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.

KHARTOUM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- On the fifth anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between north and south Sudan on the ninth of January 2005, southern Sudanese residing in the north expressed strong desire for unity through a big celebration.

A group of 13 southern Sudanese tribes, under the title "Kiraish," organized a peace festival in Umbada area in Omdurman, Khartoum State, where the group performed folkloric dances and songs.

These songs "reflect joy and happiness of the citizens on the fifth anniversary of the CPA, which brought peace to our homeland," said Sulaiman Ismail Genaih, a leading figure in the southern Sudanese tribe of Kiraish.

"We live here in north Sudan and we do not feel any difference between here and south Sudan. We have merged into the local community and we do not want, after all these years, to separate," he said.

Despite the growing probabilities that the referendum on self-determination for south Sudan, scheduled for January 2011, would result in secession of the south from the north, yet the southern Sudanese living in north Sudan are still calling for unity, believing it would likely to happen.

There is an estimated number of 521,000 southern Sudanese living in the north according to the recent population census, however, the southerners said the number is bigger than that.

Thousands of southerners fled to the north after the civil war broke in the south in 1983.

These southern Sudanese constitute a decisive factor in the forthcoming referendum, and they would probably outbalance the option for unity out of the two referendum options -- unity or separation.

Last December, the Sudanese parliament adopted the law of referendum on self-determination for South Sudan, it stipulates that south Sudan could separate from north Sudan if 50 percent plus one of the voters supported this option, provided that at least 60 percent of the voters participate the referendum.

For her part, Maria Angelo, a southern Sudanese student, said that "I'm studying here, and I live in the north. I do not know how our destiny could be if south Sudan separated from the north. I have many friends here and I do not want to leave them. We pray that Sudan will remain united."

Ali Tamim Fartag, adviser to the Sudanese President and a leading southern Sudanese figure, told Xinhua that "the festival is a message to the leaders of both north and south Sudan that an important sector of south Sudan is eager for unity, and is working to make unity an attractive option."

He added that the festival reflected desire of a broad sector of southern Sudanese to remain within a united Sudan, saying that these southerners lived in the north and enjoyed basic services and security.

He also stressed the importance that both northerners and southerners should work together in the coming period to outbalance the option for unity.

"We need to work together for the top interest of Sudan and help to keep it united without political bargaining or personal or individual interests," he said.

20100110
allafrica

Nairobi — Rwanda is this week expected to release the findings of an investigation by UK defence experts into the causes of the April 6, 1994 air crash that killed president Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprian Ntaryamira, triggering off a 100-day genocide in which nearly a million Rwandans, mainly Tutsi, died.

The presidential jet carrying Habyarimana and his entourage was brought down on the evening of April 6, 1994, as he returned from a heads of state summit in Dar es Salaam where he had made a commitment to integrate fighters of the Rwanda Patriotic Front into the armed forces and to hold elections for a new all-inclusive national government.

This commitment would fulfil the final requirements of a peace agreement arrived at in talks that started in 1992, to return peace to the country which had been at war since October 1, 1990 when exiled Rwandans launched a guerrilla campaign from neighbouring Uganda.

After it was hit by two missiles at about 20.30hrs local time, the jet, which was on the final approach to Kigali International Airport, burst into flames before crashing just outside the compound of the presidential residence.

Although Habyarimana's assassination has often been projected as the trigger to the mass killings that left nearly a million Tutsi dead and moderate Hutu dead, the inquiry report, a copy of which The EastAfrican has seen, paints a picture of a system that was imploding from within as disgruntled elements from the president's inner circle turned on him, to plot his death.

Coming more than 15 years after the event, it is the first open inquiry into the events and broader circumstances surrounding the death of president Habyarimana.

In the absence of physical and technical evidence such as flight data recorders that would have aided the investigation, the report's findings are largely based on eyewitness accounts and the analysis of those accounts and remnants of physical evidence by experts from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Cranfield University -- who conclude that the projectiles that brought down the Dassault Falcon 50 plane registration 9XR-NN came from areas controlled by Habyarimana's own forces.

