The military leader of Guinea has called for an independent inquiry into a bloody crackdown on opposition protestors in the West African nation.

President Moussa Dadis Camara on Wednesday called for 'a national and international commission of inquiry with the United Nations to shine a light onto the events of January and February 2007, and September 28, 2009'.

The ruling National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) led by the captain has come under fierce criticism after a rights group accused security forces of killing 157 people during a protest on Monday.

In a similar incident in 2007, more than 180 people were killed during protests against then president Lansana Conte who had come to power in a military coup in 1984.

The CNDD also called for the formation of a national unity government.

"The CNDD asks for ... the formation of a government of national unity integrating members of different political parties and tasked with the transition," Ruling council official Mandjou Deoubate said on state television.

According to the country's constitution, Aboubacar Sompare, the head of the National Assembly, should have become president after Conte's death in 2008.

However, a group of military officers seized power within hours of his death and suspended the constitution.

Headed by Captain Camara, the junta has promised to hold a new presidential election at the end of a two-year transitional period.

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NAIROBI, 1 October 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy fighting between two Islamic groups in Somalia's port city of Kismayo erupted on 1 October, with dozens killed and hundreds of families displaced, local sources told IRIN.

"The fighting started at around 7am local time, with exchanges of heavy weapons fire by the two sides,” Abdulkadir Ali, a resident, said.

Tension had been building between Al-Shabab and Hisbul-Islam over who should administer the city. It boiled over following a decision by Al-Shabab to ignore an earlier agreement that control of the city would rotate between them.

Ali said the fighting was initially concentrated in the north and northeastern neighbourhoods but was spreading across the city. Areas in the west of the city, such as Alanley and Via Afmadow, were now battle zones.

“Hundred of families, including previously displaced people, are fleeing as we speak,” Ali said.

Mahamud Abaysane, a displaced person, told IRIN many residents had left the city on 30 September. “They [Al-Shabab] were on the radio telling people to leave and go to safer areas. Thousands heeded that message and left,” Abaysane said.

He said most were fleeing north of Kismayo as far as Jamame (80km) and Jilib (120km). Others were moving from one neighbourhood to the next “hoping to find a safer place”.

Abaysane, who escaped fighting in Mogadishu, said people like him were being displaced for the third or fourth time. “We keep running but then it [the fighting] catches up with us.”

A hospital source, who requested anonymity, told IRIN that so far they were receiving civilians only. “The two sides are taking their injured to their own clinics.”

He said at least 30 injured civilians had been admitted to the hospital but many more could not make it because of the fighting.

He said the hospital was getting reports of high casualties on both sides. "We will only know the real casualty figures after the fighting stops," he added.

Ali said: “I saw a truck being loaded with the dead and the injured. Both sides are using snipers; they are using tall buildings and shooting at anything that moves.”

He said many people like him, who had not left the city, were stuck in their homes. “We are literally prisoners in our homes. You open the gate and they shoot you.”

Kismayo is 500km south of the capital, Mogadishu, and has been suffering from persistent insecurity, changing hands following fighting on numerous occasions.

"We have been expecting this [fighting] for the last few days but you always hope it will not come," Abaysane said.

Fighting was reported to have died down later in the day, after Hisbul-Islam forces were pushed back.

"It seems that Al-Shabab has the upper hand. They are now in control of most of the city," said a business source

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Eastern Congo has experienced endless cycles of violence for over a decade.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has arrested a former presidential candidate for allegedly trying to foment rebellion in the troubled east of the African nation.

The government issued a statement on Tuesday saying that Firmin Yangabi was arrested last Wednesday by military police.

Yangabi, a human rights activist and a candidate in Congo's 2006 presidential election, was detained as he tried to organize an arms shipment from the capital Kinshasa to the eastern town of Kisangani, according to the statement.

Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende has defended the arrest, saying Yangabi was moving a shipment of weapons with the aim of fomenting rebellion in eastern Congo, VOA reported.

Mende says human rights groups are using wordy phraseology to cover up their criminal activities.

North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Congo have experienced interminable cycles of violence since the war began in 1998.

The conflict in the Congo has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.4 million people dead.

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Guineans who were in Conakry during a military crackdown in 2007 say the recent repression was far more brutal (file photo)

DAKAR, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Guinean soldiers have been looting shops, breaking into homes and firing indiscriminately at people who ventured onto the streets of the capital Conakry, residents say, one day after scores were killed and hundreds injured in a military crackdown on a demonstration on 28 September.

