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press tv

At least 10 migrants have drowned and 126 have been rescued by Somali fishermen from the Gulf of Aden after smugglers threw them overboard.

The boat was sailing from Somalia to Yemen when it encountered mechanical problems.

The smugglers then forced the 136 migrants, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, overboard, the Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.

According to the residents of a northern Somali town, 126 survivors were rescued while the dead bodies of ten other migrants were found floating near the shore.

The boat set sail last week from the Puntland port city of Bossasso, a famous den for illegal smugglers, which lies some 200 km west of Las Qoray, but later started drifting.

The UN estimates that thousands of African migrants, mostly from the Horn of Africa, who are trying to escape the escalating violence and poverty, risk the high seas in search of a better life.

Over 74,000 people have taken the dangerous sea voyage to Yemen in 2009, the UN refugee agency said in a report.

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press tv

Egyptian authorities have detained thirteen members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, including three senior leaders.

The organization's newly elected deputy leader, Mahmoud Ezzat, and two other members of the top-level Guidance Council, Essam el-Erian and Abdul-Rahman el-Bir, were arrested Monday in a an early morning sweep.

Ten other members were also arrested in various parts of Egypt, the group's lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksud said, citing initial reports.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the report.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood party, which has been banned as an organization since 1954, run in elections as independents.

Despite all the limitations, the Party holds a fifth of the seats in Egypt's parliament and represents the largest bloc in the parliament after the ruling party, headed by President Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian authorities frequently crack down on the Brotherhood movement in an attempt to silence the opposition.

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presstv

Heavily-armed Ethiopian vehicles have reportedly crossed into south central Somalia, seizing the family of a man with Al-Shabab links.

Witnesses said the neighboring country's troops entered the towns of El Barde and Yeed on Saturday, seeking the unidentified man, according to a Reuters report.

"They came with armored vehicles and were searching for a well-known local man who also works with Al-Shabab," Hussein Ronow, a town resident said on Sunday.

The man reportedly escaped, but his wife and three children along with his brother and his brother's family were arrested.

The head of Al-Shabab's administration in the Bakool region confirmed the incident.

"Our enemies, the Ethiopians, have entered our towns and terrified the residents. I understand they were searching for some of the residents," Sheikh Aden Yare told Reuters.

The Ethiopians troops are now positioned in the outskirts of the town.

Ethiopia sent thousands of troops into Somalia in 2006 to help topple arebel movement that controlled Mogadishu and most of the South. The move drew protests from some in the Muslim world and enraged the local fighters, who regrouped and launch a war campaign against 'the invaders.'

The Ethiopian soldiers withdrew last January but residents, local fighters and humanitarian organizations have reported several incursions in the past few months.

Meanwhile on Monday, the lawless capital of Mogadishu once again witnessed intense fighting between local fighters and pro-government forces, in a battle near the African Union bases.

Heavy explosions and the exchange of artillery fire went on throughout the night, leaving at least eight people dead and 22 others injured.

Somalia has been marred by nearly two decades of civil strife, spurring the rise of warlords, heavily armed criminal gangs and pirates who have been terrorizing shipping off its coastline.

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presstv

Al-Shabab fighters have reportedly vacated their strongholds in Mogadishu ahead of a government offensive.

According to sources, the group has been pulling out all its weapons and vehicles from its main stronghold ever since they heard the reports of an imminent government attack.

Other reports also suggested that other Al-Shabab strongholds, including the Daynile district, have witnessed large movements of military personnel and equipment.

It is unclear if this is a military tactic that Al-Shabab is employing.

In addition, five people were killed and dozens of others injured on Sunday in shelling that rocked parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, medics and witnesses said.

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africanews

Ethiopian troops have crossed back into the northern regions of Bakool and Hiiraan in Somalia, local residents said. This comes as Somali government vows fresh offensive against Islamist insurgents in the country. Residents in Elbarde and Yeed said they saw convey of Ethiopian troops accompanied by hundreds of Somali military trained in Ethiopia in the towns on Sunday.
somalia_map
Ethiopian troops seized the family of a man with links to al Shabaab insurgents, Reuters reported. Residents said troops went to El Barde and Yeed on Saturday seeking the man.

"The man escaped, but they took with them his wife and three children. They also took the escaped man's brother and family. The troops have now gone but I understand they are in the outskirts of the town," a town resident, Hussein Ronow, told Reuters.

