201002047
france24

Togo has filed a legal complaint before a Paris court against the African Football Confederation (CAF) for failing to protect its team from a deadly ambush as it travelled by bus to last month's Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.

AFP - Togo has filed a legal complaint against the African Football Confederation (CAF) for failing to protect its team from a deadly attack as it travelled to last month's Africa Cup of Nations, legal sources said Thursday.

Togo's national football team was forced to quit the 2010 African Nations Cup on January 10 after two members of their delegation were shot and killed during an ambush as their bus arrived in Angola's restive enclave of Cabinda.

As Togo grieved the deaths and amid unheeded calls for CAF to cancel the tournament, Togo government officials ordered the team back to the country.

That decision not to participate, however, ultimately led CAF president Issa Hayatou to ban Togo from the 2012 and 2014 editions of the tournament because of "governmental interference".

The CAF's decision was met with widespread astonishment in Lomé and elsewhere.

The state of Togo and relatives of the two victims are now plaintiffs in a suit in a French court targeting the CAF and one of the two rebel groups which claimed responsibility for the attack, whose leader is based in Paris.

Relatives of the two victims hold the CAF responsible for "failing to assure the safety of the team from injury or death," a legal source said, although the French court must still determine whether it has the legal right to act upon the complaint.

The state of Togo also holds the FLEC-PM (Forces for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Military Position) responsible for "acts of terrorism", "assassination and attempts to assassinate".

In January French prosecutors said they may charge Angolan separatist Rodrigues Mingas, a French citizen who claims to be the head of the FLEC-PM, with "praising acts of terror".

20100204
france24

A Nigerian minister has called on ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua to transfer power, a senior official said Thursday, in the first sign of a cabinet split over his prolonged absence from the country.

AFP - A Nigerian minister has called on ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua to transfer power, a senior official said Thursday, in the first sign of a cabinet split over his prolonged absence from the country.

Dora Akunyili, who as information minister doubles as the government's spokeswoman, called on her cabinet colleagues to revoke a decision which said that Yar'Adua was healthy enough to rule.

Nigerian newspapers reported she circulated a memorandum with the request to her ministerial colleagues at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Akunyili was not available for comment early Thursday, but a senior official who declined to be named told AFP: "What is reported in the press is correct."

The president has been receiving treatment for a serious heart condition in a Saudi Arabian hospital since flying out of Nigeria on November 23.

According to the reports, the memorandum asks the government to demand a letter from the president justifying his absence on medical grounds and allowing Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act as "interim president".

Jonathan has been filling in for Yar'Adua but does not possess full executive powers to act as head of state.

The United States, Britain, France and the European Union last week waded into the row over the president's health, lamenting the "uncertainty" caused by the 58-year-old's lengthy absence from the helm of a major oil exporter.

The powers' joint statement came after his hand-picked cabinet deemed him fit enough to remain in office, in response to a High Court demand that the executive body decide on his ability to discharge his duties.

Opposition groups have argued that the president's illness has made him incapable of ruling the country.

The cabinet was reportedly deeply split on the issue, with pro-Yar'Adua ministers saying Akunyili had breached cabinet protocol by submitting a document without a seven-day notice period and demanded she withdraw all copies of the memorandum distributed to ministers.

Newspapers reported that Akunyili outlined several reasons why Yar'Adua should step aside: government business had stalled, key civil service appointments were halted, and the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta had ended a ceasefire because of the lack of progress in peace talks with the government in the president's absence.

The renewed threat posed by the militants was a danger to the country's oil-based economy, she said, according to the reports.

Three separate legal challenges brought by the opposition have centered on the fact that Yar'Adua must inform the legislature by letter if he is abenting himself, so that his deputy can be formally installed as acting president.

However, in one case, the Federal High Court ruled last week that there was nothing illegal about his failure to write to parliament about his absence when he left for Saudi Arabia.

20100204
france24

Chad's President Idriss Deby (pictured) said Wednesday he would travel to Khartoum next week to meet Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, underscoring a thaw in relations between the two neighbours.



REUTERS - Chad's President Idriss Deby said on Wednesday he would travel to Sudan next week for talks, his first visit there in six years of rocky relations between the two oil-producing rivals.

Chad and Sudan have repeatedly traded accusations of supporting each other's rebels, which are mostly based along their remote shared border. Analysts say they have waged a proxy war through these forces since 2005.

