MAPUTO, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican President Armando Guebuza has pledged if he wins this year's presidential election, he will make no attempt to amend the Constitution so that he could stand for a third term of office.

He was speaking to reporters after laying a wreath at Maputo's Monument to the Mozambican Heroes on Sunday to mark the 17th anniversary of the peace agreement between the government and the apartheid backed Renamo rebels, which as signed in Rome on Oct. 4,1992, AIM reported.

There has been some media speculation that, if the ruling Frelimo Party wins a two-thirds majority in parliament, it will use it to change the constitution, which provides for no person tobe elected to more than two consecutive terms of office as president.

Guebuza categorically denied that he wanted a third term. On the contrary, he had every intention of upholding the current constitution, of which he is the guarantor. "I respect the constitution and I respect the law," he said.

Guebuza also said the scattered outbreaks of violence that occurred during the current election campaign would not damage Mozambique's image as a peaceful country.

Asked about clashes between supporters of rival parties, Guebuza noted that there had always been violent incidents during Mozambican elections.

If we look at the other elections, we see that there were always spots of violence in all corners of the country," he said. "But this does not endanger the peace and stability of the country."

Guebuza urged supporters of the ruling Frelimo Party not to resort to violence and not to respond to provocation. The other two presidential candidates, Afonso Dhlakama of Renamo, and Daviz Simango of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), have made similar appeals.

Despite the positions taken by their party leaders, there have been repeated clashes between Frelimo, Renamo and MDM supporters, occasionally resulting in the hospitalization of some of those involved.

5 October 2009

Last week the citizens of Somaliland were due to have elected their president for the next five years. However, they did not get to the polls, since elections were postponed for the fourth time. What does the future hold for the self-declared, independent, and unrecognised Somaliland in the Horn of Africa?

After the end of colonialism in Africa, Somaliland was independent for a short period in the 1960s, between the end of British rule and the establishment of a union with the former Italian colony of Somalia. Following the overthrow of the military dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, Somaliland proclaimed independence on May 18, 1991.

However, nearly two decades later Somaliland is not recognised by any country or international organisation. Nevertheless, the largely nomadic country has managed not only to survive, but even enjoy relative peace and stability – at least until now.

At present Somaliland is experiencing political unrest as a result of postponed elections. The term of office of the current president, Dahir Riyale Kahin, expired in April 2008, but the poll was delayed in order to complete voter registration. Since then, elections have been postponed repeatedly. The latest delay was a result of complaints about irregularities on the new voters’ registration list – the first to be drawn up since Somaliland’s formation.

While both the government and opposition parties wanted elections to go ahead, their conditions for this to happen differed. The opposition insisted that they take place on the basis of the flawed list, while the government suggested that the ballot should take place without a list. This prompted the opposition to set in motion the impeachment of the president. When officials put it up for debate, parliamentarians started fighting – one even pulled out a gun although no shots were fired.

While Somaliland was previously praised for a lack of violence in spite of political disagreements, this changed on September 12 when three people died and another six were injured during a confrontation in which police used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse opposition supporters protesting over the election delays.

In recent days it has been announced that the ruling and opposition parties have signed a six-clause agreement, formally ending the crisis. The agreement reportedly prohibits the current government from extending its term without consulting the opposition, calls for the election commission to be replaced and asks for international experts to complete the new computerised voter registration system.

What next for Somaliland?

Even though the early years of the nation’s existence were characterised by power struggles among rival clans, they eventually reached power-sharing agreements which resulted in its unique political structure: a hybrid system of governance consisting of a lower house of elected representatives and an upper house incorporating tribal clan elders. Somaliland even fulfils all four of the prerequisites of statehood laid down in the 1933 Montevideo Convention: a territory, a government, a population and the ability to enter into international agreements.

But in its quest for full statehood Somaliland lacks the most important unwritten qualification – recognition by fellow states in the international system. Whether the incumbent president stays or someone else comes to power, it is highly unlikely that this will change. Due to its “non-state” status, Somaliland cannot formally trade with other nations or seek financial assistance from global financial institutions. The backbone of its economy is livestock and donations from the diaspora.

Might Somaliland be awarded statehood in the future? This is a sensitive topic. The United States has previously claimed that "while the United States does not recognise Somaliland as an independent state, and we continue to believe that the question of Somaliland's independence should be resolved by the African Union, we continue regularly to engage with Somaliland as a regional administration."

Thus a global power whose recognition of Somaliland could lead the way for other governments believes Africa’s principal intergovernmental organization should handle the matter. The African Union has already sent fact-finding missions to Somaliland in 2005 and 2008.

According to Iqbal Jhazbhay, an associate professor at the University of South Africa and author of Somaliland: An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition, “while the momentum for Somaliland’s recognition is picking up, ultimately it is up to the African states to take it forward… the problem here is that Somalia is the priority and as a consequence the case of Somaliland becomes marginalised.”

Thus far the African Union has been reluctant to question territorial integrity and unwilling to re-draw artificially-created colonial boundaries, however illogical. Whether this is right or wrong, it is certainly practical. On a continent with more 3,000 different ethnic groups, recognising secession may be a dangerous precedent, opening the way for the breakdown of many artificial states. However, the case of Somaliland, as a territory which briefly enjoyed independence after decolonisation, may be different.

Although it seems that for the immediate future at least it will remain an autonomous territory rather than a full state, the international community is set to be more involved. International diplomats mediated in the territory for the first time during last month’s election crisis. And the new election date will be set exactly one month after the international experts say they can complete the new voter registration system. While these developments fall far short of official international recognition for Somaliland, they are positive signs for the country that is not a state.

Yarik Turianskyi is a researcher on the Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.

allafrica

05 October 2009
A week after the bloody repression of an opposition rally in Guinea, Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore is expected in Conakry to broker peace. Meanwhile, France has officially stated that it no longer supports Guinea's leader.

AFP - France served notice Sunday that it no longer supported Guinea leader Moussa Dadis Camara after scores of people were killed in an opposition rally in the capital Conakry last week.

"Something terrible and savage happened. We cannot accept it," Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview to RTL radio.

"It seems to me that we can no longer work with Dadis Camara and that there has to be an international intervention," he said, adding that France was pressing West African leaders from regional bloc ECOWAS to engage.

Dadis Camara said Sunday he bears "no responsibility" for the September 28 massacre in which the United Nations said more than 150 people were killed.

france24

5 October 2009

Istanbul, Turkey — As part of efforts to reflate the economy, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua may have directed the Ministry of Finance to release $2 billion from the Excess Crude Account this week to the federal and state governments under a fiscal stimulus package targeted at paying contractors and for the execution of infrastructure projects.

Confirming this to THISDAY last night, sources within the Presidency said the National Council of States (NCS) will be meeting tomorrow to ratify the money, which is an immediate stimulus package for the economy in the wake of a credit crunch following the recent bank reforms.

