20091217

MADRID (Reuters) - A Western Saharan activist on hunger strike for over a month in Spain's Canary Islands was taken to hospital on Thursday, and negotiations on her case were said to be under way in Washington.

Aminatou Haidar, who campaigns for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco, has been on hunger strike at Lanzarote airport in the Canary Islands for 32 days.

Television images showed her being moved to hospital on Thursday and she was said to be suffering from severe stomach and abdominal pains and vomiting.

Her lawyer said she would not end her hunger strike. "The treatment she is receiving is just to relieve and calm the pain and Aminatou will continue her hunger strike," said Ines Miranda.

Haidar, 43, who has continued to take liquids, began her protest after Moroccan authorities refused her entry when she returned home from a trip abroad, confiscated her passport and put her on a plane to the Canary Islands.

A report in the daily El Pais said Morocco had sent a high level delegation to the United States to try to negotiate a resolution to the case, which has embarrassed the Spanish government.

The report said two close advisers to Morocco's head of state, King Mohammed, held talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday with U.S. officials, and Spain was being kept informed of progress.

On Wednesday Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he hoped and trusted the case would be resolved quickly. He said sensitive behind-the-scenes diplomatic work was going on but declined to give details.

Spanish celebrities including film actor Javier Bardem have said Zapatero will be partly to blame if Haidar dies. Media and the opposition have accused the government of incompetence in allowing the Moroccans to send her to Spain.

20091217

LAGOS/ACCRA (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank said on Thursday it had received interest from several potential bidders for stakes in some of the 10 banks it is seeking to recapitalise following a $4 billion bailout earlier this year.

Banking sources said the central bank's advisers had set a Thursday deadline for potential bidders to register expressions of interest, a move to test the appetite for acquisitions as the regulator seeks to reshape Nigeria's banking landscape.

"We've received some interesting bids for some of the banks and the process is ongoing. It's a business transaction and we have to allow it to complete," Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters during a trip to neighbouring Ghana.

He declined to comment further or give any details on which banks had expressed interest.

Nigeria's 24 banks have been positioning themselves for a second round of consolidation since an industry audit, which led to the bailout, exposed the strengths and weaknesses of rivals.

Stricter accounting rules, including the introduction of a harmonised calendar year-end and a requirement to detail full provisioning for loan losses, have further laid bare balance sheet realities long hidden by opaque disclosure levels.

The central bank has said the rescued banks -- Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank, Union Bank, Bank PHB, Equitorial Trust Bank, Spring Bank and Wema Bank -- will be run as going concerns until new investors can be found to recapitalise them.

Unity Bank was also judged by auditors to have insufficient capital and was given until the end of June to raise fresh funds. It was not given an emergency capital injection because it had a healthy liquidity position.

20091217

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it would give Mauritania at least $100 million in financial aid over the next three years, adding to signs of support from donors who froze aid after a 2008 coup.

Widely criticised for leading the August 2008 coup in the West African Islamic state, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has won back some international legitimacy by winning a July election that paves the way for international re-engagement with Mauritania.

The money, which could be increased when put before the IMF board, has been ear-marked for improving the management of public sector spending, supporting the financial sector and boosting the country's energy sector, Ousmane Kane, Mauritania's finance minister, told reporters.

The new funding follows a decision by the IMF in September to renew ties with the desert nation by unblocking $80 million in budgetary support that was frozen after the coup.

Boileau Loko, deputy head of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, said the macro-economic situation in Mauritania was under control despite a higher-than-targeted budget deficit and the impact of the global crisis on the nation.

Loko said the IMF's decision demonstrated to the international community that the IMF was re-engaging and was ready to help the Mauritanian government.

Aziz was sworn in as president in August after a poll that opponents said was a fraud, but which France and others have said paved the way for re-engaging with a nation that straddles Black and Arab Africa.

20091217

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola accused the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday of changing their common land border, an area rich in oil and diamonds, and said it rejected the move.

Angola and the DRC have each been racked by decades of war, leading to confusion over the exact location of the border. A three-day meeting in Luanda of officials from both countries ended on Thursday with no immediate solution to the dispute.

"In regards to the border, the DRC authorities have made a unilateral change. That is an attitude that our government rejects," Emilio Guerra, Angola's Ambassador to the Congo, was cited by state-owned Jornal de Angola as saying on Thursday.

"We think the (border) delimitation cannot be made unilaterally. Both parties have to sit down."

The area boasts deposits of oil and diamonds. Hundreds of thousands of illegal Congolese diamond miners have been expelled from Angola, amid accusations of brutality. In October the Congo responded by deporting over 50,000 Angolans from its territory.

The DRC has accused Angolan troops of trespassing onto its territory and of brutality towards illegal Congolese miners in Angola. It has also recently accused Angola of stealing its oil from offshore oil wells near its coast.

OIL AT CENTRE OF DISPUTE

Relations between Angola and Congo have otherwise largely been cordial. Angola's emergence from decades of war has allowed the government to exploit the country's natural wealth in oil and diamonds. Congo also has vast mineral wealth but it has been less successfully exploited.

20091217

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates have released the Greek-owned ship MV Delvina after a ransom payment, a Kenyan maritime official said on Thursday.

The bulk carrier shipping wheat was seized on November 5, northwest of Madagascar. It had 21 crew on board, seven Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos.

"They must have paid a ransom," said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers' Association. "It's on its way to Mombasa."

KHARTOUM, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sealed on Thursday a program worth of 91 million U.S. Dollars to support the general elections in the country, said a statement of the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC).

The statement said that the project will help enhance the NEC's capacity of organizing the elections, slated for April 2010.

The program will cover all the materials needed for the elections including voting cards, ballot boxes, and educational campaigns for voters, together with training sessions for election officers and local police, according to the statement.