"Chad wants to live in perfect harmony with all its neighbours. I will travel on Feb. 8 to Khartoum for talks with (Sudanese President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir," Deby told a group of parliamentarians from Francophone countries, in comments broadcast on Chadian radio.

"I am a man of dialogue and openness. War has never resolved anything and I know what I am talking about," Deby added.

Deby last visited Sudan in 2004 but he has since been repeatedly accused of backing Sudanese Darfuri rebels, who have fought against the central government in Khartoum.

Sudan, meanwhile, has been accused of backing and providing refuge to a plethora of anti-Deby rebel groups, who have launched several lightning strikes on the capital, N'Djamena, nearly ousting Deby in 2008.

Chad and Sudan have signed numerous agreements aimed at halting hostilities between the two nations but they have often collapsed during bouts of fighting on both sides of the border.

The two nations have reinstated ambassadors in a sign of progress during this latest warming of relations.

The conflict in eastern Chad and western Sudan has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and led to international peacekeeping missions in both countries.

Last week, Chad told its United Nations peacekeeping mission, which is protecting aid workers and displaced civilians in the east, to withdraw, ending a mission that the government has always deeply distrusted.
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20100204
africanews

The International Criminal Court still resolute to pursuit a decision it has taken to arrest the Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad AL-Bashir who remains a fugitive of justice.
Bashir
President Al-Bashir has been the president of Sudan since 1993. He is suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur in the past five years. The warrant of arrest for Al-Bashir is the first ever issued for a sitting head of state by the ICC.

According to a press release from the ICC, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) accepted the prosecutor's appeal against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I not to include the crime of genocide in the arrest warrant against President Bashir of Sudan, pointing to an error in law.

‘The Appeals Chamber unanimously reversed ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of March 2009, on the grounds that it applied an erroneous standard of proof. The Appeals Chamber directed the Pre-Trial Chamber to decide anew whether a warrant of arrest should be extended to cover the crime of genocide based on the correct standard of proof,’ the release stated.

Judges insisted that their decision was a decision of procedural law and not a ruling on Al-Bashir’s responsibility for the crime of genocide.

On 14 July 2008, ICC Prosecutor asked the Court to authorize an arrest warrant for three charges: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. On 4 March 2009, the Court agreed to issue an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity but rejected genocide counts because the majority of the chamber found that the material submitted by the Prosecutor failed to provide reasonable grounds to establish that President Al-Bashir had genocidal intent.

This decision was appealed by the Prosecutor on 6 July 2009. In this appeal the Prosecutor submitted that the Pre-Trial Chamber applied the wrong standard of proof when requiring that the ONLY reasonable conclusion to be drawn for the evidence is the existence of reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed genocide.

“Today’s ruling is hugely significant as it could lead to the inclusion of charges of genocide by ICC Judges for a sitting head of state and for the first time in the history of the Court,” explained William R. Pace, Convenor of the Coalition for the ICC – a civil society network in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent ICC and improved access to justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As we speak President Al-Bashir is still evading arrest, despite the charges against him and Sudan’s obligation to arrest and surrender him,” Pace added. “We urge the Sudanese government; ICC states parties, other governments and international organizations to do their utmost to ensure that Al-Bashir faces justice without delay.” he noted.

“The pursuit of justice is extremely crucial for the survival of our hope as Darfuri people, said Niemat Ahmadi, Darfuri Liaison Officer with the Save Darfur Coalition. “It strikes me that many leaders of the world community have repeatedly said ‘never again,’ but sadly have failed to fulfill this commitment, instead allowing the first genocide of the 21st century to continue for more than six years,” she added.


“Today’s announcement makes me confident that the ICC will help uphold this promise. The ICC’s commitment to justice has set a great example for the rest of the international community to follow.”

The investigation into the situation in Darfur, Sudan was officially opened by the ICC prosecutor on 6 June 2005 after a referral to the Court by the United Nations Security Council through Resolution 1593 on 31 March 2005. Since the referral, three public arrest warrants have been issued in the Darfur investigation against Ahmad Muhammad Harun, Ali Kushayb and Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir.

None of the three outstanding arrest warrants have been executed as the Sudanese government has openly defied and consistently refused to cooperate with the Court and the international community.

