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aljazeera



Nigeria's main armed group has 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.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), responsible for years of attacks on oil facilities, said on Saturday it could no longer trust the government to negotiate demands for greater control of the region's natural resources.

The threat comes as Umaru Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, has been out of the country receiving medical treatment for more than two months.

His absence has raised fears of a constitutional and political crisis in the country.

"It is sufficiently clear at this point in time the government of Nigeria has no intentions of considering the demands made by this group for the control of the resources and land," Mend said in a statement.

"All companies related to the oil industry in the Niger delta should prepare for an all-out onslaught against their installations and personnel."

The truce was declared in October last year, but it was breached in December when the fighters attacked a major pipeline operated by Shell and Chevron.

Lost revenues

Attacks by Mend on Nigeria's oil and gas industry in the past few years have prevented the country from producing above two-thirds of its capacity, costing it about $1bn a month in lost revenues.

The instability has at times helped increase world oil prices.

Violence has subsided in the Niger delta since Yar'Adua's offered the fighters an unconditional amnesty if they laid down their arms.

Thousands of them did surrender in exchange for a pardon, a monthly stipend, education and job opportunities.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from the Nigerian federal capital, Abuja, said negotiations with Mend were ongoing as the group sent out its statement calling off the ceasefire.

"Remember that Mend is a big umbrella organisation. Sometimes statements don't necessary relate to actions on the ground. This is sometimes used as a pre-emptive strike," he said.

Simmons said a meeting was due next week, with the main issues being the distribution of the oil revenues and the reintegration of fighters.

"Al Jazeera understands that the stumbling block is the issue of reintegrating these fighters into normal life ... how they are going to be retrained with skills for holding on to jobs, and how they are not going to go back into criminality," he said.

Mend has been weakened by the departure of senior field commanders who accepted the amnesty, but oil infrastructure in the Niger delta remains vulnerable to attacks.

The slow progress in implementing the post-amnesty programme has been made worse by the absence of Yar'Adua, who left Nigeria to receive medical treatment in a hospital in Saudi Arabia more than two months ago.

The fighters say they seek a greater share of oil revenue for locals and have since 2006 staged bold attacks on oil facilities in the Niger delta and beyond.

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A document presented at the meeting of the Executive Council of the AU summit underway in Addis Ababa demonizes Eritrea for its 'negative roles' in the Horn of Africa. It said that country is playing a destructive role in Somalia and have strained relations with neighbouring Djibouti and regional heavyweight Ethiopia.
African Union
According to the paper by AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) Asmara was the supplier of arms and ammunition to Somali armed groups that are perpetrating deadly attacks against the African peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM).

The AU agreed the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Eritrea, adopted on 23 December, and expects the list of Eritrean officials affected by the sanctions to be made public, the document highlighted.

The AU peace and security council has also called on the Security Council to ensure that its request that some air, sea and land blockade be imposed on Eritrea and subsequently be implemented to prevent the entry into Somalia of foreign elements and the provision of insurgents with means to continue their activities.

Eritrea displayed very bad faith in the efforts for a negotiated settlement to the border dispute with Djibouti, the paper reads.

The AU also said Eritrea did not positively react to repeated requests to withdraw its troops from Djibouti territory. The stand was illegal and endangered the overall stability of the region.

The Pan African organization further stated that Asmara refused to engage in direct dialogue with Djibouti, refusing to respond positively to efforts by sub-regional or regional organisations to ensure peace in the region.

While the “no peace now war” situation with Ethiopia is relatively less troubling despite the massive troops deployed on both sides, Eritrea recently fell out with Sudan.

The paper also said requests by the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and the UN mediation committee to Eritrea to give peace a chance were rebuffed.

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Gambia has towed the line of generosity, in response to the increasing global call for support to the people of earthquake ravaged Haiti. The Gambian government announced Friday evening that it had offered one million dollars ($1M) in support of humanitarian efforts in the traumatized Caribbean Island.
haiti
‘‘Following the catastrophic disaster that claimed the lives of people in Haiti, the president, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, on behalf of the people of the Gambia, have donated the sum of 1m dollars to the people of Haiti,’’ the release, as read on GRTS, said.

