21 September 2009

More than 100 people were killed and many injured at the weekend in the latest series of violent tribal clashes in the southern state of Jonglei, according to a military spokesman.

AFP - More than 100 people were killed in weekend clashes in the troubled Jonglei state of south Sudan, where the rate of violent deaths has overtaken that of Darfur, a military spokesman said Monday.

"There is a total of 102 killed, including 51 civilians and 23 of the attackers, and 46 injured," Major General Kuol Diem Kuol of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) told AFP.

Kuol told AFP earlier, when the known death toll stood at 76, that 11 SPLA soldiers and 11 other troops were among the dead.

"This is not a raid for cattle but a militia attack against security forces," he said.

Tribesmen from the Lou Nuer ethnic group raided the Dinka Hol village of Duk Padiet in Jonglei state on Sunday morning, forcing a company of SPLA soldiers based there to flee.

More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 been displaced in inter-tribal violence across the south since January, according to the United Nations, with the rate of violent deaths now exceeding that of war-torn Darfur in west Sudan.

A reconciliation conference between the main tribes of Jonglei state was planned for September 30 but has been postponed, a local source told AFP.

Clashes between rival ethnic groups in southern Sudan erupt frequently -- often sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources, while others are in retaliation for previous attacks.

However, a series of recent raids has shocked many, with an apparent sharp rise in attacks on women and children, as well as the targeting of homesteads.

Kuol had earlier said he suspected that the raiders on Sunday were backed by supporters of northern Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

NCP officials have repeatedly denied such accusations. North-south tensions remain high, with Sudan still divided by the religious, ethnic and ideological differences that fuelled a 22-year civil war which ended in a 2005 peace deal.

Under that deal, the south has a six-year transitional period of regional autonomy and takes part in a unity government until a 2011 referendum on self-determination.

The north and south have agreed on 10 key areas to work together, including upcoming elections next April, peace efforts in Darfur, demarcating the north-south border and power-sharing.

However, two other issues remain: the referendum, and census results rejected by the south but which are seen as key to the upcoming elections.

The north's NCP wants a 75-percent threshold for the south's independence to be recognised while the SPLA says a simple majority of voters in the referendum would be enough.

france24

20 Sep 2009

The African Union envoy to Somalia has urged the international community to provide forces fighting the country's militants with weapons.

Nicolas Bwakira made the appeal on Saturday, two days after twin suicide bombings by al-Shabaab militants in Mogadishu killed 17 African peacekeepers, including the deputy commander of the AU force in Somalia.

"If we go after Shabaab, we'd destroy them in no time," Bwakira told journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but added that fighting with 'enemies' required arms superior to the capacity of al-Shabaab's.

He highlighted the African Union (AU) mission was determined to uproot violence in Somalia, noting that the deadly bombings had not demoralized the force, despite more threats coming from al-Shabaab.

Bwakira said the attacks should not prevent countries from keeping their promises to beef up the AU force in the war-torn Horn of African nation.

The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) currently operates with 5,000 soldiers as Nigeria and Ghana have so far failed to deploy their pledged troops, leaving the force 3,000 shy of the intended 8,000.

The United Nations has said it will take over the peacekeeping force in the central-African nation, but has not specified the date.

There is currently an arms embargo on Somalia, where al-Shabaab and its allies control most towns and cities across the country, whereas the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed rules over just parts of Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991, which has resulted in a state of anarchy and a complete breakdown of law and order in the country, leaving some three million people in dire need of food aid.

presstv

20 September 2009

The African Union (AU) has called on the international community to provide more weapons to the Somalia Western-backed government to battle Islamist militants.
somalia refugees
The envoy of the AU to Somalia, Nicolas Bwakira, told reporters on Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya that: "If we go after Al-Shabaab, we'd destroy them in no time." He added that rebels have been trying to oust the UN- recognized government.

The announcement for more weapons follows suicide bombings on Thursday at the headquarters of the AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu which left more than eight peacekeepers dead, including senior officials.

The AU plans to deploy 8,000 peacekeeping troops in Somalia but at the moment there are about 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi. Nigeria and Ghana have promised troops already but so far these pledges remain unfulfilled, AfricaNews reporter said.

