2010-04-30
KIGALI (Reuters) - Two former Rwandan rebels have claimed they received money to build a new insurgency from presidential hopeful Victoire Ingabire, who has been charged with crimes linked to genocide, the national prosecutor said on Friday.

Ingabire, who heads one of the central African nation's emerging opposition parties, denied she had met either individual or sent them funds.

The accusations may jeopardise her chances of being allowed to register her party and run against President Paul Kagame in August presidential elections, in which he is expected to win another seven-year term.

National Prosecutor Augustin Nkusi said the pair had pleaded guilty to charges of plotting to destabilise Rwanda, belonging to a terrorist organisation and collaborating with Ingabire to launch a new rebel group, the Coalition of Democratic Forces.

"Ingabire met them in the Democratic Republic of Congo and asked them if they could make a force for her. She said she could give them political and financial support," Nkusi told Reuters.

"They are accused of being terrorists because they belonged to the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), and after that they tried to make their own forces: governed, supported and launched by Ingabire," he said.

INGABIRE DENIES SUPPORT

Ingabire told Reuters she did not know either Lt. Col Noel Habiyaremye or Lt. Col Tharcisse Mbiturende. They were arrested in Burundi last year while seeking military support for their insurgency, according to Nkusi.

"I don't have any contact with them. I don't know them ... I don't have any military groups," Ingabire said. "They said I met these people in Kinshasa in March, but in my passport I can show that in March 2008 I was not in Kinshasa."

"If I sent money to them, (the courts) have to provide evidence of when and where I sent this money," she said.

A former accountant who in February returned to Rwanda from The Netherlands after 16 years in exile, Ingabire was last week charged with peddling genocide ideology, ethnic division and collaborating with the FDLR rebels who have destabilised eastern Congo for more than a decade.

Ingabire said the charges were baseless. She was subsequently released on bail but is not allowed to leave the capital Kigali or return home.

Ingabire also rejects allegations made in a 2009 U.N. report linking some of her party members to the FDLR, some of whose leaders were responsible for the genocide.

Since returning to Rwanda, Ingabire's questions over the success of ethnic reconciliation and justice have prompted heavy criticism from the country's largely pro-government media.

They accuse Ingabire of flouting the country's post-genocide constitution which bans sectarianism and acts that could incite conflict or disputes. The law was established in 2008 to prevent inflammatory language which played a major role in fomenting the genocide.

Rights groups say the law is vague and frequently used by the government to stifle legitimate dissent.

2010-04-30
ABUJA (Reuters) - The European Union will not impose trade sanctions against African states under controversial leadership, including Madagascar, for fear of unfairly punishing ordinary citizens, a senior EU official said.

Peter Thompson, director of development for the European Commission's trade arm, said diplomatic pressure through the United Nations and other international organisations remained the best route to seeking political reforms in Africa.

"In the history of EU and (African) relations, we have never, ever used trade sanctions," Thompson told Reuters during a visit to Nigeria's capital Abuja.

"We have never used them because we think trade is helping deliver development to the people, not the government."

Madagascar's former leader, Marc Ravalomanana, last month urged the EU to follow the African Union's lead and impose sanctions on President Andry Rajoelina for failing to install a unity government with opposition groups.

The two are among Madagascar's political elite meeting in South Africa this week for talks on resolving the crisis to avoid a possible military takeover.

"The chances of us ever using trade sanctions against Madagascar are as close to zero as you can possibly imagine," Thompson said.

But, although the EU has not barred trade, it has suspended aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island.

MAIN TRADING PARTNER

The European Union is the main trading partner for most African countries, importing around 40 billion euros of goods each year -- mostly oil, cocoa and diamonds.

The EU is working to finalise major trade agreements with East and West African trading blocs this year.

Thompson said he hoped the East African Community, made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, would sign a new trade deal in the next few months.

East African countries reached an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in 2007, securing EU market access, but later said they would not sign a final deal without firm EU commitments to development aid.

The EPA is meant to replace preferential trade agreements that the World Trade Organisation has struck down.

Thompson said that if an agreement is not sewn up soon, the entire initiative could collapse.

"At some point, the position of having an agreement ... no longer makes sense. The situation becomes increasingly unsustainable, untenable and legally bankrupt."

