20100331

Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana

The leader of the main opposition party in the Gambia, United Democratic Party's (UDP) Ousainou Darboe, has said he regrets the boycott of the 2002 National Assembly in that country. He said he takes full responsibility for that but explained that he was misled into taking the decision and with hindsight that should not have happened.
Ousainou Darboe
Below is the full text of an exclusive interview with the main opposition leader in the Gambia.

AfricaNews: What moved you to enter politics?

Ousainou Darboe: Well, I hadn’t planned to enter politics or planned to become a politician but when the then military regime lifted the ban on political activities in the Gambia where all the major political parties were banned and all the leaders were equally banned, some people founded the United Democratic Party and I was approved to lead it.

I accepted the indication, accepted the challenge that we should not allow the military to usurp what is going to become a constitutional power to itself by default. And that’s how I got into politics...

2010-03-31
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Most east African corporate leaders considered political instability as the biggest risk to business but said Kenya was still an attractive destination for foreign investors, a poll published on Tuesday showed.

Only 26 percent of 100 chief executives and managing directors across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania said Kenya was not an attractive destination for foreign investment, a drop from a similar survey by pollster Synovate in July.

"The number of traders saying that Kenya is not an attractive investment country dropped significantly from 45 percent to 26 percent between July last year and March this year," said George Waititu, Synovate's managing director.

Kenya's appeal as an investment destination paled in 2008 after violence erupted following a disputed election in east Africa's largest economy. Some 1,500 people were killed and economic growth dropped to 1.7 percent from 7.1 percent in 2007.

Many eastern Africa economies, which rely on the Kenyan port for trade, suffered as a result of the violence.

A total 67 percent of those polled expected the Kenyan economy to perform moderately worse over the next six months.

Kenya is in the process of writing a new constitution, which analysts say is imperative for the nation to avoid a repeat of the post-election violence a couple of years ago.

2010-03-30
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya signed a 23.4 billion shilling loan with Japan on Tuesday to help develop the geothermal energy sector in east Africa's largest economy, its finance minister said.

The loan will help fund the construction of two new units at the Olkaria I geothermal plant in the Rift Valley, which will generate an additional 140 MW for the country's main electricity generating firm, Kenya Electricity Generating Company.

"The growth for high demand for energy is driven by accelerated consumer connection, as well as robust economic growth performance," Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters.

"In consideration of the present energy situation, high fuel prices and over dependence on hydropower production, the government of Kenya now recognises the need to diversify power generation through environment-friendly sources."

Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi said Kenya was targeting at least 5,000 MW of geothermal energy by 2030.

Murungi said the expansion of Olkaria I, currently producing 45 MW, would cost an estimated $660 million and would be completed by 2013.

Other financiers for the plant are the government, Germany's KfW, World Bank and the European Investment Bank.

Murungi said a new section, Olkaria IV, which is expected to produce 140 MW, would cost $714 million and its main financiers were the government, French development agency AFD and the European Investment Bank.

The drought prone nation, which relies heavily on hydropower, is increasingly turning to geothermal energy to increase power production. Businesses say frequent blackouts increase the cost of doing business in Kenya.

Geothermal power comes from steam made from underground water heated by the earth's core and used to spin turbines.

Although cheap and renewable, the start-up cost for geothermal is expensive compared with other energy sources.

Separately, Kenya and the African Development Bank signed a loan agreement worth about 7 billion shillings to boost water supply and sanitation in eight small towns and build a multipurpose dam in eastern Kenya to irrigate some 3,000 hectares of land.

"Once completed, the project will serve nearly 1 million people," Water Minister Charity Ngilu told reporters.

2010-03-30
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Madagascar's former leader has urged the European Union and France to follow the African Union's (AU) lead and slap sanctions on the Indian Ocean island's leaders who ejected him from power a year ago.

Ravalomanana quit last March after weeks of violent protests against his increasingly authoritarian rule, triggering a year of leadership squabbles on the island increasingly eyed by foreign investors for its oil and mineral resources.

"Each day of silence out of Paris and Brussels is a day of lost hope for Malagasy families who can no longer feed their children," said Marc Ravalomanana, who is exiled in South Africa, in a statement released late on Monday.

The crisis has paralysed economic growth, slashed public spending and pushed up urban unemployment.

