CABINDA, Angola (Reuters) - Angolan police arrested a priest in Cabinda on Saturday, a lawyer and human rights activist said, adding that authorities were using an attack on the Togo soccer team last week as an excuse to round up critics.
Raul Tati, a government critic and a vocal human rights activist in Cabinda, was arrested in his house at around 1800 GMT, said Martinho Nombo, a lawyer in Cabinda who said he fears he is next in line to be arrested.

Police also arrested university professor Tati Belchior and former police officer Pedro Fuca this week.

An Angolan police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

"Before his arrest, the priest told me there was a list of five people in Cabinda, including him and myself, who would be arrested soon," Nombo told Reuters by telephone from Cabinda.

Human Rights Watch researcher Lisa Rimli said, in an email seen by Reuters, that her organisation had received "concrete indications that the detention of members of the civil society were being carried out".

Human Rights Watch says it has documented a disturbing pattern of human rights violations by the Angolan armed forces and state intelligence officials in Cabinda.

Tensions were running high on the streets of Cabinda where police have stepped up security during the games for the African Nations Cup -- the continent's top soccer tournament. Last week's Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) attack killed two people in Togo's bus en route for the Cup.

Alexis Betaia, 27, who works at a downtown Cabinda market, said the government had asked people to denounce those they thought could be involved with the separatists who attacked the Togolese team.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Rival Somali pirate gangs fired shots at each other on Sunday in a dispute over how to split any ransom for a hijacked Greek-flagged oil tanker with two million barrels of crude oil aboard.

Pirates from the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland, who seized the Maran Centaurus in November, say they do not want to a share the spoils with pirate gangs in the pirate haven of Haradheere, where the vessel is moored.

But the tanker and its 28 hostages are now under the control of gunmen from Haradheere. The pirates from Puntland, aboard speedboats nearby, are threatening to set fire to the tanker if they miss out on any payment.

"We have risked our lives in hijacking the ship. These Haradheere men cannot deprive us of our rights," a pirate called Aden told Reuters. "If need be, we shall start a fire as soon as the ransom is about to arrive."

The United Nation's shipping agency warned in December that if the tanker had an accident due to bad weather off the coast of Somalia it would create an "environmental catastrophe".

The ship's Greek management company says there are nine Greeks, two Ukrainians, one Romanian and 16 Filipinos on board.

Many residents fled the centre of the normally peaceful Haradheere on Sunday morning fearing violence could engulf the coastal town north of the capital -- or allow hardline Islamist insurgents to take advantage of the situation and move in.

"Our town was calm and booming but now we fear violence," local elder Abduallahi Ali told Reuters by telephone. "The pirates are well-armed and if they exchange fire it will affect the whole area."

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - China gave Tanzania $180 million in concessional loans on Friday as part of its pledge to provide $10 billion in low-cost lending to Africa over the next three years, Tanzanian Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo said on Saturday.

The agreement was unveiled during a visit to the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam by Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming, who arrived on Thursday for a three-day tour of east Africa's second largest economy.

China made the $10 billion pledge -- double the amount offered in 2006 -- at a summit in Egypt in November as it aims to boost a relationship with the continent which goes back decades politically and is now booming economically.

Blossoming trade and business ties have attracted Western accusations that Beijing is solely interested in African resources and is ready to overlook poor governance.

Chinese commentators respond that envious Europeans still treat the continent like a colony.

"This loan is part of the fulfilment of promises made by China to provide $10 billion in concessional loans to Africa between 2010 and 2013," Mkulo told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.

Mkulo said the loans would fund various development projects in infrastructure and information, communication and technology.

He said Tanzania was also in talks with Beijing for additional loans in agriculture, railway infrastructure, transportation and for the upgrade and rehabilitation of Dar es Salaam's underperforming port.

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MARRAKESH, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco aims to draw 10 percent more visitors this year to help fill fast-growing hotel capacity and bolster tourism income after it slipped in 2009, industry and government officials said.

Heavy investment in hotels, resorts and holiday apartments has helped the north African country more than double tourism earnings in the past decade -- providing a lifeline for a government battling widespread poverty.

The number of arrivals kept growing last year despite the global economic downturn, with an increase of 6 percent, but income fell as tourists spent less.

"We aim to realise growth of 10 percent (in 2010 tourism numbers), or three times the world trend that is forecast," newly-appointed Tourism Minister Yassir Znagui said in a speech on the first day of industry event the Moroccan Travel Market.

