20100415
press tv

An alarming new report by a renowned aid and development charity says sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is becoming rampant and "normal."

The Oxfam International study, published on Thursday, underscores a 17-fold rise in civilian-committed rapes between 2004 and 2008, roughly 38 percent of the total assaults in the four-year period.

"These findings imply a normalization of rape among the civilian population," reads the report, based on a survey of 4,311 female rape victims in South Kivu province.

This is while much of the sexual assaults in the country are still perpetrated by armed groups. The army and militia are said to have raped tens of thousands of women, with 60 percent of the victims subjected to the horrors of gang-rape.

While filed and forests are also considered dangerous, 56 percent of the affected women were raped in the privacy of their own homes by "armed combatants." The brutal crimes were usually committed in front of their spouse and children.

Some 12 percent of the women involved in the study said they had been sex slaves with some being held hostage for years.

According to the same study, the number of rapes — 150,000 in the past 12 years —saw a dramatic rise during military activities, with more than 9,000 people, including men and boys, raped in 2009.

Eastern Congo, torn by conflict since the mid-1990s, has been a hotspot of Congolese and Rwandan militancy formed in the wake of the genocide in Rwanda.

As rape is highly stigmatized in the culture of eastern Congo, the victim's ordeal is often multiplied by physical, psychological and social consequence including spousal abandonment, the report concludes.

The shocking revelation comes months before the UN is considering leaving the country.

20100415
allafrica

Lagos — Nigerian-duo of Obafemi Martins and John Utaka alongside Didier Drogba and John Mensah are among African football stars that are to appear on a television show to be aired across the continent before the World Cup in June.

The 30-minute documentary which is targeted on how African players live their lives abroad is called "Footballers Lives", and will take viewers into the private homes of the players as they live abroad mostly in Europe. The exclusive personal access to the top African players means viewers of the show will get to see what the players eat and wear as well as how they live with their families. The show is produced in the UK by the African ethnic football media production company, LogikMedia, along with two African football journalists. Each player also gains unprecedented access to the facilities at their clubs including the dressing rooms, stadiums and other exclusive club events as well as how they prepare for matches. The players will also reveal what music they listen to, how they connect with Africa when they are in Europe and how they entertain themselves.

Another section of the programme makes time for exclusive personal interviews with the players to answer burning questions on their club careers and national team careers. Meanwhile, the initial show features exclusive trips to Ghana defender John Mensah's house and his club Sunderland in England. South Africa defender Aaron Mokoena will also appear in the show as well as Salomon Kalou of Ivory Coast and Benjani Mwaruwari of Zimbabwe. Ghanaian striker Razak Pimpong takes his turn at his Danish side Viborg and also goes home to expose the comic family starring his 2-year-old son Malik. In the programme on Laryea Kingston, his children also poked fun at him and he revealed some exclusive Black Stars secrets. Future shows will visit Black Stars' captain Stephen Appiah, Asamoah Gyan, Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari as they live with their clubs in Europe. LogikMedia is well known for the television production of most of the African matches played in Europe including Ghana's 4-1 defeat of arch rivals Nigeria in 2007 in London as well as Ghana's thrashing of Jamaica in Leicester.

20100415
allafrica

Dakar — The United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) organized the second annual regional consultation with United Nations (UN) regional directors and resident coordinators based in the sub-region.

The key UN stakeholders in West Africa examined ways to strategically improve the coordination of their efforts promoting stability and development in the sub-region. They discussed how to reinforce synergies between their different mandates and existing mechanisms to better tackle major challenges in the sub-region.

"To adopt a comprehensive regional approach beyond national responses when examining stability in West Africa is a guarantee for the UN's action to become more efficient," said Mr Djinnit, Special Representative of the Secretary General for West Africa. "Thanks to its values and principles, the UN can play a unique facilitation role between governments, donors, civil society in order to better respond to the needs and expectations of the population," he added.

The participants at the meeting therefore highlighted conflict and crisis resolution as a priority to be addressed notably through collaboration with regional organizations. They also insisted on the need to ensure continuous financial support to the emergency and development phases in order to develop sustainable solutions to structural problems in West Africa and to avoid repetitive crises such as in the Sahel region.

