20100405
ALLAFRICA

A minor clash between Christians and Muslims leaves one person dead and another injured in Nigeria's central city of Jos.

The security forces that were rushed in to control the fighting from escalating said they have brought the situation under control and restored order.

Clashes erupted at around 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) as Christians were returning from a church rally. A group of unidentified youths blocked their way along the road, prompting a clash, police spokesman Mohammed Lerama said, confirming the incident.

The attack occurred in the Nassarawa Gwom area, the epicenter of the January clashes, he said. Hundreds of people have died in sectarian violence in Jos and its vicinity since that time, the spokesman added.

In January, over 300 people — mostly Muslims — were killed in clashes in and around Jos. The police announced last month that over 100 people — mainly Christians — were killed by Muslim Fulani cattle herders.

20100405
PRESS TV

At least two United Nations workers and several civilians have been killed in an unprecedented militant attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo's restive northwest.

According to UN officials on Sunday, clashes erupted after some 30 heavily armed fighters attacked the governor's residence in Congo's northern Equateur province capital of Mbandaka.

The gunmen then took over the airport in a surprise assault on Congolese and UN forces, killing a Ghanian peacekeeper and another UN employee.

UN and government forces have now launched an operation to re-take the airport.

It is not yet clear which armed group was behind the attack.

Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for the UN mission in DR Congo, however, told Reuters that the attacks are not related to the conflict between UN-backed forces and rebels in the East of the country.

He added that he thinks the fighters were from the Enyele group, a sub-tribe of the Lobala that took up arms six months ago over fishing rights.

Congo's Equateur province has ever since been rocked by deadly ethnic clashes between the Lobala and Boba tribesmen, forcing 200,000 people from their homes.

The attack comes as Congo entered talks with the UN on the withdrawal of its 20,500-strong peacekeeping mission, MONUC by next year.

MONUC's mandate expires in May.

Experts believe the new fighting might put the withdrawal of the biggest UN operation in the world into question.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Abuja — FRESH facts emerged, yesterday, from Aso Rock Presidential Villa on why Acting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is yet to have audience with his boss, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, as tension in the Presidency is likely to be heightened this week.

Meanwhile, there are fresh moves by the rump of Yar'Adua loyalists, led by Turai, his wife, to scuttle any attempt by the in-coming members of the Executive Council of the Federation, EXCOF, to invoke provisions of Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Vanguard has learnt that the reason Acting President Jonathan has not been allowed to see Yar'Adua is "because of the fears by Yar'Adua loyalists, especially Madam Turai, of what the response of Acting President Jonathan would be."

An Aso Rock insider told Vanguard: "I can tell you for a fact that there is only one reason which has been discovered and it is that they are not sure what the Acting President will do when he sees the shape of Yar'Adua's health.

"What is going on will only further heighten the tension in the land, specifically the Presidency. The reason is because some people are insisting and piling pressure on the Acting President to ensure that in-coming members of EXCOF invoke Section 144; but the man is being careful in handling the matter.

"Then you have to understand that the North, too, is upbeat about its insistence on the nomination of a vice presidential replacement that would give the Presidency the face of a united northern and southern Nigeria working together.

"But what is going on, starting with the so-called visit of some Islamic clerics to Yar'Adua is to give another slant to the whole matter. When there was an outcry about the religious slant to the visit, another report came out that Christian leaders, too, would be invited to Aso Rock to come and pray with Yar'Adua.

"If EXCOF members are sworn-in and they now attempt to do what is desired and meaningful, that is invoking Section 144, some other people will immediately rise up to say that the words of religious leaders are not being followed. And in any case, one of the visitors told us that Yar'Adua is not incapacitated. How did he come about that despite his own description of the Yar'Adua they saw."

Facts about Yar'Adua's health status

In an earlier interview with Second Republic Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Richard Abimbola Osuolale Akinjide, it was discovered that some people may have chosen to deceive Nigerians regarding the health condition of Yar'Adua.

Akinjide, whose understanding of what is going on can not be dismissed, said: "the western intelligence has incontrovertible facts about Yar'Adua's health status. The western countries, particularly countries of Europe and the United States of America, USA, have up to 80 per cent investment in Nigeria. Our trade with them is about 90 per cent and it is largely crude oil.

"These countries can not be fooled on Yar'Adua's health condition and the incontrovertible evidence before them suggests that Yar'Adua is not fit to govern this country.

"Now, what we must all understand is that it is not Yar'Adua's fault, it is not the fault of members of the National Assembly, it is not the fault of Nigerians and it is not the fault of anybody. Only God Almighty is immortal. It is time we stop deceiving people."

