20091219

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab rebels on Saturday ordered men to grow long beards, shave their moustaches and wear their trousers above the ankle.

It is the first time in the lawless Horn of Africa country that the insurgents, who seek impose a strict form of Islamic sharia law, have focused on men's appearance, having previously ordered women to cover their entire bodies, and banned bras.

"We are ordering all men in Kismayu not to shave or trim their beards, but shave the moustache," Sheikh Ibrahim Garweyn, a senior Al Shabaab official for the public awareness in the southern Somali port town, told reporters on Saturday.

"We will never accept to see men with long beards and moustaches together. They have three days to follow the order."

The group, which Washington says is an al Qaeda proxy, has already banned musical ringtones, dancing at weddings and playing or watching soccer.

Al Shabaab has carried out executions, floggings and amputations to enforce its rulings, mainly Kismayu.

The group is battling the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed for control of Mogadishu, and is fighting a another Islamist militia -- Hizbul Islam --in the provinces.

Al Shabaab also ordered men to wear their trousers above the ankle. "They have 15 days to follow the order," Garweyn said.

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's political opposition and environmentalists described the controversial Copenhagen agreement on climate change reached by five powers, including South Africa, in Denmark at the weekend as "not acceptable," the South African Press Association reported on Saturday.

Gareth Morgan, spokesman on the environment for the official opposition Democratic Alliance, said the deal spearheaded by U.S. President Barack Obama "lacks ambition" and marginalised developing countries.

"The accord is not acceptable as it stands," he said, adding it was not a surprising outcome and not an outright failure.

But the agreement was short enough on specifics to allow wiggle room for the developing world, he said. Earthlife Africa, a environmental lobby group based in Johannesburg, also expressed disappointment.

"We have got something which is very disappointing, and nowhere near what we were hoping for," Richard Worthington, Earthlife's spokesman on climate change said by telephone from Copenhagen.

The U.S., China, India, Brazil and South Africa struck an agreement that recognizes global warming should be kept under two degrees centigrade and promises aid to developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change. But it does not commit to specific target on reducing the emissions that cause warming.

The agreement promises 30 billion U.S. dollars in aid to the developing world over the next three years but is less committal on long-term aid, expressing 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 as an aim, not a pledge.

Some developing countries, particularly Latin American states, expressed anger at being presented with a done deal that was nevertheless grudgingly endorsed as a basis for further negotiations by most of the 192 nations at the conference.

EL FASHER, Sudan, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) - Governor of Sudan's North Darfur State Osman Mohamed Yousif Kibir on Saturday said security and humanitarian situation in Darfur has greatly improved, compared to previous years.

Kibir made the remarks as he was addressing the opening sitting of Darfur international conference on human rights, which kicked off in North Darfur State's capital of El Fasher Saturday.

"There is an obvious and positive change in Darfur in 2009 compared to previous year where Darfur conflict is now represented in three aspects including foreign interventions, personal ambitions for some rebel leaders and misleading media", Kibir said.

The Sudanese official further affirmed importance of the conference, saying "this conference would confirm the positive development of security and humanitarian conditions in Darfur and correct some misconceptions about the situation in the region".

Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Hassabo Mohamed Abdul-Rahman, addressing the conference, stressed commitment of the government to human rights in Darfur and in all parts of the country.

"Human rights is not a western theory but Islamic that has been called for by all divine laws", he said.

Haytham Manna, President of International Bureau for Humanitarian Non-governmental Organizations and Spokesperson of Arab Commission for Human Rights, for his part, stressed importance of making a success voluntary return program in Darfur and enabling the displaced people to return to their home areas.

The two-day conference, which is organized by the Sudan Human Rights Group and the Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, would discuss two working papers on the impact of armed conflicts on implementing human rights in Darfur, and role of humanitarian workin peace building and resettlement.

A number of human rights activists from inside and outside Sudan take part in the conference, which is organized as part of Sudan's celebrations for the International Human Rights Day.

LAGOS, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed the explosion which was carried out on Saturday on a major Shell/Chevron crude pipeline in southern Rivers State.

The strike which came as a warning was carried out by five boats involving 35 fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy caliber machine guns.

The MEND disclosed in an e-mail sent to media organizations that the attack was carried out for the following reasons: The Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick president but it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and re-tooling of troops in the region to the presidents ill health.

A situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and well being of the president is unacceptable, the group said.

The statement added that the MEND is committed to continuing its fight for the restoration of the land and rights of the people of the Niger Delta and the indefinite ceasefire ordered by the group on October 25 will be reviewed within 30 days from this Saturday.

Sources confirmed that the strike which came after a two-month truce on strikes on oil installations by militants was targeted at a Shell/Chevron crude pipeline in Abonemma, Rivers state of Nigeria.

Analysts said that it is not a good sign for the amnesty program of the Nigerian government, which has achieved remarkable progress in the past two months.

