ALGIERS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- At least ten suspected terrorists were killed Saturday night in northeastern Algeria, the official Algerian news agency APS cited a security source as reporting.

These armed suspects were taking a utility vehicle in Slim, western part of northeastern Algerian province of M'sila, as they were caught in an ambush by the security forces acting on a tip-off, according to the source.

The source added that an "important quantity" of weapons have been seized during the operation.

In December, Algerian security forces killed four armed extremists in the same province.

KHARTOUM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on Saturday expressed concern over the escalating tribal violence in southern Sudan over the past couple of weeks where over 150 people have been reportedly killed and many more injured and displaced.

In a statement, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the UNMIS chief and the special representative of the UN secretary-general in Sudan, urged the southern Sudanese government to investigate these incidents and to redouble efforts to help de-escalate the rising wave of violence in the region.

"UNMIS offered to send peacekeeping troops to be present to help protect civilians during the rotations of SPLA (the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the military wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement) companies that were involved in confrontations with civilian cattle-keepers in Akot, near Rumbek, in late December and early January," Qazi said.

He added that about 24 persons including SPLA soldiers and civilians were killed and many displaced during these clashes.

"In Atar, Jonglei State, UNMIS flew senior government officials into the area and helped to deliver government-provided humanitarian aid on the day of the attack during which several civilians were killed and an estimated 100 tukuls were burned. Humanitarian agencies are bringing further assistance to the victims in the days ahead," he said.

"In Wunchuei, Warrap state, where tens of people were killed in inter-tribal cattle raids late in December, UNMIS sent a team of peacekeepers to defuse tensions and help prevent reprisal attacks. The team also has representatives of humanitarian agencies to initiate a humanitarian needs, assessment on the ground especially for those who have been displaced due to the violence. Thousands have been reportedly displaced but these figures as well as those concerning the victims of the attacks still need to be verified," Qazi said.

"UNMIS will continue to work within its mandate and capabilities to help the southern Sudanese government deal with the rising violence in southern Sudan and to help protect civilians," the UN official announced.

In one of the bloodiest incidents in southern Sudan, fighters of the Nuer tribe attacked the Dinka tribe at the weekend, leaving some 140 people dead.

The fighting, purportedly over cattle, also left at least 90 wounded and several thousands head of cattle looted, local median reported on Thursday.

The fight took place some days ago, but reports emerged only after a UN security team visited the area by airplane four days ago, according to a news service affiliated with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

KHARTOUM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government Saturday rejected warnings by the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum that terrorists were planning to launch attacks on flights between southern Sudan capital of Juba and the Ugandan capital of Kampala, the official news agency SUNA reported.

The report quoted Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Muawiya Osman Khalid as saying that the Sudanese authorities concerned, during their following up and monitoring, did not find any threat emerging from Sudanese territories against regional or international interests.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum late on Friday released a warning on its website of a potential threat against commercial aviation between Juba and Kampala, saying it "received information indicating a desire by regional extremists to conduct a deadly attack onboard Air Uganda aircraft on this route."

Khalid said, "The United States, if having received any information or having any concerns in this regard, should have discussed them with the Sudanese authorities concerned so that required measures would be adopted, instead of circulating baseless information," according to the report.

The Sudanese official also said the movement of international aviation between Sudan and other countries were progressing "normally and safely."

He added that "the concerned security organs in Sudan are always following up with a highest level of alert the safety measures and are efficiently living up to their responsibilities," according to the report.

YAOUNDE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chad will hold the legislative and local council elections respectively on Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, according to reports reaching here Friday from the Chadian capital N'Djamena.

The polls will be followed by the first round of the presidential elections set on April 23, 2011, the president of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Ngarmadjal Gami, said in a statement.

The three elections will be preceded by voter registration from March 21 to May 9. But the CENI chief said financial, material and human resource support is needed to push ahead with the planned elections.

"We are making an appeal to financial donors, government and all well wishers to help mobilize resources within good time for the exercise," he declared, without elaborating on the money needed for the elections.