“They are going around sowing terror,” Lamine*, a resident of the Cosa neighbourhood, told IRIN. “This is clearly their intention – to terrorize the people.”

He said he saw two young men shot dead when soldiers opened fire in Cosa on 29 September. The streets of Conakry were mostly deserted except for groups of police and military, residents said.

Several residents of Conakry told IRIN they saw soldiers breaking into shops and forcing their way into homes, stealing money, mobile phones and other belongings.

Most people IRIN spoke with were holed up in their homes, not daring to go out. “We are hostages of this military,” one said. “There is absolutely nothing we can do.”

Following the violent military crackdown on a 28 September demonstration against the candidacy of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara, in which an estimated 157 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured, Camara told the media some elements of the army were “out of control”.

On 29 September Camara called for two days of national mourning.

Shops closed

Shops, markets, banks and most petrol stations remained closed on 30 September. “People are just too afraid to open their businesses,” Lamine said.

In many cases, he said, men instead of women – who usually do the food shopping – went in search of condiments and whatever they could find for the daily meal.

Guineans are among the poorest people in the world and most do not have the means to buy food for more than one day at a time.

“If this continues we will see people going hungry,” Lamine told IRIN.

Petrol, usually about 4,500 Guinean francs (90 US cents) per litre, is being sold by youths on the street for 8,000-15,000 Gf, a local chauffeur told IRIN.

“Save us”

The international community has denounced the violent crackdown on the 28 September demonstration. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commission said on 29 September it “strongly condemns” the repression.

“I do not want to hear the international community simply spouting words like ‘we condemn’,” Conakry youth Amadou* told IRIN. “They must act. They must do something. Save us.”

He said he wanted to see “a total embargo” imposed on Guinea and perpetrators of the violence brought to justice.

“If there is not an international arrest warrant put out on them they will kill all Guineans.”

On 29 September Guinean Interior and Political Affairs Minister Frédéric Kolié said in a statement that 57 people had lost their lives on 28 September – 53 due to asphyxiation in a stampede and “four by stray bullets”.

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N'DJAMENA, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Aid workers in eastern Chad are preparing to move some 28,000 Sudanese men, women and children from a refugee camp infiltrated by supposed rebels.

The Chad government decided in mid-September to relocate Ouré Cassoni camp, which is near the northern town of Bahai and 7km from the border with Sudan.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has welcomed the move, which it has been urging for years. UNHCR has long expressed concern that Sudanese rebels were using the site as a base.

A new site has yet to be confirmed, but Bir Douane, 45km northwest of Bahai, is under consideration, according to UNHCR spokesperson Annette Rehrl.

A UNHCR team along with government officials and refugees will visit the proposed site in early October. The government proposed two alternative sites in 2006 but there was insufficient water at the locations, Rehrl said.

“That is the major issue,” Rehrl said. “Ensuring there is enough water for 28,000 people.”

Security

Security is also an issue in a region where aid workers and the population continue to face attacks by armed groups. “The persistent insecurity from crime in the east, increasingly violent, remains a significant concern for the humanitarian community,” according to the latest (15 September) bulletin by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Chad.

Aid organizations working at Ouré Cassoni said the final site decision and the move must be done in close coordination with all agencies involved.

“The International Rescue Committee supports the rationale to move the camp farther away from the Sudan border – in line with international humanitarian standards,” said Kurt Tjossem, IRC regional director in the Horn and East Africa. But he said the new site must be thoroughly evaluated for availability of natural resources to provide for refugees’ essential needs.

UNHCR policy is that a refugee camp should be at least 50km from a border. Ouré Cassoni in 2004 started out as a transit site for Darfur refugees but people poured over the border in such large numbers that eventually it became difficult to relocate the refugees, according to Rehrl.

Norik Soubrier, Chad country director with ACTED, said coordination is vital not only on technical evaluations and planning but also on protection.

“In order to block armed groups from getting to the camp and to allow the free movement of aid workers MINURCAT [UN Mission in Central African Republic and Tchad] should be permanently present in the zone,” he said. “Beyond that, the local authorities and UNPOL [UN Police] have an equally important role to play in refugee protection, through criminal and judicial enforcement.”

