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Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade has renewed calls for a United States of Africa. The West African leader, who was speaking at the inauguration of the African Renaissance monument, described the contentious multimillion dollar bronze statue as marking the moment for the continent to "take-off".
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He said: “The slave traders have left, the last colonialist has left. We have no more excuses. We must seize this opportunity so that history does not repeat itself.”

According to President Wade, “The time has arrived for Africa to take-off”. He added that “after five centuries of ordeals, slavery, Africa is still there, folding sometimes, but never breaking. She is upright and resolute to take her future in hand.”

The Senegalese leader went on: “Only a political integration of the United States of Africa will shelter us from potentially fatal marginalization.” He said Africa is the world’s poorest continent which holds the richest economic potential.

Present at the ceremony were 19 heads of states from across the African continents as well as some of the continent’s states men, including former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, who cut a ribbon in the colors of the Senegalese flag. Also at the ceremony were the African Union chief, the head of the African Union Commission Jean Ping, the presidents of Benin, Cap Verde, the Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania and Zimbabwe.

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A Ghanaian-UN peacekeeper was killed Sunday at the airport in Mbandaka in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo where government forces exchanged fire with tribal insurgents, officials said.
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The gun battle in Mbandaka, the main town in Equateur province, erupted after security personnel found the rebels in a boat from the capital Kinshasa.

"We confirm that the airport in Mbandaka has been attacked by insurgents who arrived by boat. A UN peacekeeper has been killed while he was travelling towards the airport," said Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for MONUC, the UN mission in DR Congo.

"He was in a vehicle and was hit by shrapnel," he added. "There are pockets of fighting in Mbandaka but the city is not controlled by the assailants," Mounoubai said, adding that the UN had reports that about 30 insurgents were found in the boat.

Earlier the provincial interior minister Guy Inenge said in a BBC report that some 100 insurgents were discovered during a search and that "there was a clash with the security forces and then they fled" and dispersed in the town, he said.

"Our forces pursued them but the situation is now relatively calm," Inenge said, adding that the rebels were "well organized."

However, later Sunday the UN spokesman said the situation in Mbandaka was unclear with reports of fighting around the airport.

Fighting first began in the area in October between the Lobala (or Enyele) tribe and the Monzaya people over disputed fishing rights in nearby lakes. Thousands of people left the region and the UN and the Congolese army sent reinforcements to the area, eventually restoring state control in December. At least 270 people have been killed in the fighting and 187,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to government figures.

CAIRO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Four people working in the consulate office of Egyptian embassy in Baghdad were injured on Sunday due to a car suicide bomb explosion, Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The consulate employees have been taken to Yarmouk Hospital for treatment and their condition is not life-threatening, according to initial reports sent to the Foreign Ministry by both the Egyptian ambassador and consul in Baghdad.

The blast shattered the building's windows and injured the four employees, the statement added.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the Iraqi people and the families of the martyred policemen," Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hossam Zaki said.

The Egyptian ambassador and the embassy staff are safe and sound and the embassy is back to work as usual in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, Zaki said.

Earlier on Sunday, 30 people were killed and 168 others wounded in Baghdad car bomb attacks targeted at the Iranian embassy, Mansour-Melia Hotel and the consulate office of the Egyptian embassy.

Sporadic attacks, including deadly bombings, still common in Iraq about a month after the country held their landmark parliamentary election which is widely expected to shape the future of the war-torn country.

JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's police chief has on Sunday warned against fanning up racial tensions following the death of Eugene Terre'Blanche, media reported.

"Let us not fan the flames, let us not romanticise violence, let us allow the police to do their work," police chief Nathi Mthethwa was quoted as saying.

KINSHASA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Guns shots were heard at around 10:00 local time on Sunday morning in the capital city Mbandaka of DR Congo's Equateur Province, an unnamed source from the armed forces told Xinhua.

JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South African political organizations and parties reacted strongly and variously after Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche was alleged murdered this Saturday during South African's public holiday of Easter Day.

According to the report from South African Press Association, the murder of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre'Blanche was senseless and could flare up emotions and polarize South Africans even more, the Afrikanerbond said on Sunday.

"South Africa's history is intertwined with particular incidents, but the history is shaped and defined by the manner in which South Africans responded to that particular defining moment.

This is such a moment in South African history," said chairman Peter Vorster.

The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) on Sunday said it was shocked to hear about the murder of the leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), Eugene Terreblanche.

