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NAIROBI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- United Nations officials said on Monday that its Millennium Villages Projects (MVP) have helped to drastically reduce month-to-child HIV transmissions across Africa.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said that one such Millennium Village in Sauri in Western Kenya registered only four cases of mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT), adding that testing of pregnant women can fully curb the mother-to-child transmission.

Sidibe said the levels of testing among pregnant women in the Millennium Villages Projects have also increased from 10 percent to over 60 percent in three years.

"Against a background of over 400,000 cases of MTCT, this is an impressive figure and with a concerted effort, we can fully curb the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and bear witness as an HIV-free generation is born in Africa and the world," he told journalists in Nairobi.

The executive director made the disclosure alongside the Director of Early Earth Institute who is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary General Jeffrey Sachs after a five-day visit to the Millennium Village project in Sauri to witness the first hand progress that has been made in fighting poverty, boosting agricultural productivity, increasing access to health care and education, and creating an enabling environment for communities to build and sustain economic growth.

"As a result of the MVP, health throughout Sauri village, where between 60-70 percent of people live on less tan 1 dollar a day, has improved greatly since the project was set up in 2005," Sachs said.

Sachs said he will convey the impressive statistics at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa scheduled in February during an occasion that will also be attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"This unique partnership between UNAIDS and MVP will design and implement a powerful system to bring the prevention of mother-to-child transmission to near zero and do so in a way that can be utilized in other parts of the Africa and the world," said Sachs.

The partnership between UNAIDS and MVP focuses specifically on reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases by 2015 by decreasing the incidence of HIV among women.

"UNAIDS brings unrivaled global expertise, leadership, and detailed strategies to the fight against HIV/AIDS, including MTCT," said Sachs.

He said the MVP brings the power of integrated rural development, including primary health systems, to the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease.

By teaming up, UNAIDS and MVP, Sachs said will design and implement a powerful system to bring MTCT to near zero, and do so in a way that can be utilized in other parts of Africa and the world.

In 2008, 390,000 infants in sub-Saharan Africa became infected with HIV from their mothers.

"AIDS has become the leading cause of the death among infants and young children in much of sub-Saharan Africa," said Michel Sidibe.

"We have seen that it is possible to virtually eliminate infant HIV infections in high-income countries through HIV testing of pregnant women, contraception, and the use of antiretroviral drugs during and after delivery."

Sidibe said Africa should apply the knowledge and tools to create an AIDS-free generation in the continent and the rest of the world.

"The move towards universal prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission requires translating scientific evidence into routine practice. With a concerted effort, we can fully curb the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and bear witness as an HIV-free generation is born in Africa and the world," said Sidibe.

MVP, a partnership between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise, and local governments, provides a new approach to fighting poverty.

Now covering approximately 500,000 people and the number is growing, the project is showing the development community worldwide that an integrated package of development interventions, supported by a modest financial investment about 110 U.S. dollar per person annually over five to 10 years will be instrumental to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Improving child survival and reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV remains a key focus of this effort.

As a result of MVP, there are now six health centers in Sauri, where between 60-70 percent of people live on less than one dollar per day.

Health throughout the Sauri village cluster has improved greatly since the project was set up in 2005 with a reduction in malaria cases, significant improvements in maternal and child health, and increased access to HIV testing and treatment.

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NOUAKCHOTT, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Mauritania is launching a large-scale media campaign against the dangers of terrorism and extremism, according to the local press agency ANI.

Live debates are being broadcast by the state television and radio and supported by contributions from ulemas (Islamic scholars), researchers and psychologists to explain the reasons which drive some "youths to get attracted" to terrorism.

In broadcasts, panelists explain the concept of Jihad (holy war)which has on several occasions been misinterpreted by the fundamentalists, the banning of shedding of other people's blood by the sharia (the Islamic law), as well as the sacrilegious acts which include attacks against any non-Muslim on the Muslim soil.

In reaction to this campaign, some jailed extremist activists have sent a statement to ANI from prison, praising the ulemas. They said they have understood certain concepts "which they previously did not understand."

Observers see the statement as a sign of true beginning of dialogue between the country's security authorities and the "jihadist" groups who have more than 60 being held in Nouakchott prisons.

The campaign comes after a symposium ended on Friday on ways to deal with religious extremism.

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DAKAR, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The disagreement between Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the Catholic church following his comments on the Christian religious practices "has been finally concluded," Jean-Noel Diouf, the bishop of the eastern region of Tambacounda, said on Sunday.

"The head of state realized his mistake and in Africa, we say that if the leader admits his error, he must be forgiven," the bishop said at the end of a meeting at the Presidential Palace between Wade and the Senegalese bishops.

"The issue has finally been concluded," the bishop announced on Senegalese state television.

In late December, Wade told a group of teachers from his party, that "in the churches, people pray (in front of a statue) of Jesus who is not a real God. Everyone knows this but no one says anything against it."

