ANTANANARIVO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- While supporters of Madagascar's Highest Transitional Authority (HAT) President Andry Rajoelina link Sunday's attempted attack on the premiership to former president Marc Ravalomanana, those of Ravalomanana's group calls it a cinema.

On Sunday, colonel Rene Lilison of the Special Intervention Forces (FIS) close to Rajoelina announced that an attempted coup d'etat was thwarted and that the military officers and some civilians were arrested for having planned the overnight attack on the prime minister's palace, which is situated in the southeast of the capital Antananarivo.

According to the website www.actumada.mg, which is considered to be pro-Rajoelina, the arrestees included two military officers close to Ravalomanana.

One was identified as chief warrant officer Rodolphe, a former member of the presidential guard under the regime of Ravalomanana. Another was reported to be lieutenant colonel Cesar, who was guarding Fetison Rakoto Andrianirina, the co-transitional president from Ravalomanana's camp.

General Raoelina, the head of presidential guard under Ravalomanana was also mentioned in the coup attempt, although he was suffering from cardio-vasicular disease and hospitalized in Antananarivo.
The same website said Rodolphe had admitted that the money they spent in planning the coup was from former president Ravalomanana. Cesar was quoted as saying, "Besides the 20 U. S. dollars they were paid every day, they were each going to be compensated with a sum of 1,000 dollars if the mission is successful."

FIS led by colonel Lilison has arrested 21 people including a general who turned up for investigation on Monday.

General Desire Ramakavelo of HAT declared, "Some people are seeking nothing else than to create disorder in this country even though they know a solution to get the Great Island from the crisis is being sought."

"No other group wants to do this except Ravalomanana's movement," he said.

Ramakavelo accused Ravalomanana's camp and the other two led respectively by former presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy of rejecting "the proposals advanced by the Madagascan people to resolve the crisis."

On the side of Ravalomanana's camp, Congress Transitional President Mamy Rakotoarivelo declared, "It was a coup of a splinter group and not a coup d'etat."

Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro, the spokesman for Ravalomanana's party Tiako i Madagasikara (TIM), which means "I Love Madagascar", announced, "We are pushing towards a negotiated solution to the crisis. We condemn all acts of violence irrespective of where they are coming from."

Jean-Louis Rakotoamboa, the leader of activists in Ravalomanana's camp, said, "If this kind of attempted coup exists, it is because there are people who are disappointed."

"It is difficult to start accusing people especially Marc Ravalomanana over this situation. The supporters of the former president chose to organize peaceful but determined protests. If they had opted for this kind of attempts, they would have done it in broad daylight," he pointed out.
"We condemn all actions that are aimed at destabilizing the country. HAT has always reneged on the conventional agreements that were signed in Maputo and Addis Ababa," he said, ruling out the intention from the movement of Ravalomanana to attempt any takeover of the kind.

"Whenever a solution to the country's crisis is about to be found, these kinds of acts take place," he argued.

Concerning the former presidential guards arrested for the coup attempt, the official of Ravalomanana's camp reiterated, "Since the withdrawal of the guards in the month of December, we have not had any contacts with them."

Ravalomanana has himself declared that he "supports a democratic solution."

"Rumors suggesting anything on the contrary are totally false and any thoughts on the contrary want to achieve political ends and they are not only cynical but also have destabilizing potential," the former president said.

In Zafy's camp, Dr. Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, the transitional co- president, affirmed that in the face of this situation, "we demand to know whether the HAT president will go to Johannesburg for the dialogue with Ravalomanana scheduled for April 28, since last time his vehicle was attacked and they talked of homemade petrol bombs."

"Unfortunately, despite this act, no inquiry has been opened into the issue of petrol bombs, while as for the Sunday case, people were arrested without any evidence being produced," he complained.

The coup attempt was reported after Prime Minister Camille Vital dismissed former minister of armed forces Noel Rakotonandrasana On April 7.

Vital said Rakotonandrasana had held suspicious meetings with senior officers without informing him, accusing him of causing confusion in the military ranks.
But Rakotonandrasana insists that he will still hold his post unless the prime minister himself comes to him so that he could hand over power. He says he will accept the dismissal if all the military officers want him to leave.

Rakotonandrasana was the main actor in the process of power transfer to Rajoelina, who ousted Ravalomanana with the backing of the military in March 2009. The change is widely seen as unconstitutional.

Last month, the African Union imposed sanctions on Rajoelina and 108 other officials for failing to form a new government with the three former presidents.

The four parties reached agreements in Maputo and Addis Ababa last year on power sharing, but failed to carry them out amid differences.

Last week, Rajoelina admitted that France, South Africa and the Southern African Development Community had proposed a new roadmap to end the crisis after last year's international mediation failed.

He said he had accepted the offer and would meet Ravalomanana in Johannesburg, South Africa, in late April to discuss the signing of a new agreement. He also promised that the other two camps would share the future government if the planned talks turn out a success.

