HERALD

ILORIN. One of the white farmers from Zimbabwe working in Kwara State, Mr James Chisohm, was mysteriously found dead beside a stream in Labintan Village in Asa at the weekend.

Informed sources told Vanguard that the deceased had earlier sent his workers to get him drinkable water.

On their return, the source said, the boys could not locate 63-year-old Chisohm, prompting the launch of a search party.

The search, which started on Friday, continued till Saturday and they eventually discovered Chisohm’s corpse in the village.

On Sunday, Kwara State Police Command confirmed the development.

According to police public relations officer Dabo Ezekiel: "The Kwara State Police Command wishes to announce to the general public the death of a white Zimbabwean farmer.

"The deceased Zimbabwean farmer, Hamish James Chisohm aged 63, was confirmed dead on Saturday at about 12:06hrs after a severe search.

"Hamish James Chisohm, the deceased Zimbabwean farmer, Sunday, Baba Azeez, Elemosho and Seyi Adedo-kun, all of Starch Mill Farm, went to measure the land and set the boundary.

"At a stage, Hamish sent them to get him water from the office and later directed them to meet him at another location of the farm. When they came back with the water at the said location, Hamish was nowhere to be found."

Dabo continued: "A search party was put in place to go round the farm to look for him, but the search proved abortive. On 10 April 2010, the search resumed and about 12:06hrs of the same date, the body was found dead by the side of a stream in Labintan Village."

The police spokesperson noted that investigations showed no signs of violence or wounds on the body and no foul play was suspected.

He said the corpse had been moved to the state specialist hospital morgue where autopsy would be conducted after which it would be released to the family for burial.

A delegation comprising state Police Commissioner Muhtari Ibrahim, the Commissioner for Planning and Economic Development Abdulfatah Ahmad, Security Adviser to the Governor Yinka Aluko, Mike Fields and John Sawyer (both Zimbabwean farmers) and other staff of the farm visited the place where Chisohm was found dead.

postzambia

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday observed that President Rupiah Banda's instruction to immediately mobilise funds for main roads like the Mutanda-Chavuma in North Western Province is part of official systematic rigging.

And UPND president Hakainde Hichilema said much as the construction of roads was important and welcome, President Banda's corrupt mind was at work once again.

Reacting to President Banda's directive to finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to immediately mobilise additional funds for the construction of main roads throughout the country, Sata described President Banda's act as a desperate attempt to hoodwink the people of North Western Province to vote for the MMD in the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election.

“Mr Banda is using the same old gimmick of UNIP, and the old gimmick of MMD because, for example, there is a by-election in Mufumbwe, then somebody says 'we are going to look for money, we have hired three contractors to finish the tarring of Mutanda-Chavuma road'.

Where have they been? Where have they found the money all of a sudden?” Sata asked. “Is that not part of rigging? This is part of official systematic rigging.

And Luwingu road is as old as MMD government itself, former president Frederick Chiluba survived 10 years without finishing Kasama-Luwingu-Mansa road; late president Levy Mwanawasa seven years without doing anything on Kasama-Luwingu-Mansa road and Rupiah Banda is just playing with it…nobody talks about Kasama-Mporokoso-Kaputa road.”

Sata said President Banda was talking about the development of other roads to cover up for the current works on the Chipata-Mfuwe road, which passes through his farm.

“It has already brought political upheaval in Eastern Province where major roads like Chipata-Chadiza, Katete-Chadiza have been ignored,” he said.

Sata said people were already aware of the desperate moves from the government because these schemes were applied in Kasama and Kapoche where they sent graders to work on the roads during campaigns, and were withdrawn immediately after the by-elections.

“We remember the sugar-daddy in Milanzi, so this is just an eye opener, people of Zambia must open their eyes,” said Sata. “There is a lot more that is going to happen. Money will come from heaven where they are going to spend between now and 28th April 2010 and after 28th of April they will forget about it.”

And Hichilema said the rehabilitation of the Mutanda-Chavuma road was not President Banda's main interest.

He said chiefs in North Western Province recently threatened not to vote for the MMD if the Mutanda-Chavuma road was not tarred.

“While I think it is important that first Zambia gets the road network improved, I think that is important development, there is no question about that. Mutanda-Chavuma road is extremely important. It is a road that has been going on forever, 20 years, even more… I am sure he can also raise money for the Bottom road which they have been cheating people for 20 years,” Hichilema said.

“But the reason he President Banda is doing that, on one hand whilst it's important that the road is done, but the main reason Rupiah Banda is doing that is simply to buy the votes of the people in those areas.

You are aware that I think some chiefs in North Western Province said 'if the Mutanda-Chavuma road is not tarred completely, they will not vote for the MMD'. I am sure you remember those statements. So really looking at Rupiah Banda's mentality, for him, yes, the roads are important, but for him it's mainly to see if he can buy votes.”

Hichilema said rehabilitation works on the roads being talked about by the government were long overdue.

However, he said people were entitled to good roads and they should not feel indebted to the MMD by giving them a vote.

He said the MMD had failed to work on those roads for over 20 years and they wanted to work on them in an election year.

