JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's efforts to fight its high crime rate are "not working," Dr Johan Burger, a senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Studies, said on Saturday.

He told the local newspaper Pretoria News that the high crime statistics released by the government this week bore testament to the fact, and South Africa's murder rate of 37 per 100 000 people could not compare with that in most developed countries, where it was less than two per 100 000.

Burger said the statistics showed that South Africa's other violent crimes, especially those categorized under aggravated robbery, were also cause for serious concern.

"If we look at some crime categories, such as house robberies and business robberies, they increased in all nine provinces - in some provinces as high as 160 percent increases." he said.

"This really paints a very, very serious picture, but more than that it tells us we are not doing the right things to fight these crimes," he added.

Burger criticized the government for delaying the release of the crime statistics for several months. The delay was also questioned by a second member of the debating panel, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, the Democratic Alliance's spokeswoman on safety and security.

She said the increase in business robberies of 42 percent was of particular concern. And the World Economic Forum's latest global competitiveness report ranked South Africa as the worst place to do business, largely because of crime.

LAGOS, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian militants in southeast Niger Delta region have threatened to go back to the creeks and launch a fresh offensive less than two weeks to the deadline of the disarmament program, the Nigerian Tribune newspaper reported on Saturday.

About 200 former militants, on Friday, took to the streets of Yenagoa in Bayelsa State, protesting over non-payment of allowance as agreed by the Nigerian federal government in the amnesty deal with them, the report said.

The protest, the third in past month, started around 6.00 a.m. local time, paralyzing social and commercial activities in the city.

The former militants accused governments at various levels of insensitivity, complaining that since they were disarmed, the government had not kept its own side of the bargain, especially the payment of their monthly allowance.

Security has been beefed up around the state capital, where business and commercial activities were resumed after the protest.

LAGOS, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian federal government has given an assurance of its sincerity about the amnesty it offered to militant groups in the Niger Delta region, the Nigerian Compass newspaper reported on Saturday.

The government's declaration came on the heels of calls by some unrepentant armed youth for an extension of the amnesty period, while some militant leaders have also expressed concerns about the commitment of the government to the terms of the amnesty.

Nigerian Minister of Special Duties Ibrahim Kazaure gave the guarantee after a visit to southwest Nigeria's Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel.

According to the minister, President Yar'Adua would consider the calls for the extension of the amnesty period and take a decision without compromising the nation's overall security.

Kazaure said the president has taken personal responsibility for all issues relating to the amnesty deal and would do everything needed for it to succeed.

LUSAKA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy has advised diplomats accredited to the southern African country to use proper channels to air their grievances, instead of attacking the government through the media, local newspaper the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

The governing party's chief whip in parliament Vernon Mwaanga said that "the tutorial being given in the media" by some diplomats were a "breach of diplomatic etiquette".

Mwaanga made the remarks in parliament when contributing to the motion of thanks to Zambian President Rupiah Banda's speech during the official opening of the fourth session of the country's 10th National Assembly.

"It was not proper for diplomats accredited to Zambia" to be attacking the government and decisions made by the parliament or the courts of law, he said.

"Even if we are a poor country, Zambia is a sovereign state and its sovereignty must be respected. There are established channels which our colleagues can use to give advice. This can be done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that's the way diplomacy should be conducted," Mwaanga was quoted as saying by the paper.

One of the country's privately owned daily newspaper has quoted various diplomats as condemning the Zambian government, especially on the corruption fight following a court's acquittal of former president Fredrick Chiluba, who was facing a charge of stealing state funds amounting to 500,000 U.S. dollars.

YAOUNDE, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Germany has accorded 15 billion FCFA (about 33 million U.S. dollars) to the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa States (CEMAC) to help them fight against AIDS, local media reported on Saturday.

The funding is intended to encourage female condoms, integrate reproductive health with the control of sexually transmitted diseases (STI) and boost the fight against stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS.

This financial aid comes in the second phase of the sub-regional project of HIV/AIDS prevention in central Africa, which is funded by Germany. The first has yielded good results since its launch in 2006, according to officials of both sides.

Three countries are involved in the project, including Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic. Germany hopes to spread the health project to cover all the six member countries of CEMAC.

KHARTOUM, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- A conference, to be hosted by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), is scheduled to begin Saturday in Juba, southern Sudan, with the participation of 25 Sudanese opposition parties.