In the meantime, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has unfolded two options open to the apex bank in respect of eight out of the 10 banks it intervened in between August and October.

He listed the options to include controlled liquidation or conversion of government stakes to equity as a last resort until investors are found for the eight banks. He, however, denied that government was nationalising them.

The decision by the NCS might not be unconnected with efforts to jump start economic activities, which had slowed in recent months and was further compounded by the clean-up in the banking sector, resulting in a credit squeeze in the sector.

The goal, explained a government official, is to make sure money trickles down through the system and so that contractors owing the banks can start to repay their loans

CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo, had last Friday said the apex bank was working in conjunction with the finance ministry to stimulate the economy.

According to him, "we are now working in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance to stimulate the economy.

"The Federal Government has accepted to pay contractors the money it owes them so that they can in turn repay their bank loans. A fiscal stimulus is being worked out to reflate the economy," he said.

Analysts said once part of or the entire N620 billion injected into the eight banks is converted into equity, this would translate to nationalisation, even if it is done on a temporary basis.

The United Kingdom adopted the same approach last year when the Exchequer took a direct stake in the banks and called it nationalisation, even though the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, made it clear that it was temporary.

Sanusi also said the banking watchdog might be compelled to publish names of debtors with non-performing loans in the three banks whose managements were axed last Friday, if such banks are placed at risk over their non-performing loans.

The CBN Governor made these known to newsmen yesterday at a joint news conference with Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar at the ongoing 2009 annual meetings of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Istanbul , Turkey .

The CBN had fired the executive management of eight of the 24 banks in the country in the last two months and had provided N620 billion ($3.9 billion) in liquidity and loan support to the institutions.

The latest bank chiefs to be sent packing are Francis Atuche, BankPHB Plc, Charles Ojo, Spring Bank Plc, and Ike Oraekwuotu, Equitorial Trust Bank Ltd.

The sum of N200 billion was injected into the three banks taken over by the CBN last Friday.

CBN had earlier injected a N420 billion lifeline into FinBank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Afribank Nigeria Plc, Oceanic International Bank Plc and Intercontinental Bank Plc - after sacking their chief executives, saying lax management had left the banks dangerously undercapitalised.

These institutions had since been taken over by CBN appointed managements, which had since been running the banks as going concerns until new investors are found to recapitalise them.

The managements of the first five banks were removed following the outcome of the first round of the audit concluded by CBN early August - covering 10 banks of which five comprising First Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, GTBank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc were certified fit.

The banks found wanting in the second round of audit were those whose CEOs were sacked last Friday.

Sanusi said: "Our preference is to move straight from the Tier II loans we have given these banks to private investment. If you are running an institution like the CBN you've got to ask yourself - what if our plans do not materialise in terms of what we consider to be appropriate or what happens if we do not see an investor for any of these banks?

"The two options that we have are that if any of the banks is not systemically important to Nigeria, we will look at the possibility of controlled liquidation that will ensure that all depositors are paid back their money until the bank is wound up.

"But where the bank is systemically important to Nigeria and its survival is considered critical to the financial system, there is a possibility of government converting its stake into equity till it finds a buyer.

"That is different from an active policy of nationalisation and that may happen by default."

The CBN governor was obviously responding to a Bloomberg report that allegedly misquoted Muhtar as saying that Nigeria would nationalise some banks in the interim.

According to him, "there is a limit to the time government can continue to run a bank on loans, because these banks need capital to run, which must come from private or government sources.

"Where the capital fails to come from private sources, then there may be need for government to take up equity to pay to the central bank loan as quickly as possible."

Sanusi said experience had shown that Nigeria had not been able to manage liquidation.

He said CBN was desirous of selling the weak banks because banking is not a business for government, given past experiences of government-owned banks.

The CBN governor acknowledged that only four banks - Oceanic, Union, BankPHB and Intercontinental - out of the 10 banks, in which the apex bank had intervened, have systemic importance to Nigeria because each of them controls five per cent of the market share.

He, however, said that currently, CBN assumes that all the eight banks have a future until proved otherwise.

On the criteria used in the selection of all the managing directors appointed to run the eight of the banks whose management were removed, Sanusi said they were appointed based on their pedigree, track records and ability to turn the banks around.

"The managing directors we appointed have always being on the list whenever we are looking for MDs. They are bankers and have distinguished themselves, have track records, reputation and ability to manage those institutions, turn them around, cope with the challenges and run these banks as going concerns. They (MDs) were appointed by both CBN and the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)," he explained.

On inflation, he noted that CBN had been able to bring it down to 11 per cent last August, stressing that there is a likelihood that inflation might fall further to 9 per cent by the end of this year.

On foreign exchange management, the governor, who observed that Nigeria had been losing $2 billion monthly in a bid to defend the naira between last January and June, said the country had not lost any foreign exchange in the last two months.

He said the difference between the official and parallel market rates had narrowed from 25 per cent to 2.9 per cent in the last two months.

Giving an overview of the CBN findings in all the 24 banks, Sanusi said that a stress test was conducted in all the banks with the assistance of some officials of IMF.

He said the CBN gave the IMF officials the financial statements of all the 24 banks without naming any of them and that results showed that the first five banks - Intercontinental, Oceanic, FinBank, Afribank and Union - whose managements were removed in August 14 were distressed.

On the redenomination of Nigeria's currency, Sanusi felt that the time was not ripe and that he had since voiced this out when he was the Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

"Redenomination is usually taken to signal the end of a reform programme in a country where inflation has taken place. So, I think it is too premature to talk about redenomination," he said.

allafrica

5 October 2009

Port Harcourt — Minister of Defence, General Godwin Abbe (rtd), in Port Harcourt, last weekend, gave an indication of how the government will engage the repentant militants in positive roles in the society as part of the post-amnesty programme.

Abbe made the disclosure when a former Commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Farah Dagogo, keyed into the amnesty project.

According to him, as part of its post-amnesty plan, the Federal Government will, from today, commence an immediate programme to constructively engage the ex-militants.

He said the Government will also meet with the ex-militants for further discussions on how the government can fast-track the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

And speaking in Warri yesterday, while receiving the weapons surrendered by Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, Gen Abbe assured that the repentant militants would be adequately rehabilitated and re-integrated and assisted in every material way possible to make them self-sustaining in life be it in the area of education or skill acquisition and revealed that the President is committed to making the presence of oil in the region a blessing henceforth rather than a curse to the people.

Meanwhile, there was stampede in Warri, Delta State yesterday morning, as many residents abandoned their churches, homes and businesses to catch a glimpse of the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of militants in the Niger-Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi, who was present at the event where the Defence Minister spoke said he had forgiven all militants that had genuinely given up militancy and acts of brigandage. He said though he was in support of agitation for better attention to the region but he was against arm struggle.

