ATHENS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Pirates operating off Somalia's coasts have released the Greek cargo ship named "Filitsa" and her 22 crew members after the payment of ransom, the Greece's Coast Guard authorities announced on Tuesday.

All seamen, including 3 Greeks and 19 Filippinos, are in good health and the vessel sails to the nearest safe port, as stressed in the official statement by Greek authorities.

The Marshall Islands flagged ship was captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, about 400 nautical miles off Seychelles, on November 11, as it was sailing from Kuwait to Durban, South Africa.

Representatives of the Greek company Order Shipping which owns "Filitsa," confirmed that they have paid ransom, but declined to comment on the exact figure.

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(Xinhua) -- Iran on Monday requested Uganda to lobby the United Nations Security Council not to sanction the Middle East country over its nuclear enrichment program, a statement issued here has said.

A State House statement said that an Iranian delegation led by Vice President and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he is attending the 14th African Union summit.

The delegation told Museveni that the impending sanctions against Teheran would be disastrous to the country's economy.

"The Iranian delegation expressed concern over the pending sanctions, saying that they would adversely affect the Iranian economy," the statement said in part.

The Iranian request comes just after two days Museveni told an Organization of Islamic Conference meeting here that countries should be free to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

He told the over 300 delegates from 30 Islamic countries that Uganda had already communicated its position to the Security Council.

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(Xinhua) -- A Yemeni provincial prosecution referred on Monday seven Somali pirates captured off the country's southeast coast to a criminal court, a military-run website reported.

The seven Somali pirates were seized along with five machine guns and ammunition on Oct. 15, 2009 off the Yemeni southeast coastal province of Hadramout in the Arab Sea while they were trying to "target" French and American ships, the 26Sep.net quoted judicial sources as saying.

The report provided no further details on the incident.

According to the Yemeni coast guards' statistics, 41 cargo vessels along with 521 sailors of different nationalities were seized by pirates throughout 2009.

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(Xinhua) -- The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) will observe the Feb. 28 Togo presidential election in a professional and independent manner, said a top official of the EU EOM on Monday.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil, chief of the EU EOM, told reporters that EU EOM members are highly aware of their responsibilities and will try their best to accomplish the mission.

He reiterated that the work of the EU EOM in Togo is to observe the electoral process in the country but it will not make any commitments, statements or political judgement.

During the election, EU observers will monitor the entire electoral process, produce an informed and detailed assessment and submit the End of Mission report.

In total, the EU EOM will deploy about 130 observers in the country.

The EU EOM, deployed upon the request of the Togolese government, arrived in Lome on Jan. 28.

NAIROBI, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have released Greek- owned MV Filitsa which was seized in the world's most dangerous waters in November last year, a regional maritime official confirmed on Tuesday.

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance program (SAP) said the Marshall Islands-flagged bulker which was freed late Monday is sailing towards Mombasa, east Kenya.

"The MV Filitsa is free and she is steaming out to safe waters under way to Mombasa port. All 22 crew members on board are said to be safe and sound," Mwangura told Xinhua.

MV Filitsa was seized on November 10, 2009 about 740 kilometers northeast of the Seychelles as it headed toward Durban, South Africa.

The Marshall Island-flagged carrier -- with three Greek, a Romanian and 18 Filipino crew members has deadweight of more than 23,000 tons of fertilizer.

The 1996-built ship which was lately held near Hobyo belongs to the Greek company Order Shipping Company Ltd, who had not provided the full crew-list, and so far has not yet confirmed the release.

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

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

NOUAKCHOTT, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Mauritanian police arrested a Moroccan national suspected of having taken part in the abduction of three Spanish aid workers who were kidnapped on Nov. 29 north of Nouakchott, security sources reported on Monday.

Police nabbed the Moroccan identified as Mahjoubi Rekraki in Nouadhibou on Monday. He was equally suspected of involvement in all kinds of trafficking on behalf of the Al-Qaeda wing in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI). The suspect was immediately transferred to the National Security Center in Nouakchott, police said.

The authorities have made several other arrests on suspicion of AQMI involvement in the north and east of the northwestern African country in recent days.