The UNDP will ran the program, which is funded by the governments of Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Netherlands, France and the European Commission, the statement said.

NEC Chairman Abil Alier said in the statement that the program indicated commitment of the international partners to support the electoral process in the country.

"With the financial support, provided by the donors, the NEC can affirm its ability to organize free, fair and credible elections", he said.

The NEC earlier estimated the total budget of the elections at around one billion dollars. However, in the country's general budget, which was endorsed on Nov. 17, 2009, a sum of 790 million SDGs (about 330 million Dollars) was approved as a budget for the general elections and the referendum on self-determination for southern Sudan.

The Sudanese government signed an agreement earlier with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will grant 25 million dollars, as the first installment, in support of the electoral process.

MOGADISHU, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The radical Islamist group of Al-Shabaab in Somalia on Thursday banned the operations of UN Mine Action agency in areas under the movement's control in southern Somalia.

The group, which has previously banned the work of other UN agencies, accused Mine Action of paying the salaries Somali government police force and of attempting to disrupt "the peace and justice" in areas under their control in south and centre of war-torn country.

"Furthermore, they (Mine Action) have been surveying and signposting some of the most vital and sensitive areas under the control of the Mujahideen, (holy fighters)," said the group's statement of which Xinhua got a copy.

The movement considered a terrorist entity by Somali government alleged the UN agency bribed community elders and incited them to rebel against the Islamic administrations in Al-Shabaab run territories.

The group stated that its investigations uncovered the fact that Mine Action was secretly hosting and undertaking the work of organizations that have previously been prohibited by Al-Shabaab such as UN Development Programe (UNDP), said the statement from the movement's Office for Supervising the affairs of Foreign Agencies.

Al-Shabaab vowed it will "continue to regulate and monitor the foreign agencies inside Somalia and protect the Muslims from any plots that may be against their religion, industries, safety, and health."

Mine Action operates in Somalia, a country awash with landmines and other explosive ordinance left over from decades of internal and external wars.

NAIROBI, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The passing year of 2009 witnessed a number of general elections in Sub-Saharan Africa. While elections in African countries may sometimes trigger fears of violence and unrest, this year's polls were largely held with peace and order.

In countries like South Africa, the Republic of Congo, Mauritania, Gabon, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea, elections proceeded with good order as people had faith in the front-running candidates that they can bring out development and prosperity once in power.

PEACEFUL, ORDERLY ELECTIONS

South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, held general elections on April 22. The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) won victory with 65.9 percent of the votes, and ANC leader Jacob Zuma became South Africa's new president.

Three months after that, the Republic of Congo held its presidential election during which President Denis Sassou-Nguesso secured re-election. Sassou garnered 78.6 percent of the votes, as his challengers were too divided to pose any serious challenge for him. Although the country has bitter memories about past elections, the July vote proceeded peacefully in general.

In Mauritania, almost one year after the civilian government was overthrown in a military coup, a presidential election was held on July 18. Eight months after he toppled the civilian government, General Abdel Aziz resigned from the military on April16 to run for presidency.

Due to disputes among political parties, the election was postponed from June 6 to July 18, but the coup leader Aziz finally won presidency for the nation of some 3 million people, in an election that observers regarded as valid.

On Aug. 30, west African country Gabon held a presidential election, following the death of the nation's former President Omar Bongo in June. A total of 23 candidates contested for the country's top job, and the late leader's son Ali Bongo won the race, as candidate of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party.

Botswana, one of the world's top diamond producers, held general elections on Oct. 16. President Ian Khama's Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), in power since independence from Britain in 1966, claimed victory, extending Khama's rule over the southern African country for another five years.

In neighboring Namibia, the ruling SWAPO party clinched its fifth straight landslide victory in the Nov. 27 presidential and parliamentary elections, and President Hifikepunye Pohamba was successfully re-elected.

The former liberation movement SWAPO has ruled Namibia, an country of around 2 million people, since 1990. The party is popular among many voters for maintaining peace and stability among the 13 ethnic groupings in the country.

Also in southern Africa, Mozambique President Armando Guebuza and his party won the national elections with more than two-thirds majority in parliament in the Oct. 28 election. A SADC (the Southern African Development Community) Election Observer Mission said no acts of intimidation or violence were observed or reported during the elections.

In western Africa, Equatorial Guinea held a presidential election on Nov. 29. In a lop-sided race, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema secured another seven years in power with 95.37 percent of the ballots.

DEVELOPMENT KEY TO STABILITY

Just one year ago, post-election violence in eastern African country Kenya killed over one thousand people and displaced hundreds of thousands. The strive for power also plunged Indian Ocean island country Madagascar deep into chaos. However, most of the above-mentioned elections were held with order as the winners had promised to bring about development to their countries.

During Mozambique's 2009 election, the ruling party's achievement in the fields of economic development won wide recognition from the general public. For those who have got rid of poverty and are aspiring for prosperity, there's good reason to vote for the continuity of the ruling party's policies.

In Mauritania, the promises and actions by former coup leader Aziz on a "constructive reform" gained approval from many of the voters, especially the poor. After Aziz came to power, his policies to build infrastructure and launch subsidies to the poor people were welcomed by many Mauritanians.

The parties or presidential candidates that can give voters the hope of development and prosperity will most likely to enjoy a lop-sided election, averting the danger of election violence which is usually seen in "neck-to-neck" competitions.

In South Africa for example, the ANC has high popularity among most of the South Africans. As ANC candidate, Zuma stood in a fairly good position to win and the possibility for election disputes to happen is relatively low.

So was the situation in central Africa's Republic of Congo, where all the pre-election polls signaled that presidential candidate Sassou could win out. Many voters believe that if Sassouwins, the country would secure continuity of its policies, which is conducive to social and economic advancement.