The election timetable was unveiled after a meeting between Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno and leaders of opposition parties in N'Djamena in December.

It will be the fourth popular presidential elections to be organized in Chad since Deby came to power after a coup in 1990.

The last legislative election was held in 2002. In 2006 the vote failed to take place following the 2005 constitutional referendum. After the signing of a political accord between Deby's Patriotic Movement and opposition parties, the mandate of members of parliament elected in 2002 was extended.

The 2005 constitutional revision allows Deby to vie again for the presidency after the removal of a two-term limit.

KINSHASA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The foreign minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has stopped the granting of a Kinshasa visa to the European commissioner for development, the Belgian Karel De Gucht, in reaction to his recent comments considered by Kinshasa as malicious.

"Any demand for a visa for Gucht, the European Commissioner for Development, from DR Congo will be considered by the authorities of this country as an act of provocation," according to Thursday's issue of the La Libre Belgique newspaper.

The publication reaching Kinshasa reported the angry response to the European official was contained in a verbal note dated Jan.2, which was written by Congolese Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba and addressed to the European Commission.

The Belgian newspaper said the verbal note from Kinshasa termed as shameful the remarks made by Gucht on Dec. 16 during the debate on DR Congo in the European Parliament.

It quoted Gucht as telling the European lawmakers that the "Congolese leaders were inappropriate partners and the aid given by the international community to DR Congo is a total waste."

According to La Libre Belgique, the Congolese authorities have informed the Charge d'Affairs of the European Commission in Kinshasa that "in the current state of things, the coming of the commissioner (to Kinshasa) was not desirable" and that "any demand for a visa will be considered as provocation."

For the Congolese government, the source explained, the comments by the Belgian were considered as "an attack on the Congolese state, they were racist, showed lack of respect for the government and irresponsible."

And yet, the Belgian newspaper went on, Gucht, who was to relinquish the post of European commissioner for development at the end of January and take over that of European commissioner for commerce, was preparing to make a trip to Kinshasa in January.

The action by Kinshasa caught Brussels by surprise "which declared that it was amazed by the virulence of the Congolese government's spokesman a day after the European debate," the newspaper said.

The Congolese government "seems to want to extent the careless treatment to the European Commissioner for Development like it often treats the Belgian political appointees whose relation with them has always been chaotic even though they are their former colonizers," said the newspaper.

It asked a question: "How is the European institution going to react -- given the paternalism of Belgium vis-a-vis Kinshasa and yet her indulgence was required in this attack against the institution?"

An immediate effect is the refusal by Kinshasa to receive the European commissioner for development may slow down the implementation of 10 aid projects totalling 278.5 million euros (390 million U. S. dollars), which Gucht was supposed to sign in Kinshasa in January.

"This is regardless of whether the successor of Gucht, the Latvian Andris Pielbags, will also be interested," La Libre Belgique said, indicating the consequences.

Tensions between Gucht and the government of DR Congo are not new, according to the newspaper.

In April 2008, when Gucht headed a government delegation to Kinshasa in the capacity of the Belgian foreign minister, he also made remarks which did not go well with his Congolese hosts.

He spoke of lack of transparency in the exploitation of mineral resources in DR Congo, corruption and lack of leadership, urging Congolese officials to start working instead of talking too much.

These remarks made in Kinshasa before the Congolese government irritated President Joseph Kabila. In his reaction, the Congolese head of state sent a warning to the Belgian authorities: "There may be no consequences just because I wish there should be none. Next time, there will definitely some consequences."

LUANDA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen opened fire on the coach carrying Togo's national football team to the African Nations Cup in Angola Friday, killing the driver and wounding nine others, including two players, a Togo official said.

The bus had just entered Cabinda province in northwest Angola when it came under heavy gunfire for several minutes, Winny Dogbatse, a senior Togo official was quoted by the Reuters as saying.

"The response from the (police) escort meant the damage was limited and there are now nine injured people in hospital," he said.

The tournament is expected to kick off Sunday and run until Jan. 31. Togo was due to play Ghana on Monday, one of six group matches.