This follows the unveiling, earlier, of the ‘‘Gambia one million for Haiti’’ support project, a private sector led campaign seeking to raise one million dalasis towards supporting the needy victims of the 7.0 Richter scale Earthquake which struck the island over two weeks ago.

A group representing the business sector in the country, called on Gambia’s vice president, Isatou Njie-Saidy, and officially presented the initiative, which move has been hailed as highly unique.

Nana Grey-Johnson, the media consultant of the group, announced that the private sector led project is aimed at contributing their quota towards helping the people of Haiti. It takes the form of a series of panel discussions on both radio and TV, appealing for donation from the general public.

Although they did not say how much money they have made so far, they promised that the amount generated from the week-long program will be channeled through the vice president’s office for official delivery to the UN body responsible for International Disaster Relief.

With these developments, the Gambia becomes part of a few counties in Africa to have responded to the global for support. Africa itself has come under several attacks for it ‘‘slow’’ pace of response to the humanitarian catastrophe in a country whose people originated from the continent.

Jammeh leaves for AU summit

Meanwhile, according to another official press release, President Yahya Jammeh is set to leave Banjul, Saturday, 30th January, for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the 14th Ordinary Session of the AU Heads of States and Government Summit.

As usual, the Gambian leader will be accompanied by a high powered delegation. He is scheduled to take off from the Banjul International Airport at 09.00am.

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press tv

The African Union protests the economic sanctions the United States has placed on a number of African states over their alleged undemocratic policies.

The AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Elizabeth Tankeu, says that despite the Union's warning on the futility of US market restrictions for some African countries, the United States continues to block certain African states — including Madagascar, Guinea and Niger — from entering the American market.

She said the US accuses the countries of pursuing 'undemocratic' policies.

"We have asked them to separate political issues from economic issues," Reuters quoted Tankeu as saying to journalists on the sidelines of a summit of the 53-member body on Thursday.

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press tv

A Nigerian court dismissed a request for an interim leader to take the place of President Umaru Yar'Adua while he receives medical treatment in a Saudi Arabian hospital.

The high court also declared that Yar'Adua did not breach any constitutional laws by not forwarding a formal letter to the Parliament, addressing his "medical vacation."

"The failure to transmit a written declaration to the national assembly before proceeding on vacation is not unconstitutional," said Federal High Court Judge Dan Abutu.

Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa declared that Nigeria's high court has finally "settled" the dispute over the president's fate.

The case was filed by the Nigerian Bar Association, specifically by a group known as the Eminent Elders whose members include former heads of state.

The Eminent Elders had demanded that Yar'Adua relinquish his executive powers and allow Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to formally act as president.

However, Nigeria's cabinet on Wednesday unanimously resolved that Yar'Adua is capable of carrying out his executive duties as the president.

President Yar'Adua departed for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia on November 23 and was consequently diagnosed with acute pericarditis, which is the inflammation of the heart's lining.

A month after he was hospitalized a complaint was filed in court asking him to step down and several cases have followed suit.

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press tv

The UN Security Council has unanimously voted for the extension of the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The 15-member body approved the continuation of the mandate for another year.

The Security Council also called on African states to boost the mission's troop numbers to up to 8,000 from its current 5,000 from Uganda and Burundi.

In a Thursday statement, the council also urged African countries to train Somali troops and support the government in Mogadishu.

The humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation has become worse, with international aid groups such as the World Food Program having to pull out due to security issues.

The fighting between government forces and local fighters in Somalia has escalated, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands over the past weeks.

The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees says more than 100 thousand Mogadishu residents have fled the capital over the persistence of violence in the country.

UN's independent expert on human rights in Somalia Shamsul Bari has accused Somali fighters of carrying out "extrajudicial executions, planting mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas, and using civilians as human shields" in their campaign against the transitional government.

