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LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly 80 percent of the 300,000 conflict-related deaths in Darfur were due to diseases like diarrhoea, not violence, Belgian scientists said on Friday.

An analysis of deaths dating from 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government of Sudan, showed that after an initial peak of violent deaths in the still-ongoing conflict, diseases associated with diarrhoea became the major killers.

The researchers said their results showed that any reduction in humanitarian aid can cause deaths rates to increase sharply, raising "serious concerns" about the consequences of last year's expulsion of aid workers from Sudan by the country's president.

"We should fear the worst," they wrote in a study in The Lancet medical journal.

Since the armed rebellion started in early 2003, the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died and more than 2 million have been driven from their homes after a counter-insurgency campaign by Khartoum.

"More than 80 percent of excess deaths were not a result of the violence," said Olivier Degomme and Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of disasters in Brussels.

They said a violent peak in early 2004 was followed by "protracted phase of increased disease-related" deaths caused by people living in conditions of unsanitary conditions with little or no healthcare infrastructure.

Diarrhoea kills some 1.5 million children each year around the world -- more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

There are three main forms -- acute, bloody and persistent -- all of which are potentially life-threatening.

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NOUAKCHOTT/NIAMEY (Reuters) - Efforts to eradicate female genital circumcision in West Africa have taken a step forward with a fatwa against the practice in Mauritania and sanctions in Niger against mothers who subject their daughters to it.

Known also as female genital mutilation (FGM), the tradition involves removing external parts of a girl's genitals and sometimes narrowing the vaginal opening. Bleeding, disease and problems in urinating and childbirth can result for millions of victims each year in Africa and the Middle East.

In many parts of West Africa, cutting has been presented as a religious obligation for Muslim women, leading many to believe that if they are not circumcised they are unclean and that their prayers will not be heard.

"Are there texts in the Koran that clearly require that thing? They do not exist," the secretary general of the Forum of Islamic Thought in Mauritania, Cheikh Ould Zein, told Reuters of the fatwa signed by 34 imams and scholars.

"On the contrary, Islam is clearly against any action that has negative effects on health. Now that doctors in Mauritania unanimously say this practice threatens health, it is therefore clear that Islam is against it," he added.

The fatwa, or religious ruling, was signed on January 12 but became widely known only this week in a country where some 72 percent of women are estimated to have undergone FGM and where practitioners charge an average 25 euros a time.

"The fact that the religious leaders in Mauritania are standing up and doing this is quite amazing," said Molly Melching, executive director of Tostan, a Senegal-based organisation working in Mauritania on FGM.

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ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's electoral commission (CEI) has apologised for errors made in drawing up a voter list, saying thousands of names disputed by President Laurent Gbagbo were never intended to be on it.

The row has raised fears that Ivory Coast's presidential poll, postponed several times since 2005, will miss another deadline, prolonging the instability and political limbo that has been the norm since a 2002-3 war cut the country in two.

"(There has been) an evident malfunction in some services carried out by the independent electoral commission," CEI chief Robert Mambe said in a statement late on Thursday.

Separately the U.N. special envoy to Ivory Coast estimated it would take six weeks to prepare polls from the time a final voter list was ready as planned by February: two weeks to print identity and voter cards, two weeks to distribute them to 10,000 poll sites, and two weeks of campaigning.

"This timetable would lead us to spring 2010," Young-jin Choi told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

Gbagbo has accused the opposition-dominated commission of adding 429,000 names to the final voter register which had not been properly vetted to check their identity. The names came from a leaked CD in which they appeared to have been so added.

Quick and peaceful polls are seen as vital if Ivory Coast is to regain its position as West Africa's economic hub. The Finance Ministry forecasts economic growth at 4 percent in 2010 and 5 percent the following year, but analysts say such rosy projections hinge on polls ending the stalemate.

Urgently needed reforms to the cocoa sector, which supplies 40 percent of global demand, also await the end of the vote.

Six million Ivorians registered for the election, but a million of those were contested, largely on nationality grounds. The period for contesting the list ended two weeks ago and the commission aims to have the final list out by end-January.

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JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Tribal fighters killed at least 15 people in clashes with a rival group in south Sudan's troubled Jonglei state, one of the focuses of a recent surge in ethnic violence, the region's army said on Friday.

Aid groups believe as many as 2,500 people may have died in inter-tribal fighting since the beginning of last year, mostly in Jonglei, threatening stability in the oil-producing region ahead of presidential and legislative elections due in April.

Armed members of the Dinka Rut, part of the south's largest ethnic group the Dinka, attacked a settlement occupied by the Nuer Thiang group on Thursday, southern army spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol told Reuters.

"On the Nuer side some 15 were killed and 16 wounded. We don't yet have details of the casualties on the Dinka side," he said.

Kuol added it is not yet clear what the fighting near the larger settlement of Fangak was about. "It could be tribal differences. We don't know yet."