Industry officials said the rise in tourist numbers hoped for this year would not come at the expense of profitability.

Last year visitor arrivals grew to 8.35 million while rival markets such as Spain and Tunisia fell, according to government figures.

But industry estimates show the number of hotel stays fell 1.6 percent and tourism income slid 5.7 percent to 52.4 billion dirhams.

"I think in 2010 we can achieve 6 percent growth in foreign currency earnings and get back to the level we were at in 2008," Othman Cherif Alami, Chairman of Morocco's National Tourism Federation (FNT), told Reuters.

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Guinea's political rivals have agreed to form a transitional commission and hold presidential elections within the next six months, bringing hope of stability to the West African bauxite-rich country. Following negotiations held this week in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, a joint declaration has been signed by wounded junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara.
Camara has accepted a temporary exile in the host country, junta’s second-in-command Sekouba Konaté and President Blaise Campaoré, who has been mediating in the Guinean crisis.

The declaration proposed the establishment of a transitional commission consisting of 101 members from various walks of life to be led by a religious figure.

The declaration also said that presidential elections would be held in six months, with no members of the junta, the transitional commission and anyone in military service allowed to run.

The Economic Community of West African States will be sending observers to ensure the reliability of the upcoming elections, according the new peace deal.

The deal also provides room for the establishment of a unity government headed by a prime minister to be appointed by the coalition of opposition parties.

The respect of public freedom, including freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and the safeguard of personal and property safety would be a priority of the new authorities according to the declaration.

Camara, who left Morocco for Burkina Faso on Tuesday agreed to remain in temporary exile in that country following intense pressure from the international community on him to stay out of Guinean politics.

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Hundreds of demonstrators besieged Conakry International Airport-Gbessia, on Friday demanding the immediate return of junta leader Moussa Dadis in Conakry. Posters, t-shirts with effigies of the ''miracle'' of Rabat are paraded and slogans chanted in support of Pivi Tiégboro-Moussa Keita.
According to the demonstrators, they will be at the airport long enough to witness the triumphant return of ''their president.'' They have even promise to invade the runway to prevent any landing that is not satisfactory to them.

Commander Claude Pivi aka Coplan and Lieutenant-Colonel Moussa Camara Tiégboro have gathered at the Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, together with chiefs of staffs of all the armies and members of the CNDD.

An official statement has informed the public about the CNDD decision to travel to Ouagadougou to bring, President Moussa Camara Dadis to Conakry. The statement said the group remains faithful to the spirit of the discourse of acting president, General Sékouba Konaté.

A delegation headed by the Commandant Moussa Keita, left the Guinean capital for Burkina Faso to convince the facilitator that only the return of Dadis is the way of salvation for that country.

Below is a statement by the CNDD and chiefs of the army before their departure.

"Declaration of members of the National Council for Democracy and Development and Chiefs of the Army.

For the sake of appeasement and national stability, the collective members of the CNDD extended to Chiefs of the Army held a meeting on Wednesday, January 14, 2010 at the head of the CNDD, Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, under the chairmanship of their excellencies, Commandant Claude Pivi, Minister for Presidential Security and Lieutenant Colonel Tiégboro Moussa Camara, Minister in charge of special services, against drugs and crime.

This meeting was held in response to persistent rumors that Captain Dadis Moussa Camara, Head of State, President of the Republic, Commander of the Armed Forces, and President of the CNDD would be prevented from returning home to Guinea. During this meeting, after analysis and consultation, the following concrete steps were taken:

The group remains faithful to the spirit of the speech of His Excellency, General Sékouba Konaté, Minister of National Defense, 2nd President of the CNDD lively, Acting Chairman; written in agreement with the President speech on the choice of a Prime Minister from the opposition and appointed by it, the establishment of a Government of National Unity and the rapid organization of free and transparent elections.

The group demanded the return to Guinea President of the Republic accompanied by his Minister of National Defense.

The group reassured the national and international opinion that the return of President Dadis will strengthen national unity, social peace and unity of the armed forces.

The group decided to send a mission to Burkina Faso CNDD to convey to the mediator of this statement.

The group thanks the King Mohamed VI of Morocco, Maitre Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal and the Libyan Leader, Colonel Gaddafi Muhammar for their support for Peace in Guinea.

The group particularly thanks the President of Faso, His Excellency Blaise Compaoré and joins his mediation efforts for a swift return to democracy in Guinea.