Since being deployed in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2007, the African Union peacekeeping has lost 34 troops. Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

africanews

20 September 2009

he Mai Mai militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo are demanding the resignation of information minister, Lambert Mende, for insulting them. However, the Kabila government has denied the charge against its member.
joseph_kabila_gbgm-umc
The armed group has therefore threatened to soon take drastic action if the President Kabila administration does not heed to their call.

Mende is alleged to have described members of the armed group as terrorists who killed innocent Congolese and destroyed properties. The spokesman of the Mai Mai militia, Didier Bitaki, is quoted as saying they would no longer tolerate the minister’s insults.

He said the information minister's action undermines the authority of President Kabila.

Bitaki said his group is demanding the immediate resignation of the information minister. The Mai Mai say before talking to the government, the minister must resign and have warned the government of a possible insurgency if the minister is not removed.

"Our combatants are still waiting here so if the minister does not take back his word, we are going to ask the president that we cannot continue to work with people who don't have any respect for us," Bitaki said.

But Information Minister Mende has dismissed the call for his removal as infantile. He is quoted as wishing the rebels good luck, adding that he has no comment to say “on such childish statement”.

“Nobody consulted them for me to be appointed as a member of government following my election in my constituency. And nobody will ask them for me to be removed from office," Mende said.

He said the armed group took advantage to attack innocent civilians. "We know how they went to the bush. They took opportunity from some disturbances that were created by other people. They are not the ones that created the disturbances," he said.

africanews

20 September 2009

Madagascar's disputed head of state would be addressing the United Nations General Assembly next week. Andry Rajoelina, 35, would also attend the summit on climate change in the US, according to a statement released on Saturday by his interim authority in Antananarivo, the Island's capital.
Andry Rajoelina
The statement said Rajoelina was going "following the invitation of the United Nations Secretary General to heads of state and government on the occasion of the summit on climate change."

He would speak at the UN on Thursday, the statement added, ignoring the fact that Rajoelina is not internationally recognized as Madagascar's head of state, AFP said

He will be accompanied by his foreign, energy and environment ministers. Rajoelina ousted elected president, Marc Ravalomanana last March in a military showdown and has been striving to obtain international recognition.

The African Union suspended Madagascar from membership following the coup, and has threatened sanctions if he fails to implement an accord to form an accepted interim government.

The August 9 accord brokered in Mozambique by the international contact group was foiled by Rajoelina's unilateral appointment of an interim government which was rejected by three other factions.

The contact group is due to meet again in Antananarivo on October 6.

africanews

19 Sep 2009

Kenya has been reelected to join the board of directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after an absence of 26 years.

A strong team led by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Higher Education Minister Sally Kosgei lobbied for Kenya's membership at the 53rd IAEA conference.

Musyoka, who addressed the congress on Monday, asked member states to consider the country's application to join the board.

"We continue to have serious power shortages and because of climate change, every indication is that we must move away from dependency on hydro-electric power if we are to become self-sufficient. Nuclear energy will be essential for our development in future," Musyoka said.

Kenya was a board member of the 35-member agency in 1983. Cameroon was also readmitted to IAEA on Friday.

presstv

19 September 2009
Five students have been killed in Cameroon by thunder which struck their school. The thunder is reported to have struck Government Secondary School, Mbetpaw in Bamali, Ndop Centre in the Ngokentunjia Division, in the North West Region of Cameroon killing the five students and injuring over 35 others.
cameroon map
According to a local newspaper, the incident occurred at about 9 am on Tuesday. The Deputy Mayor of Ndop, Someta Amour Amanbeh, is quoted by the newspaper as confirming the story in a telephone chat.

According to the Mayor, he was in his house when he saw people running towards the school. He said he also decided to join them to the scene.

On arriving at the scene, he found ten students struck but not yet dead .He said he was later joined by the Mayors of Bamali and Bamunka who rushed the victims to the hospital.

Five of them died immediately after being transported to the hospital, while
35 others were also later taken to the hospital.

Reports say those who sustained slight injuries were treated and discharged from the hospital a few hours later.

Eyewitnesses say it happened so suddenly and swiftly that it has overwhelmed the resident of Ndop with surprise.

Other eyewitness accounts claimed that only a few seconds before the incident, a dog was seen around the scene and it is believed that it had something to do with the thunder.