Vanguard was also informed by a member of the Presidential Advisory Council, PAC, chaired by General T Y Danjuma, that "what these people are doing is nothing more than a divisive game which is not in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. Why would a few people just decide to toe a path of destruction not just for themselves, or Yar'Adua but for the generality of Nigerians by attempting to polarize the country?"

Invocation of Section 144 of Constitution

Reminded of the insinuation that the in-coming EXCOF may invoke Section 144 and that may be the reason why all these are happening, the source queried: "When did acting in the national interest become a problem? Why can't the in-coming EXCOF members do what is right and in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians?

"Mind you, the Acting President has not been allowed to see this man yet they arranged some so called religious leaders to go and see him and those ones came out and started talking and pontificating on why the man is not incapacitated.

"Why have they not allowed the Acting President to see him if they are not hiding something. Is that what they have reduced Nigeria to? Just one man! And a few people are the ones doing this thing."

General Jeremiah Useni, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the retired Army General, in an interview with Vanguard, last week, wondered why Nigerians were not being allowed to see their president.

Useni said: "I do not know how a situation came about when Yar'Adua's wife decided to hide him. Yar'Adua is the property of Nigerians and Nigerians deserve to see their president."

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Kano — Former governor of Kano State and former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, has died after an armed robbery attack.

He was reportedly unhurt in the encounter with the robbers around 11pm last night. The robbers were said to have recognised him and decided not to rob him. Instead, they seized his phones so that he would not report to the police.On getting to Kano, he was said to have been in shock. His personal doctor, it was gathered, checked his blood pressure and decided to take him to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. He never recovered and was pronounced dead shortly after. His body has been moved to his residence in Kano and will be buried according to Islamic rites this morning.

Initial reports said he was shot in the head in the attack which took place at a village called Darki in Wudil Local Government Area, Kano State, while he was returning from Bauchi State where he had gone for his eldest daughter's wedding.

But it was later revealed that he suffered no gunshot wounds. However, given that his blood pressure had shot up during the attack, he might have suffered a massive stroke, leading to his death.

The radical politician, who was instrumental to the victory of Chief MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election in Kano State, was travelling in a Landcruiser SUV in company with three other persons who are believed to be his relations.

Rimi had become politically reclusive in recent times and led a faction of the PDP in Kano called Garkuwa (Shield). He also staunchly supported President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

He was born in 1940 in Rimi Village, Sumaila Local Government Area, Kano State. According to wikipedia.com, Rimi attended an instructor's course at the Institute of Administration, Zaria. He obtained a General Certificate of Education (GCE) from the University of London.

In 1972, he did a diploma in International Affairs at the London institute of World Affairs, and later obtained a Master's Degree in International Relations.In January 2006, his wife was killed at his home. His son was among those charged for the murder, but was later released. It was treated as an armed robbery case.

Rimi was co-founder with the late Mallam Aminu Kano and other progressives the People's Redemption Party (PRP).

In December 1978, he was elected PRP's Deputy National secretary at the party's first national convention in Lagos. He was the PRP candidate in the 1979 general election and was elected the governor of the old Kano State.

After a disagreement with the party's leader, Alhaji Aminu Kano, he defected to the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) in 1983 and resigned as governor "on principle". He lost the governorship election that year to Alhaji Sabo Bakin Zuwo, who ran as the PRP candidate.

In 1993, Rimi was appointed Minister of Communications, and later Chairman of NACB and NSPMC.

He was one of the foundation members of the PDP in 1998. He was the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the party.

He was briefly touted as former President Olusegun Obasanjo's running mate in the 1999 presidential election, but Obasanjo eventually settled for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Rimi began to openly oppose Obasanjo and ran against him for PDP's presidential ticket in 2003, although the PDP had insisted that the position was zoned to the South.

He later moved to the Action Congress (AC) in 2006, but returned to the PDP in 2007. In December 2008, he called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, to resign from office, citing irregularities in the presidential election that brought Yar'Adua to power.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are set to intensify their battle for the lucrative East and West African skies, opening new destinations and increasing frequencies in a fresh attempt to wrestle passengers from dominant European and Middle East carriers - and from each other.

KQ plans to open new routes to traditional Ethiopian destinations of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Luanda in Angola in addition to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Juba in Southern Sudan.

Both carriers have a similar strategy of ferrying passengers from West and Central Africa into their respective hubs - Nairobi for KQ and Addis Ababa for Ethiopian Airlines - from where they connect mostly to Southern Africa, the Middle East, India and the Far East.

On October 25 last year, Ethiopian Airlines hacked into the KQ network, simultaneously mounting new flights to the two lucrative KQ destinations of Mombasa and Monrovia (Liberia).

