20091214

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - African nations agreed to resume U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen on Monday after a half-day suspension, accusing rich countries of trying to kill the existing Kyoto Protocol.

"We're going back," Pa Ousman Jarju from the delegation of Gambia, told Reuters after a meeting of the African group.

The protest held up a session due to start at 1030 GMT, just four days before a summit of 110 leaders aims to agree a U.N. pact to combat global warming that could bring more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels.

He said that the Danish hosts gave assurances that there would be more focus on African nations' demands for an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing pact for curbing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Monday's session of the 192-nation meeting was to seek ways to end deadlock on core issues as part of a sweeping new deal meant to limit global warming and rein in extreme weather patterns that scientists see intensifying in coming decades.

Australian Climate Minister Penny Wong accused the African nations of staging a "walkout" and said it was "not the time for procedural games" so close to the end of the December 7-18 meeting of more than 20,000 participants.

African nations accuse rich nations of trying to sideline the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, a treaty obliging almost 40 developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.

The original outline of talks for Monday "means that we are going to accept the death of the only one legally binding instrument that exists now," said Kamel Djemouai, an Algerian official who heads the African group.

20091214

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma moved to end confusion on Monday about the control of economic policy after a push for influence by the ruling ANC's communists and union allies.

Labour federation COSATU wants Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, a former trade unionist, to be responsible for policy direction in a bid to drive Africa's biggest economy towards a leftist economic stance.

Patel has become more vocal on policy and a report -- immediately denied -- that he wanted to freeze the rand earlier this year unnerved investors.

But while Zuma has said he is open to debate, the government and central bank have signalled they are committed to a relatively conservative stance.

"Nobody is going to create a new policy, they have been created, they have been implemented," Zuma said in an interview with Talk Radio 702, adding that Patel was not responsible for setting economic policies.

Members of Patel's department must ensure that "they don't move in different directions. That's what we're saying," Zuma said. "We're not saying 'you originate policy'."

Zuma, under pressure to lift millions of South Africans out of poverty 15 years since the end of apartheid, said a lack of communication between the government's economic departments, such as the National Treasury and Trade and Industry Department, may have contributed to jobless economic growth.

20091214

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters Life!) - The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said he plans to ask the British Museum to hand the Rosetta Stone over to his country.

The ancient stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphs on the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and is one of six ancient relics that Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said his country wants to recover from museums around the world.

"I did not write yet to the British Museum but I will. I will tell them that we need the Rosetta Stone to come back to Egypt for good," Hawass told Reuters this weekend.

"The British Museum has hundreds of thousands of artefacts in the basement and as exhibits. I am only needing one piece to come back, the Rosetta Stone. It is an icon of our Egyptian identity and its homeland should be Egypt."

The 3-1/2 foot high Rosetta Stone was unearthed by Napoleon's army in 1799 and dates back to 196 BC. It became British property after Napoleon's defeat under the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria.

Hawass, whose flamboyant style and trademark hat have led some to liken him to film character Indiana Jones, has in the past said he wanted to acquire the stone for Egypt and now wants to go about it through official channels.

His wish list for relics also includes the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin's Neues Museum, a statue of Great Pyramid architect Hemiunu from the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany, the Dendera Temple Zodiac from the Louvre in Paris, Ankhaf's bust from Boston's Museum of Fine Art and a statue of Rameses II from the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy.

The Rosetta Stone, which has inscriptions in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, has been housed at the British Museum since 1802 and forms the centrepiece of the museum's Egyptian collection, attracting millions of visitors each year.

20091214

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to disperse more than 200 opposition protesters who tried to rally near Sudan's parliament on Monday to demand reforms before presidential and parliamentary polls.

Riot police with batons and shields arrested up to 40 demonstrators minutes after they started a march, and closed off streets around the parliament buildings, witnesses and officials said.

Political tensions are mounting in Sudan in the build-up to the April elections. Khartoum drew international criticism after arresting three leaders from the main party in south Sudan at a rally last week.

South Sudan's former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and opposition groups are demanding that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's northern National Congress Party (NCP) ushers in reform of Sudan's security forces and other arms of the government.

The sides came closer together on Sunday when Bashir's party reached a deal with the SPLM on the terms of a referendum on southern independence, due in 2011.

Opposition groups said on Monday they were pushing for more changes before the elections and referendum.

More than 200 opposition and SPLM supporters gathered outside a compound close to Sudan's parliament but were confronted by police as soon as they ventured on to the street, a Reuters witness said.

Protesters, some of them injured, took shelter inside the compound which was then surrounded by security forces, party officials inside told Reuters. Police ordered reporters to leave the scene.