An eyewitness who refused to be named said such a thing has never happened in his entire stay in the division. To him it was pure witchcraft.

Indigenes of the area, resident in other parts of the country, particularly in the political capital, Yaounde are reported to have been rushing home to see things for themselves and to find out whether their relatives were involved in the mishap.

The Minister of Secondary Education is equally reported to have sent a high powered delegation to Ndop to assess the situation.

africanews

Saturday 19 September

Catholic missionaries working in the northern part of Kenya are appealing for food aid from government, international and local donors to feed famine stricken people in the arid area of Maralal northern Kenya.
aid
Yarumal Missionary, Fr Vitner Vidal Marting of Barsaloi Parish in Maralal diocese said that two boys died two months ago because of hunger in Mairimirimo an outstation of Barsaloi parish. He said the situation is so desperate and insecurity has increased in the last few days and called on the government to do something to help the situation before more people die.

“As we speak people there are walking for long distances begging for food and water in the parishes and outstations,” he said in an interview.

Fr Marting said that the situation has forced them to give food to only pregnant women, children and the poor, “even what we give is not enough and our food reserves are completely empty.”

He said that it is a very sad situation where they are forced to send hungry people back home without food.

Fr Marting told this reporter that humans and animals are fighting for the same water points in order to survive. He mentioned that a place called Lulu used to have plenty of water but has completely dried up and people are climbing mountains to cut trees to feed their animals which are a source of their livelihood.

He warned that there is likelihood of the place becoming a desert because the people are not replacing the trees they cut.

“Migration of people to search for food and water and pasture for their animals is also causing a lot of conflict among the Samburu, Pokot and Turkana communities,” he said.

He mentioned that the government gave only 12 bags of maize three weeks ago but that has not helped the situation and the diocese is completely overwhelmed by the demand for food.

The World Food Programme which had promised to give food every week has failed to do so and people keep waiting in parishes and outstations for food but they have still not come to aid the hunger stricken.

Fr Marting said that they have not had heavy rains in that area since last year. Early this week, some 33 people, 40 cattle, 20 goats and 30 sheep were killed by cattle rustlers in the Laikipia North District. The drought has forced the Samburu and Pokot communities to migrate in search of greener pasture.

africanews

19 September 2009

The cloud of suspicion hanging over Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade's third term race settled when he announced on Voice of America (VOA) that he would contest in 2012. Senegal's constitution allows only two terms for a president and Wade is currently serving his second which expires in 2012.
Wade
"I will be a candidate in 2012, if God gives me a long life," Wade said in remarks aired by the Voice of America's French service.

There has been speculation that Wade's 40-year-old son Karim, a government minister, would be the ruling party's presidential candidate in 2012.

But the president’s pronouncement comes to calm agitations for succession within his own party, PDS.

The country’s major opposition parties say the president’s 2012 ambitions are unconstitutional, but Wade insists that “nobody has the right to stop me from contesting. It is left for the Senegalese people to decide who they want. The game shall be open to all.”

Wade, who was elected in 2000, would be 86 in 2012. He was guest of the VOA on the occasion of the signing of a $540 million aid granted to the West African nation by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which took place in New York.

Senegal, according to the MCC officials, was selected because of its strong economic growth potential, good governance and commitment to open markets and long-term investment.

However, critics contend that Wade’s presidency has been marred by corruption, nepotism and constraints on freedom of the press and other civil liberties.

africanews

19 Sep 2009

Three people have been reportedly killed and several others wounded after police opened fire on demonstrations held in support of Palestinians on the annual Qods Day.

The attack happened as hundreds of people came to the streets of Zaria in Kaduna state in northern Nigeria on Friday. It was not clear what provoked the fighting.

Sheik el-Zazky, a Muslim leader, said his followers reported three people were killed and 12 wounded. Several demonstrators have also been arrested.

"They began stoning the police and then the trouble erupted. The police used firearms in self-defense," Assistant Police Commissioner Abubakar Danmalam said.

More than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side, although civil war left one million dead between 1967 and 1970.

This comes after a leaked intelligence report detailed possible government plans to attack Members of an Islamic Movement in Nigeria called Boko Haram. The group had organized the rallies.

Security forces had been stationed in and around Zaria since last week.