Among the detainees there are three Western Sahara nationals, who were arrested last week around Bir Mogrein in the extreme north of the country. They were suspected of having commercial links with the kidnappers of the three Spaniards.

A Mauritanian national, Bouh Ould Eweimar, a guard at a mobile telephone company, was also arrested. According to the police, he had kept watch over the vehicle that was used to abduct the Spaniards. The AQMI group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

The arrests were unveiled when a mission of French security and judicial experts just ended a 10-day stay in Nouakchott.

According to well placed sources, the French experts consulted with the Mauritanian security services during the mission on most adequate collaboration between the two countries in the fight against terrorism.

BEIRUT, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. submarine will join the search work of an Ethiopian airliner which crashed into the Mediterranean sea off Lebanon's coast a week ago, Lebanese daily An-nahar reported on Tuesday.

The Lebanese government has formally asked the U.S.-based Odyssey Marine Explorations to send a submarine to help in recovering the plane and its black boxes, according to the newspaper.

The passenger plane crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Beirut in a fierce storm on Jan. 25, killing 90 people on board.

The report quoted Lebanese Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi as saying that the submarine has set off and should be in Lebanese waters in the next few days.

The rescue teams have recovered 14 bodies as well as some body parts and pieces of the plane. The fuselage and the two black boxes are still missing.

The Boeing 737-800 of Ethiopian Airlines is thought to be at least 1,500 meters beneath the sea.

Officials are especially keen on knowing why the plane veered off course after takeoff, but have ruled out sabotage.

Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson Wogayehu Tefere has said the pilot was experienced and had been with the company for 20 years.

The probe into the disaster includes French and U.S. experts, among them a technical advisor from Boeing.

LAGOS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Nigeria Police Force has said they are probing a report credited to an al-Qaeda group in north Africa to train and arm Nigerian Muslim groups to fight perceived enemies in the country.

The al-Qaeda group in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said in a statement on Monday that it was ready to defend "our people in Nigeria."

Reacting to this, the police said its men were ready to counter any form of terror in the country.

Yemi Ajayi, assistant police spokesman, told Xinhua on phone from Abuja that the police would look into any news or information that has any security implications with all seriousness.

He said the police would not treat such information with levity, as their men were on standby on a daily basis to counter any crisis in any part of the country.

"We are not resting on our oars concerning any report, be it mischief or not, we are fully prepared to tackle any unrest in any part of the country," Ajayi told Xinhua.

"And do not forget that our work now is intelligence based and we want to say that Nigerians should not talk more on rumor," he added.

The al-Qaeda group, did not state the reason for the offer.

"We are ready to train your people in weapons, and give you whatever support we can in men, arms and munitions to enable you to defend our people in Nigeria," the group said in a statement.

"You are not alone in this test. The hearts of Mujahideen are in pain over your troubles and desire to help you as much as possible," the AQIM added, noting that it had done so in Somalia, Iraq,Afghanistan, Palestine, and Chechnya.

Analysts told Xinhua that the group's offer might not be unconnected with the recent sectarian crisis in northern city of Jos.

More than 300 people died in the Jos riots that erupted on Jan. 17, when some youths attacked worshippers at St. Michael's Anglican Church in Nasawara Gwom of Jos.

The fighting ultimately turned into a fight between Muslim and Christian gangs.

The recent clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs have claimed more than 100 lives in the central city which experienced the same riots in November 2008.

The riots in 2008 killed hundreds of residents in the city.

NAIROBI, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 258 people have been killed and 80,000 others displaced this year by violence in Somalia which sharply escalated in January resulting widespread destruction, a UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The UNHCR said in a statement issued here that some 29,000 people have been uprooted by heavy fighting in Dhusamareebb in Galgaduud region, over 25,000 have fled their homes to escape renewed clashes in Beledweyne in Hiraan region, while another 18, 000 are known to have been displaced in the on-going conflict in the capital, Mogadishu.

"According to local sources, intense clashes between government forces and militia groups fighting for control of the conflict- torn central regions have left at least 258 civilians dead and another 253 wounded, which makes January the deadliest month since last August," it said.

