20100416
alalam

Electoral officials in Sudan on Friday began counting votes cast during a five-day election.

The first multi-party elections since 1986 are supposed to usher in a new era of democracy in Sudan, which is recovering from a decades-long civil war between the north and south, as well as conflict in the western province of Darfur.

However, major opposition parties boycotted the presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections, and massive logistical problems prevented many people from voting.

Sudan's ruling party, in an apparent attempt to appease the opposition parties, said late Wednesday it would invite opposition parties into a coalition government.

The elections, which began Sunday, had to be extended by two days through Thursday due to problems with ballot deliveries and voter registration.

Results are due on Tuesday.

The candidates of the Umma party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - the main party in the autonomous Southern Sudan - have pulled out of the presidential poll, although the SPLM contested elections in the south.

The opposition alleged that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) were planning to rig the poll and said they were worried about security in Darfur.

Despite the problems, the African Union and United Nations said there were no major problems and praised the generally peaceful nature of the vote.

Foreign election observers are due to release their reports on the credibility of the elections in the coming days.

20100416
aljazeera

South Africa has allowed the sale of football World Cup tickets over the counter after registering poor online sales.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa in Johannesburg said the move came as half a million tickets remained unsold less than two months before the tournament kicks off.

Fifa, the world football's governing body, has lately voiced concern over South Africa's preparedness for the World Cup.

It said last February that around 700,000 tickets were still unsold and that Soccer City, the main venue for the World Cup, had not been completed.

But the tournament organisers insisted the venue would be ready and that they were only putting finishing touches to it.

The average ticket costs $20 but many South Africans find that price beyond their means.

Limited access to the internet and use of credit cards has hampered online sales.

Fifa has had to slash the prices of some unsold VIP tickets in the hope of selling them to South Africans rather than overseas fans.

20100416
aljazeera

Sudan has begun counting millions of ballots after five days of voting in its first multiparty elections in 24 years.

The election, which was tainted by boycotts and accusations of fraud, was extended for two days after many polling stations opened without ballot papers.

Obsververs said the election is a step forward for the oil-producing country hoping to evolve into a democracy before a referendum scheduled for next year on independence for south Sudan.

But as the election entered its final day, nine members of Sudan's ruling party were reportedly killed in a shooting while voting took place in the south of the country.

Agnes Lokudu, the head of the National Congress Party in south Sudan, blamed Thursday's shooting in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state on the region's local military.

"Three days ago at night some southern army soldiers came to the home of the president of the National Congress Party (NCP) in Raja, and killed him and eight other members of the NCP," Lokuda said.

Anger at NCP

The NCP, which dominates the north of the country, rules alongside the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) as part of a peace deal that ended civil war in 2005, but there are significant tensions between the two parties.

Lokudu said the killings were motivated by anger that many people in the area had voted for the NCP.

Parties and independents opposing the SPLM, which leads the semi-autonomous government in the south, have previously complained of arrests and harassment.

But the SPLM denied that the separate south Sudan army was involved in the incident.

"This was a passionate crime to do with a wife - a feud that led to a shooting between the husband and lover," Suzanne Jambo, the head of the SPLM's external relations office, said.

"This is not political."

There has been little violence during the elections, despite tension being increased by boycotts of various parts of the process by opposition parties amid allegations of irregularities.

The SPLM pulled out of parliamentary voting in most northern states and withdrew Yasser Arman as a candidate for the presidency. The Umma party also pulled its candidate out the presidential race.

Those decisions left little competition for Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the current president and leader of the NCP who has in power for 22 years.

Ruling party offer

Al-Bashir's supporters seemed to reach out to the opposition parties on Wednesday, saying the NCP would invite opposition groupsto join the government if it won the current elections.

"If we are declared winners in the elections ... we would extend the invitation to all parties, even those who have not participated in the elections, to join the government," Ghazi Salaheddin, a senior leader of the NCP, said.

Al-Bashir's rivals gave a mixed reaction to the offer, which did not specify what role they might play in a new government.

"Let us talk about dialogue first, how to solve Sudan's problems," Fadlalla Burma Nasir, the vice-president of the opposition Umma party, said.

The SPLM's Arman said he was not interested in the offer and levelled further accusations of fraud against the ruling party.

"This is proof that they know the results in advance," he said.

Results of the elections are not expected until April 20.

afrol News, 16 April - The war of figures is back in the boardrooms, after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) announced a surprise proposal package for mobile operators to cut on their rates drastically.