The group alleges the Nigerian government had decided in a high level security meeting to "phase out" its top members.

presstv

19 Sep 2009
The Somali Defense Ministry claims it has information that more suicide attacks have been planned to be carried out on 8 bomb-laden vehicles carrying UN logo.

In a press conference in southern Mogadishu, the ministry confirmed that the Somali government has been informed about al-Shabaab's plans for conducting new suicide attacks on AMISOM troops inside Somalia by using eight stolen cars belonging to the United Nations, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The Somali government has tightened the security measures ahead of planned attacks on AMISOM troops.

In the meantime, a senior al-Shabaab member said that false information have been given to the Somali government.


presstv

Black smoke rises from inside AMISOM base in Mogadishu after two powerful explosions rip through AU peacekeepers force commander building in Somalia on Sept. 17.

18 Sep 2009

The UN condemns a twin suicide bombing in war-torn Somalia while the African Union's (AU) special representative to Somalia calls for more international support in the country.

President of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly Ali Treki, a Libyan, who took over the post on Tuesday, said a brutal attack on Thursday, that killed 21 people, including 17 Burundian and Ugandan forces, was 'unacceptable' from terrorist groups operating in Somalia.

He said the UN "will recognize the (Somalia's) legitimate government and will continue supporting them," adding that he hoped the attack would not make Africans weak in front of aggression.

Meanwhile, AU's special representative to Somalia, Nicolas Bwakira addressing a press conference in Nairobi on Friday, September 18, called for more support by the international community to the pan-African bloc's embattled peace force in war-ravaged Somalia.

Only Burundi and Uganda currently contribute to the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia.

The UN official also said that al-Shabaab, who claimed responsibility for
the attacks, used two cars with UN logos to hit the African Union's main base in Mogadishu on Thursday (September 17). He said they showed their ability by striking at the heart of the peacekeeping mission.

The insurgents announced that they launched the attack to avenge the killing on Monday (September 14) of one of the continent's most wanted al-Qaeda suspects in a helicopter raid by US commandos.

Both nations, Burundi and Uganda, say they want AMISOM's (African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia) mandate toughened. The force was supposed to be 8,000-strong, but only has about 5,000 troops only from Uganda and Burundi.

After Thursday's attack, Nigeria and Djibouti agreed in principle to send soldiers to reinforce AMISOM.

presstv

Pius Okello points at the entrance of his new home

NAIROBI, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - At least 1,300 slum dwellers from Kibera - Nairobi’s largest informal urban settlement - have been moved to new blocks of flats under a slum-upgrading programme.

"I can't believe I have left Kibera for good! My new home is so clean, we have a toilet inside the house; it is a dream come true," Pius Okello, 46, father of six, said.

Okello, who had lived in Kibera's Soweto East zone for 10 years, was one of those who moved on 16 September. The government provided trucks and workers to help the residents settle into their new homes, which they have dubbed `Canaan’, the Promised Land.

Kibera is one of the largest informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. According to UN-HABITAT, estimates of its population range from 500,000 to 800,000, with densities of over 3,000 people per hectare - one of the most densely populated informal settlements in the world.

The monthly rent for a room in the new flats, about a kilometre from Kibera, is Ksh 500 (US$7) and tenants pay an additional Ksh300 ($4) for electricity and Ksh200 ($2.5) for water. The kitchen, toilet and bathrooms are shared but if a family takes three rooms, they get exclusive use of these facilities.

"I took three rooms because I have six children and I take care of four other children of my dead brother when schools close; at least now my wife and I have our privacy and the children have a bedroom for the first time," Okello said.

"The only problem is that I feel that water and electricity charges are high because they are charged per room; I should be charged a single fee for the whole house."

The ongoing $300,000 Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP) was mooted in 2000, and jointly funded by the government, HABITAT and the World Bank Cities Alliance.

Targeted intervention

Raila Odinga, Kenya's prime minister and member of parliament for Langata, in which Kibera falls, participated in moving the slum dwellers to their new homes.

"Absence of decent housing means abundance of other problems," he said in an address to the residents. "Today, we take the first step towards meeting the basic needs and rights of slum dwellers and saying No to slum related problems. This is an initial step towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals."