There were rumors saying the coup attempt was a trick by extremists from Rajoelina's camp to block the planned dialogue in South Africa.

NAIROBI, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked a Liberian-owned bulk carrier with 21 Filipino crew on board, the European Union Naval Force confirmed on Wednesday.

EU Naval Force spokesman John Harbour said the Panamanian- flagged Voc Daisy, with a dead weight of 47,183 tonnes, was hijacked on Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden, 190 nautical miles East South East of Salalah, Oman.

The spokesman said at the time of the attack, the ship, owned by Middleburg Properties Ltd. of Liberia and operated by the Greek company Samartzis Maritime Enterprises, was heading west from Ruwais, U.A.E, making for the eastern rendezvous point of the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), for onward transit through the Suez Canal. She was 280 miles from the IRTC when she was hijacked.

"The EU NAVFOR is monitoring the situation and can confirm that all the 21 Philippino crew," Harbour said.

He said the vessel was registered with Maritime Security Center Horn Of Africa (MSCHOA) and was able to raise the alarm before the four armed pirates, carrying three AK47s and one RPG, stormed onboard and cut their lines of communication.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

The country has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

KHARTOUM, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-two civilians have been killed and 55 others wounded in renewed tribal clashes in Sudan's South Darfur State, Khartoum media reported Wednesday.

"Violent clashes broke out Tuesday between Rizeigat and al-Sada tribes at various areas, some 61 kilometers north of Nyala, the capital city of South Darfur State," Khartoum's Al Ahdath daily reported.

The clashes, which involved heavy weapons and lasted for more than five hours, resulted in the killing of 40 members of al-Sada tribe and 12 members of Rizeigat tribe, according to the newspaper.

In the meantime, Khartoum's Al Ray Al A'm daily quoted commissioner of Wohda in South Darfur State as saying that two security committees of the state and Wohda are present at the sites and that the situation has been under control.

He said that a committee has been formed to calm the tension between the two sides and tackle the root-causes of the problem, according to the newspaper.

He attributed the causes of the problem to the robbery operations and that some criminals seek protection from the tribes after committing crimes.

The western Sudanese region witnesses repeated tribal confrontations due to several reasons including banditry activities and disputes over pastures, besides spread of vengeance among the tribes.

2010-04-23
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali has put its security forces on high alert after a French tourist and his Algerian driver were seized in neighbouring Niger.

A Nigerien military officer said he believed the hostages have already been moved to Mali, where an official warned of the challenges of tracking kidnappers in the vast West African desert region.

The kidnapping late on Wednesday occurred just days after Mali, Niger, Algeria and Mauritania set up a joint command post aimed at improving regional collaboration to counter a growing threat from al Qaeda in their shared Sahara zone.

"As soon as there is a kidnapping, everyone looks towards Mali, especially the north, which everyone says is the rear base for al Qaeda," a military source close to Mali's defence minister told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"That is why ... we have alerted our security forces on the border with Niger, in case, as usual, they try and cross the border to seek refuge in Niger. But the borders are very long and the kidnappers know the terrain, which is huge."

The pair were seized near Tiguidan Tessoun, which is in Niger's remote north and equidistant from the border with Mali and Algeria, according to Nigerien and diplomatic sources.

A Nigerien military officer, who asked not to be named, said that Niamey believed the kidnappers had already crossed the border despite Mali's efforts to cut them off.

"We think they are somewhere in the Azaouagh strip," he said, referring to a valley in Mali's remote north.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Friday it was trying to verify the incident. No group has claimed responsibility.

An increase in kidnappings of foreigners in the desert region, where a combination of bandits, former rebels and smugglers have long operated has pointed to a growing influence of groups linked to al Qaeda.

Analysts say the kidnappings are often carried out by local gunmen, who then pass hostages on to members al Qaeda's North Africa wing, which is known as AQIM.

Six Europeans were kidnapped in the region late last year. Since then, four of the hostages have been released, while two Spaniards are still being held. Last May, AQIM killed a British hostage seized in a previous round of kidnappings.

The reported payment of ransoms for hostages and the release of arrested Islamist fighters has strained relations between the regional states at a time when Western governments are seeking greater regional cooperation to curb al Qaeda activities.

Mali, in particular, has been picked out by Algeria and Mauritania for failing to crack down on Islamists who have taken advantage of vast ungoverned zones and a long tradition of smuggling to operate out of its northern area.

2010-04-23
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven suspected pirates from Somalia have been brought to the United States to face piracy and other charges for attacks on two U.S. Navy ships off the coast of Africa, the Justice Department said on Friday.

It said the suspects were scheduled to appear on Friday in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. The 11 men had been held on U.S. ships for weeks off Somalia's coast as U.S. officials decided what to do with them.

Five defendants were captured after the March 31 attack in which the Navy frigate, the USS Nicholas, exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles, sinking a skiff and confiscating its mother ship.

