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aljazeera

Glitches has marred voting in the Nigerian Anambra state, with polling stations opening late and hundreds of voters being turned away because their names were missing from the voters' rolls.

Saturday's vote, the first in a cycle of state and federal polls, was seen as a test of whether the country can stage credible presidential elections next year.

The 2007 elections, which brought Umaru Yar'Adua, the incumbent president, to power, were marred by widespread ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the state capital, Awka, on Saturday, said there were mounting complains against Independent National Electoral Commission.

"We've spoken to dozens of people who have said they've been showing up at their polling station only to find that their names are not on the voters' registration list, or that the polling station itself doesn't exist.

"They've been driving around the capital, trying to find a place where they can vote."

Peaceful vote

Ndege said the lack of violence was one of the most positive things to come out of the day.

"There hasn't been a great deal of violence among people voting for different candidates, which was one of the huge concerns of the Nigerian people and why 23,000 police officers were drawn in to cover the election."

Opening of polling stations was delayed across the the southeastern state and various observers reported incidents of vote buying.

A senior Catholic priest, who asked not to be named, told the AFP news agency: "On the whole, it's massively rigged and many people have not been given the chance to vote".

Peter Obi, the incumbent governor, said he refused to vote after finding regularities in the voters' register.

"I came out to vote and found out that in my own polling booth I am the only member of my family whose name is on the register. My brothers and my sisters, every other person's name is not there. This is very, very worrisome," he said.

"Information reaching me is that it is the same case all over the state. The consequence is that if this is allowed to go on, over 80 per cent of the people will be disenfranchised and if that is the case then I will not vote," he said.

Over 1.8 million voters were eligible to cast ballots at 4,623 polling stations scattered around Anambra.

They were choosing between 25 candidates vying for the post of governor.

Powerful governors

Governors of Nigeria's 36 states are powerful as they pick presidential candidates at party conventions. Some of them are also controlling budgets larger than those of entire neighbouring countries.

The governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) led by Yar'adua controls all but eight of the 36 states.

Anambra is one of those that have been in opposition hands.

The election was held amid growing political turmoil in Nigeria. President Yar'Adua has been absent from the country for more than two months, receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Yar'Adua had vowed to improve the credibility of elections in the country after a court decided he should stay in office regardless of the imperfect vote that brought him to
power.

Presidential elections are due in April next year and will see a second successive democratic handover between civilian rulers, after a long period of military rule ended a decade ago.

LAGOS. Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The French government has expressed concern over the extent of destruction and the number of displaced persons in the January crisis in Nigerian city of Jos which claimed many lives.

A statement from the French Embassy reaching here on Saturday said Jean-Michel Dumond, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, made the observation when he donated 25,000 euros to the Nigerian Red Cross relief fund.

The statement said the money, which was handed over to Secretary-General of the Nigerian Red Cross Bello Diran in Jos was to further alleviate the suffering of the victims, particularly children.

The statement said Diran expressed appreciation to the Embassy for the gesture and gave assurance that the Red Cross would use the money to provide for the needs of the victims. "The Nigerian Red Cross has been providing psychological and material supports for the victims, while the displaced families are being reunited through the "Restoring Family Links" program of the society," the statement quoted Diran as saying.

The crisis erupted on Jan. 17 when some youths attacked worshippers at St. Michael's Anglican Church in Nasawara Gwom.

It ultimately turned into a fight between Muslim and Christian gangs.

BEIRUT, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The fuselage of the Ethiopian airliner that crashed into the Mediterranean sea off Lebanon's coast last month have been located, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

The NNA quoted Ghazi Aridi, Minister of Public Works and Transportation, as saying that key parts of the Ethiopian airplane have been located facing Nehme beach, and photographs of these parts have been captured.

An agreement was made between the command of the ship Ocean Alert and Lebanese Armed Forces command to send scuba divers from the Army to retrieve the black box once it is located.

The minister told the local Future News television that the black box recovery should happen within hours of his announcement on Saturday.

He said the black boxes will be sent to the French Investigative Bureau (Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, BEA) upon recovery, adding that the investigation will take some time.

The local New TV reported that the fuselage was located 45 meters underwater, off Nehmeh coast south of Beirut.

The plane, which crashed on January 25, fell into the sea shortly after taking off from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport in thunderstorm.

There is no survivors found, and all 90 people on board are feared dead.

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Danish special forces have stormed a Slovenian cargo ship captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, freeing the ship and its crew of 25.

