25 Sep 2009

President Jacob Zuma will meet the country's police commissioners next week to discuss crime fighting initiatives, the presidency said on Friday.

"The fight against crime is one of the five key priorities of government. In this meeting, a first of its kind, the president will share his vision with station commissioners," it said in a statement.

The announcement comes just three days after Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa revealed an upsurge in house robberies, car and truck hijackings, and sexual offences.

While the 2008/09 crime statistics revealed a decrease in bank robberies, cash-in-transit heists, and murder and crimes against children, new police Commissioner Bheki Cele said he was not happy.

"Am I happy, no, I'm not happy," Cele told reporters on Tuesday.

"You cannot be happy when 10 people are killed let alone 18?000," he said.

Along with Mthethwa, Cele said they recognised the police needed to do more, and had begun an audit of how they deployed their human and material resources, and the time of that deployment.

Other steps police planned to take included pushing ahead with the controversial change to section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act to give police wider powers to shoot at dangerous criminals, strengthening speciality units, and improving the way police stations respond to distress calls.

In next Tuesday's meeting with the more than 1000 commissioners, Zuma would try to get "firsthand accounts of work from the coalface", the presidency said.

"The meeting forms part of President Zuma's intention to meet with public servants who are in the coalface of service delivery... to ensure that they understand government objectives from the highest office," it said.

Accompanying Zuma for the meeting at the Monument Function Centre in Pretoria will be Mthethwa, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeffrey Radebe, Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Social Development Minister Edna Molewa.

All nine premiers and MECs responsible for community safety were expected to attend the 10am meeting.

equitysavant[/font]

25 Sep 2009

The Point has been dabbling in a little mathematics. And by dabbling I mean groping aimlessly in the dark and by mathematics I mean numbers generally... and the Fibonacci sequence specifically.

Ah, you see how I casually threw that out there ? the product of a misspent youth. Or, to be more honest, far too many episodes of 'Criminal Minds'.

So, back to those Fibonacci numbers. This is the sequence:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55...

Basic principle: each number is the sum of the two previous numbers. This brings me to the point ? a South African Fibonacci sequence for the week.

0: John Hlophe (call ups to the Constitutional Court bench);
1: SA police (the number of times crimes stats have been released in the past year);
1: Jacob Zuma (maiden speech at the UN);
2: Julius Malema (current count of charges against him);
3: Wives of Jacob Zuma (well, that's pretty self-explanatory);
5: Springboks (number of games won in the Tri-Nations);
8: Pius Langa (number of years since he was appointed deputy chief justice);
13: Blade Nzimande (number of times he has insisted he is, in fact, a communist);
21: Helen Zille (the number of times she uttered Jacob Zuma's name this week);
34: Leonard Chuene (number of lies told about Caster Semenya);
55: Michel Hulley (the number of times he's tried to get JZ out of trouble).

Okay, okay... I confess, from 13 down they're all just approximations. But hey, who said journalists could count?

WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION

So, he pops up at spot number four in my sequence, but, really, you could probably put him anywhere. Yip, I am talking about the invaluable Julius Malema. The consistency with which he provides fodder for humour is truly remarkable.

If mention of the chubby-one's name causes you to break out in a sweat, froth at the mouth and start biting the furniture, I advise you to simply skip over this section. If the symptoms continue, then you may have rabies. There's nothing I can do about that.

Right, back to this week's double whammy of Malema-madness. Yip, not only was he in court, he also threw a big bash at his Sandton home and may or may not have assaulted a grumbling neighbour.

Let's begin with that court appearance.

In his testimony, Malema whined (like a petulant child) that instead of helping to educate him the women's rights organisation dragged him to court.

"They should have seen an opportunity to educate a young man... I must say I am highly disappointed... the first opportunity they saw to educate a young man, was to rush to court."

Ah, yes, but Malema assumes that the young man in question can actually be educated.

"I'm not an expert. I'm a layman who can only respond to the utterances I've made. On statistics? it's something you have to argue with your learned friend [his lawyer]. I know nothing about statistics. That's why I didn't even bother myself to read this document? which I would not (have) the capacity to do."

I think that proves my point. But, just in case you're not convinced, here's what he had to say after his party.

"If there was going to be any beating surely it was not going to be done by me. It is really unfair to try and paint us as a wrong picture. "

Hmm? that's a little ambiguous. Is he suggesting that he, the former child-soldier, is incapable of beating someone, or is he suggesting that now he gets his henchmen to do his dirty work?

"Even after the party, we cleaned up everything so there should not be any accusations that there were bottles all over and there were condoms."

Well, I think we can take a positive out of this: condoms reduce the chances of procreation.

WELCOME TO GANGSTA'S PARADISE

When she wasn't sending her cronies to spy on Malema (yes, he really said that), the Zillenator was frothing at the mouth over JZ's lawyer's latest attempts to pervert the course of justice. There is also the possibility that she had just read a newspaper containing the most recent tidbits from Malemamunchkin.

"The latest move by President Zuma's lawyers demonstrates once again how important it is not to be beguiled by the president's personal charm. His public relations will not protect the Constitution. In fact, it is a convenient smokescreen behind which the assault on the Constitution continues unabated."

Ah, see, she's falling for his personal charms. Zumilla: you read it here first.

"We are sinking into a kind of gangsterism when the decisions of the state justice system depend not on the law but on party intrigue."

Despite the impending descent into gangsterism, Zuma seemed to be pretty firm on the rule of law.

"The extreme manner in which some of our citizens tend to express their grievances lately is totally unacceptable. We cannot continue to loot shops, burn tyres, throw garbage on our streets, blockade roads, damage property, or, most disturbingly, march in violation of court orders, to voice your dissatisfaction."

Perhaps this is the smokescreen.

MISSING THE IRONY

Earlier this week, the US shut down its embassy and consulates in the face of some mysterious threat. The South African government, worried that this would scare tourists and investors off, issued the following statement.