Nairobi has some of the most dense, unsanitary and insecure slums in the world, according to HABITAT, with almost half of the city's population living in over 100 slums and squatter settlements.

"The objective of the programme is to improve the overall livelihoods of people living and working in slums through targeted interventions to address shelter, infrastructure services, land tenure and employment issues, as well as the impact of HIV/AIDS in slum settlements," according to HABITAT.

irinnews

Children sing at a pre-school in Ziguinchor

ZIGUINCHOR, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - On a recent morning in Ziguinchor, the main city of Senegal’s Casamance region, pre-school children sang the national anthem in a bright blue classroom as muffled artillery fire sounded several kilometres away.

Neither war, nor peace.

Recent clashes between the army and separatist troops in Casamance have underscored that the 27-year conflict is far from over, and observers warn that recent years of relative calm must not be taken for granted.

After years of fighting in which tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes, the government and the rebel Movement for the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) signed a peace accord in 2004; yet the region remains plagued by occasional violent crime, political killings and bouts of fighting between the army and the splintered MFDC.

Landmines continue to claim lives and limbs and block access to farmland.

In the most recent unrest, beginning with a clash on 21 August, some Casamance residents once again got a taste of the upheaval seen during the height of fighting in the 1990s.

“People have the impression they are reliving the onset of the crisis,” said Lucien Gomis, president of the rural council of Boutoupa-Camaracounda, a community about 30km southeast of Ziguinchor. He said some families who recently returned after several years worry they will have to flee again.

Nouha Cissé, deputy coordinator of Alliance for Peace in Casamance, told IRIN: “After years of relative calm when the people had just started to believe that things could remain stable, people have plunged back into a psychosis.”

“Desperate to return”

Despite the uncertainty in recent years, families have returned to their home villages and are working to rebuild their lives.

“These are people impoverished by exile but really desperate to return,” said Martin Evans, international development lecturer at the University of Chester, who frequently travels to Casamance for research.

The number of internally displaced (IDPs) – most of whom live with relatives – is uncertain. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in 2008 put the number of IDPs at “10,000 to 70,000”. Thousands of Casamancais are also living in neighbouring Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.

Given the sporadic nature of violence in the region, many people regularly shuttle between where they sleep and where they farm, eager to resume their livelihoods but unable to fully resettle in their home villages.

Why now?

Local media pose a question many Senegalese are asking themselves: Why the resumption of violence in Casamance?

Residents, intellectuals and civil society leaders say there is consensus on a few points: The current impasse is unsustainable, and the government and MFDC have had no strategy to overcome it; division in the MFDC is a considerable barrier; and fresh negotiations are indispensable.

“The protracted conflict stems from absence of a clear and committed political engagement,” Evans said. “This comes from a lack of vision and coherent policy on the part of the Senegalese government, and chronic fragmentation and lack of a clear political structure on the part of the MFDC.”

The government has repeatedly pointed to division in the MFDC as precluding dialogue.

Researcher Vincent Foucher of the Centre d'études d'Afrique noire, Bordeaux, questions this argument.

“The Senegalese state does not seem to really want negotiations on the core issues – the status of the region – and does not really acknowledge the MFDC, arguing that it is too divided,” Foucher told IRIN. “The division of the MFDC is a real problem, but this is a troublesome argument because the divisions in the MFDC owe something to the government’s policies.”

Divide and rule?

Critics say the government’s way of dealing with skirmishes has been to dole out money to this or that MFDC faction. The Collectif des cadres casamançais, a coalition of Casamance civic and business leaders, in a 5 September communiqué called it “an ignoble strategy, consisting of dividing and weakening the adversary through the magic of money”.

But Foucher said those in the MFDC accused of taking government money do not necessarily abandon the group’s cause.

“In examining the recent clashes one should not miss the fact that even among those MFDC combatants who have taken money from the government to abide by a de facto ceasefire, some still want independence or at least believe that since the government is not amenable to real negotiations, war should resume so as to force Dakar at least to grant some form of recognition.”

In a 4 September communiqué Caesar Badiate, head of an MFDC faction, said ‘Atika’, MFDC’s military wing, prefers negotiations but in recent clashes had reacted when provoked by the army.