Sassou's rivals, largely divided in their political stance, could not form a combined force capable of challenging the front-runner. The much-feared reoccurrence of election violence didn't happen in Brazzaville this year.

While a number of factors may have contributed to the peaceful elections in Africa in 2009, the prospects of development that those strong candidates delivered must have played a decisive rolein dispelling doubts and disputes.

Sub-Saharan African nations are laudable for their achievements in smooth transfers of power this year. However, peaceful election might be just the first step for the success of a new government. Only those who can steer their nation out of the sweeping economic crisis and ship toward prosperity will enjoy long-standing support from the people.

ALGIERS, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Algerian security forces killed four armed extremists in the northern city of Bou-Saada on Wednesday night, state APS news agency said Thursday.

The operation was taken after the security forces was informed about a vehicle, loaded with militants, moving along the road from Bou-Saada to Biskra. Three machine guns were seized during the operation, according to the APS.

Those extremists belonged to the al-Qaida-linked Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which were active in the bordering areas of M'sila, Djelfa and Biskra.

RABAT, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude 5.5 was reported early Thursday in Morocco, Media 1 satellite TV reported.

The epicenter of the quake was located in the Atlantic Ocean, 300 km off the northern city of Tangier, the report quoted the Moroccan Geophysics Institute as saying.

The tremor was particularly felt in the cities of Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Safi and Marrakesh, according to the institute.

There were no reports of damage or injuries until now.

LAGOS, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sent its mediating team to Niger for talks to end the political crisis, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Thursday.

The West African country has been in turmoil since President Mamadou Tanja approved a referendum to extend his rule beyond limit.

An official of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in Abuja on Wednesday that Abdulsalami Abubakar, the chief negotiator, and his team was in Niamey for talks with stakeholders.

"They are in the country to continue their exploratory talks with the stakeholders in the crisis, which was caused by President Mamadou Tanja's decision to extend his tenure," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"I cannot give you details of the ongoing talks, which started in November, but I can assure you that we will get a clearer picture when the delegation returns," the official added.

A 41-member opposition delegation from Niger met with Abubakar in November, in the wake of the crisis that rocked the country over President Tanja's decision to amend the country's constitution.

Tanja claimed then that the result of a referendum paved the way for him to change the country's constitution to enable him to remain in office for another three-year term, which could be extended without a vote.

The opposition delegation, which met with Abubakar in November, was led by Mahmadou Issoufu, the president of the main opposition Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS).

Abubakar also met with the Nigerien government officials.

ECOWAS, the sub-regional economic bloc, and the African Union have imposed sanctions on Tanja's government for ignoring a warning not to conduct parliamentary elections.

Tandja, 71, who has been in power since 1999, has cracked down on the press and critics of his tenure-elongation after dissolving the Constitutional Court and the Parliament and assuming the power to rule the uranium-rich country by decree.

The ECOWAS Commission has been engaged in efforts to get the Nigerien authorities to abide by its constitution and the ECOWAS Additional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance since the crisis began.

COPENHAGEN, Dec 17 (IPS) - "Climate change is an opportunity to deal with all the issues of equity and justice that we have been struggling for all along," said Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International in an interview with IPS on Thursday in Copenhagen.

"And perhaps this is why there is such resistance from rich countries: they know that if they do the right thing in Copenhagen, they have to begin to share economic power and to have a more equitable trading system because all of those things have to follow, otherwise you cannot deal with climate change."

Q: With less than two days before the end of negotiations in Copenhagen, world leaders seem reluctant to commit to a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal. Why?

A: I think that developed countries are still in denial about their responsibility, even if they formally acknowledge it. The bottom line is we have global economic apartheid and essentially what we are seeing here is a sort of climate apartheid.

I want to stress that it is the developed countries’ governments that do not care. The publics in the developed countries see the injustice of it and I think that not only do rich country governments betray the people of poor countries but they are also betraying the citizens of their own countries and they are betraying democracy.

Q: They are also using their publics as an excuse not to act?

A: Absolutely. And that was indicated on Saturday, 12 December, with all the mobilizations around the world.

The level of mobilization on Saturday shows there is momentum building up now and what was most important for me is that it was not only the usual suspects (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and other environmental organizations), but also churches, trade unions, and development organizations that traditionally did not focus on the environment.

Q: So the environment works as a catalyst for a global movement?

A: Yes. Because people can see the interconnections. How can we have human rights if the planet is uninhabitable, how do we make progress with development if people end up in a situation where every progress they make gets lost. Look at Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world - it had huge innovations on the part of the NGO community, many of those progresses have been reversed already by the effects of rising sea levels that are contaminating the water supply and creating water scarcity.

Take gender equality for example. If we look at Africa, where climate change is already having a devastating impact on agriculture, and then we ask who are the most vulnerable, it is small farmers and many of them are women.

One of the things that rich countries don’t pay attention to is that climate change has already lead to conflicts, and it will continue to increase conflicts because, sadly, the new wars won’t be about oil but about water.

If you take the genocide in Darfur, people always see it as an ethnic conflict, but they forget that Lake Chad which neighbours Darfur was one of the largest inland seas in the world and now it is virtually dry. Water scarcity, along with land scarcity, is one of the biggest drivers of the tragic conflict in Darfur.

The US is spending 30 billion dollars annually now just on the war in Afghanistan. If they are worried about the kinds of money we are asking for, then what is the point of spending money on war, military conflict and conflict resolution when in fact they could actually create real life opportunities for people who have been desperately poor and socially excluded. If we address that, it is a way to prevent conflict and war.

Q: Climate change is a major security issue…

A: It is a fundamental security issue and, even if everyone knows it, the summit has sadly not given enough attention to that.

At the end of the day it is a matter of political will. If months ago they could mobilize trillions of euros to bail out the banks, why can’t they mobilize in the same way to save lives and turn this crisis into an opportunity.