Hichilema said the plans to commence works on the said roads were also an opportunity for the MMD government to award contracts to their friends and children's friends without following proper tender procedures.
He said the MMD and corruption were inseparable.

“So for them it is actually a fundraising exercise rather than more of helping the people. But I want to say the roads must be done and the roads must be done in an efficient manner, in the manner that the contract must be transparent so the corruption we have seen in Zamtel, we have seen in oil procurement does not prevail in the issuance of contracts,” Hichilema said.

“We want a full disclosure of where the money is coming from so that the people of Zambia are not having to pay for expensive roads as they are paying K40 million per borehole…but after the roads, we want to make sure that people have fertiliser…if you look at a lot of roads that are being done under MMD, you find that a kilometre costs almost twice the price.”

Hichilema said the UPND were experiencing violence on their camps in Mufumbwe but police and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) had failed to do anything over the matter.

“MMD know they will lose the election, they are collecting names of dead people from Mufumbwe Hospital and issuing new National Registration Cards in the name of the dead. Even the people that have relocated, they are making sure that they find a way of making those people vote in absentia,” said Hichilema.

“So what should people like us be doing? Should we just be watching? No, we are going to do everything to stop that, and we will not tolerate anybody saying we are being difficult, because the democratic right of the people of Zambia is being taken away. We reserve the right to do anything we want.”

President Banda was quoted in Monday's Daily Mail as having instructed Dr Musokotwane to immediately mobilize extra money from bilateral and multilateral institutions, specifically for the road sector.

He also directed works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti to mobilize contracts to ensure that the construction of key roads in the country was completed this year.

President Banda said he specifically wanted to see the completion of the Mutanda-Chavuma, Choma-Chitongo-Namwala roads in Southern Province and the Kasama-Luwingu road in Northern Province.

20100413

LILONGWE, 13 April 2010 (PlusNews) - Male circumcision (MC), which can reduce HIV among men by up to 60 percent, is controversial in Malawi and government has yet to implement mass male circumcision. But a chain of private clinics has rolled out the measure with some surprising results.

Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM) – Future Family in the local Chichewa language - a private family planning organization, rolled out the procedure at its network of 30 national clinics in 2009 and is the only organization offering it as part of an HIV prevention package.

The UN World Health Organization recommends circumcision and Malawi's National HIV Prevention Strategy 2009-2013 acknowledges its role, but falls short of outlining a clear policy.

Brendan Hayes, the head of BLM, admitted that MC has been a hard sell.

"In Malawi, you've got very big differences in the HIV epidemic from north to south and those differences don’t correlate to differences in circumcision prevalence. High prevalence rates are in the southern part of the country, which is also where we have the most circumcision ... but you're still only talking about one in three men," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"These differences aren't totally inexplicable but I think it's made people more cautious about moving forward with male circumcision."

2010-04-13
GENEVA (Reuters) - A Geneva court has backed a claim by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that the publication of leaked police photos of him by a Swiss newspaper infringed his privacy.

Monday's verdict in favour of Hannibal Gaddafi, cautiously welcomed by the Swiss government, raised hopes that the row between the two countries, in which a Swiss businessman is also being held in Libya on visa offences, could soon be resolved.

At one stage the 21-month-old row blocked travel and growing business ties between oil-exporter Libya and most of Europe.

But at the end of March the European Union defused the broader dispute with Libya sparked by a travel blacklist of 188 senior Libyans imposed by non-EU member Switzerland.

Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Lars Knuchel declined on Tuesday to comment on what impact the Geneva ruling would have on the case of Max Goeldi, serving a four-month prison sentence in Libya, or whether it would lead to renewed efforts for his release.

"We welcome the Geneva tribunal's verdict. The release of the police identification photos of Hannibal Gaddafi constitutes an offence," he told Reuters in answer to an enquiry.

Police arrested Hannibal and his wife at a Geneva hotel in July 2008 on charges -- later dropped -- of assaulting two domestic staff.

Libya reacted furiously to what it saw as a deliberate insult to Gaddafi's family, withdrawing $5 billion from Swiss banks and cutting the sale of oil to the Alpine state.

It subsequently detained Goeldi, the local head of Swiss-Swedish engineering group ABB, as well as another businessman of joint Swiss-Tunisian nationality who was released in February.

Libya has denied any connection between their detention and the case of Hannibal, who visited Goeldi in prison on March 1.

Hannibal was particularly incensed at the leaking of his police mugshot to a Geneva daily, the Tribune de Geneve, and sued the paper and Geneva authorities for breach of privacy.

The court confirmed that there had been a breach of privacy as there was no overriding public interest in publishing the photos, and ordered the newspaper and the canton of Geneva to publish its ruling and pay costs. But it rejected Hannibal's claim for 100,000 Swiss francs in damages.

20100413
SABC

The Mpumalanga Health Department says it has spent over R424 million on projects related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The department says a helicopter, ambulances and forensic vehicles have been acquired. These will be dispatched to the Mbombela Stadium, the local fan park and other public viewing areas in the province.

"We are ready - we have already employed professionals in terms of the doctors, nurses and emergency staff. We have already made a plan - we know specifically how many people will be deployed per area, per game. We have made sure that we have the necessary skills where we were running short of the skills. We have made sure that we skill our officials in terms of the requirements," says health MEC Dikaledi Mahlangu.