Meanwhile, the European Union, which runs naval operations along the Somali coast to combat piracy, says the total number of pirates' attacks has increased despite tightening of security in the Gulf of Eden shipping routes.

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MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 12 people were killed in fighting on Friday between Islamist insurgents and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia's capital and the government again called for more foreign troops to help battle the rebels.

Rebels from the al Shabaab group, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, said they attacked government bases and AMISOM peacekeeping troops overnight and were then hit by shellfire themselves.

"This fighting was the worst in months," Mogadishu resident Ahmed Hashi told Reuters.

Violence in Somalia has killed 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted a further 1.5 million people, a contributing cause of one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.

It is exactly a year since President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was elected by parliament and once again showed that the beleaguered Somali administration effectively depends on 5,000 African peacekeepers to survive.

At an AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Somali Foreign Minister Ali Jama' Jangeli called for more African Union troops to help soldiers from Uganda and Burundi in the capital.

His Kenyan and Sudanese counterparts backed the call. Djibouti said this week it would send 450 soldiers soon.

"The situation in Somalia is very grim, it is very precarious. It is threatening stability in the whole of the east Africa region and the Horn of Africa," Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor told Reuters in Addis Ababa.

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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The West is ignoring a jailed Ethiopian opposition leader to keep the Horn of Africa stable despite her being this week named on a United Nations list of arbitrary detainees, her party said on Friday.

Birtukan Mideksa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders when the 2005 election turned violent.

She was pardoned in 2007 but was re-arrested last year accused of violating that pardon.

"This matter is being more or less hushed," Seye Abraha, a senior UDJ official, told reporters in Addis Ababa.

"They talk of security and stability in the absence of democracy and respect for human rights. We are cursed by geography."

Analysts say Ethiopia has been a key U.S. ally in its fight against terrorism.

A Human Rights Watch report last week also accused Western countries of being silent on Ethiopia to protect multi-million dollar aid programmes in the poor country and singled out the United States and Britain for criticism.

Britain rejected the claims and said it would "send a positive signal" if Birtukan was released ahead of the May 23 polling date.

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DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Africa set out its stall in Davos this week, but selling the continent as an investment destination is tough.

Despite recent macroeconomic reforms and an impressive growth outlook, many investors remain wary of Africa.

"It is emerging as an important investment destination -- the evidence is there. I think what remains (to be seen) is whether investors see that opportunity," South African President Jacob Zuma said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

One big handicap is a lack of scale and liquidity. A Reuters survey of leading investment houses this week found Africa and the Middle East together attracted less than 1 percent of a typical global equity portfolio and barely registered when it comes to bonds.

The same issue affects Africa's nascent private equity sector.

"Africa is not capital short. It is transaction short," said Paul Fletcher, senior partner at private equity firm Actis, which specialises in investing in Africa and other emerging markets.

Still, the continent is raising its profile in the financial markets and Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, said planned bond issues from various African countries were an important step in the process.

Plans to issue international debt have largely been on hold due to the global financial crisis, but several African states -- including Angola, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia -- are starting to look for new issuance this year.

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aljazeera



At least nine people, mainly civilians, have been killed in fresh fighting in the Somali capital, witnesses and medics have said.

Anti-government fighters clashed with African Union peacekeepers and government troops in southeastern Mogadishu in the early hours of Friday, resulting in the deaths.

"Around seven civilians died in the clashes, including women and children. Most of them were killed by mortar shells and stray bullets," Abdi Adan, an eyewitness, told the AFP news agency.

"Four civilians died in Wardhigley district and three others were killed in Holwadag and Bakara area. It was the worst fighting we have seen recently," Mohamoud Ahmed, a local resident, said.

Ali Musa, head of Mogadishu's ambulance services, said medics had collected around 22 injured from several locations in the city and "several people" had died.

"I don't have the full figures but I know that three of the dead are a mother and her two children," he said.

Responsibility claim

The armed group al-Shabab, whose leader late last year proclaimed his allegiance to al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, issued a statement claiming responsibility for Friday's shelling.