Ethiopian Airlines is now flying daily to Mombasa and three times a week to Monrovia; the Monrovia flight also covers Conakry in Guinea.

Until then, KQ was the only scheduled operator to Mombasa, flying upto 58 domestic flights a week from Nairobi to Moi Airport.

Mombasa is mainly served by tourist charter flights from Europe although relief, military and cargo flights also use the coastal town's Moi International Airport on an ad hoc basis.

Ethiopian is also flying twice daily to Nairobi following the addition of four night flights from Addis Ababa in December 2009.

On its part, KQ flies once daily to Addis Ababa, says public relations manager, Chris Karanja.

Still, the development signifies a relaxation by the regulator as both Kenya and Ethiopia have in the past been protective of their skies, experts say.

Dar es Salaam, another popular KQ city, is receiving an additional four Ethiopian flights weekly, while two weekly flights have been added to Accra, Bamako, Dakar, Juba and Lubumbashi.

Ethiopian is now flying 68 times a week to East African destinations.

KQ chief executive Titus Naikuni, and Ethiopian Airline's Nairobi regional manager Tedla Konjit both declined to comment on the business rivalry between the two carriers.

"All I can say is that we got the flying rights through the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, like everyone else. The authorities in Mombasa are very positive to us. This route will enhance tourism at the Coast while also offering an addition travel destination to our European and African passengers," Mrs Konjit said on the airline's new Mombasa flights.

However, early last year Ethiopian Airlines CEO Girma Wake, decried the high level of competition between East African carriers.

Speaking during the signing of a contract with Asky, a new airline based in Togo, Mr Wake said Ethiopian Airlines had been looking for partners across the West African region to make its business a success, noting that the competition among the airlines in East Africa was particularly unhealthy for growth.

"Africans cannot grow by killing one another. Africa can only grow if we support one another. The signing of this agreement will obviously be seen as a threat to other smaller airlines, but we mean no danger to any airline in Africa," Mr Wake said.

Undeterred, KQ has thrust further into the Democratic Republic of Congo; flights to Kisangani commenced on November 5, making it the third destination after Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.

Bangui, the capital of the Central Africa Republic, Libreville (Gabon) and Brazzaville in the Congo are now in the KQ network, while flights to Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) commenced on October 18 last year.

The two airlines compete for passengers in West Africa's major aviation markets -- Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Douala, Kinshasa and Lagos.

Both carriers now claim to have surpassed the three-million passengers carried a year milestone, operating profitably and ranking among the fastest growing carriers on the continent.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Abuja — FEW of the 13 returning ministers may get back the portfolios they held in the just dissolved cabinet, Presidency sources said yesterday.

Snippets of the tentative list of cabinet positions as gathered by Vanguard, showed that none of the ranking members in the just dissolved cabinet may get back the positions they held in the cabinet list that is to be unfolded tomorrow.

Vanguard learnt that the plan by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to redistribute them despite the intensive lobby by some of the returning ministers and their godfathers followed revelations of schemes some of them had buried in the appropriation bill that has just been passed into law.

Of the ministers returning to the cabinet, only Mrs. Fidelia Njeze from Enugu State is known to have been penciled down to return to her duty as Minister of State, Agriculture, while others have either been taken elsewhere and their former portfolios given to other ministers-designate.

Mrs. Akunyili's former portfolio at the Ministry of Information and Communication, it was learnt, is to be taken by Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho while the former Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr. Odion Ajumogobia is to take office as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Vanguard learnt authoritatively that he is to be assisted by three assistants.

Erstwhile Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr. Kayode Adetokunbo is to cede his immediate last position to Mr. Mohammed Adoke, SAN. Vanguard could not confirm Adetokunbo's portfolio but there were suggestions that he could be headed back to the Ministry of Labour on account of his wild popularity among the stakeholders in that sector.

Senator Bala Mohammed, leader of the National Interest Group, NIG, and secretary of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF, in the Senate, Vanguard learnt, has been designated as the Minister of Power against suggestions that he could be headed to the Aviation portfolio.

Senator Chris Anyanwu, PDP, Imo East, has, however, urged Acting President Jonathan not to succumb to pressures from godfathers but to assign ministers to the positions they are best suited for.

In an interview, Senator Anyanwu said: "We should begin to put people in areas where they are more suited for. Before you scout somebody to come and work for you, you must have known about that person, his antecedents and capability to deliver, and you must have a clear idea of what you want to do with that person."

The cabinet is expected to be inaugurated tomorrow.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Female police officers from Nigeria will be deployed to Liberia for peace keeping operations, Inspector General of Police Obonna Onovo has said. Onovo made the remarks yesterday during the visit of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) to Liberia (SRSG) Madam Ellen Margrethe to the police headquarters in Abuja.