The conference tends to set up a map for tackling Sudan's internal and external issues.

Leaders of the National Umma Party, the Popular Congress Party, the Communist Parties, Umma Party (reform and renewal), the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party and others will take part in the conference besides the SPLM.

In the meantime, 40 Sudanese political parties, including the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Thursday announced their boycott of the conference, saying the conference "had hidden agenda."

The four-day conference will discuss many political issues including the 2010 general elections, the 2011 referendum in southern Sudan, the Darfur conflict and the future of the relationship between the NCP and the SPLM.

The SPLM said the conference did not tend to establish an opposition alliance against its NCP partner.

"This conference does not tend to form alliances because alliances are usually established against enemies," Malik Aqar, a leading SPLM member said in a press statement.

"We meet to form a unified front to discuss these important issues and we seek to reach a consensus on them," he added.

According to political observers, the Juba conference is aimed at establishing an alliance before the forthcoming general elections in April next year and that the leaders of the attending parties could agree on a presidential candidate to face the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the sole NCP candidate.

The Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported that prominent leading SPLM members are pushing towards the establishment of an alliance with the opposition parties to select a candidate to compete with the NCP candidate and with a full support of the SPLM.

The SMC quoted Hassan al-Saoury, the chairperson of the Sudanese Political Society, describing the conference as "a form of pressure practiced by the opposition and the SPLM on the NCP," saying that any alliances between the SPLM and the opposition parties might not work due to differences in their stances and as these parties lack popular support.

The NCP has refused to participate in the Juba conference. "We set our terms but there was no response and therefore we decided to boycott it," the party's political secretary Mandour al-Mahdi was quoted in a press conference in Khartoum Thursday as saying.

The NCP demanded to be involved in the arrangements for the conference together with all the registered Sudanese political parties which are about 60.

Convening of the Juba conference and the NCP's rejecting stance constitute a new dimension in the tensed relationship between the two signatories to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended a two-decade war between northern and southern Sudan in 2005.

The two sides have their differences over the implementation of some items of the CPA, namely with regard to the referendum on unity or separation between north and south, which is scheduled for January 2011.

The SPLM and the NCP have not yet agreed on an regulating law to the referendum, whereas the NCP insists that all southerners, whether they reside in the south, north or outside Sudan, have the right to participate in the referendum, while the SPLM says only the southerners who live in the south have that right.

26 September 2009

Authorities in Beijing have ordered that pigeons remain in their birdcages on October 1 to prevent them disturbing celebrations to mark 60 years of communist rule.

To ensure no official feathers are ruffled by wayward birds, the 30,000 homes in Beijing which between them have raised more than one million pigeons were informed by the authorities that their birds would be banned from flying until October 2 under threat of a fine, the Beijing News reported Saturday.

The only pigeons to take part will be the 60,000 to be released during the celebrations.

China's first military parade in 10 years, mass song and dance performances, and fireworks on October 1 will mark the day when revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 at Tiananmen Square.


france24

26 September 2009

Madagascar's de facto leader Andry Rajoelina was prevented from speaking before the UN General Assembly on Friday, after the Southern African Development Community objected, saying that he is not internationally recognised as head of state.

REUTERS - African nations blocked the president of Madagascar from addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, saying his rise to power through a military coup made him illegitimate.


The Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking on behalf of the 15-member Southern African Development Community, said Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina should be barred, a motion later carried by a vote on the Assembly floor.


"Madagascar is represented at this session of the assembly by persons who rose from an attempted coup," Congo Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe-Mwamba said as the delegation from the oil and mineral producing Indian Ocean island sat silently at their desk.


The president of the Assembly, Libya's Ali Triki, said the U.N. legal counsel had ruled that Rajoelina -- who had received an official U.N. invitation to attend the assembly -- should be allowed to participate and then called for a vote that quickly led to confusion.


"I'm not sure what we just voted for. I'm totally confused," one delegate said after the circuitously worded motion was put the floor.


Finally, with most countries abstaining, the Africans marshaled 23 votes against Rajoelina versus four in support and he was prevented from taking the podium.


The island state has experienced months of political turmoil after Rajoelina, 35, led violent street protests culminating in a military-backed coup in March that toppled former leader Marc Ravalomanana.