"Our holy warriors launched a fierce offensive on several locations in Mogadishu where the apostate militias and their Christian backers were stationed," the group said.

It referred to government troops, who they accuse of being puppets of the West, and to AU peacekeepers who they routinely describe as crusaders bent on introducing Christianity to Muslim Somalia.

In the statement, al-Shabab said two of its fighters had died in the clashes.

Somali government officials were not able to provide more details on the casualties.

"The violent elements attacked government positions overnight, firing mortar rounds and machine guns. The government forces defeated them," Abdullahi Hassan Barisse, a police spokesman, told reporters.

The densely-populated neighbourhoods where the fighting took place, halfway between the airport and the port, is on the edge of an area controlled by the African Union peacekeeping mission (Amisom).

Civilians there are often caught in the crossfire between Amisom troops and al-Shabab.

The clashes marred plans to celebrate the first anniversary of the election of Sharif Ahmed, the Somali president.

Officials had been preparing for celebrations in the presidential compound's theatre on Friday.

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aljazeera



A Nigerian court has dismissed calls for a temporary head of state be appointed until Umaru Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, returns from Saudi Arabia where he is undergoing hospital treatment.

The Nigerian Bar Association had demanded the vice-president's powers be extended, accusing Yar'Adua of acting unconstitutionally in failing to inform parliament of his absence.

But Dan Abutu, the federal court judge, ruled on Friday there was nothing illegal about Yar'Adua's failure to write to parliament about his absence when he left for treatment on November 23.

"The failure to transmit a written declaration to the national assembly before proceeding on vacation is not unconstitutional," he said.

Abutu also ruled that Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, could not assume the role of acting president without Yar'Adua making such a written declaration.

The senate, former heads of state, ex-ministers, the bar association and the opposition have all called on Yar'Adua, who is being treated for a heart condition, to formally notify parliament of his absence and allow Jonathan to become acting president.

Abutu ruled two weeks ago that Jonathan could perform executive duties but not be acting president.

'Crucial ruling'

Andrew Simmons, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Nigeria, said the decision has helped to clarify the confusing political situation there.

"It has clarified one of the areas - it means the vice-president can act with executive powers of the president but would not be termed formally as the acting-president.

"It might sound like a small point but it is a crucial one, particularly for the ruling party.

"There is an election next year and many people feel there is a lot of power play going on, they feel it is important that the power is not formally handed over as it would allow Goodluck Jonathan to be his own man and make his own changes.

"It also points out that the constitution is slightly ambiguous, but it's not for the judge here to rewrite it. There is still a lot of concern because the president hasn't made it clear what he wants done here."

Only the cabinet, which consists of Yar'Adua's own appointees, has the power to force the president to hand over powers.

It has twice passed resolutions saying it believes he remains fit to govern.

Yar'Adua is receiving treatment for a serious heart condition in Jeddah and his absence has raised fears of a constitutional and political crisis in Africa's most populous country.

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At least 12 civilians were killed and 25 others were wounded on Thursday and Friday clashes between Islamist insurgents and AU peace keepers backed by government forces in Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said.
Somalia fighters_Mohammed Odowa
The fighting erupted late on Thursday and continued into Friday in capital's south districts in Hodan, Wardhigley and Howl wadag.

A resident Abdulkadir Salad told AfricaNews by phone on Friday that clashes was the worst in recent months.

Al-Shabaab, extremist group who accused AU peace keepers of shelling civilians areas, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamist insurgents also shelled at celebrations for anniversary of Sharif Sh. Ahmed in Mogadishu, where some 200 Somali officials were listening to poems to mark Ahmed's celebration.

Ahmed's government controls a few areas in the capital while Islamist insurgents run most of southern Somalia.

Residents have said mortars and artillery shells hit civilian houses in the capital.

The insurgents frequently fire mortars to bases of the AU peacekeeping forces and Somali weak government but AU and government forces react in the areas controlled by the rebel group.