The ICASA yesterday proposed a three-year downward route that would force South African mobile operators to significantly cut prices on current mobile and fixed line interconnection rates.

South Africa has always been said to be one of the most expensive countries for mobile services and internet consumers despite its fairly good infrastructure and mature market.

ICASA is proposing an almost 50 percent cut between July this year and July 2012 for both mobile and fixed service licensees. For instance, with the current mobile interconnect rates, of rand 0.89 per minute, the body is proposing a reduction to rand 0.65 from July 2010 and further reduced to rand 0.40 from July 2012.

The body further proposes that fixed interconnect rates be reduced to rand 0.15 from July 2010 and further reduced to rand 0.10 from July 2012, justifying its proposal as a benefit to the end users.

However, South Africa's main mobile operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, have been caught unaware by the announcement, only saying they were yet to look into the proposal and seek both business and legal advice.

Recently investigated for fixing interconnectivity charges, the mobile operators are already saying the new proposed fixed rates could dampen their profits in a huge way and could actually suffocate the mobile business industry in the country. However, there was very little on the offing on the part of the operators to justify their interconnectivity charges.

Some operators have suggested they could actually lose up to 200 percent in profits, if the new rates are applied, but have said more details would be given at the public hearings.

For many market watchers in South Africa, the move by ICASA is seen as a checkmate, with the cartel accused companies having a little more than a month, until 2 June, to respond to the proposals by the regulatory body.

20100416
africanews

Nine people were killed, including a member of President Omar al-Beshir's National Congress Party, as violence broke out on Thursday that was unrelated to nationwide elections, according to the southern Sudan army. The country held its first national election in 24 years.

Lam Akol, a candidate for the leadership of south Sudan, had said on Tuesday that two voters had been killed after the southern army opened fire at a polling station at Riak in the southern Unity State, according to Capital FM based in Kenya.

But the southern army said the killings actually happened in the remote village of Temsah, according to Kuol Deim Kuol, spokesman for the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The dead, who also included seven civilians and a soldier, were slain as a result of a dispute about "adultery" that had "nothing to do with politics or elections," he added.

"A member of the NCP has committed adultery with the wife of a soldier of SPLM in the home of the soldier" who killed both of them, Kuol said.

Coming on the last day of landmark presidential, legislative and local elections, the incident led to clashes in which six NCP members were killed, before the soldier who had been cheated on committed suicide, he added.

20100416
africanews

Kenya Airways cancelled flights to Europe due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland that saw clouds of ash drift to European airspace. "Kenya Airways regrets to inform its passengers, customers, the travel trade and the public that due to the unforeseen act of nature; volcanic eruption in Iceland, the airline has now cancelled its flights to and from London and Amsterdam until further notice," a statement said.

"Kenya Airways regrets to inform its passengers, customers, the travel trade and the public that due to the unforeseen act of nature; volcanic eruption in Iceland, the airline has now cancelled its flights to and from London and Amsterdam until further notice," said a statement from the airline.

"This is due to the clouds of volcanic ash towards European airspace leading to closure of the United Kingdom Airspace and London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol on safety grounds."

According to media reports, the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday night for the second time in less than a month.

The eruption -- the latest in a series that began on March 20 -- blew a hole in the mass of ice and created a cloud of smoke and ash that went high into the air.

Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Titus Naikuni, said that as a result flights KQ 101/15th APR from London to Nairobi and KQ 102/15APR from Nairobi have been cancelled.

"In Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport will be closed at 2100hrs local time. KQ 116/15APR is expected to land at 1700hrs as scheduled. However KQ 117/16APR to Nairobi is uncertain and a decision to operate is based on advice by the Netherlands Civil Aviation Authority (RLD) and the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as our partner and handling agent.

"The airline’s staff in London and Amsterdam are making all possible efforts to contact all our booked customers with this information in order to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unavoidable occurrence,” said Naikuni.

Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands also announced the closure of their air space, authorities in each country said.

The US Geological Survey said about 100 encounters of aircraft with volcanic ash were documented from 1983 to 2000. In some cases engines shut down briefly after sucking in volcanic debris, but there have been no fatal incidents.

In 1989, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 flew into an ash cloud from Alaska's Redoubt volcano and lost all power, dropping from 25,000 feet to 12,000 feet (7,500 meters to 3,600) before the crew could get the engines restarted. The plane landed safely.