The United Nations joined the African Union and the European Union in branding the power-grab unconstitutional and called for Madagascar's leaders to form a consensus government ahead of fresh elections in late 2010.


The African Union in particular has been trying to take a stronger stance against coups, hoping to break the continent's history of military takeovers.


Rajoelina's invitation to the General Assembly had spurred speculation in Madagascar that the United Nations was softening its stance. U.N. officials indicated the invitation and the question of Rajoelina's legitimacy were separate issues.


Opposition parties say they remain united in their determination to pick a consensus government, and last weekend saw a return to street violence after riot police clashed with opposition supporters.

france24

26 September 2009

In a move that is bound to raise alarm bells in Washington, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts the second Africa-South America summit this weekend in what he called a bid to build “a multi-polar world” to oppose US global hegemony.

AFP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is hosting the second Africa-South America summit this weekend in a push to bolster relations with other countries raising the hackles of Washington and other Western capitals.

Nine South American presidents and some 20 African leaders were scheduled to attend the two-day summit beginning Saturday on Venezuela's scenic Isla Margarita, including Libya's Moamer Kadhafi and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.

The leaders were to discuss a broad range of issues, including finance, energy, agriculture, health, education, science and tourism, with Chavez pledging the meeting would be forward-looking and feature an "ambitious agenda."

"We don't want this to be just another summit, we want it to lay the path for the next 10 years," the firebrand leftist leader said from New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly.

The Venezuela summit is also likely to feature tirades launched at the United States and other global powers, as well as Chavez's recurring arguments about the failures of capitalism.

In his first speech to the UN General Assembly since taking power four decades ago, Kadhafi launched into a rambling, 95-minute diatribe where he berated Western powers and accused the global body of failing to prevent millions of deaths as he demanded trillions of dollars in colonial reparations.

But Chavez, a longtime US foe, told CNN on Thursday that he wanted a "good relationship" with the administration of US President Barack Obama, similar to the ties shared between Caracas and Washington when Bill Clinton was in the White House.

On Friday, foreign ministers from the participating countries met to finalize a joint declaration to be issued at the end of the meeting.

One top priority will be energy cooperation, with Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez noting that the two regions have "24 percent of the world's hydrocarbon riches."

"We have the great strategic challenge of bridging the gap," he said. "We do not communicate. Here Africa and South America will begin to work on filling in the gaps."

The leaders are also set to discuss drug trafficking, a long-standing problem in South America, and a new concern for countries in west Africa.

The African Union has expressed concern that west Africa is becoming a new route for drugs to enter Europe, and insisted the issue be discussed at the summit.

While the presence of cocaine in west Africa remains pales in comparison to some other regions, seizures have increased seven-fold in the last decade, to 5.5 tonnes in 2007, according the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Drug labs capable of producing ecstasy, cocaine and heroin have been uncovered in countries like Guinea, and officials are concerned the problem could grow.

"Faced with stricter enforcement in Europe, in the Schengen zone, South American traffickers prefer to take the African route to get small amounts of cocaine to the European market," said Gilles Sabatier, interior security attache to the French ambassador to Venezuela.

South American countries, including Colombia, have taken African concerns seriously.

"Commanding General Oscar Naranjo of the Colombian national police has invited African nations' police chiefs to attend drug law enforcement strategy conference in Colombia," said Jay Bergman, the regional director of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, in Bogota.

But he cautioned that "the best option we have is to attack this drug route here in South America... It's much easier to attack the cocaine pipeline at the source end than the distribution end."

On Isla Margarita, a scenic tourist destination, checkpoints were set up, manned by Venezuelan military personnel and guns were banned across the resort in anticipation of the world leaders' arrival.

Among those expected from South America were Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Bolivian leader Evo Morales and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner.

African leaders expected to attend include South African President Jacob Zuma and the Democratic Republic of Congo's Joseph Kabila.

The summit is the second time leaders from the two regions have gathered, after a first such meet in Abuja, Nigeria in 2006.

Kadhafi found a warmer welcome in Venezuela for his preferred sleeping quarters -- a traditional Bedouin tent -- than in New York, where his attempts to pitch his olive green tent in New York's Central Park and an estate outside Manhattan were thwarted by local officials.

france24

26 Sep 2009

The Group of 20 must fulfill promises made three years ago during the G8 summit, which resulted in doubling the amount of aid to Africa by 2010, South Africa's president says.