"Obviously, the closure of the embassies is not something that is a good thing because it creates an impression that we are not a safe country... We want to reassure the public that South Africa is indeed a safe country."

This in the week that they finally released the crime statistics. I suspect the fact that 50 people are murdered every day will hold a little more sway than the temporary closure of the embassy of a country paranoid about national security.

The Point challenges you to come up with your own South African Fibonacci sequence. Otherwise, just post your favourite quote from the week?

equitysavant

23 Sep 2009

Outgoing South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni was among several world finance experts who did not provide adequate leadership to prevent the global finance crisis, former president Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.

Mbeki was speaking on the "effective exercise of leadership" and the future role of the youth at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg.

"The effective exercise of leadership must, in part, be based on as thorough an understanding as possible of objective reality," he said.

Mbeki was addressing a packed hall. Crowds of students trying to push their way into the auditorium were locked out by security officials.

"The correctness of this view is confirmed by what happened which led to the current global economic recession and the various questions this has thrown up," said Mbeki, who was welcomed with loud cheers.

Economists failed to predict the crisis

Mbeki said most economists failed to predict the global financial crisis, and quoted from speeches delivered by the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, in April this year and Mboweni, in March this year.

"On 13 March 2009, the outgoing Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, went further to say: 'The global financial system is a finite entity, and although risk can be passed around, it does not disappear.

"'We had probably underestimated the inter-linkages of financial systems across the globe, and the extent to which globalisation had created a complicated network of circuits for the contagion of financial risk...'."

Bernanke had said the financial industry "designed securities that combined many individual loans in complex, hard-to-understand ways".

These new securities later proved to involve substantial risks, risks that neither the investors nor the firms that designed the securities adequately understood at the outset.

Governors failed to understand the crisis

"These statements by two central bank governors emphasise precisely the point that even they failed to understand what was happening in the global financial markets and therefore did not provide the leadership that was necessary to avert the financial crisis which led to the current global recession," Mbeki said.

He also referred to a New York Times article written by Noble Laureate in Economics Paul Krugman in which he asked how economists failed to predict the crisis.

"Professor Krugman had made the charge that because they failed to understand objective reality, the world's economists failed to see the then impending global financial and economic crisis," said Mbeki.

"Accordingly, they failed to provide the leadership which could have resulted in various interventions being made, which would have saved the world from a crisis that has resulted in the impoverishment of hundreds of millions and an alarming growth in levels of unemployment."

Companies that are too big to fail

The aftermath of the global recession raised several important questions, including how to limit the centralisation of capital to avoid the "emergence of monopolies and oligopolies made up of companies that are too big to fail".

Also, the role of the state in the economy, regarding the ownership of companies and the regulation of the market, needed to be discussed.

"I pose these questions without providing any answers, once again to underline the point that our young emerging leaders will have to participate in the effort to answer them.

"For them to be helpful to society, those answers will have to be based on a profound understanding of the process of contemporary social development."

In South Africa, young leaders would always have to grapple with issues of social development, transformation and how to create a non-racial society, said Mbeki.

SA a non-racial country?

"I am certain that there are very few South Africans, if any, who today would, for instance, question the need for us to transform ours into a non-racial country.

"The reality however, is that because this objective, like the others mentioned in our constitution, cannot be realised in a short time, the young emerging leaders will still be faced with the task to lead the country as it continues to strive to implement the constitutional prescription to build a non-racial society."

On how to be a good leader, Mbeki, who was removed from office by his own party, said honesty was a key characteristic.

"To lead, means to engage the people in an honest and sustained manner to mobilise them so that they too play an active and conscious role in the process of fundamental social transformation rather than remain as immobilised spectators who expect government to ?deliver'.

"It means learning the habit always to tell the truth and thus cultivate the confidence of the people in you, who will be their leaders," said Mbeki.

equitysavant[/font]

President Rupiah Banda has called on developed countries to lead the way in agreeing on ambitious and legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

In his pre-recorded message posted on the internet to the United Nations climate change summit held in New York yesterday, Mr Banda said climate change has threatened sustainable development of all countries in the world.

He said like many other developing countries, Zambia was already experiencing adverse effects of climate change, noting that this trend must be reversed through finding an effective adaptation framework to reduce the risks posed to humanity.

President Banda said countries all around the world should act pragmatically to reverse the negative impact of climate change.

He said huge amounts of financial support should be provided to the most vulnerable developing countries to finance their adaptation and mitigation programmes.

"These funds must be additional to the Official Development Assistance (ODA). In addition, a transparent financial mechanism should be put in place so that deserving vulnerable countries can easily access the funds," he said.

The UN climate change summit, which was convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon yesterday, was a huge step towards the big climate change summit to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

The Copenhagen summit will produce a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

President Banda said this support should also include capacity building to enable local communities, who are at risk of effects of climate change, to learn new ways of responding to the challenges.

"This December, we have to make a choice. To act responsibly as a united global community and provide a firm ground to safeguard our common good or stick to traditional positions and negotiating tactics and consign our future and that of our children to doom," he concluded.
He was among more than 100 heads of State and government that attended the summit at the 64th General Assembly of the UN.

Meanwhile, Mr Ban has urged heads of State and government attending the General Assembly to accelerate their action against global warming and preserve the planet for future generations.

Mr Ban said when he officially opened the summit, that world leaders should now stop dragging negotiations towards coming up with a new agreement to curb greenhouse emissions that would go into 2012 when the Kyoto protocol's first commitment period expires.

"Climate change is the pre-eminent geopolitical and economic issues of the 21st Century. It rewrites the global equation for development, peace and security," he said.

For over five years since the first announcement of the licensing of private refineries, the nation has waited endlessly for their eventual take-off. While the licensees kept reassuring of their seriousness, there is virtually nothing on the ground to demonstrate their readiness to build.

While the dithering continued, Nigeria's foreign reserves continued to dip as government continued to dip its hands in the till to shore up local demand for imported refined products.