Nearly 20 000 rooms have already been sprayed as part of communicable disease control in Mbombela, Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge municipalities. About 86 000 people will be vaccinated for H1N1 and plans are also afoot to curb drugs and human trafficking.

South Africans urged to buy tickets

Meanwhile, with just weeks to the World Cup in South Africa, the world football governing body FIFA and the Local Organising Committee have appealed to South Africans to buy the remaining 500 000 tickets that have been made available.

Jerome Valcke of FIFA told CNN: "This final ticket phase is very important. We will not want to give that picture of empty seats to the world; all will need to be done in these last days. I am very happy with the progress that has been made in the last four ticketing phases. What is important now is to sell the remaining tickets."

The head of the World Cup local organising committee Danny Jordaan said: "We have done everything we were asked to do. We have created a reduced price category of tickets exclusively for South Africa. We have now implemented over-the-counter sales to make sure the tickets are accessible. The final thing is that South Africans must respond. If you are a good host, you must be there. We do not want the World Cup experience to end at the stadiums or the match venues, we want to go beyond that. People who visit our country must be able to enjoy many aspects of our culture and visit many iconic sites."

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police detained one protester and scuffled with others among a group of about 200 demonstrating on Tuesday for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule, a security source and witnesses said.

The protest was organised by Egypt's two most active grassroots groups, the Sixth of April Youth and Kefaya (Enough), which want changes to the constitution to free up politics and an end to emergency law that allows indefinite detentions.

Egypt holds a parliament election later this year and a presidential vote next year. The president's ruling party is expected, as usual, to dominate in the assembly. Rights groups have cited widespread abuses in past votes.

Mubarak, 81, had gallbladder surgery in Germany in March and has not been seen in public since returning last month. He has not said if he will run for another term.

The protesters were surrounded by police in riot gear and scuffles started when some demonstrators tried to break through a cordon to start a march from a court complex in central Cairo, Reuters witnesses said.

Protesters chanted "Down, down, Hosni Mubarak" and other anti-government slogans.

Reuters Television images showed police hitting several protesters.

"The police were rough with us and attacked and detained one of us ... We tried to get away from the police surrounding us, but they did not let us," Fawzy, a protester who gave only his first name, told Reuters.

A security source confirmed one protester had been detained.

The protest followed a police crackdown on a demonstration for political reform in Cairo on April 6, in which 93 protesters were detained, most were freed the same day and the rest later.

Egypt's ally, the United States, said after that protest that it was "deeply concerned" about the arrests. Egypt, one the largest recipients of U.S. aid, dismissed criticism as interference in its internal affairs.

Such demonstrations are rare. Protests briefly gained momentum around the 2005 presidential election, Egypt's first multi-candidate race, at a time when Washington was pushing for democratic change in the region.

But protests rarely numbered more than a few hundred people and police cracked down as U.S. pressure to change eased.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A decision by Algeria's government that women should pose for passport photographs without their Islamic headscarves has re-opened wounds still raw after nearly two decades of Islamist militant violence.

Algeria's secular-minded government says that as part of the introduction of new biometric passports, all women should be photographed without the veil, a requirement that has angered the country's influential religious traditionalists.

"We are in an Islamic country and the state should not be issuing laws that contradict our religion," said Abderahmane Chibane, the head of the Muslim Ulema Association which groups leading Islamic scholars.

The issue has even caused disagreement inside the ruling coalition that backs President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, with the moderate Islamist MSP party, a junior coalition member, saying women should be able to wear the veil in passport photos.

Algeria is emerging from a conflict that broke out after the military backed government in 1992 scrapped legislative elections that a radical Islamist party was poised to win. About 200,000 people were killed in the violence.

As part of efforts to end the fighting, Bouteflika made concessions to the Islamists, including offering an amnesty to rebel fighters, setting up religious television and radio stations and turning a blind eye to radical propaganda.

However, analysts say the row over passports risks damaging the truce between the government and the Islamists that has helped reduce the violence and usher in a period of relative stability.

GLOBAL TRAVEL RULES

Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni, who is in charge of the new passports, has said the rules are needed to bring Algeria into line with international conventions.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) set April 1 this year for all member countries to start issuing machine readable passports incorporating biometric data.

"The veil should be taken off in accordance with international regulations which require that the person's forehead and the ears should be visible on the photograph," Zerhouni said.

This has been received with anger in a country which is one of the most devoutly religious in North Africa and where the majority of women wear the hijab -- a veil which covers the head -- though very few cover their faces.

"I will never take off my veil, I would rather never travel," Nachida Belili, a 19-year-old student, told Reuters in the Algerian capital.

Bouguera Soltani, leader of the MSP party, said this point of view should be respected. "It is not the people that should follow the government but the government that should follow the people, " he was quoted as saying in the Algerian media.

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh -- who is a moral authority for many Algerian Islamists -- has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, on the issue.

"It is haram (forbidden) for a Muslim to ask a woman to take off her veil," two Algerian dailies quoted him as saying.

According to Mohamed Mouloudi, an independent Algerian scholar who specialises in Islamic issues, a compromise is needed to prevent the row causing even more tension between the government and the Islamists.