Jacob Zuma also reminded the summit, currently being held in Pittsburg in the United States that the members should focus urgently on implementing all commitments made by the G20 leaders on the needs of low-income South African countries.

He also told the summit on Friday that the G20 should help the developing countries out of the economic crisis; the South African Press Association quoted him as saying.

He noted that since the London summit earlier this year, G20 countries had moved quickly to make greater resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and multilateral development banks for lending.

"South Africa welcomes proposals for introducing a robust and comprehensive framework for global regulation and oversight and it is calling for capacity support to low-income countries to enable them to comply with new regulations," he said.

South Africa is the only African country with a seat on the G20 and serves as co-chair of the working group on reforming the IMF.

presstv

26 Sep 2009

Somalia's president says he is ready to sit down at the negotiating table with anti-government groups to end the violence in his war-torn country.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed addressing the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday said that his UN-backed government would continue political dialogue with all Somali parties and groups, including armed rebels.

He added that continued violence, infighting and insurgency have paralyzed the interim government's attempts to restore central rule while militants are controlling large parts of the country. He also emphasized that instability in the country has increased kidnappings and piracy.

The Somali president said it was difficult to eradicate piracy in waters off Somalia without first dealing with the security situation in the country.

"This means piracy will continue in one form or another as long as security in Somalia continues as is.”

Somalia is in dire need of urgent humanitarian aid from the international community for 3.76 million people including refugees, Ahmed added.

presstv

26 September, 2009

The spectre of boycott from foreign publishers looms over this year’s Algiers International Book Fair due to take place as from October, 27 through November 6 because of the authorities’ decision to displace the event to the 5th July Olympic Stadium, upper Algiers.

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This unprecedented move has sparked anger among the Algerian publishers, who used to exhibit their literary products in the “Exhibition Palace”, eastern Algiers, and deepened dissentions that may affect the biggest cultural event in Algeria.
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In a declaration to “Echourok” the event’s commissioner Ismail Ameziane, yesterday revealed that the authorities have decided to relocate the exhibition to the Olympic Stadium, while in the past, the event was hosted by the Algerian Exhibitions Company “ SAFEX” located in eastern Algiers.
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He added that the decision was made by the ministry of culture and preparations are well underway after the completion of the administrative procedures in relation to the participation of the exhibitors last August.
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As to the problem of the location’s size that will eventually prevent professionals from exhibiting, M Ameziane declared “ I officially declare that the International Book Fair will not be organized inside the at the Dome premises but at the Olympic stadium courtyard whose total size is estimated at 14 thousand meter squares, which largely sufficient to host 170 publishing houses”.
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In addition, he added “ the location comprises a huge parking lot and is situated nearby several universities helping thus thousands of students to be at the core of the event”.

echoroukonline[/font]

Patients at Yola hospital in Adamawa state have been neglected

KANO, 25 September 2009 (IRIN) - A health worker strike in northern Nigeria’s Adamawa state has paralysed public hospitals, forcing patients to forgo medical treatment.

Most of the state’s 7,000 health workers, including nurses, specialists and administrators but not general doctors, began an indefinite strike on 25 June to protest the suspension of an improved salary structure by the state government, according to head of the health workers union Babangida Philibus.

People requiring medical care are frightened. Wada Jibrin broke his leg in a car crash on 16 July and requires continued orthopaedic care. “I’m praying that the strike is called off so that I can go back to hospital and continue receiving treatment. I fear I may lose my leg if the strike is prolonged because my case needs specialized care.”

Ahmad Abdulhamid, a physician at state-run Yola Specialist Hospital, told IRIN: “The industrial strike action has forced all in-patients to go back home because there is no one to nurse them here….We have been reduced to mere consultancy clinics where we only examine patients, diagnose their ailments and prescribe drugs for them to buy at drug stores.”

He said the situation is dire in public hospitals across the state. “Only a few patients who can afford high medical fees have moved to private clinics, while [most] have resigned to their homes hoping the matter is soon resolved and the strike suspended.”

Cholera response affected

Aliyu Sambo, head of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told IRIN the strike hindered the government’s emergency response to flood and cholera victims.