Political analysts say AU sanctions on President Andry Rajoelina and more than 100 of his key political backers are purely symbolic and unlikely to have any impact.

The European Union (EU), which has suspended aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars, is also mulling sanctions.

Some analysts say France, Madagascar's former colonial ruler, which still retains close business and cultural links with the world's fourth largest island, has lobbied hard against any EU punitive measures.

Lydie Boka, a France-based political risk consultant, said the EU has previously delayed a decision on Madagascar.

"(This shows) there is internal debate and things are not so straightforward," she said.

Ravalomanana said France's leaders had a particular responsibility to help restore constitutional order.

"I hope that President Nicolas Sarkozy will join the international community to impose sanctions ... or that he intervenes personally to see that the authorities honour the agreements they made," Ravalomanana said.

A power-sharing deal between Rajoelina, Ravalomanana and two other former presidents was signed last year, but persistent wrangling over who should get the top posts meant the accord was never implemented.

2010-03-30
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Selling or leasing African land to foreigners for farming could lead to conflict in the future if the process is not properly managed, a senior official of the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

Some African countries including Congo, Zambia and Libya, plan to lease areas of their arable land to farmers in nations such as South Africa for growing export crops like maize.

WFP deputy executive director for hunger solutions Sheila Sisulu, told Reuters in an interview that leasing land to foreign farmers could become a source of conflict in Africa.

"Land is an emotive issue. Who does the land belong to and who has a right to lease or sell it?" Sisulu said.

"Right now people can afford to see land (being) farmed by foreigners and food being exported ... and they don't question it. But there is only so much arable land. The climate change is so uncertain. What happens when things change? This could be another source of conflict between the countries."

Sisulu said, however, the deals could work properly if they included improving farming in host countries through irrigation.

"There needs to be a principle, a code of conduct and transparency, it needs to be out in the open and not done through secret deals."

A new land deal allowing South African farmers to produce livestock, milk and fruit in Libya has been put on hold pending the finalisation of an investment protection agreement between the two countries.

South Africa is also seeking farm land in Zambia and the Congo for its farmers, the largest producer of maize in Africa.

Sisulu also said African governments should begin to subsidise their farmers, as is the case in Europe, to cut dependence on food imports and minimise the effects of food crises like the one experienced in 2008, when food prices spiked and pushed inflation up around the globe.

"If subsidies are wrong, then they should be wrong for everybody. If we say there need to be subsidies, but done in a certain way, then we need to agree on the rules."

Despite reasonable economic growth in Africa, many people still go without food and policies should change to ensure food security for all, Sisulu said.

"The challenge has been that growth has been in capital-intensive industries that do not create jobs, so people are still hungry. But strides are being made," she said.

2010-03-30
MONTPELLIER, France (Reuters) - Large-scale foreign leases of African farmland risk driving conflict and fuelling corruption in the region without regulation, regional experts told a conference on agricultural development.

If rules for responsible foreign land investment can be drafted and followed, leases could provide a much-needed cash infusion for African agriculture, which has struggled to find investment elsewhere.

"What's missing is that it has not been done responsibly enough," said Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). "Food security is a global issue and global partnership can contribute."

Rattled by the 2008 food crisis, when falling supplies and surging prices sparked unrest in several poor countries, and by the prospect of climate change denting farm output at home, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have paid millions of dollars for long-term farmland leases across Africa.

Investors looking for higher returns have also jumped into the market, and countries like China have locked up African land not just for food but for biofuel production.

Altogether close to 20 countries have leased tens of millions of acres of land in Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Nigeria and other African countries, agricultural experts say.

The deals have provoked international criticism, not least because opponents fear the proceeds may end up in the hands of politicians rather than small farmers who could be pushed off their land.

FOOD SECURITY AT HOME

"The real issue in Africa is that a lot of these deals are done in secret," said Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"The small-holder farmers who stand to lose their land are not consulted. No one is sure the amount of money declared is the real amount," he added.

"Increased foreign investment is what everyone has been crying for for years," he said, adding though that on a continent already struggling with widespread hunger, investment that did not build food security at home did not make sense.

Regulating new investments, however, could help ensure Africans, notably farmers, get some benefit, IFAD's Nwanze said.

The IFAD and others are trying to create a new international framework on responsible land investment, which would set out guidelines on how local people must benefit from such deals.

That could require investors to hire local farmers already on the land rather than bringing in their own workers.