The UN representatives emphasized the primary responsibility for peace, development and security matters lies with governments, supported by the readiness of the UN system, through cooperation with regional organizations. They encouraged the governments to ratify international and regional legal instruments related to good governance and to implement them with the full support of the UN system.

Since elections periods are considered as potential times of unrest, the participants agreed to document and to share lessons learned in order to optimize the UN's support to democratic and transparent elections.

The participants recognized drug trafficking and organized crime as a major threat to peace and stability in the sub-region. They urged the governments affected to promote good governance practices, especially in the security sector and to take strong actions to fight corruption and impunity, which facilitate the proliferation of criminal activities. They emphasized the need for a coordinated approach between the countries within the sub-region. They welcomed initiatives, such as the West Coast Initiative (WACI), already launched in support to the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Plan of Action adopted at the Praia conference. They called on donors to honor their pledges to finance the implementation phase of the Regional Action Plan. Furthermore, they stressed the need to also support development programs to provide impoverished, unemployed and vulnerable populations with sustainable alternatives.

The participants raised serious concerns with regard to the urgency of the food and nutritional crisis in the Sahel. They called on donors to urgently respond to the various appeals, including the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) to address the needs of vulnerable populations in Niger, Chad and specific areas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Beyond the emergency response, they highlighted the need to tackle the structural causes of the repeating crises in the region through an increase in resources allocated to sustainable development and risk reduction.

West Africa deserves the full attention of the international community. Together in coordination with regional actors such as ECOWAS and the African Union (AU), we will be stronger to support conflict prevention and initiatives towards better stability in the sub-region," concluded Mr Djinnit, on behalf of the participants at the UN strategic consultation.

20100415
allafrica

A new, multi-drug resistant strain of salmonella discovered in Africa is spreading and affecting the weakened immune systems of HIV positive individuals on the continent, according to a recent study. The study was conducted in Malawi by scientists from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and built on past research that ascertained that the African salmonella strain is quite aggressive and genetically resembles the strain of salmonella that causes typhoid fever.

Salmonella is a public health threat all over the world, and is often transmitted through bacteria in contaminated food. Salmonella found in developed countries causes diarrhoea, and is usually not dangerous for the average person. The type of Salmonella that causes typhoid fever is caused by bad sanitation and is more harmful and is found in less developed countries.

The study concluded that the bodies of HIV positive patients provide a good environment for Salmonella bacteria to grow because there are less immune cells to combat it. According to Dr. Melita Gordon, Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Gastroenterology at the University of Liverpool, who helped conduct the study, "the bacteria hide intracellularly in both the blood and bone marrow, and persist after the acute infection has resolved." The persistence of the bacteria makes the new strain invasive and quite dangerous, as it may develop more and more resistance to antibiotics through time and exposure inside the body.

Dr. Gordon explained that, although this new salmonella strain does not appear to have an impact on healthy adults, it can be dangerous for children and HIV positive individuals, killing one out of four people who contract it. "The new strain causes invasive disease in many African children who are not HIV positive, but are susceptible because they are very young, and have anemia or are malnourished." By Rebekah Mintzer

20100415
allafrica

Sleeping sickness, a disease that is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and affects some of the poorest people in the world, may finally have a cure thanks to The Drug Discovery for Tropical Diseases program at the University of Dundee.

Tsetse flies carry the sleeping sickness infection, which is spread through bites leaving behind a parasite that attacks the central nervous system. Sleep becomes uncontrollable as the disease gets worse, and eventually leads to coma, which is fatal without treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Professor Paul Wyatt and fellow researchers at the Drug Discovery for Tropical Diseases program have identified an enzyme that exploits a weakness in the parasite. "If we inhibit this enzyme it will have significant effects on many processes within the parasite, leading to the rapid death we see on treatment with our compounds," Wyatt told MediaGlobal. "We think the major effect though is on the process of replacement of the parasite's cell surface, which is rapidly replaced as part of its defense mechanism against the host immune system."