The Nigerian government offered an amnesty to gunmen this June in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, urging them to lay down their weapons by Oct. 4 in a bid to end the unrest which has cost the African top oil exporter billions of dollars in revenue.

Over 8,000 Nigerian armed youths gave up their weapons and embraced the amnesty offered by the Nigerian government in the most concerted effort yet to end years of fighting in the oil-rich producing region.

The success of the amnesty and disarmament policy spawned immediate results recently when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation announced that the country's crude production per day had risen to 2.4 million barrels, including condensates, since relative peace returned to the Niger Delta.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua fell ill and left for Saudi Arabia for treatment on Nov. 24, which has delayed major progress in the implementation of post-amnesty programs.

NAIROBI, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The outgoing year of 2009 saw by far the most deadly and numerous violent attacks by radical Islamist insurgents in Somalia against the Somali government and the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu, capital of the war-torn country, showing growing level of sophistication of insurgents' tactics.

INCREASING SUICIDE ATTACKS

Iraqi/Afghan-style suicide attacks, using car bombs and explosive vests, as well as roadside bombs and targeted assassinations of senior officials, were increasingly used by Islamist rebels in the past year.

The fragile Somali government faced the latest and so far deadliest single suicide attack on its rank on Dec. 3, when three senior ministers, as well as dozens of civilians, were killed in a suicide bomb explosion which struck a graduation ceremony at a hotel in a government-controlled area in southern Mogadishu.

Although the government lay the blame for the attack on Islamist insurgents opposed to it, both of the two main Islamist rebel groups distanced themselves from any involvement with the attack, which bore all the hallmarks of Islamist insurgent attacks.

Early this year, on Jan. 24, a suicide car bomb, apparently aimed at African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) in southern Mogadishu, killed 15 civilians and wounding thirty others.

On Feb. 22, another suicide car bomb attack targeting an AU military base in Mogadishu killed at least 11 peacekeepers from the Burundian contingent of the AU forces.

In mid March, two roadside bomb exploded as AU peacekeepers were on an early morning minesweeping operation in the south of the Somali capital, injuring one of the troops.

Another suicide attack on Sept. 17 by Islamist rebels on the headquarters of AU forces in Mogadishu left 17 peacekeepers dead while 29 others were wounded. AMISOM deputy commander Maj. Gen. Juvenal Niyonguruza, from Burundi, was among those killed while former AMISOM commander Gen. Nathan Mugisha, from Uganda, was also wounded in the blast.

Suicide attacks and roadside bombs also known as Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been increasingly used by radical groups following the ouster of an Islamist movement from power in late 2006, when two of the first suicide bombings were reported in Baidoa, where the government was based at the time.

Targeted assassinations against government officials and other high profile people, including business and religious leaders suspected of sympathizing with the government, have been employed by radical Islamists to eliminate opponents and people suspected of spying.

TRANSFER OF TACTICS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Al-Shabaab, the largest and most powerful of the two main insurgent movements, is considered by the Somali government and others in the international community to be a "terrorist" entity.

The secretive movement, which mainly controls and operates in the south-central part of the Horn of Africa nation, claimed or was alleged to have carried out almost all the terrorist-style attacks on the Somali government and African Union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu.

The group, which has shown an increasing tendency of using car bombs, explosive belts and the infamous roadside bombs, was seen as transferring terror tactics and technology from foreign radical groups to local insurgents, some experts observe.

Juan Zarate, the former U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Terrorism, said that Somali rebel groups' capabilities were strengthened by the transfer of technology and the know-how from other groups with similar ideology in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"People are very concerned that technology from Iraq and Afghanistan is being transferred to Somalia," said Zarate, who is now a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The large swathes of territory controlled by the radical groups also makes it easy for the rebel movements, particularly Al-Shabaab, to set up training camps for their recruits, who are mainly young people and "very impressionable", willing to carry out any "gruesome act of violence" against what they perceive as "infidels" and the "puppet apostate government" imposed on their country, said Hussein Isse, an independent security analyst in Somalia.

"The recent trend for the militants has increasingly been that they recruit from the young impressionable people and giving them training to use firearms and build bombs in camps in the every expanding territory under their control, which gives them enormous potential to plan and wage sophisticated and coordinated deadly attacks on their targets," Isse told Xinhua.

NO END OF VIOLENCE IN NEAR FUTURE

The increase and prevalence of violent attacks in the south-central part of the war ravaged East African country has far reaching negative impact.

"You may know that nearly as many as 20,000 people have lost their lives, more than 100,000 others may have been injured while the UN estimates nearly 1.5 million people were displaced from their homes," Maryan Shukeh, a Somali human rights activist said.

The status quo in Somalia, violence and counter-violence, has made parties to the conflict unable or unwilling to try once again the path of negotiations and dialogue, contended analysts who predict, as things stand, the trend would continue.

"There is no dialogue going on between the sides, who are stuck in their positions of trying to obliterate the other as they see no way of negotiating with one another once again, and this seems to be the case for the foreseeable future," Isse said.