A government official told IRIN the authorities had long recognized the problem of insecurity at Ouré Cassoni.

“We have been ready to move the refugees,” Mahamet Saleh, deputy head of Chad’s Comité national pour l’accueil des réfugiés (CNAR), told IRIN. “But it has always been a problem of logistics – finding water and a safe site.”

He added: “We are fully committed to moving the camp because we realize it is too close to the border and we are particularly concerned about the presence of armed men and the militarization of the camp.”

Reluctance?

ACTED’s Soubrier said given that the Sudanese have lived at Ouré Cassoni camp for five years they are likely to be apprehensive about leaving.

“This is completely understandable, in that they are leaving a place they now know and where they have basic services, for a new unknown site. Given this, it is crucial that the necessary time be taken to talk to the refugees as well as to mobilize the funds necessary for a smooth transfer.”

UNHCR's Rehrl said the agency's mandate is to protect refugees. "Should it happen that refugees don't want to move, we will take their concerns seriously, continue to talk to them and continue to inform them on the better living conditions they're going to get in a new site. But ultimately they are under the responsibility and protection of the host government."

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JOHANNESBURG, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Ongoing extreme changes in Zambia's climate could bring losses of more than US$4 billion in agricultural income in the next 10 years, driving hundreds of thousands into poverty and food insecurity. Agriculture contributes 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of $14.3 billion.

These projections were based on a new study of 10-year climate patterns over the past 30 years, including the best and worst 10-year rainfall periods, by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a US-based think-tank.

"If you take into account the worst 10-year rainfall period, then Zambia's economy could lose as much as $7.1 billion in the next 10 years and drive 648,000 people below the poverty line," said James Thurlow, one of the three IFPRI researchers who authored the study.

Extreme changes in rainfall and temperature in the past 10 years have already lowered GDP by 0.4 percent every year. The southern and central regions of the country, where people were experiencing climate shocks such as droughts and floods, could be among the worst affected.

Thurlow said the uncertainty of the extent of future climate change would complicate contingency planning, which could exacerbate the impact on Zambia's population of about 12 million.

The study also warned that food availability could decline. In the current climate-change scenario, production of the staple food, maize, would rise by only 20kg per person by 2016 in a country that is already food insecure. In the worst-case scenario, per capita maize availability would slump below 2006 levels.

Thurlow said the researchers had looked at the impact of climate variability on various sectors and found agriculture to be the most vulnerable - "perhaps not surprisingly in rainfall-dependent Zambia" - and that this would seriously hamper efforts to reduce poverty.

What to do with the findings?

The authors urged the government to take immediateaction to counter the effects of climate variability by investing in drought-tolerant maize varieties, backed by an efficient seed and fertilizer distribution system.

"At the smallholder-farm level we advocate better methods of water management, such as irrigation and conservation farming - zero-tillage methods that have been shown in parts of Zambia to improve water retention in the soil," Thurlow said.

"We also underline the need for better grain storage facilities, both on the farm and at the national level. At the farm level this would help farmers to smooth consumption during lean years; at the national level it would allow the government to manage food security across good and bad years."

The analysis found that better infrastructure and information systems would allow "food production in Zambia's northern provinces, which are typically less affected by climate variability, to partially help smooth some of the shortfall in southern production during major drought years."

Despite having enjoyed a good harvest in 2009, including a maize surplus, tens of thousands of people in Zambia still require food assistance due to the localised impact of floods and because many of the poorest and most vulnerable people are unable to access food, according to the World Food Programme.

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NAIROBI, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Aid agencies should use "traditional structures" to reach long-neglected internally displaced people (IDPs) living in conflict-prone areas around the capital, Mogadishu, civil society officials say.

"Most of the IDP populations across the country live in appalling conditions, but the worst are those living around Mogadishu," Abdullahi Shirwa, of Civil Society in Action, an umbrella organization, told IRIN.

The needs of hundreds of thousands of IDPs across the country were not being met, Shirwa said, adding that IDPs around Mogadishu had the added problem of "total lack of security, and very little access to help".

He said the security issue had been used by agencies as the main reason for "little or no assistance to the IDPs. Unfortunately, insecurity has become a way of life in the country and can no longer be used as an excuse not to help people in desperate need."

