Ethiopian officials and an aid agency have denied a BBC report that millions of dollars raised in 1984 for the Ethiopian famine was siphoned off to buy weapons.

According to a senior member of Ethiopia's ruling coalition, Abadi Zemo, the BBC allegations are nonsensical.

The charity Christian Aid announced on Wednesday that its "investigations do not correspond to the BBC's version of events."

On Wednesday, a BBC investigation reported that millions of dollars of international aid intended to buy food for starving Ethiopians during the country's mid-1980s famine was diverted to rebels to buy weapons in the African country.

The report said that the Ethiopian rebel soldiers disguised themselves as grain traders and handed over sacks of sand hidden beneath genuine food aid in return for cash from Western donations.

At least nine Somali pirates have been killed in fresh offensive by the European Union warships against sea hijackers in the Red Sea.

The EU warships' attack was the third against the hijackers' boat within the last 24 hours, Abdi Shirwac, a spokesman for the pirates, told Press TV.

Somali pirates vowed to hunt EU warships and Yemen fishing boats, Shirwac added.

Pirates are hijacking ships commuting near the Gulf of Aden on a daily basis, taking the ships' crews hostage and demanding ransoms.

Last year, Somali pirates were held responsible for 217 piracy attempts, with 47 vessels successfully seized and 867 crew members taken hostage.

Piracy has become a lucrative business in the high seas surrounding the lawless state in the Horn of Africa, with heavily-armed sea robbers spreading their criminal activities to around 1,000 kilometers away from Somali coastlines.

First Vice-President, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said on Sunday that expansion of ties with the African, eastern Asian and Commonwealth countries is among priorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Addressing IRI's ambassadors to the African, eastern Asian and Commonwealth countries, Rahimi urged them to do their best for more interaction with the countries.

He said today the diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on boosting ties with all countries except the Zionist regime.

Rahimi added that IRI is fully prepared to expand ties with African, eastern Asia and Commonwealth countries.

IRI Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday the Islamic Republic of Iran and Kenya have common stances toward many international issues.

Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetangula, Mottaki announced that IRI, Kenya, Somalia and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development in East Africa) will hold a joint meeting to settle Somalia crisis.

Mottaki also underlined the role of Kenya in resolving regional problems in Africa.

In response to a question about IRI intermediation between Eritrea and Djibouti, he expressed hope that the case would be settled in a realistic way, adding the Islamic Republic of Iran will not spare any aid in this regard.

Talking about IRI efforts to settle differences between Chad and Sudan, Mottaki said Chad's president in a letter to President Ahmadinejad had appreciated the efforts.

Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetangula, for his part referred to the active presence of Iranian firms in his country and said 5 Iranian companies are implementing road construction projects in Kenya.

"Volume of the two countries' trade ties is about 100 million dollars," he said predicting the volume would increase up to one billion dollars in future.

Kenya is in real need of crude oil for progress, Wetangula said adding Kenya is receiving its necessary crude oil from Iran.

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:17:02 GMT
Alalam :
Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election as leader of the West African state, preliminary results showed on Saturday.

The election was seen as a test for democracy in a region that in recent weeks has seen a coup in Niger and street riots over delayed elections in Ivory Coast. Togo's last presidential poll triggered violence that killed hundreds.

Gnassingbe won 1.24 million votes, over half of the 2.1 million cast. His closest rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, scored around 692,000 votes, according to results read by Taffa Tabiou, president of the electoral commission.

A statement on the Togolese government website put turnout at just under 65 percent. International observers said the poll had gone smoothly, despite some procedural flaws.

Hours before the result was announced, police fired tear gas to break up a protest by supporters of Fabre, who on Friday had already claimed victory. Ten people were arrested in the clash.

But eyewitnesses said Lome was otherwise calm, with a heavy police presence. The protests that followed Gnassingbe's first victory in 2005 triggered a security crackdown in which up to 500 were killed, according to UN estimates at the time.

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:26:52 GMT
Alalam:
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif temporarily took over the reins of government as President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday underwent surgery in Germany.

Mubarak issued a decree giving Nazif executive power until he returns to Cairo after consulting the constitution, Egyptian media reported.

"President Hosni Mubarak will undergo a surgical operation to extract the gall bladder in Heidelberg University hospital on Saturday," MENA new agency reported, adding that a medical examination on Friday confirmed "chronic infections in the gall bladder."

The agency published the president's decree handing power to Nazif until he returns to work.

"Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Mahmud Mohammed Nazif assumes all the prerogatives of the president of the republic according to Article 82 of the constitution until he resumes his responsibilities," the decree said.

State television announced that Mubarak, 81, had suffered "gall bladder pain" while in Germany for talks on Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It said the president was accompanied by his wife Suzanne Mubarak and members of his family.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:04:18 GMT
Alalam :At least 80 people died and 400 were missing after a landslide triggered by torrential rain swept away entire villages in eastern Uganda, the Ugandan Red Cross says.

"Eighty bodies have been recovered and the missing are more than 400 now, after 100 people were reported buried in a trading centre where they had taken shelter," said spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde.

Rescue workers began pulling bodies from the mud after the landslide, while the Ugandan Red Cross reported widespread flooding and damage.

Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Tarsis Kabwegyere told parliament that the landslide hit three villages in the eastern district of Bududa.

The landslide happened after days of torrential rain. Uganda is currently experiencing unusually heavy downpours in the annual rainy season.

Local markets were destroyed, schools were forced to close and roads were blocked by heaps of earth that slid from higher ground, the national Red Cross Secretary General Michael Nataka said.

Widespread flooding also affected several other villages in this region near Mount Elgon, which straddles the Uganda-Kenya border, the Red Cross chief said.

However, there were no immediate reports of casualties in the other areas stricken by the disaster, according to the Red Cross.

Tonnes of relief aid and a helicopter carrying rescuers had been dispatched to the region, the minister said.

(press tv)At least four Somali soldiers have been killed when a remote-controlled landmine blasted in Mogadishu' Manabolyo intersection, eyewitnesses say.

The Friday explosion killed four government soldiers on the spot while seriously injuring five others, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The blast targeted a vehicle carrying a Somali government delegation while on a security mission in the area.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion as yet, but al-Shabab fighters frequently target government soldiers with landmines.

The leadership of the opposition movement in Nigeria under the auspice of the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) has described the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP as a failed political party led by puppets, stating that the current presidential logjam created by distrust in its presidency has finally exposed the party as very unreliable and weak.
Head of Secretariat of MSM, Olawale Okunniyi made this in a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend through a routine message used to contact teams of MSM in the six geo political zones of the federation. The movement said it is anticipating early general elections in November 2010.

The brief to zonal canvassers of MSM stated that one of the steps already taken by the movement is to convene two caucus meetings this week in Abuja and Lagos respectively to settle for a popular name and structure for the new party after which the group will hold the proposed National Leaders’ Summit in conjunction with similar ideological platforms at the end of March.
Okunniyi also disclosed that similar consultations are being held with the National Democratic Movement set up by Buhari, Atiku and Bafarawa and the leadership of labour, among others to find a common ground for social democrats and leaders of conscience in the nation.
The mega party scribe however took a swipe on the Peoples’ Democratic Party for its inability to nip in the bud the current presidential confusion foisted on the country by its presidency as a prove of its claims to be the largest party in Africa.
He said, “The PDP like some other parties in the current democracy is not a real political party, where party supremacy, discipline and internal democracy reign. Given weak party structure and power of patronage, PDP public officers, also at states levels, impose party leaders and order them around like robots. The result is the clique rule, which presently hold sway in Nigeria.”
He concluded by saying the leadership of the new mega party is very vigilant to ensure that the party is mass based and in clear ideological distinctions to all that PDP represents in the polity, affirming that the leadership will not allow any clique under any guise to hijack the new party.
50105-2010/03/03

The host communities to the ongoing River Niger dredging from the south to the northern part of the country have expressed concern over alleged diversion of fund meant for the projects to different projects, calling for Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to resign.
The call was made by River Niger host communities from Kogi and Niger states. The communities said the call for his resignation become imperative because he approve the diversion of N19 billion intervention fund for the dredging of River Niger from the Federal Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Niger Delta for shoreline protection.
President of River Niger Coast Youth Communities of Kogi State Barrister Mohammed Ndanusa and spokesman of the Nupe Congress of Niger State Engineer Yabagi Sani said this at separate press conferences in Abuja yesterday.
They said it was wrong of the acting president to meet with some people from a section of the country and issue directives diverting funds appropriated by the National Assembly, approved by the President and the contract approved by the Federal Executive Council.
Barrister Ndanusa said Jonathan’s action constitutes an impeachable offence for diverting money appropriated by the National Assembly from one Ministry to the other for purposes other than what the fund was originally appropriated for.
Engineer Sani said the action of the acting President is clearly unconstitutional and illegal because appropriation is the prerogative of the National assembly only. He asked the National Assembly to take up the matter and appropriately commence impeachment process against the acting President.
He also asked the EFCC to investigate the matter to ensure that the N600 million paid to the consulting firms responsible for the section (Warri to Ida in Kogi State) of the dredging being stopped is refunded to the government immediately.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had after a meeting with the steering council of the Niger Delta Amnesty Program that consist of Governors of the Niger Delta region, directed that the dredging of a portion of the river Niger from the Onya Bifurcation to the Nembe/Port-Harcourt course be suspended and the N19 billion earlier appropriated for the dredging work be transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Niger Delta as reportedly requested by the Niger Delta communities.
50104-2010/03/03