Land investors cannot be forced to sign on to such rules, Nwanze said. But faced with international criticism, many might sign up as a way to defuse tensions and improve their image, particularly in the countries where they are leasing land.

The reality, Nwanze said, is that the investment is going to happen, and "I'm looking for a win-win situation."

2010-03-30
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said it is trying to trace the whereabouts of nearly 100 sailors on seven Indian vessels taken captive by Somali pirates off the African coast.

"The sailors in small trade boats, known as dhows, have been taken captive over the past few days and we are trying to find more about their fate," Captain M.M. Saggi, a shipping official, told Reuters from Mumbai.

"We are trying to contact all the owners of the missing vessels and find more about their identity," Saggi added.

According to initial information, the Indian vessels, mostly from the western state of Gujarat, were on their way to the United Arab Emirates from Somalia, when they were attacked by the pirates, who seized the boats.

Crew members of an Indian vessel, released by Somali pirates this week, told authorities on Tuesday that several vessels with Indian sailors had been hijacked by pirates in the last few days, India's navy said.

"Since this is a potential hostage situation, we are not taking any chances. We are very closely monitoring the situation," said Commander P.V.S. Satish, an Indian Navy official.

India's Navy has a warship stationed near the Gulf of Aden and it has thwarted dozens of hijacking attempts and escorted vessels passing through the region regularly.

Somali pirates regularly attack Indian vessels and this month Indian navy commandos thwarted a suspected pirate attack on a Greek bulk carrier off the Indian coast.

Somali pirates are seizing ships as far as the Mozambique Channel and off the coast of India, a senior U.S. admiral said last week.

The pirates have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransom from seizing ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

VICTORIA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- In a spectacular military operation, Seychelles' coast guards managed to fee six fishermen from the Indian Ocean island country and 21 Iranian marines from the hands of nine Somali pirates over the weekend.

Xinhua learned from the Seychelles' military sources on Tuesday that the operation was launched on Sunday night after an Indian ship the Arsu alerted the Port Victoria authorities about the Somali pirates, who had taken hostage a group of Seychelles fishermen that were navigating in Galate boat.

The Indian ship with its crew members had also been taken hostage by the pirates, who then released them after discovering that they did not have enough foodstuffs and fuel on board.

Seychelles' coast guard dispatched a patrol boat the Topaz assisted by a European air fleet to take part in the Atalanta operation, which let to the release of the hostages and the interception of the pirates not far away from the Junon fishing point in the south of the archipelago.

The pirates and their hostages were found on board a ship belonging to Iranians. After having realized that the hostages were not tied up, the Seychelles military officers decided to shoot at the engine of the boat, provoking an exchange of fire forcing the hostages and the pirates to jump into water at around 1330 GMT. Only one marine was slightly injured in his arm during this operation.

Seychelles' military officers recovered the six fishermen and 21 Iranian marines and seized nine Somali pirates. The Topaz then headed to Port Victoria, the military reported.

BRAZZAVILLE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Republic of Congo and Qatar have signed a series of agreements on economic, commercial and technical cooperation to lift bilateral ties to a new level, the government announced here on Monday.

The signing of the wide-range cooperation in the Congolese capital on Sunday marked a new era of bilateral ties between the Central African country and the Gulf state, according to an official statement.

The five cooperative documents were signed in the presence of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, who arrived in Brazzaville on Sunday for a brief official visit, his first to the Republic of Congo since the two countries established diplomatic relations on April 24, 2000.

The two parties also signed agreements on the creation of a joint commission, the promotion and protection of reciprocal investments and air transport.

Congo and Qatar, among others, signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation between the Congolese National Petroleum Company and Qatar Petroleum International.

NAIROBI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A Seychelles coastguard vessel has repelled an attack by Somali pirates, following the rescuing of 27 fishermen in the Indian Ocean, media reported on Tuesday.

The report quoted a statement by a coastguard officer as saying that one of the two coastguard vessels was the Topaz. After the ship was under attack and returned fire at pirates late Monday, two boats of the pirates were destroyed.

The development came after Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-owned cargo ship with 24 crew members aboard in the world's most dangerous waters of Somalia.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

NAIROBI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-owned cargo ship with 24 crew members aboard in the world's most dangerous waters of Somalia, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said the 4,500-ton Panamanian-flagged Iceberg 1, owned by Iceberg International Ltd, was carrying general mechanical equipment from Port of Aden to UAE.