A cholera outbreak in August and September 2009 killed 70 people and left 746 hospitalized, according to Adamawa information commissioner Musa Bubakari.

The government relied on volunteers from NEMA and the Nigerian Red Cross to assist cholera victims in hospitals.

Union leader Philibus said: “The government should take responsibility for all the people who are suffering from sicknesses as a result of the ongoing strike because the government caused it. Deaths in the recent cholera outbreak could have been avoided were health workers not on strike.”

Access to adequate healthcare is poor in much of northern Nigeria according to the UN, and the country is not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal mortality or improve maternal health. Life expectancy for Nigerians is 46.6 years.

Why the strike

The Adamawa state government on 9 June suspended a new salary package introduced in August 2008 for health workers in public hospitals. The package increased basic salaries for hospital staff from US$56 a month to $84, according to union head Philibus.

The state government says it is suspending the structure while it eliminates a problem of ghost workers in the health sector.

“The suspension of the new salary structure became imperative following mounting salary bills and allegations of a high number of ghost workers in the sector, in the face of dwindling government revenues due to the economic crunch,” Saidu Bobbo, permanent secretary in Adamawa health ministry, told IRIN. He said once the problem is resolved the new salary structure will resume.

Health workers have said they will strike until the government reinstates the higher wages. Philibus said the government should have consulted unions before taking action.


irinnews

25 September, 2009

Algeria delievered a formal request to the International Atomic Energy Agency to sign the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, allowing the IAEA inspectors to conduct unannounced inspections in the two nuclear centers in Algeria in both Algiers and Djelfa, south of Algeria, Chakib Khlil, Minister of Energy and Mines says.

" The law on the peaceful uses of the nuclear energy, which also provides for the development of legal measures, which help Algeria take actions that make it a country which comply with the international obligations, and could exploit the peaceful applications of nuclear energy. Government will consider, before the end of this year, the bill to be ready at the beginning of next year, which allows the establishment of an Agency for safety and security of nuclear and other for research and production. The Additional Protocol which was approved by the IAEA in 1997 is the main international instrument to control the spread of the nuclear weapons, said Khalil.

" The Algerian nuclear centres will be subjected to continuous control with high level of transparency. The protocol allows the inspection of institutions that are not mentioned in the convention such as the reactors that are out of work and research centres, and also ensures the entry of the IAEA inspectors to the nuclear sites at a short time between two and 24 hours, in order to ensure the absence of nuclear activities and equipment that have not been announced".

The U.S. ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna, Gregory Schulte, visited Algeria last year officially and signed the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

However, Khalil confirmed that Algeria had nothing to hide from the eyes of the IAEA adding that Algeria is working to develop its peaceful nuclear program which is fully transparent. " All the simple equipments are controlled by the IAEA inspectors at any moment". It is the first time Algeria responded on the doubts that had been promoted a week ago in Paris on the Algerian peaceful nuclear program, as Khalil stressed that Algeria has nothing to hide.

The Algerian nuclear program returned to the surface again in the recent days on the occasion of publishing a book titled "The black market for the bomb", published in Paris and written by Bruno Tartri, a research professo rat the French Strategic Research and an expert in the nuclear issues. In his book he devoted an entire chapter to what he called "The Algerian Nuclear ambitions".

Khalil criticized those who promote this non innocent discussions, saying that there are countries which have nuclear programs for military purposes and atomic bombs, but they did not bother to sign any agreements on the prevention of the the nuclear proliferation and even more, they have not been subjected to pressure in order to force them to sign the main or additional protcols of the AEIA.

echoroukonline[/font]

25 Sep 2009

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused the 'imperialist' West of seeking his ouster via the imposition of sanctions and creation of a dictator's image of him.

Speaking to CNN on Thursday ahead of his speech at the UN General Assembly, Robert Mugabe lashed out at the US and the UK for the placing economic sanctions on the sub-Saharan country, exacerbating Zimbabwean drought which has turned the so-called breadbasket of Africa into a state with food problems.

The 85-year-old leader depicted himself as a pioneer on the anti-imperialism front and charged the West with implicating him of authoritarianism.

He also rejected economic and power-sharing predicaments in Zimbabwe and blamed the Western economic embargoes for opposition in the South African state.