The comments were made in response to the critics of Muslim religious leaders against the Monument for African Renaissance, a huge statue constructed in Dakar at the initiative of Wade.

Reacting two days later, Cardinal Theodore Adrien Sarr said Christians "felt bruised and humiliated" by those comments.

"It was so embarrassing and humiliating that the head of state could find some semblance between the Monument for African Renaissance and the Jesus representations that are in our churches," the head of the church in Senegal pointed out.

"We felt humiliated because of the risk of divisions that such comments can bring in a national community which has always been characterized by exemplary harmony between Christians and Muslims," the prelate noted.

He also welcomed the spontaneous reaction "of support and solidarity" from the Muslim brothers and sisters.

A few hours after the remarks by the prelate, the young Catholics who wanted to march towards the Presidential Palace were dispersed by police. In the evening, the son to the head of state, Karim Wade, accompanied by five ministers visited the home of the cardinal "to apologize."

In his New Year message, the Senegalese president regretted his comments on the Christian religious practices.

"If my comments were offensive to some members of the Christian community, I am the first to regret it," he said. The church in a press statement acknowledged the regrets of Wade.

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LUANDA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Two members from a separatist group which attacked the bus carrying Togo's national soccer team on Friday had been captured by Angola's security forces, the official news agency reported on Monday.

The two are believed to be members of the Front for the Liberation of Enclave of Cabinda, which is known for its decades-old fighting with government forces for separation.

They were caught on the spot after the machine-gun attack on the bus, which resulted in the deaths of the Angolan driver and assistant coach and the spokesman for Togo's national soccer team, and police are conducting further investigations into the attack.

The bus was heading for Cabinda, one of the four Angolan cities hosting the final stage matches of the African Cup of Nations (2010) when it came under fierce machine gun fire on Friday.

The Angolan government blamed the attack as an "act of terrorism " carried out by individuals who wanted to cause problems for the government.

Cabinda is a small oil-rich enclave in the very north of Angola, separated from the rest of the country by a strip of land belonging to Congo. Over half of Angola's oil are produced in Cabinda, but local people claimed they get few benefits from the oil produced on their lands.

Despite Friday's attack on Togo's national team, the CAN2010 matches kicked off as scheduled on Sunday.

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OUAGADOUGOU, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on Sunday for a visit to boost bilateral relations and cooperation in security affairs.

The French top diplomat was on an African trip which also took him to Rwanda and the Republic of Congo Brazzaville.

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore held a meeting of more than an hour with the visiting French minister on issues of cooperation and security in the West African region, the government said.

Kouchner said he exchanged views with Compaore on a number of issues about the Great Lakes region, the intervention of regional crises by the United Nations and the re-establishment of relations with Rwanda.

On the Guinea crisis, Kouchner expressed hope that an African solution could be found because "it's with the African Union that we began the journey and without it, the international community cannot do anything. It's upon the Guinean people and the African community to control the situation during the transition and electioneering period."

Kouchner also made it clear that with the current situation in Guinea and an interim government in power, the next elections are likely to be based on a second plan of its facilitator Compaore.

According to the French minister, the facilitator assured him that the consultations will be organized within the West African bloc ECOWAS in the coming week.

The talks between President Compaore and Kouchner also touched on the insecurity in the Sahelian strip and the difficulties facing countries in the Sahel region in fighting terrorism, especially in cases of abduction.

"France will do what she can together with her allies and friends so that precaution is taken," Kouchner said, noting that there are risks to be taken and this demands action from everyone.

In the face of this situation, France and Burkina Faso reaffirmed their willingness to work together for the regional security, according to officials of both countries.

The celebration of fifty years of independence for some African countries in 2010 was another topic between the two men. Kouchner said these were African celebrations and that he will in a friendly manner and with complicity watch Africans during the celebrations.

The Burkinabe minister of state for foreign affairs and regional cooperation, Alain B. Yoda, spoke highly of bilateral relations.

"Whether it's in the field of cooperation in the international organizations or bilateral cooperation, things are going on very well," Yoda said.

On the French relations with Cote d'lvoire, Togo, Guinea and the Sahel-Sahara strip, Yoda said there are historical, economic and strategic reasons for France to be interested in the affairs of Francophone African.

But Yoda pointed out the solution to African problems will have to come from Africans themselves and that Burkina Faso was committed to the American mission.

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ABIDJAN, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) has ended weeks of operation to tackle contentions over the electoral list, with 512,755 cases corrected out of the 558,623 filed in the run-up to the presidential elections.

The CEI declared an end to the operation on Saturday, an important step toward the polls set for late February and early March, although its chief was accused of having fraudulently put people on the list.

"The time to make electoral complaints over the provisional electoral list came to an end on Jan. 9, 2010 in the entire national territory and beyond the borders," according to a CEI press statement released on Sunday.