The separatist group the Front for the Liberation of Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

But Antonio Bento Bembe, the Angolan minister in charge of affairs in Cabinda, said it was not the work of FLEC rebels. "FLEC no longer exists, the attack comes from certain individuals who want to cause problems for us," he told the Reuters.

He called the attack "an act of terrorism."

The Confederation of African Football said Friday the tournament will open on Sunday as scheduled.

08 January 2010

Rwanda and France have turned over a new leaf in relations marked by a "dark history", the two countries' foreign ministers said, following a dispute over events surrounding Rwanda's 1994 genocide,

Previously, both governments had traded accusations and recriminations over their respective roles during the genocide in which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

In his first visit to Rwanda since the two nations restored diplomatic ties in November, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris wanted to help Rwanda in a number of areas including health, trade and technology.

Rwanda severed relations with France three years ago after a French judge accused some of President Paul Kagame's top aides of shooting down the former president's plane in April 1994, an event that triggered the genocide.

Rwanda vigorously rejected the indictments, and accused the French government of training and arming the militias responsible for the violence, as well as harbouring top genocide suspects including Agatha Habyarimana, widow of the former president.

"We don't forget the past, but the most important thing is to think about the future," Kouchner told reporters in Kigali. "We are going to develop many projects."

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and her French counterpart said the outstanding indictments were the concern of their judicial systems and independent of politics.

"We need to turn over a new leaf after a dark history and work towards a stronger relationship in future," Mushikiwabo said late on Thursday.

A Rwandan government report into the assassination of former President Juvenal Habyarimana will be released later this month.

Paris announced earlier this week that it would establish a special panel to try genocide crimes and crimes against humanity that are committed outside France.

Reuters

08 January 2010

Morocco will invite bids for construction of its first solar power station at the end of next month as part of a $9-billion solar energy project, its energy minister said on Wednesday.
Solar_panel_2

The 500-megawatt plant will be in the southern town of Ouarzazate, the site where Morocco's ruler, King Mohammed, announced the launch of the nationwide solar project last year.

"We are advancing smoothly in our plan to implement this grand project. We will tender for the Ourzazate station at the end of February," Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra told Reuters at the inauguration of a gas storage facility at the port of Jorf Lasfar, outside Casablanca.

Morocco's solar plan involves building five stations which will account for 38 percent of its installed power generation by 2020, Rabat government officials.

"We will start first with the tender for Ourzazate power station and the tenders for the others will follow successively," Benkhadra added. But she gave no more details.

Morocco, which is the only North African state with no oil of its own, wants to play a leading role in an European plan to draw solar power from the Sahara.

The European solar scheme, which is worth up to 400-billion euros, could allow Europe to source 15 percent of its power from mirrors that gather sunlight in the vast southern desert by 2050.

The mirrors would concentrate the sun's rays to boil water and power turbines, generating electricity without emitting the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Morocco is the poorest of the European Union's southern neighbours but one of its closest allies in the region. It has a history of political stability and reforms to improve its business environment have led to steady rises of foreign investment flow in the past 10 years.

Benkhadra said Morocco is open for cooperation with various foreign governments and firms.

"We had received expressions of interest from several foreign states and from big foreign companies which want to take part in our solar project," she added.

Asked whether Morocco is looking for firms from its main trade partners in Europe, Benkhadra said:

"Morocco is open for all forms of partnership as long as the foreign firms have the capabilities to bring expertise, technology and know-how. We are looking for public-private partnerships as well as national-and-foreign partnerships."

Reuters

08 January 2010
Piggybank_hands

Over 70,000 new jobs will be created from the projects registered by the Uganda Investment Authority last year.

A total of 354 projects in various sectors were registered with a planned investment of $1.6 billion (about sh3.04 trillion). This will result into 70,289 new jobs, investments minister Aston Kajara said yesterday. A progress report on these investments will be computed by September, he said.

The expected number of jobs constitutes an increase of 20,000 more above the 4,9173 created in 2008. The minister attributed this to the efforts of the authority which came into existence in 1991. In that year, for example, 427 jobs were created. Kajara said for every job, about 12 others are created indirectly.