Because there is a real opportunity here. In Africa, we have not even begun to scratch the surface with solar energy. If we make serious investments in solar, it is very likely that within the next 20 years Africa, particularly North Africa, could be net exporters of energy into Europe.

And I think all developed countries here, particularly the EU as a collective and within it Germany, and mainly the US have behaved pathetically, especially when we put it in a framework of justice. Developing countries have been least responsible for the situation we find ourselves in and they are the ones who are paying the first and the most brutal price.

They were told that they needed to put targets on the table and they have done so in the run up to Copenhagen. India and China for example passed or are in the process of passing domestic legislation, and they are moving in the right direction, but the rich countries have not reciprocated.

If you want to put it bluntly, if we don’t deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty here, we are issuing a death warrant for small island states and the least developed countries.

Q: The way things look today, global leaders are just about to sign such a death warrant this week.

A: We should remember that two years ago in Bali, at a similar time in the conference, people were even more pessimistic. It was on the last day that the moral pressure coming from the intervention of Papua New Guinea forced the US to compromise in the early hours of the morning.

In some cultures they say 'it ain’t over until the fat lady sings' and so I say 'it ain’t over until the thin man from Washington DC sings.' So let’s see when he (US President Barack Obama) comes.

Q: What do you think of the exclusion of NGOs from the negotiation center in the last three days of the conference?

A: I think the actions against the NGOs represent a betrayal of democracy, a betrayal of the informal compact that civil society has with the United Nations. It is desperately unjust and cruel, especially for small NGOs.

For them - who have spent this year saving money and preparing to come here - to be so brutally, unceremoniously and without any sense of dignity tossed out is a really big betrayal. When you look at some of the smallest grassroots groups present here, people who actually have the most authentic voices, being treated as they have been is very painful.

It’s been very painful for me to be here inside and I have actually thought about walking out myself. But if you are going to get any movement in the negotiations we have to use any limited capacity we have (Naidoo, who explains that he comes from a background of small NGOs, has moist eyes as he speaks about this topic).

We cannot blame the exclusion of NGOs on the Danish government. We are here in a UN space and the UN should know very well that this conference would not take place without the activities of civil society over decades, the heads of states would not be here if it wasn’t for us putting pressure on them in virtually every country around the world over the last year to come here because this issue is too important to be left to junior delegates.

Also, the legitimacy of any outcome here is undermined if it’s being done behind close doors, behind people and civil society.

The UN needs to realize that even if by some last minute trick a fair, ambitious and binding treaty is agreed on - and we can live without the legal exact wording right now, we need a clear set of ambitious targets, with the right kind of money, with the right kind of specific actions agreed and drafting the deal language in the next couple of months - the real work starts the day after to actually implement the deal.

And who is going to hold governments accountable and complement government capacity if not the NGOs?

Even if CoP15 will be a failure, what I would say to all NGOs, community groups, social movements, big NGOs, trade unions and everyone who came here is that they must take heart. It is not their failing. It is a failing of political leadership and what we have done has created a global momentum. We need to consolidate that, unite more, work more aggressively and continue the struggle.

(*This story appears in the IPS TerraViva online daily published for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.) (END/2009)

LUSAKA, Dec 17 (IPS) - Prisca Musonda is an ardent supporter of Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata and his party. She has travelled with him to most parliamentary constituencies campaigning in elections.

But now she fears Zambia’s general elections set for 2011 could turn violent and go wrong for most voters, unless the latest spate of violence can be curbed.

Musonda has dropped out of the PF cavalcade, as her friends were brutally beaten by ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) cadres, and admitted to hospital suffering from multiple injuries.

This was during the November 19 by-election to replace the late local government minister and MMD member of parliament for Solwezi Central, Benny Tetamashimba.

Musonda, though also beaten, was lucky to escape with minor injuries. But colleagues who were with her – Faron Mbao and Elias Kamanga – were not so lucky. They were badly beaten by MMD cadres armed with stones and iron bars, and suffered multiple head and body injuries.

Two-and-a-half months earlier Zambians woke up to a rude spectacle on the front page of the Post newspaper, in which the deputy minister in the vice-president’s office, Gaston Sichilima, was pictured indulging in ‘fists of fury’ with an opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP) cadre, identified only as Kaziko.

In that incident in Serenje town, Central Province, as later in Kasama where there was also serious inter-party violence, election monitors from civil society organisations like the Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) fingered MMD campaigners as the main culprits, who when faced with possible failure in a by-election resorted to violence and thuggery.

"The MMD, as the party that is ruling us, must lead by example. I don’t know why they cannot follow the law, especially the Electoral Code of Conduct," Bonny Tembo, who witnessed the fracas in Solwezi and is leader of elections watchdog AVAP, observed in Lusaka.

Under the Electoral Code of Conduct the Zambian government set out guidelines of what candidates can and cannot do. Under regulation seven it is an offence for political parties and their candidates to engage in ‘violence or use any language or engage in a course of conduct which leads to violence or intimidation during election campaigns or elections’.

The rules also prohibit candidates from carrying or displaying ‘arms or weapons, be they traditional or otherwise’. For offenders the law has set a penalty of one year’s imprisonment. Police too have their own guidelines in this law.

On paper, critics say, the Electoral Code of Conduct looks solid, but in practice it has been undermined by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), that has failed to drag all offenders to court.

For example, under Regulation 10 it is an offence to use government vehicles, money and other resources in political campaigns, but the MMD has broken this law without punitive action.

In addition Zambian police have been accused of favouring MMD cadres against campaigners from opposition parties. In the Solwezi by-election, PF and United Party for National Development (UPND) leaders were teargassed as though they were the offenders, when their side fought running battles with MMD campaigners after both parties wanted to address a public rally at the same time.