He said an all-Female Police Formed Unit (FPFU) consisting of Nigerians will be deployed to Liberia to keep peace under the UN Peace Mission, adding that the police authorities will consider the request of the SRSG on the training of the Liberia National Police in Nigeria.

A FPFU may consist of between 120 and 150 policemen. India has sent one to Liberia under the sponsorship of the UN.

He also said there was an efficient utilisation of resources of the various components in the United Nations Mission in Liberia urging that the peace restored in the country be exploited for economic growth and development.

A formed Police Unit consisting of Nigerians is in Liberia under the UN peacekeeping.

Earlier, Madam Ellen Margrethe had requested the training of Liberian police in Nigeria and asked for assistance in the maintenance of the Nigeria contingent owned equipment.

She also requested the deployment of Police Specialists with skills in Human Resources Management and Investigation, saying Nigerian police peacekeepers in Liberia are hardworking and disciplined.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Lagos — A powerful lure to trap and kill the tsetse flies that transmit sleeping sickness in humans is one step closer following the identification of the scents that attract them.

Using either artificial or natural scents to bait tsetse fly traps is not a new idea. They are already used to attract flies that carry parasites that cause sleeping sickness in animals.

But scientists had been unable to identify the scents that lure the flies that carry the sickness. Now research in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast has found chemicals in human odours, as well as those from cows and pigs that lure more flies towards traps.

Tsetse flies infest about ten million square kilometres of Sub-Saharan Africa, where they transmit parasites known as trypanosomes that cause human and animal African trypanosomiasis.

There are no vaccines or prophylactic drugs for the disease. It is treated with drugs to which the parasites are becoming increasingly resistant, and can have unpleasant and sometimes fatal side effects.

The only option for tackling the disease is killing flies using traps. This could be more effective if they were baited with odours, said the researchers writing in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. This would then reduce the number of traps needed and therefore cut costs.

"We are trying to identify attractants for the species that cause sleeping sickness in humans, and so help to make the control devices more cost-effective," co-author Michael Lehane, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, told SciDev.Net.

In West Africa, the most dangerous tsetse fly species belong to the river dwelling palpalis group -in Burkina Faso, Glossina tachinoides and Glossina palpalis gambiensis; and in the Ivory Coast, Glossina palpalis palpalis.

The researchers found that G. tachinoides is attracted to cow odour; G. P. gambiensis to cow and human odour; and G. P. palpalis to odours from pigs and humans.

In some cases the attraction rates soared - for example, traps baited with cow odour attracted five times the number of G. tachinoides flies.

"Our results showed that attractants can improve trap catches up to three fold for tsetse of the palpalis group. This is new for this group and will make tsetse control cost effective by reducing the number of traps and targets deployed," said Jean Baptiste-Rayaisse, the paper's lead author, from the International Centre of Research and Development on Breeding in Sub-Humid Areas (CIRDES) in Burkina Faso.

Lehane says that the researchers are aiming to test the technology in the field in the near future.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — The East African Community has not intervened in a diplomatic row between Kenya and Tanzania over ivory stockpiles, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

Dar es Salaam has accused Nairobi of undermining its bid at a recent Cites conference in Doha, Qatar, to be allowed to sell its ivory.

EAC secretary-general Juma Mwapachu said in Arusha at the weekend that the issue had not been discussed although the regional bloc was aware of the differences between the two.

"The Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) issue has never been discussed within the EAC," he said.

He said although the bloc had a sectoral council dealing with wildlife and tourism, the matter had not been tabled.

Mr Mwapachu, however, said that prior to the Cites meeting, he was told by a senior Tanzanian official that the country's bid would not succeed.

"This official happened to be in Nairobi early last month and called to inquire if we were aware of the differences between Tanzania and Kenya on the ivory issue and how it could impact the region," he said.

The EAC boss said the regional bloc has adopted a wait-and-see position although it was concerned by the differences of the neighbouring states, which have a long history of cooperation on issues pertaining to wildlife.

Mr Mwapachu was speaking just a day after the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Mutinda Mutiso, denied snubbing Tanzania at the Cites talks.

Mr Mutiso denied that it was the Kenyan vote which derailed Tanzania's plan to sell its 90 tonnes of ivory stockpiles, valued at $20 million.

He said although Tanzania lost the application by one vote, another 39 countries abstained.

Mr Mutiso admitted that the two governments did not meet to plan a common position before the Cites conference.

"If we had met, maybe things would have been different," he said, hinting that Kenya was ready for talks "to iron out the differences and hammer out a common position".

"We need to discuss the way forward. In any case, the ivory stockpiles won't turn into elephants despite the noises being made by conservation lobbyists abroad," he said.