20091214

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali rebels have executed two men for adultery and murder, but the verdict prompted a battle between two insurgent factions that killed three of the gunmen, witnesses said on Monday.

It was the first time Hizbul Islam guerrillas had meted out the type of punishments that are usually associated with the more hardline al Shabaab rebel group, which the United States says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's Western-backed government controls just a few strategic sites in Mogadishu.

Western security experts say the country has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the impoverished region and beyond.

The latest executions took place on Sunday in Afgoye, where thousands of families uprooted by the violence are sheltering some 30 km (19 miles) southwest of the capital.

Hizbul Islam fighters summoned hundreds of residents to a field, where a rebel judge announced that the two men had confessed to murder and adultery. A woman who had confessed to fornication had been sentenced to 100 lashes, he added.

"This is their day of justice," the judge, Osman Siidow Hasan, told the crowd. "We investigated and they confessed."

But the reading of the sentence prompted an argument, and then a gun battle, between two Hizbul factions, residents said.

20091214

CONAKRY (Reuters) - An assassination bid aimed at the first Guinean leader from the minority Guerze tribe has raised concerns that ethnic and regional divisions in the country could deepen.

Junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara is in a hospital in Morocco after rogue soldiers attacked him and fled last week.

"I am worried that if Camara comes back and he chooses to blame other ethnicities for supporting the attack, it could cause trouble," said Conakry resident Mohamed Lamine Soumah.

Guinea is the world's biggest supplier of aluminum ore bauxite and is seen as a lynchpin of stability in a region still recovering from three civil wars this decade.

The country, which won independence from France in 1958, is dominated by the Malinke, Peul and Sousou ethnicities, but has more than a dozen smaller groups, including the Guerze from the forested "forestier" region in the southeast.

Camara took power last December in a coup after the death of former military strongman Lansana Conte, a Sousou. The coup drew support from forestiers who feel their region and its people have been underrepresented in power.

"Dadis was chosen by God to lead Guinea," said Balla Dopavogui, a forestier working as a tyre-repairman who lives in Conakry's Dixxin neighborhood. "He must come back to lead."

The strong support among forestiers comes despite widespread outrage over a crackdown on protesters September 28 in which more than 150 people -- mostly Peul -- were killed by a force that witnesses said included many forestiers.

20091214

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. drug firm Endo Pharmaceuticals' gel designed to prevent infection with the AIDS virus has proved ineffective in trials in Africa, Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) said on Monday.

A large international trial of vaginal microbicide Pro 2000 in more than 9,000 women in four African countries found no evidence that it reduces the risk of HIV infection.

The result is a setback for the specialty drugmaker, whose shares were hit earlier in the month when U.S. health regulators declined to approve its Aveed drug for low testosterone.

To date, no gel microbicide has been shown to work against HIV infection and this trial "showed conclusively that Pro 2000 gel was of no added benefit", the MRC said in a statement.

It said this would end scientific speculation about its clinical importance.

"This result is disheartening, particularly in light of the results of a smaller trial sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health which suggested that Pro 2000 could reduce the risk of HIV infection by 30 per cent," said the MRC's Sheena McCormack, who led the trial.

"Nevertheless we know this is an important result and it shows clearly the need to undertake trials which are large enough to provide definitive evidence for whether or not a product works."

Studies presented at an AIDS conference in Canada in February suggested the Pro 200o gel, which ENDO acquired through its purchase of Indevus Pharmaceuticals earlier this year, could cut transmission rates by a third .

20091214

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Pirates have seized an Indian dhow off the coast of Somalia in the third such incident in a week, a regional maritime official said on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said his group was seeking more details on the vessel, which he named as the Laxmi Sagar.

"It was taken, I think, yesterday. The crew is Indian ... we don't know how many they are, but the dhows have always got more than 10 people (on board)," Mwangura told Reuters.

"We are in touch with the Indian ship registry. We don't know for sure where she was taken. That comes to the third dhow that has been taken in the span of seven days."

Heavily armed Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.

Last week, the Greek ship Ariana and its 24 Ukrainian crew members were freed after a helicopter dropped a multi-million dollar ransom onto its deck.

Anti-piracy naval operations by the European Union, NATO and several individual states have failed to stop the pirates, who still hold 11 ships and some 280 crew. The multi-national patrols have only appeared to push the gangs to hunt further from shore.

On Sunday, freshly trained Somali marine forces said they had captured three suspected pirates in a speedboat off Mogadishu with the help of African Union peacekeepers.

Experts say efforts to set up an international court for pirates are hampered by the complex laws of the sea, national sovereignty and lack of effective police.

20091214

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Students and teachers were back in class at Mogadishu's Benadir University on Monday, determined to continue lessons despite a suicide bombing at their medical graduation ceremony that killed 22 people.