It also denied its president Robert Beugre Mambe having given instruction for the registration of any ineligible person.

On Saturday, the spokesman of the presidency blasted the CEI chief on state television, accusing him of registering 429,000 people on the electoral list in "a unilateral and fraudulent manner."

The records of the contentious cases are "available, consultable and verifiable" from the local electoral commission offices, the CEI statement said, adding that its president will "at an opportune time, give more clear information and let everyone make an independent assessment of the situation."

"The president of the independent electoral commission did not at any time take any initiative towards registering anyone who had not lodged a complaint at the local electoral commission offices," the statement said.

The commission said its would assure that "the only people who will be registered on the final electoral list will be those who came from the local CEI offices and were validated by the central commission's supervisor."

On Wednesday, President Laurent Gbagbo clearly demanded the extension of time to lodge complains, so that "all Ivorians can be registered on the electoral list and that the foreigners can be excluded."

The check of the complains was kicked off on Nov. 26 for a period of 38 days, before being extended for 10 days. It involved 1.03 million cases. The validated electoral list has 5.3 million people.

The preparation of the provisional electoral list will lead to the establishment of the final list and distribution of the voter card before the opening of the campaign period for the election, the first in the West African country since 2005.

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NAIROBI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The radical Jamaican cleric who was deported to Gambia last week has been returned after the airlines in Nigeria refused to fly him to the west African nation.

The deportee's lawyer Mbugua Mureithi told a news conference in Nairobi on Sunday night that they had located Abdullah Al-Faisal in a prison facility in Nairobi.

Mureithi who was accompanied by Muslim Human Rights Forum Executive Director Al Amin Kimathi said Kenya's efforts have been thwarted by the refusal of several countries to allow Faisal to pass through their borders or travel on their airlines.

"We have been able to locate him, he is being held at the Industrial Area GK Prison and we don't understand why he is there because he has never been charged in court," Kimathi told journalists.

It was the second time the east African nation had tried unsuccessfully to deport the cleric who was arrested a week ago in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa.

The Kenyan authorities said Faisal's history of radical statements and connections with convicted terrorists made him a threat to Kenya's security.

Kimathi and Mureithi telephoned Al-Faisal's mobile phone and put him on loudspeaker during the press conference where he was heard saying: "I was deported to Gambia but when I reached Nigeria, an airline there declined to fly me to Gambia. I was then returned to Nairobi and now I am here."

"I am a public figure, the Gambian government does not have a problem accepting me. I was given a choice to make and chose there, but the airline that was to fly me from Nigeria declined to take me on board."

"Now I am in prison, I do not know how I got here and I would like the Muslim community out there to help me because I am a public figure," Al-Faisa added.

The preacher was deported from Nairobi on Thursday following orders by Kenyan Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang.

Al-Faisal was convicted in Britain on terrorism-related charges in 2003 and deported on release 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 for the better part of 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.

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

On Thursday, Gambia offered to help get him to Jamaica, but now it is unclear how he can travel to Gambia.

Mureithi said he planned to go to court on Monday morning to compel the government to release Al-Faisal.

He said they were concerned "because he has expressed concerns at his health which is now deteriorating and you see he is being held without having committed any crime. He wants to be released to the Muslim community."

JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Heads will roll because South African president Jacob Zuma has issued a proclamation authorizing the most extensive special investigating unit (SIU) to investigate local government corruption in the country's history, City Press newspaper reported on Sunday.

The SIU said the investigation was prompted by the South African auditor-general's reports on municipalities.

The move will see the institution probe alleged widespread financial irregularities in all 24 municipalities in North West province. The probe will include the province's four districts and 20 local municipalities. The investigation will include offenses allegedly committed between January 2005 and November 2009.

In the proclamation the president said it is necessary for the allegations to be probed and that justifiable civil disputes emanating from such investigations should be put through adjudication.

"The investigation is in the planning phase and the total amount of money involved will be quantified as it unfolds," SIU spokesperson Narushka Moodley said.

Moodley said the investigation would be conducted in phases and could take between 18 and 24 months, depending on the complexity of matters referred to the SIU.

The SIU was unable to provide an exact number of people to be investigated.

The municipalities are also accused of making appointments and promoting staff in violation of labor laws and policies.

"The SIU will facilitate the recovery of monies lost as a result of maladministration, fraud and/or corruption," Moodley said.

She said disciplinary files would be forwarded to the municipalities to take action against officials who had contravened the law and that the SIU would also recommend systemic changes to avoid any future abuse of systems used by the municipalities.

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africanews

The United Nations has said it would hand over to the government in Guinea-Bissau a former navy chief accused of leading a failed coup in 2008. Rear Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto fled to Gambia after the failed coup against former President Joao Bernardo Vieira, and he had since been living there under full protection from the Gambian leader.
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But the Admiral showed up at the offices of the United Nations in Bissau where he sought asylum. It is still not clear under which circumstances he left his former safe heaven. The Gambia has characteristically remained tight-lipped about the development. There had been reports of several meetings between UN officials and the Bissau Guinean government, according to Reuters.