The EU is also seeking a trade deal with the West African trade bloc, but talks are not as advanced.

A ministerial meeting is planned in the next few months to resolve a number of technical issues between the two sides.

2010-04-30
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The United States and Zanzibar signed a $28.1 million aid package on Friday for financing a power project aimed at alleviating frequent electricity outages in the semi-autonomous islands.

The agreement will finance the manufacture and installation of a new 100 megawatt submarine power cable between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

"This new cable will more than double the capacity of the existing cable that recently broke down," said the statement.

Erratic power supply is hurting the economy of the Indian Ocean archipelago that relies on tourism for more than 25 percent of its gross domestic product and 70 percent of its foreign exchange.

Electrical power was restored to Zanzibar on March 8, three months after the islands were plunged into darkness.

"Adequate and reliable power supply is absolutely vital for this island. It is not only an essential foundation for economic growth and prosperity -- it is fundamental to the very health and well-being of every resident of this island," U.S. Ambassador Alfonso Lenhardt said at the signing ceremony.

He urged the Tanzanian and Zanzibar governments to push forward with policy reforms in the energy sector.

Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume announced in March that his government would invest more than $150 million over the next two years in power projects.

2010-04-30
ABUJA (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant faction on Friday claimed it had attacked a Shell-operated oil facility in the Niger Delta, but the Anglo-Dutch firm denied any such incidents in the area.

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) said it blew up the "Shell Creek manifold" in Buguma in Rivers state late on Thursday to mark the beginning of a new operation.

A Shell spokesman and security sources said they had found no evidence of an attack in the region.

The JRC has in the past claimed attacks which oil firms, the military and security contractors have subsequently been unable to confirm.

2010-04-30
PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - A parliamentary election in Mauritius on May 5 will be closely contested but analysts expect reforms designed to diversify the Indian Ocean island's economy to continue, regardless of who wins.

Both the ruling Labour Party and its opposition Mauritian Militant Movement rivals have campaigned on strengthening the welfare state and social justice in one of Africa's most stable and prosperous economies.

"It is difficult at this stage to say who will win this election though some analysts predict it will be the Labour Party-led alliance," political analyst Jocelyn Low told Reuters.

"The two alliances have said they will both stick to the same economic agenda ... but with more emphasis on poverty alleviation and welfare measures to tone down the liberal policies."

Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam has overseen sustained growth since he was elected in 2005, slashing red-tape to lure foreign investors and weathering the financial crisis better than expected thanks to economic policies praised by donors.

Ramgoolam's Labour Party formed an alliance with the smaller Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) to bolster its support base.

There has been strong speculation that MSM's leader, Pravind Jugnauth, has given his support to the prime minister on the understanding he will become finance minister if they win.

Ramakrishna Sithanen, the incumbent finance minister and architect of Mauritius' reform package, has been denied a ticket to stand in the elections by Ramgoolam.

HUMANISE THE ECONOMY

Mauritius has pitched itself as a bridge between Africa, India and China, with a flourishing offshore financial sector, that has allowed the island nation of 1.3 million people to pack an economic punch above its weight.

But Chandan Jankee, economics professor at the University of Mauritius, said Sithanen's ultra-liberal economic strategy had failed to distribute resources to low income earners.

"A new government will have the responsibility to humanise Sithanen's reforms to ensure that resources trickle down to the mass of the population," said Jankee.

Mauritius, which is located about 500 km (300 miles) east of Madagascar in the southwestern Indian Ocean, is split into 20 constituencies, each with three legislators represented in the National Assembly.

The tiny island of Rodrigues, 560 km further east where infrastructure remains basic, has two representatives in the chamber. Another eight seats are allocated to best losers, to ensure all ethnic communities are represented fairly.

Mauritians are demanding the next government tackle poverty, fight crime and make the Mauritius rupee go further.

"The next government must make it a priority to improve the purchasing power of the population. Inflation is low but we don't feel it when we go to the supermarket," Josian Botte told Reuters in the capital Port Louis.

Some analysts said a Labour Party win would see Rundheersing Bheenick reinstated as governor of the Bank of Mauritius. Bheenick's mandate was not renewed in February after allegations he abused his authority.

2010-04-30
PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma unveiled a new National Planning Commission on Friday tasked with charting a long-term and cohesive development strategy for the continent's largest economy.