For the full story, please visit AllAfrica.com.

08 January 2010
Handshake

The US Chamber of Commerce's Africa Business Initiative will embark on a five-day trade mission to encourage, promote, and facilitate trade and investment between the United States and the African continent. The mission is also meant to demonstrate the ongoing commitment of the American business community in supporting Africa's economic growth.

"American businesses understand that export-led growth is the surest way to create jobs here at home while also stimulating the African economy," said Scott Eisner, executive director for Africa Programmes at the US Chamber. "African nations are among the most important trading partners for US companies and the Chamber stands ready to assist American business interests in entering these markets."

The trade mission includes stops in Accra, Ghana, where on January 6-10 the Chamber will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center. This agreement represents a commitment by both business groups to encourage trade between the United States and Ghana. "With nearly one billion people, Africa is a continent we can no longer overlook. The business community is looking for new and innovative investment strategies in the region," Mr Eisner said.

For the full story, please visit Afrol News.

08 January 2010

The tenth edition of Mali's popular Festival in the Desert kicked off Thursday evening on the outskirts of the legendary city of Timbuktu in the Sahara desert.
Mali

Close to 10,000 music fans - some from as far away as Japan and the United States - joined local Tuareg, nomads in the dunes, to hear some of Mali's and Africa's biggest music stars perform over three days.

The tenth anniversary of the festival coincides with the launch of Mali's 50th anniversary celebrations marking its freedom from France.

The festival is inspired by an annual three-day meeting of rival Tuareg clans, who gather in the desert for a cultural exchange including camel races, music and poetry.

For the event's first nine years, it was held 60 kilometres north of Timbuktu in the desert at Essakane. But this year the event was moved within two kilometres of Timbuktu, primarily for security reasons. Northern Mali has been hit with a travel warning by the US and British embassies following a series of kidnappings of Westerners by suspected Islamists.

The headliners at this year's festival include: Toumani Diabate; Tinariwen; and legendary Senageles Ishmael Lo.

Sapa

20100108

ROSARNO, Italy (Reuters) - Thousands of immigrants protested against racism in a southern Italian town on Friday, after a night of rioting that was sparked by an attack on African farm workers by a gang of white youths.

In one of Italy's worst episodes of racial unrest in years, dozens of Africans in Rosarno, in the Calabria region, smashed car windows with steel bars and stones and set cars and rubbish bins on fire late into Thursday night.

Police said at least one car was attacked while passengers were inside -- several of whom were injured.

The immigrants, who also blocked a road, clashed with police in riot gear. Some 15 were arrested and 20 were injured.

The incidents took place after white youths in a car fired air rifles at a group of African immigrants returning from work on farms, injuring two of them.

On Friday morning some 2,000 immigrants demonstrated in front of the town hall to protest against what they said was racist treatment by many locals. Some shouted "we are not animals" and carried signs reading "Italians here are racist".

Scattered acts of vandalism by immigrants continued on Friday morning as some smashed store windows.

Schools were ordered closed as tensions remained high. One white resident fired live ammunition in the air from a terrace, local media reported.

20100108

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's lower house of parliament could vote as early as Wednesday on controversial legislation that would transform Africa's biggest energy sector, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.

The House of Representatives is expected to begin reviewing a committee-approved Petroleum Industry Bill that aims to rewrite Nigeria's decades-oil relationship with Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.

"We have listed the presentation of the report of the joint committees ... for Wednesday," Ita Enang, chairman of the House of Representatives Rules and Business Committee, told reporters.

The Senate is also working on its own bill, which will need to be reconciled with the House's version before sending it to President Umaru Yar'Adua for approval.

The legislation aims to break state oil firm NNPC, long hampered by funding shortfalls, into profit-driven units able to tap international markets. The move could prompt some of the biggest financing deals of their kind ever done in Africa.

Under the version submitted to parliament by the presidency, the government would be allowed to renegotiate old contracts, impose higher costs on oil companies and retake acreage that firms have yet to explore.