Kenya's failure to support Tanzania in its bid has generated debate in Arusha, the EAC headquarters and the country's tourism and wildlife conservation hub.

Stakeholders in the tourism sector said the diametrically opposed positions of the two EAC member countries could rekindle the open "war" for tourism resources that went back to the 1970s.

While Tanzania opted for a tourism model with small but high paying visitors, Kenya preferred mass tourism which critics say affects the ecology of game reserves, especially the Maasai Mara bordering Tanzania's Serengeti.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — Survey in the Maasai Mau block of the Mau Forest is scheduled to end on Friday.

And settlers are complaining that the new boundaries have reduced the sizes of their farms.

The demarcation will officially kick off the third phase of evictions to restore the country's largest water tower.

The settlers have, however, vowed not to budge.

Since the restoration of the forest started last year, 38 title deeds have been surrendered voluntarily.

The chairman of the interim coordinating secretariat on Mau restoration, Mr Hassan Noor Hassan , urged more settlers to surrender their titles.

He said evictions would begin in Maasai Mau and South Eastern Mau as soon as the survey was concluded.

"The data will be analysed and after that, we will start the evictions. Those who deserve compensation will be paid," he said at a meeting with Ogiek elders in Nakuru.

He was, however, quick to add that the evictions would take a year as they affected people with title deeds.

On the fate of more than 1,600 families in camps after their eviction from South Western Mau, Mr Hassan said they were not his secretariat's responsibility.

He said the Mau taskforce's recommendations stipulated that they could not be compensated as they did not have documents to back their claims.

On Monday, the Maasai Mau settlers, led by retired senior chief Christopher Bore, said Mr Hassan's meeting was not representative as the affected people were not invited.

Mr Bore said the people affected "could reach 10,000 and not the number given by the secretariat."

The settlers reiterated their opposition to the exercise.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — The growing importance of Kenya as a microfinance hub takes centrestage this week with Nairobi hosting the second Africa-Middle East Micro Credit Summit.

It is because of the steady growth of microfinancing that Kenya is hosting this major event that brings to town pioneers in this type of banking and business people from all over the world.

Micro finance has evolved into a global movement and is considered a Millennium Development Goal that seeks to put more than 100 million people under some form of financial support.

Today, the business community is running away from profit-hungry commercial banks that charge exorbitant interest rates on their loans to microfinancing institutions.

Since 1997, the microloans have grown from serving 7.6 million of the world's poorest families to more than 100 million in 2007.

The four-day event, beginning Tuesday, whose theme is "Committed to Ending Poverty," brings together governments, regulators, investors, donors and micro finance practitioners from 40 countries to discuss the role of financial services in poverty alleviation.

Visitors

Kenya has increasingly become a centre of learning, with the Equity Bank model being one of the most cited cases of success in availing financing to the poor.

Both local and international universities are visiting Kenya in general, and the bank in particular, to study.

Last month, the bank hosted more than 30 students from the Columbia University, who were on a study tour of the financial institution.

Unknown to many, the success of micro lending in Kenya has created another attraction for the country, known for its flowers, athletes, animals and beautiful beaches.

"It is wonderful that the summit has come at a time we are still celebrating our gold rush at the Poland Marathon because the world is giving the country double attention," Equity Bank chief executive officer James Mwangi said.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) to launch radio programmes to ensure access to timely and relevant information for farmers.

Farmers Voice Radio to be launched this year and set to run for 36 months, targets Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Mali, Ghana and Zambia.

The programme will be implemented with a $9 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with Canada's World University Service working with both commercial and community broadcasters in the target countries to disseminate information.

According to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation senior programme officer for global development Mercy Karanja, the project is meant to complement the government's existing farmer extension services but differs in that it allows for interaction and participation of farmers.

The project will use the model of information dissemination via traditional media like radio broadcasts in vernacular languages - participatory radio campaign - which does not just relay agricultural messages to farmers but also seeks their feedback and views to issues, ensuring that the solutions later proposed have the farmers' input.

Limited extension services

"Extension has been driven one-way - from ministries of agriculture by governments - without factoring in the farmers feedback and involvement. This has caused farmers to feel they are not part of the process," said Ms Karanja.

Ms Karanja said there was a vacuum between where farm inputs - seeds, equipment and knowledge - were and where the farmers were found over the past two decades due to limited farmer extension services in the continent.

Among institutions to participate in the project are the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Kenyatta University and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

The Farmer Voice Radio will be an expansion of the earlier progamme which targeted Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.

The former campaign ran from 2007 with a lifespan of 42 months and was implemented through a $4 million grant from the Gates Foundation and ends this year.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

A United Nations peacekeeper and two contractors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were shot dead by insurgents who attacked the capital of Equateur province, Mbandaka, yesterday, first striking at the governor's mansion and national assembly before temporarily occupying the airport.