According to the WHO, sleeping sickness is an epidemic in 36 African countries and affects 60,000 people annually, and is part of a group of diseases known as "neglected tropical diseases." One sixth of the world's population suffers from one or more of the neglected diseases. These diseases have a low profile and low status amongst public health priorities.

Explaining why sleeping sickness goes overlooked Wyatt said, "Many of the countries are not politically stable so have multiple issues, have poor health care infrastructure, and are not set up to lobby for help." He also said that in recent years most of the focus has been on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. "Sleeping sickness is not the only neglected disease which requires greater attention and more drug discovery effort."

Although a clinical trial for a drug developed from the discovery is still 1.5 to 2 years away, Wyatt believes it will have significant advantages over current treatments. "Almost all of the current treatments are given by injection, either by infusion or into muscle," said Wyatt. "In addition, the current drugs are associated with significant toxicity, one causes deaths in 5 percent of patients, ...[and] deaths and complications are caused by infection due to the use of needles."

The new drug will be administered through an oral tablet, which "will be more suitable for areas with little or no health care infrastructure," Wyatt said. Sleeping sickness mostly affects people in isolated and remote areas and an affordable cure will make it easier to treat people in these secluded places. "A cure which will need limited resource to administer, a pill rather than injections...will be more attractive to charitable organizations [which will donate pills] for clinical use. Therefore the sufferers will not have to pay for the drug."

Once Wyatt and his team have an optimized compound, they will partner with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi, Geneva) to carry out the pre-clinical and clinical development. "DNDi have experience taking sleeping sickness compounds through clinical development," he said. "Our efforts are focused on developing compounds which are simple and cheap to make, keeping down the cost of the final drug." Wyatt explained, "If we come up with a drug which is both efficacious and safe in the early and late stage, where parasites have entered the brain, a diagnosis through taking a sample of spinal fluid through a lumber puncture will not be needed, making treating the disease both easier and more attractive to the patients."

Making an inexpensive drug is important for Wyatt. "[People] cannot afford to pay for their drugs, so it is not an attractive disease for companies which need to make a profit to satisfy their shareholders."

MediaGlobal is an independent international media organization, based in the United Nations, creating awareness in the global media on social justice and development issues in the world's least developed countries.

20100415
allafrica

The effects of drought in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa have prompted the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to issue a call for additional financial support in order to help 859,000 children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition. UNICEF currently only has half of the $50 million in funds necessary to carry out potentially life saving operations that will help feed children during this time of need.

Children are suffering from malnutrition all over the Sahel, a belt of savanna and grasslands south of the Sahara desert that is prone to droughts that thwart crop growth in the planting season, leaving less to reap come harvest time. Families in Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad, and Niger have become food insecure, unable to prevent children from becoming acutely malnourished.

"We are entering the 'lean season.' This is a predictable time, but this year it started earlier...and numbers [of people] needing help are rising." Martin Dawes of UNICEF West and Central Africa told MediaGlobal. The "lean season" of May to October, normally difficult for Sahel farmers because food stores are low and new crops are not available yet, has come four months early for residents this year.

Dawes stated that more preparations have been made this year than in 2005, the year of the last dramatic drought and food crisis in the Sahel area, which has improved the outlook somewhat. In 2005 the scope of the emergency was not understood early. "The governments involved are recognising the scale of the needs, there has been prepositioning of the therapeutic foodstuffs for the under-fives and as long as there is access and funding a deeper crisis should be averted," Dawes concluded. By Rebekah Mintzer

MediaGlobal is an independent international media organization, based in the United Nations, creating awareness in the global media on social justice and development issues in the world's least developed countries.

afrol News, 15 April - The quick eviction of more than 50,000 people living alongside Kenya's railways is being considered by the Nairobi government. Rights groups urge authorities to adopt "guidelines that conform with international human rights standards" before considering evictions.

On 21 March, Kenya Railways published a notice giving residents 30 days to pull down their structures and leave, or risk prosecution. Most of those affected are slum dwellers in parts of Nairobi. Now, government is considering if and how to implement this eviction order.

