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Afran : Somalia's al Shabaab threatens Kenya attack
on 2010/1/23 12:11:16
Afran

20100121

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline al Shabaab rebels threatened on Thursday to attack neighbouring Kenya following a crackdown on Somalis in the capital Nairobi, according to a recording posted on an al Shabaab Web site.

Islamist al Shabaab has threatened to attack Kenya before, although anger has been rising over the past week among the Somali community since Kenyan security forces detained hundreds of Somalis living in a Nairobi suburb.

"God willing we will arrive in Nairobi, we will enter Nairobi, God willing we will enter ... when we arrive we will hit, hit until we kill, weapons we have, praise be to God, they are enough," men chanted in a recording nearly seven minutes long. They sang in Swahili and another man spoke in Arabic.

The crackdown followed a violent protest in Nairobi against the detention of Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, who was jailed in Britain for urging his audiencies to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners.

Many of the protesters were Somalis and some waved a black flag identified with al Shabaab, a group seen by Washington as al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation.

Reclusive al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Sheik Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Zubeyr, was introduced on the recording by the men chanting.

The man they introduced as Abu Zubeyr called on Muslims in several sub-Saharan African countries to wage jihad, or holy war, against "infidels" and to destroy their interests around the world.

"Our brothers in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda and Chad, you have a chance to join the jihad in the name of Allah. Don't you know whoever does not join the jihad today, will never join?" the man said in Arabic.

"If we live on or die, we are between two victories."

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Afran : Kenya deports Jamaican cleric
on 2010/1/23 12:10:55
Afran

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya deported Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal on Thursday, a week after protests against his detention in east Africa's biggest economy degenerated into running battles in the capital.

There had been fears the cleric's continued presence in Kenya, along with the suppression by the security forces of last Friday's march, could trigger more violence in the capital Nairobi and the port city Mombasa.

"I have been informed by the Kenyan anti-terrorism police unit that Faisal is no longer within the Kenyan jurisdiction," Edwin Okello, principal state counsel, told the High Court.

He produced a copy of the exit stamp in Faisal's passport and a signed immigration departure form dated January 21 showing the cleric was leaving for Jamaica aboard a Gulfstream jet.

Faisal had been due to appear in the High Court on Thursday following a suit filed by a Kenyan Muslim rights group against both his detention and planned deportation.

Faisal, 46, was visiting Kenya for a preaching tour, but intelligence officials feared his speeches would have incited militants in a country that suffered al Qaeda-linked attacks in 1998 and 2002.

Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 for preaching hatred and urging his audiencies to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. He was arrested in Kenya on December 31.

Civil unrest in Kenya is particularly worrying following post-election violence in 2008 that killed some 1,300 people and the threat from militants in neighbouring Somalia that are seen as a proxy for al Qaeda.

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Afran : Guinea junta officially names Dore prime minister
on 2010/1/23 12:10:32
Afran

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CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's military junta has officially named veteran opposition politician Jean-Marie Dore as prime minister of a transitional government charged with restoring civilian rule, a spokesman said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, a source close to the junta said Dore, head of party the Union for the Progress of Guinea, had been picked to lead the world's biggest bauxite exporter to the first elections since Moussa Dadis Camara seized power in December 2008.

"Jean-Marie Dore ... has been named prime minister, head of the transitional government," Commandant Mandjou Dioubate said on state radio.

Like Camara -- still convalescing outside the country after a December 3 assassination bid -- Dore is from one of the minority ethnic groups of Guinea's Forestiere region. His naming is hoped to persuade Camara supporters to back the transition process.

Defence Minister Sekouba Konate assumed control of the West African country after the attempt on Camara's life. Camara has since promised to organise elections which the international community have long demanded.

Dioubate did not give any further details about the composition of the government.

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Afran : Pressure mounts for Nigerian leader to give up power
on 2010/1/23 12:10:11
Afran

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ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's ailing president, in hospital overseas for the past two months, faced mounting pressure on Thursday to end a power vacuum that is increasingly worrying investors.

Critics want President Umaru Yar'adua to formally hand over executive powers to his deputy or quickly return to ease uncertainty in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy.

Thousands marched in Lagos to protest Yar'Adua's absence, while the Nigerian Bar Association urged a federal court in Abuja to intervene in the political crisis.