The inquiry also finds evidence of a plot to assassinate the former president, going back months before the actual event as a number of print and electronic media houses allied to the extremist wing of the ruling party predicted the act.

The experts from Cranfield University were commissioned by the inquiry team to draw technical conclusions from analysis of whatever remained of the wreckage, specifically to determine if the tri-jet was brought down by a missile and if possible the type of missile involved. It had been alleged immediately after Habyarimana's death, that his jet was shot down by Russian-made SAM 16 missiles from a valley in the vicinity of the airport by operatives of the Rwanda Patriotic Front led by then rebel leader Maj Paul Kagame.

However, eyewitness accounts rule out this possibility as the area was heavily patrolled by Habyarimana's presidential guard.

Though not naming the specific type of missile, the British experts rule out the possibility that a SAM 16 missile was used in the attack.

Over the course of the 15-month investigation that began on December 1, 2007, members of the inquiry team recorded testimonies from eyewitnesses, many of them former members of the presidential guard as well as members of the Belgian peacekeeping contingent who were within the crash zone and either witnessed the attack, or its immediate aftermath. The inquiry also relied on testimonies extracted by French judicial authorities from indicted masterminds of the genocide, now in detention at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha.

Witness number one, codified as GM who was part of the Belgian contingent of Unamir, places the launch of the missiles that brought down the aircraft at the military camp just below the airport.

"On April 6, 1994 towards 20.30 while I was on duty in the radio room, I noticed that the lights on the runway had just lit up. The runway was only lit up during the landing manoeuvres of the plane. I therefore left the control tower and leant on the guardrail of the platform to watch the plane come in, to land.

"At the moment where the plane approached the airport, we did not know which plane it was. I saw a luminous point leave the ground. The direction of the start of this point was the Kanombe camp. One could have thought that it was a shooting star by virtue of its configuration.

"When I saw the point take the direction of the plane, I realised that it must be missile fire. At that moment, the lights of the plane went out but the plane did not explode following the first shooting. The theory of the missile fire was reinforced when I saw a second luminous point, the same as the first coming from the same place, taking the direction of the plane. The plane exploded at that moment and fell more or less 500 metres from the president's residence, which was in line with the landing runway," he told the inquiry.

His account is corroborated by several other witnesses who were within the airport precincts at the time.

For their part, the British experts concluded: "Analysis of the possible metal fragments both free standing and embedded recovered from the wreckage and detailed above has been carried out in the UK. The conclusion of the analysis is that the embedded fragments are not consistent with having come from a SAM 16 warhead of Russian manufacture. The embedded material may have originated from a missile manufactured by another source or may have been generated as a result of the explosion of the aircraft.

"On the basis of the evidence both provided by way of witness statements and as a result of the authors' examination of possible missile launch locations contained within these statements it may be concluded that the aircraft was destroyed by one or more surface to air missiles fired from a position within the envelope marked by the authors on the attached map at Annex G."

20100110
aljazeera



Togo's national football team is reported to have decided to play in the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, despite the country's government calling them home following a deadly attack on the team bus.

Two of Togo's players said on Sunday that the team had held a meeting in which it had been decided they would stay to pay tribute to the assistant coach, team spokesman and a bus driver who were killed in the shooting.

"The entire delegation just met and, after all, we'll be on the pitch Monday to play against Ghana," 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."

A Togolese government minister said on Saturday that the team would return home because of the "dramatic situation" in Angola's Cabinda province, where a low-level separatist conflict has been ongoing for three decades.

Players 'heartbroken'

But Romao was quoted as saying: "People died for this tournament, others were injured. We can't abandon them and leave like cowards.

"If we stay here, it's for them. But also so as not to give satisfaction to the rebels."

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.

Al Jazeera's Andy Richardson, reporting from Luanda, said: "The Togo team are tremendously proud of playing for their country.

"This is the premier tournament for football players on this continent, so if Togo do decide to stay it would not be a huge surprise."