There are no sure estimates about the number of people being affected by the evictions. But a study commissioned by the Kenyan government in 2005 concluded that 50,000 people or more live or work within the Kenya Railway reserve in Nairobi alone and many thousands more use the tracks as a walking route to and from their residences. This population is likely to have increased since 2005.

Human rights groups today strongly protested the ample eviction plans. "People have been living and working on these lands for years and a thirty-day notice period is wholly inadequate," said Justus Nyang'aya, Director of Amnesty International Kenya.

"Without proper safeguards the proposed mass evictions will have a devastating impact on people's access to water, sanitation, food and schools and could well create a humanitarian emergency," Mr Nyang'aya added. "They will result in forced evictions, which contravene Kenya's obligations under international human rights laws."

While it is recognised that the Kenyan government is taking important steps to upgrade its railway system, for the tens of thousands of people living in the affected area, the demolition of homes and informal businesses is expected to be "socially and economically disastrous," according to the human rights group.

To date, no comprehensive resettlement or compensation plan has been announced and the government appears to have made no provision for those who will lose their homes, livelihoods, possessions and social networks as a result of the project.

Amnesty holds that, under international human rights law, "evictions should only be carried out as a last resort and only after all other feasible alternatives to eviction have been explored in genuine consultation with affected communities." Governments were also said to be "obliged to ensure that no one is rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights as a consequence of eviction."

"Kenya's government is failing to deliver on its promise to put in place guidelines which comply with international human rights law regarding evictions and until it does it should halt all mass evictions of this nature," said Mr Nyang'aya. "To put 50,000 of your poorest and most vulnerable citizens at risk of homelessness is unacceptable," he added.

afrol News, 15 April - Kizza Besigye was today declared candidate for Uganda's 2011 presidential by the Forum for Democratic Change (FDG), the country's main opposition party. He will face President Yoweri Museveni in the polls.

Prior to today's vote in the Ugandan opposition party, there had been some tensions and much speculation whether Mr Besigye again would by the FDG's candidate in the presidential polls. Mugisha Muntu had made a strong campaign within the party to be nominated candidate.

But Mr Besigye won by what has been called "a landslide". He gained a majority at all the eight polling stations put up by the FDG around Uganda, the party today reports from its conference at Namboole Stadium.

The experienced party leader gathered 728 of the cast votes. Mr Muntu nevertheless was given a decent 115 votes. He immediately recognised defeat and promised to support Mr Besigye's presidential campaign.

Mr Besigye has been the opposition's main presidential candidate during the last two elections, none of which were seen as free and fair by observers. The incumbent, President Museveni, was declared winner of both, although this was forcefully challenged by the opposition, claiming Mr Moseveni had stolen the vote.

The FDG candidate is well known and a rather popular figure among Ugandans and is seen as the only person able to unite the opposition vote against President Museveni.

54-year-old Mr Besigye is a former colonel in the Ugandan army and has been heading the Ugandan opposition since 1999. After the 2001 elections, he was briefly detained and went into exile claiming his life was in danger in Uganda. He returned in 2005, only to be arrested again but released in time to stand candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.

According to official results, President Museveni won the 2006 polls with 59 percent of the votes, while Mr Besigye received 37 percent. While the Supreme Court of Uganda ruled that 2006 election was marred by intimidation, violence and other irregularities, it nevertheless decided to uphold the results of the poll.

afrol News, 15 April - Workers in the Gabon oil-industry have continued in the second day with their strike, despite a call by government for negotiations. Unions demand an end to discrimination of Gabonese labour.

The Gabonese workers started the mass action yesterday complaining mainly of expatriate workers being given preference by oil companies, over the locals.

The workers have also claimed that there are enough local workers who are capable and skilled enough to handle some of the positions that are being offered preferably only to foreigners at high costs for the industry.

The labour union spokesperson was quoted in the national radio in Libreville saying that the strike had affected all parts of the country, with other reports also pointing out that since yesterday, oil production has been greatly affected in Gabon at large.

Gabonese oil workers have rather high salaries compared to colleagues in most other African countries. However, the costs of living in Gabon are sky-high as the country's economy has been driven by oil production for decades, and the many expatriates in Gabon have strongly contributed to imports and inflation.