Yar'Adua has not been seen publicly since leaving Nigeria on November 23 to be treated for a heart ailment in Saudi Arabia.

The 58-year-old leader has refused to formally transfer power over to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, prompting a federal court last week to rule that Jonathan can exercise executive powers but cannot be "acting president."

The uncertainty has slowed government business, threatens a fragile peace in the oil-producing Niger Delta and raises concern about the legality of decisions made while Yar'Adua is in hospital.

"In the president's absence, and realistically until a new president is elected in 2011, the outlook will deteriorate for foreign investors and security will decline in terms of regulatory risk and political violence," said Elizabeth Stephen, an analyst with London-based insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson.

Despite the constitutional risks, some investors are hoping the vice president will take charge so that reforms, especially in oil and the banking sectors, can get back on track.

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Afran : Zimbabwe new constitution suspended over bickering
on 2010/1/23 12:09:49
Afran

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HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has suspended moves to draw up a new constitution due to political bickering over funding, dealing a blow to hopes for free and fair elections next year after the intended adoption of the charter.

Arch rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in September 2008 that led to formation of a unity government last February and agreed to write a new constitution within 18 months.

Many Zimbabweans hope a new charter, replacing the one penned in 1979 before independence from Britain, will strengthen the role of parliament, curtail the president's powers and guarantee civil, political and media freedoms as the country tries to rebuild its shattered economy.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has previously said Mugabe's ZANU-PF was not committed to the drafting of a new constitution which could usher in democratic reforms, and had repeatedly sought to frustrate the process in a bid to delay elections that are supposed to follow.

A parliamentary committee is leading the process.

"The management committee has suspended the outreach programme for now, mainly because of financial constraints," Douglas Mwonzora, who co-chairs the committee, told Reuters.

Mwonzora, a legislator from Tsvangirai's MDC party, said there were also differences with Mugabe's ZANU-PF on who should be collecting views on the constitution.

"There are also disagreements that we need to resolve before the process can go forward that have to do with identify and agreeing on who should be a rapporteur as well as addressing the issues around funding," Mwonzora said.

The suspension is the latest in a series of delays that included clashes last July between MDC and ZANU-PF delegates at a constitutional convention.

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Afran : Kenya Tea Board sees 2010 output up 15 percent
on 2010/1/23 12:09:24
Afran

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's output of tea is expected to rise more than 15 percent this year and prices are likely to be stable, the head of its Tea Board said on Thursday.

The country's earnings from tea rose to 68 billion Kenya shillings in 2009 from 62 billion the previous year after prices climbed due to a global deficit caused by dry weather, said Sicily Kariuki, the board's managing director.

The East African nation is one of the leading exporters of black tea, which is an important source of foreign exchange in the region's largest economy.

"We had projected about 65 billion, we were round about 68 billion shillings for two reasons -- we sustained a stable exchange rate against the dollar and also the high prices," she said.

On expected production in 2010, Kariuki said: "The industry moves in a cyclical manner...It is still a little bit early... but anywhere over 15 percent, you can be sure you will see an increase of that nature."

Kariuki attributed last year's price gains to dry weather in the three major producers, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, which caused output in all three to fall.

"If the shortfall was only Kenya, perhaps we would have not seen the increase in prices globally. If it was just one country you know consumers would have just shifted to the next," she said.

Kenya produced 315 million kg of tea in 2009, down from 345 million in the previous year, but slightly more than the board's own projection, Kariuki said, adding the average price for the year rose.

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Afran : Calm restored in Nigeria's Jos, curfew relaxed
on 2010/1/23 12:09:04
Afran

20100121

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew in the city of Jos on Thursday to allow thousands of residents to return to their homes following clashes between Muslims and Christians that killed hundreds.

The strong presence of troops and police has helped restore calm in the capital of Plateau state with no reports of major violence for nearly a day.

Four days of sectarian clashes this week killed more than 460 in and around the central Nigerian city.

The Red Cross estimated 17,000 people have been displaced and took shelter in colleges, hospitals and schools since clashes began on Sunday.

"There are so many people that need clothing, food and water. The Red Cross is focusing on those injured and referring some to hospital," an agency spokesman said, adding that about 990 have been hospitalised.

Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang relaxed the curfew in Jos to operate between 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) and 10 a.m. to allow people to return to their homes.

The clashes have not had an impact on sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy. Its oil industry is in the south and the banks mainly in the commercial capital Lagos.

"Most emphasis is on the health of the banks and the president and the renewed violence is not expected to have significant macroeconomic effect," said Richard Segal, analyst at Knight Libertas.

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Afran : Rwandan opposition leader stirs ethnic controversy
on 2010/1/23 12:08:40
Afran

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KIGALI (Reuters) - An opposition leader has called for a debate about the ethnic make-up of Rwandan governments, stoking a sensitive debate over ethnicity and reconciliation 16 years after the country's genocide.

Victoire Ingabire, leader of the United Democratic Forces (UDF) party, returned to the central African nation this week from the Netherlands to start a bid for the presidency.

But genocide survivor groups and the government accuse her of using tribal rivalries and the 100-day slaughter in 1994, in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed, as campaign tools ahead of August's election.

Ingabire denies it and says outstanding ethnic issues must be addressed to forge true reconciliation and lasting stability.

"There was a genocide against the Tutsis. That is the reality ... but we don't have to forget that there were also crimes against humanity against the Hutu people," she told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.

"The problem is (how) to share the power between the two groups, and if we don't have the authorisation to talk about it, we will not resolve the problem."

Democracy and freedom of speech remain delicate topics in a country where corruption of the media and the political endorsement of ethnic hatred in the early 1990s lead to the genocide, following years of dictatorship.

"If you have a little group who have all the economy in their hands, and the majority of the Rwandese people, they are poor, that can also be a source of the conflict," she said.

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Afran : Angolan president seen stronger in new constitution
on 2010/1/23 12:08:15
Afran

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LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's parliament approved a new constitution on Thursday that will allow President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to extend his three-decade long rule over one of Africa's top oil producers without a direct ballot.

The constitution was approved by 186 out of a total 220 votes in parliament, in which the ruling party holds an overwhelming majority over a weak and divided opposition. The main opposition UNITA party boycotted the vote.

"This is a historic moment," said Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, president of Angola's parliament. "Parliament has just adopted the new constitution of the Republic of Angola."

The constitution needs to be approved by the country's Constitutional Court and the president before coming into effect.

PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

The new charter will keep the president as head of government and the armed forces. It replaces the prime minister with a vice president, ensuring the president will be more involved in day-to-day affairs of state.

The president will be chosen as the leader of the party which wins the biggest share of the vote for parliament. Under the previous constitution the president and parliament were elected via two separate elections.

Analysts say this constitution grants even more power to Africa's second longest serving ruler.

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Afran : African Union to offer new Madagascar compromise
on 2010/1/23 12:07:50
Afran

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ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - The African Union's top diplomat will present Madagascar's bickering power-brokers with a fresh political compromise aimed at ending a year-long crisis.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping, who arrived on the Indian Ocean island on Thursday, is expected to meet President Andry Rajoelina and opposition leaders before handing over his proposal and giving all sides two weeks to respond.

Rajoelina, Africa's youngest leader, has in recent weeks torn up a string of internationally brokered power-sharing deals, appointed a military prime minister and is intent on unilaterally organising legislative elections slated for March.

There are, however, serious concerns within the opposition and among donor nations that a poll hastily organised by a government not recognised internationally will lack transparency and credibility.

Former disc jockey Rajoelina has urged international mediators to stop meddling in the mineral-producing island's affairs and has categorically refused to reopen discussions on a consensus government.

The turmoil has unsettled major foreign investors including Sherritt International, Rio Tinto and Exxon Mobil and dramatically curbed economic growth.

One presidential adviser was a little more conciliatory ahead of talks with Ping.

"Any compromise by the Rajoelina movement will depend on Chairman Ping's proposals. We will see," Norbert Ratsirahonana told Reuters.

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Afran : Kenya fiscal stimulus may still be needed: World Bank
on 2010/1/23 12:07:30
Afran

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - There are signs the global economy is rebounding but Kenya should keep assessing its economic performance before reducing or removing its fiscal stimulus, the World Bank's country director said on Thursday.

Kenya put in about 1 percent of its gross domestic product as fiscal stimulus in its 2009/10 budget after suffering the triple shocks of post-election violence, drought and global economic slowdown.