In another incident in the 1980s, a British Airways 747 flew into a dust cloud and the grit sandblasted the windscreen. The pilot had to stand and look out a side window to land safely.

20100416
africanews

Humanitarian agencies in South Sudan are responding to a dramatic increase in the number of internally displaced people following an intensification of inter-tribal clashes. It is thought that the escalation of fighting is due to a series of different factors including a very low level of development compounded by insufficient rainfall in many parts of the south as well as the availability of small arms.

Below is a question and answer section with Marilena Chatziantoniou, who works for the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. She has been monitoring developments there.

Question: What is the current situation in terms of the number of internally displaced people (IDP) in South Sudan?

Marilena Chatziantoniou(MC): It can be difficult to get accurate figures of the number of IDPs in South Sudan given the huge size of the region and the remoteness of many communities; however according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 2009 there were around 390,000 new IDPs. This is more than any previous year since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 between the north and south of Sudan. By mid-March this year an additional 50,000 had been displaced.

Q: What has caused the increase in IDPs?

MC: The majority of people have fled their homes because of increased conflict between rival tribes or even disputes between clans within those tribes. The interesting question is why were there so many more IDPs in 2009.

It is a complicated combination of causes, but there are probably two main factors, at least in Lakes State, which I recently visited; in a very poorly developed region low rainfall has led to increased competition over resources, such as pasture and grazing land and the continued availability of small arms.

South Sudan normally would not suffer from drought conditions; indeed many areas are prone to flooding. But a very poor rainy season in 2009 has meant that many communities have lacked water and have been unable to grow crops. This in many places coincided with large-scale displacement resulting in the loss of food reserves and other household items.

Q: What are the reasons for this situation?

MC: Anecdotal evidence suggests that small arms are still available despite the government's disarmament efforts and so when there is conflict it can escalate easily and very quickly. There have always been tribal clashes in the south but one senior UN official I spoke to in Rumbek in Lakes State told me that rival tribes are now using 'excessive force' when fighting each other, which he said was a new development.

IDPs I have spoken to in different locations in South Sudan told me that when they were attacked, weapons were inevitably being used. It is estimated that in 2009, 2,500 were killed as a result of tribal clashes. In 2010, this trend has unfortunately continued will already almost 450 people killed by mid-March.

Q: What has the humanitarian response been?

MC: The European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) through its partners on the ground is responding to those crises where possible, helping the affected people. In South Sudan it is funding humanitarian relief work to the tune of 38 million euros for 2010.

I recently visited a group of 3,000 IDPs in Malou, not far from Rumbek in Lakes State, who settled around 20 kilometres from their original home following inter-tribal fighting.

Humanitarian agencies have provided them with food, shelter material and household items. ECHO, through its partner Oxfam GB, supported the building of a borehole which is now providing the IDPs with fresh clean water. Some of the people I spoke to told me that their children were healthier and no longer suffered from diarrhoea as a result of having access to this clean water.

Many people were also using the run-off water from the pump to water small gardens of leaves called kadura which they put in meat soups. We didn't expect to see gardens like this, they were not part of the plan, but they are a good illustration of how the people in Malou are helping themselves.

Nigerian security agencies have impounded a foreign vessel laden with suspected toxic waste after it berthed at the Lagos Tincan port, officials said Friday.

"We received an alert from the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement that a ship carrying e-waste and some toxic materials was heading to Nigeria," said senior environmental protection official Ngeri Benebo.

Benebo, who heads the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA), said all the relevant security agencies, including the navy and port, were put on the alert.

Navy spokesman Commodore David Nabaida said information available after inspection showed that the "containerised ship" carried used batteries and electronics, including television sets.

"There is misinformation. The ship did not carry toxic wastes. It carried used batteries and television sets for resale in Nigeria. The ship's bill of lading also indicated this. And so, the ship's operation was above board," he said.

He did not say why the ship was not inspected when it landed on Thursday.

Benebo had accused port officials of frustrating efforts to inspect the vessel immediately on arrival to determine its actual contents, and said she feared that the container might have been tampered with overnight.

"Port officials said the vessel will be checked this morning, more than 24 hours after the ship's arrival. I only hope that the container suspected of containing toxic waste had not been removed," she said.

According to the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) the vessel with the registration name Maersk Nashville Hamburg arrived at the Tincan port in Lagos on Thursday.

In 1998, the dumping of toxic waste in Nigerian coastal town of Koko in southern Delta State by an Italian firm, sparked a diplomatic row between Nigeria and Italy.