A joint statement was released by the UN and Bissau Guinean government. "The United Nations has committed on this day, January 8, to handing over Rear Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto to the government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior," the statement reads.

The former navy chief has been linked to many reports of drug trafficking in the region.

However, members of the civil society in Guinea Bissau have reportedly urged the Government to set Bubo Na Tchuto free in the interest of peace.

While Defense Minister Aristides Ocante told the media in Bissau that “Bubo Tchuto’s return is not a principal concern for his country”, an emergency meeting on the matter was held the very day he made his statement.

Guinea Bissau’s army chief of staff, the country’s Attorney General and senior government officials attended the meeting during which it was agreed that the law should take its due course as regards the case of Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto.

An official statement issued after the meeting said “the Executive is determined to apply justice on Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto as a means of ensuring political stability and social peace, respect for constitutional principles and the rule of law”.

The United Nations representative in Guinea Bissau, Burundi born Joseph Mutaboba, met with President Malam Bacai Sanhá and the Head of Government, Carlos Gomes Junior, on the issue of fugitive admiral.

Reports from other quarters say that President Malam Bacai Sanhà is being pressured by some of his close allies who are of the view that the fugitive former navy chief is a security threat to the nation, and that he must be forced out of the country once again.

Some of the president's aids suspect the imminence of subversive intentions behind the unexpected return of the Admiral, who was last year accused by The Gambia, his former host country, of involvement in illegal activities while enjoying his refugee status.

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africanews

Italian police have intervened and rescued hundreds of African immigrants who were attacked by local residents at a town in the south of the country. The violence which broke out last week began when hundreds of immigrants, most of whom are Africans said to be employed illegally as farm laborers, went on a demonstration after some of them had been shot at by some unidentified people.
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The report said that the demonstrators set fire to cars and smashed windscreens before police intervened, leading to a scuffle that left several of the demonstrators wounded, according to a report by Italy's ANSA news agency.

Accordingly, the Italian authorities had to send in over 200 extra police on Saturday to evacuate the migrants after local indegious residents violently attacked the African farm workers protesting against their conditions.

Latest report said that 67 people got injured in the attack at the Calabrian town of Rosarno, where calm is said to have been generally restored by Saturday, with barricades erected by locals dismantled and shops opened for business.

Police said that 31 foreigners, 19 policemen and 17 locals were injured, after been fired at with shotgun on Saturday.

Nine buses with police escorts evacuated 320 immigrants early Saturday to a reception centre at Crotone, some 170 kilometres from the center of the scuffle in Rosarno. But the police said some 100 more immigrants had fled the town on their own, while preparations were on going to move another 300 to safer places.

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africanews

Four Rwandan nationals currently living in Zambia have been lined up by a Finish Court to testify in the case involving Francois Bazaramba, a Rwandan genocide suspect currently being tried in Finland.
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Zambia, alongside Malawi and Mozambique were accused by Rwandan authorities of harbouring genocide suspected that fled to the region after the 1994 genocide.

The witnesses are part of the more than 100 witnesses lined up by the Porvoo District court to testify against the former clergyman who has been in detention in Finland since 2007, according to media reports out of Rwanda.

Bazaramba, 58, a former clergyman with the Baptist Church in Rwanda, is accused of masterminding the killing of over 25,000 people who were seeking refuge at Nyakizu Hill, in the Southern Province, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Last year, officials of the Finish Court travelled to Rwanda to gather evidence against Bazaramba with the help of the National Public Prosecution Authority.

Bazaramba, who has lived in Finland for years, is on trial on charges of genocide, including committing 15 murders on top of masterminding the killing of 25,000 others under the pretext of protecting them.

During their investigation, Finnish authorities also travelled to Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Congo, Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa.

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THE political and economic rivalry between SA and Angola is expected to graduate into a battle for dominance in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) , says US-based global intelligence think-tank Stratfor.

In its annual forecast, its Africa analyst Mark Schroeder predicted the beginning of “a cold war type” of jostling for regional dominance . “Angola’s ambitions of reasserting itself as a regional power will lead to frictions with SA.”

Stratfor says the two countries have “different strengths and vulnerabilities, though each has its own power base and means of leverage”. SA is wealthier and boasts a stronger military and industrial base, while Angola has a “brutally effective security service” and abundant revenue from its now robust oil industry.

Schroeder said competition “will start off rather sedately” this year, with Angola offering bits of its diamond industry and sales of crude oil as a means of keeping relations with SA friendly.

But it would not be long before something like a cold war — a conflict using proxy dissident factions — erupts . The factions’ operations this year will be limited to the political realm, rather than an all-out war like the one between Angola and SA in the 1970s and 1980s, he said.