"The viciousness...on Mr Terreblanche, who was mutilated with a pipe and panga, underlines what happens when a so-called leader stirs up hatred and revenge by defying a court interdict and continuing to encourage his gullible followers to kill the boer," said acting chairman Theunis Botha in a statement.

President Jacob Zuma rendered his concern about this incident as soon as he was informed. "The President appeals for calm following this terrible deed and asks South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred," said the presidency in a statement.

However, some opposing parties and organizations uttered different allegations that the call for calm by President Jacob Zuma would not diffuse the current situation if the taunting of white people continue, released by Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder.

"(The call) will not diffuse the current situation if (ANC youth league president Julius) Malema and the ANC are to continue with its taunting of white people by singing the 'Kill the Boer' and similar kinds of inciting songs," said Mulder.

He said Zuma had a constitutional responsibility and obligation to ensure and promote stability, order and security for all South African citizens.

"President Zuma now has to visibly show leadership and without any hesitation, publicly condemn the singing of inciting songs which could create a climate of violence in the country," he said in a statement.

Trade union Solidarity on Saturday said that the alleged murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche showed the prevalence of crime in South Africa.

"The Terre'Blanche murder shows that nobody in South Africa is safe," said Solidarity general secretary Flip Buys in a statement.

According to the latest report from South African Press Association, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Commissioner of police, Bheki Cele were warmly received by Eugene Terre'Blanche's family on Sunday during a visit, a spokesman said.

"They were well received by the family and Terre'Blanche's daughter, Beya even expressed appreciation and said she had confidence in the police that this matter would be concluded soon, " North West spokesman for Public Safety, Lesiba Kgwele said.

Terre'Blanche, 69, was attacked by a man and minor with a panga and pipe at his North West farm. A 21-year-old man and 15- year-old boy were arrested for the crime.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Islamist rebels ambushed and killed at least seven Algerian security guards working for a Turkish company in the worst such attack in months, newspapers reported on Sunday.

The guards came under fire in their vehicle late on Saturday in the mountainous region of Kabylie, Liberty and Ennahar dailies said, citing security sources.

A soldier was killed an hour later in the same place after a bomb was detonated from a distance, El Watan newspaper said.

The guards were working for private security firm SPAS under contract to state electricity and gas company Sonelgaz.

They were providing security for workers from a Turkish company working on a high-voltage electricity line near Bejaia, some 250 km (156 miles) east of Algiers. There were no reported Turkish victims and newspapers did not name the Turkish firm.

Authorities were not immediately available for comment on the attack and there was no claim of responsibility.

It was the deadliest reported attack since October 22 when rebels killed seven guards working for Canadian company SNC Lavalin in Tizi Ouzou province, also part of the Kabylie area, where al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has its stronghold.

A conflict between security forces and Islamist rebels reached a peak in the 1990s after authorities cancelled elections an Islamist party was poised to win.

Violence has subsided since then, but there have been some attacks on civilians, government forces and foreigners for which the north African wing of al Qaeda has claimed responsibility.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police have arrested the publisher of a book on former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and his calls for political change in Egypt ahead of elections this year and next, a security source said.

ElBaradei, who returned to Egypt in February after 12 years as head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said he would consider running for president if certain conditions were met.

Ahmed Mahanna, head of Dawan publishing house, was arrested on Saturday, the source said.

"Officials from national security attacked the house at 1:00 a.m. and my son was not there so they called him from his mother's mobile phone and told him to return. They said: 'we want you and are waiting for you at home'," independent newspaper al-Shorouk quoted Mahanna's father as saying on Sunday.

The book "ElBaradei and the Dream of the Green Revolution" was written by Egyptian journalist Kamal Gabrayal, who also works in the state-run Roze al-Yusef publishing house, which publishes a daily newspaper and a weekly magazine.

ElBaradei has called for a new constitution with checks on power, guarantees of a fair vote and better respect for human rights.

He has begun a campaign and petition for reforms, attending Friday Muslim prayers and the Coptic Easter festival and travelling to Mansoura, a provincial capital in the Nile Delta.

Analysts say the campaign is unlikely to force a change in the constitution, which makes it nearly impossible for any person to run for the presidency against the ruling party, headed by President Hosni Mubarak, 81, who has ruled Egypt for almost 30 years.

An ElBaradei supporter and former senior judge, Mahmoud El-Khoudairy, told Reuters some weeks ago the government would detain ElBaradei's supporters to pressure him to abandon his political platform.