"In terms of reducing and removing the fiscal stimulus altogether it may actually be premature, although there are signs that the global economy is recovering, but we are not in a full fledged recovery yet," Johannes Zutt told Reuters.

"There is still a possibility that we are going to see a further dip. It's just going to be a question of the government monitoring macroeconomic indicators, and particularly inflation levels, to see what action is appropriate going forward."

Zutt said the World Bank felt the fiscal stimulus was appropriate because the government's macroeconomic performance between 2002 and 2007, particularly its reduction of Kenya's debt burden, had created enough space for the fiscal stimulus.

The debt to GDP ratio fell to 40 percent in 2008 from 60 percent in 2000, Zutt said.

Inflation in east Africa's biggest economy also plummeted into single digits in the third quarter after the government started using a geometric mean to calculate inflation from an arithmetic mean previously.

The World Bank estimates that Kenya's economy grew by 2.5 percent in 2009 from 1.7 percent the previous year and forecasts expansion of 3.5 percent this year.

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Afran : Sudan extends deadline for election nominations
on 2010/1/23 12:07:05
Afran

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has extended the deadline for nominations in the first multi-party vote in 24 years after candidates said they did not have enough time to prepare, election officials said on Wednesday.

Elections would go ahead as scheduled on April 11 when Africa's largest country, recovering from decades of war, will hold a poll already marred by accusations of fraud, vote-buying and intimidation during last year's voter registration.

"(The deadline for nominations is delayed) until the 27th January because we know that there are some who said the time is too short. But the elections will be on time," Abu Bakr Waziri from the National Elections Commission told Reuters.

The 10-day nomination period was announced just days before it began on January 12, and some prospective candidates were not given registration forms until much later, leaving little time to collect the signatures needed to be endorsed.

"They wanted 15,000 signatures (for a candidate) to be nominated and that from 18 states with a minimum of 200 in each state," said Abdel Aziz Khaled, a presidential candidate.

He said he had met the requirements but that after decades of north-south war it would be difficult for many independent, mid-level or new political parties to garner support in both the north and south within the original tight timeframe.

"They are making it difficult because (President Omar Hassan) al-Bashir doesn't want many candidates to run because this will divide the vote and affect him in the first round to not get 50 plus percent," Khaled said.

If no presidential candidate gets 51 percent, it will force a second round between the two leading candidates.

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Afran : Darfur rebels say death sentences threaten peace talks
on 2010/1/23 12:06:43
Afran

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Darfur rebels on Wednesday condemned a death sentence on two of its members by a Khartoum court, saying it endangered the peace process.

Two Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) members were sentenced to death on Tuesday for their part in an attack on Khartoum in 2008.

They and 103 others also awaiting execution were due to be freed under a goodwill agreement last year, when JEM released 82 prisoners.

"This constitutes a clear violation of the goodwill agreement and the timing of this on the same day we arrived in Doha sends a clear message that the government does not want peace," said JEM spokesman Ahmed Adam.

"This is a declaration of new war," he added.

He was speaking to Reuters from the capital of Qatar where stalled peace talks between the JEM and the government were due to restart. "The aim of this sentence is to spoil the political process."

Khartoum said JEM were trying to cover up plans for a new offensive in Darfur. "We are ready to sign a monitored cessation of hostilities," Amin Hassan Omar, a member of the government talks delegation, told Reuters.

JEM fighters drove across desert and scrubland to within striking distance of the presidential palace in 2008 before they were stopped by government troops.

Sudan says more than 200 people, many of them civilians, were killed in the raid.

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Afran : US team should have questioned Nigerian: spy chief
on 2010/1/23 12:06:22
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. intelligence officer said on Wednesday that a group set up to interrogate terrorism suspects should have been used when a Nigerian man was arrested in Detroit on suspicion of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told a Senate committee that when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was taken into custody, the so-called High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) should have been involved in questioning him.

"We should have automatically deployed the HIG. We will now," Blair told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He said that when the group was set up it was expected they would handle suspects detained overseas.

"We did not think about ... (a) case in which a terrorist was apprehended, as this one was, in the United States and we should have thought of that," Blair said.