NAIROBI, march 02 (Associated Press) -- The U.S. stepped up its harsh criticism of Kenya, raising again the threat of sanctions against a longtime east African ally that has become riddled with infighting and allegations of corruption.

"Nothing's off the table," said Karl Wycoff, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, referring to steps Washington is willing to take as it urges Kenya to crack down on political violence and root out corruption.

Washington's hard line against Kenya began building after the disputed 2007 presidential elections sparked ethnic clashes that killed more than 1,300 people and displaced tens of thousands more. Rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga agreed to a internationally brokered power-sharing deal that made them president and prime minister, respectively. They pledged to work together to end ethnic disputes and overhaul the country's colonial-holdover constitution.

Two years later, however, their coalition government reamains shaky and the country is on edge. The U.S. is increasingly impatient for the government to take steps to punish those responsible for the postelection violence, crack down on corruption and amend the constitution.

"We will not hesitate to give our opinions when we feel that's what needs to be done," Mr. Wycoff said. "We will take strong actions when we think that's what needs to be done to move the reform process forward."

An anticorruption protester last month in Nairobi.
Kenyan officials have bristled at U.S. pressure. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua called the pattern of U.S. criticism and threats condescending. "Their policy is playing to the [Kenyan public] gallery, which we call activism diplomacy," he said, calling the warnings on travel bans part of "a big bully blackmail system."

The U.S. believes now is the time to push, a senior U.S. official said, in part because the U.S. enjoys wide support among Kenyans that deepened with the election of Barack Obama. Washington also sees a grass-roots move toward change among Kenyans weary of backbiting politics and scandals. And officials want to move before politicians turn back to campaigning ahead of elections in 2012.

The U.S. push in Kenya—a bastion of stability in an east Africa region that includes the war-torn states of Somalia and Sudan—contrasts with its more subtle approach toward neighbors including Ethiopia, an ally of the U.S. in its fight against terrorism that has been accused of human-rights abuses related to political violence.

"There may or may not be such windows of opportunity in other countries," the U.S. official said. "But Washington is looking at this particularly as a very unique, historic opportunity to bring about real change."

In October, Washington banned U.S. entry to Kenya's attorney general, who it said had obstructed anticorruption efforts. It has issued letters to several other officials threatening similar action.

The most recent clash between Kenya's top leaders followed two corruption scandals over the past several months. In one, an independent auditor alleged the Agriculture Ministry had sold its reserve grain to shell companies that marked it up, raising market prices as people went hungry in rural areas. In another case, about $1 million in funds disappeared from a fund for free primary education.

Mr. Odinga, the prime minister, suspended the two ministers. Mr. Kibaki reinstated them. The dispute threatened to inflame ethnic tensions: After Mr. Odinga's announcement, makeshift roadblocks—often a precursor to ethnic violence—sprang up in Eldoret, which saw some of the worst violence in 2008.

The two leaders met Sunday and said they repaired their rift, adding they remain committed to their partnership.

The government spokesman said the government is expected to hold a referendum on the new constitution by the year's end, a move toward spreading power beyond the president and establishing a more accountable system of government. "We are progressing very well," he said. "But it is not because of the U.S.'s so-called interference."

KAMPALA, march 02 (Associated Press) -- A police commander in Uganda says landslides in the country's east have killed more than 30 people and left more than 100 missing.

Joel Aguma says the landslides occurred overnight about 170 miles (275 kilometers) east of the capital, Kampala, in the mountainous region of Bududa.

Police and rescuers headed to the site early Tuesday. The Bududa region has long suffered from landslides.