The Africa Nations Cup is due to start in the capital Luanda with game between the hosts and Mali on Sunday.

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

'Weapons will talk'

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.

On Sunday, Rodrigues Mingas, the secretary-general of The Forces for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Military Position (Flec-PM) said that there would be further attacks if matches were staged in Cabinda.

"This is going to continue, because the nation is at war, because Hayatou persists," Mingas said referring to Issa Hayatou, the head of the African football federation.

"Weapons will continue to talk," he said.

But Samuel Petrequin, a sports writer for The Associated Press news agency, told Al Jazeera that the streets of Cabinda were "really 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."

'Security tight'

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

"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.

Togo were scheduled to play Ghana in Cabinda on Monday in the first of seven matches in the region.

The team bus came under attack shortly after crossing into Cabinda on Friday, despite reportedly being escorted by two police vans.

The Angolan bus driver was killed instantly. The team's assistant coach and spokesman later died of their wounds.

Kodjovi Obilale, the reserve goalkeeper, was evacuated to Johannesburg where he underwent surgery.

"He is conscious and in a stable condition. He is fully receptive he understands where he is," Richard Friedland, the doctor treating Obilale, told local radio.

"We will still be taking him to theatre, he has obviously suffered some internal injuries."

20100110
aljazeera

Fear and doubt at the start of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations have given way to celebration at the November 11 national stadium in Luanda, as a party atmosphere reigns in the streets far from the threat of bullets in the north.

Overshadowing the 27th edition of one of the most eagerly-awaited contests in world football is the gun attack on Togo's team bus in Cabinda two days ago.

At the time of writing seems certain that the Togolese – due to play their first match against Ghana on Monday – will depart the country after the death of their Angolan bus driver and two of their travelling party in the disputed north western region.

In the latest of a series of conflicting reports, captain Emmanuel Adebayor said the players had given in to pressure from their government to return to their families, reducing the tournament to 15 teams.

The feasibility of hosting matches in Cabinda is still unsure, with the separatist group Flec saying they will continue their violent campaign.

For Angolan organisers desperate for attention to turn to the football, Sunday's first match between the hosts and Mali in Group A cannot come soon enough.

Cabinda remains a worry, and the organisers have a heavy duty of care to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, who appear set to remain and play in Group B – whatever form that group may now take.

Practical problems may arise at the match in Luanda – this is the first time that Angola have hosted the tournament – but there is no real prospect of similar violence in the capital.

Independence day

On the way to the Estadio do Novembre 11 – named for Angola's day of independence from Portuguese rule – happily shouting groups of supporters in black, red and gold were gathering to see their heroes play.

"Angola, Angola – do not let us down," may not strike the most optimistic note, but it was being chanted with feeling from the backs of trucks, motorcycle seats and the roadside.

The pervading feeling in the city is one of joy and expectation.

Visiting eyes witnessing the poverty of much of the population here would imagine that joy is something to be cherished when it comes.

Huge swathes of Luanda are taken up by shanty towns of varying quality of build.

Tin shacks perch on the edges of cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, rubbish streaming down the crags to collect at the side of the highway where children play or collect old car tyres to roll back up the hill to the homes.

Not far from the immense Boavista slum, on the other side of this highway, the brand new Angola team hotel is heavily guarded, separated from a group of makeshift breezeblock homes and a fenced off public beach.

Angola is one of the world's biggest oil producers, but it seems clear that most of the oil cash is not trickling down to the general population – a fact behind much of the trouble in the enclave of Cabinda, where civil war (officially) ended later than in the rest of the country, in 2002.

In Luanda, today is all about football.

As defender Kali told a press conference on Saturday: "It's the opening of the tournament and a beautiful party is being prepared for us.

"We have to be there at that party and give happiness to our supporters."

Big stage

Angola are back on the big stage after qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 2006.

Ranked a lowly 95th in the world rankings, the hosts owe much to home advantage for being among the favourites for the trophy.