"People think the government will not do anything to him, and this is not wrong ... the government might not be able to do anything to ElBaradei due to his current popularity and that the whole world knows him, but they can simply arrest his supporters and without his supporters, what will he do? Nothing," he said.

A parliamentary election is expected in December followed by the presidential election around January next year.

VENTERSDORP, South Africa (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma called for calm on Sunday after the killing of white far-right leader Eugene Terre'blanche in a suspected pay dispute with black workers fanned fears of racial strains.

Police detained two farm workers and said they were investigating the quarrel they had with Terre'blanche, but his Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) says he was battered and hacked to death in an attack with political overtones.

Zuma, who has made it a priority to court white Afrikaners, called it a "terrible deed" and urged South Africans "not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred".

Terre'blanche, 69, was the voice of hardline opposition to the end of apartheid in the early 1990s although his party has played a marginal role since then and does not have a big following among the 10 percent of white South Africans.

The AWB urged restraint while the funeral is prepared and before the party decides next steps. In Ventersdorp, in rolling farmland over 100 km (60 miles) west of Johannesburg, party followers in paramilitary khaki laid flowers at the farm gate.

"We will decide upon the action we are going to take to avenge Mr Terre'blanche's death," said spokesman Andre Visagie.

Concerns over increasing racial polarisation have been thrown into the open by a row over the singing of an apartheid-era song with the lyrics "Kill the Boer" by the youth leader of the ruling African National Congress.

The ANC has defended the song as no more than a way to remember a history of oppression, but it has worried minority groups and particularly white farmers, some 3,000 of whom have been killed since the end of apartheid.

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"The killing of Terre'blanche will symbolically be seen as a strain of these relationships," said analyst Nic Borain of HBC Securities.

"But Terre'blanche is an old criminal and I don't think people would come to his defence or his killing somehow invigorate white people opposition to the new South Africa."

Terre'blanche's party did not hesitate to link the murder to the song. He had always described himself as a Boer.

"That's what this is all about," Visagie said.

Zuma's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said, however, there was no evidence at this stage linking the killing to the song sung by firebrand ANC youth wing leader Julius Malema.

Terre'blanche had lived in relative obscurity since his release from prison in 2004 after serving a sentence for beating a black man nearly to death.

The party -- whose flag resembles a Nazi swastika -- was revived two years ago and he had begun efforts to try to build a united front among white far-right parties to fight for a white homeland, but had gained little traction.

Terre'blanche was a powerful orator in his Afrikaans language and was a distinctive figure, heavily built, with a thick grey beard and dressed in khaki. He often attended rallies on horseback during his fight to stop majority rule.

Police said the suspected killers were aged 16 and 21. Both had worked for Terre'blanche.

"It seems there was a dispute between and these guys were arrested ... The police are investigating and the public will be kept abreast," Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa told a news conference. "Somebody is dead, can we keep it at that."

JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's police chief has on Sunday warned against fanning up racial tensions following the death of Eugene Terre'Blanche, media reported.

"Let us not fan the flames, let us not romanticise violence, let us allow the police to do their work," police chief Nathi Mthethwa was quoted as saying.

JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday appealed for calm and warned against "agent provocateurs" inciting violence following the alleged murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche, according to reports from South African Press Association this Sunday.

"The President appeals for calm following this terrible deed and asks South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred," said the presidency in a statement.

According to the police, Terre'Blanche, leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, was allegedly murdered by two of his farm laborers following a pay dispute.

"In any dispute, especially in a country like South Africa where we uphold the rule of law, no one is allowed to take the law into his own hands," said Zuma in a statement.

"It against this background that the murder of Terre'Blanche must be condemned, irrespective of how his killers think they may have been justified. They had no right to take his life."

Zuma said he 'condemns in the strongest possible terms" the killing of Terre'Blanche and also offered his condolences to Terre'Blanche's family.

BISSAU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior has resumed his duty after being briefly arrested by mutineers earlier in the week, local media reported on Saturday.

The soldiers who entered the office of the prime minister and detained him on Thursday left the building the next day.

Gomes Junior then went to meet with President Malam Bacai Sanha, who expressed trust in him and asked him to remain on the post, according to local press and radio.

The resumption of Gomes Junior's work as the prime minister was reportedly the most important topic in the talks.

Reports also said the former chief of defense staff, General Jose Zamora Induta, was still confined to the air base near the capital Bissau.