He thanked the repentant militants for the honour they have done Rivers State, the Niger Delta and President Umaru Yar'Adua, in accepting the amnesty offer, assuring them that the governors of the Niger Delta States would follow up the terms of the amnesty and make the Federal Government keep its side of the bargain.

"We join you in the fight for our oil wells", he said, insisting that "no efforts will be spared in ensuring that the ex-militants are rehabilitated and accorded needed vocations".

MEND ordered militants' surrender -- Dagogo

In his speech, Farah Dagogo said the handing over of the arms was not a celebration in any way as he was under the directive of MEND to lay down the arms, so as to give peace a chance.

"In line with conditions attached to this amnesty offer, we are surrendering all weapons under our direct control, we are accepting this amnesty with the hope that it will usher in a time spirit of reconciliation exemplified by dialogue", he said.

Dagogo, whose group laid down different types of arms ranging from anti-aircraft launchers, GPMG, AK-47 rifles, Mark 4 rifles, and others appealed to those determined to fight on to "consider first the option of dialogue" and prayed for a just and peaceful Niger Delta.

Ex-militants who fought on the side of Farah Dagogo, Soboma Jackreece and Christian Don-Pedro, were also at the event to embrace the amnesty.

Tompolo causes stampede in Warri

Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, had arrived the Osubi Airstrip, from Abuja at about 10.49am en route Oporoza community in Gbaramatu kingdom to officially hand over his weapons to the Federal Government.

He arrived aboard a Nigerian Air Force plane with registration number 5N FGO alongside some of his lieutenants and no fewer than 5,000 persons, including Ijaw chiefs were waiting to receive him at the Osubi Airstrip.

Defence Minister and chairman of the Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of Militants, Major General Godwin Abbe (rtd), Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe landed at the Osubi Airstrip some minutes after Tompolo arrived, also in a Nigerian Air Force plane with registration number, 5N FGP.

Tompolo who met with the coordinator of the Disarmament Committee, Air Vice Marshal Lucky Ararile and the Commander of the Joint Task Force on the Niger-Delta, Major-General Sarkin-Yarkin Bello at the VIP lounge of the airstrip waited with them to receive the Defence Minister and Governor Uduaghan before he left for the Warri waterside.

One of his aides told Vanguard that the Minister and other members of the Amnesty Committee would proceed to Arogbo community in Ondo State to receive the arms of some of Tompolo's boys in the area, who have been told to disarm before proceeding to Oporoza.

All attention was on Tompolo as he left the airstrip in a motorcade.

With his face cap, the ex-militant leader was practically lost in the crowd and it took a long time before his boys were able to manoeuvre their way and get the crowd to allow him to enter a Hummer Jeep that took him to the Warri waterside.

He was cheered on by some of the people, some of whom wore T-shirts with the inscription: "Tompolo is our hero".

Tompolo surrenders arms, ammunition

On arrival at Oporoza village, Tompolo led over 1200 repentant militants to surrender over 157 assorted guns and large quantity of dynamites to the Minister of Defence, Gen. Abbe (rtd).

Tompolo who was accorded a heroic welcome at Oporoza by a mammoth crowd said armed struggle has stopped for now while they eagerly await the Federal Government's promise to develop the long-neglected region.

He warned his boys not to take to armed robbery as it was against the spirit of the struggle and charged them to be patient but very vigilant even as he stated that the Gbaramatu people have paid dearly for the Ijaw struggle.

The generalissimo of the militants broke down in tears in the middle of his address when he recalled that painful death of some of his trusted aides and brothers in the cause of the struggle and expressed his heartfelt condolence to their families and the families of the fallen serving military men in the course of the discharge of their official duties.

He stated that he needed to embrace the amnesty programme to stay alive as he could not continue to hide away in the creeks while his men were suffering untold hardship in different parts of the federation just as he alleged that some of his own men betrayed and almost assassinated him.

While stating that the struggle was started by the likes of late Isaac Adaka Boro until his time, he assured that unless the region was developed, the agitation would certainly be taken up by others and warned that nobody should spite the Egbesu deity as what happened was destined to be by Almighty God.

Receiving the weapons on behalf of the Federal Government, Gen. Abbe said yesterday's event marked a watershed in the history of the Niger Delta struggle as it has brought to the fore the need to truly address the fundamental causes of the agitation and proffer workable solutions to them.

Amongst the arms and ammunition surrendered were 16 General Purpose Machine guns, GPMG; 17 AK-47; 71 FN; 27 G3; 6 RPG and 5 Brandy Machine Guns ; rocket launchers, a large cache of explosives and countless numbers of various sizes of ammunitions.

His younger brother, Mr. George Ekpemupolo, who is the chairman of Warri South-West Local Government Area told Vanguard he was happy Tompolo had finally accepted amnesty.

He said the position of his brother as a militant kingpin affected him both positively and negatively as a council chairman, as he was denied certain things because of his brother's former status while it opened doors for him in some places.

Mr. Ekpemupolo, however, said now that Tompolo and other freedom fighters have dropped their arms, it behooved on the Federal Government to play its part by developing the Niger-Delta.

A chief of Gbaramatu kingdom, Godspower Gbenekame, who was at the airstrip to receive Tompolo told Vanguard, "Yes, I thank the Federal Government for giving us the opportunity to air our views.

It is not a personal matter, it is a matter that affects the entire Niger-Delta people. People can surrender guns without surrendering their hearts, the point I am making is that the Federal Government has a lot to do to make the amnesty work. They should come up with a programme to actually engage these young men that are dropping arms and give them a new lease of life.

Chief Gbenekame, who is the Benemowei (Mobilizer) of Gbaramatu Kingdom continued: "The government should know that the heart of the people of the region is more on practical development of the region. Anything short of that will be a fatal mistake on its part.

I commend Tompolo for accepting amnesty. He has fought a good fight for the Ijaw nation and the entire Niger-Delta", he added.

allafrica

4 October 2009

Nairobi — Mediator Kofi Annan flew into the country at 7.20pm on Sunday for a four-day visit likely to pile even more pressure on the government over reforms.

Mr Annan is expected to pressure Kenyan leaders to speed up the pace of reforms, a key pillar of which is the trial of those who bear the greatest responsibility for the violence that claimed more than 1,000 lives early last year following disputed presidential elections.

Electoral cycle

He said the country had no option but to institute all reforms in the next one year, adding that it would be dangerous for Kenya to "enter the next electoral cycle" without reforms.

"With a sense of urgency and national spirit, it can be done and within a reasonable time," Mr Annan said outside the Serena hotel.

"Kenya leaders must listen to the voices of the people, and this is what I will tell the two principals and other political leaders," he said.

The former UN secretary-general arrived as the government continues to face immense international pressure -- including travel ban threats -- over the pace of reforms.

There is also anxiety in official circles on the expected visit of International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who is believed to be readying the ground for arrest and trial of some Cabinet ministers and other key planners and financiers of post-election violence.