U.S. SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT

The international community in particular the U.S. has been trying to help the Somali government fight local radical groups by taking limited targeted actions against "wanted" Islamist figures in the country.

The U.S. has so far carried a couple of air raids on rebel targets in southern and central Somalia, killing some top Islamist leaders and suspected terrorists.

Washington also sent dozens of tons of ammunitions to the Somali government security forces and pledged to do more to support the weak but internationally recognized government of Somalia.

After visiting victims of the recent suicide bombing in Mogadishu at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi on Dec. 7, U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger to Kenya, who is also responsible for U.S. relations with Somalia, told reporters of the U.S. government's "unwavering support to the Transitional Federal Government and the people of Somalia".

"Attacks like the suicide bombing do not dissuade the United States and the international community from assisting Somalia, but rather strengthen the resolve of all who are working to help Somalia achieve peace and stability," the Ambassador emphasized.

GOVERNMENT TAKING ACTIONS

The Somali government has been bemoaning all along that it was left alone by the international community to fend for itself in its fight with a formidable and determined insurgent force which, it has been saying, gets help from foreign Jihadists who supply them with money, supplies and manpower.

But the Somali government has recently been trying to get its house in order and do its bit in fighting for its survival with a recent reshuffle of the leadership of the security forces and a plan to have some newly recruited soldiers to be trained with help from neighboring countries.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed recently told newly trained recruits that they should be prepared to liberate the country from what he called "misguided radicals".

"They (insurgents) claim to be fighting in the name of Allah and to love their religion but nothing could be further from the truth," President Ahmed, dressed in a military fatigue, told Somali security forces in Mogadishu.

"Their actions of cruelty against civilians are unbecoming of a good Muslim so we should be prepared to liberate the country from such misguided radicals," he said.

SUFFERING OF PEOPLE

The escalating violence in Somalia particularly in the south-central part of the country which started in 2007 following the ousting of the Islamist rulers from Mogadishu by allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces left the national state structures and economic infrastructure in ruins.

Most people in Somalia do not have the basic social services, with schools, hospitals, water, electricity, sewage and sanitation systems have all been destroyed. Roads remained potholed and covered with sand while most roads between provinces are inaccessible and dangerous.

"We are struggling for survival. We cannot think about good life with security and education for our children. We try to live the day and see what the other brings, because we see our family members or others being killed or wounded almost everyday," said Maana Geedi, a mother of seven in Elasha camps for the displaced people on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

Local people weary of the long war in the country have been polarized by the conflicting ideologies and are supportive of one group or the other while some have resigned to the fate of having to cope with daily torment of an ongoing war with no light at the end of the tunnel.

"This is what we are meant to go through and as believers in fate we must have faith that this is an experience previously ordained to us by Allah so that we should repent from our sins and be good Muslims again," said Haji Ali, a senior citizen in Mogadishu.

Most of the people in the war-wrecked nation has in one way or another been effected by the two decades long conflict with many having a family member, a distant relative, a long time neighbor been killed, injured or uprooted from their homes.

They have to cope with seeing the gruesome realities of living in a country in war, where it is almost a matter of life and death everyday.

"I cannot plan for a week because I do not know whether I will live to that long and all sensible people seem to be living their lives in accordance with that fact," Mohyadeen Barre, a teacher in Mogadishu summed up how the war in Somalia effected people's lives.

But Barre is hopeful that things could change for the better in Somalia sooner or later. "Allah says in the holy Quran 'do not lose hope of Allah's mercy', so we should be hopeful that this country will one day see peace and prosperity, brotherhood and social harmony return."

LAGOS, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian militants said they have launched new attacks on oil pipeline, according to agencies' reports on Saturday.

MEND, the main armed rebel group in south Nigeria, was quoted as saying in a statement that they attacked a crude oil pipeline operated by Shell and Chevron in Nigeria's Rivers State.

The development of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta came after a cease-fire of months with the government.

20091219
rfi.fr

Nigeria's main armed rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), has claimed responsibility for an attack on a pipeline on Saturday, ending a two-month truce with the government.

The "warning strike [was] carried out by five boats involving 35 ... fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket-launchers and heavy

calibre machine guns ... at about 0200Hrs today... on a major Shell/Chevron crude pipeline in southern Rivers State," a Mend email said.

Shell did not immediately comment on the claim.

The rebels blamed the government for suspending peace talks because of the ill health of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

He has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia since 23 November and is said to be suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane covering the heart.

This week the government announced the creation of five committees to address oil, environmental and disarmament issues following the amnesty process in the Niger Delta. But talks have stalled since Yar'Adua's hospitalisation.

"While the Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick President, it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and retooling of troops in the region to the President's ill health," the Mend statement said.

"While wishing the President a speedy recovery, a situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and well being of one man is unacceptable,"

The rebels say they will review the ceasefire within 30 days.