Angola will have to look at other means to restrain SA’s behaviour from overshadowing its objectives of being a major role- player in the region.

Stratfor said that both states plan to shape Zimbabwe to their liking, and competition will heat up as President Robert Mugabe’s health takes him out of the picture. Already both are manoeuvring their allies into position.

Relations cooled under former president Thabo Mbeki , as SA and Angola feuded over how to handle the crisis in Zimbabwe and the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo. The tension left South African companies out of lucrative reconstruction deals after Angola’s civil war ended in 2002, while China, Brazil and western countries vie for a slice of its fast- growing economy .

Last year Zuma visited Angola to clinch several deals , but proposals for easing visa requirements and establishing a bilateral commission were left unsigned .

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Senior ruling party leaders urged ANC supporters in the Western Cape to be ready for the battle to wrestle the province back from Helen Zille's Democratic Alliance.

Addressing a 98th ANC birthday celebration rally at the Elsies River Civic Centre, National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel told scores of party supporters that the DA's electoral dominance in the pro-vince was temporary.

He said: "We don't enjoy that same privilege here. We don't have the city or the province. But it is a temporary position.

"We will take them back, although it is not a God-given right. We will take them because we represent the interests of our people and we must listen to our people," Manuel said.

The Western Cape is the only province not run by an ANC premier and Cape Town is the only metropolitan council not under the ANC control.

Speaking earlier at the same rally, Labour Minister and ANC Western Cape convenor Membathisi Mdladlana said the party has a battle on its hands if it wants to win back the province.

Urging party members to unite, Mdladlana reminded the audience that the ANC had spent most of its past 98 years engaged in opposition politics.

"Wear your [opposition] cap again, the one you used to wear. But not if your branch is dead. My branch is functional, that is where we start," he said.

"We have been defeated by an alliance between the DA and the National Party. How old are they? We are 98 years old, Hallelujah".

ANC Youth League representative Andile Lili chanted "down with Helen Zille" and told the crowd the Western Cape premier was "the enemy".

"Zille is racist. Helen Zille during apartheid was not there. She never fought to liberate us and today she claims to be the champion of democracy. She wants to make sure the apartheid regime government is back. They are dividing us because they want to take South Africa back to the minority again."

Lili said that in 2011 the ANC would take back the City of Cape Town and in 2014, the province.

Manuel said President Jacob Zuma's annual ANC January 8 statement - delivered at a rally in Northern Cape on Saturday - had brought back memories of when the ANC was banned.

"We would sit in dark rooms listening to [then ANC president] Oliver Tambo on the crackling radio as he brought our marching orders. For the statement is our marching orders for the year," Manuel said.

He urged party members to put an end to factionalism and other destructive tendencies within their ranks.

"Unity is not like a jersey you put on when it is cold. It must be inside us, part of the values of the ANC. Not something worn only when under threat. It shapes the way we work every day. Unity is shaped in struggle."

The ANC voice in the province was too soft, its membership too small, Manuel said.

"We need to change that, to strengthen. Recruit, recruit, recruit. Build active branches by campaigning now, so that people understand we are part of their lives and it is only the ANC they trust to take decisions in their interests," he added.

The former finance minister said it was the responsibility of the ANC to help give the province's 11000 failed matriculants a second chance.

"We must get involved. Teachers must be on time, in class and teaching for seven hours a day."

Manuel also touched on issues relating to healthcare, crime and corruption and services to the poor as he motivated the singing and dancing crowd to devote "more energy" to the ANC.

"It does not start with elections, it starts now. It must happen where we don't govern."

aljazeera



Togo's football squad has flown out of Angola, withdrawing from the Africa Cup of Nations after being the target of an ambush that killed three and injured eight.

The team pulled out on Sunday after Gilbert Houngbo, Togo's prime minister, ordered his team to head home, overruling a decision by the players to stay back and play in the continent's premier tournament.

"If there is a team or persons present under the banner of Togo at the opening of the African Nations Cup this afternoon, it will be a false representation. The team must return today," Houngbo said.

"We understand the position of the players who want to in some way avenge their dead colleagues, but it would be irresponsible for the Togolese authorities to allow them to continue."

The team's assistant coach and spokesman died of wounds sustained when the bus they were travelling in came under attack on Friday in Cabinda province, an oil-rich region separated from the rest of Angola by a thin strip of Democratic Republic of Congo.

An Angolan bus driver was killed at the scene.

'Mourning the dead'

As he boarded the plane, Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo's captain, told journalists: "We have to mourn our dead. We go back home to do this."

The players earlier said that the team had decided at a meeting late on Saturday that they would line up against Ghana in the first match of the tournament in tribute to the dead.

"People died for this tournament, others were injured. We can't abandon them and leave like cowards," Alaixys Romao, a Togo midfielder, was quoted as telling France's L'Equipe newspaper.