Induta and 40 other officers were also arrested in Thursday's mutiny, in which deputy army chief Antonio Indjai replaced him.

Despite the rebellious move which was denounced by many as a coup, Indjai on the same day declared the army was still submissive to political powers.

The detention went parallel with the release of the former head of marines, the rear admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchute, who had been accused of plotting a coup in August 2008.

The ex-chief of Guinea-Bissau's marines took refuge at the UN office in Guinea-Bissau known as UNOGBIS after returning to Guinea-Bissau in a canoe from Gambia on Dec. 28, 2009. UNOGBIS had previously indicated willingness to settle the issue in a "peaceful and legal" way.

Na Tchute and Indjai are seen as the men behind the action by soldiers on Thursday.

Although President Sanha had declared that "calm" had returned in his country, the incident has already sparked an outcry from across the globe.

In a statement condemning the latest upheaval in Guinea-Bissau, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said the coup attempt came at a time when the successful presidential election in July 2009 had created the required environment for ECOWAS and the international community to strengthen the democratic and national reconciliation process.

ECOWAS had been keeping watch on the country until the holding of elections on June 28, 2009, when Sanha was elected the new president. It has since warned that the military reform is critical to ensure the post-assassination stability in Guinea-Bissau.

"ECOWAS ... will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to defend the democratic gains and maintain stability in the country," it said in the statement.

The regional bloc also urged the African Union and the United Nations to scale up joint efforts to stabilize the political, security and economic situation in the country.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the military and political leadership in Guinea-Bissau to resolve their differences by peaceful means and "to avoid any risks to the gains" made by the country in its current peace consolidation efforts.

The UN Security Council also urged all parties concerned to avoid acts of violence and respect the rule of law in the West African country.

The unrest in Guinea-Bissau is the latest in a series to hit West Africa, where Mauritania, Guinea and Niger have witnessed the military coup since 2008.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of 1.5 million people since its independence from Portugal in 1974.

Before the latest coup bid, the West African country had foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde won the victory.

Coup fears were on the rise after President Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated in March, 2009. The country's Interior Ministry reported another "coup attempt" in early June 2009, just days ahead of the June 28 presidential election.

Being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index, the country is one of the world's poorest country.

With a jagged Atlantic coastline, Guinea-Bissau is chosen by traffickers as a major hub for the flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma urged restraint on Sunday after the murder of far-right party leader Eugene Terreblanche, who was hacked to death by his farm workers in a dispute over unpaid wages.

The president appealed for calm following this terrible incident and asked South Africans not to allow provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred, the South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted a statement from the presidential office as saying.

Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), which wanted to create self-governance for the "Boers": Afrikaans for white farmers.

Terreblanche was attacked by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, who worked for him on his farm outside the town of Ventersdrop, about 110 km northwest of Johannesburg, police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh said.

"Terreblanche was found dead on the bed with facial and head injuries," the SAPA quoted Myburgh as saying. He was reportedly beaten by machetes and pipes.

The two suspected murderers, who were in custody, told the police that the argument happened because they were not paid for the work they did on the farm.

Terreblanche formed the AWB in 1973 with six other Afrikaans-speaking whites descended from Dutch immigrants amid growing opposition to white minority government and its apartheid policies.

ALGIERS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Seven security guards and a soldier were killed late Saturday in two bomb attacks in east Algeria, local El-Watan daily reported.

The report said the attacks, which were an ambush, occurred on a town road in Tifra, near Bejaia, some 250 km east of Algiers.

The first bomb exploded in the path of a van carrying nine security guards, killing seven while two managed to flee. One hour later, the second bomb, which was remotely detonated in the same place, killed a soldier and wounded two others.

The report said local authorities have started a search operation immediately using two helicopters, while the whole region was sealed by the military.

The security guards belong to a private company which provides security service for a Turkish company, according to the report.

MOGADISHU, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Somali government said on Saturday that its forces had killed 12 Islamist rebel fighters including three senior commanders in brief clashes in the Somali capital Mogadishu late on Friday.

The fighting erupted in the south of Mogadishu after Islamist fighters from the two rebel insurgent movements, Hezbul Islam and al Shabaab, attacked the Somali government checkpoint, causing the death of the three rebel commanders, senior government official said. "Six (fighters) from the Hezbul Islam were killed including two commanders while six more also died from Al Shabaab group including a middle rank commander," Sheikh Yusuf Siyad Indha Adde, the minister of state for defense told reporters in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The state minister also said that several assault rifles had also seized following the brief confrontation between the two sides.