Mr Annan will meet President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga in their respective offices before the three retreat for a private lunch meeting at midday.

He will meet Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka before the lunch meeting and Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo later in the day.

On Tuesday, the former UN chief will engage ministers, NGOs, religious groups and the business sector on the progress made in the reforms especially those under Agenda Four.

Mr Annan comes to Kenya at a time when debate on trials at The Hague for those behind the post-poll violence is raging on. Discussions with the principals will include what steps the country will take after failing to meet the September 30 deadline to set up a local tribunal.

Historical injustices

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has said he wants to consult with the President and the PM on the way forward after the government failed to meet the deadline agreed on for a local special tribunal.

Besides the search for justice, Mr Annan is expected to engage the country's leadership on the slow pace of reforms envisaged under Agenda Four of the National Accord. The agenda deals with legal and institutional reforms, land reforms, historical injustices, poverty and inequality.

The international community led by the United States of American, have expressed concern over the slow pace of reforms.

The Obama administration and Canada have threatened to bar 15 Kenyan leaders from entering their countries. The 15 have been accused of hindering reforms.

Last Friday, the European Union expressed concern over the pace of reforms and urged the government to speed up the process. On the same day, former colonial masters, Britain, revealed that they have a list of 20 Kenyan personalities who it will deny visas over corruption.

But as Mr Annan flew into the country, Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua was putting up advertisement discrediting the international community's stand on the pace of reforms.

The third report released last month by South Consulting, the team tasked by the Panel of Eminent Persons to monitor progress of Agenda One to Four, also decried the slow pace of reforms.

The report by the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Monitoring Project indicates that insecurity is one of the reasons why some of the people displaced during the post-election violence have not gone back to their farms.

On Agenda Four, the report says that things are moving rather slowly, adding, however, "it is commendable that there is movement in each of the main components that constitute Agenda Item 4".

Mr Annan was last in the country on October 16 last year when he received the Waki report on post-election violence. He is also expected to engage the country's leadership on the stalled efforts to try the post-election violence suspects.

The latest development indicates that the ICC has narrowed down on at least four top Kenyan officials, including three Cabinet ministers for possible trials over the post-election violence. The ICC prosecutor is expected in the country soon to meet the two principals and chart a way forward.

The persons bearing the greatest responsibility seem to have been drawn from a combination of reports on the violence including that by the Justice Philip Waki inquiry.

The Waki report identifies a key office holder at the highest level of government who may have directly participated in the preparation of the attacks.

The official is suspected of having chaired two planning meetings held in State House and Nairobi Safari Club in the run up to the election with the involvement of senior members of the Government and other prominent Kikuyu personalities.

It also speaks of another prominent politician who during a public meeting in Kiptororo in Kuresoi in December 2007, reportedly urged the Kalenjins to fight the Kikuyus until they leave Molo area.

The politician is said to have once told his supporters that "all the investors in Kericho and in the estates will be either Kalenjins or Indians".

Another probable individual in the list is said to have said during an opening ceremony for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in a place called Mailing, that they would uproot the "sangari", 'shake off the soil', 'gather it together and 'burn it', in reference to 'outsider' communities.

A senior official of a State security agency said to have carried out indiscriminate killings has also been named as one of those who have been the focus of investigations.

allafrica

4 October 2009

Kampala — AT LEAST six people, five of them children, have been confirmed dead after a landslide hit Kyokyezo village in Rubanda county, Kabale district. According to Rubanda MP Godfrey Ahabwe, four bodies have been recovered.

Two children, twins, were still trapped under the mud, Ahabwe added. One of the deceased was identified as 29-year-old Annabel Anyijuka.

"This is a disaster and it needs the attention of the Government," said Ahabwe, who is also the State Minister for Local Government.

The landslide swept through Bwindi parish following heavy rains at lunchtime on Saturday.

It took only seconds for the earth on the upper ridges to give away, crushing the shops and residences in the valley.

Samson Besigye, the Bubare LC3 chairman, said hundreds of people in the parishes of Bwindi and Igomanda have been left homeless.

Most of the victims spent Saturday night under trees without food since the landslide swept away their gardens, he added.

Kabale RDC Cox Nyakairu estimates that 500 residents in Bubale and Hamurwa parish lost their property.

Among the buildings washed away are shops at Igomanda trading centre, a primary school block, library, toilets at Kyokyezo Primary School and furniture belonging to Kyokyezo Church of Uganda.

Kabale district leaders attribute the problem to climate change.

Landslides, along with floods, are listed as some of the symptoms of global warming, which are hitting the world with increased frequency.

Global warming is caused by waste gases, such as carbon dioxide, which form a 'blanket' around the earth and is responsible for trapping heat escaping from the earth. This leads to climate change, characterised by erratic weather patterns, causing floods and droughts.

The Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Tarsis Kabwegyere last month warned people living in mountainous areas of likely incidences of landslides.

The minister also warned people occupying the plains of Teso and western Uganda about possible floods.

Maria Mutagamba, the environment minister, said the peak of the El Nino rains is expected in mid-October.

The minister asked people living in wetlands and flood-prone areas to move to safer areas.

"Churches and mosques are usually located in safe places and this is where people should relocate if they notice signs of disaster," Martin Owor, a commissioner in the disaster preparedness ministry, told The New Vision yesterday.

"The problem is that too many people choose to stay, hoping that disaster will not strike."

He pointed at deforestation as a result of population pressure as one of the causes of land slides.

"The intense population pressure has caused environmental degradation. When heavy rains come, landslides occur, sweeping away houses and crops since there are no barriers to check the run-off."

He cited Sironko in eastern Ugandans as one of the areas where they have successfully encouraged people to plant trees.

"We have given them tree species that have deep roots to mitigate the impact."

allafrica

4 October 2009

Cape Town — Civil society should call African parliaments to account on international trade negotiations as parliamentarians have in the past not been "robust" enough in ensuring that such talks deliver on developmental priorities.

This candid admission came from Sisa Njikelana, a South African parliamentarian representing the ruling African National Congress, at a discussion organised by the Africa Trade Network and the Trade Strategy Group.

These organisations, which represent civil society groups from South Africa and the rest of the continent, advocate fair trade policies that advance social justice. They organised a two-day seminar on Oct 1-2 on the present state of the Doha Round of talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Cape Town, South Africa.

Njikelana, who is a member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on trade and development, admitted that South African parliamentarians have been "rumbling and mumbling about always getting the cake already baked when it comes to trade agreements", meaning parliamentarians only become aware of the content of trade agreements when they have been finalised.

At that late stage, parliamentarians can only ratify the agreements and not propose any amendments. "The question that arises is whether parliamentarians have become rubber stamps?"

He argued for a "more vigorous and visible role"for parliaments in the developing world and especially Africa with regards to oversight over the content and progress of trade talks, while still giving governments the space to engage in the actual negotiations.