"We estimate that more than 80,000 Somalis have been displaced since the beginning of the year. Thousands were also forced to leave their homes in other parts of Somalia."

The UN agency said the deteriorating security conditions have so far made it hard for humanitarian workers to access the needy population.

UNHCR plans to distribute emergency relief items and shelter material to over 18,000 people in 27 locations where the displaced are temporarily settled around Dhusamareebb and Belet-Weyn as soon as the security situation will permit.

UNCHR said the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Galgaduud region face difficult conditions. Fearful of returning to their homes, many are reported to be sleeping in the open with dwindling shelter and little water.

There are also growing concerns about the health conditions of particularly vulnerable groups - such as children, women and elderly.

More than 1.4 million people are internally displaced in Somalia and some 560,000 Somalis live as refugees in the neighboring countries. In 2009, over 120,000 Somalis sought refuge mainly in Kenya, Yemen and Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The 14th summit of the African Union (AU) concluded here on Tuesday with African leaders pledging that they would take concrete measures to development Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the continent.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the current chairperson of the Assembly of the African Union, Bingu Wa Mutharika said the summit was concluded on schedule, with concrete agreements on actions that the African countries need to take to move the continent from poverty to prosperity.

Bingu Wa Mutharika, the president of Malawi, said during the three-day summit, the participants discussed critical issues that affect the continent, and he is more than convinced that the African countries will place ICT as a vehicle for driving Africa's development agenda.

The chairperson said Africa has a lot of development priorities areas, requiring energy and focus of the African countries. "To begin with we must put in place a robust Food Security Program to eliminate hunger within the next five years, and that no child in Africa dies of hunger and malnutrition anymore."

"We should also develop our transport and communication infrastructure to connect all our eight regions as a basis for integrating our continent."

"We must take urgent steps to develop our energy generation capacity to make electricity more affordable and available to industries and our people."

He said it is his expectation that the Commission will act without delay and comp up with a Plan of Action. "We should act now, for there is no time for Africa to waste."

"This year we celebrated 2010 as the Year of Peace and Security. Such a noble theme can only find meaning when we, collectively and individually, dedicate our efforts to finding solutions to the remaining political crises on the continent.

"During this Year of Peace and Security, we should continue to invest a lot in efforts to attain peace and security on the continent," the chairperson said.

While celebrating positive news in Mauritania, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau, the African countries should together remain seized with the outstanding challenges in Madagascar, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur to ensure that peace returns to these troubled spots in the shortest time possible.

"We should remain steadfast to use all means at our disposal, as an organization, to resolve intractable situations and restore peace everywhere."

"In this year of Peace and Security, and beyond, we must say 'never again' to conflict and war in Africa. We must declare war on unconstitutional change of government on the African oil, and resolve to take strong and necessary punitive action against all authors of coups d'etat and those that provide them the means to unseat duly elected governments," he said.

The chairperson said unconstitutional change of government threatens the cherished peace and security on the continent, and it also reverses the collective successes in the democratization process on the African continent.

"We have a responsibility, in this regard, to protect and preserve this cherished legacy of a free, democratic society, with full guarantees for human rights, personal liberties and social progress."

Bingu Wa Mutharika reiterated the need for AU to go beyond making decisions, declarations and resolutions.

"The need to take actions now is urgent so that whatever we decide and declare directly benefits the common African citizen."

The three-day summit was held under the theme "Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and prospects for Development".

During the summit, the African leaders also focused their discussions on climate change, peace and security in the continent and the unconstitutional government changes in some of the African countries, among others.

Regarding ICTs, the African leaders reached consensus that ICTs is one of the necessary tools that can help African countries to realize development goal.

They also recognized that the building and improvement of ICTs infrastructure is the prerequisite for the African countries to develop the ICTs sector.

The next AU summit will be held in Uganda in July this year.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The African leaders on Tuesday declared the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as their top priority at the end of the three- day 14th summit of the African Union (AU).

In a declaration, the African leaders requested the African Union Commission to set an African digital agenda identifying the main stages.