Gabon is one of Africa's main oil producers alongside other producers such as Nigeria, Angola, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Congo Brazzaville, with an estimated production of over 230 barrels per day of crude.

Oil production in Gabon peaked in the 1990s, but is still substantial. Gabon is still attracting major exploration investments and new oil discoveries are regularly made onshore and offshore, mostly of minor size however.

Gabonese authorities, who faced a liquidity crisis four years ago and turned to the IMF for help and advice, have tried to lessen the country's dependence on oil over the last decade. But Gabon still heavily depends on its oil production, which is now halted by the strike.

Thu, 15 Apr 2010
alalam

Sudan's ruling party has said it is prepared to invite opposition parties into a coalition government as the African nation's general elections entered the last day of voting on Thursday.

Ghazi Salaheddin, an adviser to President Omar al-Bashir, said that his party, if victorious, would invite other parties to join the government.

"This is a critical moment in our history," Salaheddin said. "We are facing an important decision like self-determination in the south and we would like to garner as much support and as much consensus as we can."

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

The African Union on Wednesday said there were no major problems with the poll and praised the peaceful nature of the vote.

Analysts say there is unlikely to be any significant problem around the election, but warned that any delay to a January 2011 referendum on independence for Southern Sudan, which was agreed in the 2005 peace deal that ended the north-south war, could lead to problems.

Thu, 15 Apr 2010
alalam

After five days of vote-casting, polling in Sudan's general elections officially ended on Thursday.

Polling stations closed at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) but people who were already inside at the time of closing were being allowed to vote.

Around 16 million registered voters had been asked to choose their president, as well as legislative and local representatives.

Southerners were also voting for the leader of the autonomous government of south Sudan.

20100415
aljazeera

Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge, has been effectively banned from attending his grandson's bar mitzvah which is to be held in Johannesburg next month.

Goldstone, who authored a UN report on the war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, has been barred by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) from attending the event, South African and Israeli newspapers reported on Thursday.

"A very ugly feature of the response to the Goldstone report has been personal attacks like this on him and his family over a sustained period," Doron Isaacs, a Jewish South African, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

"This should not be seen as an isolated incident."

Tight lipped

An agreement with the family, that Goldstone would not be in attendance at the synagogue service, was reached after negotiations between the SAZF and the Sandton Shul, where the event is due to take place.

Avrom Krengel, chairman of the SAZF, who was reportedly not keen to reveal much, said: “We understand there’s a barmitzvah boy involved - we’re very sensitive to the issues; at this stage there’s nothing further to say.”

While Krengel said the SAZF had interacted on the matter with the chief rabbi and others, his organisation was “coming across most forcefully because we represent Israel”.

Goldstone was reluctant to reveal further details, and is reported to have said: "In the interests of my grandson, I’ve decided not to attend the ceremony at the synagogue."

A bar mitzvah is a coming of age event for a young Jewish boy, when he symbollically becomes a man.

"There is a belief amongst right-wing Zionist organisations that defaming and humiliating Jewish critics of Israeli policy, will set an example that would intimidate others into silence," Isaacs, co-ordinator of a community-based education NGO, said.

Isaacs led a Jewish youth movement that campaigned for a just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

'A lot of anger'

Moshe Kurtstag, Rabbi and head of South Africa's Jewish religious court, said that he believed Goldstone had done a tremendous disservice not only to Israel but to the Jewish world.
"I know that there was a very strong feeling in the shul, a lot of anger."

Arthur Chaskalson, retired president of the constitutional court, said it was "disgraceful" to put pressure on a grandfather not to attend his grandson’s bar mitzvah.

"If this has the blessing of the leadership of the Jewish community in South Africa, it reflects on them rather than Judge Goldstone. They should hang their heads in shame."

David Saks, associate director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies told Al Jazeera that this was a SAZF issue and they were not prepared to make any statement.

"Israeli apologists in South Africa behave as they did under Apartheid when they failed to recognise the humanity of black people. They have no understanding of constitutional values or the humanity of Palestinians," Zackie Achmat, the renowned South African HIV/AIDS activist, said to Al Jazeera.