The 'Ariella' sent out a distress call on Friday reporting that some six or seven pirates armed with guns had boarded the ship and requesting urgent assistance.

The Barbados-flagged merchant vessel was plowing at top speed through one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world with a cargo of 30,000 tons of steel.

Upon receiving the distress call, the Danish warship 'Absalon' dispatched a helicopter with specially trained forces to investigate, said Cmdr. Dan B. Termansen.

He said his forces fired warning shots from the helicopter towards the pirates who were on the deck of the Ariella. After landing on the deck, there was no sign of the pirates or their boat, the commander said.

The crew had locked themselves away in a safe room. A search of the vessel turned up no pirates, and the ship was handed back to its crew.

The Danes are part of a NATO force patrolling the waters off the Horn of Africa where pirates have seized large numbers of merchant vessels in recent years.

The owner of the ship, Splosna Plovba, said in a statement that the Ariella was hijacked "for a few hours" on its way from the Black Sea to Indonesia, the Slovenian state-run news agency STA reported.

Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a North Korean-flagged ship, the MV Rim, in the Gulf of Aden, European Union's anti-piracy naval force said on Thursday.

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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has set new deadlines for two of its hostages, including Frenchman Pierre Camatte (pictured), the SITE monitoring group said. The captors are demanding the release of four militants by Feb.20 for Camatte’s freedom.

AFP - The north African branch of Al-Qaeda has set new deadlines for France and Italy to win the release of two hostages held in Mali, a monitoring service of Islamist websites said Friday.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has threatened to kill six European hostages it is holding, said it had extended its deadline for French captive Pierre Camatte until February 20, SITE reported.

It warned that the French and Mali governments must release four AQIM militants held in Mali to win Camatte's freedom.

"Once this precious additional period comes to an end, we will have done all that we can," the group warned in a communique released on jihadist forums, according to the SITE monitoring service.

For Italian hostage Sergio Cicala, AQIM said it was giving the Italian government 25 days, or until March 1, to meet its demands and release imprisoned members whose names it said have been given to Italian negotiators.

"We ask this government, which is involved in the war against Islam and Muslims, to be well aware that the protection of the life of its citizens requires it to be serious in dealing with our demands," it added.

The AQIM communique failed to mention three Spaniards also being held in the northern Mali desert region, or Cicala's wife, Philomene Pawelgba Kabore, who was captured with him.

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KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's parliament will begin inquiries next week into production sharing agreements (PSAs) signed between the government and foreign exploration companies, a house committee chairman told Reuters on Friday.

The east African country struck oil in 2006 and has five PSAs, but activists say the government signed bad deals that hand a disproportionate chunk of the proceeds to foreign firms and have campaigned for it to disclose those agreements.

Winifred Masiko, chairwoman of the House's natural resources committee, said she had handed details of the agreements over to legal officers so they could go through technical aspects and report to members of parliament.

"Currently there's a range of opinion, some people are telling us Uganda signed bad deals, while some experts insist we have good agreements. We'll look at all these views and determine whether the government signed good agreements or not," she said.

Legislators, she said, would have a chance to look at the PSAs from February 10 but would not be allowed to take copies.

A report by Platform, a British-based environmental advocacy, said in November exploration firms in Uganda would reap excessive profits from their operations.

It said they would make a return on investment of between 31 and 35 percent based on a medium-price oil outlook.

Minister of energy Hilary Onek is expected to appear before the committee on February 16 to defend the contracts.

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RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's state fund plans to cut holdings in financial companies in coming years to focus on a smaller number of core businesses in real estate and tourism, its chief executive said on Friday.

Anas Alami, appointed to head CDG by King Mohammed last June, said the role of the $15 billion fund in strengthening and developing financial companies was complete.

"They are strong and healthy now," he told Reuters in his first media interview since his appointment

"We want to focus on our core business: firstly real estate and urban development and planning. This business is very profitable," Alami said.

"We also continue our development and growth in the tourism industry. It is strategic for Morocco's development and a promising sector to sustain our growth."

The portfolio of CDG, one of the country's biggest funds, includes holdings in paper making, mobile phone camera manufacturing, tourism, real estate, insurance, banking, telecoms and agrobusiness.

"In the past, CDG had a role in strengthening and developing some financial companies and institutions," Alami said.

"CDG plans to get out from some of such institutions. It plans to reduce holdings in financial assets. It wants to lighten and reduce its exposures in some financial assets," he added.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Global attention is turning away from the AIDS epidemic at just the wrong time and means a fresh wave of the disease could infect millions of people in high-risk countries, a leading expert said on Friday.