The MMD were not supposed to be there, but went anyway despite being advised against it by police. North-Western Province police commanding officer Fabian Katiba later admitted the mistake of police firing teargas, but said this had been necessary to prevent serious public disorder.

He agreed with the opposition that violence erupted between cadres of the MMD and the two parties of UPND and PF (which had entered a pact to contest elections as one entity), after MMD supporters abandoned their venue and went to where the PF and UPND were due to hold their meeting.

"We need protection from the police. They should not act like a wing of the ruling MMD," opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema complained to Katiba after the fracas.

But police are particularly vulnerable. It is not uncommon for commanding officers who insist on being fair to all parties to end up out of the job.

The latest victim of this bullying tactic is former Inspector-General of police, Ephraim Mateyo, who in the run-up to the presidential by-election last year tried to act fairly to all candidates.

In Lusaka two days before the by-election that picked Rupiah Banda (MMD) as president of Zambia, Mateyo decided to set aside areas to enable all political leaders in the election to have their rallies simultaneously.

The MMD were given Lusaka north, UPND Lusaka west and the PF Lusaka south-east. This arrangement did not please the MMD, as it allegedly split the attention of voters.

After Banda won the vote Mateyo was promptly out of a job, under the pretext that he was going abroad as a diplomat. He is still languishing in Lusaka.

ECZ spokesperson Chris Akufuna blames political parties for the upsurge of violence, insisting that though there is the Electoral Code of Conduct, MMD party leaders have chosen not to obey it.

The ECZ has been heavily criticised after their credibility was severely eroded in 2001, when they allegedly allowed the government of former president Frederick Chiluba to rig the presidential election in favour of late president Levy Mwanawasa.

PF president Michael Sata again made this claim against the ECZ at the end of the 2008 presidential by-election, which he lost.

"We need fairness from the leaders of political parties. Let them tell their members to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct. That is our Bible. That is what guides all of us during the conducting of elections," Akufuna declared.

In the wake of the Solwezi incidents, the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID), an umbrella grouping for major political parties, has turned its concerns into action by holding talks with the leaders of all major political parties.

"We need to hold elections that are free of violence in 2011, and that is why as the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue we will continue discussions with party leaders," declared Langton Sichone, ZCID spokesman.

"We don’t want to go the Kenya or Zimbabwe way," remarked Alfred Mwape, a third-year political science student at the University of Zambia, in reference to the fatal violence that paralysed and tore apart the two nations two years ago.

Prisca Musonda agrees, pointing out that uncontrolled political violence in 2011, when Zambia will hold presidential, parliamentary and local government elections, can very easily spark civil war.

This would not only affect ordinary voters but even the occupant of State House – home of the Zambian president.

COPENHAGEN, Dec 17 (IPS) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says Africa must compromise and be flexible towards other countries, if the U.N. Climate Conference ending on Dec. 18, is to reach an agreement.

Speaking to the press in the Danish capital, Zenawi - ostensibly leading the African front on climate change - said the continent would suffer the most should the world fail to seal a deal.

"Because we have more to lose, we should compromise and be flexible with (other countries)," said Zenawi, after admitting that his proposals at the U.N. summit fall short of African expectations.

But he was quick to point out that Africa’s bending did not mean desperation: "We will not accept any empty words".

Millions of Africans are banking their hopes on the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who was chosen to lead the African delegation during the High Level Meeting of heads of state that concludes the U.N. Climate Conference.

The prize is to bring home a sound deal that will act to slow the rising average temperatures that have caused catastrophic droughts and severe rains in recent years, and to secure funding from the historically-polluting countries to cope with changes that are already unvaoidable.

?While maintaining that Africa had virtually no responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, Zenawi slashed the 67 billion dollars a year that African leaders agreed to demand from the industrialised nations who are responsible.

Instead his proposal accepts the developed world's offer of a start-up fund of $10 billion a year for Africa over the next three years, with the future to be decided on later. This fund will be dedicated to adaptation and mitigation actions, including the fight against deforestation, in poor countries.

"I support that the fund be established through the creation of a tax on international financial transactions, and that other sources be considered, such as taxes on sea freight or air transport," he said. "I also support that it should be administered through the African Development Bank."

In the long term, Zenawi proposed that funding rise to $50 billion a year in 2013, and reach $100 billion by 2020 - a proposal perfectly in line with what U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton outlined in a press conference on Dec. 17.

His proposal touched a raw nerve among African civil society organisations, who have demanded that he resign as coordinator of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change.

The proposal has caused outrage in Africa, according to Pan-African Climate Justice spokesperson Mithika Mwenda. He accuses Zenawi of caving in to the dictates of industrialised nations, leaving Africans to fend for themselves as best they can

"His statement is undermining the bold positions of African negotiators and ministers represented in Copenhagen, and threatens the very future of Africa," said an angry Mwenda.

The proposed $10 billion a year for Africa is an insult, said Mwenda, who did a quick calculation and came up with $4 a year for each African. In his view, it should be the size of the pocket, that determines the expected contribution from industrialised countries. They are, he said "paying their debt for polluting the earth".

A difficult start for Africa in the final phase of negotiations. The collective front put up by Africa Group negotiators as part of the Group of 77 and China block had failed to convince the Rich World to either commit to substantial greenhouse gas emissions or the $200 billion a year the developed world will need to cope with floods, droughts, rising sea levels and the spread of diseases due to climate change.

But the bloc had at least made it clear that the developing world would not stand peacefully by any abandoning of Kyoto Protocol commitments to reduce emissions, or easily settle for a modest though immediate sum.

Zenawi's break with this position to endorse a Western position is a worrying sign that this solidarity amongst the countries whose people will bear the full weight of climatic changes may not hold firm.

MADRID, Dec 17 (IPS) - Aminatou Haidar, the Western Sahara independence activist who has been on a hunger strike in a Spanish airport for 32 days demanding to be allowed to return to her homeland, was taken to the hospital just after midnight Wednesday, and is in intensive care.