A summons to appear was also issued for Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, who first appeared in Court on 18 May 2009. A decision is still pending on whether or not to send his case to trial.

20100205
africanews

Egyptian border police shot dead two African migrants who tried to escape into Israel through the Sinai border, bringing the number of migrants killed this week to four. Police sources say they refused orders to stop. They were a 26-year-old Eritrean and a 27-year-old migrant of unknown nationality.
Egypt map
Another migrant from Eritrea was critically injured by police as the clandestine group attempted to reach Israel, AFP reported on Thursday.

Observers say increased violence at the border is partly due to the increasing popularity of the route, seen as safer than risking passage by sea from Libya to Europe.

Egyptian Police say they have detained another five Eritreans and three Ethiopians who tried to get into Israel on Wednesday.

Dozens of unarmed Africans, many from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, seeking work or asylum in Israel were killed by Egyptian border guards last year, while five have died this year.

Israel has been pressuring Egypt to clamp down on the traffic, with a recent approval of the construction of barriers along the two countries' 155-mile border.

20100205
africanews

The main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital of war-torn Somalia, lacks orthopedic specialists required to treat the increasing number of patients losing their limbs as a result of insurgent attacks in the country. Hospital authorities said most of those awaiting treatment are young.
Guled Hussein25
"30 of them need specialized treatment that is not available in the country," Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital told IRIN news.

Hundreds of patients have been unable to access orthopedic treatment since 2009 and only few can afford specialized treatment, Yusuf said. "98 percent of the patients are too poor," he said.

He said 95 percent of the wounded people treated in Madina hospital were victims of gunshots and missiles shelling.

45 percent have limb injuries; 9 percent have chest wounds, 8 percent head injuries and 8 percent stomach injuries, according to Yusuf.

Broken bones

He added: "We treat and sometimes operate on those with stomach wounds but injuries of the legs are problematic to treat here because we don't have an experienced orthopedic doctor to reconstruct broken bones.

“The most difficult cases involve injuries where a bullet hit the bone, causing fragmentation. Reconstruction using special metal is required but at the moment we do not have a doctor specializing in this sector in the country."

The International Committee of the Red Cross is the main provider and supplier of medicine for the hospital but only few foreign doctors from Qatar are working in the maternity sector of the hospital.

The number of wounded children was also increasing. Yusuf said most of them were victims of artillery shelling.

20100205
africanews

Parliament in Guinea Bissau has been asked to question former Prime Minister Aristides Gomes over missing drugs that had been seized from drugs dealers.
cocaine_coke
Gomez who fled Bissau after the killing of former President Joao Bernardo Vieira, a close ally of his, and has since been living in neighboring Senegal, has expressed concern over his safety on return to the country.

The exiled former PM served in that capacity from 2005-07. It was during this time that more than half a ton of seized cocaine reportedly went missing.

The state prosecutor's office made the disclosure on Wednesday, according to an AFP report.

Also expected to be questioned are other key former political heavyweights, a former finance minister and a former junior interior minister.

A total of 674 kilogrammes of cocaine went missing from the public treasury building in 2006. The country’s newly-appointed chief prosecutor, Michel Amine Saad, wrote to parliament for this arrangement to question all three who are now members of the national assembly.

The cocaine was said to have been seized in an outlying area of the capital Bissau in April 2006. According to report, it was transferred to the Public Treasury on grounds of security concern, from where it mysteriously disappeared.

Gomes is reported to have said that he had already been interviewed by prosecutors over the disappearance of the drugs, expressing fears about his safety.

"I fear that the file will be politicized, which is why I must be prudent. If I must go to Bissau, it must be under protection, to an embassy for example," News24.com quoted the former PM.

Involvement of high profile authorities remain the biggest obstacle to solving the problem of drugs in this war-torn country that is just about fixing its broken state apparatus.

20100205
africanews

There is no basis to form a United States of Africa (USA) when there is no unity among the various governments on the continent, stated the newly elected Africa Union Chairman Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. He said it was "nonsense" to pursue that dream adding his predecessor Muammar Gaddafi pushed it too far.
bingu mutharika
“Why should we create one Africa when in our countries and our regional groupings we are not united? Libya is pushing these matters too much,” the Malawian president told the local press upon his arrival from the AU Summit in Ethiopia.

He added: “We all know why Gaddafi wants the formation of OAU now; it is because he wants to be the first leader. Some of us don’t like other things but we choose to be silent deliberately. We just look at other things when we know they are nonsense.”