Ethnic fighting has plagued the south for years, often sparked by deadly cycles of cattle raiding and revenge attacks.

But the high death toll from recent clashes, and the targeting of women and children, has sparked accusations of political meddling.

Southern leaders accused their former civil war foes in the north of arming tribal militias to destabilise the region, while analysts suggested leading figures in the south may also be arming fellow tribe members to build up their constituencies.

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ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's leader Andry Rajoelina has snubbed the African Union's top diplomat, again rejecting calls for a consensus government to be formed without delay to resolve a political crisis on the Indian Ocean island.

The AU's Jean Ping left Madagascar on Friday after meeting the main power brokers and urging power-sharing deals agreed last year to be respected to end the year-long turmoil that has crippled economic growth and unnerved investors.

Rajoelina ruled out power-sharing in a statement late on Thursday: "...It is already the source of a new crisis and the origin of serious troubles in our country in recent times."

"We're not concerned by the current reactions," Ping told reporters after meeting the military leaders who backed Rajoelina's March coup, the government and opposition parties.

"The parties now have 15 days (to respond). We will wait for their definitive reactions and base our conclusions on those."

Rajoelina's hardline stance will do little to appease donors who stress that frozen aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars will only be released once there is a roadmap towards restoring constitutional order that is backed by all sides.

Africa's youngest leader, who insists elections are the best way out of the crisis, added that last year's failed attempts to set up a unity government were proof a multiparty, inclusive administration was the wrong answer.

"The transitional regime repeats its commitment to organising consensual elections, free and inclusive in their preparation and organisation," said Rajoelina, who has scheduled elections for March 20.

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline al Shabaab rebels denied on Friday they had threatened to attack Kenya following a crackdown on Somalis in its capital Nairobi, and said a recording posted on the internet was a fake.

Renewed fears over the insurgents' links with Yemen and al Qaeda, and an attack on the home of a Danish cartoonist by an axe-wielding Somali man with reported ties to al Shabaab, have focused attention on the militant group.

A recording posted online said the threat was composed by militants angered by Kenya's decision to deport a Jamaican Islamic cleric and the deaths of protesters in Nairobi who took to the streets a week ago to demonstrate against the move.

But al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told Reuters by telephone the group had not posted the recording.

"We didn't threaten Kenya. That story is a false one. We never posted that on the internet ... Everything needs to be checked first by the media to make sure they know what they are writing about," Rage said.

Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, has verbally threatened to attack Kenya in the past. But anger has been rising among the Somali community in recent days after Kenyan security forces detained hundreds of Somalis living in a Nairobi suburb.

Al Shabaab has also threatened to launch attacks inside Ethiopia -- as well as Uganda and Burundi because they have peacekeeping troops in Somalia -- but has yet to follow through.

"Al Shabaab is not a homogeneous organisation that has the same stance on certain issues," Afyare Abdi Elmi, a Somali political science professor at Qatar University, told Reuters.

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allafrica

Kigali — The political and economic environment is stable, regional as well as international markets are accessible and incentives in almost all economic sectors sweeten investment.

But even if in Rwanda, as stated by the World Bank Doing Business 2010 report, it is easier to start a business, register properties and guarantee investor protection than anywhere else in the region, there are still major challenges to tackle.

In a study analyzing the barriers to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Rwanda, more than 90 percent of the respondents deplored long administrative procedures which give room to corruption.

Nearly three quaters of the 75 foreign investors questioned in the 2009 study, that was conducted by Kizito Habimana from the National University of Rwanda with the support of the German Technical Cooperation GTZ, state a weak judicial system due to a lack of skills to settle technical business issues.

Further constraints that foreign investors face are the small Rwandan domestic market - due to the weak purchasing power of the population - and a low return on investment.

The industry highly depends on raw materials and semi finished products from abroad, and often foreign technicians have to be recruited because of a lack of skills in Rwanda. Thus production and unit labor costs rise.

The third band of obstacles identified in the study refers to service. An inadequate infrastructure and high transport costs are pointed out by 91 percent and 83 percent respectively of the respondents.

Long term loans are hardly available and customer care and service delivery are poor - factors that hinder not only foreign investment but business in Rwanda in general.

In the last three years major improvements have taken place, as displayed in the World Bank report. Starting a business, employing workers, registering property and protecting investors will be a lot easier in 2010 than it was in 2008.

If the government, in joint effort with the other East African Community members, as well as the business community and the financing system succeed in continuing this positive development, Rwanda will have the chance to profit significantly from foreign investment.

Amongst others FDI can contribute to economic growth and employment creation, increase domestic savings and investment base and complement the government budget through taxes.

Competitiveness increases by the transfer of technology and know-how and rare goods and services are made available.

Currently FDI contributes by only 6.1 percent to Rwanda's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the 2009 UNCTAD World Investment Report.

Anyhow this rate is already higher than Burundi's (4.4 percent) and very close to Kenya's (6.6 percent), and with continuous efforts Rwanda might approach its neighbors in the North and East, Uganda and Tanzania, where foreign investment contributed by 28.8 and 37.2 percent respectively to the nation's GDP of 2008.