KHARTOUM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has vowed to preserve peace between north and south Sudan and respect the choice of the southerners if they opt for separation in the 2011 referendum, the Al-Ahdath daily reported on Tuesday.

The Sudanese president on Monday started a two-day visit to south Sudan as part of his electoral campaign for the general elections, scheduled for April this year.

"We will work to fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and we will firmly respond to whoever intends to disrupt or damage it," said al-Bashir when addressing a gathering Monday in Juba, south Sudan, according to the report.

He pledged to respect the southerners' choice if they opt for separation from the north, saying that "if the southerners opted for separation in 2011 referendum, we will come to Juba stadium to celebrate with you."

The Sudanese president, however, urged for enhancing the unity between north and south Sudan, saying "we have tried the enforced unity and we want to try the voluntary unity."

In the meantime, al-Bashir declared that all suspended issues between the Sudanese government partners -- the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) -- have been resolved, referring to a recent agreement between the two sides on the issue of the population census.

Addressing a rally in the southern Sudanese town of Torit Monday where he launched his electoral campaign in south Sudan, al- Bashir said that "work on border demarcation is progressing as planned. As of today, we do not have suspended issues with the SPLM."

He stressed the government's keenness to press ahead with the development and rehabilitation process together with the education and health projects in south Sudan.

Eleven candidates are contesting with al-Bashir in the upcoming election, including Yassir Arman, candidate of the SPLM, which signed the CPA with the NCP in 2005.

MONROVIA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Liberian National Police (LNP) has announced the imposition of a curfew in the northern Liberian city of Voinjama, after clashes broke out between Christians and Muslims over the weekend.

Marc Amblar, director of the LNP, said the curfew will run from 6:00 p.m. local time to 8:00 a.m. local time and will remain enforced until further notice.

Amblar told reporters on Sunday that he had given strict instructions to riot police dispatched to the area to restore calm while dealing harshly with anyone in violation of law or curfew.

According to him, four people were killed and 21 others severely injured in Friday's violence. Several rioters have been rounded up and taken in police custody.

The Liberian police chief said his men have seized five single- barrels guns and seven machetes.

Meanwhile, Galakpai Kortimai, superintendent of the troubled Lofa County, told Xinhua on Sunday that calm returned to the area following the violence.

Kortimai said shops and stores have once again opened their doors to customers and commercial activities were returning to normal.

He claimed that local officials embarked on a massive campaign urging residents not to panic, but to return to their homes as the situation was brought under control.

Violence flares in the northern Liberian town, which change hands several times among warring factions after the body of a girl was discovered in the area.

The death of the deceased was blamed on some Muslims, who were accused by some local residents of masterminding the alleged act for ritual purposes to open a newly constructed mosque.

Abuja, March. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Naspers Ltd.’s MultiChoice Africa pay-television unit said uniformed gunmen in Nigeria wounded one of its staff members yesterday and kidnapped three others outside Owerri airport in Imo state.

The crew members were abducted when the gunmen stopped their bus as it approached the airport in southeastern Nigeria, MultiChoice said in an e-mailed statement from Johannesburg today.

“The crew were forced to step out of the bus, as they stepped out one Nigerian cameraman reached for his mobile telephone and was shot in the leg by the gunmen,” it said. The wounded cameraman was taken to a hospital, while the three other employees were abducted, it said.

MultiChoice’s “contracted security company” and the Nigerian authorities are working to secure the safe release of Nick Greyling, an audio mixer from South Africa, Alexander Effiong, a Nigerian cameraman, and Bowie Attamah, a Nigerian commentator, the company said.

The crew is in Nigeria as part of a production for MultiChoice’sSuperSport, which covers Nigerian soccer matches, Caroline Creasy, MultiChoice’s head of corporate affairs, said in an e-mailed response to questions. Naspers is Africa’s biggest media company.

Somalia , March. 2 (allAfrica) -- THE Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has asked the UN to impose a no-fly zone on Somalia and block sea ports through which foreign groups supply logistics to the insurgents.

Eritrea, in particular, has been accused of serving as a conduit for arms, logistics and foreign fighters to the Islamist group Al Shabaab in Somalia.

On December 23 last year, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea and vowed to slap financial and travel restrictions on its leaders for arming Al Shabaab.

The resolution, which was introduced by Uganda, passed by a vote of 13 to 1 in the 15-nation council, with Libya voting "no" and China abstaining.

At its meeting held in Addis Ababa on Thursday, the council hailed all the countries and institutions providing support to the AU peace keeping mission, especially Uganda and Burundi, calling on other member states to join.

Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed soldiers to the AU peace keeping force, known as AMISOM, but the 5,000 strong force falls short of the 8,000 soldiers required to secure the capital Mogadishu alone.

The AU council stressed that the deterioration of the situation in Somalia is proof of the increased internationalisation of the conflict.

It, therefore, called for the deployment of UN staff to help stabilise the situation and support the reconstruction of the country.

"The council noted that the current support remains below what is required on the ground and called for more mobilisation of the international community," an AU release said over the weekend.

The group reiterated its support to the Somali government and asked for more support, including military, to enable the government neutralise the armed element and deliver basic services.

In that respect, it welcomed the recent commissioning of eight battalions of the Somali security forces, who had been trained by AMISOM.

It also welcomed the completion of the induction course for the AMISOM police trainers from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda who will in turn train the Somali police.

The council again condemned the acts of violence and terrorism by Islamist militant groups Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam "with the active support of foreign elements in defiance of the peace overtures of the government and the international community".

It reiterated its call to all the Somali parties to join the peace process without any precondition and delay.

It also demanded that armed opposition groups ensure unrestricted access and assistance to needy civilians in areas under their control.

Meanwhile, World Food Programme has reported that Al Shabaab militants are stopping convoys of food reaching more than 360,000 displaced people.

Al Shabaab says World Food Programme is ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports. But the UN says Somali farmers cannot supply enough food.

Kinshasa, March. 2 (Bloomberg) -- A coalition of 51 human rights organizations working in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo accused an army lieutenant colonel of ordering massacres, executions and rapes in a complaint sent to the region’s military commander yesterday.

The lieutenant colonel, Innocent Zimurinda, is a former rebel who joined the army in 2009 and has been taking part in UN-backed military operations against a Rwandan Hutu rebel group in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

“We fear these attacks on civilians will continue unless there is urgent action by the authorities to suspend and investigate him,” Joseph Dunia of the Congolese group Promotion of Democracy and Protection of Human Rights said in a statement e-mailed by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Zimurinda is accused in the complaint of deliberately killing civilians on a number of occasions dating back to 2007, when he fought with an ethnic Tutsi-led rebel group backed by Rwanda.

In April 2009, shortly after joining the the Congolese army, he allegedly ordered the killings of at least 129 Rwandan Hutu civilian refugees, according to the complaint. The groups also accuse the lieutenant colonel of continuing to order rapes and summary executions and of using child soldiers.

Human Rights Watch estimates that over 1,400 civilians died in the operations against the Rwandan rebels in 2009, according to a December report. Nearly one million were displaced by the fighting, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and more than 8,000 rapes were reported in North and South Kivu, according to the UN Population Fund.

In late December, the UN Security Council mandated that UN peacekeepers couldn’t work with Congolese army battalions that were guilty of human-rights abuses. The rights groups said they were concerned Zimurinda and other commanders accused of abuses would participate in the new operations.

“We will, as appropriate, bring complaints regarding other commanders in the future,” the complaint said.

A Nigerian based Saudi cleric, Dr Ahmad Gummi has been arrested by the Saudi authorities at his house in Mecca.
Dr Gummi who is widely seen as a controversial Islamic preacher was arrested Thursday last week by the Saudi Arabian secret police although both the Nigerian mission in Riyadh and family sources in Abuja could not specify the exact accusations behind his arrest.
However, an impeccable source confirmed that the arrest was as a result of his link with Al-Qaida, a top group listed by America and her allies as terrorist group.
Dr. Ahmad is a son of a famous scholar the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gummi. Dr. Gummi a trained medical doctor and a retired Major in the Nigerian Army. He returned to Nigeria from his Saudi base about ten years ago and began the annual Ramadan preaching at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, in succession to the late Sheikh Lawal Abubakar.
Sheikh Lawal himself had taken up at the Ramadan sermons after the demise of Dr. Ahmad’s father, Sheikh Abubakar Gummi in 1991. His sermons soon became very controversial for the attacks on the Dariqa and Shiite sects. Although he resides in Saudi Arabia, he returns to Nigeria just before the Ramadan fast every year to conduct the sermons.
Dr. Gummi’s confrontational gesture was too direct especially on the Shiites followers in Nigeria and beyond. He had declared at various avenues especially during his Ramadan preaching that the Shiites’ blood could be shade because they are infidels (Kufrs). He tried to insight unrest among the followers of different Islamic sects in Nigeria. He does not respect any expect his own which is Salafiyyah.
The Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abdullahi Garba Aminci in a statement confirmed the arrest. He said, “It is true he is being held, but we do not have information as to why they (the police) invited him.”
Gummi’s younger brother Abdulqadir Abubakar also said in a statement on behalf of family that they were still trying to get information as to why the Sheikh was being held. “We have no idea why they are holding him,” Abubakar said.
Aminci said Dr. Ahmad’s family reported to the mission that security men in plain cloth came to their home in Makkah and asked Gummi to go with them. They took away cassettes, books and computer, but did not say why they were picking him up.
Aminci said on learning about the ‘invitation’ he instructed the consul-general in Jeddah to find out what was happening. He said officials of the consulate contacted the authorities of the Saudi secret police, who admitted they were holding Gummi and said they would give the embassy a report. The embassy was still waiting for the report as at yesterday, he added.
Aminci said Ahmad’s “invitation” by the police may be connected to the scholar’s “religious activities”, given that they took away religious books, records of preaching and a computer.
Gummi had recently travelled to Malaysia, he said. Two Nigerian students in Malaysia were arrested last month on suspicion of belonging to terrorist groups.
50103 - 2010/03/02