The substances were later removed after the government evacuated residents of the polluted community.

20100416
inform

A US naval destroyer thwarted an attempt by suspected Somali pirates to seize a Thai-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, the multinational anti-piracy task force said.

The bulk carrier MV Thor Traveler came under attack in the early hours by a skiff with seven suspected pirates who fired on it for 10 minutes with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, a statement said.

A distress call was answered by the USS Farragut, whose helicopter "located the suspected pirate skiff as it was attempting to escape. The helicopter used spotlights and smoke floats to warn the skiff to stop and witnessed the skiff throw items overboard."

It said a boarding team confiscated further "pirate paraphernalia," and that the skiff was instructed to head back to the Somali coast.

The Farragut is the flagship of the task force, which was established in January 2009 to counter piracy and which patrols more than 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometres) in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia.

20100416
inform

Peacekeeping mission in Darfur says abducted South African police advisers are in 'good shape'

The peacekeeping mission in Darfur confirmed Friday that four South African police advisers who went missing this week were abducted, adding that they are in "good shape" and negotiations for their release are under way.

The joint United Nations-African Union mission, or UNAMID, said officials had made telephone contact with the advisers early Friday.

"We were able to talk to the abductees early this morning and they are in good shape," UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni told the Associated Press. "We are satisfied with this but we will be more happy if they are released soon unharmed."

The unarmed advisers two women and two men had not been heard from since Sunday afternoon shortly after they left their team site outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on a 4 mile (7 kilometer) trip back to their private quarters.

In a statement Thursday to Sudan's official SUNA news agency, a group called the People's Democratic Struggle Movement claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and said it was ready to cooperate with the Sudanese government for the four advisers' release.

The group's leader, Jibrail Bukhari Abbas, said one of its members had independently carried out the abduction without instructions from the movement's leadership.

Abbas said his group had joined peace talks with the government just last week, and that the kidnapper was unaware of the development.

The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum, claiming discrimination and neglect. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing militias on civilian populations a charge the government denies.

U.N. officials say at least 300,000 people have lost their lives from violence, disease and displacement, and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.

While the number of people dying because of the Darfur conflict has diminished, crime has not.

Last year, two international staff members working for UNAMID, two international aid workers, and a staff member for an international aid organization were abducted.

In a report in late November, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the incidents of hostage taking of international workers "a new and deeply troubling development in Darfur, with the potential to undermine the efforts of the international community."

These incidents, as well as ambushes, carjackings and violent robberies of staff residences "underscore the extremely difficult and volatile conditions" in which UNAMID and humanitarian workers are working, Ban said.

After months of political turbulence, Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has regained relative stability and swept aside the immediate risk of chaos or even a coup, observers say.

Next year's presidential elections, with all their attendant problems and numerous stakes, are now the next greatest challenge facing Africa's premier oil exporter, they said.

"I would rule out the possibility of a coup now... the country is now a bit stable," said Bayo Okunade, political scientist at Nigeria's premier University of Ibadan.

"We cannot compare where we are now with where we were three months ago. That was a very dark period," he said.

Analysts said that Nigeria, with a history of successive military coups d'etat up till 1999, was spared another one after President Umaru Yar'Adua, suffering from an acute heart ailment, was hospitalised late last year for more than 90 days in Saudi Arabia.

After two and a half months of political vacuum, the parliament on February 9 voted Yar'Adua's deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, into office as acting president, a post that was confirmed when Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria on February 24.

Yar'Adua has neither been seen in public since November nor is his state of health known.

Jonathan, who has assumed power since February, has now appointed his own advisers and ministers and was this week guest of US President Barack Obama in Washington, in his maiden foreign visit.

The probability of a coup "has increased lately," according to an expert on Nigeria at the French Research Institute for Development, Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos.

And even though the risk has "diminished" in recent weeks, "it can not be ruled out" he said.

Ishola Williams, a retired army major general, disagreed.

"The army is one of the most ethnically balanced institutions. Every single ethnic group is in the military. So, to have a consensus to make a coup d'etat, the situation would need to be very bad. We haven't got to such a situation now," he told AFP.

"The military wouldn't attempt anything right now," said Williams, former head of Transparency International in Nigeria.

"There is some political stability now... The test will come as we move towards the elections," he added.

Jonathan should demonstrate his capacity to put in place the long-awaited electoral reforms ahead of the 2011 presidential poll and tackle Nigeria's national cankerworm, corruption, Williams said.