Guided by experienced coach Manuel Jose, they face a tough test if they are not to immediately disappoint those cagey fans against Mali, who boast a wealth of experience from to teams in Europe.

Frederic Kanoute, the former English Premier League striker, is still terrorising defences for Sevilla in Spain, with fellow Malians Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra and Momo Sissoko playing for Barcelona, Real Madrid and Italians Juventus respectively.

Those testing the broadcast feed at the stadium on Saturday produced a scoreline of Angola 8-1 Mali, with all the goals coming in the first 10 minutes.

In reality, simply avoiding defeat would be a relief going into Angola's other two Group A matches against Malawi and Algeria.

On Monday, eyes will turn back to Cabinda and the scheduled matches between Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso – and Ghana and Togo.

Ghana may, of course, have no one to play. Given the rumours flying around the tournament, it is hard to know whether to put much credence in the notion of a last-gasp parachuting in of Morocco to take Togo's place.

With so much upheaval already, little could now come as a surprise.

20100110
aljazeera

Togo's prime minister has insisted that the country's football team must head home from the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola after three people were killed in a deadly attack by separatist fighters.

Gilbert Houngbo's remarks on Sunday came after the players expressed their desire to play in the 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."

Emmanuel Adebayor, the Togo captain, later told French radio RMC that the team would be returning heeding to the prime minister's call.

"We had a meeting between players yesterday [Saturday] and we told ourselves we were football players and decided to do something nice for our country by playing to pay tribute to those who died," Adebayor said.

"Unfortunately, the head of State and the country's authorities have made a different decision, so we will pack and go home."

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.

'Determined to play'

Several players who survived the shooting earlier said that the team had decided 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.

Al Jazeera's Andy Richardson, reporting from Luanda, said: "The Togo team are tremendously proud of playing for their country.

"This is the premier tournament for football players on this continent, so if Togo do decide to stay it would not be a huge surprise."

'Attacks will continue'

The Africa Nations Cup is due to start in the capital Luanda with game between the hosts and Mali on Sunday. Seven matches of the three-week tournament were due to take place in Cabinda.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), 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.

press tv

"Beat for Peace" events are being held in 15 countries around the world on the fifth anniversary of the faltering peace deal in Sudan.

A fragile North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended a devastating 22-year war between the majority Muslim North and the mainly Christian and animist South, entered its sixth year on Saturday.

Activists, beating their drums, made their presence known as they gathered opposite London's Downing Street on Saturday — joined by demonstrators in 15 countries, including Norway — and called on governments to take action to prevent a deterioration of the situation in Sudan.

Even the United Nations expressed concern Saturday over the flare-up of violence in southern Sudan that has taken at least 150 lives over the past two weeks and displaced thousands.

Ashraf Qazi, the head of the UN mission in Sudan, urged the South's regional government "to investigate these incidents and to redouble their efforts to help de-escalate the rising wave of violence in southern Sudan."

The events were organized by a coalition of groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Save Darfur Coalition, and Refugees International. The one-year campaign will urge world powers to prevent more bloodshed in the oil-producing state.

As well as the demonstrations, a film of the global "Beat for Peace" — featuring drummers from five continents — was released to coincide with the launch of the campaign.

press tv

Egypt has banned all Gaza-bound relief convoys from using its territory after accusing members of the Viva Palestina convoy of committing “criminal” acts in the country.

“Egypt will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organizing them, to cross its territory,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Abul Gheit was quoted by government newspaper Al-Ahram as saying, the AFP news agency reported.

“Members of the [Viva Palestina] convoy committed hostile acts, even criminal ones, on Egyptian territory,” he added.

Earlier in the week, the Egyptian riot police injured 55 people in the port of El-Arish during clashes with Viva Palestina activists. The scuffles broke out after Egypt said it would not allow 59 Viva Palestina humanitarian assistance trucks to enter Gaza.

The Egyptian authorities then proceeded to deport the head of the group, British MP George Galloway.