The African leaders asked the commission to develop a coherent and integrated approach and a coordination mechanism involving the key African stakeholders and development partners for the implementation and follow up on this declaration.

They promised to intensify the activities to implement the Reference Framework for Harmonization of Telecommunications and ICT Policies and Regulations in Africa and act for the development of postal sector as well as the African Regional Action plan on the knowledge economy.

The African leaders said they would strengthen national programs and regional cooperation for the development and interconnection of broadband structures, the development of Regional Internet Exchange Points and the improvement of rural area connectivity.

They also pledged to develop programs and actions on training, acquisition of basic competences in ICT and on capacity building, particularly for national and regional regulatory organs, promote research and development actions to create a favorable regulatory environment.

They urged the development partners, especially financing institutions, to back the implementation of this declaration.

The three-day 14th summit of AU was held under the theme "Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and prospects for Development".

Thank to the great efforts from the African governments, ICT development in the region has been featured by high grow with the number of mobile cellular subscriptions and Internet users growing faster than in other regions in the world.

Despite the fast growth, Africa's ICT penetration levels are still far behind the rest of the world, with very few countries in the continent reaching ICT levels comparable to global averages.

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Tunisia has become the most electrified country in Africa according to a recent report on "Powering Africa" published by African Business. Tunisia which is credited with an electrification rate of 99% comes ahead of Algeria, 98%, Egypt 98%, Libya 97%, Mauritius 94%, Morocco 85% and South Africa 70%.
electricity
The report which was released in January 2010 issue of the magazine, ranks Tunisia as the country with the highest electrification rate on the continent, including North Africa and Sub Saharan Africa.

The report said Africa’s relatively slow development is mostly due to its severe lack of sufficient power: “The correlation power sufficiency and economic development is unmistakable.”

Some African countries, according to the report, are approaching universal electrification, adding that in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Egypt there has been a sustained government support for rural electrification as a form of social development over the past 10 or 15 years.

The report stresses that the driving force for electrification must come from within Africa itself to combat energy inequality and climate change - two problems confronting Africa at the moment. And that cross-border integration will also promote electrification.

The report finally illustrates the inequality in power consumption between developing and industrialized worlds, stating that one megawatt of power must supply 300 people in the United States, the same capacity must stretch to 30,000 East Africans.

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The biggest second hand market - 'Adjame Black Market' - in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast, was razed down early Saturday morning at about 5:00 am causing extensive damage to hundreds of shops where you can get textiles, clothes, computers, Freezers, mobile phones, building materials, carpentry and handcrafts.
fire in Ivory Coast
It is a sight visited daily by residents of Abidjan and visitors to purchase items that are to be found in this place only from the Western countries.

Our reporter said authorities in Abidjan have given no concrete reason for the cause of the fire, which started in one of the stores at the center of the market believed to be containing high flammable materials. It is not clear what caused the fire but what is clear so far is that ‘Adjame Black Market’ commonly known as ‘the Black’ is a hip of ashes after it was gutted by fire.

All the stalls plus items which consisted among others second hand materials were burnt down to ashes. Over 8,000 traders are believed to have lost their goods worth hundreds of millions of CFA in the process, but no deaths were registered.

According to Toure Yacouba, a spokesman for the traders, who spoke to AfricaNews at the scene, “when the fire started, some of the traders who live close to this business hub rang the fire brigade first and started to stop the fire with buckets of water, but it spread so fast that nothing could be salvaged.”

No water

The fire department is a stone throw away from ‘the Black’, in Adjame District, but they had no water at the time the fire was spreading to the entire market. It took the ‘fire soldiers’ to drive to ‘the grande mosquee’, hundreds of meters close to the market, to fill their tank before visiting the scene.

The local people are suspicious that the authorities might be involved in the incident as the fire comes on the heels of the ‘Abobo’ and ‘Cocody’ markets being burnt down last year.

“I see things and I can hardly explain how it comes that fire brigade has no water in their tank […].’ said Samiru Ololade, a trader who was mourning the loss of his entire property, before hundreds of sympathizers gathered to witness what was Abidjan's most popular second hand market in ashes.