Jonathan's ability to consolidate a fragile peace in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta, where Yar'Adua had offered an amnesty to militants, would also be critical.

Violence resurged recently in the key region just as the country was wracked by sectarian clashes which claimed hundreds of lives in the central part of the west African nation.

Under an unwritten rule adopted by the Nigeria's main political party on power rotation between the mainly Muslim north and Christian-dominated south, the next elected president in 2011 should be a northerner.

The political plans of Jonathan, a southern Christian, are yet unknown, and his candidature cannot be ruled out.

However, if he vies for office it "would be destabilising", said Jonas Horner, analyst with the think-tank Eurasia Group in New York.

A good sign that the world's eighth oil exporter appears to be out of the political woods of recent months is that even if Yar'Adua were to pass on now, a much feared possibility for some time, political stability would be less threatened as the transition is well established, observers said.

20100416
inform

The top UN official in south Sudan warned on Friday that the impoverished region faced a major food crisis that could lead to "free fall," with half of its residents relying on aid this year.

"We have a very general problem of food insecurity across all of southern Sudan," Lisa Grande, the UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Juba, south Sudan, told AFP.

"We are looking at a situation where 4.3 million people require some forms of food assistance during the year," she said.

Failed harvests, people displaced for security reasons and rising food prices have all combined to create a "humanitarian perfect storm," Grande said.

She said places such as Akobo on the border with Ethiopia were among "the hungriest places on the face of the planet. And there are a lot of Akobos," she added, highlighting that seven out of the 10 southern states were "in trouble."

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has pre-positioned 60,000 tonnes of food all over the states which are in trouble before seasonal rains which could hamper deliveries in the region, Grande said.

The risk of famine could in turn lead to water-borne diseases and cholera epidemics.

"What we are avoiding is a free fall, when people are dying in mass. We are in a situation of struggle. We are at the break," Grande warned.

The fear of another failed harvest would create an "unimaginable situation," she said, hoping south Sudan's problems would not be overshadowed by troubles in Darfur, where a seven-year civil war has left around 30,000 people dead.

"This year, the attention has to be on the south. They are going through their moment of history," she said.

Former rebels the Southern People's Liberation Movement signed a peace deal with the Khartoum government in 2005 to end Africa's longest-running civil war which cost the lives of two million people and displaced twice as many.

The peace deal provided for the country's first multi-party elections, in which polling ended on Thursday, and for a 2011 referendum on independence in the south.

20100416
africanews

Nigeria's new commerce minister has promised to ease trade barriers in the country's textile industry within the next few months, a ministry official said on Thursday.
Pile of folded of fabric, close-up

Jibril Martins-Kuye, who was appointed by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan last week, said sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy is burdened by numerous trade obstacles.

"On textiles, give me a few weeks to sit down in the office so we can address the (trade problems). As an industrialist with many decades of experience, I know where the shoe pinches," Kuye said earlier this week according to video provided to Reuters by the ministry.

Nigeria currently bans imports of finished textiles and designs, a restriction aimed at giving domestic manufacturers a chance to thrive.

But industry sources say the removal of trade restrictions would make the industry more competitive and create opportunities for global brands looking to invest in one of the world's least-tapped markets.

Rapid urbanisation and a fast-growing middle class in Africa's most populous country of 140 million people are providing investment opportunities in sectors ranging from retailing to banking.

Equity fund Actis and South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank said last month they had agreed to help finance a $100 million shopping mall in Ikeja, a sprawling middle-income neighbourhood of Lagos.

South African retailer Shoprite was also planning 70 new shops in Nigeria within the next decade, at least 20 of them in Lagos, said Michael Chu'di Ejekam, the head of West Africa real estate for Actis.

20100416
africanews

Sudan's general elections took place without major incidents despite reported irregularities and boycotts by opposition parties, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

Sudanese voters wait in line at an outdoor polling station in the village of Dulab in Upper Nile state

Ban welcomed Khartoum's decision to extend the polling, the first in 24 years, from three to five days in order to accommodate delays and logistical challenges. He said the extension allowed more Sudanese to cast votes.

"In the coming days and weeks, the secretary general calls on all political leaders and their supporters to refrain from actions that could jeopardize the peaceful conclusion of the electoral process," a UN statement said.

"Electoral grievances should be addressed through appropriate legal and institutional channels and reviewed in a fair and transparent manner," the statement said.