Shirwa said there were traditional structures that can help in delivering aid to the displaced. "They can make use of elders, women's groups and religious leaders - but they don’t."

He said more needed to be done to reach the displaced. "In my opinion, fewer than 20 percent of IDPs' needs are being met at the moment."

Abject misery

The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, estimates there are 896,000 IDPs in the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor.

Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia, told IRIN on 30 September "the needs of the people are not adequately addressed and a lot more should be done to assist the growing number of displaced.

"The main problem of humanitarian agencies is the lack of access to the needy population, due to the highly insecure environment."

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Somalia told IRIN that access, security and funding were "considerable constraints". According to OCHA, eight aid workers had been killed this year alone.

"It is important to note that funding is also a considerable constraint on humanitarian programming throughout Somalia. The Consolidated Appeal Process is funded at only 54 percent of the estimated needs. Some sectors have received as little as 10 percent of the resources they require for adequate programming," said the agency.
Asha Sha'ur, a senior member of civil society, told IRIN many of the IDPs lived in overcrowded camps, where most of the shelters were built from twigs, recycled cardboard and old clothes.

"The lucky ones may get a plastic sheeting to cover it", despite the fact that some of the IDPs pay rent to the owners of the land, she said.

Sha'ur, who visited the camps on 28 September, said: "These people are living in the most miserable conditions. It is heart-breaking. I honestly don't know how else to describe it."

She said the displaced had no access to clean water and sanitation conditions were bad. “Thousands of families are left with no latrines.”

She said the displaced were getting a "fraction of what they need. This is intolerable."

“No more excuses”

Humanitarian agencies have to find creative ways of reaching the needy, Sha'ur said, adding: "I don't think they can hide behind insecurity any longer."

Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization (EHRO), told IRIN more people were likely to be displaced in the coming weeks and months.

"Already we are getting reports that people are leaving Kismayo due to fears of violence and will add to the number of displaced."

Many of the displaced lack protection and, in some cases, had been subjected to sexual violence.

"There is some sort of protection in populated areas but when they go out of the camps to collect firewood or grass to sell, there is no protection," Yassin said, adding that agencies must pressure those who control areas to provide "not only access but protection for the displaced. This means they have to deal with people they may not want to deal with," he said. "The alternative is to let people die."

Khadija Farah, a 40-year-old mother of six, has been an IDP in the Arbiska area, 20km south of Mogadishu, since 2007. She told IRIN that life in the camps was becoming even more difficult. Her family used to get 75kg of sorghum, 10kg of beans, 10kg of porridge and 3l of cooking oil for a month.

"Since June, we are getting half of that. It was nowhere near enough before and now it is even worse."

Farah said their home was a shack made out of cardboard and plastic. "We are alive but that is all."

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After a long period of drought, meteorologists in Somaliland are predicting the region is likely to receive substantial rain between October and December. Farmers and pastoralists have been urged to make full use of the rains - file photo

HARGEISA, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - After predictions by meteorologists that the region was likely to receive substantial rain between October and December, officials in Somalia's secessionist region of Somaliland have urged farmers and pastoralists to prepare to make maximum use of the rains.

The meteorological department has forecast that most of Somaliland will experience "near normal" to "above normal" rains in the coming Deyr (short rains) season.

"The oncoming rains will come as a relief and an indication of an end to drought in the affected areas," according to a climate outlook report by Somalia's Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM). "The expected rainfall, with timely onset over most agricultural areas of the country, would be adequate for good crop performance. Farmers can also expect an extended length of the growing period."

Ahmed Qofal Jama, the Adadlay district representative of the ministry of agriculture, said: "Whenever heavy rains are received in southeast Asia and India, the rains cross the Indian Ocean to the Horn of Africa and we therefore expect good rains, which are handy after the poor performance of the last several rainy seasons that caused serious livelihood crises to both pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. We are encouraging farmers to make full use of the expected rains."

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Fresh fighting has broken out between al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam fighters in the Somali town of Kismayo, leaving at least 10 people dead.

According to eyewitnesses, seven al-Shabaab fighters and three Hizbul Islam fighters were killed in the Tuesday fighting, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Hizbul Islam has reportedly taken control of 70 percent of the town from al-Shabaab fighters.

The main cause of fighting is said to be their differences over the revenues gained from the marine-based businesses in the town.