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Membership of the Commonwealth offers its newest member Rwanda - the 'Land of a Thousand Hills' - an opportunity to advance its own interests both at home and abroad, Kamalesh Sharma told the country's Parliament.

"[The Commonwealth] guarantees you a voice: you will be heard in all our fora, as much as a country of a hundred million people, or a hundred thousand," he said today, adding that "our voices together will go further: they will go to the world."

Yesterday the Commonwealth Secretary-General met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who he presented with a Commonwealth flag to mark Rwanda's admission to the association.

Before this meeting, Mr Sharma also spoke with Rwanda's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, the head of the Electoral Commission, as well as representatives of the Human Rights Commission, the Ombudman's Office, national council of women, national youth council and the national genocide commission.

Maiden visit

This visit was his first official trip to Rwanda following the decision made by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their summit in Trinidad & Tobago last November. "The Commonwealth's decision to welcome Rwanda was a collective act of goodwill, and of affirmation," he said. "It was recognition of the hills which you have climbed, and a commitment to climb further with you."

"Your achievements in building a new and democratic Rwanda are instructive. Your progress in coming to terms with the legacy of conflict carries a lesson far and wide," said Mr Sharma, referring to the many challenges Rwanda has overcome since 1994 genocide.

The Secretary-General observed that the Commonwealth has as much to learn from Rwanda as it does to share with the East African country.

For Rwanda, the Commonwealth can offer "the best of its own and of the world's thinking together with its expertise and its networks. They are all at your disposal."

Soon after addressing the Rwandan Parliament, Mr Sharma made a statement to the High Council of the Media, the editors' Guild, and journalism staff at the University of Rwanda.

He explained how the Commonwealth works with member countries towards establishing media freedom. This work - which includes training, lobbying, and observing - is undertaken by the Commonwealth Journalists Association, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and Commonwealth Press Union Trust, as well as the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Mr Sharma then told the journalists present that he saw Rwandan media as "agents of transformative change in a country which has come far, and which has so much further to travel."

"We encourage you all in your crucial work - individually and collectively - to build a better Rwanda."

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allafrica

There is no doubt that events after the last General Election may discourage some Kenyans from registering as voters.

However, by doing so they will be defranchising themselves. And most certainly, they will be giving in to forces against the people's right to vote for their favourite candidates.

This is why we welcome the announcement by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission this week that it aims to register 15 million voters by June.

Indeed, the team hopes to surpass the 18 million voters registered for the 2007 polls. The commission is basing its prediction on the impressive voter turnout for the Bomachoge and Shinyalu by-elections last year.

However, such a feat is not possible unless Kenyans support the move by coming out to enlist as voters. The conduct of the last elections dented the integrity of the exercise. It is, however, our collective duty to restore people's confidence in elections and their credibility.

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allafrica

The 1992 Constitution has, over the past sixteen years, served as the fulcrum upon which Ghana's democratic practice has revolved. Despite the fact that the constitution has for some time now operated successfully in the country, devoid of any military jettison, some Ghanaians, including constitutional experts, have pointed to some inherent weaknesses in the supreme document of the land. Much as there has been a general outcry and advocacy for a constitutional review, the point of disagreement has been the timing for such an exercise.

As a manifesto pledge by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, the President, His Excellency Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, has already shown commitment, by inaugurating a nine-member commission charged with the responsibility of reviewing some provisions in the constitution.

Among them are extending the tenure of the government to five years, separating the position of Attorney General from the Minister of Justice, and placing a ceiling on the number of ministers appointed by the President, among many others.

This is a serious exercise that demands the support of the whole nation, as we embark on enhancing our democracy, which has become a shining example on the African continent.

In the government's effort to achieve the objective of reviewing the nation's constitution, one state agency that is expected to play a vital role in the information and education of the general masses of Ghanaians, the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE), has already shot itself in the foot. Mr. Larry Bimi, Chairman of the NCCE, has made a public pronouncement to the effect that the 1992 Constitution is not yet ripe for review.

According to him, the constitution should be allowed some more lifespan to serve four or five generations, before it is tempered with.

Much as The Chronicle would not want to take away Mr. Bimi's right in making the said comments, the NCCE Chairman's strategic role in the whole review exercise, should have made him to keep his individual and private effusions to himself.

Now that he has publicly shown where he stands in this all-important constitutional review exercise, his conduct in the dissemination of information by the NCCE to Ghanaians has been seriously jeopardised.

The Chronicle believes that once the government has taken a decision to implement a policy, the individual dissent of public servants fades into oblivion, as they whip themselves in line to execute it.

This issue brings to the fore what the President said, when he addressed senior journalists in the castle at the beginning of the year, about his desire to work with heads of state agencies who share in the party's ideology.

With the behaviour exhibited by the NCCE boss, we think the President must have been spot on, when he made the statement.