Haidar has been fasting since her passport and identity document were confiscated by Moroccan authorities on Nov. 14 as she was returning to her hometown El-Ayoun - the capital of Western Sahara - via Spain following a trip to receive a human rights prize in the United States.

On her entry form, Haidar had left the citizenship line blank and listed her place of residence as "Western Sahara" rather than "Morocco" - which she said she had frequently done in the past without any problems.

Western Sahara, a phosphate-rich desert territory on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania was annexed by Morocco after Spain, the former colonial power, pulled out in 1975.

After hours of questioning, Haidar was put on a plane against her will on Nov. 15 to Spain's Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco. Since landing in the city of Lanzarote on Nov. 16 she has been on a hunger strike in the airport, demanding to be given back her passport and allowed to return to her two children in El-Ayoun.

But the Moroccan authorities insist that it is a political, not a humanitarian, problem, and that her hunger strike is part of a "plot" directed by Algeria and the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement, which is based in that country.

Morocco also considers itself a "victim" of the situation, as the country's Economy Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said Thursday in Madrid.

Because of her delicate condition, the Spanish government decided to send a plane to Lanzarote to take her on a direct flight to El-Ayoun, accompanied by a Spanish doctor and her sister Laila Haidar.

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's chief of staff, Bernardino León, personally phoned Haidar to inform her. The flight is to take place Thursday night, although Morocco's position has not been reported.

A few hours earlier, Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos told the press they were close to a solution arranged with the Moroccan government.

Haidar had earlier turned down Spain's offer of political asylum or citizenship.

The 43-year-old Haidar, president of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), is one of the leading activists for self-determination for Western Sahara. She has received an outpouring of international support, from the British parliament to Nobel laureates and human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Known as the "Sahrawi Gandhi", she has been forcibly disappeared, held and tortured in Moroccan prisons, and has won international awards like the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy human rights prize. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

Although the Polisario Front agreed to a ceasefire in 1991, the talks on Western Sahara are at a standstill over incompliance with United Nations agreements, which call for a referendum in which Sahrawis would choose between integration with Morocco and independence.

Morocco refuses to consider the option of independence, offering autonomy instead.

Severo Moto, president of the "government in exile" of Equatorial Guinea, told IPS that it is clear that the Moroccan government holds a large share of responsibility for Haidar's situation.

But he said he believes the Spanish government is mainly responsible, because the authorities allowed Haidar into the country at Lanzarote without a passport, rather than putting her back on a plane to El-Ayoun.

He added that "the decolonisation of Western Sahara is not taken seriously, and Spain is chiefly responsible for that, even today."

Haidar's lawyer Inés Miranda pointed out that her client was forced to enter Spain illegally, because any foreigner wishing to enter the country needs a passport to do so.

After suffering from stomach pain and severe nausea, and vomiting blood, the activist was admitted to the hospital in Lanzarote, where she is in the intensive care unit.

Since the start of her fast she has lost six kilos, approximately 10 percent of her body weight. She had preexisting health problems, such as a gastric ulcer.

The doctors treating her warned that she would quickly go downhill, and that they would have to decide whether to feed her against her will, or allow her to fast "to the end."

In the hospital she is only receiving painkillers, and is being rehydrated by intravenous drip. The director of the hospital, Domingo Guzmán, has been acting as her personal physician.

Haidar already held a hunger strike when she was a prisoner in Morocco, in 2005. It lasted 32 days. She was demanding to be tried as a political prisoner rather than a criminal, and was protesting the torture she had suffered in prison.

Now, in statements to the reporters who have continually flocked around her since she began her hunger strike, she has made it clear that she plans to continue her fast to the death if she is not given back her passport and allowed to return to Morocco.

Fernando Pieraita, a spokesman for her support group, said she is very weak and can barely talk, "but what keeps her going are her mental strength and the conviction of the justice of her cause."

On Tuesday, the Spanish parliament passed a motion - approved by all parties except the centre-right Popular Party, the main opposition force, which abstained - stating that the situation should be managed "at the highest level." That indirectly paved the way for the King of Spain to personally intervene.

The resolution also emphasised the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, and said Morocco should allow Haidar to return home "without delay."

Haidar says she will return home, "dead or alive."

COPENHAGEN, Dec 17 (IPS) - "It’s clear now – we’re not getting a binding deal at the end of tomorrow," said the president of Friends of the Earth-United States, Erich Pica.

Industrialised nations are burying their heads in the sand and poor countries seem set to be forced to continue bearing the burden of global warming. The demonstrations, flyers, news media and all kinds of pressure to get the Western countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and compensate poor countries with financial resources and technology seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Inside the Bella Center, the venue for the Dec. 7-18 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, leaders from different parts of the world delivered more or less the same message about the impacts of climate change and why it is important to help poor countries.

The United States stimulated a lot of media interest when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put her government's cards on the table. But her proposal of 100 billion dollars a year of funding from 2020 confirmed the arrogance of the developed world: the South is looking for an immediate commitment to roughly 200 billion dollars a year for mitigation, adaptation and technology transfers.

The U.S. plan would take a decade to make half of what developing countries estimate is needed available. Clinton rubbed it in by making even this limited offer conditional on countries such as China and Russia committing to transparent actions on cutting emissions.

"The developed countries are now trying to push the blame to developing countries so that when a deal fails to come up tomorrow, they'll blame it on China or Russia for refusal to cooperate," said Pica.

Other observers also noted that the U.S. proposal was silent on practical questions such as where the money will come from, how the fund will grow over the years, and very unclear on when it would end.

Several heads of state, whether by design or default, seem to be shying away from this meeting. Indian Prime Minister Mohamed Singh, who was supposed to fly from India to Copenhagen this afternoon, was reportedly delayed because of a technical problem with his aircraft.