"It is up to Bouteflika now to solve the dispute between the two camps. He has enough authority to convince both sides," Mouloudi told Reuters.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa intends buying antiretroviral (ARV) drugs at the lowest prices, even from foreign companies, despite opposition from local drugmakers, the health minister said on Tuesday.

South Africa -- where an estimated 1,000 people die each day due to AIDS-related complications -- has the world's largest ARV programme as it tries to combat one of the globe's highest HIV/AIDS caseloads. At least 5.7 million out of a population of 50 million are infected with HIV.

A regimen of ARV drugs can prolong the life of those diagnosed with the incurable disease that kills millions each year.

"The prices that South Africa pays for ARVs are significantly higher than all other countries," Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi told parliament during his budget vote speech.

"This just does not make sense. We must be able to purchase ARVs at the lowest prices as we are the largest consumers of ARVs in the world and must benefit from economies of scale," he said, without indicating what prices were paid.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) -- part of a global drive to increase access to ARVs and reduce its cost to developing countries -- said South Africa has paid hundreds of millions of rand more to purchase drugs that could be sourced cheaper on the international market.

Mark Heywood, an executive member of the TAC, told Reuters that after the finalisation of ARV supply contracts, the prices of several drugs, such as Efavirenz, dropped significantly but the government continued to be locked into the tender prices.

Motsoaledi said attempts to reduce the ARV prices and introduce new tender specifications had already generated opposition from some local pharmaceutical manufacturers who claim the approach will lead to job losses.

"There is no choice. We must purchase ARVs at the lowest possible cost from whatever source that can guarantee us the lowest prices, whether inside or outside the country," Motsoaledi said.

Shares in the country's top drugmakers Aspen Pharmacare, Adcock Ingram and Cipla Medpro have risen 12-30 percent since South Africa announced a new approach to AIDS last year, although analysts say they are unlikely to raise big profits from the plan as activists lobby for lower prices and greater competition.

South Africa has a 7 billion rand plan to expand HIV/AIDS treatment as it seeks to ramp up access to 80 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS and reduce the number of new infections by 50 percent by 2011/12.

Motsoaledi said unless decisive action was taken, South Africa will not overcome the burden of HIV/AIDS.

"This is why the new ARV tender specifications will be prepared in a way that opens the way for us to purchase ARVs at the lowest possible price. I will not compromise on this," he said.

2010-04-13
LAGOS (Reuters) - Hundreds of Nigerian youths rallied in the commercial capital Lagos on Tuesday demanding Acting President Goodluck Jonathan implement much needed electoral reforms to ensure credible national polls next year.

Political demonstrations have become more common in Africa's most populous country since the departure of ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua from the public eye five months ago.

Jonathan has taken over executive powers and has tried to quickly assert his authority in the absence of Yar'Adua, who remains too sick to govern.

But concerns linger of a possible power struggle between Jonathan and key Yar'Adua allies, especially if the president begins to recover from his heart ailment.

The political uncertainty in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy has stalled key reforms, slowed state business, and threatened a popular amnesty programme that has brought relative peace to the oil-producing Niger Delta.

"We are saying enough is enough. Nigeria is not going forward," said Shade Ladipo, a 28-year-old event planner.

The protesters, some carrying placards saying "Jonathan We are Watching", and "We want to talk for ourselves", marched to the office of Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, giving him a list of demands to forward to Jonathan and other political leaders.

"We want electoral reforms. We want our votes to count," said Christopher Ehindero, a film maker in Lagos. "I'm 34 and I have never voted in my life."

Jonathan has made overhauling Nigeria's electoral system a top priority to avoid a repeat of the flawed 2007 polls, which brought Yar'Adua to power.

Reform legislation is currently before parliament. But time is quickly running out for changes to be implemented in time for next year's elections, which are due by April 2011.

The United States, by far Nigeria's biggest trading partner, said the West African country's election chief should be replaced if it wants to hold credible national polls.

The 2007 elections were so marred by ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation that local and international observers said they were not credible.

2010-04-13
GENEVA (Reuters) - Eight Red Cross staff were seized by an armed group in eastern Congo last week, and an outbreak of fighting in the area could put the hostages at greater risk, the aid group said on Tuesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the Swiss citizen and seven Congolese were seized on Friday by Mai Mai militia after their convoy was stopped in the remote area of Fizi, in Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province.

"We are concerned because they are being held in a region of open military operations," Inah Kaloga, communications coordinator at ICRC in Congo, told Reuters.

Congo's army and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country said on Tuesday that the Mai Mai group had been involved in fighting that erupted in Fizi overnight on Monday.

Kaloga said traditional community leaders were helping in talks with the gunmen and the ICRC had been able to confirm that its seized staff were in good health. However, contact had been cut since the start of the fighting.

"We have been in contact with the group to explain we were on a humanitarian mission and as such have a neutral stance on the conflict," Kaloga said.

Franz Rauchenstein, head of the ICRC delegation in Congo, called on the gunmen to release the aid workers as soon as possible.

ICRC said that its staff were being held by the Mai Mai Yakutumba group, one of several factions of the Mai Mai, a broad term used to describe the local defence militia that fought for the government against rebels during Congo's wars.