"The Icerberg I crew is composed of Yemeni, Pinoy, Pakistani, Ghanaian, Indian and Sudanese," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.

He said the seizure took place about 10 nautical miles from the port of Aden.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

BRUSSELS, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Pirates hijacked a ship with 24 crew members off the Gulf of Aden and were heading to Somalia, the NATO Shipping Centre (NSC) said in a warning on Monday.

"Ten nm from Aden port, Gulf of Aden. Pirates boarded and hijacked a roro vessel. They took hostage 24 crew and are now sailing the vessel towards Somali coast," the warning said.

A further report is awaited and all ships are advised to be cautious, it added.

DAKAR, March 29 (Xinhua) -- A dispute broke out in Senegal between Prime Minister Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye and a close associate of President Abdoulaye Wade on peace negotiations with the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (MFDC), local press reported on Sunday.

On a political tour in the interior of the country, the Senegalese prime minister reacted to a statement published on Thursday by a MFDC leader Cesar Atoute Badiate asking for "sincere and all inclusive negotiations" with the government.

"The wish of all of us is that peace should reign in Senegal, Casamance included, and we shall pay whatever price to get the peace. We are ready to receive the leaders of MFDC to start negotiations," the prime minister.

The premier also denied Farba Senghor, who claimed himself "chief negotiator" with the rebel movement, as in an official position for saying negotiations were already underway.

"Senghor is not a government minister. You cannot talk on behalf of the government unless you have an official position. Senghor does not have any official position and he cannot therefore speak on behalf of the government or engage with the government," Ndiaye said.

Badiane, in an interview with the Radio France International, had denied the affirmations of Senghor by insisting that he had not had any contacts with him.

After a lull following the December 2004 peace accords between the government and the MFDC, fighting resumed in 2009 in the southern parts of Senegal killing at least 15 soldiers.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian authorities are investigating reports that several boats, with more than 100 sailors aboard, have been taken over by Somali pirates off the African coast, officials said on Tuesday.

Crew members of an Indian vessel, released by Somali pirates this week, told authorities on Tuesday that at least eight more fishing vessels with Indian sailors had been hijacked by pirates in the last few days, India's navy said.

"The shipping authorities have been asked to probe whether any Indian boats have gone missing and taken over by Somali pirates," said Commander P.V.S. Satish, an Indian Navy official.

On Monday, pirates seized a ship with 24 crew members off the port of Aden and Mogadishu traders said seven additional vessels headed for the Somali capital Mogadishu had been hijacked over the past two days.

Indian officials said they were trying to verify whether those were Indian vessels. "We are waiting to hear more news on this," Satish said.

Somali pirates regularly attack Indian vessels and this month Indian navy commandos thwarted a suspected pirate attack on a Greek bulk carrier off the Indian coast.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's political parties failed to meet a Monday deadline set by South African President Jacob Zuma to resolve a power-sharing dispute that threatens to tear apart the country's coalition, a cabinet minister said.

President Robert Mugabe formed a unity government last year with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, but the union is fraught with disagreements over how to share power.

Zuma, who is mediating in Zimbabwe, held talks with the two rival leaders early this month and said Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC had agreed a package of measures to rescue the unity government.

Zuma then set a March 29 deadline for ZANU-PF and MDC negotiators to conclude the talks, after which they were to present a report to him by Wednesday.

"We met the whole of today and we will meet again tomorrow after cabinet meeting. The negotiations were not concluded," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a ZANU-PF negotiator said.

A source privy to the talks said it was "very unlikely" agreement on the sticking points would be reached and that the regional Southern African Development troika chairman, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, would be forced to call a meeting to try end the dispute.

The MDC wants its treasurer-general Roy Bennett sworn in as deputy agriculture minister, appointment of five of its senior officials to positions of provincial governors and for Mugabe to sack the attorney general and central bank governor.

Mugabe last week vowed not to cede any ground to the MDC until sanctions imposed on ZANU-PF members and a general freeze on financial aid for Zimbabwe by the West are removed.

The 86-year-old says the MDC should lobby the West to remove the sanctions and stop what ZANU-PF calls "pirate radio stations" from broadcasting into Zimbabwe.

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Attackers hijacked a Nigerian boat carrying goods off the coast of Cameroon and are demanding a $1.5 million ransom for the release of its captain and one member of crew, local officials said on Monday.