Diplomatic row

Ahead of the Summit, a diplomatic row brewed over who was suitable to man the affairs of the AU. The Libyan leader’s backers, including their northern allies Tunisia, argue that the AU chairmanship – faced by a US$ 1.3bn deficit for its programmes – needs someone with demonstrable financial muscle like Kadhafi.

However, the Malawian President said the southern African country was qualified to lead the AU and that he was ready to take up the mantle. “The chairmanship of the African Union is rotational,” Mutharika told journalists before departing for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the summit at which he was earmarked to take over the chairmanship of the continental grouping from the Libyan leader, Kadhafi.

He said: “The Southern African region, through SADC (the Southern African Development Community), has elected Malawi and therefore we are looking forward to be nominated.”

West African giant Nigeria joined other countries to back the candidacy of Mutharika according to the Vanguard newspaper.

20100205
africanews

About 11 million people in Sudan will need food aid in 2010 because of conflict, drought and high food prices in the country, the Rome-based World Food Programme said. The number of the people needing food aid in South Sudan has also increased from about one million in 2009 to over 4.3 million this year.
aid
“One is the drought and the second factor is inter-tribal conflicts,” WFP Southern Sudan Coordinator Leo Van Der Veldon told reporters.

The drought also affected Kenya, parts of Uganda and Ethiopia but the ongoing violence have gotten worse of the situation.

The heavy rains has blocked roads and also stopped food aid from agencies, according to Van der Veldon. The agency was planning 50,000 metric tonnes of grain and oil for millions who would need it when the rains start.

The fighting between rival ethnic groups in Southern Sudan has killed over 2,500 people in 2009 and 350,000 people fled from their houses, WFP said.

Clashes between rival tribes happen repeatedly in south Sudan because of disagreements over natural resources. However, children and women have been the main targets of the recent attacks.

20100205
africanews

The Ethiopia government declared that 5.2 million people will need food this year and appealed to international aid agencies to bring emergency aid in the country. The country needs 642,983 metric tons of food from international donors due to the drought.
Dassanech elders and boy - Ethiopia
Ethiopia has already received more than half of its plea and now requires about 246,771 tons of aid worth $188 million, according to a statement from the government and aid agencies sent to reporters on Wednesday.

Most of the people who need relief live in the southeastern region near the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia.

The region which has witnessed a number of clashes between rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front and Ethiopia military is under the control of the military.

About 5.2 million people would be in need of food this year according to August 2009 estimation.

International donors gave Ethiopia more than 550,000 tons of emergency food aid last year, reports said.

PRESS TV

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says almost half of the population in Sudan's southern region is facing food shortages.

The UN's emergency food agency said in a statement on Tuesday that the number of people facing food shortages had quadrupled in only a year.

It added that a total of 4.3 million people need food aid in the oil-producing south, up from around 1 million last year.

According to the WFP, the shortage is caused by internal conflict and seasonal drought. The agency also expresses hope that it can provide the aid needed by the people across the region until the next harvest.

However, the WFP notes that its program, which aims to reach millions of people across Sudan, is facing a shortfall of half-a-billion dollars.

A surge in tribal fighting killed more than 2,500 people and led 350,000 more to flee their homes last year.

PRESS TV

At least two people have been killed and 13 others injured after two markets were burnt down in Mogadishu and Hiiran regions.

The first fire lasted five hours after a shop selling fuel was hit by mortar shell and caught fire inside Mogadishu's Bakara Market, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The fire destroyed many shops inside the market, causing many local merchants to lose their businesses, before it was extinguished by several firefighters.

The second fire broke out in a market in the Boco district of Hiiran region.

The year-old government of the Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been battling two militant groups since May.

The two groups have vowed to topple Ahmed, launching relentless attacks aimed at seizing control of the capital and parts of the central and southern Somalia.

aljazeera



Nigeria's main armed group has said it was not directly responsible for the sabotage of an oil pipeline that forced Royal Dutch Shell to shut down three pumping stations in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The Movement for the Emancipaton of the Niger Delta (Mend) said they did not attack the Trans-Ramos pipeline that is run by Shell's Nigerian subsidiary.

"Mend was not directly responsible," the group said in an email to Reuters news agency on Monday.