Correspondent Ben Shemang says the Mend has struck just as local people thought that peace had returned.

20091218
afrik.com

The Liberian government despite its post-conflict progress, has not frozen assets benefiting or owned by war criminals, the UN panel of experts monitoring Liberia has revealed, citing new evidence that such individuals still have considerable financial resources from forest resources, and diamond trade.

According to the reports, the Liberian government has failed to implement the Kimberly Process that is meant to ensure blood-free diamond trade, enforce forest resource transparency obligations and enforce UN travel ban on war criminals.

"Of most concern are indications of abuses of the system of internal controls, mounting evidence of the presence of regional trading networks and the potential infiltration of sanctioned Ivorian [Côte d’Ivoire] diamonds into Liberian exports. The political will to implement the Kimberley Process certification scheme has diminished, at least within the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy," the panel revealed.

Shady deals
The report suggests that Liberia also fell short in their forestry sector, a significant source of illicit gains. The UN experts cited several breaches of basic processes and criteria in the awarding of concessions, and a lack of transparency by the Forestry Development Authority in making documents and information available.

Also, the travel ban imposed on indicted war criminals was violated. Cyril Allen, an indicted war criminal for example traveled to Ghana in October, while two others were not complying with the strict conditions of the waivers granted them. To this regard the UN Security Council has renewed its travel restrictions for another year.

Reconstitute and Investigate

The UN Security Council on Nov. 17, urged Liberia to make all necessary efforts to fulfill its obligations to freeze the assets of alleged war criminals and others, and urged it to tighten controls against so-called "blood diamonds" used to finance conflict. The UN also called on Liberia to reconstitute the Presidential Task Force on Diamonds and further investigate the regional trading network and the potential infiltration of Ivorian diamonds into Liberia and neighboring countries.

The panel of experts has advised the national capacity of the Liberian Government to control weapons and to provide security to its citizens, which is of particular concern to the panel given the volatile regional situation in Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire.

On a more positive note, the panel found no strong evidence of major violations of the arms embargo on non-State groups.

20091218
afrik.com

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has come out strongly in defence of his late friend, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang denying that thousands of South Africans have died due to the previous government’s Aids policy. Tshabalala-Msimang, who died Wednesday, was health minister under Mbeki’s rule.

"Anti-retroviral medicines (ARVs) have always been part of the public health system and the people have always received them," a statement from Mbeki spokesperson said Thursday.

Reports say according to research done by the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, over 330 000 people died as a result of Aids between 2000 and 2005, because they did not receive ARVs from the government in time.

But Mbeki said the health department, with the guidance of Tshabalala-Msimang, followed a "holistic approach" to fight HIV/Aids.

"If you put this policy and the implementation thereof under a microscope, it’s difficult to comprehend where anyone could find the proof of 330 000 deaths."

However, the Treatment Action Campaign has called on South Africans and the world to forgive Tshabalala-Msimang for her Aids policies.

Beetroot, Garlic and Olive Oil

Tshabalala-Msimang was criticised by the TAC during her time as health minister in the Mbeki presidency - from 1999 to 2008 - for her reluctance to provide anti-retroviral treatment to Aids sufferers.

Instead, she advocated a healthy diet that included beetroot, garlic and olive oil.

The Pan Africanist Congress Youth League said on Thursday that Tshabalala-Msimang should not be held responsible for controversial HIV/Aids policies.

"Our people should be reminded that Tshabalala-Msimang was not developing policy by herself, but she was implementing and defending ANC policy," it said in a statement.

"The masses of our people and the media should be reminded that it’s ANC that has been running government since 1994, therefore everything good and everything bad that happened should be blamed squarely on the ANC."

Last month, current health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said South Africa’s death rate doubled over the last decade due to the spread of Aids blaming the crisis on government policies under Mbeki.

"In 11 years — from 1997 to 2008 — the rate of death has doubled in South Africa. That is obviously something that cannot but worry a person," he said adding that in 1997 the total number of deaths stood about 300 000.

Last year the figure was estimated at 756 000. Most of the Aids-related deaths were among young people, especially women.

FREETOWN, Dec 18 (IPS) - A new police force plan to recruit youths in each community, to help fight the country-wide spate of armed robbery, has provoked controversy and sparked a nationwide debate.

Communities are concerned that some area volunteers are known to be ex-child combatants, who may have participated in committing horrific atrocities against civilians.

"Some of the youths may have despicable records, but (still) manage to make it into the volunteer force. My worry is that they may end up tormenting members of the community they are supposed to protect, by engaging in mobile phone and purse snatching, mugging and other petty crime," opines Margaret Sandi, a Freetown housewife and recent mugging victim.

But even these ex-child combatants are as desperate as the more than one million youths roaming the streets in search of jobs.

This is not the first time that the authorities have resorted to recruiting youthful volunteers to help state security forces. At the height of the civil war, in the 90s, youths were recruited to form "civil defence forces" throughout the country.