"The blue helmet was killed after he had been deliberately targeted by an insurgent while he was standing at the top of an armoured vehicle," the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) said.

MONUC helped the national army recapture the airport, and UN police along with national police are now patrolling the street trying to bring some sense of security to the population as well as to the province at large.

The attack by a couple of dozen of insurgents, who arrived by boat, came as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed withdrawing 2,000 troops from for the 20,000-strong peacekeeping force by June, saying the DRC had made sufficient progress in restoring a measure of stability over much of its vast territory despite continued violence and human rights abuses by both rebels and the army in the east.

But in his latest report to the Security Council outlining the plan, Mr. Ban cited clashes late last year in Equateur, which is in the north-west, as showing that local conflicts can rapidly escalate if they are not quickly and effectively defused by the authorities.

The peacekeeper who was killed came from Ghana. One of the dead UN contractors was working at the airport, and the other, a pilot, was shot by the assailants when they were being chased out of the airport.

MONUC, set up in 1999, has helped restore a measure of stability and democratic processes to a country torn apart by years of civil war and revolts that resulted in the greatest human death toll since World War II - some 4 million people killed by the fighting and the attendant starvation and disease it produced.

But fighting has continued in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu where the national army, supported by MONUC, has been fighting mainly Rwandan Hutu rebels and a collection of other insurgents, with both rebels and army elements being accused of mass rape and other human rights abuses.

In late October, fighting erupted away from this front in Equateur, when Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area, driving over 100,000 people from their homes. Tensions have since expanded to most parts of Equateur and the DRC army has launched an offensive against the militia.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Despite continued violence and human rights abuses by both rebels and the army, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has made sufficient progress over much of its vast territory for the 20,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force to withdraw up to 2,000 troops by June.

But the UN says it disagrees with the Congolese Government's proposed date of August 2011 for the final withdrawal of the 11-year-old force (known by the French acronym MONUC), which has helped restore a measure of stability and democratic process to a country torn apart by years of civil war and revolts that resulted in the greatest death toll since World War II - some 4 million people killed by the fighting and the attendant starvation and disease it produced.

"The Democratic Republic of the Congo has made notable progress, considering the formidable challenges it has overcome during the past 15 years," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest report to the Security Council on MONUC, recommending that the mission be extended for another year from its current expiry date of 31 May.

"The country has come a long way, emerging from what was widely described as 'Africa's First World War,' which involved nine foreign armies and numerous domestic and foreign armed groups fighting on its soil, and ending the balkanization that threatened its very existence," he adds, proposing that the Council immediately authorize a drawdown of 2,000 troops by 30 June from the more stable, mainly western and central provinces.

But he highlights the "significant challenges" still facing the national Government, including continued fighting with rebels in the Kivu provinces in the east, where human rights violations are rife, weak Government institutions, the urgent need for training and reform in the national army and police, and socio-economic hardship in urban areas, compounded by the global financial crisis, that remains a source of potential instability, including in Kinshasa, the capital.

"I fully respect the Government's vision regarding the full exercise of its sovereignty and the need to empower national institutions and build their capacity to assume responsibility for the tasks that MONUC is currently performing," Mr. Ban writes of the Government's proposal for total withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces by 30 August 2011.

"In this regard, however, a responsible exit strategy for the military component of the Mission must be anchored on building sustainable capacities for the rule of law and security institutions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular to consolidate the full exercise of the country's sovereignty."

Under Mr. Ban's proposal the June drawdown would cover eight provinces, with the remaining troops concentrated in North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale provinces. At the same time joint reviews would be held with the Government, beginning in early September, on the modalities and timelines for the successive drawdown phases, including "essential" joint agreement on specific benchmarks for measuring progress towards accomplishing agreed urgent tasks.

These tasks include successful completion of the ongoing military operations against rebel groups in the east, deployment of national army battalions adequately trained and equipped by bilateral partners to progressively take over MONUC's security role, and the establishment of State authority through the deployment of police, territorial administration, and rule of law institutions, in areas freed from armed groups.

At the Government's request MONUC would train and equip 20 national police battalions over three years, with the forming of three battalions in the first year. Mr. Ban also proposes that MONUC and the Ministry of Defence develop a package for training and equipping three military police battalions, an essential link in the military penal justice system.

"I am convinced that it should be possible to devise a MONUC strategy and conduct a drawdown process in a manner that both advances the realization of the aspirations and vision of the Government and avoids the risk of reversals that could trigger renewed instability," he writes.

In reconfiguring MONUC's mandate, he recommends that "the protection of civilians remain at the top of the mission's priorities."