"The sanctions must be lifted. We should have no interference from outside," he told CNN.
"The continued imperialist interference in our affairs is affecting our country adversely," added the Zimbabwean president.

When asked about his land reform policies that pushed white farmers out of their properties, Mugabe riposted, "Zimbabwe belongs to the Zimbabweans, pure and simple," adding elsewhere, "They (the white settlers) occupied the land illegally. They seized the land from our people."

"They are British settlers," he went on to say and describing them "citizens by colonization, seizing land from original people and indigenous people of the country."

Mugabe also denied charges of vote-rigging in 2008 presidential election when his ZANU-PF party regained control dashing hopes of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC party) and said, "Elections don't go all that smoothly all the time in many countries."

"Look what happens elsewhere. They didn't go smoothly here, look at what happened during the first term of Bush," he retorted, referring to the controversial 2000 US presidential election where the Democratic candidate Al Gore lost to the then President Gorge W. Bush in a tight race to the White House.

presstv

25 Sep 2009

In two interviews following his contentious address at the UN General Assembly, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi rejects a two-state solution to the conflict in Middle East.

Qaddafi told Time magazine and Aljazeera network that he deemed that the UN Security Council's efforts for a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israel were futile.

"There is no way to have these two states so close, because they are already integrated. Two million Palestinians live in Israel, Gaza is isolated … torn apart and isolated. Israel should get rid of their nuclear weapons - the Muslim countries will not recognize Israel as long as they have nuclear weapons - and these problems would be done," he told Aljazeera.

When asked whether his 'one-state solution' could not be interpreted as opposing a Jewish state and his views on the legitimacy of such a state, Qaddafi instead talked of a worldwide 'persecution' of the Jewish people spanning history.

"I am keen and anxious for the safety of both the Jews and the Palestinians. The position that we are in, the road that the world is going on, would lead to the destruction of the Jews," Qaddafi told Time editors Romesh Ratnesar and Michael Elliott on Thursday.

"We know that they're not that big. Unfortunately, they were persecuted by all nations."

Citing the unjust persecution of Jews by the Romans and King Edward I and the Holocaust, Qaddafi said, "Once seeing the history like that we can only but sympathize with them as Jews."

"The Arabs actually were the ones who gave them the safe haven and the protection along all these areas when they were persecuted. As recent as '48 or '49…the Jews were there in Libya. There was no animosity, no hatred between us," added the leader known for his eccentric ideas and behavior.

He added that the Jews had somehow blended into the Libyan communities, "spoke Arabic, wearing Libyan uniforms, Libyan clothes."

Asked for a direct answer to the question he said, "We have to serve God, or guarantee the safety of the Jews. And this can be done by them accepting the Palestinians, recognizing the Palestinians, accepting that fact that they should live with the Palestinians in one state, together."

The leader, who assumed control following a coup in 1969, addressed the United Nations during its annual meeting for the first time on Wednesday in a 95-minute speech that broke UN protocol, and at one point ripped up a copy of the UN charter and threw it at officials.

His country assumed the rotating presidency of the UN General Assembly on September 15, giving rise to concerns in Switzerland over an outrageous motion he filed to the international body asking for the demolition of the Alpine country over recent disagreements.

presstv

DAKAR, 24 September 2009 (IRIN) - Lawyers and rights activists are calling on the African Union's human rights body to move its headquarters out of The Gambia after President Yahya Jammeh on national television threatened human rights defenders and said he would kill anyone collaborating with them.

“African leaders must stand up and draw a line and say this is unacceptable," Chidi Odinkalu, legal adviser with the Africa Open Society Justice Initiative, told IRIN. "We cannot defend human rights internationally if our leaders are going around threatening people [with death]."

In a speech televised on 21 September President Jammeh said: “If you think you can collaborate with so-called human rights defenders and get away with it, you must be living in a dream world. I will kill you and nothing will come of it.”

He continued: “We are not going to condone people posing as human rights defenders to the detriment of our country. If you are affiliated with any human rights group, rest assured your security and personal safety will not be guaranteed by my government. We are ready to kill saboteurs.”

The Gambia hosts the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, which hears cases brought by human rights defenders from across the continent.

“It is extraordinary," Odinkalu told IRIN. "When presidents begin to threaten death and killing on people who defend human life and human rights it reflects a system with a total absence of accountability.”