Political parties prepare electoral manifestos, which set out both their strategic direction and outlines of prospective legislation, should they win election to serve in government.

The achievements or failure of the electoral promises that are enshrined in the party's manifesto, are usually what the electorate will judge the government with at the end of its four years mandate.

It is, therefore, unacceptable for the spokes in the wheel of the government's forward drive to come from within.

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allafrica

Nairobi — Kenya has a population of 38.7 million, according to the preliminary results from last year's census. The survey which was conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that Rift Valley Province leads with the highest population of over 10 million people, with Nyanza and Central provinces coming a distant second with slightly over five million people each.

According to the last census of 1999, there were about 30 million Kenyans. But the new census results can only be known officially by the end of June, according to information obtained by the Saturday Nation. It is, however, unlikely that they will be different from the preliminary results, say sources privy to the matter, but not authorised to discuss it.

The preliminary report, whose launch has been postponed twice, has a breakdown of population in only 158 districts and the government now wants this extended to the current 224 districts. That is explained as one of the reasons that necessitated the delay of the release of the report.

The other reason is the unexplainable population surge at the country's border points, especially along North Eastern Province. Whereas all the other provinces are within the projected growth of nearly 2.7 per cent, the report shows that North Eastern's population growth stands at 8.8 per cent.

Such growth, statistics experts say, only occur in an area where a precious mineral has been discovered or there has been unprecedented migration. None of these has happened in the province.

There were fears that people from neighbouring countries sneaked in during the census to benefit from the food and water offered to encourage the nomadic residents to stay in one area and be counted. Yet the percentage is still too high for such a possibility.

A directive had earlier been issued by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to the ministry of Planning and Vision 2030 as well as the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) to crosscheck disputed figures in some regions that appeared way off the projected population.

When asked to comment, Planning Permanent Secretary Edward Sambili only said that a "massive job" was yet to be done on the census data, perhaps giving credence to the argument that the results are unlikely to be released any time soon. Although he could not estimate how long it will take, Dr Sambili told the Saturday Nation that the work remaining is a lot and it will take a long time to finish.

The PS, in a bid to explain the postponements, said the government felt that a better job needed to be done for the census results to be comprehensive and satisfy government needs. Although KNBS was ready to release the interim census report earlier this month, questions that arose about population numbers in some regions led the government to order a fact verification.

The President and the Prime Minister received their copies of the provisional results a day before they were scheduled to be released to the public. This was the second time the release of the census provisional results was being postponed. The earlier postponement was based on an argument that the President was on holiday and the Prime Minister was out of the country.

Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya, who was supposed to release the results, said that KNBS is now to undertake further processing of the census data.Statisticians are to crosscheck those numbers that were described as "absurdly high" and way off the projected population mark, with the Office of the President and that of the Prime Minister proposing that they bring a full census report instead of provisional results.

The Saturday Nation learnt that KNBS professionals, were disappointed by the postponement arguing that they could statistically explain any arising anomaly adding that the post-numeration survey could still detect it. The professionals feel that the delay to release the results could affect the credibility of the results.

They are said to have argued that the errors, if any, could have arisen at the compilation stage by enumerators who collected that data from the field and recorded it for tabulation. Some experts also said that the two principals should have been given more than a day to study the report.

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allafrica

Veteran Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, who most recently served as top United Nations envoy for Myanmar, arrived in Sudan today to assume his new duties as Joint Special Representative and head of the joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

Mr. Gambari, who in his UN career has served as Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Special Adviser on Africa and head of the UN mission in Angola, as well serving as Nigeria's UN Ambassador from 1990 to 1999, will meet with a number of leaders and groups over the next two weeks, including Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, Darfur authorities and UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) officials.

He succeeds Rodolphe Adada of the Republic of Congo at the head of UNAMID, which was set up in 2007 to try to quell the violence in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million forced from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.

"I look forward very much to working with all the stakeholders in this country," Mr. Gambari said on arrival in Khartoum, the capital.

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allafrica

Johannesburg — RANDGOLD & Exploration (R&E) said yesterday it had reached a settlement agreement with JCI, which could finally lay to rest the long-running dispute between the two companies over R&E assets plundered when both embattled companies were being run by the late mining magnate, Brett Kebble.

The end of the marathon dispute - which began and intensified soon after massive fraud was uncovered at R&E after the ousting of Kebble and his subsequent murder in 2005 - could see R&E shareholders benefiting from R1bn in unlocked value.

R&E spokesman Brian Gibson said the settlement agreement had been signed in the early hours of yesterday morning, with the support of key JCI and R&E shareholders. The matter still has to go before shareholders of both companies in coming weeks for final approval.

Gibson said the settlement was good news for R&E shareholders, who had waited patiently for the resolution of a squabble that had eroded value.

JCI and R&E were both delisted from the JSE in August 2005 for noncompliance.