Former finance minister Trevor Manuel, now National Planning Minister, will chair the body, whose 25 other members are drawn from as broad a spectrum as possible of South African industry and society.

Although the commission has no executive power it keeps Manuel, a pro-business figure hated by the African National Congress's communist and trade union allies, close to Zuma's inner circle.

Manuel's deputy will be Cyril Ramaphosa, an ex-union leader and ANC member once tipped as a possible future president, but who has largely eschewed government to become one of post-apartheid South Africa's richest black businessmen.

Key figures drawn from a list of 1,280 possibles include Bobby Godsell, a former mining executive and previously chairman of state power utility Eskom, power expert Anton Eberhard and ex-government policy maker Joel Netshitenzhe who resigned last year.

Zuma said the commission would map out South Africa's long-term needs in areas such as water, food, climate change, energy, infrastructure, housing and defence.

"While each of these areas of work relate to an aspect of government's work, the Commission is asked to take an independent, cross-cutting, critical and long-term view," Zuma told a news conference.

The commission was seen as providing a boost for Manuel over left-leaning voices around Zuma.

"Overall it seems to be a victory for Trevor Manuel over the leftist elements of cabinet, but it remains to be seen quite what influence it can have over policy formation. At the least it is a counteracting balance in the policy debate," Peter Attard Montalto, emerging markets analysts at Nomura International, said.

The commission, which will have its own full-time secretariat, would produce a "national vision" document for cabinet consumption in 18 months, Manuel said. The body is first scheduled to meet on May 10 and 11.

2010-04-30
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A landslide in western Kenya after relentless heavy rains has killed 10 people and more may be buried in the mud, the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) said on Friday.

KRC said the latest deaths took the number of people killed by floods and landslides in Kenya so far this year to 100.

El Nino weather patterns across east Africa are blamed for the wild storms that have hit east Africa's biggest economy. A massive landslide in neighbouring Uganda killed scores of people in a remote village in March.

"Ten bodies have been retrieved from the landslide scene and 10 other people have been injured," Nelly Muluka, communications officer for KRC, told Reuters by telephone.

"It is feared that some people have been buried in the landslide but we don't know how many, maybe dozens," she said.

The landslide struck late on Thursday in Kitony village in the Marakwet district of western Kenya, she said. A KRC team is on the scene and has launched rescue operations.

El Nino, which means "little boy" in Spanish, caused abnormally heavy rainfall in 1997/98 in Kenya, where last year severe drought also hampered economic growth.

2010-04-30
ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenya has deployed security agents to its border with Somalia after Islamic clerics announced they had clamped down on the public broadcast of soccer and films, a security official said.

Clerics in the frontier town of Mandera said on Monday they had confiscated a number of satellite TV dishes in a football-obsessed nation ahead of the World Cup because public film dens were corrupting youths.

"Two groups, an undercover team from National Security Intelligence Service and (an) anti-terrorist unit, arrived here on Tuesday night to investigate," a senior local security source who did not wish to be named told Reuters late on Thursday.

The security officer also said another team had been dispatched to Dadaab refugee camp which is home to some 270,000 mostly Somali refugees in the mostly Muslim region.

He said local residents from Mandera, located just a few kilometres from the porous border, claimed al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels in Somalia had made phone calls to congratulate the clerics.

A government spokesman denied the deployment but one leading cleric in Mandera, Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud, said he had been informed of the intelligence officers' arrival.

Mandera district's top civil servant sought to allay fears that hardline Islamist insurgents in southern Somalia might be extending their influence across the frontier and said it was a local security committee that had closed down the video halls.

"The closure of video dens has the government's blessing," said District Commissioner Francis Lenyangume.

Lenyangume said parents backed the move because the dens were frequented by drug pushers and showed pornographic films. Local residents were free to watch the World Cup and satellite TV in their own homes, he said.

Al Shabaab militants control swathes of central and southern Somalia, including much of the area bordering Kenya, enforcing a harsh version of sharia law that includes banning music on radios and amputating the hands of thieves.

Ten percent of Kenya's 39 million people are Muslim and 78 percent are Christian, according to the CIA World Factbook.