Somalia's government blamed the December 3 attack on al Shabaab insurgents and said it was carried out by a 26-year-old Danish citizen of Somali descent. He entered the function disguised as a veiled woman before blowing himself up near the podium.

Three government ministers and 10 members of Benadir's faculty and students were among those killed. At least 35 people were injured, including five medical professors.

"I am happy and unhappy today," student Fatuma Hussein said in a classroom at the university, which reopened at the weekend. "We've restarted studies, but our top teachers aren't available. I was so sad when I saw what happened to our doctors."

The rebels had no interest in learning, she told Reuters, "but they enjoy killing the ones who are being constructive".

Al Shabaab, which the United States says is al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa state, denied being behind the bombing. But few Somalis believed them, and the U.N. envoy to Somalia said it was "outrageous" to suggest anyone else was to blame.

Western security agencies say the country has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.

From his bed at Nairobi's Aga Khan hospital, where he was rushed for treatment, Dr. Mohammed Mohamud, dean of Benadir's medical college, told Reuters he was certain al Shabaab leaders had masterminded the carnage.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union Commission Chairperson, Jean Pi ng, left Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for Copenhagen, Denmark, on Monday, reiterating A frica's call for compensation for the risks suffered as a result of climate cha nge.

"Africa demands that developed countries that release most of the historical e missions, should compensate developing nations for climate damage they caused in

recent decades and also seeks financial support to install clean-energy equipmen t ," Ping said before departing.

He underlined that ?the issue of climate change has become a priority for Afri cans because Africa is the worst-hit and the most vulnerable continent by the is s ue of climate change, although it contributes the least to it.

Africa's chief diplomat, who is leading a high-level delegation from the conti nental organisation, is expected to join Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, w ho is Africa's lead negotiator for a fair climate deal at the Copenhagen Summit .

The Ethiopian Premier has already pledged a tough stance ahead of the talks and hosted both African and European diplomats based in Addis Ababa to a party for t h e delegation, leaving for Copenhagen this weekend in a clear sign of an anticipa t ed victory.

Zenawi said Africa would insist on compensation during this week's final push for a fairer climate deal, adding that the key economic blocs, like China, had a l so pledged support for Africa.

Ping will arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday where he would lead the African Union Commission delegation to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of t h e UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Fifth Conference of

the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP-5) to the Kyoto Protocol,

being held from 7?18 December 2009.

The Denmark talks bring together all signatories to the UN Climate Change Conven tion to negotiate a more equitable, ambitious and effective global agreement to c ombat climate change beyond 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto P rotocol comes to an end and a second commitment period must begin.

The Danish authorities have been under pressure from poorer countries for siding with the richer states on the need to substantially weaken the Kyoto protocol.

African leaders meeting during their 13th session of the Assembly of Heads of St ate and Government of the AU, on 1-3 July 2009, in Sirte, Libya, appointed a Com m ittee of 10 African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) to

lead the process and Africa's negotiations.

The CAHOSCC consists of Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and the Chairperson of the African Union.

It also brings together the Chairperson of the Commission and the Chairperson of AMCEN as well as the Negotiators/Experts on Climate Change (NECC) from all memb e r states. The panel met 17 November in Addis Ababa.

The meeting was convened, in collaboration with the African Union Commission, by the Ethiopian Prime Minister in his capacity as the Coordinator of CAHOSCC.

The committee reviewed Africa's strategies and institutional mechanisms to pro mote the African Common Position on Climate Change in the run up to the Copenhag e n Summit.

"The conclusions of the November meeting were sent to all African member states and forms the basis for Africa?s action at the Copenhagen Summit," the AU said in a statement Monday.

Ping will participate in a high-level panel debate on Climate Change and Interna tional Security convened by the Danish Foreign Minister.

The African panel will also hold a special session 16 December in a side meeting organised by the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions - Africa Asia, Eu r ope-America - as a Guest of the Executive Director of UN Economic Commission for

Africa, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Ping's office said.

Addis Ababa - 14/12/2009

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African Union (AU) Commission President Jean Ping has said he is "deeply gratified" to learn about the release of two civilian peacekeepers serving the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

"The Chairperson welcomes this positive development in ensuring the safety and t he security of all humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel working in Sudan and looks forward to enhance coopera tion with the government of Sudan in this area," Ping said Sunday.

The two kidnapped officials serving the UNAMID were freed on Sunday after 107 da ys in captivity. They include a Nigerian national, who worked as a security expert, and a Zimbabwean child wel fare officer.

"The staff were abducted at gunpoint from their accommodation in West Darfur sta te 29 August and had been detained for 107 days," the AU chief said in a statement.