Gibson said that according to the agreement, reached hours ahead of R&E's annual general meeting yesterday, JCI would issue 1,55-billion new shares directly to R&E shareholders.

The shareholders will also benefit from the unbundling of R&E's 305-million shares in JCI, and will get the 6-million shares JCI holds in Gold Fields . The distribution of JCI and R&E shares was worth about R1bn, Gibson said.

R&E made an initial multibillion-rand claim against JCI in 2005 after forensic auditors uncovered massive fraud following the departure as CEO of Kebble, who had run both firms.

JCI and R&E were managed by Kebble until shortly before his murder in September 2005. After his death a complex web of fraudulent intercompany transactions was uncovered during a forensic probe.

The latest settlement comes after several failed attempts to end the dispute, including moves to merge the companies last year. The merger proposal had required a 75% vote in favour, but minority shareholders representing 38% of the shares, led by businessman Monty Koppel, voted against it.

Koppel and other JCI shareholders had previously blocked any settlement proposals because the merger did not meet their particular concerns related to a separate dispute with Investec.

"The situation is that Koppel's concerns have now been addressed and he has pledged to support the settlement. However, the fat lady hasn't sung yet but we are well on our way to finalising the final settlement. In principle, this is very close to being a done deal," said Gibson.

JCI CEO Peter Gray welcomed the settlement, saying it paved the way for both companies to move on. "The settlement is reasonably fair for everybody, and is good for both companies because they can now move forward after five years of wrangling," he said.

R&E said yesterday that it "remained focused on the recovery of assets allegedly misappropriated, while simultaneously protecting and growing the company's asset base".

Gibson said the company - which has several valuable prospecting rights - would seek to resume trading on the JSE after the settlement.

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allafrica

Luanda — The new Constitution of the Republic of Angola approved Thursday by the National Assembly will enter into force after being promulgated by the Angolan Head of State, explained the Constitutional Commission's chairperson.

According to Bornito de Sousa, who was addressing a press conference held at Palace Congresses Hall, after its approval the Constitution shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court for analysis.


''Let's wait for a Constitutional Court's decision, which in general is mandatory and binding'', he said.

The Constitution will be promulgated by the President unless the court raises any objection.

Any issue raised will be further considered by the Constitutional Commission and then by the National Assembly, in the quality of the Constituent Assembly.

The new Constitution was approved with 186 votes in favour, two abstentions and none against.

UNITA did not attend the ceremony, after leaving the Wednesday's session vote in speciality of the Magna Charter.

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allafrica

Abuja — Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has for some time now refrained from speaking publicly on the controversy trailing the absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua from the country on health grounds without transferring power to his deputy.

He has also refused to comment openly on the health problems of the President, though not a few Nigerians believe he knows more than enough.

But yesterday, the former president opened up on the two raging issues.

Obasanjo spoke at the 7th Annual Trust Dialogue organised by the Media Trust Limited at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, which he chaired.

He said President Yar'Adua should know the path of honour and morality if his health problem was making it difficult for him to perform.

He denied that he deliberately imposed a "sick man" on the country as President for him not to perform, asking God to punish him if he deliberately did that "to punish the country".

Speaking on the President's failure to transfer power to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan before travelling abroad for medical treatment, the former president said: "If you take up an assignment, a job-elected, appointed, whatever it is, and then your health starts to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and the path of morality. There is path of honour and the path of morality and if you don't do that, then you don't know anything."

The former president also defended the power sector projects of his eight-year regime.

Obasanjo initially refused to make any political comment during the conference.

But when one of the commentators openly accused him of "deliberately imposing a sick man as President to punish Nigerians for rejecting him and his third term-in-office project," the real Obasanjo came out decisively.

He said: "When in year 2006, the idea came up as to succession; I was convinced in my mind that a Southerner succeeding me will not augur well for Nigeria. You may agree with that, you may not agree. I was convinced in my mind.

"Now, I was looking for those who will succeed me who has three important qualities. One, he has enough intellectual capacity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Two, he has sufficient personal integrity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Three, he is sufficiently broad-minded enough-politically, religiously, socially, whatever to manage the affairs of Nigeria. These three were the important things.

"Then Umoru (Umaru) Yar'Adua who is now the President, I know he has kidney problem and was under dialysis. Sometimes earlier, he had gone abroad when he was still the Governor of Katsina State. When the idea was for him to contest, I asked him and he gave me a medical report. The medical report shows that he has come off dialysis. I asked experts who then told me that if you were under dialysis or you were on dialysis and you are no longer under dialysis, it means you have had a successful kidney transplant and that you can live for as long as God may give you favour.

"Now, who am I and who are you not to accept that? That was the situation. Now, Mallam Yar'Adua went campaigning and we campaigned together. I remember at one day of the campaign, he was run down. Chairman of our party then, Ahmadu Ali, was also run down. Ahmadu Ali didn't go abroad to check up, but he went abroad to check up and the rumour was that he was dead. And I called him and I put the telephone on speaker and I said, Are you dead? And we continued with the campaign.