Alan Whiteside, director of the health economics & HIV/AIDS research division (HEARD) at Kwazulu Natal University said many African countries, where the disease poses the biggest threat, were failing to implement long-term prevention measures and needed help to plan for the battle ahead.

The AIDS threat is still very real in places like Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi and South Africa, he said, and a sense that the international community is ticking it off as "dealt with" is highly risky.

"(Fighting) the AIDS epidemic had a huge amount of support for many years, but there seems to be a perception now that it has been dealt with and we can turn our attention to other issues.

"This is most emphatically not the case in a number of parts of the world. It is not appropriate to turn our backs on it," Whiteside told Reuters in a telephone interview from South Africa, where the disease kills an estimated 1,000 people a day.

Some 33.4 million people in the world have HIV, the sexually transmitted human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Since AIDS emerged in the early 1980s, almost 60 million people have been infected and 25 million have died of HIV-related causes.

Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the worst affected region, accounting for 67 percent of people infected with HIV and 91 percent of all new infections in children, according to United Nations data.

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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish naval ship rescued a Barbados-flagged merchant vessel off Somalia on Friday after it came under attack by pirates, NATO said.

The master of the Ariella had sent out a distress call saying that pirates armed with guns had boarded his ship and he needed urgent assistance, a NATO statement said.

The Danish warship Absalon launched a helicopter, which located a suspected pirate skiff and fired warning shots, Commander Mikael Bill at Danish fleet headquarters said.

The crew had managed to lock themselves away in a safe room, and the warship sent a team of specially trained forces to board the ship and regain control.

A search of the vessel turned up no pirates, Bill said, and the Ariella was being handed back to its crew.

Nobody was injured, Bill said. He had no information about what had happened to the pirates or their skiff.

The Danes are part of a NATO force patrolling the waters off the Horn of Africa where pirates have seized large numbers of merchant vessels in recent years.

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DAKAR (Reuters) - Africa's fight against corruption is being blocked by gangsters at every level of administrations and the campaign is doomed to fail unless presidents themselves spearhead the battle, a top campaigner said.

Nuhu Ribadu, who convicted over 300 corrupt officials and recovered over $5 billion while leading Nigeria's anti-graft drive until falling out with the current administration, said the continent's leadership was hypocritical in its approach.

"If you have an Al Capone as Head of State, an Al Capone as governor of the central bank and Al Capones in every other institution, how can one succeed?" Ribadu said, referring to the American gangster who ran crime syndicates for several decades.

"Unfortunately that is the situation in most African countries today," Ribadu said in a telephone interview from Washington, where he is living in exile and working as a fellow at the Center for Global Development think-tank.

African nations -- from Mauritania in the west, Cameroon in the centre and Kenya to the east -- have launched anti-corruption campaigns, often under pressure from donors who blame underdevelopment on rampant mismanagement.

But Ribadu said such campaigns were riddled with hypocrisy and, citing numerous reports of corruption in police forces and the judiciary, he said it was impossible to "fight corruption with corruption".

"I have arrested an Inspector General of Police, prosecuted him, convicted him and recovered $150 million from him," said Ribadu, who was widely praised while he led Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from 2003 to 2007.

"A leader of the Nigerian police force, a policeman with $150 million. For God's sake how can such a police ever deliver?" he added.

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ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Thousands rioted over Ivory Coast's election preparations on Friday, overrunning security forces in a town in the west of the biggest cocoa-growing nation, officials and witnesses said.

The rioting in Man, close to the Liberian border, was the latest violent protest by youths fearing they would be excluded from voting in a dispute over election lists that risks further delaying polls first scheduled for 2005 and now due in March.

Analysts say elections are a prerequisite for attracting investors and paving the way for reform of the ailing cocoa sector, which saw a drop in production last season.

President Laurent Gbagbo and the opposition are locked in a row over who should run the electoral commission and the composition of voter lists.

The dispute has focused attention again on the question of nationality and eligibility to vote, an issue central to a 2002-2003 civil war which left the West African nation divided in two.

The prime minister called on Burkina Faso's president, who has been mediating efforts to end the political stalemate that followed the war, to help find a solution.

"We were overrun by the mass of people. There were 5,000 of them and the 200 people in charge of security could do nothing," Lacine Mara, a spokesman for the local military commander, said.

"The courthouse was attacked but we were able to save some administrative materials," Mara added.