Njikelana urged the trade activists present at the meeting to ensure that parliaments get involved with the content of trade agreements in the early stages of negotiation. "The trade and development agenda should be driven by the need to improve the quality of life of the poor. If we veer off the path, you should call us to account."

He also suggested that parliamentarians needed civil society's support in order to drive pro-poor trade and development policies. "Even the WTO has admitted the importance of civil society involvement with the WTO Public Forum held this week."

While there may be questions about the effectiveness of the event, where NGOs meet with governments to discuss the international trading system, it is still a "good thing". Njikelana urged activists to also engage with the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and with the East African Legislative Authority (EALA).

While PAP is the legislative arm of the African Union, EALA serves as legislative arm for the East African Community.

Njikelana's statements provoked a heated debate. He was taken on by Moses Shaha, chairperson of the Kenya Small-Scale Farmers Forum, who declared, "government is turning against us and singing a foreign song.

"How can we remove a son of ours who is in parliament and becomes part of the problem? Once he leaves parliament, he'll be one of us again but while he earns money, he won't let it go (by making decisions against dominant interests)." The Kenya Small-Scale Farmers Forum is a non-governmental lobby group working to advance the interests of non-commercial farmers in Kenya.

Shaha admonished all present "to come out of the goody-goody feeling" and "provoke the law", as that was the only way to push back "the advancing wall", he said with reference to the agricultural agreement currently being negotiated as part of the Doha Round. "What is to be done?" he asked.

In response to Shaha's challenge, Angelica Katuruza, director in Zimbabwe's ministry of regional integration and international cooperation, said farmers "should make a lot of noise. If government officials are making the wrong decisions, make a noise. They have ears; they will hear it."

To which Nathan Irumba, chief executive of the Southern and East Africa Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) quipped, "But what if they don't want to hear?" SEATINI does research and advocacy on trade issues.

Marie-Lou Roux, executive officer of the environmental non-governmental organisation Habitat Council, threw down the gauntlet by asking whether activists "should chain themselves to the gates of parliament" if parliamentarians don't heed their calls.

In response Njikelana stated that, "I want my organisation (the ANC) to be challenged. You should take your public representatives on but in a positive way. Don't chain yourself to the gates. There is nothing wrong with contacting the chairpersons of portfolio committees (to put your case). But if we dilly-dally, then you can chain yourself."

Talking to IPS, he said he is upset about how little engagement there is between civil society and parliamentarians, which is why he decided to raise the issue forcefully at the meeting.

In an interview with IPS, Tetteh Hormeku, head of programmes at Third World Network (TWN) Africa, said that the activists at the meeting regard their role, among others, as "to show up, put demands and put pressure but also to support and encourage our governments in Africa to take position" against the current negotiations at the WTO. TWN works for trade justice.

For the past two years, activists mobilised around the issue of the trade deals known as economic partnership agreements (EPAs) as the WTO "was a bit comatose", explained Hormeku. With the new impetus towards concluding the Doha Round, African trade activists are focusing their sights on the different aspects of the WTO negotiations to mobilise people but also to assist African governments.

As Katuruza pointed out, some African countries do not even have permanent representatives in Geneva, where the WTO is based, as they cannot afford it. Njikelana also spoke about the serious "intellectual and administrative"capacity constraints that affect parliamentarians as they frequently do not have the knowledge or the support to get to grips with complicated trade issues.

TWN focuses on demystifying trade and making the issues more understandable. For example, Hormeku pointed out, "African countries never asked for non-agricultural market access (NAMA). Non-agricultural market access is a euphemism for industrial tariff reduction. It is obfuscation.

"Whenever developing countries say 'we don't want to cut our tariffs on industrial goods', the North says 'but you'll get market access'," he added. Given African states' inability to compete, this is untrue in most cases.

allafrica

4 October 2009

Lusaka — For 70 minutes, the girls in the distinctive gold-and-green jersey of Brazil shut out the attacks by the visiting team. The bare feet of chubby-faced left back Njavwa Silungwe are lively in defence.

The yellow-clad Chibolya Queens eventually lose the match. But their team's mere existence is a small victory for its members. Chibolya Queens is a poor and loosely-knit outfit - a closer look reveals the girls' jerseys don't match - but the coach, players and support staff are not just playing for three points.

"When I say they have nothing I mean just that. Most of these teams don't even have playing balls, and when they go for a match they have to walk there in addition to borrowing a competition ball," said Rhoida Kafunda-Tembo sadly. She coordinates the Women's Football League of the Football Association of Zambia.

Chibolya is a particularly tough neighbourhood, where even trained crime-busters from the Zambian police and the Drug Enforcement Commission fear to tread -despite it being only a stone's throw from the heart of Lusaka.

"Here in Chibolya youths smoke 'chamba' (cannabis/dagga), and drink 'kachasu' (local illicit gin) all day long, sunrise to sunset, without being arrested. Prostitution is also rife, as it is a way of life for females of all ages,"observed a resident, Robert Mwiinga.

Silungwe and her team-mates find playing football gives them access to the information and support they need to avoid HIV/AIDS or unwanted pregnancy.

It also gives Silungwe confidence. "I want to be a nurse when I finish school," she confides.

But there's a long road ahead if she is to realise this ambition -Silungwe is 16, still in grade eight. "It has not been easy for me, because even the uncle I live with now does not want me. Each time he goes out drinking he will return and tell me to leave his house and get married, saying I am old enough," she lamented.

Growing number of orphans

According to statistics from the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council, Zambia today has more than two million children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and 750,000 of these are street children.

To date the government has sent only 135,000 of them to a Youth Empowerment Programme run by the Zambia National Service of the Ministry of Defence at Chiwoko Camp (Eastern Province), and Kitwe Skills Training Camp on the Copperbelt.

Trainees learn agriculture, automotive mechanics, carpentry and brick-laying, alongside English, mathematics, sport, culture and psycho-social counselling.

Silungwe's mother and father died when she was just five.

Silungwe confesses that her relationship with her aunt is not strong enough for them to talk about intimate things such as HIV/AIDS, menstruation and pregnancy. That is why she turned to a football club for information.

Twice a week (Monday and Friday) the girls sit around in a corner of their football pitch, after training, to discuss HIV/AIDS, condoms, early marriages and unwanted pregnancies.

The Women's Football League has decreed that all teams must have matrons to mentor the girls, and counsel them on the advantages of self-control and abstinence, but also on how to engage in sex without contracting HIV/AIDS, or conceiving unwanted babies.

"We teach them discipline - coming early to training and returning home quickly after practice. We also teach them how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, and maintain high standards of personal hygiene," said Mazyopa Nkhula, matron for another Chibolya team, the Shalom Queens. Topics include advice on substitutes for store-bought sanitary napkins.

Shalom Queens team captain Victoria Phiri admits that in Chibolya, and elsewhere in Zambia, it is not uncommon for terrified girls to dump their babies in pit latrines, or on communal rubbish dumps, and it is knowledge of how to avoid these situations that helps the team bond.