He later issued a statement to clarify that the FBI had interviewed Abdulmutallab when he was taken into custody and "important intelligence" was obtained. Blair also said that the HIG was not yet fully operational.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the formation of the special group in August and gave the reins to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, replacing the CIA which had had the lead role in intelligence interrogations.

Republicans have been furious at the Obama administration's decision to prosecute Abdulmutallab in a criminal court rather than a military tribunal, arguing that it was an act of war and they may have given up an opportunity to obtain intelligence.

"It appears to me that we lost an opportunity to secure some valuable intelligence information, and that the process that Director Blair described should have been implemented in this case," said Maine Senator Susan Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate panel.

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Afran : Wars less deadly than they used to be, report says
on 2010/1/23 12:05:57
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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Wars are less deadly than they once were and national mortality rates have continued to decline even during conflicts due to smaller scale fighting and better healthcare, a report said on Wednesday.

The report by a Canada-based project sponsored by four European governments also dismissed a widely cited figure of 5.4 million people killed in wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo as "far too high."

It offered no exact alternative figure but suggested the true toll could be less than half that. The group that issued the original figure, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), stood by its findings and rejected the new report.

"We believe that the costs of war, the deadliness of wars, the number of people getting killed per conflict per year, has gone down pretty dramatically," project director Andrew Mack told a news conference at the United Nations.

Since 2000, the average conflict has killed 90 percent fewer people each year than in the 1950s, said the Human Security Report Project at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University.

In 2007, the average conflict killed fewer than 1,000 people as a direct result of violence, and there had been a 70 percent decline in in the number of high-intensity conflicts since the end of the Cold War 20 years ago, it said.

Wars fought with huge armies, heavy weapons and major-power involvement have largely given way to low-level insurgencies fought mostly by small, lightly armed rebel groups, said the report, entitled "The Shrinking Costs of War."

The report noted that most deaths in wars result from hunger and disease but said improved healthcare in peacetime had cut death tolls even during wartime, as had stepped up aid to people in war zones.

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Afran : Angola's 1st constitution scraps presidential polls
on 2010/1/23 12:05:32
Afran

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press tv

Angola's parliament has voted to approve the country's first constitution, replacing an interim constitutional law in effect since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975.

The charter was approved on Thursday following a ballot in the 220-seat parliament, with 186 affirmative votes, AFP news agency reported.

Following the vote, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, who has led the oil-rich country for the past three decades, was declared the president of the National Assembly.

The constitution cements the longtime rulers' hold over the country by abolishing direct elections, reserving the power to name the country's future heads of state for the party that possesses the majority of the parliamentary seats.

Other main articles of the document also declare Portuguese as the national language and Luanda as the capital of the country.

The document has been criticized by the main opposition party, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, which boycotted the session, on the grounds that the constitutional process was flawed and went against democratic principles.

The vote was not expected until March, and the charter now awaits further approvals from the Constitutional Court and Dos Santos.

With 244 articles, the constitution also clarifies laws on governing and citizens' rights and land ownership. According to the document, all land is owned by the state, which decides who has the right to use it.

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Afran : US blamed for sending arms to Somalia
on 2010/1/23 12:05:06
Afran

20100121
press tv

Amnesty International has accused the US of sending weapons to Somalia that could be used to commit "gross and widespread abuses."

The US deliveries to the Somalis, according to a Thursday report by the human rights group, included mortars, ammunition, as well as cash for the purchase of more arms.

The London-based group also raised fears that the weapons could be used by the government forces in indiscriminate attacks.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International demanded that Washington suspend further weapon shipments until there are adequate safeguards that the arms would not instrumental in committing war crimes and human rights abuses.

The African nation has been without an effective government since 1991.

Last year, clashes in Somalia killed thousands of civilians and displaced hundreds of the thousands more, according to the report.

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Afran : Uganda: Bahati Says He's Willing to Amend Gays Bill
on 2010/1/21 12:31:40
Afran

allafrica

The brain behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, MP David Bahati, says he can amend the proposed law but "without putting the values of the country at risk".

In an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday after meeting the Cabinet on the matter, Mr Bahati said: "I cannot discuss what happened in cabinet. They are going to meet me and we discuss some amendments but the process of legislation continues."

Before the meeting, the Ndorwa West MP had told this newspaper that he was ready to listen to the ministers' input but added that being a Private Member's Bill, they would not do much to it although "if they want to amend some clauses, I can do it".