The UN said Ban welcomed efforts of the "ruling parties" to engage with opposition candidates and parties, including those who boycotted the polls.

"The secretary general encourages all political actors in Sudan to tackle issues in a spirit of dialogue, towards a peaceful electoral outcome and ongoing implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement," the statement said.

The agreement signed in 2005 ended decades of warfare between Khartoum and Southern Sudan. A referendum is scheduled next year to determine the future of that agreement.

20100416
africanews

The United Nations, which sent four separate missions to Angola during its devastating decades-long civil war in efforts to help end the conflict, is seeking to strengthen the capacities of the now peaceful southern African country in the field of investment.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today issued a study outlining the legal framework for private investment in Angola in an effort to systematize information on the investment situation.

"To promote investment in Angola and successfully conclude international investment agreements, the Government must reinforce the legal framework for investment, and the report aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Angolan framework and its historic development," said the agency, which was established in 1964 to foster the development-friendly integration of poorer countries into the world economy.The study gives an overview of Angolan laws and decrees regulating private investment, in particular foreign direct investment.

The study gives an overview of Angolan laws and decrees regulating private investment, in particular foreign direct investment. Angola's involvement in international conventions and regional agreements on investment is also analysed and an overview of the international agreements on foreign investment signed by Angola is included.

The study was prepared by the UNCTAD TrainForTrade programme and the Division on Investment and Enterprise. The TrainForTrade programme for Angola aims at assisting the Government in implementing locally owned national training and capacity-building activities in international trade and investment. The project is funded by the European Commission.

Launched in 1998, TrainForTrade programmes seek to strengthen national and regional human and institutional resources for trade and investment as a key to growth for UNCTAD member countries, particularly the least developed ones (LDCs). The programme works with UNCTAD's research and analytical departments to design, update, and adapt learning materials and deliver training courses.

During Angola's civil war between the Government, backed by Cuban troops, and rebels led by Jonas Savimbi and supported by South African forces, the UN sent three separate verification missions, beginning in 1989, to help implement various efforts to end the conflict.

The first two successfully monitored the withdrawal of Cuban troops and oversaw a multilateral ceasefire. The third, sent after renewed fighting and mandated to deploy 7,000 troops, sought to help the parties restore peace and achieve national reconciliation, but was faced with continued conflict.

The fourth and final peacekeeping mission, the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), was withdrawn in 1999 following the collapse of the peace process and the shooting down of two UN aircraft.

20100416
africanews

Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, is set to host a film festival aimed at boosting Africa's self-image and identity. The festival's organizers hope it will spawn a community of African film makers specializing in using cinema for development.

The International Short Film Festival is the brainchild of award-winning Mauritanian film maker Abderrahmane Sissako and his wife, Ethiopian cinematographer Maji-da Abdi. The event will feature 100 films by and about Africa and Africans, each from five to 30 minutes long.

Sitting side by side in front of reporters, Sissako explained in French his vision of using cinema as a development tool, while Abdi translated to English.

"It is a continent about which a lot is said, but has very little opportunity to speak about itself. Africa does not have as much opportunity to tell its own stories. That is why I think images as a part of development is firstly 'cinema as a mirror of yourself'. Through a mirror one can correct oneself, one can doubt oneself. One can be proud of oneself as well," Sissako said.

Sissako and Abdi say African children growing up on a diet of Hollywood-style films may never see images that reflect their own world. They say Africa needs a home-grown film industry to raise its self-esteem and represent African ideals. "When hundreds of thousands of people rarely see their own picture on the big screens, that is where I talk of prejudice. A child can be proud to see that his father can be a pilot or a doctor. But when he never sees on his screens a representation of something that he can resemble him or his parents, so it poses questions even though he does not have them clearly stated in the head," they said.

Abdi, the festival's chief organizer, says film also has the ability to break down cultural barriers, and to allow people see their continent through African eyes.

"We are seen mostly on CNN and other news as sort of this poor victim, when there are many more aspects of people in each country that we need to show to ourselves and to each other. It is a pity that Ethiopians do not know about other African countries, have never heard their languages in a film or know the different cultures well. We have all seen, in a movie, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, but nothing about our own continent," he said.

The film festival will run from June 14 through 19.

Winner of the prize for best East African short film will win an all-expenses paid trip to France for 10 days of cinematography training.

afrol News, 15 April - Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Neves held a high-level meeting in Brussels with European Commission leader José Manuel Barroso to finalise the last steps in negotiations about an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. Cape Verde is to benefit from new funding from the EU.