Last week, government reversed a policy decision which has been a disincentive for the licensees to build. It was the removal of the $1 million non-refundable deposit as a pre-condition for approval to build any 10,000-barrel capacity local refinery. This reversal of policy comes ahead of a November deadline for the beginning of the full deregulation of the downstream sector expected to see Nigerians buying petroleum products at rates dictated by international market forces. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Odein Ajumogobia who announced the policy shift said the measure was to attract both local and foreign investors to buy into the refining sub-sector.

It is disheartening that Nigeria continues to use the top-down approach to governance, where the leadership assumes it knows what the people want without first consulting them. The $1 million deposit was, ab initio, unnecessary given that the country is seeking to woo investors to its local production sector to boost local supply, creating jobs and even making room for export and foreign exchange earnings. This removal is therefore intended to encourage the emergence of locally-built refineries and an opening to build capacity and enable self-sufficiency.

It is a normal part of governance all over the world that government gives incentives to investors ready to commit to local development. It is commendable that government has finally shown its ability to reason and encourage private-sector led initiative aimed at increasing its capacity building potential. It is also encouraging that this is coming at a time when some of the few surviving companies operating in the country are winding down their operations.

Nigeria could have saved huge sums in foreign exchange if it had taken this decision earlier and by now its planned total de-regulation of the downstream sector will not appear as an albatross. Rather, it has opened its borders to uncontrolled importation of refined products while selling its crude in the international market. No country serious about development can afford to open its borders to unbridled importation when it has the capacity to produce locally. What reasonable governments do is to check the balance between local production and local demand and to open up importation space to bridge the shortfall until it can meet all its demands and even export. This would have saved jobs, increased earnings and saved foreign exchange.
While reversal of policy is commendable, government needs to tackle the problem of inconsistency in policy. Our acquiescence to Nigeria being a dumping ground for refined products has culminated in low capacity utilisation and the recent troubles in the finance sector. Banks preferred to grant loans to importers of refined crude instead of giving such loans to productive sectors of the economy. One of the fallouts of this misguided policy is the ongoing crisis in the banking sector. We therefore suggest that in addition to the removal of this clog, small though it is, government should introduce some level of tax incentives to further encourage the licensees to speed up local production. Most importantly, we hope that when the refineries are finally built, government would have declared a state of national awakening on the power sector such that they can function without delay.

It is also important that the authorities hasten the process of bringing back normalcy in the oil producing region. This will reassure the investors whose interest in setting up private refineries may have been dampened by the way that Niger Delta unrest has led to pipeline vandelisation which is responsible for the start and stop operations of existing government owned refineries.

As the FIFA Under-20 World Cup begins today in Cairo Egypt, Nigeria's Flying Eagles will lead African teams to challenge for the top prize in one of the world biggest soccer show.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup is one of three major events being staged on the continent in the build-up to next year's World Cup slated for South Africa. Nigeria will also host the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

No doubt, the African continent which is yet to win the trophy would strive to get hold of the trophy in a tournament which is being held for the second time in the continent, after the maiden edition in Tunisia in 1977.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the only under-age men's global championship that an African team is yet to lay its hands on as winners despite coming close on a number of occasions. Despite successes in the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Olympics, African teams are yet transcend that performance to the U-20 division, a competition famed for South American dominance.

The Flying Eagles under the tutelage of Coach Samson Siasia have lost in the final of the championship twice in 1989 against Portugal in Saudi Arabia and to Argentina at the 2005 edition held in Netherlands.

The other country from the continent to have come close to lifting the trophy is Ghana who like Nigeria has also lost twice in the final in 1993 and 2001, thereby extending the continent's misery in the competition.

This explains why the continent's hope of the first U-20 World Cup trophy will rest on the shoulders of the Samson Siasia-led Flying Eagles.

Other countries carrying the continent's banner at the biennial soccer fiesta are hosts Egypt, continental champions, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. They will be all out to break the 32-year jinx engulfing the biennial championship as far as African teams are concerned.

Also, this is the third time after Nigeria 99 that the youth showpiece event is being staged on African soil. Mali's bronze feat in 1999 serves the brightest spot as no African team made it to the last four in 1977 in Tunisia.

After the CAF U-20 Championship in Rwanda early January which produced the continent's representatives for the global championship, all five teams: Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa have been engaged in fervent preparations in their quest for the ultimate.

While the Flying Eagles spent the last two weeks in Mallorca Spain preparing and acclimatizing in readiness for the tournament.

The Flying Eagles are drawn in Group B alongside Spain, Tahiti and Venezuela. Former Super Eagles midfielder Samson Siasia, who guided the Flying Eagles to a runners-up spot in the Netherlands in 2005, has been charged with the responsibility of leading the 'Flying Eagles' to the promise land in Egypt.

Siasia took over from Ladan Bosso after the continental championship and the latter is brimming with confidence after training camps in Qatar and Spain. The Ex-international star has named balanced team of local and foreign-based stars, and has conspicuously left out some members of the Golden Eaglets squad that won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea two years ago. Amongst them are striker Rabiu Ibrahim and Lukman Haruna.

"We have confidence and we have the players to do us proud. The training camps in Qatar and Spain have helped the team greatly and we are heading to Egypt believing we can conquer," Siasia told the media before departing for Egypt.

This is Nigeria's eighth appearance at the championship and expectations back home and across the continent are high from the likes of Captain Odion Ighalo, Haruna Lukman, Rabiu Ibrahim, Sone Aluko and Yakubu Alfa to go the extra mile.

Hosts Egypt are drawn in Group A alongside Italy, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Junior Pharaohs begin their campaign against the Caribbean Islanders in the opening match today at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria.

Head coach Miroslav Soukup and his charges have been engaged in series of preparations as they seek an improvement of their bronze feat in Argentina in 2001. The Junior Pharaohs are making their fifth appearance at the biennial championship and the bringing on board of Soukoup, who guided his native Czech Republic to silver at the last edition in Canada two years ago confirms their readiness to rule the world.