The group invites the people of Guinea to the concord, understanding and restraint.

KINSHASA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia is considering a project in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), for the maintenance of Antonov brand of aeroplanes, its envoy has said.

Russian Ambassador to DR Congo Anatoly Klimenko said in Kinshasa on Friday that there was a possibility of his country constructing a maintenance factory for the repair of Antonov brand of aeroplanes in the Congolese capital.

The Russian diplomat said Russia's Metropol company has intention of investing in the transport sector and has listed the construction of the factory in its program.

He said there are 92 planes of Antonov type operating in sub-Saharan Africa, out of which only 30 are in full operation.

The planned factory will be designed for repair of defunct aeroplanes and the maintenance work of the flying fleet, he added.

NAIROBI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday ordered investigations into Friday's demonstrations called by Kenyan Muslims to protest the arrest of controversial Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal.

Odinga instructed Internal Security Minister to carry out comprehensive and urgent investigations into the riots that left at least five people dead and the fatal shooting of protesters.

"The PM also appealed to the Muslim community to remain calm and give the government time on their grievances," a statement said.

The peaceful protest turned violent as the marchers pelted police officers with stones who in turn fired in the air and lobbed tear gas canisters.

Several people including police officers were among those who were seriously injured in the protest while some of them were stabbed by the demonstrators.

Shops adjacent to the mosque were looted and vehicles that were parked on the streets had their windscreens smashed by stone-throwing youths.

Angry members of the public joined in the melee and helped police confront the advancing Muslim youths.

Odinga said in the statement that the confinement of the clerics a sensitive security matter that the government is handling delicately and it should be given time.

The PM also said the police must desist from using live ammunition to quell riots.

"Use of live bullets has led to loss of lives before and it is something police must do everything possible to avoid," the PM said.

The Jamaican preacher was deported from Nairobi last week following orders by Immigration Minister. Al-Faisal, born Trevor William Forrest, was convicted in Britain on terrorism-related charges in 2003 and was deported from Britain in 2007.

On arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching in its mosques. The Kenyan authorities held Al-Faisal at the country's main airport last week as they plotted his next destination.

Kenya had flown him to Lagos, Nigeria. From there, he was scheduled to fly to Gambia and then to Jamaica. But airlines in Nigeria refused to fly him to Gambia.

Kenyan authorities reportedly drove him to the border of Tanzania last Tuesday because he had entered Kenya from there, but Tanzania refused his entry.

LOME, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Togo organized a solemn ceremony in the capital Lome on Friday to pay a national tribute to the two victims of the Jan. 8 attack on the Togolese football team by Angola's Cabinda separatists.

In front of the Lome conference center, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe presided over the ceremony attended by the prime minister, the speaker of the National Assembly, members of parliament and senior officials of government.

Gnassingbe posthumously awarded the Order of Mono (a honorable distinction) to the two victims, the deputy coach Amelete Abalo, 55; and Stanislas Ocloo, 35, the press official of the team.

Also present was an Angolan delegation led by Foreign Minister Afonso Assuncao dos Anjos and the players of the Togolese football team, the Sparrows, who were wearing black Puma t-shirts, their uniform designer.

The Togolese team was attacked by the Cabinda separatists as they were entering this enclave to play against Ghana in a match for the final phase of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) being held in Angola in 2010. A total of nine people were injured, but unfortunately Abalo and Ocloo succumbed to their injuries.

"The tragic loss of our compatriots threw the national team into despair because it's them who were supporting us morally," the captain of the Sparrows, Sheyi Adebayor, said when he read the funeral eulogy on behalf of the team.

The Cabinda events will forever leave "apocalyptic and disturbing memories in us," read the eulogy of the Togolese Association of Sports journalists.

In memory of the dead, the Togolese Sparrows played a farewell football match against the Media FC, a Togolese journalists' football team.

Following the attack in Cabinda, Togo pulled out of the CAN and its national team had to return home. A three-day national mourning was observed until Wednesday.

OUAGADOUGOU, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- After consultations of thee days in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Guinea's military junta and opposition have agreed to hold the presidential elections in six months to end the crisis since December 2008.

The talks from Wednesday to Friday involved the wounded junta leader, Capt, Moussa Dadis Camara, who is the president of the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD); Sekouba Konate, who is the CNDD vice president and the interim leader; Blaise Compaore, the Burkina Faso president and the mediator in the Guinea crisis; and the opposition "pressure groups", who are pressing for the return to a civilian rule.