Reviewing the past year, Mr. Ban notes that the Hutu-dominated militia known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) continued to conduct reprisal attacks against civilians, while elements of the national security institutions continued to be responsible for serious human rights violations.

Following charges last year of human rights abuses, including rape, by national army elements, MONUC screened and cleared the commanders of 18 battalions to participate in joint operations against rebels in the so-called Kivus and receive logistical support including air transportation, fuel, medical evacuation, and food rations.

In Orientale province, attacks against civilians by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group, continued and military operations targeting LRA in the DRC made little progress.

But Mr. Ban also cites positive development, including the rapprochement between the DRC and Rwanda, the end of another rebellion by the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), the launch of military operations against FDLR and LRA, and the increased rate of voluntary disarmament and demobilization by some FDLR elements which "opened unique possibilities to address the presence of armed groups in the eastern part of the country."

At the same time he notes the significant challenges relating to the continued presence of FDLR and LRA - "large-scale humanitarian needs; the persistence of serious human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence by FDLR, LRA, and elements of the Congolese Army, including some who have been recently integrated; the illegal exploitation of natural resources; [and] inter-communal tensions."

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Kuito — Álvaro Alves is due to release this month his first literary work entitled "Lágrima de mulher" in Kuito city, Bié province.

In a statement to Angop, the 28-year old author stressed that the romance has 620 pages and portrays problems faced by a couple and other issues of the society daily life.

The book is sponsored by DNCC & Filhos Lda, under responsibility of editor "Australivros".

At least 500 copies were released in the first phase.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Kuito — Bié deputy governor for organization and technical services sector, Andrade Adolfo, urged religious institutions, Non Governmental Organizations and other partners in Kuito to help the government to rescue civic and moral values and preservation of peace.

Speaking to Angop on the occasion of April 4, a date dedicated to peace, the deputy governor stressed that participation of every living force of the province in rescuing ethic values and other actions, influences better improvement of attitude in the society.

Andrade Adolfo stressed that the government will continue working to promote social justice, respecting political differences, racial, religious and cultural, among other issues, aimed at raising a state of peace and law, for social economic progress.

The official assured that Bié governor will continue with construction programmes of schools, hospitals and other social infrastructures.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Luanda — The Angolan ambassador to Zambia, Pedro Neto, Saturday in Livingstone, Zambia, stressed the benefits of the eight years of peace in Angola.

The diplomat was speaking during the celebrations of peace's day, 4 April, which gathered the Angolan community living in the neighbouring country.

Pedro Neto mentioned the Constitution, reconstruction of the country's infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, free movement of people and goods, as well as the national reconciliation, as the peace's achievements.

In his turn, the leader of the Angolan community in Zambia, Isaías Mussole, expressed the desire to return to Angola.

To this purpose, Pedro Neto appealed to the Angolan community in Zambia to join the voluntary repatriation under the process being carried out by the two governments and the UN Refugee Agency.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Nairobi — An advance team from the International Criminal Court lands in Kenya this week to launch investigations that could see some Cabinet ministers and other top politicians, civil servants and businessmen taken to The Hague to answer charges of crimes against humanity.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who plans to visit next month, has already informed Kenyan authorities of the advance team's visit.

Sources at The Hague said the team would lay the groundwork for investigations into the roles of specific people seen as the key planners and financiers of the violence, following the disputed 2007 elections.

The advance team has set up appointments with some of the government and private institutions that carried out investigations into the violence in which 1,133 people were killed.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo's team intends to talk to the ministries of Internal Security and Provincial Administration, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the Attorney General's office and the police force.

The team will also be talking with the official and independent organisations like the statutory Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, that inquired into the blood-letting in which at least 650,000 people were uprooted from their homes.

Last Wednesday, the Pre-Trial bench allowed the prosecutor to start investigations into the post-election chaos.

A day after, Mr Moreno-Ocampo addressed a press conference at The Hague with a video link to Nairobi during which he said he would launch quick, robust, independent and impartial investigations.

He said he would be arriving in the country in May to meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga before embarking on his mission.

The team, sources said, would work with the local agencies that investigated the chaos, to identify the addresses of the witnesses, their locations and the risks they faced for being lined up to give evidence against the masterminds of the killings.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has said the names consist of key leaders from PNU, whose candidate was President Kibaki, and the ODM, whose flag bearer was Mr Odinga. Also on the list are businesspeople associated with the two parties.

Key to the investigations would be the safety of the witnesses who have been threatened if they implicate some key leaders.

The prosecutor has said that ICC will help protect the witnesses, but also stressed that their safety is the responsibility of the government.