After a least expected performance at the continental championship, where they failed to progress past the group phase, Coach Soukoup and his deputy, Ex-national star, Hany Ramzy has led the team to training tours in Europe coupled with participation in invitational tourneys to fine-tune their preparations.

Matches against Korea Republic, Czech Republic, Spain and Australia, training camp Germany and an appearance at the Toulon Tournament in France is considered a great form of preparation for the likes of Shihab Ahmed, Moustafa Salim, Saad Eddin Samir and Mohamed Taalat as they seek for the ultimate.

Runners-up at the continental championship, Cameroon are housed in Group C together with USA, Germany and Korea Republic. Not much has been heard of Coach Alain Wabo's team but for a training camp in Germany few months ago ahead of the global tourney.

Cameroon, gold medallists at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, has yet to establish themselves as a powerhouse at the biennial championship. Of four previous appearances in 1981, 1993, 1995 and 1999; a quarter-final berth in 1995 marks their biggest feat.

Thirty-eight year old Wabo, creator of the ant-attack system will be relying on the likes of Brice Owono of Cotonsport Garoua, Parfait Essengue of Italian side Piacenza, Jacques Zoua among others to scale past the preliminary hurdle into the medal zone.

African champions, Ghana's Black Satellites are ranked high and have been tipped to go far. The Satellites making their fifth appearance are in Group D with England, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.

The Satellites, twice runners-up in 1993 and 2001 have endured a bittersweet form of preparation for the tournament. Two weeks camping at the Aspire Sports Academy in Qatar and seven-day acclimatization in Tunisia climaxed their preparations, which saw most of the selected players unavailable.

The team is led by Andre Ayew, son of Ghana legend Abedi Pele and is under the technical guidance of Sellas Tetteh, who guided the Black Starlets to fourth place at the last U-17 Championship in Korea. Products of the juvenile team namely Abeiku Quansah, Joseph Addo, Philip Boampong, Daniel Opare and Ransford Osei are all part of the team opens their campaign against little known Uzbekistan.

After an eight-year absence, Tetteh is hoping to lead his young team to the ultimate backed by his experience with the national team, where he deputized for more than four years.

"For eight years we have not been to the U-20 World Cup so to return as champions of Africa is remarkable. It's gratifying to me that we're not just winning but also doing so by playing beautiful football," said Tetteh.

The continent's final representative is the Amajita's of South Africa. If the level of pre-tournament preparation was the deciding factor, no African team comes near the Amajitas. The South African have toured West Africa, South America as well as Europe in fining tune their preparations.
Coach Serame Letsoaka's boys are perched in Group alongside Hungary, United Arab Emirates and Honduras as they make their first appearance at the youth championship since 1997.

Letsoaka, who assumes the Technical Directorship of South African Football Association (SAFA) after the tournament remains optimistic about the abilities of his team that placed fourth at the continental championship.

"We are a good side and I don't doubt that. It's always good when we go to these tournaments as underdogs because we can therefore surprise people. In our team, we have exciting players and they will show the rest of the world what they are capable of."

Meanwhile, the tournament that pieces together the best youth teams around the world ends on Friday, October 16.

Activists have launched a campaign to have the headquarters of a top African human rights body moved from the Gambia after the country's president reportedly threatened to kill human rights defenders.

The online Gambian news service, Freedom Newspaper, reported this week that President Yahya Jammeh had said in a television broadcast that he would kill "anyone who wants to destablise this country."

The newspaper said Jammeh's "exact words" in a television broadcast had been: "If you think that 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 out of it.

"We are not going to condone people posing as human rights defenders to the detriment of the country. If you are affiliated with any human rights group, be rest assured that your security, and personal safety would not be guaranteed by my Government. We are ready to kill saboteurs.”

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is headquartered in the Gambian capital, Banjul. The commission reports to the AU, its members are elected by the AU Assembly and it is tasked with interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and dealing with complaints about violations of the Charter.
In response to Jammeh's reported remarks, campaigners from non-governmental organizations, including the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples Rights and the Open Society Institute, are circulating a petition to the AU asking that the commission stop holding meetings in the Gambia and that its headquarters be removed from the country.

Jammeh's threat "leads us to fear for the safety, security, and lives of ourselves and our colleagues who have to work with the... Commission," the petition says.

"Quite apart from violating the right to life in Article 4 of the... African charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the assurance by President Jammeh that his Government will not guarantee the security and personal safety of human rights defenders visiting the country clearly and unilaterally repudiates the basic obligation assumed by The Gambia... to guarantee the safety and security of the members and personnel of the... as well as all users of the Commission."

Abuja — The meeting summoned by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to discuss modalities for picking a consensus candidate for the party in the February 6, 2010 governorship election in Anambra State has failed to produce result.

The 47 PDP aspirants that attended the meeting failed to agree on the adoption of such a consensus candidate.

But they agreed on one thing: the procedures for the primary election.

The aspirants agreed that the primary election beginning on September 28 should be conducted with the use of the party's membership register and that fresh registration of party members should commence today and end on Saturday.

PDP National Chairman Vincent Ogbulafor while opening the meeting yesterday told the governorship aspirants to lock themselves up in a room and choose a consensus candidate.

Ogbulafor also read what could be the riot act to the aspirants, asking them to be orderly, responsible and disciplined.

He said: "We called you here to admonish you to be orderly, responsible and organised in the primary election to choose a candidate that would fly the party flag at the governorship election. Power belongs to God and He gives power to whosoever He prefers. There is the need for the fear of God to be in you as you prepared for the contest, but bear in mind that only one person would emerge victorious at the end of the day.

"So many people picked form in this contest, but only one person will emerge victorious. It is our wish that you lock up yourselves in one room and choose a consensus candidate among yourselves. Look at yourselves and pick a consensus candidate."