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Cholera beds (file photo): At least 50 cases of cholera have been registered in the northwestern region of Rwanda

KIGALI, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - At least 50 cases of cholera have been registered in the northwestern region of Rwanda, the Health Ministry said on 29 September. No deaths were reported in the affected region, which had been free of the disease for a decade.

“Basic hygiene and lack of adequate sanitation in the region are described as the biggest issue, but medical experts and humanitarian staff have been deployed to outbreak areas," Gamariel Binamungu, director-general of the National Reference Laboratory, said. "All necessary medication is being provided to try to prevent the spread of the disease," he told IRIN.

"The humanitarian relief provided by the government and volunteers, including water purification chemicals and hygiene promotion material, means all outbreaks are under control," the mayor of Rusizi district (southwest), Fabien Sindayiheba, told IRIN.

"Poor hygiene is the main factor for the cholera outbreak, because local rivers are the main sources of water for most of families in the region," he said. "We have adopted measures to provide medical help to those infected people so they do not spread the disease to neighbouring villages," Sindayiheba noted.

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Without a family environment, children's cognitive, emotional and social development is hampered

NAIROBI, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Africa's orphans will experience a richer, more wholesome childhood if they are raised within a family rather than in a childcare institution, according to speakers at a conference on family-based care for children in Nairobi.

"We need to heed the cry of a child's heart for an adult who will care for them and be crazy about them," said Monica Woodhouse, who runs the South African NGO, Give a Child a Family.

According to the UN, there are more than 34 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa today, 11 million of whom lost parents to the AIDS pandemic.

Traditionally, orphans in Africa are raised by the extended family, and while many families continue to take in orphaned relatives, conventional family structures are buckling under the pressure of caring for additional children; a 2006 study in Korogocho, a Nairobi slum, found that more than half the 436 people surveyed were caring for at least one child orphaned through HIV/AIDS.

Too poor to cope, many families now reject these children, leading to a proliferation of institutional childcare facilities across the continent; in Uganda, for example, government statistics show that the number of children in orphanages nearly doubled between 1998 and 2001.

Separation is hard

"There are plenty of studies which show that raising children in institutions as opposed to families affects their cognitive, social, emotional and even intellectual development," Philista Onyango, regional director of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN), told IRIN.

"In Africa, people are not trained to work with these children and often don't know what they are doing, so orphaned children in institutions can wind up being physically or sexually abused," she added. "Many are not even registered and those that are, are not properly regulated."

According to the National Council for Children Services in Kenya, there are 417 charitable children's institutions registered, while another 800 are estimated to be operating unregistered.

"Separation from the family is harmful to children; it doesn't matter if I have grey hair on my head, my mother is still my mother, my family is still my family - children need that sense of belonging," said George Nyakora, regional training director for the SOS Children's Villages, which places children who cannot be connected to their biological families in family environments.

Cost issues

Speakers also said the cost of supporting families to raise orphans was significantly lower than keeping a child in an orphanage; a study from South Africa showed the cost of residential care can be as much as six times that of providing care to children living in poor families.

"All the money donors are pouring into institutions should instead be invested in enabling families to raise these children," Onyango said.

Even HIV-positive children on life-prolonging anti-retroviral medication do better growing up with family, according to Protus Lumiti, chief manager of the Nyumbani Children's Home in Nairobi.

"We run a home with about 110 HIV-positive children, but even we realise this is a last resort," he told IRIN. "We have another facility in Nairobi caring for 3,500 children who are based with their families but come to a centre for drugs and nutritional support - community-based care has worked very well in our experience."

"There are some extreme situations, for instance, where a child's disability is so difficult that it can only be properly managed by professionals in an institution, but there is certainly no need for as many childcare centres as we are seeing on the continent," ANPPCAN's Onyango added.

Protection factors

However, steps - including legislation, screening of families, training of child welfare professionals and setting up monitoring and evaluation mechanisms - are necessary to ensure children are successfully placed with relatives.

"We tend to focus on the moral issue of homeless, orphaned children, but we need to look at the economics of it, and to create minimum standards that families must meet in order to care for children," said Nyakora.

Onyango noted that it was not unheard of for children to be abused within their own families, so mechanisms needed to be in place to ensure families were assessed for suitability and monitored to ensure they were giving children the best possible upbringing.