The attack on Sunday was the latest in the Bakassi peninsula, coming two weeks after a previously unknown group calling themselves the African Marine Commando hijacked a Chinese fishing vessel there with seven crew on board.

Local military and administrative officials said they believed the same group was responsible for the latest attack and a subsequent raid on a local gendarmerie early on Monday in which they made off with firearms and ammunition.

The Chinese fishermen, a common sight in West African waters, were held for a few days and released unharmed after Chinese and Cameroonian officials negotiated with their kidnappers.

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon opposition leaders accused President Paul Biya on Monday of preparing to steal the 2011 election in the central African state by seizing control of vote preparations from a specially created independent body.

Cameroon has been under pressure from Western donors and domestic critics to make its government more transparent, and a bill passed last week adds to a string of setbacks for democracy on a continent notorious for flawed or disputed votes.

"Paul Biya doesn't want change. He wants to die in power," Elizabeth Tamanjong, head of the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), said of Biya, 77 in power since 1982.

"And the only way for this to happen (...) is by ensuring that there cannot be free, fair and transparent elections."

The ruling party-dominated parliament passed a bill on Friday giving the government oversight of poll preparations through the Ministry of Territorial Administration -- a task previously carried out by the independent electoral body ELECAM.

"This means that ELECAM is only a shadow organisation, no more an independent electoral authority," said Ben Muna, head of the opposition Alliance of Progressive Forces.

Biya, who set up ELECAM four years ago under pressure from Western donor nations threatening to cut aid, is expected to sign the bill into law within two weeks.

Analysts have said the risk of unrest in the oil-producing economy, the biggest in the region, could create problems for the government's policy agenda as discontent grows over persistent poverty and unemployment.

Once the bill is signed, MINAT will have the authority to appoint representatives to various commissions overseeing the full range of electoral preparations.

"This law is the worst law we've ever had because it brings back the administration and members of the judiciary into the electoral process in full force," said Afany Ngeh, executive president of the Foundation for Human Rights and Development.

"These are two very corrupt groups in this country that have paralysed elections in the past," he said.

Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) introduced multi-party politics in 1991. But Biya and the CPDM have won every election since then and a constitutional ammendment in 2008 jetisoned presidential term limits.

Other setbacks to democracy in the region include a coup in Niger and violent protests over election delays in Ivory Coast.

"The bill is indicative of the bad faith of the government and shows the regime's determination to have total control over election matters in the country," said Mathias Eric Owona Nguini, a professor at Yaounde II University.

"The government ... wants to discourage the electorate and create an environment that favours voter apathy so that the ruling party will have its own way," he added.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's president warned former southern rebels on Monday that if they refused to take part in April's elections, a southern referendum on secession would not happen, according to comments broadcast on Al Jazeera.

"If the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) refuses to hold elections then we will refuse to hold the referendum," he said during a campaign speech in Khartoum.

April's first multi-party elections in 24 years and the January 2011 southern referendum on independence are key elements of a 2005 peace deal between the SPLM and Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP).

But the opposition, including the SPLM, says the elections cannot be free and fair. Bashir's warning is a clear message to the SPLM to distance itself from the opposition, some of whom have threatened to boycott April's vote.

"We will not accept a delay to the elections not even for one day," Bashir said. Last week he threatened to expel international observers who asked for any delay to the presidential and legislative polls due to start on April 11.

The only international long-term observer mission, the Carter Center, had said a short delay may be necessary because of logistical problems including hundreds of thousands of missing names from the electoral register.

The opposition want the polls delayed until November. They cite a continued conflict in Darfur and unresolved complaints of electoral irregularities.

The north-south civil war that began in 1983 claimed an estimated 2 million lives and destabilized much of east Africa. Most analysts believe the south will vote for independence in 2011.

In a further sign of the deterioration in relations between the northern and southern authorities, who formed a coalition government in 2005, a rare meeting of the presidency scheduled for Tuesday in Khartoum was abruptly cancelled.

"There was no agreement on the agenda to be raised to the presidency," Abdallah Masar, an advisor to Bashir, told Reuters late on Monday.

"There are differences over the elections -- the NCP says the elections must happen on time," he added.