But no sooner Ogbulafor finished speaking and journalists sent out than the aspirants were said to have spoken against the idea of a consensus candidate.

Some of the aspirants who later spoke with THISDAY said they would prefer a transparent primary election where all of them would contest and have their fate decided through the ballot box.

However, there was an agreement among the aspirants on the procedures for the election.

Before the meeting, the aspirants were said to have been complaining about an absence of an authentic PDP membership register at the various wards in the state.

Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, who addressed newsmen after the meeting, said the party had agreed that all the available wards membership register shall be used for the primary election commencing from September 28.

"We know that there are more than one membership register in all the wards but this meeting has agreed that all the registers shall be collated and harmonised for the election commencing as from Monday, September 28," he said.

Before then, there were allegations that some aspirants had printed several PDP membership cards to be used at the primary election.

Suswam said fresh membership registration would commence from today till Saturday and all the registers sent to the Barn Hill Hotel from where he and members of his committee would be operating from.
He said three delegates would be elected at the ward congress election, urging delegates seeking election to come with their passport photographs to enable him append his signature on each delegate that won the election.

Suswam also said delegate forms would be sold at a price not lower than N10, 000 per delegate.

Over 750 delegates are expected to be elected from the 236 wards in the state.

All the delegates would assemble in Awka, the state capital, on October 2 at the state congress to elect the governorship candidate of the party.

Suswam also urged the aspirants to consider talking to each other so as to prune their number down.

He expressed optimism that the number of aspirants would be reduced by Monday.

The security services in Morocco have arrested 24 members of a "terrorist network" linked to Al-Qaeda that recruited volunteers for suicide bombings in Iraq, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

In a statement carried by the official MAP news agency, it said the network coordinatedg "with terrorists in Sweden, Belgium and the Syria-Iraq zone" and also sought recruits for Al-Qaeda to fight in Afghanistan and Somalia.

The suspects -- now being questioned by police -- were arrested in several cities in Morocco, said the ministry, which did not specify the date when they were apprehended.

According to the interior ministry, those arrested were also planning to carry out "terrorist acts" inside Morocco, and to that end were preparing to welcome Al-Qaeda specialists to help assemble explosive devices.

In recent weeks, the judicial authorities in Morocco have been dealing with a number of cases involving suspected members of networks described as terrorist operations.

On September 3, 38 people suspected of belonging to a network that recruited Moroccans for Iraq and Algeria appeared before an anti-terrorist court in Sale, the twin city of the capital Rabat.

Members of that alleged network, dismantled in July 2008, came from Tangiers and five other cities in the north and northeast of the North African kingdom.

Police say the suspects intended to join "terrorist groups" in desert camps run by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb before proceeding to Iraq.

On September 2, the court in Sale postponed to early October a hearing into another case involving 43 people charged under anti-terrorist legislation and suspected of links with Al-Qaeda in the Islmaic Maghreb.

At least eight people are reported to have been killed and dozens more wounded during a gun battle in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Members of Somalia's al-Shabab group attacked an African Union peacekeeping base, sparking the clash on Tuesday, officials said.

A spokesman for the AU force, Bahoku Barigye, said no peacekeepers were killed in the firefight.

Witnesses reported seeing at least eight corpses.

"The bodies were beyond recognition. There was blood and flesh everywhere," Hassan Mohamoud, a witness, said.

Peacekeepers targeted

Last week al-Shabab launched two suicide car bombs on the main AU force base in Mogadishu, killing 17 peacekeepers.

It was the deadliest single attack on the force of 5,000 troops from Burundi and Uganda since they arrived in 2007.

At least 29 Burundian soldiers have been killed in the country since their mission began.
Al-Shabab said that attack was in retaliation for a US raid on September 14 that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, an al-Qaeda suspect, in southern Somalia.

The US military has launched several air attacks inside Somalia in the past against individuals blamed for the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

In May last year, US aircraft killed Aden Hashi Ayro, the then leader of al-Shabab and allegedly a senior al-Qaeda member, in an attack on the central town of Dusamareb.

Al-Shabab - meaning "the Youth" in Arabic - is believed to be largest group among several Islamist and clan militias battling the UN-backed transitional government in Somalia.

Al-Shabab says it seeks to impose its own strict version of Islamic law across Somalia.

The group is accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda, and is believed to have been reinforced with foreign fighters.

Expanding reach

The FBI has expressed concern that al-Shabab may be expanding its reach and actively recruiting Western nationals to fight in Somalia.

No one knows for sure where the group gets its financial and logistical support, but Eritrea and some Arab countries have been accused of funding the conflict in the Horn of Africa.

The country has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since regional commanders overthrew Mohamed Siad Barre, the then president, in 1991, before turning on each other.

Piracy has flourished off the Somali coast, making the Gulf of Aden one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.

Libya's president has attacked the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council during his first ever address to the UN General Assembly.

In a one-and-a-half hour speech in New York on Wednesday, Muammar Gaddafi said the veto-wielding nations of the Security Council were ignoring the views of the full 192 members of the General Assembly and the principles of the UN charter.

"The preamble [of the charter] says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said in his address.

But he accused the permanent members of the council of undermining other states.

"The veto [held by the five permanent UN members] is against the charter, we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it," he said.

"Veto power should be annulled."

In a speech that far exceeded the 15-minute slot he was allocated, Gaddafi read aloud sections from a paperback copy of the UN charter; at one point, he held it up and made a small tear in the cover, signalling his disdain.

"The Security Council did not provide us with security but with terror and sanctions," he said.

Council members criticised
Gaddafi said the council, comprising the US, Britain, France, Russia and China, had failed to prevent or intervene in 65 wars that have taken place since the United Nations was established in 1945.

"How can we be happy about the world security if the world is controlled by four or five powers?" he complained. "We are just like a decor."

In his opinion, the General Assembly is the "the parliament of the world" - a 192-member body that should be dictating decisions to the Security Council.