"Sometimes the relatives are only interested in the deceased's property, and not the child's welfare, when they offer to take in orphans," she said. "Setting up child welfare committees at the community level who can monitor a child's progress would be an excellent idea.

"The people left to care for the children - often their grandparents - also need support beyond ensuring the children are fed, clothed and educated," Onyango said. "They need community support in parenting these children, and structures that will ensure the young children will not wind up looking after their old grandparents instead of living a child's life."

"As long as they have the financial capacity and social support to raise children, a family is the best place for a child," Nyakora said.

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International aid group Oxfam says 23 million people are threatened with severe hunger in East Africa due to climate change.

“This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in East Africa for over ten years,” Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam's East Africa Director said in a statement on Tuesday.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda are the worst-hit nations by severe drought, whereas Sudan, Djibouti and Tanzania are also suffering ill effects.

This is while 'failed and unpredictable rains are ever more regular' across the region, Lomas says.

Thousands of animals have already succumbed to the drought, which is mainly blamed on climate change and global warming.

In Kenya alone, some 3.8 million people are in dire need of emergency aid, as deadly conflicts over diminishing water supplies intensify among pastoralists.

In Somalia, which has also been hit by a bloody insurgency, another 3.8 million people - around half the population - are dependent on food aid.

Over 13 million Ethiopians are also facing food shortages, the UK-based agency said.

The charity organization has already appealed for $15 million to help some 750,000 people in need of emergency food aid.

However, aid agencies operating in the region have suffered massive funding shortfalls this year, as developed countries tighten their belts in the face of the global financial crisis.


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The dismantling of terror cells in Mauritania has exposed arms caches and supplies in the hard-to-police Mauritanian Sahara.

Seven armed men suspected of being members of the North African wing of al-Qaeda (AQIM) have been arrested in the Mauritanian desert, security officials say.

The men - described as 'active members of al-Qaeda' - were arrested last week as they were travelling in two sport-utility vehicles to the remote Lemgheity region, near the Mali-Nigeria border, a senior security official told AFP on Monday.

However controversy surrounds the identity of the detained men as a city councilor in the Malian city of Timbuktu claimed that those arrested were members of his family - all civilians, and not terrorists.

"We are sure that they belong to AQIM and we are continuing to question them," the official said.

Lemgheity, a well-known terrorist lair, was the site of a June 2005 attack by the notorious group that left 15 Mauritanian soldiers dead.

AQIM has also claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack near the French embassy in the country's capital Nouakchott on August 8 in which the perpetrator was killed and three people injured.

On June 23, an American living in Mauritania was shot dead in broad daylight in the capital, in yet another attack claimed by AQIM.

Mauritanian security forces have recently stepped-up anti-terror operations in the area, apprehending several men accused of spying on troop movements for the al-Qaeda network and dismantling terrorist cells.

According to local paper Tahalil Hebdo, this has led to the discovery of arms caches and supplies in the vast and hard-to-police Mauritanian Sahara.

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Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has cancelled a private visit to southern Spain, reportedly because of the absence of top Spanish officials.

Gadhafi 'who had expressed the desire to come to Spain has decided to cancel his visit,' a Spanish foreign ministry source told AFP, without giving an official reason for the decision.

But according to the ABC newspaper, Gadhafi changed his mind because he could not meet with King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The two senior Spanish officials are currently in Copenhagen to support Madrid's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

Gadhafi was to visit the southern Andalucia region on his way back from a joint summit of the African Union and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) held in Venezuela at the weekend.

The two-day summit brought together nine South American presidents and some 20 African leaders.

Gadhafi's trip to Venezuela was his first to a Latin American state since he came to power 40 years ago.


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Captain Moussa Dadis Camara gestures at the military camp in Conakry.

Deadly clashes between security forces and opposition demonstrators in Guinea's capital, Conakry, have reportedly left over 87 people killed.

The troops crushed some 50,000 people gathered in the September 20 stadium to protest against the junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara who seized power in a bloodless coup last year.

"There are 87 bodies that were collected in and around the stadium after the military came through," a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Medical sources said the death toll could rise further as some of the injured were said to be in critical condition.

The protests were triggered to oppose any bid by Camara or the other junta leaders to run for president in the elections due next January.

Captain Camara had promised that no one in his ruling Junta would run for public office after he took power in a coup last December.