"It was certainly a response to our order to resume hostilities by one of the various freelance groups we endorse," the statement said.

Shell said on Sunday the sabotage had caused some oil to spill into the Niger delta's creeks and that it was in the process of recovering spilled crude.

"We are monitoring the situation and will issue a statement [on our investigation of the sabotage] when appropriate," Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy Antigha from the joint military taskforce responsible for policing the Niger delta, said.

On Saturday Mend called off a three-month-old ceasefire in the Niger delta and threatened to unleash "an all-out assault" on Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, saying it could no longer trust the government to negotiate demands for greater control of the region's natural resources.

Mend's threat to resume hostilities could not have come at a worse time for Nigeria.

Umaru Yar'Adua, the Nigerian president, has been in hospital in Saudi Arabia for more than two months and has failed to formally transfer powers to Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, raising fears of a constitutional and political crisis in the country.

Selling out

Shell said on Friday it was selling its stake in three Nigerian onshore oil licences.

The oil company said it remained committed to Nigeria and the move was part of its "active management" of global interests, but some analysts believe the decision will have been coloured by the country's political environment and continued insecurity.

Peter Voser, the chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch company said recently the company no longer relied on Nigeria for its growth.

Yar'Adua was the driving force behind the amnesty programme last year which saw thousands of armed fighters hand over their weapons.

Community leaders had warned his prolonged absence was stalling the programme and forcing former fighters to re-think their participation.

Attacks by armed fighters and disgruntled community members on Nigeria's oil sector in the past few years have prevented it from producing much above two-thirds of its capacity, costing the country about $1 billion a month in lost revenues.

aljazeera

The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's Darfur region.

According to UN estimates, around 35,000 people have been killed there since 2003 and a further 300,000 have died from hunger and disease and some 2.7 million were displaced.

The following is a timeline of the International Criminal Court's involvement in Sudan over the Darfur conflict:

January-March 2005 - A United Nations report accuses the government and militias of systematic abuses in Darfur, but stops short of calling the violence genocide.

The UN Security Council votes to refer those accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague.

February 27, 2007 - Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC chief prosecutor, names two war crimes suspects, Ahmed Haroun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, in Darfur. Sudan says the ICC has no jurisdiction.

May 2, 2007 - ICC judges issue their first arrest warrants for the suspects. Sudan rejects the warrants.

July 14, 2008 - Moreno-Ocampo asks judges for an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, on crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.

July 16, 2008 - Arab League says it is concerned at moves to indict al-Bashir. African Union later urges UN Security Council to suspend any indictment.

November 20, 2008 - ICC chief prosecutor requests arrest warrants for Darfur rebels for the first time, accusing them of storming an African Union camp and killing 12 peacekeepers.

March 4, 2009 - The ICC issues an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, making the Sudanese president the first acting head of state to be indicted. He is also the most senior figure pursued by the court in The Hague since its inception in 2002.

The court rules that al-Bashir cannot be prosecuted for genocide, saying Moreno-Ocampo failed to reasonably prove the Sudanese president had genocidal intent.

Al-Bashir responds by expelling 13 international aid organisations, accusing them of working with the ICC on the arrest warrant. Three local groups are also shut down.

July 3, 2009 - Leaders of the African Union say they will no longer co-operate with the ICC and will not arrest and extradite the Sudanese president.

July 6, 2009 - Moreno-Ocampo appeals the court's ruling not to prosecute al-Bashir on charges of genocide. He argues that the decision to prosecute al-Bashir for genocide does not depend exclusively on whether it can be proved that the Sudanese head of state had genocidal intentions.

February 3, 2010 - The ICC to decide whether or not al-Bashir should be charged with genocide.

aljazeera



The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is to decide whether to charge Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, with genocide against non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.

The decision, expected on Wednesday, follows the Netherlands-based court's indictment last year of al-Bashir on seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC judges decided last March against charging al-Bashir with genocide due to a lack of evidence.

But Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC's chief prosecutor, appealed that decision in July, arguing that prosecuting al-Bashir for genocide did not depend exclusively on whether it could be proved that the Sudanese head of state had genocidal intentions.

Sudan's government has persistently denied the accusations, and al-Bashir has said the warrant against him is "all lies". He also says the ICC has little power to enforce the arrest warrant.

Al-Bashir is the first acting head of state to be indicted by the ICC, and is the most senior figure pursued by the court in The Hague since its inception in 2002.