The parties finally agreed on the measures to be taken to ensure a peaceful transition in Guinea.

According to a declaration published at the end of the talks, these personalities in the presence of other CNDD members decided to respect the freedom of the press and expression and guarantee security for people and their property.

Other than the reorganization and reform of the security and defense forces, they recommended the creation of a National Transition Council (NTC), a political deliberative body that will be led by religious personalities and made up of 101 members representing the different interests in the Guinean society.

The appointment of the prime minister, who will be the president of the council of ministers and who is supposed to come from among the Forum of the Guinean Pressure Groups, and the formation of a government of national unity were also envisioned in the joint declaration.

They also recommended preparations for the presidential elections to be held in six months.

The declaration barred the serving members of the CNDD, the prime minister, the government of national unity and the national defense and security forces from taking part in the presidential elections.

The declaration urged the West African bloc ECOWAS to send observers to monitor the polls and set up a body to follow the implementation of these recommendations.

The signatories to the declaration appealed to the international community to provide political, financial and technical support to the implementation of the measures that had been agreed upon.

To that end, Compaore will appoint a special representative to the transition team in Guinea.

Comapore and Guinean interim president Konate termed as satisfactory the improving health status of the CNDD president, Camara, officials said.

They expressed to him their total solidarity and compassion for the ordeal he had suffered, and wished him quick recovery, according to sources close to the consultations.

Camara expressed his profound gratitude to them for all the precious support that he had received from them.

He said he was willing to take a break so that he can recover although he remained available to give his contribution whenever required to the transition team.

All parties thanked King Mohammed VI of Morocco for medical treatment of Camara in Rabat.

The junta leader was flown to a military hospital in Rabat on Dec. 4 after sustaining gunshot wounds in the head by an aide-de-camp the previous day. He was airlifted to Ouagadougou on Tuesday night before the consultations. The declaration is widely seen as a breakthrough since the talks were stalled after the Sept. 28 crackdown on the opposition in Conakry.

MOGADISHU, Jan 16 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified assailants overnight attacked three independent radio stations in the central Somalia town of Galkayo, injuring three people and causing damage to station buildings, a radio executive said Saturday.

Galkayo, provincial capital of Mudug region, was a relatively peaceful town but has lately been the target of bombings, allegedly by Islamist rebels.

Three people including two local journalists were injured while two of the stations suffered damage to their buildings after the attackers, who wore masks, threw explosive devices into the Radio Galkayo, Radio Voice of Mudug and Radio Hobyo within minutes.

"We do not know why we were targeted because we have always strove to be impartial and balanced in our reporting of events in the region and the country as a whole," Abdulahi Hersi, Director of Radio Galkayo, told Xinhua.

Hersi said that the attack, which has not been claimed by any group so far, seemed well coordinated and was meant to cause "maximum damage possible" to the stations' staff.

Authorities in Galkayo which is divided between the Puntland state in the north of the town and Galmudug autonomous region in the south, stated that an investigations into the incident were underway.

A recent series of attacks blamed on Islamist forces have taken place in both sides of the town of Galkayo which has been divided along clan lines for the past two decades.

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NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya will deport jailed Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal "without delay" after a protest against his detention triggered battles with police in the capital Nairobi, a minister said on Saturday.

Kenyan security forces used live rounds, tear gas and dogs to quell the demonstration on Friday near a downtown mosque used by many Somalis who have fled years of violence at home.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti appealed for calm. He blamed "violent foreign elements from a neighbouring country" for the mayhem and assured Muslims in Kenya they would not be targetted and their civil liberties respected.

The violence in Nairobi has stoked fears of a crackdown on the large Somali community in Kenya, or strikes by insurgent sympathisers in east Africa's biggest economy -- the target of successful al Qaeda-linked attacks in 2002 and 1998.

Some protesters carried the black flag of hardline Somali rebels al Shabaab, a group Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda that is trying to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and impose its own harsh version of sharia law.

"This is an indication that some of our youth have been exposed to these ideas by foreign elements bent on ensuring that peace and security obtaining in our country is compromised," Saitoti told a news conference.

Some residents in Somalia's capital Mogadishu welcomed the appearance of al Shabaab's flag on Nairobi's streets, hoping it might inspire Kenya to help crackdown on the rebels.

"It will redouble the war on terror and al Qaeda," local elder Hassan Hussein told Reuters.

