

"Nothing's off the table," said Karl Wycoff, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, referring to steps Washington is willing to take as it urges Kenya to crack down on political violence and root out corruption.

Washington's hard line against Kenya began building after the disputed 2007 presidential elections sparked ethnic clashes that killed more than 1,300 people and displaced tens of thousands more. Rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga agreed to a internationally brokered power-sharing deal that made them president and prime minister, respectively. They pledged to work together to end ethnic disputes and overhaul the country's colonial-holdover constitution.

Two years later, however, their coalition government reamains shaky and the country is on edge. The U.S. is increasingly impatient for the government to take steps to punish those responsible for the postelection violence, crack down on corruption and amend the constitution.

"We will not hesitate to give our opinions when we feel that's what needs to be done," Mr. Wycoff said. "We will take strong actions when we think that's what needs to be done to move the reform process forward."

An anticorruption protester last month in Nairobi.
Kenyan officials have bristled at U.S. pressure. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua called the pattern of U.S. criticism and threats condescending. "Their policy is playing to the [Kenyan public] gallery, which we call activism diplomacy," he said, calling the warnings on travel bans part of "a big bully blackmail system."

The U.S. believes now is the time to push, a senior U.S. official said, in part because the U.S. enjoys wide support among Kenyans that deepened with the election of Barack Obama. Washington also sees a grass-roots move toward change among Kenyans weary of backbiting politics and scandals. And officials want to move before politicians turn back to campaigning ahead of elections in 2012.

The U.S. push in Kenya—a bastion of stability in an east Africa region that includes the war-torn states of Somalia and Sudan—contrasts with its more subtle approach toward neighbors including Ethiopia, an ally of the U.S. in its fight against terrorism that has been accused of human-rights abuses related to political violence.

"There may or may not be such windows of opportunity in other countries," the U.S. official said. "But Washington is looking at this particularly as a very unique, historic opportunity to bring about real change."

In October, Washington banned U.S. entry to Kenya's attorney general, who it said had obstructed anticorruption efforts. It has issued letters to several other officials threatening similar action.

The most recent clash between Kenya's top leaders followed two corruption scandals over the past several months. In one, an independent auditor alleged the Agriculture Ministry had sold its reserve grain to shell companies that marked it up, raising market prices as people went hungry in rural areas. In another case, about $1 million in funds disappeared from a fund for free primary education.

Mr. Odinga, the prime minister, suspended the two ministers. Mr. Kibaki reinstated them. The dispute threatened to inflame ethnic tensions: After Mr. Odinga's announcement, makeshift roadblocks—often a precursor to ethnic violence—sprang up in Eldoret, which saw some of the worst violence in 2008.

The two leaders met Sunday and said they repaired their rift, adding they remain committed to their partnership.

The government spokesman said the government is expected to hold a referendum on the new constitution by the year's end, a move toward spreading power beyond the president and establishing a more accountable system of government. "We are progressing very well," he said. "But it is not because of the U.S.'s so-called interference."

KAMPALA, march 02 (Associated Press) -- A police commander in Uganda says landslides in the country's east have killed more than 30 people and left more than 100 missing.

Joel Aguma says the landslides occurred overnight about 170 miles (275 kilometers) east of the capital, Kampala, in the mountainous region of Bududa.

Police and rescuers headed to the site early Tuesday. The Bududa region has long suffered from landslides.

KHARTOUM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has vowed to preserve peace between north and south Sudan and respect the choice of the southerners if they opt for separation in the 2011 referendum, the Al-Ahdath daily reported on Tuesday.

The Sudanese president on Monday started a two-day visit to south Sudan as part of his electoral campaign for the general elections, scheduled for April this year.

"We will work to fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and we will firmly respond to whoever intends to disrupt or damage it," said al-Bashir when addressing a gathering Monday in Juba, south Sudan, according to the report.

He pledged to respect the southerners' choice if they opt for separation from the north, saying that "if the southerners opted for separation in 2011 referendum, we will come to Juba stadium to celebrate with you."

The Sudanese president, however, urged for enhancing the unity between north and south Sudan, saying "we have tried the enforced unity and we want to try the voluntary unity."

In the meantime, al-Bashir declared that all suspended issues between the Sudanese government partners -- the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) -- have been resolved, referring to a recent agreement between the two sides on the issue of the population census.

Addressing a rally in the southern Sudanese town of Torit Monday where he launched his electoral campaign in south Sudan, al- Bashir said that "work on border demarcation is progressing as planned. As of today, we do not have suspended issues with the SPLM."