"Our government doesn't necessarily agree with us but we are determined to play in this competition. The decision was taken unanimously."

Thomas Dossevi, a Togolese striker who plays for the French side Nantes, echoed Ramo's remarks saying that the team would line up against Ghana for their first game of the tournament "in memory of the dead".

"We are all heartbroken, it is no longer a party, but we want to show our national colours, our values and that we are men," he said.

Witnesses said that the squad was seen training for Monday's scheduled game on Sunday morning.

'Attacks will continue'

The Africa Cup of Nations got under way on Sunday in the Angolan capital, Luanda, with a game between the hosts and Mali. Seven matches of the three-week tournament were due to take place in Cabinda.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), the tournament organisers, said in a statement on Saturday that all the matches would go ahead as scheduled.

A group fighting for the independence of the oil-rich region, which is divided from the rest of Angola by Democratic Republic of Congo, claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday, saying it was aimed at the team's military escorts.

Rodrigues Mingas, the secretary-general of The Forces for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Military Position (Flec-PM) said the group would continue its attacks against Angolan targets.

"This attack wasn't against the Togolese it was against the Angolan occupation forces. We have nothing against Togo. We are supporting and admire their players a great deal," he told Al Jazeera from Luxembourg.

"We are not killers. Two months ago we wrote to the Confederation of African Football president, Issa Hayatou. On his desk he has our letters warning that there was a risk in organising the tournament in Cabinda.

"Cabinda is not Angola, we have no common border with Angola, our languages are different, we are from different tribes, we have nothing to do with them. They are occupying our country for the black gold."

'Security tight'

Samuel Petrequin, a sports writer for The Associated Press news agency, told Al Jazeera that the streets of Cabinda were "peaceful" in the wake of the attack.

"It seems the games will go ahead as planned," he told Al Jazeera.

"There is no violence at all, maybe they can have the games as it was planned. The Angolan government said after the attack that it was going to increase security measures."

Al Jazeera's Mourad Labarab, reporting from Cabinda, said that security measures had become "very tight".

"The army have been deployed throughout the city and also we have seen checkpoints ... movement in the city has become very difficult and just getting close to the stadiums could take hours.

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allafrica

Abuja — Two former colleagues of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua who served as governors along with him between 1999 and 2007, Mr. Donald Duke of Cross River State and Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State yesterday reviewed the state of the nation and concluded that some of the measures taken so far by the presidency in response to the absence of the President from the country on health grounds are setting dangerous precedents.

Duke identified some of the wrong measures to include the statement by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) that the President can rule the country from anywhere; the decision of the administration to make the out-going Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi to swear-in his successor, Justice Alloysus Katsina-Alu and the refusal of Vice President Jonathan Goodluck to effectively take charge of the administration in the absence of President Yar'Adua.

Also, Bafarawa dismissed the calls for special prayers for Yar'Adua and said instead what the president needs is quality advice that will make him abide by the oath of office which mandates him to ask his deputy, Vice President Goodluck to act for him in his absence.

"This is a dangerous precedent The Chief Justice of Nigeria swears-in his successor. In line with the doctrine of separation of powers, the head of an arm of government does not swear in his successor in the same branch. The Chief Justice swears in the president who in turn swears in every other member of the executive arm and vice versa.

"But now a precedent has been set. Perhaps, a president in future may swear in his own successor. Even the legislative arm requires a proclamation signed by the President before it commences sitting in accordance with section 64 (3) of our constitution. But moving beyond that, institutions are breaking down and the National Assembly is unable to even ask the right questions but has the temerity to threaten the United States. What a joke!" he said.

Duke noted that the 1999 constitution did not foresee the current situation that the President of the Republic would travel out for so long a time and that government officials like Aondoakaa would exploit the lacuna to create confusion in the administration.

"When there is no provision in the constitution, conventions take over and the convention is that the President will govern from his home country, preferably from the capital.

"But when the Federal Attorney-General tells us that the President can rule from anywhere, that is an insult to us as Nigerians. Medical records (of the President) are sought and he says he can't produce them because the President is a private citizen. But the President is a Public figure who is paid by the tax payers. So, all these things are happening and nobody or institution is able to call the attorney-General to questions," he said.

The former governor said the effects of the maladministration following the absence of the president from the country are becoming glaring as manifested in the blacklisting of Nigeria by the United States in the aftermath of the Abdulmutallab attempted airline bombing incident.

He blamed Vice President Goodluck for not exercising the authority of his office as the man who should naturally take control in the absence of the President, irrespective of any formality being alluded to by some government officials.

"Vice President Goodluck Jonathan's position confuses me because his duty is to stand in the gap when the President is unavailable but he says he is waiting for a letter. What if something happens and the President loses consciousness and cannot read nor write? This letter business is a courtesy and formality to the National Assembly The issue of stepping-in does not arise because as vice president, he is already in," he said.