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TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Libyan court on Saturday postponed until January 30 the trial of Max Goeldi, one of two Swiss businessmen whose prosecution has caused a diplomatic row between Libya and Switzerland, their lawyer said.
A judge trying Goeldi on charges of violating business regulations ordered the adjournment because the defendant, who is staying at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, did not appear in court, the lawyer told reporters.

"The trial has been postponed until January 30," said lawyer Salah Zahaf, who represents Goeldi and the second Swiss businessman, Rachid Hamdani.

The two men were barred from leaving Libya in July 2008 after Swiss prosecutors arrested a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on charges -- later dropped -- of mistreating two staff while on a visit to Switzerland.

Libyan officials deny any connection between the arrest in Switzerland and the case of the two businessmen.

The lawyer said he had passed on to Goeldi verbal assurances from the court that he would not be detained if he attended the court hearing. "He refused because he is requesting written guarantees," the lawyer said.

The trials of both Goeldi and Hamdani have already been adjourned twice because they did not appear in court. A court is scheduled to resume Hamdani's trial, on the same charges as Goeldi, on Sunday.

Both men have already been convicted on separate charges of violating Libya's immigration rules and sentenced to 16 months in prison.

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood named a conservative as its new leader on Saturday, suggesting that Egypt's biggest opposition group may lower its political profile and focus on a social agenda.

Mohamed Badeea's appointment followed a heated debate between conservatives wary of stepping up political activities that have already triggered repression from the state and many from a younger generation seeking more political activism.

The Brotherhood, which seeks to introduce Islamic rule by democratic means, is officially banned but grudgingly tolerated by the state, and took about a fifth of the seats in parliament in 2005 by fielding candidates as independents.

Since then, and with 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak due to step down or stand for re-election in 2011, the state has been squeezing the Brotherhood out of mainstream politics, often arresting activists and holding them for weeks without charge.

Together with the appointment of a more cautious leader, this is likely to mean less representation for the Brotherhood after the next parliamentary election, due this year.

Badeea, 66, who like many Brotherhood members has been arrested in the past, is a member of the group's 16-member governing body. In an internal election to the body last month, conservatives secured most seats.

CONSERVATIVES DOMINATE

"Mohamed Badeea has been chosen by majority vote by the Shura Council as the new leader," Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the former leader, in his 80s, who stepped down this month, told a news conference.

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The opposition in Zanzibar has asked the president of the semi-autonomous islands to stay on when his mandate expires in October, an unexpected shift that fueled speculation the rivals have struck a power-sharing deal.

Zanzibar has suffered bouts of political violence since a disputed poll in 2000 put the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in office. But hopes of a deal between the once bitter foes to end a decade of deadlock have been growing.

Zanzibar joined mainland Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania and has its own president and parliament. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has described the archipelago as the "Achilles' heel" of the otherwise peaceful country of 40 million people.

Seif Sharif Hamad, the leader of Zanzibar's opposition Civic United Front (CUF) party and an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005, urged President Amani Karume last week to stay in power.

"I know that he has already declared he doesn't want to stay in office at the end of his second term. But I urge him to heed calls from the wider Zanzibar public for him to extend his term," Hamad said in a public lecture late on Thursday.

"I call for the postponement of the poll for a year or two until conditions on the ground are improved to pave the way for legitimate elections," he said.

The opposition initially refused to recognise Karume because of allegations that vote-rigging in the mainly Muslim islands of 1 million people had twice robbed it of victory.

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ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's parliament has reached an agreement with the finance ministry to increase planned budgetary spending for 2010 above the president's proposed $27 billion, two sources involved in talks said on Friday.

President Umaru Yar'Adua in November sent a 4.079 trillion naira budget proposal to parliament, a 32 percent rise from planned 2009 spending which, if approved, will push sub-Saharan Africa's No. 2 economy to a fiscal deficit of 4.79 percent.

Parliament wants to increase federal spending further to pay for "emerging" projects in power, roads and development in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

It was not clear by how much spending would rise under the agreement, but sources say the bigger budget would be funded by revising the benchmark oil price to $60 a barrel from $57.

"We cannot really say what the actual size of the budget will be, but certainly the aggregate expenditure will increase because the revenue will increase with a new oil benchmark," said a member of one of parliament's appropriations committees.

"In various meetings involving the leadership of the two chambers ... and the finance ministry, we settled on the $60 benchmark," he added.