The Islamist rebel movements wage nearly daily attacks on targets of the Somali government and the peacekeepers from the African Union (AU) based in the restive capital.

Islamist groups who control much of south and center of Somalia including large parts of the coastal city have not so far comment on the Somali government's claims.

The Somali government has lately been planning a major offensive to drive Islamist rebel fighters from Mogadishu and spread its authority to the rest of areas controlled by Islamist insurgent groups.

Somalia has been without a strong central government since the overthrow of the late Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

2010-04-03
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma called for calm on Sunday after the murder of white far-right leader Eugene Terre'blanche fanned fears of growing racial tension.

Police have detained two black farm workers and suspect Terre'blanche was killed in a dispute over unpaid wages, but his Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) says he was battered and hacked to death in an attack with political overtones.

Zuma, who has made it a priority to court white Afrikaners, called it a "terrible deed" and urged South Africans "not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred".

Terre'blanche, 69, was the voice of hardline opposition to the end of apartheid in the early 1990s although his party has played a marginal role since then and does not have a big following among the 10 percent of white South Africans.

"We are calling on the supporters of the AWB to stay calm for the moment so that we can finalise the funeral," said AWB spokesman Andre Visagie, adding that next steps would await a party meeting in May.

"We will decide upon the action we are going to take to avenge Mr Terre'blanche's death."

Concerns over increasing racial polarisation have been thrown into the open by a row over the singing of an apartheid-era song with the lyrics "Kill the Boer" by the youth leader of the ruling African National Congress.

The ANC has defended the song as no more than a way to remember a history of oppression, but it has worried minority groups and particularly white farmers, some 3,000 of whom have been killed since the end of apartheid.

Terre'blanche's party did not hesitate to link the murder to the song. He had always described himself as a Boer.

"That's what this is all about," Visagie said.

Zuma's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said, however, there was no evidence at this stage linking the killing to the song sung by firebrand ANC youth wing leader Julius Malema.

Terre'blanche had lived in relative obscurity since his release from prison in 2004 after serving a sentence for beating a black man nearly to death.

The party -- whose flag resembles a Nazi swastika -- was revived two years ago and he had begun efforts to try to build a united front among white far-right parties to fight for a white homeland, but had gained little traction.

Terre'blanche was a powerful orator in his Afrikaans language and was a distinctive figure, heavily built, with a thick grey beard and dressed in khaki. He often attended rallies on horseback during his fight to stop majority rule.

Police said the suspected killers were aged 16 and 21. Both had worked for Terre'blanche.

"They apparently attacked the leader because they were not paid for work," said spokesperson Adele Myburg, giving no details of how the killing was carried out.

2010-04-03
YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Four Nigerians were killed and more than a dozen injured in clashes between gangs during a local election in the oil producing state of Bayelsa, police said on Saturday.

Police said the situation in the town of Ekeremor in the north of the state was now under control after fighting began early Saturday between rival groups. "We can confirm four have been killed in the violence," said spokesman Solomon Omoemin.

However, it was not immediately clear if the violence was directly linked to the voting.

Nigeria faces the huge task of organising credible federal and state polls next year following widespread ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation during elections in 2007 which brought President Umaru Yar'Adua to power.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who assumed executive powers two months ago as Yar'Adua is too sick to govern, has made overhauling the electoral system a top priority and reform legislation is before parliament.

Candidates and voters in February decried widespread irregularities in the election for governor of Anambra, the first in a cycle of state and federal polls culminating in presidential elections due in April 2011.

2010-04-03
KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's Supreme Court has ruled that only the country's military court can hear a plea seeking the release of former Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda, his lawyer said on Saturday.

Aime Bokanga, counsel for the former leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), told Reuters he was relieved that his client had finally secured a court hearing but disappointed the court had not ruled his detention illegal.

Nkunda has been under house arrest since January 22, 2009 after entering Rwanda from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where his CNDP rebel force had repeatedly routed the army.

After two wars between the Great Lakes neighbours and years trading accusations of backing the other's rebels, Rwanda and Congo mended relations in a deal that analysts say hinged on Nkunda's arrest and Rwandan help ending the rebellion.

But Nkunda has not been charged in Rwandan courts, nor has the central African nation yielded to Congolese calls to transfer him to Kinshasa, which accuses him of war crimes.