Two of the accused pirates opened fire at night on what they believed to be a merchant ship, but it actually was the Navy vessel, according to U.S. court documents filed in the case.

In the other incident, six defendants were charged with the April 10 attack on another Navy vessel, the USS Ashland, in the Gulf of Aden. They allegedly opened fire on the vessel with small arms from their boat.

In addition to piracy, the criminal charges included attacks to plunder a vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

If convicted of piracy, the suspects face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, a Justice Department spokesman said.

It was not the first time an accused Somali pirate has been sent to the United States to face criminal charges.

Last year, a teenager from Somalia was extradited to New York to face charges he attempted to hijack a U.S. ship in the Indian Ocean.

Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the sole surviving accused pirate from the foiled bid to hijack U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama in April 2009, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have stepped up hijacking attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.

On any given day, between 30 and 40 international ships are involved in anti-piracy efforts in the Somali basin and the western Indian Ocean. That includes five to 10 American vessels, a top U.S. Navy admiral has said.

2010-04-23
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger's military-led transitional government should hand over power to civilians within a year, a coalition of the West African nation's political representatives said on Friday.

"The general agreement over the course of our debate was 12 months," Morou Amadou, president of the 131-member national advisory council set up by the government, said on state radio. "The report will be sent to (the transitional government)."

Niger's military toppled the regime of President Mamadou Tandja in a dramatic attack on the presidential palace on February 18, later promising to clean up politics in the uranium-producing nation before scheduling an election.

The international community is eager to see a return to democratic rule in the country, which has drawn billions of dollars worth in oil and mining investment and where al Qaeda cells operate.

But Western powers have been reluctant to forcefully condemn the overthrow of Tandja, who in 2009 orchestrated a constitutional rejig that extended his time in office and broadened his powers.

Junta chief Major Salou Djibo appointed a transitional government in March and a spokesman said no members of the transitional team will be allowed to run in elections, for which no date has yet been set.

Djibo Hamani, a member of the national advisory council, told reporters on Friday that preparations for elections could potentially begin in October.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world and facing a severe food shortage this year.

But it has drawn investment from companies like Areva and China National Petroleum Corp, and there has been no sign the projects have been set back by the military coup.

2010-04-23
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Last year's global slump will condemn 53 million more people to extreme poverty and contribute to 1.2 million child deaths in the next five years, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

Despite these setbacks, the joint report released on Friday said the overall number of people living on less than $1.25 a day, the definition of "extreme poverty", would fall to 920 million by 2015 compared to 1.8 billion in 1990.

This puts emerging nations broadly on track to achieve a United Nations "Millennium Development Goal" of halving 1990 rates of extreme poverty by 2015.

However, the 2008-09 financial and economic turmoil and the food price crisis that preceded it in early 2008 mean the prognosis is not so good for a similar drive to cut global rates of hunger and malnutrition.

More than a billion people, or one in six people on the planet, are still struggling to meet basic food needs, leading to increased instances of disease -- and ultimately death -- in young children and pregnant women, the report said.

World Bank projections cited in the report said 1.2 million children were likely to die between 2009 and 2015 as a result of the two crises.

However, the two institutions concluded the fallout would have been more serious had developing country governments not followed sound macro-economic policies before the crisis, giving themselves room to maintain social safety nets in hard times.

"The financial crisis was a severe external shock that hit poor countries hard. Its effects could have been far worse were it not for better policies and institutions in developing countries over the past 15 years," IMF Deputy Managing Director Murilo Portugal said in a statement.

"The crisis in the developing world has a potentially serious impact in everyday life since the margin of safety for so many people is so slim in even the best of times."

The extra millions condemned to hardship come despite a strong recovery forecast in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The IMF is forecasting growth of 6.3 percent for emerging and developing economies this year and 6.5 percent for next, with much of the impetus coming from Chinese expansion of around 10 percent, and strong performances by India, Brazil and Indonesia.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region, is likely to expand 4.7 percent in 2010 and 5.9 percent the year after, putting it back on the growth trajectory it enjoyed in the years leading up to the crisis.

Despite its post-millennial spurt, Africa has still lagged behind Asia in cutting poverty, with extreme hardship rates falling only to 51 percent in 2005 from 58 percent in 1990, the report said.

2010-04-23
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Eighty people in southwest Uganda have died after consuming alcohol laced with methanol, a health officer said on Friday.

Some people in the east African country often consume cheap, home-made liquor, which is sometimes laced with chemicals for potency, which usually causes death.

Patrick Tusiime, a health officer in Kabale district near the border with Rwanda, told Reuters the deaths started three weeks ago but authorities took days to establish the cause because families failed to disclose that victims fell ill after consuming alcohol.

"Our response was hampered initially because...family members refused to tell us that these people had consumed methanol-laced alcohol," he said.

Local brewers had mixed large amounts of methanol in Waragi, a gin extracted from bananas, he said.