In the past two decades, emerging economic powers such as Germany, India, Japan, and Brazil have called for reforming the composition of the Security Council and creating additional permanent member seats.

Veto power deplored

Gaddafi said adding more permanent seats would be counterproductive.

Instead, he called on regional federations and organisations, such as the Arab League, Organisation of American States, the African Union, and the Non-Aligned Movement to be given permanent seats at the Security Council.

The five permanent members should lose their veto, or the UN should expand the council with additional member states, Gaddafi said.

"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'terror council'," he said, adding that the permanent members treat smaller countries as "second class [and] despised" nations.

"Now, brothers, there is no respect for the United Nations, no regard for the General Assembly," he said.

'Disaster' for Africa
Mohamed Ben-Madani, editor of the Maghreb Review, told Al Jazeera's that Gaddafi's speech was a "disaster" for the African Union and Arab and Muslim delegations at the General Assembly.

"I think the Libyans deserve much better than this. It is a disaster for Arab world opinion. Tearing up the UN charter is shocking, but this should have been expected from the beginning," he said.

"He said nothing about Libyan human rights and better education [for Libyans]. He said nothing about climate change or the environment."

As Gaddafi spoke, the US senate approved a resolution condemning the "lavish" welcome-home ceremony that Libya gave last month for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the bombing over a US passenger aircraft over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1989.

The US senate demanded that Tripoli apologise for the celebration, which came after Scotland's justice minister released al-Megrahi, a former agent, on compassionate grounds.

Libya has a temporary seat on the Security Council until the end of 2010.

Compensation urged

At one point, Gaddafi proposed a solution to the problem of illegal immigrants streaming from the North African coast to Europe.

"World colonial powers took the wealth from Africa, Asia, and Latin America so it is to be expected that the new generation of youth will follow that wealth," he said.

"Return that wealth, and you will see illegal immigration drop," he said.

He praised Italy for "apologising for its colonialist venture in Libya [in the 1920s]" and building hospitals throughout his country.

He called for $7.77 trillion in compensation to be paid to Africa from its past "colonial masters".

Obama praised

Gaddafi praised Barack Obama, the US president, describing him as a "son of Africa" and a "flash of light in the darkness".

He said he fully agreed with Obama's UN speech, describing it as unprecedented from a sitting US president.

Gaddafi, who was addressing the General Assembly for the first time since he seized power in his country 40 years ago, appeared to be rambling at times, reading from hand-written notes as he addressed dozens of issues.

At one point, he questioned the assassination of John F Kennedy, the US president.

"The assassination of Kennedy in 1963 - we want to know, who killed him? Lee Harvey? Why was Harvey killed?" he said, referring to the man who was arrested in connection with Kennedy's murder and shot dead while being transferred between jails.

Heavy rains and flash floods have killed 17 people in southern Tunisia. Most of the victims were killed when the roofs and walls of their homes collapsed. Others were carried away by flood waters that rose to more than six feet in some areas. Six members of a particular family were among those killed
As a result of the floods, 17 are dead and eight injured, but the search for missing people continues. President Ben Ali gave instructions to ensure an immediate remedy to the situation," state news agency TAP said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in Redeyef, a town situated in a semi-arid and deprived phosphate mining region that saw riots last year as residents demanded more government help to create jobs.

By this time of the year Tunisia normally enjoys dry season but heavy rains have fallen for days across the North African country and in neighbouring Algeria, where 16 people have been reported killed in the past week

South American drug cartels are invading the West African region with the help of local criminal groups to find their way to the European market. Some senior officials in the region have been indicted for the illegal trade including the son of former President Lansana Conte who openly admitted to the illegal business.
Mexican and Colombian drug cartels have expanded their activities to various countries in West Africa including Nigeria where they used local gangs to find safe haven for their onward distribution for the profitable European market, the Cable News Network (CNN) reported on Tuesday.

Burkina Faso in particular has come under the microscope over the last year for its involvement in the million dollar drug trade. Some senior military officials are reported to be actively involved in the cocaine business. Some members of the army nearly clashed with Police officers who were trying to search a cargo plane full of cocaine which landed at the country’s main airport.

The army rejects for a search on that plane thereby allowing the crew to disembark and does their transaction with impunity This incident happens exactly one week after a small cargo plane with cocaine substance make a forceful landing at the Sierra Leone International airport.

A senior official of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) told the US Senate that "West Africa is a smuggler's dream, suffering from a combination of factors that make the area particularly vulnerable. It is among the poorest and least stable regions in the world. Governments are weak and ineffective and officials are often corrupt.”

Similarly, retired four-star Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who was drug policy director for US former President Clinton said according to the Daily Trust newspaper that West Africa also is particularly attractive to traffickers because it is near "the soft underbelly of Europe.”

A UN report said about 1,000 tons of pure cocaine are produced each year, nearly 60 percent of which evades law enforcement interception and makes it to market, that's a wholesale global market of about $70 billion. According to the report at least nine top-tier Latin American drug cartels have established bases in 11 West African nations because there is "less law enforcement in West Africa," just as there is more profit in Europe than the United States.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recently stated in his report to the Security Council that Drug trafficking still poses serious threat to the regions stability.

onstruction work for school blocks in Malawi's Lakeshore district of Mangochi is on course, a development that would help shelter otherwise helpless children from the area of Senior Chief Makanjira from the on-coming rains, said Michael Studnitz, Co-founder and Chairman of the German NGO Reisende Werkschule Scholen.
The German NGO has since 2001 been making periodic trips to Malawi, a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) member state, where students have been working with local communities to bring about sustainable social-economic development through school blocks’ infrastructure.

Some of the beneficiary schools include Nangungu Primary in Mangochi’s Makanjira area, developments that have excited traditional leaders from the area.

The Germans are back to Malawi this year and plan to construct some more school blocks for the less privileged in that country, where most pupils learn under trees.