"The SAZF is not only ignorant of the Goldstone report but they have violated his rights to belief, family life and dignity."

20100415
aljazeera

The number of sexual assaults in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased dramatically, according to a study by the UK-based aid group, Oxfam International.

Researchers from Harvard University in the US examined more than 4,000 cases of sexual assault from 2004 to 2008 and discovered that the number of rapes carried out by civilians had increased seventeen-fold.

The study, based at the Panzi hospital in the eastern city of Bukavu, which specialises in treating victims of rape, revealed that more than half of the victims were "raped by gangs of armed men and more than half of the aggressions took place inside homes".

Fifty-six per cent of the attacks were perpetrated by armed men inside family homes, nearly 16 per cent in fields and nearly 15 per cent in the forest, the report said, citing statements by the 4,311 women questioned.

Carried out for Oxfam by The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the report spoke of "the stigmatisation that the women are victims of in their families after having been raped and the difficulties they encounter in accessing medical care".

"Fewer than one per cent of the rape victims went to Panzi hospital with their husbands and nine per cent of them were abandoned by their partner," Oxfam said.

Violence escalated in the DRC after many Rwandan Hutus fled to the country following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Since then, the country has been embroiled in widespread conflicts between its army and Rwandan and Congolese militias.

'Wake-up call'

Around 20,000 UN peacekeepers have been deployed in the nation since 1999 to help stabilise it, but thousands are raped each year as sporadic fighting between the various armed groups continues.

Joseph Kabila, the DRC president, has asked the UN to withdraw its peacekeeping mission by 2011, but some UN officials have said they are reluctant to do so.

Krista Riddley, who directs humanitarian policies for Oxfam, said: "This is a wake-up call at a time when plans are being discussed for UN peacekeepers to leave the country.

"The situation is not secure if a woman can't even sleep safely in her own bed at night.'"

The Oxfam report reveals that many of sexual assault cases were carried out by armed men in the presence of the victim's families, including their children.

Susan Bartels, the chief researcher of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said: "Sexual violence has become more normal in civilian life.

"The scale of rape over Congo's years of war has made this crime seem more acceptable."

afrol News, 15 April - Many South Africans returned home with disappointed faces after failing to secure cheap over-the-counter tickets to see the home soccer team in the nearing World Cup.

The over the counter World Cup ticket sales started this morning in all the major cities and town of South Africa, where local soccer fanatics formed long queues hoping to secure cheaper tickets to watch their soccer heroes. Tickets over the counter are selling for as little as US$ 20 for the lowest grade seats.

Reports across the country showed that some people actually slept at the selling points hoping to be the first to be served, but much to their disappointment.

However, tickets for other games than those of the host nation team were still said to be available for South African soccer fans.

The world football body, FIFA, had agreed to sell the remaining half a million tickets over the counter, a system which was said to be most favourable to the South African and other African soccer lovers. This decision was reached following complaints by many local fans that they could not get access to the online methods used for the ticket purchases.

South Africa, who is hosting the World Cup from 11 June to 11 July, for the first time on the African soil, is grouped with Mexico, France and Uruguay in the play-offs. Other African teams to compete in the 2010 Soccer World Cup are Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

afrol News, 15 April - Depending on which side of the law one is, the so-called indigenisation law in Zimbabwe has been suspended. But, that is not according to President, Robert Mugabe: "Laws are made to be effected and not shelved."

Mr Mugabe has dismissed as false claims, statements that the black empowerment law which was supposed to be effective today, is no more, saying it is only being delayed for more technical cabinet consultations.

The opposition coalition member of government had announced yesterday that the controversial law had been suspended to allow more consultations and inclusion of views from all stakeholders.

This was seen as a desperate bid by the ailing Zimbabwean unity government to amass international support and show a humanitarian face in its economic recovery programme, but since President Mugabe's response, more doubts have been cast on any progress that could be achieved by the unity government formed last February.

The new law, would make it illegal for foreign companies, foreigners as well as Zimbabwean whites to own more than 49 percent or majority stake in companies operating in Zimbabwe, unless such companies are only valued at less than US$ 325,000.