Ugandans often complain that their health care system is ineffective, with frequent drug shortages and inadequate and poorly-paid health workers. Patients walk miles in some regions to reach the nearest health facility.

Tusiime said victims of the poisoned liquor became blind and suffered kidney and liver failure before dying.

"It's a terrible chemical and it also damages the brain."

Local authorities, he said, had banned the production and sale of Waragi and confiscated stock from traders, but residents were defying the ban and hiding the liquor under their beds.

"House-to-house searches have been conducted and all the alcohol found has been confiscated but people are stubborn and have found ingenious ways of hiding it," he said.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Four Sahara desert states will on Wednesday open a joint command headquarters in the south of Algeria to coordinate efforts to counter a growing threat from al Qaeda, the Algerian Defence Ministry said.

Western countries say that unless the region's fractious governments join forces to fight the insurgents, al Qaeda could turn the Sahara desert into a safe haven along the lines of Yemen and Somalia and use it to launch large-scale attacks.

The announcement of the new base followed a ground-breaking meeting last month of senior officials from the region's neighbouring governments that was praised by the United States as a step towards collectively confronting al Qaeda.

The command headquarters will be in the town of Tamanrasset, in the Saharan desert about 2,000 km (1,250 miles) south of the Algerian capital, the ministry said in a statement.

"The Joint Military Staff Committee of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger will be established on Wednesday in Tamanrasset to reinforce military and security cooperation among these countries," the statement said.

JOINT OPERATIONS

The ministry did not give details about what powers the joint headquarters would have. But a senior military source in Niger said Saharan states had decided to move towards running joint operations against al Qaeda.

"We have decided to strengthen our intelligence cooperation against all forms of insecurity and, therefore, plan to move towards joint military operations against terrorism, kidnappings and the trafficking of drugs and weapons," the source said.

Security experts say better regional cooperation is key to containing al Qaeda in the Sahara because insurgents often evade capture by slipping from one country into another.

Greater cooperation could also mean a larger role for Algeria, the region's biggest economic and military power -- a development Western diplomats say they are keen to see.

The insurgents last year killed a British man, Edwin Dyer, who was kidnapped on the border between Niger and Mali.

They also shot dead a U.S. aid worker in Mauritania's capital in June last year, and carried out a suicide bombing on the French embassy there in August that injured three people.

Two Spaniards are believed to be in insurgent hands after they disappeared in November last year from a humanitarian aid convoy in Mauritania. An Italian husband and wife also seized in Mauritania last year were last week freed in Mali.

One Algerian security analyst said the success of the command headquarters depended on whether regional governments could steer clear of the conflicts and rivalries that have in the past derailed attempts at cooperation.

"Joint cooperation needs to be efficient if it is to be successful against al Qaeda," Salima Tlemcani, security commentator with Algeria's El Watan newspaper, told Reuters.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Two parties in Sudan's underdeveloped east on Tuesday accused the president's party of using fraud and intimidation to secure election victories across their region, as the U.S. White House said the vote had been beset by "serious irregularities".

Sudan is holding its first open polls in 24 years as part of a peace deal that was supposed to bring the oil-producing nation back to democracy after decades of civil war.

Much of the opposition boycotted the proceedings before voting started citing irregularities, and observers have already said the elections did not meet international standards.

Officials are still counting in many areas, but the few results they have announced point to a big win for the National Congress Party (NCP), led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The United States had already said the elections were neither free nor fair, and redoubled its criticism on Tuesday.

"Political rights and freedoms were circumscribed throughout the electoral process, there were reports of intimidation and threats of violence in South Sudan, ongoing conflict in Darfur did not permit an environment conducive to acceptable elections, and inadequacies in technical preparations for the vote resulted in serious irregularities," the White House said in a statement.

East Sudan's Beja Congress party, formally allied with the NCP, told Reuters it had managed to win only one seat in a state assembly in Red Sea state, but none in the national parliament.

The East is crucial to Sudan's oil-driven economy as it contains the only commercial port and miles of pipeline.

"We caught them (the NCP) emptying ballot boxes and they expelled our monitors from the voting centres during voting and counting," said Abdullah Moussa, a senior Beja Congress official in Port Sudan.

"We won this one (state assembly seat) only because it is a small area -- one family and the young boys managed to guard many voting centres with small weapons at night," he said.

According to official results from another Red Sea state constituency, the NCP candidate won almost 18,000 votes compared to just 839 for the eastern party.

The NCP has repeatedly denied taking part in any irregularities.

The Beja Congress signed a peace deal with Khartoum in 2006, ending a lingering insurgency in the east, and its leader became a presidential assistant. But it has complained that the government has continued to neglect the region since the accord.

The Beja, made famous by author Rudyard Kipling as the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" because of their distinctive hairstyles, are one of the largest tribes in the region.

Taher Ali, a candidate from the Democratic Congress for East Sudan, told Reuters he had travelled to Khartoum to complain about numerous irregularities.