2010-04-30
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - French energy group Areva may build a 100 MW solar power plant in South Africa if the project can be included in the national energy plan under discussion in government, daily newspaper Business Day reported on Friday.

The company could start building the concentrated solar power plant between 2011 and 2012, the paper quoted Tom Bartolomei, the group's senior vice president for business development, as saying.

South Africa's vast solar potential is largely untouched due to the high costs of putting up solar power plants, but the country has said its solar thermal power potential was in the tens of thousands of megawatts.

MEKNES, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco plans to lease 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of farmland per year to improve yields, satisfy growing national demand and boost export sales, its agriculture minister said on Thursday.

But Aziz Akhennouch told Reuters the north African kingdom had no plans to join a continent-wide trend of selling farmland outright to foreign companies and governments that want to secure their future food supplies.

Morocco has leased 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) in two batches in the last decade, drawing more than 13 billion dirhams. Some 24 percent of the investors in the 296 farms were foreigners.

"We are offering 21,000 hectares (in the next lease tender) but the goal is to offer 30,000 per year so we are offering 21,000 first and will probably offer another 10,000 before the end of the year," Akhennouch told Reuters in an interview at Morocco's annual agriculture show in the city of Meknes.

He said around 20 to 25 percent of the demand was coming from foreigners and the government "will try to satisfy all operators as agriculture needs its Moroccan farmers but we also need groups with expertise, know-how and the necessary means.

Akhennouch, who is Morocco's Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, played down the prospect of selling farmland outright.

"We are in a logic of partnership, not of selling land but leasing it long enough, for 20 to 40 years, to give investors the visibility they need," he said. "And I think we are succeeding well."

"The comparative advantage of Morocco is that we have real farmers already there when the investor comes along. It's something ancestral and ... profoundly rooted."

WHEAT IMPORTS

Akhennouch this week forecast a 2010 national cereals harvest of around 8 million tonnes, higher than a recent estimate by the country's main grains industry body.

Asked how much grain Morocco would need to import after the harvest to satisfy national demand, he said: "For soft wheat, it will be roughly 36 million quintals."

"I think we will assure supplies for a large part of the year but will have to import in certain months."

The head of Morocco's grain import agency said in January the country would need to import between 1.3 million and 1.7 million tonnes of foreign soft wheat before this year's harvest.

Akhennouch said cereals would remain a vital element in Moroccan agriculture even as the country maximizes production of export crops such as tomatoes, olives and citrus fruit under its Green Morocco Plan.

The government was targeting a national grain harvest of 7.5 million tonnes per year between 2010 and 2020, he said.

"We're talking about an average," he said. "There will be highs and lows, but our goal is to improve yields.

Farming accounts for up 17 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 40 percent of the total workforce.

More than 70 percent of the farmers own just 5 hectares on average, and have scant financial resources to modernize agriculture without aid and new investment flows.

OUAGADOUGOU, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Burkina Faso has offered 5, 000 tons of cereals to Niger to help fight famine, which is threatening nearly half of its 11 million population, according to the government.

The humanitarian aid is a token of friendly relations and good neighborhood between the two African countries and is part of efforts to save the Sahalian children and women being affected by hunger, a cabinet report said on Thursday.

Niger also donated food and other kinds of relief worth 50 million FCFA to help victims of floods in Burkina Faso in September 2009.

Food shortages are currently threatening other countries of the Sahalian strip, including Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali, the UN food agency FAO said in a recent report, calling for international aid to the African countries.

Burkina Faso began to sell cereals at subsidized prices in March in the northern part of the country which was the most affected with the famine.

The World Food Program has opened centers in Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso to distribute free kits of rice, sugar and oil to the most vulnerable households.

ABIDJAN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The special representative of the African Union (AU) in Cote d'lvoire, Ambroise Nyomsaba, met with President of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) Youssouf Bakayoko here on Thursday to discuss the stalled election process.

The presidential elections, which were postponed to late April and early May, are likely to be put off again as time is running out amid continued disputes over the vote list and disarmament.

After the meeting at the CEI headquarters, Nyomsaba said the AU was very much interested in the election process in the West African country.

"The CEI president explained to me the work that is going on and I encouraged him to carry on with the same zeal," he told media.

"It is important to have regular consultations among the actors in this process," said the AU emissary, who has visited CEI twice in the past month.