He stressed the government's keenness to press ahead with the development and rehabilitation process together with the education and health projects in south Sudan.

Eleven candidates are contesting with al-Bashir in the upcoming election, including Yassir Arman, candidate of the SPLM, which signed the CPA with the NCP in 2005.

MONROVIA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Liberian National Police (LNP) has announced the imposition of a curfew in the northern Liberian city of Voinjama, after clashes broke out between Christians and Muslims over the weekend.

Marc Amblar, director of the LNP, said the curfew will run from 6:00 p.m. local time to 8:00 a.m. local time and will remain enforced until further notice.

Amblar told reporters on Sunday that he had given strict instructions to riot police dispatched to the area to restore calm while dealing harshly with anyone in violation of law or curfew.

According to him, four people were killed and 21 others severely injured in Friday's violence. Several rioters have been rounded up and taken in police custody.

The Liberian police chief said his men have seized five single- barrels guns and seven machetes.

Meanwhile, Galakpai Kortimai, superintendent of the troubled Lofa County, told Xinhua on Sunday that calm returned to the area following the violence.

Kortimai said shops and stores have once again opened their doors to customers and commercial activities were returning to normal.

He claimed that local officials embarked on a massive campaign urging residents not to panic, but to return to their homes as the situation was brought under control.

Violence flares in the northern Liberian town, which change hands several times among warring factions after the body of a girl was discovered in the area.

The death of the deceased was blamed on some Muslims, who were accused by some local residents of masterminding the alleged act for ritual purposes to open a newly constructed mosque.

Abuja, March. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Naspers Ltd.’s MultiChoice Africa pay-television unit said uniformed gunmen in Nigeria wounded one of its staff members yesterday and kidnapped three others outside Owerri airport in Imo state.

The crew members were abducted when the gunmen stopped their bus as it approached the airport in southeastern Nigeria, MultiChoice said in an e-mailed statement from Johannesburg today.

“The crew were forced to step out of the bus, as they stepped out one Nigerian cameraman reached for his mobile telephone and was shot in the leg by the gunmen,” it said. The wounded cameraman was taken to a hospital, while the three other employees were abducted, it said.

MultiChoice’s “contracted security company” and the Nigerian authorities are working to secure the safe release of Nick Greyling, an audio mixer from South Africa, Alexander Effiong, a Nigerian cameraman, and Bowie Attamah, a Nigerian commentator, the company said.

The crew is in Nigeria as part of a production for MultiChoice’sSuperSport, which covers Nigerian soccer matches, Caroline Creasy, MultiChoice’s head of corporate affairs, said in an e-mailed response to questions. Naspers is Africa’s biggest media company.

Somalia , March. 2 (allAfrica) -- THE Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has asked the UN to impose a no-fly zone on Somalia and block sea ports through which foreign groups supply logistics to the insurgents.

Eritrea, in particular, has been accused of serving as a conduit for arms, logistics and foreign fighters to the Islamist group Al Shabaab in Somalia.

On December 23 last year, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea and vowed to slap financial and travel restrictions on its leaders for arming Al Shabaab.

The resolution, which was introduced by Uganda, passed by a vote of 13 to 1 in the 15-nation council, with Libya voting "no" and China abstaining.

At its meeting held in Addis Ababa on Thursday, the council hailed all the countries and institutions providing support to the AU peace keeping mission, especially Uganda and Burundi, calling on other member states to join.

Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed soldiers to the AU peace keeping force, known as AMISOM, but the 5,000 strong force falls short of the 8,000 soldiers required to secure the capital Mogadishu alone.

The AU council stressed that the deterioration of the situation in Somalia is proof of the increased internationalisation of the conflict.

It, therefore, called for the deployment of UN staff to help stabilise the situation and support the reconstruction of the country.

"The council noted that the current support remains below what is required on the ground and called for more mobilisation of the international community," an AU release said over the weekend.

The group reiterated its support to the Somali government and asked for more support, including military, to enable the government neutralise the armed element and deliver basic services.

In that respect, it welcomed the recent commissioning of eight battalions of the Somali security forces, who had been trained by AMISOM.

It also welcomed the completion of the induction course for the AMISOM police trainers from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda who will in turn train the Somali police.

The council again condemned the acts of violence and terrorism by Islamist militant groups Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam "with the active support of foreign elements in defiance of the peace overtures of the government and the international community".

It reiterated its call to all the Somali parties to join the peace process without any precondition and delay.

It also demanded that armed opposition groups ensure unrestricted access and assistance to needy civilians in areas under their control.