About a third of the planned budget is capital spending on areas including infrastructure, the power sector and development in the Niger Delta, where an amnesty programme last year has so far brought a lull in militant attacks on the oil sector.

An official with the finance ministry's budget office confirmed the planned increase in spending would be funded by a higher crude oil benchmark price.

"My fear is that the new figures will be a further breach of the medium-term expenditure framework. The picture will be clearer next week," he said.
The revision reflects the OPEC member's expectations that global oil prices this year will remain near its current level of around $80 a barrel.

When prices rise above the budget's benchmark, Africa's biggest energy producer saves the surplus oil revenue into an excess crude account to protect its finances against the volatile global oil market or a fall in production.

The 2010 budget also assumes oil production of 2.088 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of 150 naira to the U.S. dollar.

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KAMPALA (Reuters) - A Ugandan preacher said on Friday he planned a "million-man" march to support an anti-gay draft law which the United Nations top human rights official called "blatantly discriminatory".
Pastor Martin Ssempa, who has close ties to U.S. evangelicals and President Yoweri Museveni's family, said the march was being organised for February 17.

"We want to show how many people support the bill," Pastor Martin Ssempa told journalists in the Ugandan capital.

"We want to give a postcard that (Museveni) can send to his friend (U.S. President) Barack Obama," Ssempa said in front of posters saying "Africans Unite Against Sodomy" and "Barack Obama Back Off".

Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, added to Western criticism of the proposed legislation by saying it breached international standards. She called on Uganda to shelve it.

"The bill proposes draconian punishments for people alleged to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered -- namely life imprisonment, or in some cases, the death penalty," Pillay said in a statement.

Uganda's Ethics and Integrity Minister Nsaba Buturo has said a revised law would now probably limit the maximum penalty to life in prison rather than execution. The private members' bill was tabled in parliament last year.

PRISON SENTENCE

The draft legislation would prohibit any form of sexual relations between people of the same sex as well as the recognition of homosexual relations as an acceptable lifestyle, Pillay said.

It could lead to a prison sentence of up to 3 years for anyone failing to report within 24 hours the identities of any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered person, she said.
Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge from South Africa, welcomed what she called statements by Museveni and senior members of the government suggesting it might intervene to stop the bill becoming law.

Museveni seemed to distance himself and the government from the proposed law on Tuesday, saying it was a foreign policy issue and calling for more discussion.

Uganda has had a generally "good track record" of cooperating with human rights mechanisms, Pillay said.

"This bill threatens to seriously damage the country's reputation in the international arena," she said.

Ssempa, one of the East African nation's most prominent anti-gay campaigners, criticised Western countries as "failed states" for supporting gay rights.

A local independent newspaper, the Daily Monitor, quoted parliament's speaker as saying the legislative body would debate the bill despite Museveni's call for more talks.

"There is no way we can be intimidated by remarks from the President to stop this bill," Edward Ssekandi was quoted as saying.

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JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudan's First Vice President Salva Kiir will run for president of south Sudan in elections in April, leaving the post of national president to be contested by a lower-ranking northern member of his party.

Kiir's decision is seen as a signal that southern politicians have prioritised running the semi-autonomous south, which is widely expected to secede when it votes in an independence referendum next year.

Having spent little time in Khartoum, Kiir had always been expected to remain as president in the oil-producing south.

The leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), a former southern rebel group, became Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's deputy in 2005 when a north-south peace deal ended two decades of civil war.

The fighting claimed 2 million lives, drove 4 million from their homes and destabilised much of east Africa. The growing fragility of the peace deal has led to fears of renewed conflict.

"The SPLM nominee for the position of President of the Republic is Yasir Saeed Arman and the nominee for the President of Southern Sudan is the Chairman of the SPLM Salva Kiir," SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum told Reuters on Friday.

Maggie Fick of the U.S.-based anti-genocide group the Enough Project said the nominations would be seen as a signal that the SPLM's priorities are in the south.

"It is difficult not to read it that way," she said.

Since the SPLM formed a coalition government with their one-time northern foes, the National Congress Party, Arman has been the face of his party in Khartoum, heading the SPLM's parliamentary group and acting as a spokesman.
Kiir has shown little interest in the affairs of the north, intervening only when delays in implementing the peace deal reached crisis level, earning him the title of "vice absent" rather than first vice president.

"We want Kiir to continue being the president of the south to take the people of the south to the referendum ... Yasir Arman is a long term SPLM cadre and a capable leader and our best candidate," the SPLM's Amum added.