"As a team we not only learn how to play football, but to protect ourselves from early marriage, and bad things like unwanted babies and HIV/AIDS," says the 17-year-old Phiri.

This is a large part of why local businessman Patrick Lubinda was aiming for when he formed the Chibolya Queens. He has shared some of the profits of his small retail outlet with the team, but doesn't have the resources to do much more for the players. Lubinda also coaches, manages and mentors the team.

"We have about 20 girls in the team, most of whom are orphans who due to poverty no longer attend school," he said.

Misheck Banda, coach and manager of the Shalom Queens and proprietor of a small private school in Lusaka also digs into his own pockets to keep the team going. "If only we were receiving a little help -not money but balls and stuff like that - we would be able to boost the morale of these girls a great deal."

allafrica

4 October 2009

Yaounde — Pauline Siembe, a Baka pygmy in South East Cameroon, comes out of her smoky hut licking her fingers after a meal of pounded yam and bush meat soup.

A bright smile lights her face, revealing an array of sharp-pointed teeth, intentionally sharpened to eat bush meat.

"It always feels good eating a meal like this," she remarks as she straps a basket on her shoulder and heads for the forest.

Her husband, Daniel Njanga, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, the same exhilaration visible as he emerges from the dwelling.

Still savouring the meal, Njanga says as I stretch out my hand to greet him: "This is what the government wants to deprive us of."

Taking on a more serious look, Njanga spits disdain for the government's methods of conserving the vast forest reserves of South East Cameroon, that straddle two of the country's "divisions", the Boumba and Ngoko and the Upper Nyong divisions, all in Cameroon's East Region, being part of the Congo Basin rain forest.

"This is our home and there is no point telling us that we should not access it," he tells IPS.

"If we are talking about conservation, then the Bakas are the best conservationists. We have been living here since time immemorial, and the forest has not disappeared. Those who now claim they are conserving the forest are the same people pillaging our forests. We see sawmills felling large portions of our forest every day. Is it not this same government that authorises the felling?" he asks.

Njanga is obviously angry that the forest has been gazetted into three national parks and 23 logging concessions, totalling some 760,000 hectares.

While logging concessions are designed to foster sustainable timber exploitation - in fact, operators are supposed to plant 10 trees for every one felled, although the provision is frequently violated - national parks create even stricter restrictions, as access is forbidden. These restrictions pose a threat to the Bakas, who now have to grapple with new challenges.

By the forestry laws of 1994, National Parks fall under the sphere of permanent forest domain. The law explicitly states: "Public access to state forests may be regulated or forbidden."

The more than 30,000 Baka pygmies who live in the region see these restrictions as an affront to their right of access to the forest they consider their natural home.

â-¨"Our lives are defined by this forest. We harvest fruits, wild tubers, honey and medicine from the forest. And we kill animals for our basic food needs. We destroy nothing. We get only what we need from the forest," Siembe told IPS.

Gilbert Ngwampiel, a Baka man in Ngoyla, near the Nki National Park, says: "If government says we should not hunt animals, it is a way of exterminating the Bakas. Eating bush meat makes Baka men fertile. Failing to eat meat means that the Baka man will not be able to impregnate his wife, and this is dangerous.

"Of course we want these animals to continue living here," Ngwampiel says when asked whether the Baka hunting techniques would not perhaps lead to the extinction of some species.

"We kill only enough animals to eat, and we don't kill all animals. We hunt only male animals, the females and the babes are left for posterity. Those who kill animals indiscriminately are those who want to go and sell, and they are not the Bakas - they are the Bantu," he told IPS.

He points out that the Bakas have their shrines and places of worship in the forest, and denying access to the forest is a clear violation of their right to freedom of worship.

"We can never stop worshipping the Jengi (the Baka spirit of the forest).The Jengi is the originator of all life. For life to continue, we must offer a yearly sacrifice of an elephant to Him. So, I can't understand how government tells us not to kill an elephant. How do we then survive?" he muses.

What the Bakas don't say is that they have to cut down trees to harvest honey, no matter the value and species of the tree, and their Jengi sacrifice is a threat to the dwindling numbers of elephants in the region.

Besides, the Bantu, according to Boumba and Ngoko divisional delegate for Forestry and Wildlife Pandong Eithel, supply the Bakas with guns and ammunition to hunt animals on a large scale, and later collect what has been brought in. "The rewards given to the Bakas are generally exploitative," he says.

Still, the concerns have pricked the conscience of the Cameroon government and its conservation partners, notably the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The two entities have already completed a study that recommends a shift in conservation paradigms.

"The intension is to put people at the centre of the conservation agenda. To find solutions that work for people," says Leonard Usongo, former WWF coordinator for the WWF-Jengi Conservation Project of South East Cameroon, and who supervised the study.

"We had to identify our conservation project with the culture of the Bakas. That is why we named the conservation project in SE Cameroon the Jengi Project, Jengi being the Baka word for spirit of the forest. We needed to strike a balance between conservation and local needs."

Olivier Tegomo, junior research assistant for WWF who was at the forefront of the study, said he worked closely with the Bakas to find out what the forest really represented for them.

"All this has to do with the notion of participatory forest management. We had to find out the types of products they get from the forest, where these products are concentrated, and how they could exploit those products without threatening the forest ecosystem. Along with the Bakas, we have come up with a participatory map that localises all their interests in the forest."

Conservators did sometimes poorly apply the 1994 forestry and wildlife laws, which "stipulate scrupulous respect for the rights of indigenous people to forest resources,", Eithel conceded to IPS.

"This participatory management approach will no doubt lead to a better application of that law, and help ensure respect for the Baka way of life, and their belief systems," he said.

Usongo says any conservation paradigm that does not take into consideration the socio-cultural needs of the people is built on the wrong premise.

"The solution that works is that which still allows the indigenous people access to forest products, although we have to encourage them to do so sustainably."

He says the WWF cannot stop the Bakas from sacrificing to Jengi, but adds "We are encouraging them to use less threatened species, instead of killing an elephant every year. He also says along with the administration, the WWF is encouraging the setting up of community farms for the Bakas to lure them away from resorting to the forest for all their food needs.

"We are also working to introduce them to pisciculture as a way of slowing down their continual dependence on bush meat for protein," he told IPS.

"It means restoring the Jengi - the spirit of the forest. It means balancing today's needs with tomorrow's demands," Usongo concludes.

But the government will still need to grapple with non-Baka people who border Cameroon's forest expanse, and who use most unorthodox and destructive methods of farming. Many use bush fires to clear the forest for farmland.

Statistics show that Cameroon loses 220,000 hectares of forest every year, farming constituting the highest element of deforestation.

allafrica

04 October 2009
Pope Benedict opened a synod of Roman Catholic bishops on Africa by denouncing the West’s materialism and lack of moral values, which he said were contaminating the world’s poorest continent like “toxic waste”.