The Yakutumba faction last year pulled out of efforts to integrate its fighters into Congo's new army, complaining about conditions on offer. Its leader, Yakutumba Amuli, rejected a senior rank in the army.

Last week the group ambushed the army northwest of Fizi and killed an officer, the United Nations said.

The ICRC said the group stopped a convoy of two ICRC vehicles and six people on a road in the area last week. Two ICRC guards who went to investigate were subsequently held.

The ICRC is among the few aid groups working in the area, whose remote hills and lack of roads make it hard to reach. The humanitarian organisation maintains a permanent presence in South Kivu province in Bukavu, Uvira, Marungu and Fizi.

A U.N.-backed military operation to oust Rwandan Hutu rebels from North and South Kivu launched attacks at the end of February, involving dispersed and sporadic fighting that has displaced thousands of people.

It is not clear if the recent fighting in Fizi is related.

2010-04-13
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's interim government and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland vowed on Tuesday to work together to attack pirate lairs along the Horn of Africa nation's coast to try to stem a spate of hijackings.

Somali sea gangs continue to roam the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, seizing vessels and their crews and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms, while international warships patrol the vast seas in a desperate bid to stop them.

"Our forces are joining troops of (the interim government) and are going to face and fight against the pirates and their operations in Puntland's coast," Puntland Interior Minister Abdullahi Ahmed Ilkajiir told reporters in Kenya's capital.

Pirates take advantage of Somalia's lack of central control since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre to create havens mainly in the northeast region of Puntland whose authorities, critics say, turn a blind eye.

A cash bonanza from ransoms has filled pirate coffers and led to an influx of gleaming cars, new villas and luxury goods into areas in Puntland, which declared itself independent in the early 1990s when Somalia was plunged into anarchy and civil war.

Puntland security officials and residents of an area where pirates are holding the Bermuda-flagged MV Talca said the region had sent troops to cut supplies to pirates on that ship.

But the pirates warned Puntland not to underestimate them.

"If this blockade is not lifted soon, the prime victims will be the crew. They will no longer get food and water," pirate Abdi told Reuters from the MV Talca.

"They think they are hurting us alone. We shall eat, but the crew will not if this continues."

An international flotilla patrols the area -- one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- with only sporadic success in stopping the hijackings of cargo and other vessels.

Russia's U.N. envoy said earlier this month that the piracy was getting worse, partly due to the legal limbo that has led some countries to release captured suspects.

Analysts say it will be difficult to solve the problem without first tackling Somalia's onshore security challenges. Islamist rebels control large swathes of the nation and the interim government is hemmed into small portions of the capital.

Somalia's western-backed government has battled al Shabaab rebels, who have professed loyalty to al Qaeda, and Hizbul Islam militants for several years and has vowed over the last few months to launch a major offensive.

20100413
SABC

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) claims large numbers of people are joining the far right wing organisation after the brutal murder of its former leader Eugene Terre'Blanche. Terre'Blanche was bludgeoned and hacked to death at his farm outside Ventersdorp almost two weeks ago. Two farm workers have been arrested and have appeared in court.

"Our membership is rocketing because the people are fed-up of murders, crimes and the way the ANC government is running this country. I honestly can tell you that our membership is rocketing," says AWB spokesperson, Pieter Steyn.

Steyn has dismissed reports that they are regrouping in order to participate in the forthcoming local government and general elections. He says they are a cultural group that believes in self determination.

"We are a cultural organisation - we are not involved in politics. We are not a political party, we are the boere-volk and what we are saying is that we want our homeland where we can govern ourselves according to our religion, our beliefs, without Nigerian drug lords, abortion, prostitution and corruption and all those horrible things that we are seeing in our communities," adds Steyn.

Death threat

Meanwhile, a former Bophuthatswana policeman who shot dead three AWB members in 1994 is living in fear for his life after finding a threatening note in his room recently. Ontlametse Menyatsoe, who is a member of the SAPF in the North West, discovered the note in his room at the Hammanskraal Police College where he was on a course.

The note read: "Wat ek belowe aan jou is pyn, hartseer, honger of self die dood. Pasop" (What I promise you is pain, heartache, hunger and death. Beware).

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Captain Julia Claassen has confirmed that police are investigating a case of intimidation.

2010-04-013
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that fighting was taking a heavy toll on civilians in Somalia and casualties were overwhelming a dwindling health care staff in the capital Mogadishu.

"In March 2010 alone, at least 900 conflict-related injuries and 30 deaths were reported at Mogadishu's three main hospitals," WHO spokesman Paul Garwood told a news briefing.

He told Reuters: "Health care workers are struggling to cope, they are overwhelmed with the huge increase in wounded. It is stretching an already weak health care system to the limit."

Children aged under 5 years old accounted for 10 percent of reported injuries, which included shrapnel and gunshot wounds, fractures and crush injuries, he said.

At least 13 civilians were killed in fighting between Somali government forces and hardline Islamist militants in Mogadishu on Monday and bomb blasts killed six people, rescue services and the police said.

Somalia's fragile government controls just a few blocks in the capital and al Shabaab rebels, who want to impose a harsh version of sharia law on the anarchic nation, control large swathes of southern and central Somalia.