The fighting in Somalia has killed over 19,000 Somalis since 2007 and 1.5 million people displaced inside the country while another 560,000 civilians have registered as refugees in neighboring countries. Somalia is one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.

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Djibouti has announced to send 450 troops to Somalia next month as to join the African Union peacekeepers mission in that country, the foreign ministry said.
au troops
"We are training them so that they can carry out their mission in a very efficient way," Djibouti Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Youssouf who was attending the conference of AU foreign ministers in Addis Abba told Reuters.

Ali said he expected that their contribution would encourage other African countries to send peacekeepers in the mission.

He added "Somalia is a neighbouring country. We have a very close relationship. We can see what is going on there and we have to contribute as Africans".

Djibouti foreign minister was quoted as saying the region must keep on alert against radical groups.

He informed the Horn of Africa nations to be very watchful because al Qaeda has a very large network in the Arabian Peninsula and also in the Horn of Africa.

AU had already requested Djibouti, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria to send peacekeeping forces to Somalia.

Uganda has committed to be ready to deploy over 8,000 troops to the AMISOM mission in Somalia, according to Ugandan military officials.

Somali government are battling with Al-Qaeda-inspired Al-shabaab fighters who run most of southern Somalia and government controls a few areas in the capital Mogadishu, where Uganda and Burundi sent 5,000- strong peacekeepers.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping has said the best hope of Somali people is the transitional government led by moderate president Sharif Sh. Ahmed. He has urged the international community to fulfill their pledges to fund the Somali government.

Nicholas Bwakira, former AU envoy to Somalia had said that donors had only paid 30% of promise made in Belgium nine months ago. Donors pledged more than $250 million to support Somali government and AU peacekeepers at that time.

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Members of Parliament in Malawi have criticised British and Scottish MPs for meddling in a sovereign state's affairs. The western law makers, particularly the Scotts, continue to discuss and criticise Malawi for the arrest of gay couple Steve Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga.
Malawi Parliament
Kondwani Nankuluma of the Legal Affairs committee of parliament said it was wrong for the Scottish MPs to meddle in Malawi's business.

"We are following our laws and proceeding with the case for the two in the courts. They have no part in this business as we have laws and we are following it. Why do they keep pestering us to release the two?" he said.

Monjeza and Chimbalanga were arrested a day after openly holding an engagement last year and announcing plans to officially marry in 2010.

Parliament, which started sitting on Tuesday, will also discuss possibility of amending a bill that caters for same sex in the national constitution with a view of establishing sterner punishment for offenders.

Religious and traditional leaders have said same sex marriages and relationships are an abomination and a taboo, and minister of information and civic education earlier told the nation this was total breakdown of morals.

"Our laws are clear and we shall take the matter constitutionally. We do not condone, as a nation, this type of relationships. It is very immoral and against the law," he said, reacting to rumours that some western states had pooled together financial resources to help some non-governmental organizations to lobby for pro-gay laws and for the well-being of the arrested couple.

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Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is holding series of "tough talks" with world political leaders over the fate of his party's involvement in the beleaguered inclusive government. The ruling ZANU PF said until the Westerners lift sanctions on them they would not give in to concessions with the MDC.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai seen attending the Independence celebrations today in Harare 18 April 2009 photo Shepherd Tozvireva
The prime minister’s spokesman James Maridadi told SW Radio Africa in London that Tsvangirai spent much of the last 24 hours in consultations with senior MDC party members on the way forward following ZANU PF's latest ultimatum.

Tsvangirai is currently in Davos, Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum.

"The Prime Minister has come up with a position after consulting senior party members. He's well briefed with what has been happening at home and I'm sure his position would only be known when he engages ZANU PF back home," Maridadi said.

Meanwhile, to highlight the urgency of the escalating crisis the SADC facilitator and South African President Jacob Zuma was due to meet Tsvangirai in Davos on Thursday evening to discuss the issue.

"He's also due to meet Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. Already he's held bilateral talks with his Canadian counterpart as well as with the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete," Maridadi added.

Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF signaled that the talks were as good as dead after communicating their party position on Wednesday. Analysts believe ZANU PF has played into the hands of the MDC, who long wanted the talks declared deadlocked.

timesonline

The head of Britain’s main Muslim TV station was freed by a court in South Africa yesterday after being detained because he is still wanted by Interpol for alleged terrorism.

Lawyers for Mohamed Ali Harrath, 46, are now expected to go to court to challenge what they see as his wrongful arrest when he arrived in Johannesburg on a flight from London on Sunday.

Mr Harrath’s Islam Channel accused his native Tunisia of misleading Interpol resulting in a worldwide request in 1992 to arrest him over terrorism, forgery and arms allegations.

“There’s just a feeling that injustice has been done. This was an issue from 20 years ago, a political matter that happened back in Tunisia. I was fighting for justice and I am proud of what I did,” he told South Africa Press Association after being released. “I consider myself as a friend of South Africa, who knows more than anyone about injustice.”

As a young man, Mr Harrath helped found the Tunisian Islamic Front which opposed what he regarded as his country’s one-party rule.

Tunis accused the organisation of seeking to establish a Muslim state by armed revolution but he insists it was a non-violent political party.

He fled to Britain which accepted him as a refugee. His Islam Channel is watched by 59 per cent of British Muslims and he has been courted by senior politicians of all parties. He became an adviser to Scotland Yard against Islamic extremism. In September the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, gave him a platform to address thousands of Muslims in Trafalgar Square at the city’s celebrations for the end of Ramadan.

He has been fighting for years to remove the Interpol Red Notice, its highest state of alert.

South Africa is one of 132 countries where Islam Channel is available. Mr Harrath is seeking investment deals and wants to move most of his production there. “I was also supposed to set up a call centre,” he said. “My plan is to create hundreds of jobs here.”

Musa Zondi, a police spokesman, told The Times: “We followed the Interpol procedure and detained this man because he was red-flagged.

“For the case to proceed we asked Tunisia for further information on him and for them to direct us but they did not come back to us. Because the Tunisians did not respond we were left with no option but to free him.

“It is an odd case. Perhaps the Tunisians have no evidence against this man or perhaps there is no longer any political desire for him to be returned there.

“Either way, from our side we were simply doing our job and following the letter of the law. It is something we would do again, should the occasion arise, although not necessarily with this poor man.”

Iqbal Jassat, chairman of the Media Review Network, an Islamic rights organisation which has been advising the TV channel, said: “He is planning to head back home to his family in the UK.”

Earlier yesterday Mr Harrath was moved from a hospital in Pretoria to police cells. He was hospitalized on Sunday because he fell ill shortly after his arrest. He is expected to return to Britain on Thursday “Mr Harrath was released as there was no evidence against him and no extradition treaty exists between South Africa and Tunisia,” a statement from his TV station said.

“Mr Harrath’s lawyers in South Africa will be challenging the validity of his arrest in the High Court, as they strongly believe it was unlawful.”

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's Senate debated for a second day on Wednesday whether to call for President Umaru Yar'Adua to formally transfer executive powers to his deputy after an absence of more than two months for medical treatment.

The 58-year-old leader has been in Saudi Arabia since November receiving treatment for a heart condition but has not formally transferred power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, triggering debate over the legality of government decisions.

Although the Senate does not have the authority to force Yar'Adua to hand over power, if it calls for him to do so and he ignores its advice, parliament could in theory move to impeach him for misconduct, according to the constitution.

"The Senate is heavily divided between pro-Yar'Adua, pro-Jonathan and the undecided who want to see which way the pendulum swings before they opportunistically jump on board," said Abubakar Momoh, politics professor at Lagos university.

"The demonstrable political behaviour of the members of the Senate so far ... suggests the Yar'Adua lobby is likely to have the upper hand, this is my sense" he told Reuters.

Senators were locked in a five-hour closed-door debate on Tuesday without resolution. Ayogu Eze, chairman of the Senate's media committee, said every member who wanted to do so was being given the opportunity to speak in a "painstaking" session.