"To the best of my knowledge, he wasn't on dialysis after that. When the issue of dialysis came, he was well into his first term (as president) which may be the kidney transplant is failing, if it hasn't failed. That you cannot blame on me. You cannot even blame it on him. So, to say that I, Olusegun Obasanjo, deliberately see somebody who is an invalid is highly, highly ungrateful... How can I put so much into this country both in peace and in war and I will begin to run it down. If you have fear of God, you will not make that statement.

"On the way out of the constitutional crisis, what I needed to say on that, I have said as the Chairman of my Board of Trustees last week. I won't say anything more. What I need to say is that nobody picked Yar'Adua so that he will not perform. If I did that, God will punish me. There is no reason why I should do that.

"Again, if you take up an assignment, a job-elected, appointed, whatever it is, and then your health starts to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and the path of morality. There is path of honour and the path of morality and if you don't do that, then you don't know anything."

When there was a power failure for over 10 minutes at the Hilton Hotel during the conference, Obasanjo suggested that the organisers of the conference should ask for discount for the embarrassment caused it and the guests.

But one of the commentators at the seminar blamed the power failure on Obasanjo's eight-year regime.

Again, Obasanjo refused to accept the blame and immediately went on to defend his administration.

He said: "If you say it's not the fault of the hotel (Transcorp Hilton) that the electricity went off and you are trying to find fault somewhere else, then you are absolutely wrong. Now in my time, as the President of this country, in 20 years before I came in there was not a single one investment for generation.

"For 20 years, the last investment for generation was made by President Shehu Shagari. Now, for a country that wants to be developed, that's irresponsible, irresponsible behaviour. Now we came in 1999, what was wrong? This country was generating only 1100 megawatts, what was wrong. May the soul of Bola Ige rest in perfect peace. Bola Ige went up and down and said that he would fix it in six months. You remember that after one year I called Bola Ige, 'eh what is wrong?'

"Bola Ige has not got to the root of the subject of NEPA and later came up me to know what is happening in the institution. We removed the top, that didn't stop the problem because the problem was deep-rooted from top to bottom.

"That time, we didn't have money; we were making maximum $19, $20 per barrel of oil. We called oil companies to help; they wouldn't come. When we started getting money, we decided to go for the NIPP; we worked on it and executed the plants, seven units, Garaku, Omotosho, Papalakun and Omaobi.

"They were on stream for two and a half years, and the government that succeeded us couldn't do anything. You don't blame that on anybody! The situation you have, you must know where to put your blame. And the 6000mw that we are talking about, this country reached 6000mw in the past, but for lack of maintenance, lack of repair is running it down.

"By the time we came to government in 1999, we were only producing out of the 36,000 capacity that was there, only 1000 units, we reached 4000 before we left, today we are talking about 3000 and looking for who to blame."

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Johannesburg — Argentinean national coach Diego Maradona has dismissed security concerns ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and encouraged fans to come to South Africa for the tournament.

"They can say what they want but we know we are coming to play the World Cup in a safe country. I have seen that with my own eyes. Anything can happen in the world but I have spent a week in South Africa and everything is very good and the people very friendly.

"This will be a great World Cup with no doubts of security. I will tell my players that they only have to think of playing football when they come here and worry about nothing else," said Maradona, speaking at SAFA House in Johannesburg on Thursday.

"I think that it is only fair for South Africa to host the World Cup because they have deserved it for a very long time," the former Footballer of the Year and World Cup winner said.

Maradona, who was in South Africa this week to inspect the Argentinean base camp in Pretoria, also said that he was happy with preparations for the World Cup.

On Thursday, he met with the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC) Dr Danny Jordaan, SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani and CEO Leslie Sedibe, as well as senior OC management.

Dr Jordaan said he felt there were many similarities between the 1986 FIFA World Cup winning team in which Maradona played and the one he is currently coaching.

"I told the coach that in 1986 when Argentina left for the World Cup the people of Argentina did not think that team would bring back the cup. But that team had a special player and in the end they won the World Cup.

"This year your team also has a very special player. They may not be among the favourites to win the World Cup this year but I think your team is going to surprise many people," Dr Jordaan said.

Maradona and Dr Jordaan late on Thursday exchanged signed national jerseys on the pitch as Soccer City.

"They really did a great job on this stadium," said Maradona of Soccer City which will host both the opening and closing games of the World Cup.

"I have been to many stadiums before but this is very big and so great. To be able to enter this stadium is so beautiful. I feel inspired to play here but unfortunately my time has passed," he said.

After visiting Soccer City Maradona visited Orland West High School in Soweto.

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VICE President GoodluckJonathan has threatened to arrest any ethnic, political, religious or opinion leader in Plateau State and nationwide if the recent mayhem in the State spreads to other parts of the country.

He declared in a nationwide broadcast yesterday evening: "I use this occasion to warn all ethnic, political, and religious and opinion leaders in Plateau State and nationwide to desist forthwith from further inflaming the situation.