Their mandate was to help the regular forces contain the rebels. Many of these ended up harassing and looting the neighbourhoods. Some even surrendered their loyalty to the rebels, who were gaining control of territory and resources.

Acting police chief, Morie Lengor, told IPS there was an urgent need for this recruitment drive.

"These youths know their communities very well. They would not be considered police officers, but simply community volunteers who help the police identify and arrest criminals and armed robbers."

Lengor said the criteria for recruitment were: a volunteer must be above 18; residing in the community; not have a criminal record and not be an alcoholic or drug addict.

The rules, according to the police chief, prohibit any volunteer from extortion or bribe-taking or impersonating the police. They can make arrests only in co-operation with the police, and may not carry offensive weapons.

Lengor said they would not be paid monthly wages, but receive stipends and other logistical support to help them carry out their job. They would also be supplied with white T-shirts to distinguish them from the blue uniform of the police.

The exercise will start in Freetown, the capital, which has already been partitioned into 860 zones, with 10 community volunteers manning each zone.

Lengor says this will make community policing more effective and responsive.

"Already hundreds of unemployed youths in the communities have been offering themselves for recruitment, and we have set up community safety committees composed of elders to help us identify suitable candidates."

Armed robbery has increased sharply in cities and towns across the country in the past few months. Scores of people, including foreign investors, have been killed and property and money valued at tens of thousands of US dollars stolen.

This has caused people to lose confidence in the police, many residents accusing them of complicity in robbery.

These fears were increased by the arrest of two senior police officers on suspicion of colluding with robbers. They were named by robbery suspects as providing them with weapons. The robbers and the officers are now on trial in Freetown.

"I don’t trust the police to deal with the problem of armed robbery," says robbery victim Michael Cole. "My home was robbed at gunpoint. We called the police, who are few metres away from our west Freetown residence, but they told us they had no vehicles and were short of manpower. It is a tragedy here."

This view is shared by many residents of the capital and the provincial cities. They claim wherever there is a reported case of armed robbery victims often say they saw the robbers in police uniforms and bearing arms.

The police claim they do not have enough personnel and the logistical capacity to deal with the upsurge in crime.

With 10 youths manning each zone, the police would end up recruiting close to 9,000 volunteer youths for Freetown alone – almost as many as in the entire police force. There are also questions about the duplication of police functions.

But Lengor told IPS this was in no way abdicating police responsibility. "We are not relinquishing our constitutional responsibilities. Rather, we believe this initiative will make our work easier. We would be recruiting the most suitable youths, who are disciplined and patriotic," Lengor maintains.

The opposition claims the government is using the recruitment of youths partly as a political gesture to win elections.

Comments Jacob Jusu Saffa, secretary-general of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party: "The Ruling All Peoples Congress party is recruiting these youths in order to position itself for the 2012 elections.

"They give the impression jobs are been created for the youths, but we see this as the government failing in its duty to provide security for the people."

Civil society has also voiced concern. John Caulker, of the rights monitoring group Forum of Conscience, told IPS: "The authorities must be careful in the way they go about recruiting these youths.

"We must not in the quest for job creation rush into recruiting youths who have questionable backgrounds. I think the police must be adequately empowered to carry out their duties."

The police force has benefited immensely by support from the British Department for International Development in its restructuring. Officers have been given advanced training, had barracks refurbished and received vehicles and logistical help.

But there is a lot more to be done before the Sierra Leonean police force gets on top of the situation, and tackles the twin problems of crime and violence in the impoverished west African state.

FREETOWN, Dec 18 (IPS) - A new police force plan to recruit youths in each community, to help fight the country-wide spate of armed robbery, has provoked controversy and sparked a nationwide debate.

Communities are concerned that some area volunteers are known to be ex-child combatants, who may have participated in committing horrific atrocities against civilians.

"Some of the youths may have despicable records, but (still) manage to make it into the volunteer force. My worry is that they may end up tormenting members of the community they are supposed to protect, by engaging in mobile phone and purse snatching, mugging and other petty crime," opines Margaret Sandi, a Freetown housewife and recent mugging victim.

But even these ex-child combatants are as desperate as the more than one million youths roaming the streets in search of jobs.

This is not the first time that the authorities have resorted to recruiting youthful volunteers to help state security forces. At the height of the civil war, in the 90s, youths were recruited to form "civil defence forces" throughout the country.

Their mandate was to help the regular forces contain the rebels. Many of these ended up harassing and looting the neighbourhoods. Some even surrendered their loyalty to the rebels, who were gaining control of territory and resources.

Acting police chief, Morie Lengor, told IPS there was an urgent need for this recruitment drive.

"These youths know their communities very well. They would not be considered police officers, but simply community volunteers who help the police identify and arrest criminals and armed robbers."

Lengor said the criteria for recruitment were: a volunteer must be above 18; residing in the community; not have a criminal record and not be an alcoholic or drug addict.