"In one voting centre, the box with my votes had 600 ballot papers less than the other boxes and of those 485 were spoiled ... only 17 of the NCP's were spoiled," said Ali who was beaten to a seat in the national assembly by the NCP's current interior minister.

"Our people are furious -- they want to go out onto the streets," he said. "We are trying to calm them."

Bashir is the only sitting head of state wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur and had hoped a victory would legitimise his government in defiance of the arrest warrant. He denies the charges.

The National Elections Commission had delayed announcing the results, citing technical problems, but said it was back on track and hoped to have the final presidential results by the end of the week.

The United States said on Monday Sudan's elections were neither free nor fair but it would deal with the victors to try to settle internal disputes before a 2011 referendum that could bring independence to southern Sudan.

On Tuesday the White House said it was committed to helping ensure that the referendum was conducted fairly.

DAKAR (Reuters) - A vaccination campaign against polio in West Africa will be delayed in some countries because at least 15 million doses are trapped at airports in Germany and France by the ash cloud, a U.N. official said on Tuesday.

The delays have stoked concern that unsynchronised immunisations will allow the virus to spread within the region, Martin Dawes, the regional chief of communications for the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) in West and Central Africa said.

"If there are special flights or if the situation eases, we hope these vaccines could be treated as priority to transport," he told Reuters.

Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Togo have postponed by a couple of weeks their participation in the second phase of a campaign to immunise 85 million children under five in 19 countries in West and Central Africa, due to start on April 24.

"This is obviously causing difficulties," Dawes said. "These vaccines have to be kept cool and if this situation lasts longer, they would have to be sent back to manufacturers to ensure that they are preserved."

Ash from an Icelandic volcano has paralysed air traffic in much of northern Europe since late last week, although some restrictions were easing on Tuesday.

Experts say vaccination is the best method of fighting polio, a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system. The disease, eradicated in most parts of the world, can lead to total paralysis in a matter of hours and is potentially fatal.

To stop the spread of the disease across West and Central Africa, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and partners began immunising people in the region two or three times a year since 2008. The first phase of this year's scheme began in March.

The vaccination strategy has helped countries such as Benin, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Ghana, Togo and Niger contain the disease. The number of cases in Nigeria, which is the only endemic country in the region, dropped to two in 2010 from 48 in the same period last year, according to UNICEF.

However, the quality of the campaigns and their level of coverage have been a problem in Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Senegal, which has reported 15 cases of polio this year alone, UNICEF said.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's controversial policy of transferring majority control of foreign-owned firms to black Zimbabweans will begin in the key mining sector, a minister said on Tuesday.

Under regulations which took effect on March 1, the companies must submit plans to show how they will sell 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans within five years.

The laws have divided the fragile unity government formed last year by Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who said they were issued without consulting the cabinet.

"I am happy to announce that government has unanimously decided that implementation of our indigenisation policy starts with the mining sector," Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said after a cabinet meeting.

The world's two largest platinum miners, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum, have multi-million dollar investments in Zimbabwe, while Rio Tinto has gold and diamond interests.

Kasukuwere said the government had taken note of proposals by Zimbabwe's Chamber of Mines for lower thresholds of local ownership.

"Government will now engage the mining sector so as to come up with a consensus position," he told journalists. "Sectoral discussions will decide issues of timeframes (for compliance) as well as thresholds."

COMPENSATION

The government was also aware of investor fears foreign firms would be forced to give up shares without payment.

"Some of the concerns raised relate to the interpretation of the word 'cede' in relation to shareholding, which was misconstrued to suggest compulsory takeover without compensation," Kasukuwere said.

"The indigenisation programme is based on fair transaction where full value is compensated for."

He said hundreds of foreign firms in Zimbabwe had submitted plans to sell majority stakes to local blacks, despite confusion over the law.

The minister, an ally of Mugabe, last month ordered firms to report details of ownership and plans to achieve majority local control. A spokesman for Tsvangirai said last week the regulations had been suspended, a statement quickly denied by both Mugabe and Kasukuwere.

Kasukuwere told the state-controlled Herald newspaper in a report earlier on Tuesday that foreign firms were complying.

"We have so far received more than 400 submissions from various companies and as government we are happy with such an overwhelming response," he said.

Units of British American Tobacco Plc, Unilever and Impala Platinum are among the companies that have submitted plans, the Herald said.

Firms that have not yet submitted plans will get a 30-day extension from the April 15 deadline, Kasukuwere told the paper, adding the government could terminate licences of companies that did not comply.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF government passed an indigenisation and economic empowerment law in 2007, before the formation of the unity government. Analysts have said the policy would discourage foreign investment and hurt efforts to fix a crippled economy.

TUNIS (Reuters) - The son-in-law of Tunisia's president said in an interview his election to parliament and growing portfolio of media assets were not signs that he held political ambitions.