Although the 2005 north-south peace deal was signed under the slogan of making unity attractive, little has been implemented with good will, fuelling mistrust among southerners of the northern government they had long accused of oppression.

A Muslim who joined the rebels over disillusionment with a succession of military, corrupt and dictatorial Khartoum governments, Arman will run against fellow Muslim Bashir.

Bashir hopes to legitimise his position after the International Criminal Court last year issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Darfur.

The SPLM is thought to have chosen a northerner to run for the presidency as few in the mainly Muslim north would vote for a Christian southerner.

The imposition of Islamic sharia law in 1983 fuelled the rebellion by southerners who follow mostly traditional beliefs or Christianity.

With millions of southerners who fled the war to seek refuge in the north and hundreds of thousands of northerners who have shown support for the SPLM, Arman may be a leading candidate for the presidency.

The elections promise democratic transformation, but with one of the most complex electoral systems in the world and the opposition accusing the ruling NCP of fraud in the registration process, few are optimistic Sudan will see real change.

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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania's food prices eased year-on-year in December, the government's statistics body said on Friday, as supplies in the market improved, but fuel prices and election spending are seen keeping costs high.

Food carries a heavy weighting in the basket of goods Tanzania uses to calculate inflation and a drought there late last year sent inflation rates soaring, like elsewhere in east Africa.

The inflation rate eased to 12.2 percent year on year in December from 12.5 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, while those of non-food items rose to 8.6 percent year on year from 5.0 percent in November.

"If the rains continue to fall and food prices go down, then we may see a more notable decline of inflation during the August-September harvest season," said Haji Semboja, a research fellow at the University of Dar es Salaam's Economic Research Bureau.

Inflation rates in east Africa largely depend on rainfall because the baskets are heavily weighted on food. The region relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture and drought in the past few years has affected its economies badly.

Tanzania's food inflation rate decreased to 14.5 percent in the year ended December 2009 from 17.1 percent in the year ended November 2009, NBS said in a statement, as rains across the region improved food supply.

However, the monthly headline inflation rate rose by 2.1 percent in December. The NBS said fuel, power and water prices rose by 10 percent.

Semboja said the inflation rate was likely to hover around double digits in coming months as the government is expected to spend heavily ahead of elections scheduled for October.

"It all depends on the coming budget and whether or not it will finance its spending from donors or bonds and borrowing from the private sector," he said.
The statistics body did not revise its method of calculating the inflation rate, nor the basket of goods, as expected.

Food carries a 55.9 percent weight in the current basket of goods used to measure inflation. Central Bank Governor Benno Ndulu told Reuters in September that Tanzania intends to lower food's weight to about 42 or 43 percent.

Kenya revised its calculation method to a geometric mean in October, which slashed its inflation rate to 6.6 percent from the 17.5 percent it would have been using the old arithmetic mean.

NBS said the annual average inflation rate was 12.1 percent from 10.3 percent in the previous year.

"This was mainly attributed by the high annual average food inflation rate of 17.5 percent, whilst annual average non-food inflation rate was 3.8 percent," NBS said.

20100115

CASABLANCA (Reuters) - Morocco has extended tax breaks for firms on the Casablanca bourse for three years to back its drive for more listings.
Business leaders and market analysts doubted the incentive would be extended beyond last December because the government needs cash to plug a widening budget deficit.

The government expects the economy to grow by 3.5 percent this year from an estimated 5 percent last year.

Morocco wants to double company listings over the next four years to 150 and lift the number of individual investors to 500,000 from about 120,000 to become Africa's second ranked stock market hub after South Africa.

"The government has renewed the tax incentives for listed companies for three years. As a result listed firms will pay upto 50 percent less tax on profit," exchange head Karim Hajji said on Friday.

Hajji said average annual investor returns on the Casablanca bourse were 15 percent over the 10 years to 2009 and market capitalisation grew five times.

The benchamrk MASI index is up 3.74 percent so far this year after losing 4.92 percent last year and 19.95 percent in 2007.

NEW LISTINGS

Hajji said the exchange expects to list its first foreign company next year.

"We are working on that with Moroccan banks with operations in West Africa. We plan to list the first company from that region in 2011. It would be the first foreign firm to be listed on our bourse," Hajji said but gave no details.
He said he expected one or two firms would be listed this year. No new firms were listed on the bourse last year because of the economic downturn.