This delay means that a consensus between the four largest developing economies - China, India, Brazil and South Africa - whose leaders were supposed to meet tonight, will take longer to emerge.

U.S. President Barack Obama also did not pitch today, postponing a much-anticipated address to the Conference.

A leaked internal document from the U.N. Secretariat spells out how much remains to be done: assessing the emissions reduction pledges from industrialised nations who are part of the Kyoto protocol and the voluntary offers from everyone else, the expected rise in temperature will be roughly three degrees.

The last day of negotiations now dawns with everything left to accomplish: a yawning gap remains between major blocs of countries, between the negotiations in the Bella Centre and the demands of civil society, and - still - between what the markets can conceive and what scientists say is the minimum needed to protect the diversity of life on this planet.

* Claudia Ciobanu, Servaas van den Bosch and Terna Gyuse contributed to this report. **This story appears in the IPS TerraViva online daily published for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

20091217
afrik.com

The 5th edition of the Africities summit kicked off Wednesday, December 16, 2009 in the city of Marrakech, Morocco. The conference seeks to address burning issues related to local governments and their role in fighting the current economic crisis that has battered the African continent from all sides; financial, economic, social, cultural, civilization. Opening under the theme of “restoring trust,” Africities is not only dedicated to the channeling of the demands of basic African populations, to be made part of the global political collective of the continent, but also to present proposals that aim to find concrete local solutions to the global crisis. Employment and sustainable development are at the helm of this year’s focus.

Africities has become in a short lapse of time a reference in the promotion of a convergence of African cities (…) to learn from our shortcomings and strengths to better our development,” says Mr Marafa Hamidou Yahya, Minister of territorial administration, Cameroon. “We want to encourage sustainable development and employment as the basis of our continent’s economic development,” reveals Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (CGLUA).

This 5th Edition of Africities seizes the opportunity to expose Africa’s social and economic challenges and give clarity to the continent’s own tailored solutions, in order to send the appropriate messages from the grass-root or local government level to principal economic and political actors. The project seeks a population-focused involvement that will empower those who have been deprived of their civic right to partake in issues that concern their own welfare, and help build social structures through a decentralization process geared towards the achievement of set Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Lopsided relations

The summit brings together a great number of African local authorities who have joined in CGLUA’s fight for a representation at the African Union. “Africities is the best platform to inform African leaders that local authorities need to be represented at the continental level,” launched Aminata Ndiaye Ndeye, Mayor of the northern state of Louga in Senegal. This call trumpets the fundamental aim of CGLUA to find a balance between political powers and local populations by legitimizing the role of their “local representatives at the national level to address their interests,” insists Mr. Elong Mbassi.

Chakib Benmoussa, Moroccan Interior Minister argued that Africities is a golden opportunity to find answers towards the enhancement of "human, natural and infrastructural" issues and also a "call to strengthen" solidarity to among Africans to tackle the current economic crisis head-on at a local level. "History", Mr. Benmoussa said, has subjugated African relations to the dictates of a lopsided North-South cooperation, and it is high time Africa made concerted efforts towards "South-South cooperation to find a methodology" that would affect development and address the continent’s social deficit.

Economic parasites

Former Ghanaian President, Jerry John Rawlings agrees with the Moroccan minister in what concerns the effect of history on African development. “Africa has been unable to stay united and assertive because a good number of us in leadership positions, rather than uphold ideals that protect the sovereignty of our countries, have fallen to the dictates of our colonial and development partners and of late through their multi-national organisations who come in with promises of employment, capital and infrastructural development.”

Indeed, the many advantages that stem from the investments, according to Mr. Rawlings, have failed “to benefit the mass of our people because of the political and economic parasites who find themselves at the helm of affairs in our countries.”

It is a general understanding that it is only by actively involving its populations in political decisions at all levels of the society can Africa best address its institutional bottlenecks at source and achieve its development goals. Africities provides a platform to address the contemporary economic development impediment, which “portends a grim picture for Africa (…) and threatens to derail the progress so far made towards meeting the Millenium Development Goals,” says Mr. Musalia Mudavadi, Kenyan Vice Prime Minister. "It is imperative to question governance,” he declares. The development impediment is not only limited to the economic crisis per se, but also due to the fact that “corruption is real and (that) if we do not factor this key failure of Africa into our deliberations (…) and saddle ourselves only with a scientific approach to resolving the effect of the global crises on Africa, we will be doing a great disservice to the continent,” Mr. Rawlings insists.

From regional blocs to Economic clubs

An all-inclusive strategy to deal with “the burden of disconnect in development in all spheres to address the hurdles that impede social, economic and political development in the continent" is needed, suggests the Kenyan Vice PM. This strategy, he believes, should encourage an evolution of the “regional blocs” by involving local governments to integrate into “stronger economic clubs”, as is the case in the developed world, especially Europe. "Failure to do so" Mr. Mudavadi says, "will continue to be our undoing".

“With an annual growth rate of 4 per cent, we expect that in 21 years, cities in Africa will be where our citizens will live and work (and therefore cities should be able to, editor’s note) absorb the majority of the demographic shift of the ever growing pool of people moving into them in search of economic opportunities,” says Mrs. Nigerian Minister of state and president of AMCHUD, Chief Grace Ekpiwhre. Africa can therefore no longer escape the reality that local authorities should be empowered to take on the urgencies that come with this demographic development including, the provision of “adequate urban services,” as they will be in the frontline in the fight against challenges arising from urban growth.

Africities through the years

The three yearly Africities summits are alternated between the various regions of Africa. It’s a rare momentum given to the promotion of the decentralization process in Africa, and tackles the question of the role of local governments in the framework of African development. The first summit took place in Abidjan, the Ivorian capital in January 1998: This first Africities summit gave birth to an African municipal movement on an institutional, regional and international, level. The second Edition was held in Windhoek, Namibia in the month of May 2000. Africities 2 marked the beginning of a structuring strategy at the African municipal level. A Panafrican dialogue on decentralization and local development was also launched.