Bokanga said the court argued that General James Kabarebe, Rwanda's Chief of Defence staff, was responsible for Nkunda's detention and so only a military court would determine his fate.

"The most important thing for us now is to prove to court that Laurent Nkunda is illegally being detained," he said.

"Now the Supreme Court has made a decision for the military court to hear this case. We have been told that the file will be transferred to the military court next week. At least there is some satisfaction that finally the case will be heard."

Despite the ruling, Bokanga expressed disappointment that the Supreme Court did not rule on the legality of Nkunda's detention.

"It is also quite disappointing because the case is dragging. Rwandan law gives the Supreme Court judge the ability to make a ruling without referring this case to another court. The supreme court could have taken cognisance of this case."

Bokanga said he would advise his client to seek legal redress in an international court if they run out of options.

Rwandan Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama said the case had taken a long time because international law and the laws of two countries had to be taken into account.

"The supreme court has now identified a court that is competent," he told Reuters.

"He is a general accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. You don't just take that person and hand over to authorities on the Congo border ... let's give the judiciary a chance to finish it."

2010-04-03
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's elections commission on Saturday said the first multi-party polls would go ahead on time, dashing an opposition party's demands for a four-week delay to address complaints of irregularities in the process.

The main candidates for the presidential elections, apart from the opposition Umma party leader, withdrew from the race this week, saying the vote was already "rigged" for incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to win.

Umma head Sadeq al-Mahdi, Sudan's last democratically elected leader, listed eight demands including a four-week delay to be agreed to before April 6, or his party would boycott all parts of the presidential, legislative and gubernatorial votes.

"The National Elections Commission (NEC) is working to have the elections on the dates we specified on April 11, 12, 13," deputy head of the NEC, Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah, told reporters after meeting U.S. envoy Scott Gration.

"The NEC confirmed to Gration that it had completed all the necessary procedures to have the elections on the specified dates," he added.

The Umma party leader said on Friday Gration had told him he would try to achieve the four-week delay. He flew into Khartoum after the opposition boycott threats.

Washington acknowledges problems with the process, but wants the polls to happen on time, to allow work to begin on preparing for a southern referendum on secession in January 2011.

The State Department said Gration would continue to press for maximum participation in the polls.

On Saturday, Bashir told a campaign rally in the eastern town of Kassala there would be no delay. Last month he threatened to expel international observers who asked for a delay.

"They (the NEC) have given me a lot of information that gives me confidence that the elections will start on time and that they will be as free and fair as possible," Gration told reporters.

"This has been a difficult challenge but I believe they have stepped up and met the challenge."

South Sudan's leading party triggered the election crisis on Wednesday by withdrawing its presidential candidate, seen as Bashir's main competition, and boycotting all levels of polls in Darfur because of the conflict there.

The decision by the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) threw the opposition into disarray with little consensus arising on whether to join the boycott and to what degree.

Bashir wants to win the elections to legitimise his rule, in defiance of an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Darfur, after a brutal counter-insurgency campaign begun in 2003.

The United Nations estimates 300,000 died in the humanitarian crisis sparked by more than 2.5 million fled their homes after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms accusing central government of neglect.

2010-04-03
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's acting president will swear in 38 ministers to his new cabinet and assign them portfolios on Tuesday, a presidency spokesman said, a move that would help ease political uncertainty for the OPEC member.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the ministers proposed by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, which included the country's former junior oil minister and a senior Goldman Sachs executive.

Jonathan sacked all government ministers in Africa's top energy producer two weeks ago in a bid to assert his authority a month after assuming executive powers in the absence of ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, who remains too sick to govern.

"The acting president will on Tuesday, April 6 swear in the newly appointed ministers at the state house," said spokesman Ima Niboro, adding that Jonathan would assign them portfolios immediately afterwards.

The nominees confirmed so far include 13 returnees from the outgoing cabinet and, while political analysts hope progress on key reforms may accelerate, few expect Nigeria's broad policy direction to change.

Former Minister of State for Petroleum Odein Ajumogobia is tipped as a possible oil minister, and Olusegun Aganga, a London-based executive at Goldman Sachs is seen as a contender for finance minister.

Nigeria's cabinet is made up of more than 40 ministers, ministers of state and ministers in the presidency. Jonathan is expected to submit soon a second list of nominees for Senate approval to complete his new team.