Education rights NGOs claim that over 10 pupils may have died over the past 10 years after trees fell on them, something that speaks volumes about the country’s education infrastructure.

Studnitz said this week construction work was well on course for the October 26, 2009 handover ceremony, and hailed the German students for their high spirits.

“The guys have been great ever since they arrived in Malawi. We are really grateful that everyone is alright and also that we have managed to mingle and integrate well into the communities. They are really part of the communities now,” said Studnitz.

Studnitz said he was even encouraged that almost all of the Germans have expressed wishes to visit Malawi again at some point in their lives, hailing the people’s friendliness.
“Everyone smiles here. Malawians are real wonderful people,” said Studnitz.

Malawi is endowed with a great variety of natural resources, something the Germans are enjoying quite well. They take time to relax and feel the breeze of Lake Malawi, the world’s third largest fresh water lake. Elephants are also a common sight, as they walk in groups and fill their long trumpet-like mouths.

Women from Makanjira almost compliments this great sight with their hard work, ferrying water from nearby rivers to help their make the work of their men easier during block construction.

Some of the Germans could be heard laughing in the background.

all africa
The major international financial and economic arrangements are unfair and have not kept pace with a changing world, South Africa's President told the United Nations today, calling for the reform of key institutions so that poorer countries have a greater say in how they are run.

In an address to the annual General Debate at the 192-member General Assembly, Jacob Zuma said the current global economic crisis spotlights the need to reform the mandate, governance and responsiveness of the so-called Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"These institutions have been unrepresentative since their formation half a century ago," Mr. Zuma said. "The current arrangements are inadequate and unfair. They do not reflect the changes that have taken place in the global economy.

"We should ensure that the election of the heads of all these institutions is more democratic, and opens opportunities to developing countries. The emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must have a greater voice and greater participation in these institutions."

Mr. Zuma also stressed the need for an urgent conclusion to the current, long-running Doha round of global trade negotiations, which have stalled, "in a manner that prioritizes development."

He noted that efforts to eradicate poverty have slowed down as a result of the global recession, and that the world's poorest countries have been suffering the most, even though they did not cause the crisis.

"The United Nations must play a significant role in finding solutions to the global economic crisis. The crisis should not be an excuse to delay further action on the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," he added, referring to the set of socio-economic targets which world leaders have agreed to try to achieve by 2015.
Turning to his country's legacy of apartheid, Mr. Zuma observed that it was 20 years ago that the General Assembly adopted a resolution on international solidarity with the liberation struggle in South Africa.

"Within months of the adoption of this important resolution, the South African liberation movements were unbanned. Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were released. The stage was thus set for the negotiations that would eventually lead to the achievement of freedom and democracy in our country.

"The role of the United Nations in the struggle to end apartheid is an exceptional example of the collective political will of the international community. It represented the victory of unity over division, of negotiation over confrontation. It represented a clear commitment to the promotion of basic human rights. As South Africans we will always be grateful for that international solidarity."

The South Korean Navy destroyer Dae Jo Yeong is part of the international anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia.

23 Sep 2009

South Korea's military says one of its ships has repelled pirates pursuing freighters off the coast of Yemen and rescued three foreign vessels from being hijacked.

On September 20, ROKS Dae Jo Yeong - a destroyer with the South Korean naval unit Cheonghae - rescued three ships sailing under the flags of Cyprus, the Marshal Islands, and the Bahamas from Somali pirates, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The previous day, a South Korean Navy ship had rescued five Yemeni fishermen hijacked with their boat on September 17. Somali pirates had intended to use the Yemeni boat, the Monfiq, for attacking ships passing in the region.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels going from Asia to Europe and the Americas every year.

Attacks by heavily-armed Somali raiders in speedboats have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, causing a hike in shipping costs.

The pirate-infested Somali waters remain dangerous despite the presence of foreign navies in the area.

presstv

Sep 23, 2009

* Gaddafi tent would violate local laws, attorney says

* Seven Springs estate owned by developer Donald Trump (Updates with details, quotes)

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was having a tent pitched on suburban New York property owned by Donald Trump on Tuesday until local officials stopped the work because it violated regulations, a town attorney said.

Gaddafi, a famously eccentric figure known for pitching a large Bedouin tent on his trips abroad, was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

The tent was partly erected and satellite dishes were being put in place when a building inspector arrived at the property in Bedford, New York, that belongs to famed real estate developer Trump, said Bedford town attorney Joel Sachs.

Authorities in Bedford, an affluent suburb about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of New York City, learned of Gaddafi's plans from the U.S. Secret Service, the attorney said.

The building inspector gave a "stop work" order to workers at the scene but they did not speak English, so he issued the order to a Trump caretaker, Sachs said. It was unclear whether the work had stopped, Sachs said.

Gaddafi last month had plans to erect a tent in suburban New Jersey where the Libyan embassy owns property, but the U.S. government said he could not use the land for that purpose. A request to set up his tent in New York's Central Park also was turned down.

The tent in Bedford needed various permits that it did not have, Sachs said. "It isn't like a wedding tent," he said.

Trump, owner of the 213-acre Seven Springs estate, issued a statement saying it was leased on a short-term basis to Middle Eastern partners "who may or may not have a relationship to Mr. Gaddafi." He said he was looking into the matter.

Gaddafi has come under criticism over the recent decision by the Scottish government to release a Libyan citizen convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the bombing, was greeted with cheers and celebration upon his return to Libya.

"I don't think the residents of this town would be comfortable with him here, and I know I wouldn't be. He has killed Americans," said Arik Wolf, a rabbi at the Chabad of Bedford in Bedford Hills, when asked earlier in the day.

In Bedford, the roof of a tent and ropes were visible from behind a stone wall in a photograph published on Tuesday by the website of the local newspaper Journal News.

Bedford is a mere 13 miles (20 km) from Chappaqua, where former President Bill Clinton and his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton own a home. It also is home to such celebrities as homemaking expert Martha Stewart and to actor Richard Gere and his actress wife Carey Lowell who own a bed and breakfast there.