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Communications Prof Dora Akuniyli yesterday insisted those aides close to President Umaru Yar’adua should be honest about his state of health if he remains unable to address government after his return from a Saudi hospital five days ago
Speaking with media in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, she said that, “It is in the best interest of the country if our president comes out to address us if he is in a position to do so. But if he is not in a position to do so, people around our president should be honest enough to come out and tell us the true situation of his health.”
Some Nigerian newspapers had yesterday quoted Akunyili as saying that a cabal around Yar’adua was dishing out orders in the name of the president, alleging that, “The cabal (around Yar’adua) wants to continue with their usual statement of ‘the President said and you must comply.”
“They want to continue dishing out instructions even when the president did not say so ... They sneaked him into this country in the night ... I think it’s something that is unnecessary and uncalled for,” she said.
Prof Akunyili is the first minister to openly criticize the handling of Yar’adua’s absence, raising the prospect of divisions within the cabinet. This led to Jonathan’s taking of executive powers on February 9, thereby ending months of state paralysis.
Akunyili was recently come under series of pressures when she was asked to step down especially when she insisted that she would only continue to take instructions from Jonathan who is currently the acting president.
On the resignation, she said, “If anybody comes up tomorrow to explain to me why it is necessary for me to resign so as to help stabilize the polity, I will not waste one minute.”
Meanwhile, a political group, the Future Nigeria group (FNG) said yesterday in Abuja that ailing President Umaru Yar’adua did not commit any offence or breach the constitution by not appearing in public five days after his return from Saudi Arabia.
In a statement the group said that the prompt directive by President Yar’adua to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to oversee the affairs of the state while he recuperates is enough to show that the president means well for the country.
The group further cautioned people with unbridled desperation for power to stop their grid unless they want to thrown the nation into confusion.
50103 - 2010/03/02

Tripoli, march. 02 (press TV) -- Hundreds of Libyan students have protested outside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli against a recent referendum on the minaret ban in Switzerland.

Gathering in front of the Swiss Embassy on Monday, the protesters held pictures of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, chanted anti-Swiss slogans and called for a boycott of Swiss goods.

They also called for the respect of religions throughout the world.

Some 200 police in riot gear formed a cordon around the embassy, preventing the protesters from reaching the task force.

The protest comes just days after Gaddafi called for a holy war against the Swiss minaret vote.

Switzerland's government declined to comment on Gaddafi's remarks.

Libya's relations with Switzerland broke down in 2008 when Gaddafi's son Hannibal was detained in Geneva over his alleged abuse of domestic servants.

Four days after the brief July arrest, two Swiss businessmen Max Goeldi and Rashid Hamdani were charged with visa violations and illegal business activities and were initially sentenced to 16 months in jail.

A Libyan court later overturned Hamdani's sentence and allowed his departure while reducing Goeldi's jail term to four months.

Bern believes the businessmen's arrest to have been a retaliatory move which Tripoli denies.

Libya has also canceled flights to and from Switzerland, cut off oil supplies to the European state and withdrawn billions of dollars from Swiss banks.

Tensions have been ratcheted up another notch by Switzerland's alleged decision to blacklist 188 high-ranking Libyans, denying them entry permits.