Riot police were deployed in the neighborhood of ‘Adjame Black Market’ as the traders were becoming violent after the loss.

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African leaders attending the 14 annual summit of the AU have approved the establishment of the Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) and dissolution of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). The NPCA will act as a technical body of the African Union, replacing the South African based NEPAD secretariat.
African Union
The Agency is mandated to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of continental and regional programmes and projects as well as mobilize resources in support of their implementation.

The heads of states and government in attendance at the AU Summit have also directed NPCA to coordinate research, monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes in line with the vision and core values of the African Union.

“The 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union has approved the integration of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) into the structures and processes of the African Union including the establishment of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), said in a media statement.

Recently, African leaders who founded NEPAD tussled with Libyan leader Muammar al Gaddafi, over his proposal to disband a key NEPAD committee.

The Libyan leader proposed the disbandment of the Heads of State Implementing Committee, founded by Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa and leaving the NEPAD programmes entirely in the hands of the African Union.

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Cameroonian artists based in the Southern regional capital of Buea have come together to stage a concert to raise money for Haitians.
haiti
Mabel Fuam Chah, spokesperson for the Buea-based artists - Tata Kingue, Bate Nico, the group Bright Phase (2010 KORA Nominees), Baam, a band of three and other choral groups in the municipality will on Friday, February 5 do a grand concert at the esplanade of the University of Buea, UB. Guest artists will include Ivorian born Coupé – Décalé maestro, Soum Bill and other Ivorian Disc Jockeys.

Dubbed “Road Show”, Chah said they are motivated because Buea is a town nature has placed on an active volcano and since nobody prays for bad tidings to happen, it is a moral duty for the people of Buea to sympathize and give their own support to the people of Haiti.

“We at M1 and Blue Drops Musical Studios, respectively, in Molyko, Buea, organizers of the Road Show, we are inviting all the people of Buea and beyond to come and do to others what they will want to be done to them,” she added.

On how the money raised during the concert will be channeled to Haiti, Chah responded; “We are in contact with this New York based NGO; Action Against Hunger, 247 West 37th Street, 10th Floor, NY 10018, Telephone Number (877) 777 – 420.”

Prior to the Road Show, which starts at 15:00 hrs Cameroon time, the pupils of St. Theresia International Bilingual Primary School, Molyko, Buea, will do a march pass across the municipality of Buea to draw public attention to the show and the need to support the people of Haiti.

Logistic support to the endeavours of the Buea – based artists is coming from Brasseries Du Cameroun and Nestlé Cameroun.

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Guinea Bissau's Army Chief of Staff, Navy Captain Jose Zamora Induta, has admitted the existence of evidence indicating the usage of the country's territory as base for international drug trafficking.
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Navy Captain Induta was speaking on Sunday at the end of a military operation launched by a particular battalion of the Bissau Guinean army, which aborted a suspected drug transaction in the areas of Madina de Baixo, Praia de Gã-Tumané, about a hundred miles from Empara Town in the region of Quinara.

The military operation which took place between Monday 25th and Wednesday 27th January, resulted in the arrest of four foreign nationals - an Iraqi, a Tunisian, two Germans; and two Bissau Guineans, one of whom is a senior officer in the country’s Presidential Security Service.

The military chief disclosed that the operation was a result of a two-week regular surveillance of the Quinara region, following information indicating that an unidentified aircraft had been spotted flying in the area.

International drug cartels have taken advantage of the political instability, the high level of corruption within the state’s security apparatus and the poor level of control the country’s security has over its boarders to make it a base for operation and distribution of narcotics around the world.

A rather weakened state apparatus resulting from long civil wars has left Guinea Bissau largely unprepared and unfit to fight the more sophisticated groups of drug barons.

In this regard, the country’s Army Chief of Staff said he was “aware that arrest and detention of suspected drug traffickers is not a mission assigned to military personnel”.

But he added, “The intervention of the army is a necessity as Guinea Bissau lacks adequate structures to cope with drug trafficking networks”.

He expressed regret over the involvement of individuals linked to the State.