The rules, according to the police chief, prohibit any volunteer from extortion or bribe-taking or impersonating the police. They can make arrests only in co-operation with the police, and may not carry offensive weapons.

Lengor said they would not be paid monthly wages, but receive stipends and other logistical support to help them carry out their job. They would also be supplied with white T-shirts to distinguish them from the blue uniform of the police.

The exercise will start in Freetown, the capital, which has already been partitioned into 860 zones, with 10 community volunteers manning each zone.

Lengor says this will make community policing more effective and responsive.

"Already hundreds of unemployed youths in the communities have been offering themselves for recruitment, and we have set up community safety committees composed of elders to help us identify suitable candidates."

Armed robbery has increased sharply in cities and towns across the country in the past few months. Scores of people, including foreign investors, have been killed and property and money valued at tens of thousands of US dollars stolen.

This has caused people to lose confidence in the police, many residents accusing them of complicity in robbery.

These fears were increased by the arrest of two senior police officers on suspicion of colluding with robbers. They were named by robbery suspects as providing them with weapons. The robbers and the officers are now on trial in Freetown.

"I don’t trust the police to deal with the problem of armed robbery," says robbery victim Michael Cole. "My home was robbed at gunpoint. We called the police, who are few metres away from our west Freetown residence, but they told us they had no vehicles and were short of manpower. It is a tragedy here."

This view is shared by many residents of the capital and the provincial cities. They claim wherever there is a reported case of armed robbery victims often say they saw the robbers in police uniforms and bearing arms.

The police claim they do not have enough personnel and the logistical capacity to deal with the upsurge in crime.

With 10 youths manning each zone, the police would end up recruiting close to 9,000 volunteer youths for Freetown alone – almost as many as in the entire police force. There are also questions about the duplication of police functions.

But Lengor told IPS this was in no way abdicating police responsibility. "We are not relinquishing our constitutional responsibilities. Rather, we believe this initiative will make our work easier. We would be recruiting the most suitable youths, who are disciplined and patriotic," Lengor maintains.

The opposition claims the government is using the recruitment of youths partly as a political gesture to win elections.

Comments Jacob Jusu Saffa, secretary-general of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party: "The Ruling All Peoples Congress party is recruiting these youths in order to position itself for the 2012 elections.

"They give the impression jobs are been created for the youths, but we see this as the government failing in its duty to provide security for the people."

Civil society has also voiced concern. John Caulker, of the rights monitoring group Forum of Conscience, told IPS: "The authorities must be careful in the way they go about recruiting these youths.

"We must not in the quest for job creation rush into recruiting youths who have questionable backgrounds. I think the police must be adequately empowered to carry out their duties."

The police force has benefited immensely by support from the British Department for International Development in its restructuring. Officers have been given advanced training, had barracks refurbished and received vehicles and logistical help.

But there is a lot more to be done before the Sierra Leonean police force gets on top of the situation, and tackles the twin problems of crime and violence in the impoverished west African state.

NAIROBI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have released a Greek cargo ship after holding it for about six weeks, a regional maritime official confirmed on Friday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said the MV Delvina, which was hijacked by pirates on Nov. 5, was freed by Somali pirates late Thursday.

"The MV Delvina was freed late Thursday and was to reach Mombasa in the next two days but is not moving. She is drifting in one position where she was being held captive," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.

All the crew in the Green cargo ship which was seized in the Indian Ocean are unharmed and are well despite their 43-day ordeal.

The cargo ship was hijacked northeast of the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean. It had been sailing from Ukraine to Mombassa in Kenya.

The company gave no details on the crew, but the European Union's naval mission to the region said it numbers 14 Filipinos and seven Ukrainians.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions. An estimated 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast.

BUJUMBURA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) of Burundi has announced that the presidential elections will be held on June 28, 2001.

According to a freshly published electoral calendar, the country will also organize local county council elections on May 21, elections for deputies on July 23 and the Senate elections on July 28.

CENI chief Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye said on Thursday that the elections would be called in a special decree by President Piere Nkuruzinza by April 6 and that the presidential vote would be done through universal adult suffrage.

Political party officials and the civil society organizations welcomed the publication of the electoral time-table, but termed it as a marathon process.

The publication of the calendar followed Tuesday's signing of financial aid of 14.5 million U. S. dollars granted by nine strategic partners to Burundi, including Belgium, China, Sweden, Norway, Britain, the Netherlands, Egypt, Switzerland and the United Nations Development Program.

The voter registration was scheduled for January 2010.

NAIROBI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A UN-backed international meeting on Somalia has called on the world community to support initiatives aimed at stabilizing the Horn of Africa nation which has had no central government for almost two decades.

In a communique issued following a day-long International Contact Group (ICG)'s meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the meeting called on the international community to offer practical and, where possible, direct support to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) as it battles extremists in the lawless nation.