He said it was contradictory that members of the Federal Executive Council were awarding contracts during their meeting presided by the vice president but when it concerns other substantial state issues, the issue of the vice president not having full executive powers would be raised.

"Decisions are being taken but they are selective. In the situation that occurred on December 25, 2009, the vice president ought, immediately to have sought audience with the US ambassador and the vice president of the United States. This would have commenced the process of engagement but we sit back and do nothing.

"Regardless of whatever circumstance we find ourselves, the state must run. When President Bush went in for a routine colonoscopy, anxiety of state was ceded to vice president Dick Cheney. In an interview, former vice president Dan Quayle states an instance where he ordered an air strike against Saddam who had breached the no-fly zone while President George Bush Snr. was airborne and couldn't be reached," Duke said.

He also chided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for not speaking out in defence of national interest while seeking to pander to the individual interest of President Yar'Adua.

Meanwhile, Bafarawa in an interview with THISDAY said the only way to avoid the looming constitutional crisis thrown up by the absence of the president from the country for several weeks is for Yar'Adua to follow the guideline in the constitution which required him to instruct his vice to act on his behalf without further delay. He said prayers alone cannot avert the attendant confusion the present scenario could bring.

"As the president and as a Muslim, he took the Holy Quran and swore that he is going to abide by the constitution.

"The only thing he needs is that people who are asking for prayers should also advise him to abide by the oath of office of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria so that he can ask Jonathan to act in his absence. But for him not to do that and Nigerians are still asking for prayer, people should not mis-interprete issues," he said.

He said contrary to the claim by some government officials that the president's absence from the country does not affect governance, Nigerians are already feeling the impact of the president's health condition which has kept him away from the country.

"Yar'Adua is a national property. If Yar'Adua is sick, the nation is sick. In the last 35 days that he is sick, you can imagine how many Nigerians who are in the hospital in millions looking for attention. Maybe it is because the budget had not been signed or whatever it is, they are suffering there," Bafarawa said.

He said the controversy over the signing of the 2010 budget by the President on his sick bed wouldn't have arisen, had the event been recorded on video and shown to Nigerians.

He said: "When he was signing the bill, in order to give Nigerians the impression that Mr. President is feeling better, they should have brought camera people to record him while he was signing that supplementary budget so that we can feel happy that our president is feeling fine and all the rumours we are hearing is not true."

The former governor said there is no truth in the speculation that a certain part of the country does not want Jonathan as acting President.

According to him, there is no cause for fear because the constitution has made it difficult for any part of the country to take others to ransom.

"What is the fear? This is democracy. Even if the President wants to do anything, he will take the matter to the National Assembly. The Southerners are there. The Northerners are there to approve it. The president doesn't have any executive power per say without getting the consent of the national assembly.

"When we are talking of north and south, it is not a question of north. What we are looking for is good leadership," he said.

He recalled that a document asking the president to resign based on his health condition was signed by 53 people drawn from all parts of the country including the north.

"Even the letter, which was signed by 53 people (calling on him to resign), it's not only the southern people that signed the letter. There are a million of northerners whom I know that have the same ideology and belief that he should act as prescribed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, I don't want this thing to create problem between North and South," he said.

20100110

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's electoral commission said on Sunday it had settled all legal disputes over its provisional voter list, paving the way for a final list to be drawn up and the long delayed poll to go ahead.

But President Laurent Gbagbo accused the commission (CEI) of failing to deal thoroughly with all contested cases, saying it had admitted hundreds of thousands of possibly illegitimate names onto the register.

The elections, which have been repeatedly postponed since 2005, are badly needed to end years of stalemate and uncertainty after a 2002-3 war split West Africa's former economic giant in two, leaving the north controlled by rebels.

The polls are currently scheduled for around the end of February, though with no date fixed.

"We finished the process last night," said Bamba Yacouba, a spokesman for the commission. "We are now in the phase of validating the list ... In principle, that means we should have the final list ready by the end of January."

Six million Ivorians registered to vote in the world's top cocoa grower, but a million of those were contested, many on grounds they were not really Ivorian; a sensitive issue in a country that fought a civil war over nationality disputes.

In a statement read out by his spokesman on national TV late on Saturday, Gbagbo said 429,000 disputed cases had been registered without being carefully examined.

"They should have been treated with the utmost rigour to inspire the trust of everyone for a just, credible and transparent vote," he said. "No fraud, no manipulation, no tinkering of any kind can be tolerated ... from the CEI."

20100110

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A pro-government militia in Somalia executed a commander from the al Shabaab rebel group in public on Sunday, ramping up the stakes in battles for central regions of the failed Horn of Africa state.

The Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militia, which is aligned with Somalia's weak Western-backed government, has been fighting al Shabaab insurgents in central Galagadud region. The United States says al Shabaab is al Qaeda's proxy in the country.