Meanwhile, the two German nationals among the arrested have denied any involvement in the drug trafficking allegations and claimed to be journalists working with the German news service, Deutsche Welle. They argued that they were only in the country as tourist.

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South Africa is deporting 22 Ugandans who were detained over charges of breaking immigration laws last year.
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The detainees between ages 23-50 were arrested during the Christmas season. South African officials said they entered the country illegally while others had expired visas.

Ugandan delegation led by Internal Affairs State Minister Matia Kasaija has visited the 22 Ugandans who were detained at South African repatriation centre in Krugersdorp last week.

Some of the detainees had admitted they were without valid papers or visas.

“We are not criminals, we only came to seek greener pastures, earn an extra coin and invest home,” a member of the delegation quoted some of the captives as telling the Ugandan officials, according to Daily Monitor.

Kasaija has confirmed that the detainees will be sent home any time soon. He urged Ugandans to use valid papers when embarking on trips abroad.

“Having a passport is a right. No one should risk life again in such a way,” Kasaija said.

The Ugandan detainees would be repatriated in two batches beginning from this week.

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South African President Jacob Zuma has been accused of contradicting the government's fight against HIV/Aids by fathering his 20th child out of wedlock.

The country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said that the 67-year-old president had an affair with the daughter of a friend who is one of the principal organizers of this year's soccer World Cup.

The woman known as Sonono Khoza, daughter of Irvin Khoza, chairman of the World Cup Organizing Committee, reportedly gave birth to Zuma's daughter in October.

South Africa's polygamous president Zuma, who already has 19 children, recently tied the knot with his fifth wife and drew condemnation from his countrymen.

There has been no comment from Zuma, or his party, the ANC. However, the event has outraged South Africa, prompting fierce criticism from DA leader, Helen Zille.

"President Jacob Zuma's behavior directly contradicts the government's campaign against multiple sexual partners, and the inherent Aids risk in having unprotected sex," Zille stressed.

Raising her voice against the president's supporters who believe the issue to be a private matter, she argued that Zuma's personal behavior has "profound public consequences."

Moreover, this is not the first time that the chief executive's flamboyant private life has directly contradicted the government's HIV/Aids policy.

In 2006, while being acquitted of rape, Zuma admitted that he had made a mistake by having unprotected sex.

According to official statistics, an estimated 5.2 million people are currently living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa, which is more than in any other country.

HIV in South Africa is transmitted predominantly heterosexually between couples, with mother-to-child transmission being the other main infection route.

JOHANNESBURG, 1 February 2010 (IRIN) - Heavy rains in early 2009 caused one of the worst floods in four decades to hit Namibia, pushing the semi-arid Southern African country into second place in a list of countries most affected by natural disasters last year.

The only other African country on the list, released by the Belgium-based Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), is Zambia, where vast tracts of agricultural land were flooded by the bloated Zambezi River.

The list is based on a scale measuring the impact of the disaster according to the number of people killed and affected per 100,000 inhabitants.*

"Remember that the number of dead in the tsunami [caused by an undersea quake in 2004] in Indonesia was 135,000 or so, and the numbers in Haiti [hit by an earthquake in January 2009] will probably also be that," said CRED director Debarati Guha-Sapir.

NAIROBI, 1 February 2010 (IRIN) - The international community should draw up a comprehensive strategy to tackle conflicts fuelled by natural resources especially in fragile African states, UK campaign group Global Witness says.

"Taking the gun out of natural resource management is a prerequisite for taking the gun out of politics," the advocacy group said in a report entitled Lessons Unlearned: How the UN and member states must do more to end natural resource-fuelled conflict.

"Too often the political, ethnic or geographic aspects of war are considered to the exclusion of its economic drivers... In countries like the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], natural resources must be recognised not only as part of the problem but also as an essential part of the solution," said Mike Davis of Global Witness.

Among other recommendations, the report calls for UN peacekeepers to be mandated to deal with the economic dimensions of conflict. "The problem with natural resources is not so much the nature of resources themselves, their abundance or their scarcity, but how they are governed, who is able to access them and for what purposes," it says.