Prime Minister Neves was accompanied by Cape Verde's Foreign Minister José Brito, the National Director of Political Affairs and Cooperation and other senior diplomats from the archipelago. The mission on Tuesday met with the President of the European Commission to discuss and deepen a partnership agreement signed in Brussels last year, focusing on the issue of economic partnership, and also a mobility agreement.

Judging by the testimonies of participants in the meeting, the meeting was a success and achieved significant progress. Cape Verde is negotiating an economic partnership agreement with the European Union (EU) that will allow the West African archipelago to continue to enjoy favourable export conditions for its products to Europe.

Cape Verde until now has enjoyd the facilities granted to so-called least developed countries (LDCs), which exempts poor trade partners from customs duties for export to Europe.

But Cape Verde has seen a flamboyant economic development during the last decades, and a few years ago the UN redfined it as a middle income country, meaning that Cape Verde was to lose favourable LDC condition after a transitional period of three years. This period ends in December this year. The Cape Verdean government however hopes to extend the transition period for yet another year, and the Brussels meeting idicated its bid is being successful.

"We want to sign [the Economic Partnership Agreement] as soon as possible," stated Prime Minister Neves after the meeting. The new EU-Cape Verde agreement orginally should be reached within the regional framework of ECOWAS. But the LDC transition had complicated matters. Mr Neves said EU leader Barroso had been "aware and sensitive" on the matter, together seeking solutions or a smooth transition and a possibility to win time for Cape Verde.

Cape Verde has already achieved a special partnership agreement with the EU, handling both political and economic matters. With a separate Economic Partnership Agreement, Cape Verde further moves from ECOWAS towards the EU. After the LDC transition, Cape Verde aims at a deeper integration into the EU economy and market.

The Brussels meeting also addressed mobility and visa regulations. Cape Verdeans are about to obtain a special visa partnership with the European bloc. Mr Neves said that the Cape Verde-EU mobility partnership negotiations had seen "considerable progress," and he expected a signature of the agreement "later this year."

This agreement aims to create special facilities for obtaining visas for entry into the Schengen area for Cape Verde citizens, such as reducing the time for decision making in relation to the issuance of a visa or not, the establishment of preferential rates or total exemption of visas, among other issues. It was also an effective way to combat illegal immigration, according to Mr Barroso and Mr Neves.

According to information forwarded afrol News, the Brussels meeting also treated the possibility of a substantial increase of contributions by European Commission funds through the European Development Fund (EDF) to support Cape Verde's transition from a least developed country to a medium income country.

In addition, the West African archipelago may benefit from other funds such as the V-Flex (Vulnerability Fund) and also the framework of the EU to combat climate change under the Regional Indicative Programme for West Africa, PM Neves was told in Brussels.

afrol News, 15 April - Egypt's public debt remains high in comparison with many other emerging market countries and reducing the fiscal deficit and public debt should be a key objective for the country. This was the view of a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visiting Cairo.

"While much of the debt is denominated in local currency, the maturity structure is short, creating an annual rollover requirement of 20 percent of GDP. To address this vulnerability and help spur private sector-led growth, the government has announced its intention to reduce the deficit to about 3 percent of GDP by 2014/15," the IMF noted.

The IMF also noted that Egypt had made significant progress in wide-ranging structural reforms that accelerated after 2004, saying reforms also reduced fiscal, monetary and external vulnerabilities, leaving some room to manoeuvre on macroeconomic policies in the event of negative shocks.

"Egypt weathered the global financial crisis relatively well and financial market pressures eased after the initial outflow. Equity prices plateaued in recent months, after having recovered over half of the losses since the April 2008 peak," the IMF mission found.

"Egypt's sovereign spreads tightened during 2009 and, in early 2010, remain well below their pre-Lehman levels. The temporary financial outflow was met mostly with a drawdown in the central bank's foreign currency deposits with commercial banks, reversing the build-up in 2006/07 and limiting the impact on the Egyptian pound and real economy," the IMF statement added.

The IMF further stated that the real economy held up relatively well in the face of weaker external demand, although the current account moved into deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP in 2008/09, as service receipts and remittances declined, and investment and activity softened in exposed sectors.

It further noted that growth still reached 4.7 percent in 2008/09, saying resilient domestic consumption demand, and production in the construction, communications, and trade sectors, helped sustain growth and the pick-up to nearly 5 percent in the first half of 2009/10.