Another residents in the Sariirale, a town on the Ethiopian border in Somalia's Hiiran region said that hundreds of Ethiopian troops have entered the town.

Residents said that Ethiopian troops have searched houses in the town.

Ethiopian officials could not be reached for comment about the reports but Ethiopia denies frequently that its troops re-entered Somalia.

Ethiopia entered Somalia in 2006 to help oust Islamist forces from the capital Mogadishu but withdrew under a UN-backed peace deal.

Ethiopia already made it clear that it still reserve the right to intervene in Somalia if its interests were directly threatened. Somali government has not commented about this development.

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africanews

A Libyan court has dropped a case against Swiss businessman Rashid Hamdani for alleged illegal business activities, his lawyer said on Sunday, a day after a colleague was fined over similar charges. Hamdani, who was also cleared last month of charges of overstaying his visa, was free to leave Libya where he has been stranded for one and a half years.
Hamdani
Hamdani and fellow countryman and businessman Max Goeldi have been entangled in a diplomatic row between Switzerland and Libya, which barred them from leaving the country since July 2008.

Goeldi was ordered on Saturday to pay an 800-dollar fine for illegal business activities. The pair were caught up in a row over the treatment in Switzerland of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Hannibal, who was detained briefly in Geneva with his wife when two hotel servants complained he had mistreated them.

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africanews

Libya has signed an arms deal with Russia worth $1.8 billion. Russian Information Agency, RIA Novosti, on Saturday quoted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying, "Only yesterday (Friday) we signed a contract worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion) with the Libyan government, and it's not only for small arms."
Libya map
The weapons Libya is intending to purchase are not specified in the statement but a military-diplomatic source quoted by Reuters says Libya has ordered some 20 fighter planes and S-300PMU2 air defence systems, according to Reuters.

The source also says that Libya may acquire T-90S tanks, and modernize more than 140 T-72 tanks and other weapons.

The deal was signed after talks with Libyan defence minister, Major General Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr, last week in Moscow.

It comes days after the Libyan Investment Authority bought enormous shares in the Hong Kong IPO of UC RUSAL, the world's biggest aluminium producer.

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africanews

Ghana has been noted as the second highest donor to Haiti after Guyana based on donor countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Details of financial aid and other assistance to the people of Haiti being tracked by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which was released recently by the Data Blog indicates.
haiti
The Data blog which is hosted on the UK Guardian newspapers’ website and sourced to Relief Web has shown that contributions captured as at January 24, 2010 shows Guyana as the ‘most generous’ country in terms of its financial pledges when measured against the country’s GDP. The report indicated that Guyana is the third poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua.

Haiti suffered a destructive earthquake recently which killed several thousands and injured many citizens leaving its people in distress needing help very badly.

Ghana made a donation of $3 million to the government and people of Haiti. The country also gave some cocoa products and medication.

Some Ghanaian organizations including musicians are also making efforts to raise money and relief items to help the people of Haiti. A Ghanaian charity, the Caring Kids International has launched a fundraising effort to raise $1 million for Haiti. On Saturday a representative of the group, a student, Len Kessie arrived in Haiti as part of the group’s efforts, according to the Ghanabusinessnews.com.

According to the released data the Guyana National Committee for Haiti Relief has raised close to $260 million.

A report by the Stabroek News said after Guyana and Ghana, Canada was third, followed by Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Norway and Australia. The US was ranked as the country which has pledged the most cash to Haiti with a total of $168 million followed by Canada $131 million, Spain $45 million, UK $32 million, France $31M million, Sweden $23 million, Germany $20 million, Brazil $15 million, Australia $14 million and China $13 million.

Meanwhile, pressure is being mounted on Haiti’s creditors to write off the country’s debts.

HARARE, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A nationwide strike by state workers in Zimbabwe went on strike for higher pay on Monday, with some workers in the capital Harare reporting for duty mainly to gauge the situation on the ground.

The Public Service Association, a union of government office workers, confirmed the development to Xinhua, but claiming that those who reported for work did so out of sheer ignorance of the strike.

"Yes some have gone to work but they are being told of the strike. They were not aware of the strike situation. We expect a 100 percent cover by Wednesday," said PSA chief executive Emmanuel Tichareva.