The rapid rise to prominence of businessman Sakher Materi, who is married to the daughter of 73-year-old President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, has sparked speculation that he is being groomed to take on a senior role in government.

"The ambitions that some people are exaggerating, that is completely wrong," he told Reuters in a rare interview.

"My objective is to participate, together with the Tunisian people, in the prosperity of our country," said Materi, aged 30. "My loyalty to President Ben Ali and to his national project is without limit."

Materi also said he had business projects planned for launch in the first half of 2010 worth a total of $100 million, including the opening of Tunisia's first Islamic bank, and a new terminal for Mediterranean cruise liners.

Tunisia, a former French colony of about 10 million people, has been dominated by Ben Ali since he came to power 23 years ago. He was re-elected to a fifth term in office in October last year with just under 90 percent of the vote.

Tunisia has one of the most open economies in the region and attracts substantial investment from the European Union, something that is expected to accelerate after 2014, when the government has said it will make the currency fully convertible.

MEDIA EMPIRE?

Materi, whose business interests range from pharmaceuticals to real estate, took on a higher profile last year when he was elected to parliament and was named a member of the ruling party's central committee.

He became a player in the media with the purchase of Tunisia's biggest-circulation newspaper, Essabah, and the acquisition of the first Islamic radio station. He said he hoped soon to add a religious television station to promote tolerance.

"I am in the process of setting up a media network targeted at serving my country," he said. "If some see it as an empire then that's their affair. I am not someone who likes titles."

Materi said his Islamic bank will start operating by the end of the first half, initially with nine branches and capital of $30 million, which would rise to $80 million after two years.

He announced his plan to create the bank, to be called Zaitouna, last year but has not previously disclosed any details. Islamic banks are compliant with Sharia law, which forbids practices such as charging interest.

He said the new bank would offer "opportunities for alternative finance and investments ... which fit in with our Islamic religion".

Materi revealed for the first time that in June this year he would open a major tourist complex in La Goulette, a suburb of the Tunisian capital.

The project, costing a total of $50 million, would involve a tourist village and work to adapt the existing port so it can host cruise ships, he said.

"We expect to increase the number of cruise ship tourists to around 500,000 a year," Materi said.

He said the project will "without doubt significantly increase the revenue of the Tunisian tourism industry because of the high spending power of this group of rich tourists".

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Developing countries will this week demand a louder voice at the World Bank and the IMF, now that they are contributing more funds and it's a euro zone country, Greece, that is in need of a rescue plan.

The United States and Europe, which have long dominated the Washington-based international institutions, acknowledge the growing clout of the emerging market economies such as China and Brazil but are loathe to part with their power.

Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC club of big emerging economies, called for swift reforms in the global institutions when their leaders gathered in Brasilia last week ahead of key financial meetings in Washington.

That was like "a pressurizing device to make it obvious to the developed world that our global organizations are no longer representative of the world economy," said Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the term BRIC in 2001.

Brazil and other developing countries have been calling for a 6.0 percent shift in voting power at the World Bank. That would bring the representation between developing and developed countries at the institution to parity.

"We can no longer accept a situation in which the majority of the world's people remain inadequately represented in such bodies," South African President Jacob Zuma said during a recent visit to Brazil.

A Brazilian government source conceded that Brazil was pessimistic about achieving an equal say for developed and developing economies at the World Bank.

Brazil would keep pushing for parity in the long term but that a smaller shift of a little over 3.0 percent and up to 4.0 percent would be acceptable for now, Rogerio Studart, who represents Brazil and other developing countries on the World Bank's board, told Reuters.

"We will try to push for as much as we can but we are aware that we are at the end of the negotiations," Studart said.

The shift would not achieve parity but would help rebalance a breakdown that now stands at roughly 40 percent for developing countries and 60 percent for developed nations.

"A profound change in the structure of the IMF is needed so that all countries can trust in it and know that it is objective," said Nestor Stancanelli, deputy secretary for international economic negotiations for Argentina.

CHANGING TIMES

When the financial crisis in 2008 pushed rich economies to the brink of a depression, the world turned to emerging powers like China to spend more to cushion the global economic slump.

Now that the BRICs are helping to drive global economic growth and to fill International Monetary Fund coffers, there is a growing consensus that the international institutions should reflect their new importance.

Brazil has committed to buy up to $10 billion of IMF bonds and China up to $50 billion.

But Europe and other rich countries are concerned about shifting voting power. Europe has long dominated the IMF and selects its head. Many in Europe see a dilution of voting power equal to losing sway over global economic issues.

Analysts argue that the longer emerging economic powers are denied a greater say in the institutions, the more likely it is these institutions will become irrelevant and ineffective.

"Increased income and growth in the developing world means increasing influence," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said last week said in a speech. "Today's discussion requires a big table to accommodate the key participants, and developing countries must have seats at it."

While emerging economies bounced back more quickly from the financial crisis, the Greece's debt problems and the risk that it may have to be bailed out by the IMF highlighted how fragile developed economies remain.