The people of Cote d'Ivoire and the international community are waiting for the holding of the elections, which have been postponed several times since 2005 and expected to end the country's crisis following an attempted coup in September 2002.

NAIROBI, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A French warship has destroyed a pirate mother ship, some 480 nautical miles east of the Somali coast, EU Naval Force said on Friday.

Naval Force spokesman John Harbour said the French warship Nivose on Thursday boarded and searched the vessels but the pirates were found to have disposed of pirate paraphernalia. "The EU NAVFOR warship Nivose found stopped and searched a mother ship and two supporting skiffs, some 480 nautical miles east of the Somali Coast. The 11 Somali crew of these vessels were taken on board the Nivose, as were the two attack skiffs and the mother skiff was sunk," Harbour said in a statement.

He said the EU Naval Force will continue with its aggressive stance against piracy and the intention to interdict and disrupt pirate activity.

Harbour said over 40 pirate action groups have been disrupted in the last two months showing that the new strategy is working.

According to the world's anti-piracy organization, the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates attacked ships 217 times in 2009, up from 111 attacks in 2008.

Crews have been successfully repelling more attacks, making it harder for pirates to capture ships and earn multi-million-dollar ransoms.

But the pirates have responded more violently. The IBM says only seven ships were fired upon worldwide in 2004, whereas 114 ships were fired upon last year off the Somali coast alone.

Many ship owners are investing in physical defences like stringing razor wire and adding fire hoses that can hit attackers with streams of high-pressure water. Some ships are even having electric fence-style systems installed.

HARARE, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe' s Zanu-PF party is making a two-pronged approach on apostolic faith sects in the country with a view to having all of them immunize their children against killer diseases, while at the same time increasing its support base.

The party's highest decision making body outside congress, the political bureau (in short politburo), decided at its meeting in Harare on Wednesday to push the government to engage the apostolic sects so that they immunize their children against measles.

It also wants the party's commissariat department to mobilize the church to support its programs.

Zanu-PF has begun a massive mobilization drive ahead of possible elections in 2011. Mugabe and MDC leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have intimated that fresh elections may be held next year, with or without a new constitution as had been anticipated.

However, their colleague in the inclusive government Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction, has dismissed the possibility of elections next year, although as a junior partner in the government, his word may not carry the day.

Even though the Zanu-PF says the government should lobby the sects to immunize, the intention goes beyond health issues with the party lately targeting them as a potential support base. It will, therefore, not be surprising to see it using its health and commissariat departments to indoctrinate the sects both politically and health-wise.

Also, given that the minister of health and child welfare in Zimbabwe's inclusive government is from Tsvangirai's MDC party, Zanu-PF will find the use of its own structures to reach out to the sects being the most desirable route. The sects command huge followings, with their numbers increasing everyday.

Zanu-PF entered into a power-sharing agreement with the two MDC factions after losing a lot of ground in the 2008 legislative elections, and the disputed presidential election won by Mugabe after Tsvangirai withdrew from the race. Tsvangirai, who had won the first round but failed to attain 50 percent or more of the vote, withdrew because of the violence that preceded the run-off with Mugabe.

Zanu-PF now wants to reclaim lost glory and is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to do so.

The party's information and publicity secretary told the Herald that the politburo had urged to commissariat department to continue engaging various groups such as the Church to support the party's programs, adding that the government should work with apostolic sects on the issues of measles and hygiene.

All the apostolic faith sects, except probably one (Johane Marange), do not immunize their children against the six child killer diseases - measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, poliomyelitis and neo-natal tetanus - although the government provides the service free of charge. Neither do they visit hospitals and clinics for conventional medical care, leaving their children's fate in the hands of God instead.

An apostolic faith sect member who refused to be named told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday that most sects did not seek conventional treatment because they believed that only the power of God and water could sustain a person's life.

"God looks after the person's life, while water is the life. That is why you see them blessing water which they use to treat each other. That is also why they do not eat a lot of foods, preferring the more natural ones like vegetables and beef.

"They do not want to visit hospitals because they fear that they may eat food contaminated with some foods they are not supposed to eat, such as pork," he added.