He said the civil service leadership was in Bulawayo on Monday for a "big" rally of the civil servants. A similar rally was held in central Harare on Friday, where the decision to down tools was taken.

A government worker told Xinhua that she was at work to get a clear indication on the course of the strike.

"I had to come to work so that I know the direction this strike is taking. I was afraid of staying at home without knowing what my colleagues are up to," she said.

A snap survey at some of the government buildings in the capital showed that some civil servants were working while some buildings, such as the High Court, were closed. An official manning the entrance was turning away visitors, saying only administrators were present.

There were also reports that most schools in high density areas turned away children.

"My son returned home from school before I even left for work this morning," said a construction worker in the capital.

The civil servants reached the decision to down tools on Friday after several meetings with the government failed to yield any positive result.

The workers are demanding an increase in salaries from an average 150 U. S. dollars per month to about 630 dollars.

A last minute meeting between the government and civil servants representatives on Friday afternoon failed to ward off the strike as workers rejected minimal changes made to their salaries.

The government had offered a minimum salary of 137 dollars and a top proposal of 248 dollars backdated to January. It also offered an additional 15 dollars in transport and housing allowances with immediate effect rather than April as initially planned.

Zimbabwe's inclusive government formed last year has failed to mobilize adequate financial resources to meet wage demands by civil servants.

The salary demands would put the wage bill at 148 million dollars per month against the projected monthly revenue of 120 million in 2010.

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LOME, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Togo's main opposition party, the United Forces for Change (UFC), is calling for a unique candidate in the Feb. 28 presidential elections against the ruling party.

Jean Pierre Fabre, the candidate of the UFC, made the call at a meeting held in the capital Lome on Sunday, asking his opposition "friends" to find a "single candidate" to battle it out with out- running President Faure Gnassingbe, Savoir News Agence reported.

"With a one-round mode of election which is being used, we must come up with one candidate from the opposition who will fight it out with the RPT (the ruling Assembly of Togolese People)," Fabre told UFC supporters.

Several officials of the party were present at the meeting, including Me Isabelle Ameganvi, a member of parliament.

"We have to unite in order to defeat RPT," said the secretary general of the UFC.

He said he understood how difficult it was for the opposition to sit down and discuss about the candidacy they are going to present.

"I acknowledge that there are some difficulties. I pray to God that He help us to find this single candidate," Fabre said.

The opposition has tried for months to come up with "a single candidate" to field in the presidential elections. Some sources close to the main political parties even announced that there was some "white smoke" coming out over the weekend, but there's no name made known ever since.

The UFC secretary general also sang praises before the party's activists and supporters.

"The UFC candidate is ready to take over the office of the country's presidency. He is ready to tackle all the challenges facing the country to help her get out of the situation she finds herself in," he affirmed.

Fabre congratulated officials of the party for having overcome all the challenges they faced after the accident of the party's national president Gilchrist Olympio.

Olympio, who had been the designated candidate for the party, failed to make his appearance citing the health reason of "an ailing back."

With only weeks ahead of the polls, authorities have confirmed seven candidates, who also include a woman, Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, who represents another opposition party the Democratic Convention of the African People. This is the first time that a woman is chosen to contest in a presidential vote in the West African country.

ABIDJAN, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's electoral process is going through turmoil due to the political-judicial battle over voter registration contentions linked to the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI).

The suspected fraud on the voter list has caused commotion within the body charged with the duty to organize elections to end years of instability in the West African country.

"There is a little bit of unrest in the air," Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said on Friday during his visit to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where he was expected to brief President Blaise Compaore on the situation in Cote d'lvoire.

Compaore was named the facilitator in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis late last year by the 15-member West African bloc ECOWAS with a mandate to bring the rival parties to a presidential vote set for late February and early March.

With Compaore's mediation, Soro, who is also the leader of the former rebel New Forces (FN), had signed four peace accords with Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo in Ouagadougou before being named the official facilitator.

Cote d'Ivoire's civil society organizations have also expressed their fear about the pre-election climate which has become deleterious.

"CEI has found itself in the middle of a fight between the opposition and the ruling party. This will not help matters to proceed. Everything must come to an end. It's a must therefore, that we end this crisis so that we can take the route to elections, " said Francois Kouma, the secretary general of the New Coalition of Cote d'lvoire's civil society.

On her part, President of the Hearts of Peace Organization Laurence Kone said it is urgent to settle this crisis which is blocking the electoral process.