The Western-backed government has said for several months it will launch a major offensive against al Shabaab rebels, who have professed loyalty to al Qaeda, and Hizbul Islam militants.

At least 3.2 million people are affected by Somalia's humanitarian crisis, according to the WHO, a U.N. agency. Some 1,400 women die per every 100,000 live births and at least 86 infants among 1,000 die before reaching their first birthday.

Omar Saleh, a WHO specialised trauma surgeon, has just returned from training 33 doctors, nurses and midwives in Mogadishu to improve their skills in responding to the escalating conflict, the WHO said. He has trained about 100 workers in the past year.

Only 250 qualified doctors, 860 nurses and 116 midwives work today in Somalia, home to the lowest number of health workers of any country in the Horn of Africa or Middle East, it added.

The rate translates into 0.11 health workers per 1,000 people, about half of the minimum threshold required to conduct essential health services, it said.

Somalia had 300 doctors as recently as 2006, but some have fled the country, part of a "brain drain", while others have been victims of the violence, including some killed by a deadly blast at a graduation ceremony last December, Garwood said.

20100413
SABC

The Afrikanerbond has lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) about ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's outburst against a BBC journalist. "As the custodians of human rights in South Africa, we expected that the South African Human Rights Commission would have spoken out or taken action against Mr Malema," Afrikanerbond chief secretary Jan Bosman said today.

It had also expressed its ‘discontent’ about this in a letter to the SAHRC, containing the complaint, he said in a statement. "We can only hope that the Human Rights Commission will now act in a manner which will restore confidence in this constitutional institution."

At a press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, Malema called BBC journalist Jonah Fisher, among other things, a 'bastard' and an 'agent'.

Malema had been criticising Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change for operating out of the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Sandton when Fisher remarked that Malema himself lived there.

The Afrikanerbond has already brought hate speech complaints against Malema over his public singing of the words Shoot the boer. “We believe that the promotion of human rights and constitutional values must now be a priority.”

In its complaint, the Afrikanerbond accused Malema of not only violating the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press in his ‘tirade’, but of "a racist attack which amounts to hate speech".

In an apology to the BBC over Malema's outburst last week, the Afrikanerbond wrote that millions of honest, decent, hard-working and civilised South Africans bore the brunt of Malema and the ANCYL's agenda which it claimed was to 'polarise' South Africa with 'renewed racism'. – Sapa

2010-04-13
LUANDA (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch urged the Angolan government on Tuesday to step up its fight against corruption and mismanagement, noting that most of the population still lived in poverty.

In a 31-page report, the New York-based group said, despite undertakings to eradicate graft, the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had yet to show it was prepared to take action.

"The government needs to take strong action to combat the corruption and secrecy that undermine Angolans' rights," Arvind Ganesan, director of the New York-based group's Business and Human Rights Program, said in a statement.

"Here is a nation with a wealth of resources while its people live in poverty."

Angola ranks with Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer.

The report said the publication of oil revenue figures and calls last year by dos Santos for "zero tolerance" of corruption showed the government's willingness to improve transparency.

"However, given that the president and ruling party have been in power for more than three decades, including the entire period in which oil-fuelled corruption has been rampant, sceptics will wait to see whether meaningful action will accompany these statements," HRW said.

A spokesman for dos Santos was not immediately available for comment.

About $2.4 billion went missing from the central bank between 1999 and 2002, HRW said.

In 2004, the group accused the Angolan government of siphoning off billions of dollars in oil revenues. The government dismissed the report at the time, saying it was an attempt to tarnish its image after the end of the 27-year civil war in 2002.

Angola is ranked among the world's 18 most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International's 2009 corruption index.

Its gross domestic product increased by more than 400 percent in the past six years, yet millions of Angolans had limited access to basic social services, HRW said.

A $1.4 billion loan obtained by Angola from the International Monetary Fund in November, after years of wrangling, offered hope for greater transparency, HRW added.

The African country relied on oil exports and loans from China to rebuild after the civil war.

"This (loan) may be an opportunity for the Chinese government to address problems with transparency and accountability," HRW said.

"The Chinese government and Chinese companies have invested billions in oil-for-infrastructure deals while remaining relatively silent on governance in Angola and elsewhere."

20100413
SABC

A storm is brewing between the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and members of the deposed Limpopo provincial executive committee who are refusing to step down following this weekend's conference. The disgruntled members, including former Limpopo chair Lehlogonolo Masoga, is planning another conference following the Makhado conference that saw the election of France Moswane as his replacement. But the league at national level has threatened anyone who attends with expulsion.

Police were called in to remove some delegates seen as sympathetic to Masoga. The group does not recognise the new leadership.

Deposed Masoga says: “There were no reports that were provided to that conference. We, the leadership of the ANC did not present any credentials; it’s us who must say this is the state of the province, who gave the credentials report? Who gave the organizational report? Who gave the political report? So that would not be the conference convened legitimately by the provincial leadership” (sic).

But the national ANC Youth League has warned Masoga and his group against the move and says the new leadership was correctly elected and no one raised an objection on its outcome within party structures.