“I am sorry to say that Egypt is implicated in this siege. That's the reason of their revenge on me,” Galloway told Press TV upon his arrival in London, referring to the blockade Israeli has imposed on Gaza for over two years.

Cairo has also sealed the Rafah border crossing — the Gaza Strip's only border that bypasses Israel — claiming that the border post is an Egyptian-Israeli crossing and should not be used without Tel Aviv's permission.

Despite restrictions imposed by the authorities, the Viva Palestina convoy of around 200 vehicles managed to break the Israeli siege of Gaza on Wednesday.

LOME, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Togo Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo said Saturday on national television that goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale and defender Serge Akakpo are still alive following the deadly gun attack to its soccer squad bus in Cabinda, Angola on Friday.

The Prime Minister said that it was a good news that Obilale is in stable condition and even talked to his brother.

Meanwhile, Houngbo said that Togo will hold three days of mourning for the assistant coach and squad spokesman of its national football team, who were killed in the gun attack.

"The government has decided to decree three days of national mourning beginning from Monday," said Houngbo.

Earlier reports said the goalkeeper and an Angolan driver were killed, but they were alive, confirmed the Prime Minister.

Obilale was receiving a second operation in a hospital in Johannesburg after the first in Cabinda, and the Angolan driver was also receiving operation, said Houngbo.

On Friday, separatist rebels opened fire as the Togo soccer team's buses crossed into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda for the African Nations Cup.

20100109

HARGEISA (Reuters) - Security forces in Somalia's northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland said on Saturday they had foiled an attack on a mosque in Hargeisa where the imam had spoken out against militant suicide bombings.

Somaliland prides itself on its relative stability, unlike southern parts of the failed Horn of Africa state, where hardline rebels from the al Shabaab group control large swaths of territory and are battling a weak Western-backed government.

But al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, wants to extend its influence north into Somaliland and neighbouring, semi-autonomous pro-government Puntland.

Mohamed Saqadi Dubbad, the commander of Somaliland's security forces, said six rockets and two mortar bombs were recovered from Imam Sheikh Aden Sira's mosque after a local woman saw a suspected bomber carrying the explosives in a jacket.

"She thought he had stolen what he was carrying and ran to grab him," Dubbad told reporters. "The man could not free himself, but he threatened the woman, saying: 'I will blow you up with me if you do not release me,' so she released him."

Imam Sira had been critical of suicide bombings carried out by al Shabaab insurgents in southern Somalia, and officials said he had received death threats from the militants.

Al Shabaab hit Somaliland and Puntland with synchronised suicide blasts that killed at least 24 people in October 2008.

A court in Hargeisa has sentenced five men to death in absentia for the bombings, which struck the Ethiopian embassy, the local president's office and a U.N. building. It said they were on the run in other parts of Somalia.

Somaliland, which has long sought international recognition as sovereign state, declared itself indepedent in 1991.

20100109

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan on Saturday dismissed warnings from aid groups and activists that it was sliding back to war, as it marked the fifth anniversary of a faltering peace deal with the south and prepared for two divisive votes.

Drummers from Radiohead, Pink Floyd and other bands appeared in a "beat for peace" film to mark Saturday's anniversary, part of global events urging world powers to help prevent more bloodshed in the oil-producing state.

Sudan ended more than two decades of north-south civil war with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, but relations between the two sides have remained tense.

Aid groups and campaigners issued a series of reports in recent days warning there was a risk of fresh conflict as Sudan counted down the days to national elections in April and a referendum on whether the south should split off as an independent country, due in January 2011.

"The situation in southern Sudan is very far from what has been depicted...It is not all doom and gloom," Anne Itto, a senior member of the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) told reporters.

Itto, speaking in the southern capital Juba, said the campaigners had failed to take into account significant improvements and development in the five years since the accord.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement a report "from some foreign organisations...that the north and the south are doomed to go back to war, was not correct and was not backed by facts on the ground".

There was a need to tighten security in the south, ministry spokesman Moawia Osman Khalid told the state Suna news agency.