"We want to avoid a situation where you belong to one camp in the night and belong to another in the day. Everyone must speak on the record," said one senator, who declined to be named.

Whatever the upper house of parliament decides, the very fact it has had to debate the issue piles further pressure on Nigeria's leaders to resolve the uncertainty over who is actually running Africa's most populous nation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Describing corruption in Nigeria as "unbelievable," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday suggested the government's failure to deliver basic services helped foster extremism in young people, such as the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. jet on Christmas.

Speaking in blunt terms at a "town hall" meeting with State Department officials, Clinton said Nigeria, Africa's biggest energy producer and second-largest economy, "faces a threat from increasing radicalization that needs to be addressed.

"The failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood that democracy can't just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of alienation in that country and others," she said.

She suggested poor governance and deteriorating living conditions made Nigeria's disaffected young people ripe targets for militants looking for recruits to attack the West.

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who U.S. officials believe was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen, is accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on December 25 with almost 300 people on board.

"The information we have on the Christmas Day bomber so far seems to suggest that he was disturbed by his father's wealth and the kind of living conditions that he viewed as being not Islamic enough," saying that these are not unusual views for young people to have toward their families.

"But in this case, and in so many others, such young people are targets for recruiters to extremism," she added.

"There has to be a recognition that in the last 10 years, a lot of the indicators about quality of life in Nigeria have gone the wrong direction," she said, citing growing illiteracy and worsening health statistics.

"The corruption is unbelievable," she said, saying when she met with a group of Nigerians in the capital, Abuja, "people were ... standing and shouting about what it was like to live in a country where the elite was so dominant, where corruption was so rampant, where criminality was so pervasive.

"And that is an opening for extremism that offers an alternative world view," she added.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States is worried about the flow of arms into semi-autonomous southern Sudan, some of it heavy weapons, ahead of a nationwide April election, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

"We heard today from the U.N. that it is not just small arms but some heavier munitions that seem to be flowing in," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a U.N. Security Council meeting on Sudan.

"We weren't given specifics on that," she said. "But we have seen, in the violence that is taking place in the South, a higher degree of sophistication and lethality of the weapons employed, and that's a source of concern."

She added that Washington believed some of the weapons were coming from northern Sudan.

"But I imagine that weapons are also coming from elsewhere and we would like a full accounting," Rice said, adding that it was a region with "porous borders" and that weapons were coming from "all directions."

Human Rights Watch warned on Sunday that repression of political opponents in both Sudan's North and semi-autonomous South was undermining the prospects for Sudan's first democratic elections in 24 years, scheduled for April.

After decades of north-south civil war, a 2005 peace deal shared power and wealth and enshrined democratic reform in Africa's largest country. It outlined the April elections and a southern Sudanese referendum on independence in 2011.

But delays in implementing the deal have fueled mistrust between the North and South. A law forced through last month by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's dominant National Congress Party giving Sudan's feared intelligence services wider powers has further compounded matters.

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's embattled leader opened the door on Tuesday to the possibility of pushing back the date of widely criticised elections scheduled for March on the Indian Ocean island.

The move is unlikely to appease African nations and foreign donors who have urged Andry Rajoelina to share power with his political rivals.

Parliamentary elections are slated for March 20 but opposition leaders and foreign diplomats are concerned a unilaterally organised poll will lack credibility and transparency.

"The government is ready to meet with all stakeholders and political parties to discuss the elections. If it is March 21, 22 or 23, or even earlier, it's not a problem" Rajoelina told reporters.

"No political party or movement will now be able to criticise us that the date of elections is our decision alone," he added.

Rajoelina, 35, last weekend snubbed the African Union's top diplomat, Jean Ping, once again rejecting calls for a consensus government to be formed without delay.

Ping left the leaders of the world's fourth largest island with two weeks to respond to a compromise solution that stressed a consensual outcome.

January 27 marks a full year since street protests against former President Marc Ravalomanana's leadership on the mineral-producing island turned violent.