President Abdoulaye Wade on 7 September in an address to the nation said he “deplored” the recent violence and that he would pursue "peace efforts" with the MFDC. Wade is scheduled to meet with the Collectif des cadres casamançais on 19 September.

Residents of Casamance told IRIN there is no substitute for renewing talks.

“We do not know the precise cause of these clashes and we have no idea what tomorrow holds,” said Ndeye Marie Sagna Le Caer, programme manager for the women’s conflict resolution group Kabonketoor (“let us forgive ourselves and one another” in the Diola language). “Right now the most important thing is to sit at the negotiating table to work towards a definitive peace.”

Robert Sagna, ex-mayor of Ziguinchor and former minister in charge of Casamance affairs, said it is also important to recognize the initiatives of local organizations that are "moving things forward to save Casamance and Senegal."

Ibrahima Badji, who lives in the neighbourhood of Lyndiane on the outskirts of Ziguinchor – hit by recent fighting – told IRIN the MFDC seems determined to ratchet up the conflict. “Perhaps they want to show the international community that the war is far from over here.”

However, Casamance-based journalist and author Oumar Diatta said there is reason for optimism: "The current situation is destructive but at the same time it has reminded people of the dangers of war, which spares no one."

Geopolitics

Observers say any solution must take into account Gambia to the north and particularly Guinea-Bissau to the south. The political situation in these countries has heavily influenced conditions in Casamance.

One factor favouring the recent attacks is the change in Guinea-Bissau since the assassination of army chief of staff Tagme Na Wai, who used to control the MFDC’s southern front and force it to abide by a de facto ceasefire, researcher Foucher said.

Hours after the army chief’s death, President João Bernardo Vieira was assassinated. “With the new leadership in Guinea-Bissau that country’s stand regarding Casamance is still uncertain.”

If violence escalates…

Casamance residents told IRIN that if violence were to escalate waves of newly displaced would stream into Ziguinchor, whose population is already poor and resources are strained. The recent unrest has disrupted farming, and at a critical time for rice, maize and groundnut cultivation.

“Families who are being displaced now [and blocked from their plantations] will have nothing to eat next year,” said Kabonketoor’s Sagna Le Caer. “People will not be able to send their children to school.”

Abdoulaye Diallo, technical adviser for GTZ-Procas, a Germany-funded development organization, said: “Everyone is hanging on to the hope that the government and the MFDC will come together and work this out for the sake of the people of Casamance.”

“We are more than ever in a state of neither war, nor peace,” Sagna Le Caer told IRIN. “But today we are closer to war. That is why everyone involved must sit down and talk.”

irinnews

JOHANNESBURG, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - Billions of dollars pledged by governments to help eradicate poverty and other social ills in the developing world have not been received, according to a United Nations report launched on 16 September.

The report, Strengthening the Global Partnership for Development in a Time of Crisis, by the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Gap Task Force, highlighted an annual gap of US$35 billion in the 2005 pledge made by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries at a summit in Gleneagles, United Kingdom.

This amount includes a $20 billion annual shortfall in its commitments to Africa, even though 2008 saw the highest levels of development assistance to the continent.

In a preface to the report UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recognized that since the adoption of the MDGs in 2000 there had been "great progress" in reducing poverty and hunger, and promoting access to education and health services.

"But the economic crisis threatens to reverse these hard-won gains, and time is running short," he said. "Without strong and concerted international responses the crisis could become a development emergency."

irinnews

JOHANNESBURG, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - A shift in emphasis by South African president Jacob Zuma's administration to give priority to domestic issues rather than foreign policy concerns could create cost constraints in fulfilling peace-keeping commitments on the continent.

"If the domestic priorities are poverty alleviation and job creation, how can the government avoid spending less on peace missions abroad to spend more on education, health and other social spending in South Africa?," asked Kathryn Sturman, acting head of the Governance of Africa's Resources Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs, in a research note.

Zuma's predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, put great emphasis on the country's commitment to the African Union (AU) and resolving conflicts in the continent. But unlike UN peacekeeping efforts, such as the United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), where costs were reimbursed, South Africa's contributions to AU peacekeeping were in the main paid for by Pretoria, Sturman told IRIN.

"Developing a predictable and sustainable funding mechanism for African-led peace missions remains an important area for dialogue in the European Union-South Africa strategic partnership," she said.