Ahlu Sunna's spokesman said it had captured many rebels during clashes last week around Galgadud's capital Dusamareb, including the commander who was sentenced to die by firing squad after he refused to renounce al Shabaab's hardline ideology.

"We don't normally kill al Shabaab members. We arrest them and make them understand that Islam means peace. We have detained and then released many of them," the spokesman, Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, told Reuters by telephone.

"This commander insisted that all people were infidels except his group ... We will execute al Shabaab members who insist that it can be right to kill the innocent. What else are we supposed to do to those who believe they will go to paradise for killing us and the whole human race?"

Al Shabaab and another rebel group, Hizbul Islam, want to impose a harsh version of sharia law across the nation, and have previously carried out executions, stonings and amputations in southern and central regions under their control.

Sunday's was the first known execution by Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca. It came as residents said Somali government troops and Ahlu Sunna fighters also battled Hizbul Islam insurgents for hours for control of another strategic central town, Baladwayne.

The rebels want to extend their area of control from the south towards the pro-government northeast region of Puntland. The U.N.-backed administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls just a few blocks of the coastal capital Mogadishu.

Fighting has killed 19,000 Somalis and driven 1.5 million from their homes since the start of 2007, and Western security agencies say the country has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks.

20100110

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian security forces killed 10 Islamist rebels in an ambush, state radio reported on Sunday, while in a separate development a Canadian firm said an Algerian employed kidnapped by insurgents had been freed.

The security forces, acting on a tip, mounted the ambush on Saturday in the region of M'sila, 400 km (250 miles) east of Algiers, the radio report said. It said a "large quantity" of weapons had been seized during the operation.

Insurgents operating under the name al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb carry out sporadic bombings and kidnappings in Algeria, though the level of violence has subsided dramatically in the past few years.

Officials say that they have killed or captured hundreds of the insurgents while many others have been persuaded to lay down their arms, leaving only a small hard core of active fighters.

In a separate development, Canadian construction firm SNC-Lavalin said on Sunday one of its Algerian employees, who was kidnapped by insurgents southeast of Algiers on January 4, has been freed.

"I can confirm that our engineer was released late Thursday safe and sound, and we are very relieved," Leslie Quinton, the firm's Vice-President for Global Corporate Communications, said in an email sent to Reuters.

"There are no other details available because an investigation is currently under way by local authorities," Quinton said.

SNC-Lavalin is one of the biggest foreign players in Algeria's infrastructure sector. Its projects include water desalinisation plants, gas treatment facilities and housing construction.

The kidnapped engineer was working on the construction of a water treatment plant.

20100110

CAIRO (Reuters) - A number of female students wore surgical masks at Cairo University to circumvent a government ban on the full face veil in exams, an independent Egyptian newspaper reported on Sunday.

The government, which said it brought in the ban because male and female students were using the face veil to disguise themselves as other candidates, has been wary of Islamist thinking, fighting the growing influence of strict Saudi-based Wahhabi ideology.

Mohamed Saleh, the dean of the Faculty of Science at Cairo University in Egypt's capital, monitored exam rooms on Saturday to ensure the ban was implemented, ordering supervisors to withhold exam papers from women who chose to wear the veil.

He allowed some students to wear surgical masks to cover their faces instead, al Masry al Yowm newspaper said.

"Any student who wears the niqab during an exam will have her paper withdrawn and will be treated as though she has cheated," Saleh was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

The ban on the niqab, upheld by a court last week, has bounced back and forth among various courts after the minister of higher education imposed it in October.

20100110

ABUJA (Reuters) - Chevron said on Saturday it had been forced to shut down 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production in Nigeria, a day after security sources said gunmen had attacked a pipeline operated by the U.S. firm.

"Chevron Nigeria Limited ... confirms that there was a breach on its Makaraba-Utonana pipeline in Delta State, Nigeria on Friday," the major U.S. oil producer said.

Security sources told Reuters on Friday that unknown gunmen in the oil-rich Niger Delta attacked the pipeline, which has been vulnerable to sabotage in the past. No group has claimed direct responsibility.

"This attack was sanctioned by MEND, but did not involve our fighters," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group operating in the region, said in a statement.

Militant attacks on the oil industry in the vast wetlands region have prevented the OPEC member from pumping much above two-thirds of its 3 million bpd production capacity, costing it an estimated $1 billion a month.

The pipeline attack comes five days after four Chevron workers in Delta state were killed in a shooting incident involving the military, said Oma Djebah, spokesman for the state government.

Violence in the Niger Delta has subsided for the past few months after thousands of gunmen handed over their weapons and accepted an amnesty offer from President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Thousands of guns, grenades and rounds of ammunition were surrendered under the amnesty, but security sources said from the start that peace would only last if those who disarmed were quickly re-trained and found work. But progress has been slow.