The law, which was passed two years ago in President Mugabe's ZANU-PF dominated parliament is said to be a way of empowering indigenous Zimbabweans, that excludes the white minority, born and brought up in the same country.

The controversial law also follows on the farm seizures in Zimbabwe, which forced white farmers out of their land, a move that has largely been blamed to cause the economic crisis that sunk Zimbabwe to its lowest deep about two years ago.

Zimbabwe, which gained independence in 1980 from Britain, was once Southern Africa's economic hub, but has since relegated itself to a mere economic shame and begging nation, after years of ill-advised economic and political policies.

Refusal by President Mugabe to step down even after an impressive challenge by the opposition, saw the country plunge further to a hyperinflation never seen before and a humanitarian crisis that caught the world's attention.

20100415
africa news

Africanews reporter Isaac Eshun visited the first TEDxYouthInspire event, held in Accra, Ghana on April 10, 2010. A crowd of young Ghanains attended the event.
TEDxYouthInspire was set up as an open space for the continents youngest visionaries to collaborate and reevaluate the possibilities of creating a better global community.

The event used the theme "A Good Head & A Good Heart", taken from a quote by former South African President Nelson Mandela, to exhibit how extraordinary youth leaders combine radical thought and integrity of spirit to set in motion unlimited possibilities for a brighter future.

Remaining true to the spirit of the TED Conference – hosting the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, and challenging them to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less – TEDxYouthInspire comprised of a mix of live talks and performances as well as pre-recorded talks from recent TED conferences.

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudan's ruling party said on Thursday that the southern army had killed nine of its officials during the first open elections in 24 years.

"Three days ago at night some (southern army) soldiers came to the home of the president of the National Congress Party in Raja, and killed him and eight other people -- they are also members of the NCP," Agnes Lokudu, head of the northern-dominated NCP in south Sudan, said.

Raja is in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state in south Sudan.

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

The ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which dominates the southern government, denied the involvement of the separate south Sudan army.

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

"This is not political."

Sudan's elections, entering the last of a five-day voting period on Thursday, had been largely free from major violence. A wave of opposition boycotts in much of the north left little competition for incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

South Sudan's president and SPLM head Salva Kiir is also likely to be elected president of the semi-autonomous south.

But tensions have been high in the south between parties and independents opposing the SPLM who have complained of arrests and harassment.

Sudanese are voting in presidential, legislative and gubernatorial elections.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe celebrates 30 years of independence this weekend but there is little hope for the future in a country only slowly recovering from economic collapse after three decades of President Robert Mugabe's rule.

Mugabe, now 86, spearheaded a guerrilla war against white minority rule in the then Rhodesia, but critics charge that he has ruined one of Africa's most promising economies since taking over power from Britain in 1980.

"It should be a landmark anniversary, but unfortunately for many people it is a time to count lost opportunities, and wasted lives," said Lovemore Madhuku, a political commentator and head of pressure group National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).

On Sunday Mugabe will lead freedom celebrations in Harare but many people are spooked by the prospect of his running for another term in elections expected in 2013. Mugabe said last month he would stand again if nominated by his ZANU-PF party.

Mugabe was last year forced into a power-sharing government with arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, after a political crisis sparked by a disputed general election in 2008.

While the fragile coalition has stabilised the economy and re-opened schools and hospitals, it is too broke to rebuild collapsed public infrastructure and provide clean water.

At least eight out of 10 potential workers are unemployed, and organised crime and corruption are increasing in the wake of a decade-long economic recession.

Despite criticism that the move will damage the economy and discourage foreign investment, Mugabe is pressing on with plans to turn over control of foreign firms to locals under a black empowerment drive.

Analysts say ordinary Zimbabweans are frustrated with the slow pace of economic recovery and reforms towards democracy since the unity government assumed office 14 months ago.

"Instead of celebrating freedom, a lot of people are preoccupied and are rightly worried about their lives and the future," Madhuku said. "There is very little happening around us to give anyone any sense of comfort."

OLD RIVALS BICKERING

ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are jointly organising the independence festivities, but analysts say tensions remain between the two parties and there is no obvious public enthusiasm over the anniversary.