G20 ALTERNATIVE

As well as pushing for change at the IMF and World Bank, analysts say emerging economies should also help foster the G20 group of leading developed and developing economies.

"Perhaps the question is not so much how hard they should push for greater representation in international financial institutions but how they should try to strengthen the G20, increase its clout and make that clout sustainable," said Matias Spektor, who coordinates the center for international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

Last year, G20 leaders agreed the group should take over from the G7 as the main forum for managing the world economy.

"Everyone's talking about the death of the G7 but it's very plausible to think that within the next five years, if the G20 fails to deliver, then to see a return to some more traditional ways of managing the global economy," Spektor said.

ABIA, Nigeria, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The police in southeast Nigeria's Abia State said on Wednesday that they are combing bushes in search of the two German nationals that were kidnapped in the oil rich region.

The two, both male, were kidnapped on Sunday as they were heading to their vehicle at the beach at Imo River of the state.

State police spokesman Ali Okechukwu told Xinhua on Wednesday that the state command is working hard to help the Germans regain their freedom.

"We have not received any report about their whereabouts, but our men are still searching the bush," he said.

According to Okechukwu, though the kidnapping was reportedly said to have taken place in Abia, the police is yet to receive any formal complain from any organization about the two Germans.

"We still don't know why they fail to report the cases to the police, but as a responsible security outfit, we are working hard to secure their release," he added.

Abduction is not uncommon in Nigeria. On April 14, gunmen in the oil-rich country released four foreign nationals abducted in Rivers State.

Over 300 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since 2006. Almost all have been released unharmed after paying a ransom.

KHARTOUM, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) said on Tuesday that it could not define the date to make an official announcement on the final results of the general elections, which were held from April 11 to 15.

"We can not define the date to announce the results because until now we have not received all the results of the elections" from the sub-commissions in the country's 25 states, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, vice chairman of the NEC, told Xinhua.

"The elections are complex, which need a longer time to work out the results," the official noted, adding that "before receiving the results from all the states, we can not specify the date."

Meanwhile, NEC member al-Hadi Mohamed Ahmed ruled out any relations between the delay in results announcement and the technical problems in the counting process.

"The process is progressing as planned, and the delay in results announcement does not mean there are technical problems in the counting process," he said.

He expected the ballots counting to complete on Wednesday in all Sudan's northern states.

He further refuted previous reports that the NEC has initially announced the election results in the Blue Nile State, where candidates of the National Congress Party (NCP), Farah Aqar, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), Malik Aqar, are contesting.

"All what was reported in the daily newspapers on initial results in Blue Nile are not true. The ballot counting is still going on," he said.

The NEC on Tuesday announced the initial results of the elections in a number of Sudanese states, which reflected a clear lead of the ruling NCP.

The general elections, held from April 11 to 15 to select a new president of the republic, a new president of the southern Sudanese government, as well as members of the 450-seat national parliament and 24 governors out of 25 states, are the first multi- party elections in this African country for 24 years.

Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) was previously expected to announce the final results on April 20.

afrol News, 20 April - Two former Siemens managers have been found guilty by a Munich court, for breach of trust and bribery for the roles they played in a corruption scandal, partly in Nigeria, that rocked the German engineering group.

The funds were used to bribe government officials and business contacts to win contracts in amongst others, Nigeria and Russia.

The court today found Michael Kutschenreuter, former financial head of Siemens' telecoms unit and Hans-Werner Hartmann, the former head of accounting in the same telecoms unit, guilty and handed them suspended sentences as well as hefty fines.

The court gave Mr Kutschenreuter, a two years suspended sentence and a fine of euro 160,000, while Mr Hartmann was handed a one and a half year suspended sentence and fined to pay euro 40,000 to charity.

Siemens is said to have discovered that about euro 1.3 billion was made between 2000 and 2006 from its coffers in scanty deals.

The case is said to have been one in a series that are yet to come, involving some over 300 employees of the company in a scandal that is said to cost the company around euro 2.5 billion in fines, investigations and back taxes.

In 2008, Siemens had agreed to pay US$ 1.3 billion to end corruption probes in the United States and Germany.

afrol News, 20 April - A UN human rights expert on foreign debt today welcomed a landmark debt relief law in the UK which limits the ability of so-called "vulture funds" to sue the world's poorest countries in British courts for repayment of debts, saying they could have ramifications for a recent court verdict involving Liberia.

"This law marks the first occasion on which a country has banned profiteering by vulture funds," said Cephas Lumina, in his role as the UN's independent expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of states on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

"I commend the UK for taking a critical step to halt the profiteering of vulture funds at the expense of both the citizens of distressed debtor countries and the taxpayers of countries that have supported international debt relief efforts," Mr Lumina added in a statement released by his office in Geneva.

"Vulture funds" buy up either all or a portion of debt of a weakened country. The funds often target governments that have received international debt relief, and then sue to recover the full amount of the debt, diverting precious financial resources saved from debt cancellation.