But foreign oil companies operating in Nigeria have warned the plans contained in the bill could threaten billions of dollars of investment if they go ahead in their current form.

The main areas of dispute between the government and oil firms include higher royalty payments, industry-wide taxes on profits and revenue sharing.

Industry officials fear the bill, which has been stuck in the planning stage for more than a decade, could soon be brushed aside by political jockeying ahead of 2011 elections.

20100108

CAIRO (Reuters) - Three suspects in a shooting that killed six Coptic Christians and a Muslim policeman in southern Egypt have turned themselves in after being squeezed in a police cordon, security sources said on Friday.

Police said they had surrounded the area around the city of Nagaa Hamady where the shooting took place on Wednesday and closed all possible routes of escape.

The killings took place just before midnight on Coptic Christmas Eve when a gunman, accompanied by two others, fired on Christians in a shopping area in Nagaa Hamady, killing two, then went to Mary Guirguis Church and shot five more, including the church's Muslim guard.

The interior ministry said on Thursday that a preliminary investigation suggested the gunman was a Muslim criminal known to police, and that the attack was related to the alleged rape of a Muslim woman by a Christian more than a month earlier.

About 1,000 Coptic Christians staged a protest in Nagaa Hamady on Thursday, saying the attack was an act of persecution aimed at Egyptian Christians.

Egypt's government denied it was sectarian violence, however, and said it was an isolated incident.

"The Nagaa Hamady incident is a crime committed by a thug and does not have anything to do with Islam," Khairat Osman, secretary-general of Egypt's ruling party in Qena governorate, where Nagaa Hamady is located, was quoted as saying by state agency MENA.

"All religions promote peace and love, and there are good relations between Coptics and Muslims."

20100108

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal sent an aircraft to Guinea on Friday to fetch Sekouba Konate, the army officer running Guinea since the wounding of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara in a December 3 assassination bid, Senegalese news agency APS reported.

The departure of the caretaker leader will add more uncertainty over the leadership of Guinea, the world's largest exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, because Camara remains in a Moroccan hospital undergoing treatment.

The news agency quoted an anonymous source as saying Konate, who on Wednesday promised in Camara's absence to hand over rule to a civilian government, was making a private visit.

Separately, private Senegalese radio RFM said Konate was due to arrive in the capital Dakar on Friday for medical treatment.

There was no immediate confirmation of the trip from either Guinean or Senegalese officials.

Konate's offer to allow elections as part of a transition to civilian rule has raised cautious optimism that Guinea can end a deepening political crisis that risks destabilising the region.

During Camara's absence, Konate has also taken steps to improve discipline in Guinea's unruly army and has so far managed to avert the threat of a counter-coup from within military ranks.

However he has a record of health problems and last year was himself evacuated to Morocco for treatment.

20100108

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma's ability to administer tough measures needed to revive a struggling economy could be hampered by his efforts to pacify communists and labour in the ANC's fractious alliance.

As Zuma's ruling African National Congress celebrates its 98th anniversary on Saturday, its alliance with communist and labour union allies is suffering from growing infighting, mainly over policy, which threatens to change the make-up of the alliance that helped end apartheid.

The communists and unions, who helped bring Zuma into power last May, want economic policies to shift to the left and Africa's biggest economy to abandon the pro-business stance that has endeared it to investors.

Investors will be focused even closer on South Africa this year as the country hosts the 2010 soccer World Cup -- the first time the tournament is hosted in Africa.

South Africa exited its first recession in 17 years in the third quarter of 2009 but the pace of the recovery is slower than other countries. Business confidence fell in December and household and corporate finances remain tight.

Zuma's government has repeatedly said existing policies will remain in place, but has sought to appease the ANC's allies by encouraging debate over points of contention.

NO MORE "MR NICE GUY"

Analysts said it was now time Zuma provided strong leadership.

20100108

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is "sound and fit" in hospital in Saudi Arabia, but it is unclear when he will be able to return home, Nigeria's ambassador said on Friday.

The president has been absent from Nigeria for more than a month receiving treatment for a heart condition in Saudi and there have been few updates on his health.