When contacted, Information Minister Kabakumba Masiko said they had decided to form a sub-committee to discuss the Bill and "see if we can amend it".

"The sub-committee will be headed by Attorney General Khidu Makubuya but being a Private Member's Bill and a property of Parliament, the process of legislation must continue. But the government will suggest amendments," Ms Masiko said.

Other members on the sub-committee include Regional Affairs State Minister Isaac Musumba, Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire, Gender Minister Gabriel Opiyo and the Ethics Minister, Dr James Nsaba Buturo.

The Bill suggests that anyone found guilty of involvement in homosexual activities should be jailed for seven years while those involved in aggravated homosexuality should be sentenced to death.

The suggested law has drawn criticism across the world with some countries like the US, Canada and Sweden threatening to withdraw their aid to Uganda should it become law.

However, a section of MPs have vowed to stand by Mr Bahati, saying those countries have no right to interfere with Uganda's sovereignty and thus should let the legislators do their work without any influence.

Now the cabinet sub-committee has a duty of convincing Mr Bahati to remove such clauses since he says "the possibility of withdrawing it is very minimal".

President Museveni told a recent NRM meeting in Entebbe that MPs should go slow on the Bill because it has implications on the country's foreign policy.

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Afran : Rwanda: Commonwealth to Support Vision 2020
on 2010/1/21 12:31:07
Afran

allafrica

Kigali — The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma yesterday arrived in the country, and from the onset, said that the organization would like to partner with Rwanda in achieving its Vision 2020.

"I see a very large area in the Vision 2020 where we can work together in the years to come," he told reporters shortly after his arrival at Kigali International Airport.

Sharma, who thereafter left for Kigali Genocide Memorial Site, said that the Vision 2020's six pillars, among them, governance, the rule of law and democracy, correspond well with Commonwealth's focus.

"These are the strengths of the Commonwealths and these are very clear areas where we can be partners. There are also other areas like resource and skills development, education, as well as institutional building," he said.

Asked what the Commonwealth would do compel its member states to comply in apprehending several Genocide fugitives still at large, Sharma was non committal.

"I will have to discuss this with the leadership here and see what it is that they would wish the Commonwealth to be engaged in, depending upon the strength of the Commonwealth, we shall take it from there," he said.

His two-day visit comes barely three months after Rwanda was welcomed into the 54-member organisation.

Sharma is scheduled to meet and consult with top government officials as well as address the press before his departure.

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Afran : Nigeria: Senate Moves to Save Yar'Adua
on 2010/1/21 12:30:28
Afran

allafrica

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa and his lawyer colleagues in the Senate yesterday commenced a legal firework that may end the quagmire on the prolonged absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua from office.

Senate President, David Mark on the floor of the Senate yesterday directed all senators with legal background to meet with the Aondoakaa.

The Senate team was led by the chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Umaru Dahiru.

Though Mark did not make public the agenda of the meeting which is the first of its kind but sources alleged that it was in line with renewed demand by senators for immediate hand over of power to the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan

Sources told Daily Champion yesterday that the meeting was to explore a safe landing for the President who has been outside the country for over 59 days on medical treatment.

There are also indications that the meeting may have asked the chief law officer to draft a letter to enable Jonathan serve as acting President in accordance with sections 144 and 145 of the 1999 constitution.

No official statement was issued after the meeting that lasted between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm at the Senate meeting room in the National Assembly.

Dahiru who presided over the meeting kept sealed lips when confronted with questions regarding the agenda of the meeting.

But a source said the meeting was to explore a legal option to end the impasse.

Senators were said to have insisted that the President must transmit a letter to the National Assembly that he was sick and that his deputy would act as the President pending when he would be back to the country.

The meeting came ahead of the briefing today by the Secretary to the State Government (SGF), Yayale Ahmed to the Senate on the true health condition of Yar'Adua.

Dahiru at the meeting said: "I don't want to talk to anybody on this matter. Let Nigerians wait." he responded to a question on what happened in the meeting.

Senators present at the meeting include Abubakar Sodangi, Ikechukwu Obiora, Suleiman Adokwe, Patrick Osakwe, Hosea Ehinlawo, James Manager, Bassey Ewa-Henshaw among others.

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