Reuters - Pope Benedict opened a synod of Roman Catholic bishops on Africa by denouncing the West’s materialism and lack of moral values, which he said were contaminating the world’s poorest continent like “toxic waste”.

In his homily, the Pope compared Africa, which he visited earlier this year, to a spiritual “lung” at risk of being attacked by what he called the viruses of materialism and religious fundamentalism.

“There is absolutely no doubt that the so-called ‘First’ World has exported up to now and continues to export its spiritual toxic waste that contaminates the peoples of other continents, particularly those of Africa,” he said.

“In this sense colonialism, which is over at a political level, has never really entirely come to an end.”

Lamenting the exploitation of Africa’s vast resources, the pope also spoke out against religious fundamentalism, which he said was mixed with political and economic interests.

“Groups who follow various religious creeds are spreading throughout the continent of Africa ...teaching and practicing not love and respect for freedom, but intolerance and violence.”

In the 20th century, Africa’s Catholic population shot up from about 2 million in 1900 to about 140 million in 2000, making the continent ever more important to the Vatican as the number of practicing Catholics in the developed world declines.

In his Angelus blessing, the Pope called for political dialogue in Guinea, where at least 157 people were killed in a bloody crackdown on street protesters on Monday.

Oct 04 2009

Madagascar's cash-strapped government has opened the door for criminal syndicates to plunder the Indian Ocean island's precious natural resources, conservation groups said on Saturday.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Conservation International and Wild life Conservation Society said an inter-ministerial order issued last month granted an exceptional authorisation to export raw and semi-processed hard wood.

"It legalises the sale of illegally cut and collected wood onto the market; allows for the potential embezzlement of funds in the name of environmental protection and constitutes a legal incentive for further corruption in the forestry sector," the statement signed by the three groups said.

Eco-tourism is the backbone of Madagascar's $390-million-a-year tourism industry, which has been wrecked by months of political turmoil this year.

Conservationists say its biodiversity is being wiped out on a shocking level as gangs take advantage of a security vacuum to pillage rosewood and ebony from supposedly protected forests and trap exotic animals, mainly for Asia's pet market.

Isolated from land masses for more than 160-million years, the world's fourth largest island is a biodiversity "hotspot" home to hundreds of exotic species found only there.

Prime Minister Monja Roindefo denied the government was legitimising the plundering of forests, but refused to rule out issuing future licences.

"We have brought the logging under control. For the moment we don't foresee another order being issued," he told Reuters.

The September 21 government order authorised 13 operators to export 325 containers of timber, with the authorities taking a 72-million ariary tax on each container.

www.mg.co.za

By Tom Burgis in Lagos

Published: October 4 2009

Three militant commanders responsible for many of the attacks that have curtailed Nigeria’s oil production agreed on Sunday to lay down their weapons after accepting the government’s offer of amnesty at the 11th hour.

The gunmen’s emergence from their bases in the mangrove swamps of the Niger delta as Sunday’s deadline for a 60-day amnesty neared marks a victory for the efforts of Umaru Yar’Adua, president, to bring stability to the oil-rich region.

Pipeline bombings and wider unrest in sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest energy producer, the fifth biggest supplier of crude to the US, has at times reduced output by as much as 40 per cent, helping to drive oil prices to last year’s high of $147 a barrel.

Yet even as the rebel leaders who command thousands of foot soldiers said they would surrender their arms in exchange for an unconditional pardon, there were warnings that violence could return.

“There are still thousands of people willing to continue fighting in the creeks and only the actions of the government can win over our brothers still bent on fighting,” Farah Dagogo, one of the commanders, said in a statement.

Along with Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, and Ateke Tom, Mr Dagogo operated under an umbrella group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

Some in Mend have rejected the amnesty, saying it does not address the delta’s grievances. Mend, which orchestrated a raid on Royal Dutch Shell’s deepwater Bonga field last year, told the Financial Times: “New deadly commanders are going to take over that are not known to the government.”

However, with its top commanders now retired, Mend’s capacity to strike is unclear. A ceasefire it declared before the amnesty has 11 days to run.

The delta states receive a greater share of national revenues than other parts of Nigeria. However, ­corruption and environ­mental degradation have left most inhabitants consigned to misery while a handful of politicians and militant leaders have made fortunes. A multi-billion-dollar trade in stolen oil has flourished.

Some militants who accepted the amnesty earlier have taken to the streets claiming they have not been paid a promised stipend.

The government plans to offer retired fighters vocational training but critics say the skills will be of little use without more job opportunities.

With the amnesty at an end, some delta leaders fear a repeat of May’s military offensive, which brought reprisals that knocked out almost all of Nigeria’s onshore production.

www.ft.com

MOGADISHU , Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman for an Islamist faction in Somalia on Saturday said three aid workers kidnapped two months ago were released by their captors.

Mohamed Osman Arus, spokesman for the Islamist Hezbul Islam faction, said the humanitarian workers were released and flown out of the faction-controlled southern town of Luq.

"I can only tell that they (hostages) were released by their captors today and left the country safe and sound," Arus told Xinhua.

Arus denied his group was involved in the abduction of the three aid workers in a cross border raid into Kenya in July, but said the group "facilitated" the negotiations to release them.

The spokesman would not elaborate on whether a ransom was paid to secure their release.

The three hostages were identified as an American, a Zimbabwean and a Pakistani, soon after they were taken hostages in mid-July by a Somali militia group into the Kenyan border town of Mandera, where the three were said to be working for the French aid agency the Action Against Hunger (ACF).

Several other foreign and Somali hostages, including journalists and aid workers, are still being held in the war-torn Horn of Africa country by local armed groups, who demand payment of ransom for their release.

Somalia has been without a central government since the overthrow of the late Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

(Repeats, without changes, to additional subscribers)

(Recasts with details from interview)

By Lesley Wroughton

ISTANBUL, Oct 3 (Reuters) - African economies should recover fairly quickly when the global economy gains strength and debt levels in the region are not troubling, the International Monetary Fund's top official for Africa said on Saturday.

In an interview with Reuters, IMF Director for Africa Antoinette Sayeh said that in countries where debt or high inflation are not a problem, fiscal and monetary policies should remain supportive.

To prevent a deterioration in debt levels, which have already risen in the region, fiscal policy will need to shift once a recovery has been established, she said.

"We need to be careful because we've already seen some deterioration of debt sustainability indicators in some countries," Sayeh said on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings here.

"Some of the debt ratios are not looking as good as they did but we expect growth to resume in the next couple of years, so they have not deteriorated to levels that are worrying us," she said.

"We think countries at least for 2010 countries need to look at their budgets in the perspective of the recovery not yet fully underway."