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LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola will hold a general election in 2012, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said on Friday while signing into law a new constitution allowing him to extend his three-decade-long rule.

"The state should create the conditions for a general election to be held in 2012, the same year the (government's) mandate runs out," dos Santos said in a speech to members of his government and other state officials.

The main opposition UNITA party and rights groups have accused dos Santos, who had promised to hold elections in 2009, of repeatedly delaying the presidential ballot in order to extend his rule.

They also are unhappy with the new constitution, which abolishes the need for a direct presidential ballot as the president will be the head of the list of the winning party in a parliamentary election.

The charter opens the way for dos Santos, 67, who has ruled the African country for 30 years and is the ruling MPLA party's 2012 presidential candidate, to remain in power for two five-year mandates that end in 2022.

"It's clear that the president is delaying elections because he wants to cling to power for several more years," UNITA spokesman Alcides Sakala said.

Angola emerged from a 27-year-long civil war in 2002 to rival Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer. The nation held its first post-war parliamentary election in 2008 in which the ruling MPLA party won 82 percent of the vote.

Dos Santos, branded as the "kid" when he came to power at the age of 37, is the continent's second-longest serving leader after Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. He dominates the nation's political landscape and Angolans refer to him as "the boss."

But he said the new constitution would serve as the basis for a more democratic nation.

"It represents (...) a significant advance in the consolidation of our democratic process and the creation of the conditions for a harmonious and sustainable country," he said.

Although dos Santos never won an election, he narrowly won the first round of Angola's last -- and only -- presidential vote in 1992. The controversial poll re-ignited the civil war that lasted until 2002.

Today, his family and friends hold a huge sway over Angola's economy with stakes in banks, oil firms, and private media groups. The only daily newspaper, Jornal de Angola, is government controlled.

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ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's powerful state governors said on Friday that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan should become acting president and they would urge parliament to pass a resolution to that effect next week.

The governors of Nigeria's 36 states are highly influential figures, some of them controlling budgets larger than those of neighbouring countries, and are key players in party conventions at which presidential candidates are chosen.

"We now agree to meet with the leadership of the National Assembly to pass a resolution recognising the vice president as the acting president," Bukola Saraki, chairman of the Governors' Forum, told reporters after a meeting with Jonathan.

"This action we believe is a way to move the nation forward before the president arrives. This we intend to do next week so that the resolution from the National Assembly will also come out next week," he said.

President Umaru Yar'Adua has been in hospital in Saudi Arabia for more than two months and his failure to formally hand over to Jonathan has brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

Investment decisions in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy have been put on hold, militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta have threatened to relaunch attacks on the oil and gas industry, and state business has slowed with political minds focused on the succession rather than policy.

Rumours have been rife of Yar'Adua's imminent return although few believe he would be fit enough to govern. He has been receiving treatment for a heart condition and has not been seen in public since he left on November 23.

The Senate, former heads of state and lawmakers, the Nigerian Bar Association and opposition have all called for Jonathan to take over as acting president.

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presstv

Zimbabwe's government faces a serious challenge after state employees went on strike Friday, demanding a five-fold increase in their monthly pay of $122 to $206.

The workers are asking for an increase in their salaries to an average of $630 a month.

"The people are agitated. They have lost their patience," said the head of the union of office workers, Cecilia Alexander. "We have no choice. Our members have declared that they are not going to report for work. They will only return to work when the government offers them something serious."

The two-week ultimatum, which was given to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, could create additional obstacles for the government as it struggles to stabilize the country's economy.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the government's civil service pay takes at least 60 percent of the country's revenue, and the current economic crisis makes it difficult to increase salaries.

The head of the Apex Council, which consists of the Zimbabwe Teachers Association and Public Service Association, said the unions rejected a $15 a month raise offered by the government.

"They simply restated an offer which we had rejected before, so we will advise them that this is the position taken by the workers," Tendai Chikowore told reporters.

The 150,000 member public service system faces total collapse as they await a response from the government.

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presstv

Nigeria's ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua finally concedes to handing over power to his deputy as influential state governors call on the parliament to support him.

In a Friday emergency meeting, thirty-six Nigerian governors backed a proposal for the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to temporarily take over the helms of the government and end the political vacuum created by the president's lengthy hospitalization abroad.

The Nigeria Governors' Forum said in a statement that it "resolved to meet the leadership of the National Assembly with a view to urging them to pass a resolution to formally recognize the vice president as the acting president in the interest of the nation."