ANCYL secretary general Vuyiswa Tulelo says: “It would really be unfortunate if they insist because in our understanding that would constitute an anti-party behaviour and an anti-party behaviour is an equivalent of expulsion.” The disgruntled group says it will appeal to the mother body because its national structure has an interest in the matter. But the ANCYL national office says anyone with complaints must direct them to its office.

20100413
SABC

In a dramatic twist of events, the ruling ANC party has stated that it is not going to instruct its investment arm - Chancellor House to sell its controversial stake in Hitachi Power Africa. The ANC's Chancellor House owns 25% stake in Hitachi.

The ANC has drawn an onslaught of criticisms from opposition parties and labour federation Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for the conflict of interest its stake in Hitachi poses. This is because Hitachi has won a multi-billion rand tender from state owned Eskom to provide boilers to its Medupi and Kusile power stations.

Eskom has also just secured a R29 billion loan from the World Bank to build the coal- fired power station. But the ruling party is putting its foot down, saying it is not for them to decide whether Chancellor House should sell its lucrative stake in Hitachi.

"Whether we are going to dispose of our stake... I do not think that decision should be taken in Luthuli House because you have got a company which is having a board and that decision must be taken by them," says ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe.

Drawing from its experience with its own investment company, called Kopano Ke Matla, Cosatu sharply disagrees with the ANC. "Because the board members can take decisions we do not like. We need to check if those decisions do not pose conflict of interest for the mother body," says Cosatu deputy secretary, Bheki Ntshalintshali.

Contradictory decision

The ANC decision now contradicts earlier assurances made by ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa that they have told Chancellor House to sell its share in Hitachi.

"It is very clear that there is uncertainty within the ANC’s ranks about whether they are doing the right thing or not. The fact of the matter is that Chancellor House/Hitachi relationship is a conflict of interest. It becomes a de facto fund raising mechanism which does not level the playing fields for the political processes in the country and it is certainly a threat to the principles of democracy in South Africa," says political analyst, Roelof Botha.

The ANC remains adamant that it has to generate its own funding because it no longer receives donor funding since apartheid ended.

20100413
SABC

North West police say seven people have been arrested and three were injured during clashes involving striking the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) members at Rustenburg.

Police spokesperson Lesego Metsi says clashes erupted when police tried to control protesters. He says Samwu members were throwing stones at moving vehicles, disrupting the flow of traffic and intimidating members of the public. He says they will face charges of public violence.

In many cities across the country, Samwu members could face disciplinary action after trashing streets as they continued their strike action. In the Eastern Cape, thousands of Samwu members have overturned rubbish bins and scattered litter into the streets of Mthatha CBD.

In Nelspruit, the Mbombela Local Municipality has warned that workers who trashed the streets will face disciplinary action. In Kimberley in the Northern Cape, police have used water cannon to disperse over 500 municipal workers. They emptied rubbish bags in front of the Sol Plaatjie municipal offices and set them alight.

The Port Elizabeth city centre was also trashed. In the Western Cape Samwu chair, Douglas Baartman, has called for discipline from union members after verbal clashes between protesters and police at George.

Residents suffer

In Johannesburg, residents are beginning to feel the impact of the strike. Johannesburg residents say they are fed up with municipal workers always striking. The municipal workers union remains resolute. It has announced that the strike action in the sector will continue indefinitely.

This morning, the South African Local Governments' Association withdrew an application intent on halting further action. It says it now wants to pursue further talks. It is hoped a meeting scheduled for tomorrow could pave the way for some solution.

Samwu says labour federation the Congress of South African Trade Unions has been briefed on the matter. It is not ruling out the possibility of asking other unions to join its cause, in solidarity with municipal workers. Samwu is protesting over better working conditions and market related salaries.

DAKAR, 13 April 2010 (IRIN) - People with disabilities must be taken into account in Sierra Leone’s development and poverty reduction plans, say the authors of a new study on living conditions of the country’s disabled.

The study was developed by the UK-based NGO Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD).

The authors – who call the study a “snapshot” and a first step for further research – hope it will help clarify the disabled community’s most pressing needs as the government and its partners rebuild infrastructure and social services.

“The disabled community’s voice is generally a voice that is not heard in discussions of development,” Bentry Kalanga, LCD senior programme manager for Africa.

“Up to now disability has not been regarded as a major development issue; it must be highlighted more.”

While disability has received some attention in the years following the 1991-2002 civil war – in which thousands of people had limbs cut off – the authors say little data is yet available about people with disabilities in Sierra Leone.

The study finds that in many socioeconomic domains such as material wealth and housing, disabled people in the urban areas studied are not dramatically worse off than non-disabled. Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries and eight years after the war living conditions remain dire for many.

“This points to the background of the country. The war left everyone with almost nothing and the country has to undergo a lot of rebuilding,” Kalanga told IRIN.

Still the survey did show that people with disabilities have less access to education, health care and employment than non-disabled, in a country where such access is already quite low.

Over twice as many people with disabilities than non-disabled have no access to health care – 16.4 percent compared to 7.1 percent, the study shows.

Some 1.5 percent of people with severe or very severe disabilities are able to receive social welfare and benefits, compared to 12.4 percent of respondents with no disabilities and 14.3 percent with mild or moderate disabilities.