Camara lead a coup within the West African nation hours after the death of Guinea's strongman leader Lansana Conte, who had been in power since 1984.

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Guinean police arrest a protester in the capital Conakry during a protest banned by the country's ruling junta.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has denounced the 'excessive use of force' by security forces in Guinea, who opened fire on opposition protesters, killing at least 87 people.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the UN chief slammed the lethal incident and said he was 'shocked by the loss of life, the high number of people injured and the destruction of property'.

Ban urged Guinean authorities and security forces 'to exercise maximum restraint and to uphold the rule of law, including respect for basic human rights'.

Deadly clashes between security forces and opposition demonstrators in Guinea's capital Conakry erupted after some 50,000 people gathered in a stadium to protest against the junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara who seized power in a bloodless coup last year.

According to an AFP poll, at least 87 people lost their lives in the attack and the number could rise further as some of the injured were said to be in critical condition.

In his first public comment on the violence, Camara told Senegal's RFM radio station that he 'was really disgusted' about the violence and that he would 'rather die' than see people get killed.

International condemnation also mounted on Tuesday, with former colonial ruler France calling on the junta to 'show responsibility and to listen to the Guinean people's legitimate aspiration to democratically choose their leaders'.

Washington also expressed 'deep concern' about the breakdown in Conakry and urged the Guinean government to ensure the safety of its citizens and foreign nationals 'in accordance with universally accepted standards of human rights'.

The protests were held to oppose any bid by Camara or the other junta leaders to run for president in the elections due next January.

Camara had promised that no one in his ruling Junta would run for public office after he took power in last December's coup.

The coup took place in the West African nation hours after the death of Guinea's strongman leader Lansana Conte, who had been in power since 1984.

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A Guinean protester holds a sign reading: 'No to Dadis' on September 28, 2009, during a rally banned by Guinea's ruling junta, who cracked down on the demonstrators, reportedly killing scores.

Rights groups have raised the death toll in clashes between Guinea's junta and opposition demonstrators to at least 157 people, with another 1,253 said to have been wounded.

The Guinean Human Rights Organization announced the new figure on Tuesday, a day after troops cracked down on about 50,000 opposition supporters gathering in the capital, Conakry, for a demonstration banned by the ruling junta.

The protesters were opposing a potential candidacy by the leader of last year's coup, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in the country's 2010 presidential vote.

The opposition Union of Republican Forces had earlier said that 128 corpses were delivered to two Conakry hospitals after Monday's shootings, amid accusations of rape by the troops.

A Red Cross source said military commanders ordered all bodies at the stadium to be taken to the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp, the junta headquarters, rather than to morgues.

Camara says he has no knowledge of the rapes but rights groups have reported several cases, adding that clashes continued in the capital, with soldiers shooting dead a youth on Tuesday.

Mamadi Kaba, head of the Guinean branch of the African Encounter for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO), told AFP that the rapes of women has started from the stadium in Conakry, where the protesters had gathered, and had continued into the army barracks.

The United Nations, African Union and European Union have all expressed concern over the killings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced "excessive use of force" and said he was "shocked by the loss of life, the high number of people injured and the destruction of property."

Camara seized power in the west African nation following a bloodless coup within hours of the death of Guinea's long-time leader Lansana Conte in December last year. Conte had been in power since 1984.

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NIGER, 29 September 2009 (IRIN) - Despite efforts to accommodate disabled students in Niger's schools, a lack of trained specialists limits the number of children schools can serve, according to the NGO Handicap International.

"Schools for blind and deaf persons do not have qualified teachers to work with this population," Abdourhamane Barké, an outreach worker with Handicap International in the capital Niamey, told IRIN.

Niger has five such schools in the capital Niamey. There are an estimated 4,500 people under 18 with disabilities, according to a 2009 Handicap International survey.

Since 2000 schools in Niger have offered additional instruction to help these children prepare for regular class work. In 2008 72 teachers were working with 272 deaf children in Niamey and in Maradi and Zinder in the southeast. Some 100 blind students are also enrolled.

Students get additional instruction for three years in these "integration classes" in sign language and Braille, alongside regular classroom instruction, according to the special education division in the Ministry of Education.

But most children classified as handicapped never make it to the classroom. Mariam*, a 25-year-old disabled professional who recently completed a master's degree, is an exception. "I owe my success to the support of family who stood by me through my coursework.”