"The facilitator and the UN should make firm recommendations and take appropriate decisions. Already there are some disagreements. We must place first things first so that we can avoid the eventuality of the worst happening," Kone said.

"The UN had wished that the presidential elections are organized between now and June but with this kind of controversy, where are we headed? The new deadline risks being compromised," she noted.

The scandal broke out in January after the public hearing and voter identification and other steps to make the voter list a satisfactory one.

The presidential camp accused CEI President Beugre Mambe of having attempted to fraudulently register 429,000 people on the final list, demanding his resignation. The latter denied the charges.

According to a communique published on Friday, at the end of the investigation ordered by the interior minister, the justice system found him guilty of the fraud.

On Saturday, Mambe once again denied wrongdoing at a press briefing held at home, vowing to remain at his post to accomplish the mission.

Meanwhile, confrontations broke out between the security forces and opposition protesters in the towns of Katiola (north), Divo (central-west) and Man (west) over the electoral contentions.

The opposition supporters vigorously protested the ruling party for using the judicial system to "arbitrarily" remove the names of the opponents from the electoral list.

Although calm has returned by far, observers fear the situation is still precarious given the fact that the country's electoral process has always been dogged by controversy.

Cote d'Ivoire has seen repeated postponements of the election since 2005, when Gbagbo's tenure expired. The country last put off the planned polls from November 2009 to late February or early March. In anticipation of possible twists and turns in the process, the UN peacekeeping mission has expressed hope that the polls will take place in the first half of the year.

Cote d'Ivoire remains divided with the government controlling the south and the FN holding the north, despite Soro's appointment as prime minister under the peace accords. The crisis was triggered by an attempted coup against Gbagbo in 2002 and an ensuing civil war.

DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania is scheduled to host climate change experts from around the world later this month to share the latest knowledge about how communities can reduce their vulnerability, and how government policies can help make it happen.

The 4th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change to be held in Dar es Salaam from Feb. 24 to 26 is to be attended by representatives of governmental and inter- governmental agencies, research institutions and non-governmental organizations, the local newspaper Daily News reported on Monday.

Delegates are expected to share information about ways communities can adapt to impacts of climate change using approaches such as water harvesting, alternative farming practices, and strategies to reduce the risk from disasters.

Organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development, Environmental Protection Management Services (EPMS, Tanzania), the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, and the Ring Alliance, the meeting includes special sessions to focus on how communities in urban areas or rural drylands can adapt to climate change impacts such as heat-waves, floods and droughts.

Hannah Reid, Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, noted that climate change is a global problem but its impacts are always local and that means the solutions need to be found, calling for sound policies to analyze, share success stories on climate change.

The conference aims to identify good strategies for sharing information within and between vulnerable communities, and will promote the integration of community-based adaptation into national policies and international development programs.

Reid noted that communities are well-placed to drive adaptation projects as they know best what the local challenges are and stand the most to gain from addressing them, stressing that adaptation to climate change can and must happen at the community level but for this to work it is essential that policymakers and funding agencies understand the benefits of bottom-up approaches and act to support them.

The sharing of knowledge and adaptation practices from other parts of the world will create awareness in Tanzania and other vulnerable countries to improve adaptation strategies in communities that are at greatest risk from climate change, according to Euster Kibona of EPMS, who added that the conference will also open up funding opportunities for adaptation projects at the grass roots level.

KHARTOUM, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno on Monday arrived in Khartoum on a two-day official visit to Sudan.

The Chadian president was received upon arrival at Khartoum airport by his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir and a number of senior government officials.

President Deby will attend a gathering of the Chadians residing in Sudan at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, where he is also expected to deliver a speech.

Al-Bashir and Deby are expected to hold talks, and a number of advisers and top officers of the Chadian army will also hold meetings with their Sudanese counterparts on bilateral political and security ties, Sudan's Alraed daily reported on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Deng Alor said the visit of the Chadian president to Sudan is important, which would push forwards the normalization of bilateral ties.

"This is a historic visit at a proper time and will have positive effects on bilateral ties," Alor told reporters upon the Chadian president's arrival at Khartoum airport Monday.

This is the first visit for the president of Chad to its neighbor since his last visit to Sudan about six years ago.