"From a human rights perspective, the settlement of excessive vulture fund claims by poor countries with unsustainable debt levels has a direct negative effect on the capacity of governments of these countries to fulfil their human rights obligations," said Mr Lumina, further noting that "unconscionable profiteering" steals funds which could be better spent on health, water and sanitation, food, housing and education.

One of the first impacts of the British law could be to block a November 2009 ruling by London's High Court awarding US$ 20 million to two vulture funds that bought Liberia's debt at a fraction of the sum.

The case dates back to 1978. Liberia, which is recovering from a 14-year civil war, has said that it does not have the funds to pay back the debt.

At the time of the case, Liberia was taking part in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) process, an internationally agreed debt relief measure designed to free up funds for poor countries to invest development issues.

The World Bank reported in 2008 that 54 lawsuits had been instituted by commercial creditors against 12 HIPCs over the past decade.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for greater investment reform and international cooperation to ensure that vulnerable countries are not burdened by "onerous conditions or burdensome external debt."

In March this year, he also said investment reforms and international cooperation are among the ingredients necessary to procure the finances needed to push ahead with development in poorer countries.

"As we meet, the world economy shows signs of recovery, yet growth remains fragile," Mr Ban said at a recent UN conference. "Job losses persist. Human costs are high in all regions." He also underscored the need to ensure that vulnerable countries not be burdened by "onerous conditions or burdensome external debt."

afrol News, 20 April - Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger are creating a joint special military command to fight terrorism across their vast desert territories. The remarkable deal especially targets al Qaeda activities in the Sahara, including in Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad.

The little publicised deal was already outlined at a meeting of the four Saharan nation's military commanders in Tamanrasset in August 2009. Tamanrasset is the Sahara desert's major town of 90,000 inhabitants in southern Algeria, located on the major trans-Saharan trade route but an unsafe destination in the 1990s and early 2000s due to terrorism and banditry.

Today it was announced in Algiers that a new military summit had taken place in Tamanrasset, including representatives from Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad. The original four-nation security deal was widened to partly include troops from these three newcomers.

According to Algerian government sources, the joint anti-terrorism force will be set up already next week and headquartered in Tamanrasset. Formally named the "Joint operational military committee," the joint command will include officers from all the seven Saharan-Sahelian countries.

It is confirmed that the aim of the joint command will be to fight terrorism in the vast region. It is in particular a group claiming to be attached to al Qaeda that is causing concern in the Sahara desert, standing behind several hostage-taking operations and attacks on isolated military posts.

The sparse but existing terrorism activity in the region is seriously halting the economic development in this remote region. Trade, transport and tourism are still below their peak in the 1980s due to insecurity.

Authorities are however providing very limited information about the organisation and size of the joint anti-terrorism operation. It is not known whether there will be a specific joint troop force under its command, whether troops will be able to cross borders and how the political control of the new entity will function.

No budgets or other figures for the joint command. It also remains unsure whether Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger are to lead the command, with Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad joining as observers, or whether the seven countries are full and equal members.

The Tamanrasset deal can nevertheless be seen as a major diplomatic victory for Algeria in the region, given the Algerian-Moroccan rivalry for influence in Niger, Mali and Mauritania. It comes after Algerian relations with its southern neighbours had somewhat soured and Morocco was achieving quickly improving relations with the new regimes in Niger and Mauritania.

The Algerian-Moroccan rivalry is strongly related with the Western Sahara conflict, where Morocco is seeking recognition of its occupation of the territory while Algeria backs and houses the exiled Western Sahara government.

The rivalry has strongly complicated regional cooperation on hot issues such as economic union and a response to terrorism. A Maghreb union never left the sketching desk and Morocco refused to join the African Union over Western Sahara's membership. Also yesterday's Tamanrasset deal excluded Morocco.

afrol News,

Uganda is leaving no stone un-turned in forging partnerships for its newly found oil riches. Iran is invited to become a major partner.

This week the Ugandan leadership is expected to seek fresher investment partnerships in Iran, when President Yoweri Museveni hosts Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ugandan Foreign Affairs officials have confirmed that the Iranian leader will arrive in Kampala on Friday on a two-day state visit, during which he will hold bilateral talks with President Museveni on Iran's interest to invest in the country's oil sector.

The visit by Mr Ahmadinejad follows last year's trip by the Ugandan President to Iran, where the two leaders agreed on launching talks to help Uganda build an oil refinery.

Amongst some of the immediate partnerships was on training of Ugandans on the oil sector in Iran.

Iranians would also be invited to join the construction of a planned oil refinery in Uganda. This comes shortly after China had promised President Museveni to build a refinery.

Uganda has recently discovered huge oil and gas deposits inland, bringing a new promise to the country’s economic health and wealth. The opposition and civil society groups however have complained about an increasing lack of transparency in the Ugandan government's oil dealings.