(Additional reporting by Joshua Schneyer, editing by Daniel Trotta and Philip Barbara)

reuters

Gregoire Ndahimana is accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has transferred a chief suspect in the Rwandan genocide to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

Gregoire Ndahimana, who was the mayor of the Rwandan town of Kivumu in 1994, was arrested on August 11 during operations against Rwandan rebels in North Kivu in the eastern Congo. He is wanted for helping organize the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

According to his ICTR indictment, he is responsible for the deaths of at least 2,000 Tutsis, most of whom were killed when Hutus bulldozed a church where they had sought refuge.

"We have done humanity a service, because the crime of genocide is an attack upon the peace and security of humankind," Congolese Justice Minister Luzolo Bambi Lessa said after Ndahimana boarded a plane on his way to being surrendered to the court.

His wife and five children will be sent to Rwanda, according to a report released by the AFP news agency.

Most of the former Rwandan military and Interahamwe militia members responsible for the genocide fled to Rwanda's giant western neighbor, Congo, after Tutsi rebels came to power in July 1994 and ended the carnage. Their presence in the eastern Congo sparked a war and humanitarian catastrophe that has killed at least 5.4 million people over the past decade.

presstv

Tue Sep 22

* Egyptian favourite loses bid to lead UNESCO

* Bulgarian outsider set to become first female UNESCO head

* Accusations of heavy handed lobbying

(Adds quotes from victor paragraph 4)

By Tamora Vidaillet

PARIS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, who said last year he was ready to burn Israeli books, failed on Tuesday to become the next head of the U.N. culture and education body, losing out to a Bulgarian diplomat.

Irina Gueorguieva Bokova, a former foreign minister, won the fifth and final round of voting by 31 to 27 in a ballot that laid bare bitter divisions within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Given little chance of victory before the vote, Bokova will become the first woman to head the Paris-based body if, as expected, its 193 member states validate the result next month.

"I will use all good ideas and we will work together," the 57-year-old career diplomat told Reuters. "I have never considered that such a competition was a war, a battle pitting one side against the other," she added.

However, sources within UNESCO said the bruising contest risked leaving its mark, with accusations of heavy handed lobbying and foul play hanging in the air.

"It became very conflictive. As delegates, we were very concerned about the reputation of UNESCO," said Homero Aridjis, a delegate from Mexico.

Hosni, 71, was favourite to become the Arab world's first UNESCO director-general, but his candidacy created outrage amongst Jewish organisations, while media rights activists accused him of turning a blind eye to censorship in Egypt.

His supporters said Tuesday's vote was a missed opportunity to send a positive signal to the Muslim world.

"What I find disappointing is not the quality of the winner but the fact that the road has been blocked to a different cultural voice," said Nasser Hossam, who had led Hosni's election campaign.

"No one from the Arab or Muslim world has made it to the top of UNESCO while Europe has had the post several times," he said.

CONTROVERSY

Hosni stirred fierce controversy last year in an angry exchange in the Egyptian parliament, when he said he would burn Israeli books if he found them in Egyptian libraries. He has also been quoted as calling Israeli culture "inhuman".

A painter who has served as culture minister for more than two decades, he later said he regretted the comments.

Israel did not openly oppose his candidacy and some European countries, such as France, backed his bid, believing Egypt deserved a high profile international post.

However, UNESCO sources told Reuters the United States and a number of northern European countries, including Germany, supported the Bulgarian on Tuesday.

There was a muted response in Cairo, although some commentators said the ballot was not aimed against Egypt.

"I do not believe that this should be read as an attitude towards Egypt. I think the question was related to the candidate," said Egypt's former foreign minister, Ahmed Maher.

"I am sure that relations between us and the countries, however they voted, will remain as they were. I don't think they will be affected by this," he told Reuters.

For others, Hosni's failure reflected a failed chance to improve dialogue with the Muslim world.

"I think it was a real opportunity to confirm the dialogue between West and East ... I think it was time to have one Muslim, even one who was very secular like Hosni, (as UNESCO head)," said Egyptian analyst Dia Rashwan.

It is not the first time UNESCO has become embroiled in controversy. In 1999, the election of the current director-general, Japan's Koichiro Matsuura, was marred by allegations of corruption, bidding wars and rigged votes. -- Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau in Paris and Edmund Blair in Cairo (Editing by Crispian Balmer)

reuters

2009-09-22

Johannesburg - The US Embassy and other American offices in South Africa will remain closed for a second day on Wednesday after closing on Tuesday because of unspecified security concerns, US and South African officials said.

Neither US Embassy spokesperson Sharon Hudson-Dean nor Nonkululeko Mbatha, spokesperson for the South African national police commissioner, would say whether a threat had prompted the closure.

Hudson-Dean said the offices were closed because of information provided by US security officials.

"We are not discussing the nature of the information," she said.

The closure affected the embassy in Pretoria, consulates in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and aid and development offices.

May reopen on Friday

Hudson-Dean had said earlier the facilities would reopen on Wednesday, but later said officials had decided to remain closed "because of this information, this same information".

The facilities also would be closed as previously scheduled for a South African public holiday on Thursday, Hudson-Dean said.

She said a decision on whether to reopen on Friday would be made later.

"The matter is under control," Mbatha said. "Our agencies, particularly crime intelligence, are working closely with US Embassy personnel."

Warning about al-Qaeda

A message from US diplomats about the closure advised American citizens to review a July 29 US State Department warning expressing concern "that al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks against US interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East".

The warning followed suicide attacks earlier in July on two American-owned hotels in Indonesia's capital that killed seven people and wounded more than 50.

On September 14, a US commando raid in Somalia, in eastern Africa, killed an al-Qaeda operative.

Extremist Islamic violence has not hit southern Africa to the extent it has east Africa, southeast Asia or the Middle East.

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