The Chadian government had accused Khartoum of supporting Chadian rebels in eastern Chad. The Sudanese government denied the accusation and accused Chad of providing assistance for the rebel movements in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Last month, the two countries agreed to reactivate the security protocols brokered by regional mediators and reinforce the control over the joint borders

KINSHASA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- French State Minister for Foreign Trade Anne-Marie Idrac visits the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on Monday and Tuesday as part of her three-nation African tour, according to official sources.

A communique from the French Embassy in DR Congo says Idrac's trip is a follow-up to the economic round-table discussions during the visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on March 26, 2009.

On Monday, Idrac will meet with Congolese Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and co-chair with him a meeting to be attended by Finance Minister Athanase Matenda, Industry Minister Simon Mboso, Investments Minister Jeannine Mabunda and Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu, as well as a delegation of French business persons.

Economic issues on the agenda include debt reduction, business environment and French interest in building projects the central African country.

Idrac's delegation comprises representatives of ADPi, Alstom, Areva, Bollore, Gemalto, Lafarge and Prooftag. They will also have discussions with the Congolese private sector, especially with the Federation of Congolese Enterprises.

On Tuesday, the French minister will fly to Muanda in the western province of Bas-Congo, where she will visit an onshore oil exploitation zone for the French group PRENCO.

Idrac's African trip will also take her to Kenya and Benin.

KINSHASA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) will negotiate a solution with neighboring Sudan following the recent border conflict over the delimitation of Kimba in the northeastern province of Orientale, the local governor says.

Provincial Governor Autsai Asenga made the remarks during an interview with the press on Sunday, saying a Congolese delegation would begin discussions with its the Sudanese counterpart to settle the issue.

Last week, the elements of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army started constructing an administrative office in Kimba village, which they claimed to be part of the Sudanese territory of Morobu.

In DR Congo, the customary authority termed this as an act of aggression, insisting that Kimba is entirely Congolese territory located 200 meters from the border separating the two African countries.

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BOUAKE, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's ex-rebels called for militias loyal to their former foe President Laurent Gbagbo to be disarmed, a statement on their website said on Monday.

The rebel New Forces have controlled half of the territory of the world's top cocoa grower since a 2002-3 war that began with a failed coup attempt against Gbagbo.

Under a deal signed in Burkina Faso in 2007, their leader Guillaume Soro became prime minister of a transitional government.

That agreement also laid out steps for disarming rebels and pro-government militias. The New Forces say all rebels have been disarmed apart from 8,000 security forces who they say will help keep the peace in long delayed polls expected this year.

Some of militiamen loyal to Gbagbo have had their weapons taken away, but others remain active.

"The New Forces note that the disarmament and dismantling of militias expected by the Ouagadougou political agreement is not yet effective," the statement said.

"They invite the CCI (joint army and ex-rebel units) to show more determination and vigilance in implementing this process."

Political tensions are rising in Ivory Coast as the country looks set to miss yet another deadline for elections meant to smooth a way out of its more than 7-year crisis. The polls, originally scheduled for 2005, were set for the end of this month.

A row between the electoral commission and Gbagbo over voter registration has dug up questions about Ivorian nationality that still fester years after the country went to war over them. Last week saw riots in some cities over the latest setbacks to the peace process.

The New Forces have no candidate in the presidential election. At 36, Soro is too young to run so instead has taken a role of overseeing the electoral process -- but opposition candidates fear pro-Gbagbo militias could be used to intimidate their supporters.

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LUANDA (Reuters) - President Jose Eduardo dos Santos swore in a new government on Monday and said Angola would pass a new law to end widespread corruption and embezzlement in one of Africa's biggest oil producing nations.

The new government was appointed by the president after parliament approved a new constitution last week that critics say will allow dos Santos, who has never won an election, to prolong his 30-year rule without a direct ballot.

The charter also replaces the prime minister with a vice president, enabling dos Santos to be more involved in running day to day affairs of the state and make sure his "zero tolerance" calls are taken seriously.

Dos Santos said in a short speech to his government that the Law of Administrative Probity would be passed by his cabinet on Tuesday and ensure that public servants carry out their jobs with "honesty, honour and integrity of character."

The goal is to implement a "strategy to moralise those who provide services to the state," he said.

"Its implemention will discourage those that want to use public goods as a source of illicit enrichment."

Consulting firm Ernst & Young will help the Angolan government carry out a complete overhaul of the way public money is managed, said dos Santos.