“This is not the first, second or third time he has issued threats [but] there is a chilling dimension to this threat. It is indiscriminate and it is directed at the whole world...The human rights situation in Gambia...is intolerable.”

Lawyers from the Open Society Institute and the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and People’s Rights have signed a petition to be sent to the African Union on 28 September, calling on the Commission to stop holding sessions in The Gambia until the matter is resolved, and for civil society organizations to refrain from attending any sessions.

“Such comments by a public official are simply contemptible, as well as in violation of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights," said a communiqué accompanying the petition. "But Jammeh’s threat is even more cynical considering that the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights maintains its headquarters in the Gambian capital city, Banjul."

The Commission, charged with promoting and protecting human rights throughout the continent, was established in 1986 by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and set up its headquarters in Banjul in 1989.

irinnews

[img align=right width=200]http://af.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20090925&t=2&i=11731538&w=192&r=2009-09-25T230925Z_01_BTRE58O1SBW00_RTROPTP_0_OUKWD-UK-GADDAFI-LOCKERBIE-MEETING[/img]

Sep 25, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi held "a friendly meeting" this week with relatives of some victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, he said in a CNN interview.

"It was a friendly meeting and encounter. I offered my condolences for the relatives who lost them," Gaddafi said in excerpts of the interview released on Friday.

Libya has formally accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and has paid billions of dollars to families of the victims.

Gaddafi was in the United States this week, speaking in New York to a United Nations meeting.

During the interview for "Fareed Zakaria GPS," which is to air on Sunday, Gaddafi was asked whether he regretted any possible role that Libyan officials might have played in the airplane bombing that killed 270 people.

He responded, "No one will support an action like that." Gaddafi went on to compare it to a 1986 U.S. military raid against Libya that killed around 40 people, including Gaddafi's daughter. "Whether it is Lockerbie or whether it is the '86 raid against Libya, we are all families ... terror in all its forms is a common enemy to all of us."

The U.S. military action, ordered by then-President Ronald Reagan, came after the bombing of a Berlin nightclub that was blamed on Libya.

While U.S.-Libyan relations have warmed somewhat in recent years, the U.S. Senate this week condemned the "lavish" welcome home ceremony last month for the convicted Pan Am bomber, Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was released from a Scottish prison.

Sep 25, 2009

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO said on Friday it had decided to resume full cooperation with Mauritania in the Mediterranean Dialogue security forum, citing political progress after July presidential elections.

Last week the International Monetary Fund said it was ready to restart its relationship with Mauritania suspended last year after a coup by now President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The European Union has also said it may be ready to rekindle ties.

Aziz was sworn in as president in August after a poll that opponents said was fraudulent but which former colonial power France and others have said paved the way for re-engagement with the Islamic state.

NATO said its 28 members took their decision "following the political process opened in the country by the presidential elections".

The Mediterranean Dialogue forum was launched in 1994 with the aim of enhancing regional security. It groups NATO states with seven non-NATO countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

NATO is keen to step up security cooperation with Mauritania given al Qaeda militant activity in the country.

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Sep 25, 2009

ASMARA (Reuters) - Eritrea said on Friday the hunting of al Qaeda suspects in Somalia by U.S. and Ethiopian forces had crippled peace efforts in the Horn of African nation.

Washington and the United Nations accuse the Red Sea state of sending arms and other support to Somali insurgents battling the country's U.N.-backed government -- something Asmara denies.

"We don't see eye to eye with Washington and some countries in the region, especially Ethiopia, on the solution to the problem (in Somalia)," Yemane Ghebremeskel, director of the Eritrean president's office, told Reuters in an interview.

"(Their focus on terrorism) is single-minded, it is exaggerated, it is overblown. It overshadows all other aspects and issues," he said.

Some analysts and security agencies fear Somalia -- with its long coastline and lack of effective government -- has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks in the region and beyond.

U.S. special forces killed one of Africa's most-wanted al Qaeda suspects in rebel-held southern Somalia last week, risking further inflaming anti-Western sentiment in the nation.

Somalia has been mired in civil strife since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Fighting has killed at least 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007.

Yemane urged Washington and its allies to push for a more inclusive peace process, including talks with al Shabaab rebels who the United States says are al Qaeda's proxies in Somalia.