"The government reacted quickly to the crisis by providing a sizable fiscal stimulus in the second half of 2008/09 based mainly on accelerating investment projects. Key fiscal reforms such as introducing the property tax, broadening the Value Added Tax (VAT), and phasing out energy subsidies were postponed," the assessment said.

The 2009/10 budget was said to continue to support economic activity and target a wider deficit of 8.4 percent of GDP, "largely reflecting a substantial projected cyclical fall in revenue (particularly from trade and Suez Canal traffic), as well as the impact of wage increases adopted before the crisis and higher post-crisis debt service costs," further noted the IMF.

As Egypt's recovery gains strength, the IMF further underscored the importance of shifting policies back toward fiscal consolidation and other reforms, adding that the Fund supported the Egyptian authorities' objective of reducing the fiscal deficit to about 3 percent by 2014/15, in light of the still high public debt and large financing requirement.

The IMF further encouraged Cairo authorities to make a substantive step to reduce the fiscal deficit at an early stage - to lessen vulnerability, boost confidence in the fiscal adjustment strategy, and speed the response of private investment.

The Fund also saw further reductions in inflation toward partner country levels as a key objective for the coming years, saying that continued short-term capital inflows could challenge monetary policy making, and encouraged continued increases in exchange rate flexibility.

afrol News, 15 April - The Sudanese government has been irked by reports by researchers from some human rights groups to the effect that the government is violating rights and restricting freedoms critical to a fair poll, including freedoms of expression and assembly.

"We are not asking for favours. Our stand is that these reports should be balanced and credible", the Sudanese government spokesperson at her country's Nairobi embassy, Somaya Sadig, said in a rejoinder to the reports released by the human rights researchers.

She stressed that incidents quoted by the human rights organisations that the conditions in Sudan were not yet conducive for a free, fair and credible election, were selective, unfair and isolated.

She charged that the human rights groups were not giving a true and genuine picture of the situation in the vast African nation and were misleading the world by deliberately misrepresenting the facts.

"The human rights groups are ignoring the whole true picture. Their claims that the Sudanese people will not be able to vote freely are baseless and unfounded. If you look at the situation critically, you will conclude that there is equality of chances made possible by the government for all the candidates to speak to the people freely", Ms Sadig pointed out.

She emphasised that there was a machinery organising the equality of access to the official media-radio and television. "Democracy is democracy. It should be given a chance and allowed to prevail. The government does not comprise of angels but it is giving everyone a chance to speak to the people and articulate their agendas in the run-up to the 11 April elections," Ms Sadig stated.

She cautioned that the human rights groups should not influence the free choice of leaders since the Sudanese people were mature to vote for representatives of their own choice.

Allegations that if President Omar al-Bashir is re-elected, it would have been a fraudulent exercise, were "both laughable and baseless" since the Sudanese people have every right to vote for a person of their choice whether or not he has been indicted by the ICC or not, Ms Sadig said in a no statement.

The government, she noted, had guaranteed freedom of expression, association and assembly but it was unfortunate that the observations of these tenets had been ignored by the human rights groups.

Ms Sadig dismissed as untrue claims by the Human Rights Watch that the Sudanese authorities throughout the country were failing to uphold standards agreed with the African Union in March.

The US-based rights group in a thorough March report had concluded that "political repression and other rights violations ahead of the April general elections in Sudan threaten prospects for a free, fair, and credible vote." Human Rights Watch researcher Georgette Gagnon found an unfavourable situation both in North and South Sudan, concluding conditions in the country were "not yet conducive for a free, fair, and credible election."

20100415
press tv

Eight Red Cross workers kidnapped by an armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are set to be released Thursday “without condition.”

Adrien Idi Amin, who is a leader of the Union of the Congolese People for Revolution, an offshoot of the Mai Mai militia, said that the seizure of the aid workers had been a mistake, AFP reported, quoting UN-sponsored Radio Okapi.

The eight, including seven Congolese and one Swiss national, had been seized by the Mai Mai Yakutumba rebels in the South Kivu town of Fizi last Friday afternoon.

The kidnapping came after Amin's men "thought that the vehicle coming from Minembwe was carrying enemy forces", Radio Okapi said.

Mai Mai is a general term for domestic defense forces that normally consist of pro-government factions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The group was formed to resist Rwandan Hutu forces that fled into DR Congo after the genocide and controls its own territory in the region.

The region has been the scene of violent clashes that have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians in recent months.