The two rival parties are still bickering over the appointment of senior state officials and how to get sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western governments lifted.

A drive to write a new constitution leading to new elections is running eight months behind and Western donors have withheld aid over the reforms and implementation of a power-sharing pact.

Zimbabwe says it needs $10 billion to revive the economy.

Critics believe Mugabe's strategy is to hold onto as much power for as long as possible while re-organising his party for another battle against the MDC, which his political supporters hope will weaken and split ahead of an election.

"Mugabe's consistent position is to try build his party and his fortunes on their history in the liberation struggle even when you think that has run its course," said Eldred Masunungure, University of Zimbabwe political science professor.

"It's a hard sale particularly with the younger generation, but then Mugabe is a hard man who doesn't concede ground easily and you don't count him out until he is down," Masunungure said.

Analysts say some ZANU-PF structures have been fractured by the near loss of power in 2008 but the police, army and state security brass -- the imposing frontline of Mugabe's political machinery -- still largely backs the ageing leader.

Many Zimbabweans now believe that the greatest threat to Mugabe's wish to continue in power is the economic devastation brought by his controversial policies.

While Mugabe argues that his seizure of white-owned farms for landless blacks was meant to correct colonial injustices and economically empower native Zimbabweans, it has left a former bread basket of the region surviving on food handouts.

Millions of Zimbabweans have fallen into penury over the years while an elite closely linked to his ZANU-PF has become incredibly rich and is given to outrageous displays of wealth in collections of limousines and palatial homes.

"Unless the economy is fixed, and fixed quickly, there is little to celebrate. Our economy is in a very bad shape and it doesn't look like there is a realisation that modern states rise and fall on their economies," said Harare-based economist Eric Bloch.

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - A strike by Gabon's main oil industry trade union has brought public transport in the capital Libreville to a standstill as fuel stations began running dry on Thursday, a Reuters witness said.

Gabon's government overnight called on the ONEP union to return to negotiations over labour regulations and put off the strike in the interests of the country and the economy, but ONEP rejected the order as unserious.

The strike in Gabon, Africa's seventh-largest oil producer, with an output of some 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, is one the biggest tests for President Ali Bongo since he replaced his father as president last year.

Residents in Libreville, whose 600,000 inhabitants account for roughly 60 percent of the entire population of Gabon, had been stockpiling fuel ahead of the strike.

But fuel stations began running out overnight and the lack of taxis left crowds of people stranded on pavements, although it was not immediately clear if oil production had been affected by the strike.

"We will never be able to satisfy everyone," said a pump attendant at one petrol station that still had fuel on Thursday. "By midday, there won't be a drop of petrol or diesel in Libreville."

ONEP said on Monday it had broken off discussions with the government in a dispute over labour regulations, notably a requirement to provide minimum service in the sector -- a rule unionists says breaches a basic employee right to strike.

Labour minister Maxime Ngozo Issondou said late on Wednesday that the strike should be called off in the interests of the Gabonese people and the economy.

The government would take a number of steps, including re-launching the commission aimed at resolving the impasse and establishing temporary restrictions on foreigners working in the oil sector, as soon as the unions returned to negotiating table, Ngozo Issondou said.

But ONEP spokesman Arnaud Engandji said the government's invitation was "not serious".

"If the government wants to see us around a table, they should address us through the appropriate channels" he said.

Gabon enjoyed relative political stability under the late president, Omar Bongo, who used decades of oil production to buy off opponents and create jobs through a bloated bureaucracy.

But after winning a disputed elections last August, Ali Bongo has vowed to reform the nation's economy and make it less dependent on oil as output declines.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met the prime minister and four other ministers on Thursday, his first such gathering since he returned to Egypt from surgery in Germany last month, the cabinet spokesman said.

"This is the first official meeting with a group of ministers," spokesman Magdy Rady told Reuters, adding that the meeting had started at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT).

He said Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and four other ministers were attending the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, but did not give details of what was being discussed. He said it was not a full cabinet meeting.

Mubarak, 81 and in power since 1981, handed over presidential powers to the prime minister just before his operation on March 6 and reassumed them upon his return to Egypt.