Contacted by the Nation on Monday, Attorney-General Amos Wako was optimistic that Parliament would speedily pass the Witness Protection (Amendment) Bill.

"I am expecting Parliament to act quickly on the amendment, now that the issue of the (draft) constitution has been dispensed with, so that we can have a mechanism in place," he said.

Mr Wako presented the Bill in the House on Thursday and it is now before the Parliamentary Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs.

The current law has been faulted for failing to put in place an effective witness protection programme, putting at risk the lives of those who give evidence.

"We want to be in a position, if asked by the ICC, to be able to help. However, the ICC can also provide its own protection of witnesses," said the AG in a telephone interview.

Sources at the Office of the President said Internal Security minister George Saitoti had received communication from Mr Moreno-Ocampo's office over the investigations.

On Monday, Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo said his ministry would only intervene if The Hague team faced difficulties or some government officers failed to cooperate.

He, however, urged MPs to agree on a national mechanism that would deal with those who would not face justice at The Hague.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Kampala — A new research has revealed that there are a striking number of similarities between Arabic and several Bantu languages.

The research carried out by Mr Dennis Asiimwe, who describes himself as an inter-disciplinary researcher based in Kampala, was presented to a panel of Makerere University academics last week.

It has been generally agreed that Arab influence in East and Central Africa was confined to the coast where the hybrid language of Swahili was created from a combination of Arabic and Bantu languages.

Mr Asiimwe's research however exposed a number of similar linguistic intonations between Arabic, Luganda and Runyankore.

"There have been some views that pre-colonial Africa is thought to have possessed perhaps as many as 10,000 different states and polities.

"And most of them lacked written languages. This fragmentation can be viewed as a consequence but also an indicator of a lack of continuity and standardisation due to the absence of the written languages in most of Africa prior to colonisation," Mr Asiimwe told Daily Monitor over the weekend.

The research suggests possible Arab occupation of Black Africa long before 1844 when the first official communication between Uganda and Arabs was made.

The researcher revealed to the panel of historians several instances that suggest Arabs were in Uganda several centuries before European exploration.

"An Arabic word like abaad, which means slave is similar in construction to Muddu or buddu which is slavery in Luganda. Soroti Rock may also have got it's name from salaat, which is Arabic for rock," he said.

"Where the words might not mean exactly the same thing, the proximity of what they mean or the messages they portray, may definitely point to the presence of a common contextual denominator," he added.

Mr Dixon Kamukama, a senior lecturer in the History department at Makerere University says Asiimwe's research is instructive.

"The research brings new dimensions of how we should view our history. We have known Arabs to have been here pursuing slave trade in the mid nineteenth century and only in particular places," he said.

"They were not known to have reached deep Buganda. We might have to revisit the whole story of migration and settlement in Africa," Kamukama said.

Mr Asiimwe's research revealed that a place like Kisumu most probably got it's name from Qisum, which is the Arabic for division.

Kamukama said the research should be furthered to establish who influenced the other.

"The research raises questions of who wrote the history we read. As we say might makes right," he added.

Asiimwe holds a Bachelor of Psychology degree from Makerere University and Master of Arts degree from University of Nairobi. He also studied Arabic at Islamic University in Uganda. He says a revision of our history will help solve the 'African State crisis'.

20100405
ALLAFRICA

Mogadishu — Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raghe alias Sheikh Ali Dhere, the spokesman of al-Shabaab, the radical Islamist movement that fights the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has sworn that his group will capture Mogadishu before the supposedly EU trained forces in Uganda reach the Somali capital.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ali Dhere reacted to the notion that 2,000 soldiers were going to be trained in the East African country by European instructors in order to perk up the military capability of the TFG.

He said the EU had supported both the pro-government forces and the peacekeepers serving the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

"This is an extension of the Europeans' service to the government and Amisom," said Sheikh Ali Dhere.

He added that his movement was planning to overwhelm both the TFG and Amisom before the new force comes to Mogadishu. "By capturing the city, we are going to deprive the new force a place to land and operate from," said the sheikh.

According to Reuters, European Union governments said last Wednesday they had given the go-ahead for a military mission to start on April 7 to train Somali forces battling an Islamist insurgency. The mission is going to be led by Spain.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Ali Dhere warned the pirates operating along the Somali coast to refrain from hijacking boats and ships.

The clergyman was retorting to reports that the pirates have recently captured several boats and ships sailing towards Mogadishu and Kismayu ports in Southern Somalia.

"I advise the pirates to stick to their former excuse of countering foreign ships trespassing the Somali waters and illegally exploiting resources," he remarked.

Somali businessmen have recently complained of pirates seizing nine boats on their way to Kismayu and Mogadishu ports, affecting their businesses and commodity prices.