The security agencies have been directed to place any such persons under close watch. Those found to have engineered, encouraged or fanned the embers of this crisis, through their actions or pronouncements, will be arrested and speedily brought to justice."

The Vice President said that as a way of ensuring the sustenance of the normalcy that has returned to the state, he has directed the military to take over the entire security network in the area to forestall further loss of lives and property.

He added: "Therefore, I have today ordered the army to lead the security forces to take over the entire security of the affected areas, including those areas that are considered prone to risk. The security forces have the overwhelming mandate of the Federal Government to arrest the situation urgently."

While sympathizing with all those who are one way or another affected by the Jos crises, the vice president said that the happenings in Jos have taken the dimension of wickedness and man's inhumanity to man, saying that "there is absolutely no justification for this"; even as he warned that "the Federal Government will not fold its hands while fellow citizens are brutalized and murdered at will."

He said: "What is happening in Jos has taken on the colouration of sheer wickedness and man's inhumanity to man, and there is absolutely no justification for this. The Federal Government will not fold its hands while fellow citizens are brutalized and murdered at will. Such acts in a plural society such as ours, are sinful, both in the eyes of God and man.

We shall not condone them. The Federal Government will confront these ugly developments with all the might and resources at its disposal. Of this, there must be no doubt."

Below is the full text of the Broadcast

My dear countrymen and women. It is with a heavy heart that I speak to you today. We have all been witnesses to the resurgence of the crisis in Jos, the Plateau State capital. My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones as well as their property in this unwarranted carnage.

From the time the crisis began on Sunday, I gave directives to all the relevant security agencies to do everything within the limits of the law to bring the situation under control. What is happening in Jos has taken on the colouration of sheer wickedness and man's inhumanity to man, and there is absolutely no justification for this.

The Federal Government will not fold its hands while fellow citizens are brutalized and murdered at will.

Such acts in a plural society such as ours, are sinful, both in the eyes of God and man. We shall not condone them.

The Federal Government will confront these ugly developments with all the might and resources at its disposal. Of this, there must be no doubt. Therefore, I have today ordered the army to lead the security forces to take over the entire security of the affected areas, including those areas that are considered prone to risk.

The security forces have the overwhelming mandate of the Federal Government to arrest the situation urgently.

I use this occasion to warn all ethnic, political, and religious and opinion leaders in Plateau State and nationwide to desist forthwith from further inflaming the situation. The security agencies have been directed to place any such persons under close watch.

Those found to have engineered, encouraged or fanned the embers of this crisis, through their actions or pronouncements, will be arrested and speedily brought to justice. We will not allow any one to hide under the canopy of group action to evade justice. Crime, in all its gravity, is an individual responsibility, not a communal affair.

The Federal Government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators of this crime, no matter how highly placed.

I want to assure all Nigerians, that the Federal Government has the capacity to protect, defend and preserve the lives and property of all citizens, irrespective of ethnic affiliation or creed. Let me also seize this opportunity to assure foreign nationals of their safety.

I have held daily meetings with the leadership of our security services, and have received daily updates on the situation in Jos and environs. Let me assure all that the Federal Government is on top of the situation, and that the crisis is being brought under control.

The fundamental principle of the Constitution which we are sworn to uphold, is to ensure the safety and well being of all Nigerians wherever they find themselves in the country.

In this regard, I want to assure all citizens and foreigners alike, that the Federal Government will continue to guarantee the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of our country. God Bless you all, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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Most of Angola is peaceful and safe but northern Cabinda province has for many years been unsafe because of a low level insurgency by separatists operating out of the Mayombe rain forest.

A blame game has started over why the Togolese football team decided to drive from Pointe Noire in Congo to Cabinda City. This was like dangling a juicy joint of meat in front a pack of hyenas and the result was the attack on the footballers by a splinter group of Front of the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC).

The Angolans had been complacent over security in the province. António Bento Bembe, former leader of FLEC-Renovada, a faction that signed an agreement in 2006 with the Angolan government, stated in late 2009 that FLEC was a spent force. This weekend he was forced to admit he was wrong.

The facts show that FLEC is and will be a security threat in the far north of Cabinda. In November 2009 a Chinese technician was abducted by FLEC while doing oil prospecting for state oil company, Sonangol. In early March 2008, FLEC claimed responsibility for an attack that led to the death of an employee of Geokenetics, a company subcontracted to do prospecting for UK-based Soco International and also an attack on a construction company that killed two workers. In December 2007, FLEC rebels killed a police official and a Brazilian expatriate worker.

A problem for the Angolan authorities is that FLEC has since the late 1970s factionalized and agreements such as the 2006 one are not comprehensive. When the Angolan civil war ended in 2002, Angola deployed about 30,000 troops to Cabinda, which has a population of only about 300,000, but such counter-insurgency operations, agreements and co-option have resulted in smaller cells, making splinter groups even more difficult to penetrate. There is no united platform and separatist supporter aspirations range from significant devolution to full-fledged independence. The response to the attack on the Togolese football team reflects this, with FLEC-Military Position and FLEC-FAC claiming responsibility and other factions distancing themselves.