Mariam is an exception because children with physical or mental disabilities are generally destined to a life of begging, said Fatou Sidibé, deputy director of the special education division. "They are pulled out of school to beg by families who see these children as a source of income," she told IRIN.

Education can break the "vicious cycle of poverty" that often entraps children with disabilities, said Niger's Minister of Education Mamadou Ousmane Sambo at a two-day Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) workshop, "Education as a Right for All", which ended on 24 September in Niamey.

For the 2008 academic school year, just over US$250,000 was set aside for schools in Niamey to work with disabled youth.

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South Africa's Petra Diamonds, Ltd. has found diamond the size of a chicken egg at the country's Cullinan mine northeast of Pretoria.

The diamond, discovered Thursday, might be one of the world's top 20 high-quality gems, The New York Times reported.

The company's chief executive, Johan Dippenaar, said in a Tuesday statement that the 507.55-carat gem was of “exceptional color and clarity.”

The diamond weighs over 100 grams and has not been valued yet.

The world's largest diamond was also found at the Cullinan mine. It was 3,106 carats when uncut and its polished version was used in Britain's Imperial Scepter as part of the Crown Jewels.

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HARARE, 29 September 2009 (IRIN) - The increasing incidence of wild fires is eroding food production in Zimbabwe, which remains a food insecure country despite a turnaround in agricultural production.

The Environment Management Agency, a government department, said recently that veld fires were being reported mainly in areas settled by new farmers, the recipients of President Robert Mugabe's fast-track land reform programme, which began in 2000 and has led to more than 4,000 white commercial farms being redistributed to landless blacks.

About 46,000 hectares of arable land has gone up in flames in recent months. Environment Africa (EA), a non-governmental organization promoting environmental management and biodiversity practices, said the capacity to fight wild fires had also been diminished in the past decade as a consequence of the country's economic contraction.

"The ability to put out fires is currently not there, and it will take some time before those charged with safeguarding the environment can respond to fire outbreaks timeously and effectively," EA spokesperson Deliwe Utete told IRIN.

"We are poorly equipped as a country, even though we are aware that there are moves by the meteorological department to source disaster identification and prevention technology." She said the increase in wildfires had been exacerbated by the nature of land redistribution.

"The patterns of ownership that resulted from the fast-track land reform programme make it easy for fires to spread - plots have been carved up to accommodate several farmers on a single plot, and the new occupants no longer prioritize putting up structures that guard against fire outbreaks."

In the first quarter of 2009, nearly seven million Zimbabweans were relying on emergency food aid, but this number is expected to decrease to around 2.8 million by the first quarter of 2010.

The land reform programme that sparked the country's decade of economic shrinkage, as well as dry weather patterns and political instability, are blamed for turning the country from a net food exporter to a donor-dependent state.

The formation of a unity government in February 2009 is gradually turning the country's fortunes around, although analysts believe it will be many years before Zimbabwe recovers.

Utete said the new farmers did not appreciate the importance of firebreaks and the situation was compounded by the absence of environment officers, who used to educate communities about fire management.

Denford Chimbwanda, president of the Grain Cereals Producers Association (GCPA), blamed government and the resettled farmers for not doing enough to prevent the fires.

Government failing to take action

"The government does not seem to be interested in fire prevention any more, and for as long as tough action is not taken against offenders, they will continue to cause veld fires, which are worse this year than in previous years. Even if we receive good rains this year, the amount of food that we should have produced has been reduced before the farming season starts," Chimbwanda told IRIN.

"Our members from across the country have reported losing inputs, food reserves, and draught power [animals used for ploughing] in the fires that have also killed people, while livestock will have nowhere to graze because pastures have been destroyed."

He said it was not possible to quantify the losses, but "Many households will be forced to buy food using scarce resources because of these veld fires."

Vice President Joice Mujuru announced the formation of various committees to combat the rise in veld fires, but told the local media "It [environmental management] is not a priority for most of our people in business, government and society at large."

Innocent Makwiramiti, a former chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, now an economist based in the capital, Harare, was not optimistic about any meaningful response to the veld fires.

"The government is currently broke and it would be difficult to deploy these committees effectively. In any case, the damage is already done, and attention should be put on how best to help those farmers whose preparations have been adversely affected by the veld fires."

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