"This would enable South Africa to continue the peacekeeping operations that are in the long-term interests of all Africans and South Africans alike. At the same time, it would free resources to be spent on our [South Africa's] own pressing domestic needs."

irinnews

Senior Sudanese officials (file photo): Sudan’s future beyond the April 2010 elections and a referendum on southern autonomy the following year is uncertain, says a report

NAIROBI, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - Sudan is planning to hold elections in April 2010 and a referendum on southern autonomy the following year, but beyond this the future is uncertain, says a report entitled "Sudan 2012 - Scenarios for the Future".

The report is based on a study by Jaïr van der Lijn of the Netherland Institute of International Relations and commissioned by IKV Pax Christi and Cordaid.

Two key uncertainties will define possible scenarios in 2012 - will Sudan be united or will the North and South have gone separate ways? Or will there be a new war between the North and the South, or will there be no war?

"At present, the international community, governments, international organizations and civil society groups are primarily focused on stimulating implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and making sure an election and referendum take place...little time is given to thinking strategically about the period after 2011. What will happen in 2012 is barely touched on," the report says.

irinnews

Beds are not the norm in Nigerian prisons (file photo)

ABUJA, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - In June 150 prisoners escaped from Enugu state prison in southeastern Nigeria, beating wardens and raping female prisoners before they fled.

A few weeks earlier eight inmates reportedly were killed in another jailbreak, at Agodi prison in Ibadan in the southwest.

Escape may appear to some prisoners to be the only way out, given that some two-thirds of Nigeria’s prisoners have been detained without trial, according to a report by the Centre for Social and Legal Studies (CSLS) in Abuja, which calls on the government to pass criminal justice reform legislation immediately.

The May report, ‘Justice sector reform and human rights in Nigeria’, says in the Kuje prison in the capital Abuja 85 percent of the 622 prisoners have not been tried. A 2008 Amnesty International report estimated the overall number of detainees without trials at 65 percent.

The researchers saw prisoners who have been awaiting trial for nine years.

Why

All stages of the criminal justice system contribute to delays, said Yemi Akinseye George, senior lecturer in legal studies at the University of Ibadan and co-author of the report.

Police often arrest and detain people on “holding charges” while they collect evidence, George said. “That is wrong. It is illegal…It is against the constitution.”

Bail conditions are often impossible to meet, said Adekunle Ojo, a human rights lawyer and vice president of the Nigeria Bar Association.

With few government-subsidized legal aid programmes, prisoners often cannot afford a lawyer, said Professor George, leaving courts in a bind. “People cannot afford assistance, but courts cannot release them when there are no lawyers to take up their cases.”

In some cases, ineptitude has led to the loss of hundreds of files, the report says.

When a case does go to court, witnesses – with no official protection scheme in place – are often too frightened to give evidence, leaving cases hanging.

With no trial, many prisoners end up spending more time detained than they would have under a conviction, according to human rights lawyer Ojo. Minor offences such as petty theft or traffic offences incur a maximum six-month sentence in Nigeria.

Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa says the problem lies in the structure of the criminal justice system, whereby the federal government owns and operates prisons but state courts sentence prisoners.

“I cannot sit here and predict the volume of people that will be taken to the prisons because they come from the state courts, the magistrate courts, the high courts, the sharia courts, the sanitary courts, etc. All these [institutions] pour people into the prisons.”

Disease, torture, squalor

With the ensuing overcrowding, most prisoners sleep on the floor and are provided with minimal food rations, the reports say. Overcrowding and poor sanitation leads to a high incidence of disease such as tuberculosis, skin infections and malaria, and most prisons have no health facilities, says Amnesty International. Most prisons also have no functioning toilets, researchers say.

On top of overcrowding, torture and ill-treatment are common, CSLS researchers found, noting: “beating often leading to the death” of inmates, and “…whipping, mostly with cow-hide whips and batons was a common way of punishing stubborn prisoners”.

Almost 80 percent of Nigerian prisoners surveyed said they had been beaten, threatened with weapons or tortured in prison cells, according to Amnesty International’s 2008 report.

Reform

University lecturer George said such appalling conditions point to the need for urgent reform; he said pledges by successive governments to implement reforms have yielded “scant results”.