Measles, a highly contagious viral respiratory infection that causes high fever, skin rash, running nose, watery eyes and a cough, mainly among children under the age of five, has proved to be the biggest of the killer diseases, with about 98 percent of the deaths occurring among the apostolic sects.

The disease was once brought under firm control in the 1990s, accounting for only one life in 1998, but lack of immunization may result in resurgence because the danger of the disease spreading is very high because vaccination is not 100 percent effective and exposure may lead to infection.

What this amounts to is that some people who immunize their children against the killer diseases end up being compromised by the faith of others who do not see the importance of taking preventive measures.

Some sects have been known to hide away their children during vaccination programs, even running away with the sick on whom they pour "holy water", leaving the authorities helpless because they cannot force the parents to have the children vaccinated against their will.

The law only empowers the minister responsible for health to institute measures that protect everyone in an emergency, but bars the same from forcing people to access a service that prevents them from being threats to public health.

However, Zanu-PF now looks set to use the resistance to its advantage by persuading the sects to come on board and at the same time embrace the part's principles.

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria April 29 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian Gunmen operating in the creek of oil rich Niger Delta region have abducted four officials of the country's National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) along the Aba-Port Harcourt, a security source told Xinhua on Thursday.

The kidnapers also shot dead an operative of the agency, Emeka Obi Wohley, the security source said.

The source said the gunmen are demanding for a ransom of about 110,000 U.S. dollars.

One of the victims, who is heavily pregnant, was released on compassionate ground, the source added.

NAFDAC spokesperson Abubakar Jimoh confirmed the incident to Xinhua on phone.

He described the attack as shocking.

Obi Wohley was said to have traveled to his village in Imo State over the weekend and was expected to be back in the office on Monday morning.

Rivers State police spokesperson Rita Inoma-Abbey told Xinhua that she needed more time to get the details.

She, however, said a middle-aged man, Anayo Prince Wali, was kidnapped at the refuse dump opposite a gas plant along Airport Road, Rumuodomaya, Port Harcourt on Wednesday evening by four gunmen, who operated in a blue Toyota Camry car.

Inoma-Abbey said all police patrol teams were mobilized to search for the gang.

The police spokesperson added that more teams had been drafted to the nearby bush, searching for the kidnappers.

This brings to a total of 13 persons kidnapped this month alone within the Abia and Rivers states.

Abduction is common in Nigeria. Over 300 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed after paying a ransom.

KHARTOUM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) announced that four peacekeepers from South Africa were safely released on Monday after being held in captivity in western Sudan for 16 days.

"We are grateful to have our colleagues back with us. This day would not have been possible, had it not been for the good cooperation of the Sudanese government and the local authorities of South Darfur," said UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari in a statement.

"I am proud of the courage and resilience displayed by our colleagues throughout these trying circumstances," said Gambari, adding that, "I certainly hope that this is the last time that peacekeepers, both military, police and civilians, who are here to bring peace and stability to the people of Darfur, are subjected to such unacceptable ordeals."

The news came a day after a meeting held between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Gambari, at which the Sudanese leader had pledged to do everything possible to assist in bringing about the safe return of the UNAMID personnel.

The statement noted that after undergoing medical examinations, the four released persons, who serve as police advisors in the 26, 000-strong UNAMID, will fly to their home country, where they will be reunited with their families.

The four peacekeepers, two men and two women, were abducted in Nyala on April 11, but the statement did not disclose the identifications of the kidnappers.

The UNAMID took over the peacekeeping mission from the poorly- equipped African Union peacekeeping forces on Dec. 31, 2007 in order to monitor a fragile ceasefire between Sudanese armed forces and rebel groups in Darfur where bloody clashes have lasted for seven years.

KHARTOUM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir said on Monday that he is determined to complete the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and to hold the referendum in southern Sudan at the due time.

The Sudanese president made the remarks in a previously recorded address aired to the nation shortly after the National Elections Commission (NEC) announced his victory in the first multi-party elections in Sudan for 24 years.

Al-Bashir received 6,901,694 votes out of 10,114,301 votes, or 68 percent in the elections, which were held from April 11 to 15, the NEC chairman Abel Alier told a press conference on Monday.

Al-Bashir expressed appreciation of the support offered by the international community for the elections in Sudan by sending nearly 1,000 observers to monitor the polling.