"He is recuperating in a royal suite attached to the hospital for VIPs. He is sound and fit, he sits, eats and walks very well. He is recuperating to have enough rest before he goes back to the office," Abdullah Aminchi, Nigeria's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters.

Asked when the president might return to Nigeria, Aminchi said: "It is the doctors who will say when."

The government is facing pressure from senior lawyers, political analysts and opposition party officials to provide concrete evidence that Yar'Adua is fit enough to govern Africa's most populous country.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has been presiding over cabinet meetings but executive powers have not officially been transferred to him, leading the Nigerian Bar Association and a prominent human rights lawyer to challenge the legality of decisions made in Yar'Adua's absence.

A federal court in Nigeria's capital Abuja is scheduled on Thursday to hear three separate lawsuits against the government which accuse the president of breaching the constitution by staying in power after weeks in hospital.

The lower house of parliament is expected to address Yar'Adua's prolonged absence on Tuesday, a senior lawmaker said.

20100108

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security escorted British lawmaker George Galloway to take a flight out of the country on Friday and he was barred from returning after violent protests over an aid convoy he led into Gaza, MENA news agency said.

The Foreign Ministry declared the left-wing politician an "unwelcome individual", the agency said.

An Egyptian security source said Egypt reached a deal with members of the aid convoy to take supplies to Palestinians in Gaza after protests overnight.

Egyptian security forces and members of the convoy had thrown stones at each other when tempers frayed over the route the trucks were to take.

Cairo had insisted the food and other supplies should enter Gaza via an Israeli-controlled checkpoint but convoy leaders wanted to use the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing.

Galloway, who had re-entered Egypt to ask about the fate of seven detained convoy members, was immediately asked to leave the country, security sources said.

Galloway was escorted by Egyptian security personnel as he went to Cairo airport heading for London, MENA said.

Police said later the seven detained convoy members had been freed and placed on a "watch list".

No member of Galloway's convoy was immediately available for comment.

20100108

DETROIT (Reuters) - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian accused of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner, will appear in federal court on Friday to hear the charges against him in an incident that has prompted a sweeping review of U.S. security policy.

Abdulmutallab was to be 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 in remarks on Thursday took ultimate responsibility for security failures that led to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the U.S. airliner and ordered reforms aimed at thwarting future attacks

U.S. officials say Abdulmutallab tried to ignite explosives concealed in his clothing as a flight from Amsterdam prepared to land in Detroit, but was subdued by other passengers.

Linked to a Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda, Abdulmutallab has been held in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan.

If convicted of all six counts, he faces life in prison plus up to 90 years.

Neither federal prosecutors or Abdulmutallab's court-appointed defense lawyers would comment ahead of the Friday afternoon arraignment in Detroit.

The initial hearing could take only several minutes, setting the stage for a trial that legal experts said is weighted heavily in the government's favor given the evidence, including Adbulmutallab's injuries.

20100108

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Southern Sudanese living in the north fear intimidation or even war if a referendum next year results in secession from the rest of the country and many are calling for international monitoring to protect their rights.

After a civil war which has raged on and off since 1955, southern Sudanese on January 9, 2011 will vote on whether to remain one country or change the map of Africa by becoming independent from the north.

A 2005 peace deal created a coalition national government ending the war between Khartoum's Islamists and southerners following traditional beliefs or Christianity. But continued tensions and delays in implementating the pact have sowed mistrust among southerners and many say they will vote for secession.

While many of the millions of southerners who fled the war to the north say they want to go back if the referendum results in secession as many expect, there are some born and educated in the north who say they should have the right to stay.

"North Sudan cannot ignore me," said Keji Roman, a southerner born and bred in the capital. "Khartoum is my city -- I don't think Khartoum can close its door in my face."

But she said if there was a return to war as many fear, southerners would not be able to stay in the north.

"Khartoum would be a dangerous place for me to stay because this war will be vicious," she said.

Many are afraid of a lack of post-secession planning for them by the coalition government formed after a 2005 peace deal and which has preferred to focus on unity.