The disabled are also more exposed to rape and physical abuse, the study found.

Researchers surveyed non-disabled people as well as people with moderate disability and with severe disability to compare daily living conditions among the groups.

A part to play

Polio-disabled people living in the capital Freetown told IRIN they do not want special treatment – simply the same basic services and rights as any citizen.

“We are all human beings,” said Edward Mustapha, secretary general of House of Jesus, an association for disabled people in downtown Freetown.

“Moreover we are citizens of this land. We have a part to play in nation-building, despite our deformity.”

Sehid Souleymane Conteh spoke to IRIN as he was designing t-shirts for a local football team. He teaches young men the skill.

“Most of them would go into the street to beg otherwise. To be disabled, it doesn’t mean you lose your ability. You can do something with your head. I’d like to further my studies and teach other generations so I won’t see my disabled brothers in the streets.”

Family network

The LCD report says that among disabled and non-disabled alike, most Sierra Leoneans count primarily on family and friends for social and economic support. “The extended family in many low income countries is an important source of support and help for members traditionally seen as vulnerable. This highlights the necessity of ensuring the inclusion of families and communities when designing programmes and policies.”

The study was done in and around urban areas in June-July 2009; while the results cannot be said to represent the entire country they do indicate important trends, the authors say. LCD plans to expand the research to rural areas of the country.

The Sierra Leone government in July 2009 ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is currently working on national legislation to ensure compliance.

KIBERA, 13 April 2010 (IRIN) - Josephine Awuor, 34, always looks forward to her turn to receive "merry-go-round" contributions from fellow members of Msingi Bora (Good Foundation), a micro-finance group she belongs to in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum.

Meeting weekly, the 23 Msingi Bora members each contribute 50 shillings (60 US cents), which is pooled for members to take loans from. At each meeting, the members also contribute 20 shillings (26 US cents) each - to be given to one member in what they term their "merry-go-round" as they draw lots to determine the order of receiving the money.

"Numbers are written on small pieces of paper and folded and each member picks one; the number you get determines your position in the order of receiving the merry-go-round money," Awuor said. "Previously, supporting myself and my four children was really difficult; things like school fees, food and rent were hard to get but since I joined Msingi Bora, things are looking up," Josephine said.

Without a steady income - she mostly survives by doing casual labour in more affluent residential areas neighbouring Kibera - Awuor uses the merry-go-round money to buy food and other household items.

Loans from Msingi Bora, which range from 500 shillings ($6.5) upwards, have enabled Awuor, a single mother of four, to put her children in school. Her eldest child is due to sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education this year and another one is in class eight, due to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education at the end of the year.

"Unbanked"

With the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of people who live in Kibera lacking any kind of formal banking facilities, micro-finance groups such as Msingi Bora fill the gap, providing members with credit they would otherwise not have access to.

While some groups are initiated and established by the slum dwellers on their own, some groups, such as Msingi Bora, have the backing of national and international organizations that provide training and psychosocial support.

CARE International, through a community-based organization known as the Kibera Slum Education Programme, supports Msingi Bora and dozens of other such groups by providing training, capacity-building, resource mobilization as well as sub-granting for projects such as the education and care of orphaned and vulnerable children.

"CARE has found that the answer is not necessarily to bring banks or microfinance institutions to the poor, but instead enable and empower poor women to set up informal saving and loan groups," Helene Gayle, the president and chief executive officer of CARE USA, said on 10 April during a visit to Kibera.

According to CARE, members of its Village Savings and Loan Associations receive intensive money management training before their groups begin transacting loan operations. Most members of these groups are women, often earning less than $2 a day.

Gayle said the savings and loans projects give women in slums economic options they often lack and enable them to afford health care, take their children to school and put food on the table.

"Although such village savings and loan programmes help to make a difference in the lives of women and children, there is room for improvement as more and more people should have access to such programmes in order to have an even greater impact," she said. "The projects in Kibera illustrate that we can really make a difference in peoples' lives."

CARE also supports economic empowerment self-help groups - comprising male and female members - such as the Haki Self Help Group that operates from the Kibera Hawkers Market, making ornaments from bones.

Turning waste into profit

"We have turned waste into profit by working with the bones discarded after meals; we work with cow, camel and goat bones to make a lot of beautiful ornaments such as necklaces and bangles," Charles Ogutu, head of the Haki Self Help Group, told IRIN on 10 April. "Our main challenge is the market for our produce; we have contacts with traders who come and buy from us and later resell on the tourist markets, but sometimes their orders are not enough."

Ogutu said the proceeds from the project are used for members' economic empowerment as well as the group's community projects, which include care-giving to orphaned and vulnerable children and a justice programme aimed at community reconciliation in the aftermath of the post-election violence that hit the slum in early 2008.

Lauren Hendricks, the executive director for CARE's Access Africa, told IRIN that since 1991, CARE has had savings and loans programmes in 21 countries, reaching 1.6 million people.

"Over this period, there has been significant improvement in household economy for those involved in the savings and loan programmes," Hendricks said. "As you know, one of the underlying causes of poor maternal health is lack of income for many women; we can combine group savings and loan programmes with others such as education so that we use resources more efficiently."