According to the CPA inked by the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement in southern Sudan and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) led by al-Bashir, a referendum will be held in the semi-autonomous southern Sudan in January 2011 to decide the fate of the region.

The Sudanese president said he would conduct consultations with various political blocs in the country to work out ways to overcome the challenges.

In the address, al-Bashir reiterated commitment to implementing the electoral program of his NCP party, saying that "we will live up to the level of the assignment and the trust bestowed on us, with our hearts and minds open for the dialogue with all the other parties to institute for a partnership to face challenges."

The Sudanese leader also thanked the Sudanese people for making the electoral process a success.

Some 400 people gathered inside the headquarters of the NCP in central Khartoum to celebrate the victory of the party in the general elections, with NCP candidates being elected governors in 13 states out of 14 in northern Sudan and a majority in the national parliament.

NAIROBI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- European Union Naval Force said on Monday its warship ESPS Victoria intercepted a pirate action group (PAG) comprising one mother ship, a Whaler, and two skiffs.

EU Naval Force spokesman John Harbor said the suspected pirates were detected by the frigate's helicopter, about 40 miles from the Somali coast northwest of the Seychelles on Sunday.

Harbor said the helicopter crew saw that the mother ship was carrying a large number of fuel drums, and also the normal paraphernalia for hijacking ships (ladders, hooks, among others) as there was no fishing gear on board. "EU NAVFOR warship closed the PAG position and, following the orders of the EU NAVFOR Force Commander Jan Thornqvist, a search was conducted with no opposition from the pirates," Harbor said a statement.

He said the boarding party confirmed the suspicions that these vessels were being used with the intent to carry out acts of piracy.

"All the suspects were then put into one of the skiffs and given the necessary equipment to reach the Somali coast. Victoria then proceeded to destroy the other vessels," he said.

The incident came barely a week after the Somali pirates hijacked three Thai vessels almost 600 miles outside the normal operation area for the EU Naval Force.

The Somali pirates have expanded their range south and east in response to an increase in patrols by European and American warships off the Somali shore.

This was the second event in four days of patrolling in the area. Two whalers were lifted on board of Johan de Witt and five crew members of the whaler were sent safely back to the shore.

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.

NAIROBI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Union Naval Force has seized two Somali pirate boats and yet prevented another pirate group from leaving the Somali coast.

Naval Force said the Dutch warship HNLMS Johan de Witt's weekend seizure was the second event in four days of patrolling in the most dangerous waters of the Somali coast.

"After four days of counter piracy operations, this is the second pirate boat, so called whalers, on her flight deck. A good start for a patrol that was slightly different from others," Major Theo Mestrini said in a statement.

Mestrini said the EU Naval Force spotted a whaler, near the Somali coast which was very close to one of the pirate camps where they had seen activities on Friday night.

"After Commanding Officer approval, we approached the whaler. The crew was totally surprised and looked confused. Soon it was clear that this whaler was equipped to be used for pirating. They were ready to set sail to the ocean, but we prevented it," he said.

He said the incident was the second event in four days of patrolling in the area where two whalers were lifted on board of Johan de Witt and 5 crew members of the whaler were sent safely back to the shore.

HNLMS Johan de Witt is the newest and biggest ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She can operate near the coast, greatly enhancing EU Naval Force's new strategy.

"It's a new concept and to be honest, the ship was not designed for it. But it shows the flexibility of the ship, the craft and, of course, her crew; they are the ones that do the job," Commanding Officer Ben Bekkering said.

The incident came barely a week after the Somali pirates hijacked three Thai vessels almost 600 miles outside the normal operation area for the EU Naval Force.

The Somali pirates have expanded their range south and east in response to an increase in patrols by European and American warships off the Somali shore.

This was the second event in four days of patrolling in the area. Two whalers were lifted on board of Johan de Witt and five crew members of the whaler were sent safely back to the shore.

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.

KHARTOUM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese incumbent President Omar al-Bashir won the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years by obtaining more than 6 million votes, the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC) announced on Monday.

Al-Bashir received 6,901,694 votes, or 68 percent of the votes, in the elections held from April 11 to 15, said NEC Chairman Abil Alier at a press conference.

He announced at the same time that Salva Kiir Mayardit, the chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), was elected president of the southern Sudanese government in the general elections.