When relations between the north-south partners hit a wall, the presidency usually meets and resolves the differences. The decision to cancel the meeting indicates how far apart their positions are less than two weeks ahead of the polls.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Oil producers and consumers gathered at the International Energy Forum this week plan to call for greater oil market stability and transparency as prices hold near levels OPEC members laud as "perfect" for both groups.

The ministers spoke ahead of the biannual International Energy Forum, which gathers officials from oil producer and consuming nations as well as energy companies.

When the group last met in 2008, crude prices were surging to record highs near $150 a barrel, causing added pain to developed economies already under pressure from the recession. The price surge caused demand to tumble, sending prices to below $33 a barrel this year and hitting the budgets of consumer nations.

Now both sides appear to be unified in calling for steps to promote market stability as global economies struggle to emerge from the worst economic downturn since World War II.

Nobuo Tanaka, the head of the International Energy Agency which represents consumer nations, said that OPEC, the IEA and the International Energy Forum have developed a plan to address oil market volatility.

"More transparency in the market certainly would help," said in an interview with Reuters.

"We're convinced, both producing nations and consuming nations, that we need price stability. That's one of the crucial points," Mexican Energy Minister Georgina Kessel told Reuters, adding the IEF would produce a statement at the end of the meeting, which starts on Tuesday and ends on Wednesday.

Still, Qatar's oil minister said getting an agreement amongst all the players would be tough.

"I think they have a very, very good challenge," Abdullah al-Attiyah told reporters.

PERFECT OIL PRICE?

OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said an oil price between $70-80 a barrel, where oil has held for much of 2010, was good for producers and consumers -- high enough to promote investment in new projects but not so high that it clipped demand from large developed economies.

Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for top exporter Saudi Arabia, called current prices "perfect".

"(Oil prices at) $70 to $80, that's the most appropriate price," Naimi said, welcoming any effort to curb speculation, which has been blamed by some for the run up of oil prices to record highs in 2008.

U.S. efforts to implement position limits in oil futures markets was helping to curb speculation, Badri said.

2010-03-29
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Pirates seized a ship with 24 crew members off the port of Aden on Monday and Mogadishu traders said seven additional vessels headed for the Somali capital had been hijacked over the past two days.

The Kenyan-based Ecoterra maritime monitoring agency said pirates had taken control of a roll-on, roll-off ship called the MV Iceberg 1 on Monday.

"The owners reported to NATO that pirates boarded the ro-ro vessel MV Iceberg 1 today just 10 miles outside Aden Port in the Gulf of Aden," Ecoterra said. "The vessel with her 24 member crew is now commandeered towards the Somali coast."

Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme told Reuters the Panama-flagged ship's crew had citizens of Ghana, Pakistan, India, Sudan and Yemen, and it was seized while en route to the United Arab Emirates.

A spokesman for Mogadishu traders told reporters that another seven boats had been seized as they headed for the Somali capital's seaport. Until now ships bound for Mogadishu have been largely spared by pirates, whose attacks have become bolder and more frequent.

The seven ships cited by the traders did not include a Seychelles fishing vessel and an Iranian boat that were also taken in the waters off east Africa but later freed, according to the Seychelles coast guard.

"Pirates hijacked seven boats in the Indian Ocean in the last 48 hours," the spokesman, Mohamed Omar, said.

"The boats were carrying commercial goods to Mogadishu. Our counterparts overseas do not want their boats hired by Somali traders any more. Piracy is now be very risky to our business."

Sea gangs have acquired millions of dollars in ransoms and defied a flotilla of foreign warships that are trying to monitor the region's busy sea lanes.

They have plagued the busy shipping lanes off Somalia for years. As well as holding some ships for ransom, pirates also hijack vessels to use as 'motherships' which ferry the gunmen and their speedboats far out to sea.

The Seychelles president's office said the fishing vessel, called the Galate, was captured 90 miles off the coast of the archipelago's main island before later being freed. All six crew members were safe.

Seychelles said its coast guard had also rescued 21 crew from the Iranian boat in the same operation.

Separately, the U.S. destroyer McFaul rescued 30 Africans stranded in the Gulf of Aden after their vessel developed engine problems, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

Last year 50,000 people, many from Somalia, took rickety smugglers' ships across the Gulf of Aden, seeking jobs in the Middle East or fleeing political turmoil at home.

"The 30 men, women and children onboard had been stranded with no food and very little water for nearly four days since departing the Somali coast," the Navy said.