Like many of Africa's independence struggles, the conflict has its roots in colonial times. Known as Portuguese Congo during colonial times, separatists say the region was never administered as part of Angola, but was established in 1885 as a separate Portuguese protectorate. Cabinda's isolation from the rest of Angola may soon end. A Chinese company is planning to build a $2.25 billion 12-mile long bridge that will cross the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo and link the province to its mother state and is scheduled for completion in 2012. Low-level separatist insurgency is likely to continue in the northern part of this oil-rich Cabinda province and after the African Cup of Nations tournament a new counter-insurgency operation is probable. For the time being, the Angolan security focus is on ensuring that no further attacks take place on footballers and their supporters, but this will be followed by a crackdown.

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Bulawayo — A project in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, is creatively using "marginal water" to ease water scarcity while helping residents provide food and earn a living.

Water scarcity has led urban farmers to turn to treated waste water to grow food within the city limits.

Bulawayo's water woes stem from both periodic droughts in the Matabeleland region and from the collapse of the aged, poorly-maintained municipality infrastructure serving this city of more than one million.

But the shortage of water has not deterred urban farmers like Agnes Maziya. Maziya is one of the growing number of urban farmers growing vegetables and crops for residents.

"Using waste water has helped me to grow vegetables for sale," Maziya told IPS. "I have used money from the sale of these vegetables to put my children through school. The project has made a difference for my family and I.

"My wish now is to improve the variety of vegetables I grow here to include carrots, spinach, tomatoes cabbage and onions which will increase my income."

Maziya is one of about a thousand farmers who are part of a project to grow leaf vegetables such as rape, sugar beans and maize using treated waste water.

The 350-hectare Gum Tree Plantation Allotment project is a joint venture of the city of Bulawayo and the Municipal Development Partnership Eastern and Southern Africa (MDPESA) to use waste water to boost food security in the city.

The project is situated in Hyde Park, in the western part of the city. The land has been divided into individual plots of 5,000 square metres and a cooperative section where farmers have been grouped together. Treated water is provided for free by council, with each group allocated between 4,500 and 5,000 litres of water on a weekly basis.

The water, according to MDPESA urban agriculture programme coordinator Takawira Mubvami, is treated using the radiation and conventional biological methods at the treatment works. Due to breakdowns, the level of treatment does not consistently meet World Health Organisation standards.

The treated water supplied to the Gum Tree farmers comes from the Luveve and Cowdry Park treatment plants which are better in terms of performance, meeting WHO standards for waste water for irrigation 80 percent of the time.

This does mean elevated health risks. Mubvami told IPS that his organisation trained farmers regarding these risks, but found most were already aware of the necessary precautions to be taken with treated waste water regarding what crops to grow and taking measures against skin diseases.

"The major challenge has been getting the right protective clothing for farmers," Mubvami said. "Funds were not available. At the moment farmers use buckets to get water from the irrigation canal.

"This is not the ideal irrigation method. They should be using suction hoses for flood irrigation which will reduce the frequency of them coming into contact with the water. Plans are under way to introduce this."

Only vegetables that have to be cooked - destroying any pathogens present in the water - before they can be eaten are grown. Crops like lettuce, tomatoes or carrots are not permitted.

A flood irrigation technique is used to channel water from the reservoir to the field using lined canals which reduce water lost to seepage and evaporation. The lining of the canal was the first phase funded by the MDPESA to improve the irrigation system at the plantation. It will be completed with the introduction of feeder suction hoses which will bring the water to the gardens from the canals.

"The project enables our farmers to grow crops throughout the year because there is reliable water supply from waste water," Job Ndebele, city director for engineering services, explained to IPS.

The use ofmarginal water is not very common in Zimbabwe. It is used to some degree in the capital Harare, but limited to watering cattle pastures.

"Bulawayo has pioneered the use of the water for crops. They have actually reticulated the water to the gardens. This has been seen as being expensive bymost local authorities in the country," said Mubvami.

Used correctly, treated waste water is building food security despite persistent water scarcity.

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Heavy fighting have erupted in central Somali villages near Beledweyne town, the capital Hiiran region as reports suggest that the central town has been captured by insurgent groups.

The fighting which is between Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a and rebel group Hizbul Islam erupted on Friday morning in Hujub and Bardhere villages, located 20 km south of Beledweyne.

Latest reports from Beledweyne suggest that the town has fallen into the hands of Hizbul Islam who are getting support from Al-Shabaab and the whereabouts of the local militia allied to Ahlu Sunnah is still unknown.

The latest clashes come weeks after the town experienced days of bloody battle between Somali armed, causing destruction and death of over 100 people, mainly combatants.

The clashes also forced thousands to flee their homes.