The third Edition in Yaoundé, Cameroon in December 2003 was consecrated to the unification and recognition of the municipal movement in Africa and its place within the international municipal movement. As a matter of logic, the theme elaborated during the third summit led to The birth of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (CGLUA), launched in 2005. Nairobi, Kenya was the venue chosen for the fourth summit in September 2006 which focused on the contribution of African local governments vis-à-vis the implementation of the Millenium Development Goals. Africities 4 sounded the end of a cycle; a cycle of emergence and the structuring of the African municipal movement, as it moved on to a new stage, one that involves action.

20091217
afrik.com

South African soldiers have been granted a pay rise months after they staged heavy protests over salaries. Observers have indicated that timely salary increase is a moral booster not only for the military but also for football fans who will be streaming to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday announced a salary increase at a Reconciliation Day commemoration. "As Commander-in-Chief of the SANDF, it is my pleasure to announce increases in the salaries of members of the SANDF, who are on salary levels 2 to 12, from privates to colonels or the occupational class of military practitioner," he said.

Jacob Zuma said the increases would range from 2% to 65% and would come into effect on December 1 2009.

In August 2009, nearly 3 000 soldiers from the South African defence force clashed with the police on the streets of Pretoria during demonstrations over pay and poor service conditions within the military.

The image of demonstrating soldiers clashing with the police in the heart of South Africa’s administrative capital sent shockwaves throughout the country. Pictures of the clashes where shown for days on national television.

On August 26, the troops had left their barracks and marched to the Union Buildings as well as Zuma’s offices, insisting on seeing the president while making demands for a 30% pay rise.

Police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse the demonstrators, who reportedly became unruly and attacked police cars.

The strike in South Africa caused much uneasiness within the political classes of neighbouring Zimbabwe, as some soldiers in several bases were rumoured as planning to take the same action.

In a statement released after Zuma’s announcement, the soldiers said the rise was a "critical step" to boost morale. "Improved salaries are an important first step towards improved service conditions for soldiers," a statement from the soldiers read.

"Yesterday’s [Wednesday] pronouncement by President Zuma, that, ’we want to invest in the development of the defence force and the young people who are drawn into this noble calling of defending the country,’ will boost morale and send the clear signal to soldiers that an era of relative military neglect is over” continues the statement.

The timely salary increase is a moral booster not only for the military but also for football fans who will be streaming to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

According to observers, this move will help curb any planned strikes ahead of the world cup as the services of the totality of the South African armed forces may be required to secure football fans and prevent crime.

20091217
afrik.com

Corruption charges brought against a former Nigerian Governor, an ally to Nigerian president M. Umaru Yar’ Adua has been dropped, to the dismay of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

Mr. James Ibori, former governor of the oil-rich Delta State was accused of laundering millions of dollars, and was indicted of 170 financial crimes. However a federal court has dropped all charges against the influential politician; a decision the EFCC has described as "hasty".

Mr. Ibori was indicted by the EFCC in December 2007, and a UK court subsequently froze his assets worth $35m. Former EFCC head Nuhu Ribadu was fired from his post after he, allegedly received death threats. He was eventually forced to flee the country, after the charges were brought against Mr Ibori.

Mr Obori who is a strong ally of President Umaru Yar’Adua, received an official salary of about $25,000 while he was governor, and according to the local media he had amassed immense wealth during his term in office.

Despite the federal court ruling, the EFCC has vowed to appeal.

Last week, on Dec. 9, a leader of a rising opposition party in Nigeria was arrested by the EFCC; a situation that led to some politicians accusing the authorities of trying to scamper their plans to unite against the ruling party.

Attahiru Bafarawa, who ran for president in 2007, was arrested whilst in a meeting trying to form an opposition party for an election due in 2011.

The opposition comprises former presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who led Nigeria between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985 after a coup, and ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar (from 1999 to 2007), who have both accused the EFCC of being a tool for the government to silence its critics.

The opposition accuses the ruling party of running the country into the ground and acting as if Nigeria were a one-party state. The opposition parties had said they were uniting in order to save the country.

Analysts have since questioned the independence of the electoral commission, which refused to register a coalition of opposition parties during the 1980s — when the country was under the leadership of President Shehu Shagari of Nigeria’s National Party — and is being criticized for partisanship and failure to conduct free and fair elections.

But in the case of Mr. Ibori, it is the EFCC versus the Federal court, in a backdrop of a questioned transparency and justice.

20091217
afrik.com

The Federal and South Sudan Ministries of Health, have jointly launched Sudan Household Health Survey.

The survey which is to start soon, will include questions related to two key topics: HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality.

Speaking during the launching ceremony in Juba, the Federal government Minister of Health, Tabitha Butrus, underscored the importance of having correct and professional data-base on health issues. She said that an up to date data base is a key to government’s planning for its people.

Butrus said, "This is a very important survey. I believe it is not only the money that is needed for this exercise to succeed, but also the political commitment. I thank all those who contributed to the launching and successful completion of the survey, including UN agencies and the government."

The South Sudan Minister of Health, Joseph Monytuil, said that the implementation of the survey requires timely allocation of financial and other essential resources. He said delay in releasing funds for the project will undermine the exercise.

Monytuil reiterated the commitment of the Government of South Sudan to facilitating a successful implementation of the survey. "Southern sudan givernment whole-heartedly supports the survey and it will do all it can to see that it succeeds," he said.

During the event, a number of organizations working closely with the ministry of health reaffirmed their commitment to providing financial and technical support for the survey. Around 3.8 million US Dollars is needed for the implementation of the survey.