'Weak' position

The Arab League last year issued a statement rejecting al-Bashir's indictment, while the African Union has said it will no longer co-operate with the ICC over the arrest warrant.

Hassan Meki, the chancellor of the International African University in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, says the ICC currently finds itself in a very weak position.

"The African Union is behind Bashir, the Arab [League] is behind Bashir, and countries of the Non-Aligned [Movement] are behind Bashir," he told Al Jazeera.

"They think this is a vague and a false accusation against a legitimage president, and they think that at this time, something like that will disturb the process of democratisation [in Sudan]. And Africa needs peace - not more problems, not more wars, not more tests."

According to UN estimates, around 35,000 people have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region since 2003, a further 300,000 have died from hunger and disease, and some 2.7 million were displaced.

However, the Sudanese government puts the number of people killed in the violence around 10,000.

Millions hungry

The United Nations, meanwhile, has announced that the number of Sudanese in need of food aid has spiked this year, as compared to last year number's of 4.3 million needy.

Around 11 million people are now reportedly in need of food aid across Sudan, with around half of all South Sudanese going hungry.

The UN has cited drought and tribal conflicts as causing the crisis.

The UN's World Food Programme is also facing a total deficit of $485 million needed to fund food aid this year.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) - The African Union (AU) Assembly on Tuesday stressed that the Maputo Agreement and the Addis Ababa Additional Act on Madagascar is the only roadmap for a comprehensive solution to the political crisis in the country, and urges for their speedy implementations.

According to a draft decision on Madagascar by the AU Assembly obtained by Xinhua after the 14th AU summit, the assembly expressed "deep concern" over the continuing political crisis in Madagascar, while urging illegal regime in Madagascar to desist from attempts to impose unilateral solutions to the current crisis.

Meanwhile, the assembly recognized efforts by the AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to restore the constitutional order in the island country.

The pan-African bloc also appealed to the international partners to continue to extend full support to the efforts made towards the solution of the crisis.

Madagascar was plunged into a political crisis in December 2008, when the government led by then President Marc Ravalomanana shut down a TV station owned by Rajoelina, then mayor of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.

After waves of political protests against the government, Ravalomanana handed over the presidential power to the military in March 2009. Rajoelina then assumed executive power from the military and declared himself president of the High Transitional Authority, confronting international pressure and opposition.

The unconstitutional change of government in the Indian Ocean Island was condemned by the European Union (EU), the United States and other international organization. The SADC suspended Madagascar's membership, denouncing the change of government there as a coup.

After negotiations brokered by international mediators, Rajoelina signed power-sharing agreements with the three other Malagasy political parties in Maputo, Mozambique, last August.

But the agreements were torn up late last year by Rajoelina, who cancelled the appointment of a consensus prime minister and replaced him with senior military officer Colonel Camille Vital. He also unilaterally announced the plan to hold elections in the country in March 20, 2010, which was rejected by his rivals and international mediators.

The three-day AU summit ended here in the Ethiopian capital Tuesday, with African leaders reaching agreements on a series of issues including making joint efforts in developing the continent' s information and communication technologies, maintaining Africa's peace and security while preventing unconstitutional changes of government, as well as putting food security as one of the top priorities in the development agenda.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) - The African Union (AU) Assembly on Tuesday stressed that the Maputo Agreement and the Addis Ababa Additional Act on Madagascar is the only roadmap for a comprehensive solution to the political crisis in the country, and urges for their speedy implementations.

According to a draft decision on Madagascar by the AU Assembly obtained by Xinhua after the 14th AU summit, the assembly expressed "deep concern" over the continuing political crisis in Madagascar, while urging illegal regime in Madagascar to desist from attempts to impose unilateral solutions to the current crisis.

Meanwhile, the assembly recognized efforts by the AU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to restore the constitutional order in the island country.

The pan-African bloc also appealed to the international partners to continue to extend full support to the efforts made towards the solution of the crisis.

Madagascar was plunged into a political crisis in December 2008, when the government led by then President Marc Ravalomanana shut down a TV station owned by Rajoelina, then mayor of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.

After waves of political protests against the government, Ravalomanana handed over the presidential power to the military in March 2009. Rajoelina then assumed executive power from the military and declared himself president of the High Transitional Authority, confronting international pressure and opposition.