01 October 2009
Ivorian prosecutor Raymond Tchimou (pictured) said Thursday that Guy-Andre Kieffer, a journalist who disappeared in 2004, is still alive. The statement followed new testimony claiming that Kieffer died at the hands of the first lady's entourage.

A man claiming he was a soldier in Ivory Coast’s army said Wednesday that the Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer, who went missing from the West African country in 2004, was killed by members of the first lady’s entourage in a botched interrogation.

But in apparent response to the new testimony, Ivorian state prosecutor Raymond Tchimou told the news agency AFP that the journalist had been taken out of the country and is still alive. Tchimou offered no other explanations or details on the journalists purported whereabouts.

In a press conference on Thursday, Alexis Gublin, lawyer of the missing journalist's brother called the Tchimou’s statements "unacceptable" and demanded evidence that would support the prosecutor's statement.

Guy-Andre Kieffer was last seen alive in April 2004, in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan. At the time, the journalist was investigating corruption in the cocoa industry. When he went missing, two French judges took on the case.

The judges have long suspected, based on the accounts of key witnesses, that people close to the president could be implicated in Kieffer's disappearance, a theory now strengthened by the latest testimony to be admitted into the docket.

Based on the former soldier’s testimony to the French judges, Kieffer was seized and held within the presidential compound in 2004, and then killed by accident.

“By word of mouth we learnt that [Kieffer] had been shot by accident,” the man stated. He said that the crime was perpetrated by the guards of first lady Simone Gbagbo, but that she herself had no knowledge of the incident.

Simone Gbagbo has always maintained she never saw Guy André Kieffer, a story she stuck to when she herself was questioned in the affair.

france24

03 October 2009
France has suspended the international arrest warrants it issued Friday for four Moroccans over the 1965 abduction of a high-profile opponent to Morocco's then King Hassan II, an event that has embarrassed the two nations for four decades.

France issued international arrest warrants for four Moroccans over the 1965 abduction of an opponent to Morocco's then King Hassan II on Friday, but later suspended them, citing a request for information from Interpol.

A French justice ministry spokesman said earlier on Friday that four arrest warrants were sent to Interpol, the international police organisation, and would be issued worldwide.

The head of Morocco's Royal Gendarmerie and a former intelligence chief were among the suspects being sought.

Mehdi ben Barka, a hero for the international left, was kidnapped in broad daylight in front of the smart Lipp restaurant in the heart of Paris and his fate remains unknown. French investigators believe he was tortured and killed.

The case has been a cause celebre for Moroccan advocates of greater political freedom in the kingdom, but it remains politically sensitive in Rabat, where the late Hassan's son Mohammed succeeded him as king in 1999.

Hours after the justice ministry announcement, the Paris prosecutor's office said it was suspending the issuance of the international arrest warrants because Interpol was seeking additional information from the judge overseeing the case.

"In effect, Interpol has requested more information so that the arrest warrants can be implemented. Without these precisions, they cannot be," the prosecutor's office said.

The information requested would allow the individuals targeted to be identified, it said.

But there were suspicions that the shifting stance might reflect efforts to avoid political strains given that the event has already embarrassed France and Morocco for decades.

Maurice Buttin, 80, the ben Barka family lawyer in France since 1965, said: "The prosecutor's office is blocking the situation again. This shows how things work in France."

Those targeted were: Hosni Benslimane, head of the powerful Adarak el Malaki, or Royal Gendarmerie, for more than four decades; Abdelkader Kadiri, a former head of intelligence; and Miloud Tounsi and Abdelhak Achaachi, two ex-agents.

A murder investigation into the case has been open in France since 1975 and detectives say they have evidence that the abduction was carried out by French criminals acting on orders from Moroccan intelligence officers.

During King Hassan's 38-year reign, dissidents were routinely jailed, tortured or killed.

Human rights activists accuse the French authorities of turning a blind eye to such abuses and of deliberately dragging their feet in the ben Barka affair to avoid damaging ties with Morocco, a former French colony.

The reform-minded King Mohammed is credited with turning Morocco into a more tolerant state, but the monarchy and the security services remain untouchable.

The four arrest warrants date back to 2007, when they were issued by a French investigating magistrate. The warrants immediately caused diplomatic tensions, with newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy on a visit to Morocco at the time.

france24

03 October 2009
Six Senegalese soldiers have been killed in a rebel attack carried out by members of the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC), a former independence group, according to Senegalese military sources.

AFP - Six Senegalese soldiers have been killed in an attack apparently carried out by rebels from the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC), a former independence group, military sources said Saturday.

"Yesterday (Friday) ... a Senegalese army patrol returning to its base was attacked by armed elements supposedly belonging to the MFDC. There were six dead, four wounded and two missing," the source told AFP.

The attack, one of the most deadly in recent years, took place in the southern Casamance region about 120 kilometres (70 miles) east of the regional capital Ziguinchor.

Earlier this month, public officials in Casamance called for the reopening of talks between the Dakar government and the former rebels following the killing of a government soldier in an attack blamed on the MFDC.

The last talks between the Senegalese government and the MFDC, an ex-independence movement started in 1982 which waged a long battle against Dakar, were in February 2005, following a peace accord in December 2004.

But violence has again flared in the Casamance region, separated geographically from the rest of Senegal to the north by Gambia.

On August 21, a military official reported several clashes between the army and ex-rebels in Casamance.

Suspected MFDC members have also been blamed for killing three civilians in attacks on vehicles in the region in August and this week.

france24

03 October 2009
Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore has been given the job of 'facilitator' by the Economic Community of West African States to help ease tensions in Guinea after junta troops killed opposition demonstrators earlier in the week.

AFP - The Economic Community Of West African States has named Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore as "facilitator" to ease tensions in Guinea after junta troops there massacred opposition demonstrators.

"We came to see the president (Compaore) with a message from (Nigerian) President Umaru Yar'Adua, current ECOWAS chairman, who named President Compaore as facilitator in the Guinean crisis," ECOWAS president Mohamed Ibn Chambas told journalists.

Guinea has been in turmoil since Monday, when troops of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's military junta opened fire on opposition demonstrators, killing 56 according to the junta and more than 150 according to the United Nations and a Guinean human rights organisation.

ECOWAS wants Compaore to "work on the Guinean file, see how he can help find ways to lower tensions, re-energise the transitional process in Guinea, resume dialogue between the authorities and (the opposition) and also see how we can move towards credible and transparent elections in Guinea," Chambas said.

The United Nations, European Union and African Union have already condemned the massacre in a Conakry stadium, while former colonial power France has withdrawn military cooperation and said it is considering other forms of cooperation.

Compaore, in power since 22 years, has previously mediated crises in Ivory Coast and Togo.

france24

3 October 2009

On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water.

He marks time in seasons but knows that it has not rained for three years: "Since it is not raining there is no pasture," he says. Only 40 of his herd of sheep and goats that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.

Already a herder before Kenya's independence he has never seen a drought like this.

independent