20100109

CAIRO (Reuters) - Muslims and Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops near the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamady on Saturday, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, security sources said.

"Four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks were set on fire by Muslims, while four shops owned by Muslims in the village of al-Bahgorah were set on fire by Christians," a security source said. The villages are near Nagaa Hamady.

Six people, Christian and Muslim, were injured in the fires, they added.

Police have taken 46 statements from Muslims and Christians in the area accusing members of the other faith of attacking their houses and damaging their properties, the sources said.

The drive-by shootings in Nagaa Hamady took place around midnight on Coptic Christmas Eve on Wednesday night. Muslim and Christian groups held separate protests on Thursday and Friday.

The source said police had detained about 25 of the 2,000 protesters.

Security sources named three Muslims, who have since surrendered to police, as the suspected gunmen. They first fired on a crowd in a shopping area near a church in Nagaa Hamady, killing two Christians.

They then went to the nearby church and shot five more, including the church's Muslim guard. Another nine Christians were wounded.

Police investigators in the city 60 km (40 miles) north of the tourist and archaeological centre of Luxor, said two of the three assailants were distantly related to a Muslim girl allegedly raped by a Christian more than a month earlier.

20100109

WARSAW (Reuters) - Global economic recovery is faster and stronger than expected but there are still risks for its sustainability, the International Monetary Fund's head for Europe, Marek Belka, was quoted on Saturday as saying.

In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza daily, Belka said the economic recovery was mostly driven by state programmes and that its was not certain to continue after the aid is phased out.

"(Global) situation is better than a year ago. The recovery has happened sooner than we had expected and it is stronger, but...we owe it for now mostly to state aid," he said.

"The IMF is concerned whether the growth in demand caused by helping economy by a state proves durable," Belka also said.

He said problems would likely occur first in countries where households were excessively in debt, like Germany and France.

"We don't expect 2010 to be a year of crisis, but the recovery will be very slow," Belka added.

20100109

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The United States has warned that "regional extremists" were planning an attack on Air Uganda flights between southern Sudan and Kampala.

Uganda's army said it was aware of the threat and was taking precautions. "We're a constant target of these extremists and are always alert, so there is no cause for alarm," Uganda's army spokesman, Major Felix Kulayigye, told Reuters.

The warning came amid heightened tensions following the botched Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner blamed on a Nigerian man who U.S. officials believe was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen.

The United States stepped up security screenings of passengers travelling from or through Sudan and 13 other countries after the failed attack.

U.S. embassy staff in Khartoum published a warning late on Friday on their website of "a potential threat against commercial aviation transiting between Juba (southern Sudan's capital) and Kampala, Uganda".

"The U.S. Embassy has received information indicating a desire by regional extremists to conduct a deadly attack onboard Air Uganda aircraft on this route," the embassy statement read.

It added it was not clear whether the group had the ability to mount an attack but warned air passengers to be alert.

The U.S. Embassy did not name the potential attackers but has said in the past that some groups were active in Sudan.

20100109

DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge entered a not guilty plea on Friday on behalf of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian accused in the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airplane that prompted a sweeping review of U.S. security procedures.

Abdulmutallab, who shuffled into court in leg irons, answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Mark Randon, who entered the not guilty plea after his court-appointed lawyer said the defendant would "stand mute."

He was arraigned on six charges including attempted murder and the attempted use of a "weapon of mass destruction" to bring down a plane carrying 289 other people.

President Barack Obama took responsibility on Thursday for security failures that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the plane in Amsterdam and ordered reforms aimed at thwarting attacks.

The attempted bombing on Christmas Day prompted a spate of airline security scares that have shut down airports and stranded jittery passengers.

On Friday, Boston's international airport closed for half an hour because of a suspicious smell that officials said may have been de-icing fluid and an AirTran flight from Atlanta to San Francisco was diverted because of an unruly passenger. The U.S. military said two fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Officials say Abdulmutallab tried to ignite explosives concealed in his clothing on the flight but was subdued by other passengers fire broke out around his seat.