The unconstitutional change of government in the Indian Ocean Island was condemned by the European Union (EU), the United States and other international organization. The SADC suspended Madagascar's membership, denouncing the change of government there as a coup.

After negotiations brokered by international mediators, Rajoelina signed power-sharing agreements with the three other Malagasy political parties in Maputo, Mozambique, last August.

But the agreements were torn up late last year by Rajoelina, who cancelled the appointment of a consensus prime minister and replaced him with senior military officer Colonel Camille Vital. He also unilaterally announced the plan to hold elections in the country in March 20, 2010, which was rejected by his rivals and international mediators.

The three-day AU summit ended here in the Ethiopian capital Tuesday, with African leaders reaching agreements on a series of issues including making joint efforts in developing the continent' s information and communication technologies, maintaining Africa's peace and security while preventing unconstitutional changes of government, as well as putting food security as one of the top priorities in the development agenda.

20100202
PRESS TV

The UN refugees agency says last month's fighting between Somali government troops and fighters has claimed almost 260 civilian lives.

The agency added that January had been deadliest month in Somalia since August 2009.

"Violence in Somalia sharply escalated in January, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and widespread destruction," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said Tuesday.

Last month's clashes, which broke out over the control of the country's central regions, have also wounded 253 people and displaced over 80,000 Somalis.

Some 18,000 fled their homes in the capital city of Mogadishu, the UNHCR said.

The agency added that Somalis were now suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil strife in the face of insufficient aid hampered by "the deteriorating security conditions."

The year-old government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been battling two militant groups since May.

The two groups have vowed to topple Ahmed, launching relentless attacks aimed at seizing control of the capital and parts of central and southern Somalia.

20100202

(Xinhua) – Kenya expects to gain full benefits from the Chinese government's eight new measures of promoting Sino-African cooperation, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said during an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Monday.

Kenya wants to benefit from the measures in areas such as agriculture, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), infrastructure development, energy and environment, said Wetangula, who is here to attend the 14th African Union (AU) summit held in the Ethiopian capital.

The Chinese government announced eight new measures aimed at promoting pragmatic Sino-African cooperation at the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt last November.

The measures included, among others, intensification of technical-scientific cooperation, reinforcement of African financial capacities and increased access of African products to the Chinese market.

Kenya is going to be "on the fast-lane" to make sure these measures bring benefits to the country, said Wetangula.

To this end, responsible ministers of the Kenya government will consider the eight-point plan and make respective efforts to ensure its implementation in Kenya, he said.

In particular, Kenya is hoping to gain benefits from China's technological development to help achieve its goal of becoming a medium-income country by the year 2030, said the foreign minister.

China has made tremendous progress in technological development, he said. "We want to move now to a level where the cooperation is not limited to programs and projects but also technology transfer," said Wetangula.

"It's a lesson we can learn. It is a path we can follow. It is an experience we can benefit from," said Wetangula. Therefore, in the next level of cooperation, Kenya will focus on how China can start some of its industrial development programs in Kenya, with the manufacturing of goods and provision of services, he said.

Referring to the theme of the summit "ICTs in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development," Wetangula said ICTs is now the engine of development for any country, adding that Africa must be held onto the communication highway if it wants to rise from abject poverty and rural backwardness and catch up with the rest of the world.

The three-day AU summit gathered heads of state and government of more than 50 members of the bloc to assess the achievements and challenges of Africa's ICTs sector, and map out relevant development strategies. The leaders will also discuss issues of major concerns in the continent, including regional conflicts, Africa's political and economic integration, climate change and Africa's stance on UN reforms, among others.

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(Xinhua) -- A ransom for the release of cargo ship MV Filitsa has been sent to Somali pirates, according to agencies' reports on Monday.

The reports said the agreed ransom was airdropped by helicopters onto the cargo vessel held by the pirates, but the ship had not been freed immediately.

Armed Somali pirates hijacked the Greek-owned ship with crew members last November in the attacks along the world's most dangerous waters.

Andrew Mwangura, the coordinator of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), had said the Marshall Islands-registered MV Filitsa was captured about 513 miles off north of Seychelles with three Greeks and 19 Filipinos on board.

The Horn of Africa nation's coastline is considered one of the world's most dangerous stretches of water because of piracy. ? Somalia 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 has not had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former ruler Mohammed Siad Barre.