The Forum also urged the parliament to pass a resolution by next week to recognize Jonathan as the acting president. It also called on all arms of the government to continue giving "full and total support to the acting president until the president returns."

Yar'Adua has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia since November 23, 2009 for an acute heart condition.

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Over 100 people in Nigeria pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism in last month's religious violence in Jos, prosecutors say.

The 108 suspects were charged with conspiracy and possession of illegal firearms on Friday in Abuja. The defendants all pleaded not guilty, the Associated Press reported.

According to Nigerian law, the firearm charge carries a five-year prison sentence while conspiracy to commit terrorism charges carry a life sentence upon conviction.

Hundreds of people died in clashes between Christians and Muslims in Jos in January. The fighting started when Christian youths protested against the construction of a mosque in a district of the city of half-a-million.

Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who took over as president temporarily in the absence of Umaru Yar'Adua, had to dispatch troops to Jos to restore order.

Medical and aid workers and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) say that at least 550 bodies have been recovered so far. The HRW said that most of the victims were Muslims.

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The African Union has criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s decision to consider genocide charges against Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir.

The 53-nation bloc said the ICC's decision will harm the peace process in Sudan.

It also said "justice" shouldn't be sought at the price of peace.

This is after the ICC ordered a review of Bashir's arrest warrant for alleged atrocities in Darfur.

Sudanese officials have denounced the ruling and described it as a politically-motivated move aimed at destabilizing the country.

The indictment against al-Bashir already includes seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Sudan says the ICC move to charge al-Bashir is aimed at stopping democratic process in the African country.

This is the first time in history that an arrest warrant has been issued for a sitting president.

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After the release of a Greek-owned vessel, Somali pirates hijack a North Korean-flagged ship, the European Union's anti-piracy naval force says.

The pirates seized the MV Rim Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden, making the vessel change course and head towards the Somali coast.

The EU force said in a statement that the nationality and the number of the crew members of the cargo ship remained unclear.

The seizure came two days after a Greek-owned vessel and its crew members were released after its owner paid a $3 million ransom to the pirates.

The coast off the mainly lawless Somalia has become a hub for piracy as hijackers seek payments to release ships. The pirates have collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom.

Piracy off Somalia, one of the world's busiest shipping areas, and other coasts of Africa has increased sharply over the past year, earning the pirates millions of dollars in ransom payments while pushing up the maritime insurance rates.

The total number of pirate attacks has increased despite the tightening of security in the Gulf of Eden shipping routes, according to the EU.

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aljazeera

South Sudan's authorities are confiscating all civilians' weapons - including rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers, and rocket propelled grenades - as part of a massive disarmament programme.

The region is less than a year away from a referendum on independence - but violence and instability in the region are increasing.

Last year more than 2,000 people were killed and around 350,000 displaced from their homes in tribal conflicts.

Al-Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from Jonglei - a state flooded with weapons - on how the region's disarmament is crucial for future stability.

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aljazeera



Danish special naval forces have freed all 25 crew members of a Slovenian cargo ship captured by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, an EU naval spokesman has said.

A distress signal from the Ariella was picked up by an Indian warship on Friday that relayed it to a French aircraft which then spotted the pirates and alerted a Danish naval ship that was nearby.

The Danes approached the Ariella in dinghies and scaled the side of the ship to free the crew who had locked themselves in a secure room, Cmdr. John Harbour, the EU naval spokesman, said.

The forces then continued to search the vessel for the pirates.

Warships typically do not intervene in hijackings because of the danger that crews may be hit by crossfire.

Joined forces

Forces were able to intervene in this case because the ship had registered with naval authorities, was travelling along a recommended transit corridor and was part of a group transit, ensuring the ships had a helicopter within 30 minutes' reaction time, Harbour said.

"There's been many instances where there's been excellent co-operation and three, four or even five nations have helped deter a pirate attack, he said.

"But this is the first where a warship has been able to send forces to stop a hijacking while it was in progress."

Denmark rarely releases information on operations carried out by its elite forces, but the storming of the ship may have been carried out by the country's elite Frogman Corps, which were part of a Nato deployment.

"There is an operation going on down there and we're involved. It is still going on right now," Pernielle Kroer, spokeswoman for the Danish navy told the Associated Press news agency.

Other forces have intervened in pirate hostage situations, but not during the hijacking itself.

Details on the nationalities of the crew on board the Arielle and its cargo were not immediately released.

Somali pirates have seized three ships this year and are holding hostage more than 180 crew members and a total of nine vessels.