BAD EXAMPLE

Billions in oil revenues and loans from China to help rebuild infrastructure destroyed by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002 have helped turn Angola into one of the world's fastest growing economies.

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HARARE (Reuters) - The trial of Zimbabwe opposition politician Roy Bennett was postponed indefinitely on Monday as court workers joined a wage strike by government employees.

Court officials turned people away from the High Court in Harare, where Bennett, a close ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is on trial charged with illegal possession of arms for "terrorism, banditry and sabotage".

"The trial has been deferred indefinitely, on account of the strike," Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, who is leading the state prosecution team, told Reuters.

Zimbabwe's civil servants, who earn an average $160 per month, went on strike on Friday after wage negotiations with the government ended in a deadlock.

The strike is set to put pressure on Zimbabwe's unity government, set up by Tsvangirai and bitter rival President Robert Mugabe last February. The government is struggling to raise at least $10 billion it says is needed to reconstruct the economy after a decade-long slump.

Bennett's arrest and trial is another source of tension between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who nominated him deputy Agriculture Minister last year. Mugabe has refused to appoint Bennett, saying the courts should clear him first.

The state charges Bennett with funding a 2006 plot to blow up a major communication link and assassinate government figures. Bennett denies the charges, which carry a maximum death sentence, saying they are politically motivated.

Peter Hitschmann, an arms trader and state witness who faced the same charges but was convicted in 2006 on a lesser charge of possessing dangerous weapons, has denied Bennett was involved.

On Friday, judge Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that disputed emails linking Bennett to a conspiracy to procure arms and to blow up some communications targets could be used as evidence, despite objections by defence lawyers that the documents were fake.

The court had previously thrown out confessions by Hitschmann implicating Bennett, on the grounds that the statements had been extracted under torture.

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Chadian President Idriss Deby on Monday began a rare visit to Sudan, part of a rapprochement aimed at ending a proxy war between the two African neighbours.

Rebels from Darfur attacked Khartoum in 2008 and Sudan said they came with arms and men from Chad. Deby was besieged months earlier by rebels he said had camps in Sudan's western Darfur region.

"There will be serious discussions aimed at achieving a lasting solution to (these) issues," Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor told reporters on Deby's arrival in Khartoum.

The two countries have agreed to a joint border force to patrol the long and porous border, whose head quarters will be in West Darfur's capital el-Geneina.

Sudan analysts say Darfur peace talks cannot succeed without a solution to the tense relations between Chad and Sudan. A Qatari-sponsored peace process has made little progress with rebel groups divided and the mediation yet to agree on an agenda.

The United Nations estimates 300,000 have died and more than 2 million forced from their homes to makeshift camps in Darfur, since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms accusing Khartoum of neglecting their region seven years ago.

Deby went straight into closed door talks with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Deby is due to address Chadian and Sudanese nationals in the capital on Tuesday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will reconsider genocide charges against Bashir, who is already wanted for seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Deby has told the United Nations he does not want the mandate of the U.N. border monitoring mission called MINURCAT to be renewed in March, a cause for concern for the international community.

Sudan and Chad have previously had a joint border patrol force, but they failed to prevent rebels from both sides penetrating the frontier.

Deby himself took power in 1990 in a rebellion launched from Sudan's Darfur.

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 17,000 illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa leave their countries for South Africa annually, most of them transiting through Kenya, a top U.N. official said on Monday.

Tal Raviv, a regional programme officer at the U.N.'s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told Reuters that conflict and poverty were forcing Ethiopians and Somalis to undertake risky trips to better places.

"We estimate the number of people, specifically Somalis and Ethiopians, going from south central Somalia and southern Ethiopia towards South Africa is between 17,000 and 20,000 men every year," Raviv told Reuters in an interview.

Violence in Somalia has killed some 21,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted a further 1.5 million people.

Southern Ethiopia is also mired in a long-running insurgency against the Ethiopian government, for more autonomy for the underdeveloped ethnic Somali Ogaden region.

"The journey is made possible because of limited border controls all the way to South Africa, but also the fact that you can easily get false documents and pay bribes to move from one place to another," she said.

IOM's 2009 report estimates that sneaking Ethiopians and Somalis into South Africa was a $40 million business.

Police in Kenya's north eastern region said they have stepped up measures to curb human smuggling.