CBS News, citing British Intelligence, reported on Friday that Abdulmutallab told investigators after his arrest that close to 20 other young Muslim men were being prepared in Yemen to use the same method to blow up airliners.

20100109

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's caretaker leader, Sekouba Konate, is in good health, an official of the ruling junta said on Friday, denying media reports he was being evacuated to Senegal for hospital treatment.

Konate, the army officer running Guinea since junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara was wounded in a failed December 3 assassination attempt, is seen as key to efforts to ending a crisis in the West African nation that threatens the stability of the region.

Earlier, Senegal's APS news agency said Senegal had sent an aircraft to Guinea to fetch Konate and separate media reports said the general needed treatment for an unspecified ailment.

"The current acting president Sekouba Konate is not ill, he is in good health. No evacuation to Senegal is planned," Health Minister Abdoulaye Sherif Diaby told France 24 television.

"Perhaps (Konate) will head to Dakar for consultations with President (Abdoulaye) Wade but it is not a health problem."

The junta later issued a statement confirming that Konate was in Guinea and state television showed pictures of him in uniform next to the official who read out the statement.

"In any case, any trip by General Konate will be the subject of an official announcement," said the statement.

Camara took power in Guinea after a December 2008 coup. Before being wounded in a gun attack by his former aide de camp, he had broken promises to hold early elections and was internationally reviled for a security crackdown on pro-democracy marchers in September in which over 150 people were killed.

20100109
presstv

At least three people have been killed in an artillery attack on the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Anti-government fighters were targeting the Kuliyada base, where Burundian peacekeeping troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are based, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.

Several artillery shells landed in the Hodon district of south Mogadishu, killing at least three people and destroying one house, eyewitnesses said.

It has also been reported that eight people were injured near the Taleh area.

20100109

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's President Jacob Zuma still plans to attend the opening ceremony of the African Nations Cup in Angola despite an attack on the Togolese national team, his spokesman said on Saturday.

"The president still intends to travel to Angola (on Sunday), there is no change in his programme," said Vincent Magwenya.

He made no further comment on Friday's gun attack on the Togolese team bus as it made its way to the top African soccer tournament. The driver was killed and nine others were wounded, including two players.

The attack cast a shadow over the tournament and came barely six months before South Africa hosts the 2010 World Cup, the first time the event will be held on African soil.

South African organisers and the government have repeatedly assured that the country, which has among the world's highest crime rate, is prepared for any security threat.

20100109

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - There are signs South Africa is recovering from the worst effects of the global economic crisis, but the revival will likely be slow and job-creation will lag, President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.

Zuma was addressing tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Kimberly, about 380 km (236 miles) south west of Johannesburg for the 98th anniversary of the ANC party's creation.

"There are some indications that we may be recovering from the worst of the (global) crisis but this recovery may be slow and perhaps even temporary," he said in a speech broadcast on

SABC.

Zuma sought, however, to lessen the expectations of his supporters that new jobs will created soon.

"It should also be expected that the creation of new jobs on a massive scale will lag behind the economic recovery," he said.

A survey conducted by Ipsos Markinor between October and November 2009 showed the ANC had consolidated its support after narrowly failing to achieve a two-third majority in last year's election, with support of 71 percent of eligible voters.

The party drew most of its support from the ranks of the unemployed with more than two-thirds (67 percent) of their supporters jobless.

TIRANA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia on Saturday decided to send assistance to neighboring Albania to help it cope with flooding in the northwestern region.

Vice Premier Abdulaqim Ademi said at a special cabinet session that his country would provide pumps, rubber boats and tents to its neighbor.

"The government will continue to monitor developments in the flooded area and is ready to provide medical assistance or food aid if needed," Ademi said.

Some 10,000 hectares of arable lands and 2,400 houses have been flooded in northwestern Albania. The floods, caused by heavy rainfall, have forced about 5,000 people to be evacuated from their homes.