Meanwhile, World Food Programme has reported that Al Shabaab militants are stopping convoys of food reaching more than 360,000 displaced people.

Al Shabaab says World Food Programme is ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports. But the UN says Somali farmers cannot supply enough food.

Kinshasa, March. 2 (Bloomberg) -- A coalition of 51 human rights organizations working in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo accused an army lieutenant colonel of ordering massacres, executions and rapes in a complaint sent to the region’s military commander yesterday.

The lieutenant colonel, Innocent Zimurinda, is a former rebel who joined the army in 2009 and has been taking part in UN-backed military operations against a Rwandan Hutu rebel group in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

“We fear these attacks on civilians will continue unless there is urgent action by the authorities to suspend and investigate him,” Joseph Dunia of the Congolese group Promotion of Democracy and Protection of Human Rights said in a statement e-mailed by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Zimurinda is accused in the complaint of deliberately killing civilians on a number of occasions dating back to 2007, when he fought with an ethnic Tutsi-led rebel group backed by Rwanda.

In April 2009, shortly after joining the the Congolese army, he allegedly ordered the killings of at least 129 Rwandan Hutu civilian refugees, according to the complaint. The groups also accuse the lieutenant colonel of continuing to order rapes and summary executions and of using child soldiers.

Human Rights Watch estimates that over 1,400 civilians died in the operations against the Rwandan rebels in 2009, according to a December report. Nearly one million were displaced by the fighting, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and more than 8,000 rapes were reported in North and South Kivu, according to the UN Population Fund.

In late December, the UN Security Council mandated that UN peacekeepers couldn’t work with Congolese army battalions that were guilty of human-rights abuses. The rights groups said they were concerned Zimurinda and other commanders accused of abuses would participate in the new operations.

“We will, as appropriate, bring complaints regarding other commanders in the future,” the complaint said.

A Nigerian based Saudi cleric, Dr Ahmad Gummi has been arrested by the Saudi authorities at his house in Mecca.
Dr Gummi who is widely seen as a controversial Islamic preacher was arrested Thursday last week by the Saudi Arabian secret police although both the Nigerian mission in Riyadh and family sources in Abuja could not specify the exact accusations behind his arrest.
However, an impeccable source confirmed that the arrest was as a result of his link with Al-Qaida, a top group listed by America and her allies as terrorist group.
Dr. Ahmad is a son of a famous scholar the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gummi. Dr. Gummi a trained medical doctor and a retired Major in the Nigerian Army. He returned to Nigeria from his Saudi base about ten years ago and began the annual Ramadan preaching at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, in succession to the late Sheikh Lawal Abubakar.
Sheikh Lawal himself had taken up at the Ramadan sermons after the demise of Dr. Ahmad’s father, Sheikh Abubakar Gummi in 1991. His sermons soon became very controversial for the attacks on the Dariqa and Shiite sects. Although he resides in Saudi Arabia, he returns to Nigeria just before the Ramadan fast every year to conduct the sermons.
Dr. Gummi’s confrontational gesture was too direct especially on the Shiites followers in Nigeria and beyond. He had declared at various avenues especially during his Ramadan preaching that the Shiites’ blood could be shade because they are infidels (Kufrs). He tried to insight unrest among the followers of different Islamic sects in Nigeria. He does not respect any expect his own which is Salafiyyah.
The Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abdullahi Garba Aminci in a statement confirmed the arrest. He said, “It is true he is being held, but we do not have information as to why they (the police) invited him.”
Gummi’s younger brother Abdulqadir Abubakar also said in a statement on behalf of family that they were still trying to get information as to why the Sheikh was being held. “We have no idea why they are holding him,” Abubakar said.
Aminci said Dr. Ahmad’s family reported to the mission that security men in plain cloth came to their home in Makkah and asked Gummi to go with them. They took away cassettes, books and computer, but did not say why they were picking him up.
Aminci said on learning about the ‘invitation’ he instructed the consul-general in Jeddah to find out what was happening. He said officials of the consulate contacted the authorities of the Saudi secret police, who admitted they were holding Gummi and said they would give the embassy a report. The embassy was still waiting for the report as at yesterday, he added.
Aminci said Ahmad’s “invitation” by the police may be connected to the scholar’s “religious activities”, given that they took away religious books, records of preaching and a computer.
Gummi had recently travelled to Malaysia, he said. Two Nigerian students in Malaysia were arrested last month on suspicion of belonging to terrorist groups.
50103 - 2010/03/02