"Doing so gives the TFG the opportunity to demonstrate that it can deliver on completing urgent tasks and be held accountable including through such mechanisms as the Central Bank or Price waterhouse Coopers," read the communique issued by the Nairobi-based UN Political Office for Somalia said on Friday.

"The ICG believes the international community should make further progress on understanding the requirements of the TFG. It welcomes the continuing development of the partnership between the TFG and the international community."

According to the joint statement, the 33-member ICG on Somalia noted the TFG's call for the global community to establish a greater presence in Mogadishu as soon as possible, and welcomed the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) decision to open an office in the war-torn capital.

"The ICG condemns the continuing violence perpetrated against Somali civilians by extremists," the group said, citing in particular the Dec. 3 suicide bomb attack on a graduation ceremony for medical students which killed at least 15 people in Mogadishu.

The ICG called on the international community to provide coordinated, timely and sustained support to build Somali security institutions including the provision of stipends following the completion of training.

The meeting also deplored the continuing piracy off the Somali coast and its "devastating effect on the lives of those in Somalia and the region as well as international trade" and welcomed the international naval presence while recognizing that the causes of piracy are on land and must be addressed urgently.

The ICG reiterated its support for the 2008 Djibouti process, a peace accord between the TFG and one of the rebel groups, the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), which was meant to pave the way for the cessation of all armed conflict across the faction-plagued country.

The meeting agreed that holding a well-planned, international conference, as specified in the Djibouti Agreement, would be an important contribution towards establishing the objectives of the transition.

According to the communique, the Jeddah meeting agreed that the discussion on transition should be placed within the framework of a longer term recovery effort, noting the Somali prime minister's call for this conference to take place as soon as possible.

"It calls on all groups and factions to join the Djibouti process and work with the Transitional Federal Government which is the legitimate and internationally recognised Government of Somalia," the communiqué said.

The ICG also welcomed the fragile government's commitment to continue its outreach efforts to all groups willing to cooperate and ready to renounce violence and encourages the TFG to continue and expand its efforts.

Islamist fighters including the hard-line Shebaab militia have waged battles against the transitional government, its predecessor cabinet and their allies, vowing to fight until all foreign forces withdraw and Sharia law is imposed.

The AMISOM force -- the only security presence backing the government -- is well short of the 8,000 soldiers initially planned and is regularly attacked by the Islamist Al-Shabaab militia.

More than one million people have fled their homes. Fewer than one in three Somalis, whose life expectancy is 46 years, have access to clean water.

Somalia has had no effective central authority since former president Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, setting off a bloody cycle of clashes between rival factions.

MANILA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen Filipino seafarers on board a Greek vessel was freed by ransom-seeking Somali pirates this week, the Philippine embassy in Nairobi reported Friday.

The Filipino crew of MV Delvina are "safe and in good health." The vessel and its crew are now heading to Mombasa.

The latest release has reduced the number of hijacked Filipino seafarers off the coast of Somalia to 56, involving five vessels. Philippine foreign affairs and labor officials are coordinating with concerned manning agencies and their shipping principals on the release and repatriation of Filipino seafarers.

The Philippine government is stepping up efforts to address the rising incidence of piracy and hostage-taking involving Filipino seafarers off the coast of Somalia.

The Philippine labor department is requiring Filipino seafarers to undergo anti-piracy training to teach them how to deal with piracy situations and how to avoid it. It has also issued safety and security directives to manning agencies of ships plying the Gulf of Aden.

The Philippines is the world's leading supplier of ship crew with over 350,000 sailors, or about a fifth of the world's seafarers, manning oil tankers, luxury liners and passenger vessels worldwide, exposing them to piracy attacks.

ANTANANARIVO, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The cost of the March 20 legislative election planned by Madagascan Transitional President Andry Rajoelina is estimated at 30 billions ariary (about 15 million U. S. dollars).

Deputy Prime Minister Cecile Manorohanta, who is also acting premier and in charge of the Interior Ministry, told a press conference on Thursday that the spending would come entirely from the budget of the Madagascan government, which is ready for the election.

She proposed the immediate establishment of an Independent National Electoral Council, which would be responsible for organizing the polls.

On Wednesday, Rajoelina said in a statement he decided to hold the election because of the impossibility of coexistence with the three political camps respectively led by former presidents Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy and the failure of international mediation in the political crisis.

Rajoelina said elected lawmakers would draft a new constitution for the Fourth Republic and the political party winning a majority of votes in the election would appoint the prime minister for the transition.

The three political camps were scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday. They have made no comments on Rajoelina's decision to hold an early parliamentary election.

Representatives of the international community are discreet on their position. Only France has said, "The early elections in March 2010 may contribute to a durable solution if their organization provides reasonable assurance of transparency, monitored by an independent electoral commission and monitored by international observers."

In a statement quoted by the Express, a Madagascan daily paper published on Friday, France "invites all Madagascan parties to resume dialogue in order to reconnect with the consensus needed for any resolution of the crisis."