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo set up a committee to propose improvements in prison conditions. This committee drew up reform recommendations, including detailed updates to the criminal code – which is over 100 years old – and to criminal procedural law, which dates to the 1960s. They drafted a bill over two years ago and the national assembly has yet to take it up.

“The most urgent thing that should be done is to push for the passage of this bill,” George stressed.

Only one state – Lagos – has so far reformed its criminal justice law, he pointed out, with the reforms already helping reduce prisoner numbers, he said.

George says the Attorney General must push harder on the bill. “[He] is supposed to provide leadership on this issue and make the national assembly feel the bill is urgent, but he isn’t doing so.”

But Peter Akper, adviser to the Attorney General, told IRIN his team has approached the Justice and Human Rights committees to speed up the bill’s passing.

The government is making some progress on other fronts, Akper said, referring to a programme to eliminate overcrowding run by the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, that has cleared a backlog of some 5,000 cases in recent years, he said.

Other ongoing reforms include reviewing sentencing guidelines, he said.

George said such changes mark progress but “there is no alternative” to the legislation for system-wide change.


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A newspaper article suggests that Algerian children are kidnapped, trafficked to Morocco where they are sold to Israelis or American Jews for the sake of organ harvest.

17 Sep 2009
An international Jewish conspiracy to kidnap children and harvest their organs is gathering momentum as another shocking story divulges Israeli plot to harvest organs from Algerian children.

The story, published in the Arabic-language Algerian daily al-Khabar, charges that Interpol, the international police organization, has revealed the existence of 'a Jewish gang' that was 'involved in the abduction of children from Algeria and trafficking of their organs.'

According to the story, bands of Moroccans and Algerians had been roaming the streets of Algerian cities in an attempt to hunt for young children. They then trafficked the kids across the border into neighboring Morocco.

The children were then sold to Israelis and American Jews in Oujda, the capital of eastern Morocco, for the purpose of organ harvesting in Israel and the United States.

The story is based on statements made by Mustafa Khayatti, head of the Algerian National Committee for the Development of Health Research. Khayatti maintains that the abduction of children in Algeria is linked to arrests made in New York and New Jersey at the end of July, in which several Jewish men were arrested in connection with an investigation into illegal organ trafficking and political corruption.

The story comes in line with the article published last month in Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest circulation daily, suggesting that the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. It shed light on the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man, who was shot dead in 1992 by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Imatin.

Bostrom, who witnessed the man's killing, said Ghanem's body was abducted following the shooting and was returned at midnight -- during an imposed curfew -- several days later by the Israeli military with a cut from the stomach to the neck that had been stitched up.

Bostrom argued that an autopsy would be required if the cause of death was not apparent, while in this case it was clear that Bilal was shot dead.

After that incident, at least 20 Palestinian families told Bostrom that they suspected the Israeli military had taken the organs of their sons after they had been killed by Israeli forces and their bodies had been taken away.

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UNMIL soldiers (file photo)

MONROVIA, 17 September 2009 (IRIN) - In Liberia citizens’ reaction has been mixed to a 16 September UN Security Council decision extending the UN peacekeeping mission (UNMIL) to assist with the planned 2011 presidential and legislative elections.

“Without UNMIL there would be problems for Liberia,” Augustin William, an electrician in the capital Monrovia, told IRIN. “It is not feasible for the mission to leave now because that would risk another round of conflict.”

UNMIL was set up in 2003 to bolster a ceasefire agreement ending a war that killed some 150,000 Liberians and displaced 850,000.

Kingston Kolleh, a Monrovia-based commercial photographer, said: “Security is not yet in place. Some parts of the army are not functional…Liberian forces and UNMIL still need to train the national army and police and deploy more of them at borders before UNMIL can move on.”

UNMIL staff have been providing security at strategic government sites, helping the government restructure its police and military forces and developing a police training programme, among other duties.

But newspaper seller Wilson Denis told IRIN he is ready to see UNMIL leave. “It’s not necessary for UNMIL to be here because they are no longer doing much….When there [is violence] they don’t go to the scene; they ask the Liberian national police to respond instead.”

UNMIL’s troop strength will remain at 8,000 until the 2011 elections after which the exit will accelerate, according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

At the height of the mission in March 2006, some 15,000 UN troops were deployed throughout the country.


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