KINSHASA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) killed more Rwandan rebels including a captain in its anti-insurgency operation in the eastern province of North Kivu, the military said on Thursday.

The communication unit of the Kimia ll operation said in a communique that seven combatants including a captain of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) were killed on Tuesday, when the FARDC also seized three AK47 rifles.

Combats against these Rwandan Hutu rebels were reported in the areas of Nyanzale, Bukumbirwa and Kanyabayonga within the Rutshuru territory. One FARDC soldier was killed.

In their frantic retreat, the FDLR rebels attacked and looted the villages of Kayilenge and Ngenge on Tuesday night, without report of losses of life, the communique said.

The military also announced the return of the 27 FARDC soldiers taken hostage for three weeks by lieutenant-colonel Nsengiyumva, an officer who had deserted the FARDC and joined the FDLR camp.

The FARDC had killed dozens of FDLR rebels in previous attacks in both North Kivu and South Kivu provinces with the backing of the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC).

MONUC also said on Thursday in Kinshasa that it had reinforced its deployment in North Kivu in the past days to boost security for the local people.

MONUC called on FDLR members to surrender to the FARDC and MONUC. Since Tuesday, the FARDC has intensified the military operation against the FDLR combatants in the territories of Walikale, Masisi and Rutshuru in North Kivu, where the Hutu rebels have been holed up after committing the 1994 Rwanda massacre.

20091218

LUANDA (Reuters) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep production targets unchanged at a meeting next week, the group's president Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos told Angolan Radio Ecclesia.

With oil around $75 a barrel, several other OPEC oil ministers have said there was no need for the group to change its output targets at the Dec 22 meeting in Angola.

Saudi Arabia is among those to have expressed this view.

"Oil prices are trading at $70 to $75 per barrel which is the level our group has defended. I believe we will maintain the decisions that were taken in the past about output quotas and keep targets unchanged," Vasconcelos told the radio station.

"We hope 2010 will also be a year in which our organization can contribute to stability (in the oil market) and avoid volatility in prices."

The group has not changed production quotas in 2009 after it agreed to curb supply by 4.2 million barrels per day last year as a global economic recession eroded demand and sent oil prices tumbling by more than $100 per barrel.

Oil was trading at $73.25 per barrel on Friday

20091218

RABAT (Reuters) - A Western Sahara independence activist returned home on Friday after a hunger strike at a Spanish airport, defusing a diplomatic spat between Spain and Morocco and potentially strengthening separatist campaigners.

Aminatou Haidar went on hunger strike 32 days ago after Moroccan authorities refused her entry when she returned home from a trip abroad, confiscated her passport and put her on a flight to Lanzarote, one of Spain's Canary Islands.

Rabat had initially refused to accept Haidar, who is campaigning for Western Sahara's independence from Morocco, back unless she swore loyalty to King Mohammed. The king's father took control of most of Western Sahara in 1975 after Spanish colonial forces withdrew from the territory.

But a Moroccan analyst said Rabat let Haidar return to her desert homeland after international pressure and could now be forced to make concessions to the independence movement.

"Morocco gave in to the pressure in Spain, Europe and the United States. It accepted her return after they pushed themselves in a corner by stressing they would not let her back," said Ali Anzoula, an editor of the daily Al Jarida al Oula.

Anzoula, who writes about the Western Sahara conflict, said the Polisario Front may seek to win more concessions from Rabat in future rounds of U.S. sponsored peace talks, such as a U.N. role in monitoring human rights issue in the territory.

The Moroccan government says Haidar was allowed back home out of "the country's tolerance and generosity" and after several states intervened on her behalf.

France, the United States and several other Western states worked to help Haidar return home.

20091218

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 74,000 Africans fled to Yemen this year, a 50 percent increase over 2008 despite instability in the country, according to figures issued on Friday by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Upheaval and economic strains in the Horn of Africa fuelled a rise in migrants paying smugglers and undertaking the hazardous sea crossing, said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

"In some cases they are beaten, raped, killed or just thrown overboard into shark-infested waters," he said, describing the routes across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea as "the busiest and the deadliest one in the world".

Many Africans make the dangerous journey to Yemen in the hope of finding jobs in Saudi Arabia or further afield.

Yemen, which is fighting a Shi'ite rebellion in the north and separatist unrest in the south, said its security forces backed by warplanes killed up to 30 al Qaeda militants on Thursday. A security source said the operations had foiled a planned series of suicide bombings.

Unlike in previous years, Somalis did not account for the majority of people arriving in Yemen in 2009, despite fighting around their capital Mogadishu. A total of 32,800 entered Yemen this year.

More than 42,000 Ethiopians, twice the number recorded in 2008, travelled to Yemen but most went on to the Gulf states in search of jobs, Mahecic said.

Somalis are automatically granted refugee status on arrival in Yemen but people from other countries including Ethiopia must have their status as refugees determined before they can apply for asylum.