Ping wished the two peacekeepers well and thanked them for their patience, coura ge and resilience. The two peacekeepers reportedly fell ill during their captivity.

Security in Darfur has been worsening since March, when the International Crimin al Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omer Al Bashir, over what the Court considered as "command re sponsibility" for Darfur massacres since 2003.

The increase in the level of violence has mainly targeted the UNAMID staff and p eacekeepers, who have fallen victim to the kidnappings, hijackings and ambush.

Some five Rwandan peacekeepers were among a contingent of UNAMID personnel recen tly killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen in Darfur.

Ping hailed the UNAMID team and the Sudanese government for securing the release of the two abducted peacekeepers.

He underscored the importance of the humanitarian work and the peacekeeping resp onsibilities being undertaken by the UNAMID and called on the Sudanese authorities to ensure their work is not hindered by armed elements in the region.

"The UNAMID staff must be allowed to carry out their work without hindrance or i ntimidation," the AU reiterated.

Addis Ababa - 14/12/2009

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The United Nations top envoy to Sudan, Ashraf Qaz i, has hailed an agreement reached between the Sudanese political parties to eas e the conduct of a national referendum, saying the deal ??makes the journey easie r??.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP), based in Khartoum, and Southern Sudan? ?s Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) announced they had reached an agreement on the terms of conducting a national referendum on the independence of South Suda n .

Sudanese political parties appeared to be pulling towards different directions o n key political points that would determine the unity of both the North and the S outh.

UN Secretary-General??s Special Envoy to Sudan hailed the agreement reached bet ween Southern Sudan and Khartoum on the conduct of the national referendum that w ould determine whether Southern Sudan remains part of Sudan.

??The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Qazi congratulated th e NCP and the SPLM on reaching agreements allowing for the adoption of critical l egislation governing the Southern Sudanese Referendum,?? a UN statement said.

The agreement covers the formally disputed territory of Abyei, which will also h old a Referendum, to determine whether it becomes part of Southern Sudan and par t of the North.

Qazi also commended both CPA partners for their commitment to bringing about a p roductive working relationship and positive environment for the peaceful and suc c essful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

The CPA, signed in January, 2005, was a crucial step towards the ending of a 21- year long civil war between the North and the South.

It contained provisions for the independence of Southern Sudan after the end of a six-year interim period, which ends in 2011.

The CPA also attempted to end the dispute over the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, which was claimed by both Khartoum and the South.

The disagreement was partially settled by the permanent court of dispute resolut ion at The Hague in 2009.

??The road ahead may be long, but this major step forward should make the journ ey easier,?? said Mr. Qazi.

Qazi urged the Government of National Unity to make the most of the agreement by implementing the legislation with all due haste and in particular by moving as q uickly as possible to appoint both the Southern and Abyei Referendum Commissions .

He also expressed the hope that the latest developments would facilitate NCP-SPL M agreements and understanding on other outstanding CPA issues, including the na t ional elections and the disputed census results, the national security bill and p ost-referendum arrangements as early as possible.

Sudan is gearing for elections in April, 2010.

The elections would see the Sudan elect national leaders and is credited as the most democratic poll to be conducted in the country is decades.

Addis Ababa - 14/12/2009

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The United Nations has welcomed the conclusion of a vot er-registration process in the Sudan, which culminated in the registration of so m e 15 million people eligible to take part in the April, 2010, elections.

The United Nations Secretary-General's Special representative for Sudan, Ashra f Jehangir Qazi, welcomed the exercise, which was conducted peacefully.

The voter-registration process netted over 75 per cent of the estimated voting-a ge population of the nearly 21 million Sudanese citizens.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) on 7 December wrapped up the most inclus ive voter- registration exercise ever held in the Sudan.

Registration centres were opened throughout the country, and millions came to re gister in person between 1 November and 7 December.

In previous elections, large parts of the country were unable to participate due to more than 20 years of civil war that divided the North and South.

Mr. Qazi commended the NEC for launching the national exercise according to sche dule and extending it for an additional seven days in order to make the process m ore inclusive.

"The completion of voter registration is a significant benchmark in the electo ral process as the voters' list is the basis for next year's elections. We ar e now one step closer to the holding of Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years and to achieving a major milestone in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)," said Qazi.

While applauding the conclusion of the exercise, Qazi urged the Sudanese people to help ensure the integrity of the voters' list by participating in the curren t display and objection period which began on 10 December.

During this period, registered voters have the opportunity to confirm their name s on the preliminary list, request corrections if errors have been made, and obj e ct to the inclusion of any ineligible persons on the list.

To further ensure the integrity of the voters' list, he also called upon the N EC to quickly and completely investigate any complaints raised by political part i es about alleged irregularities in the exercise and to take steps to file charge s against those responsible. This is crucial for the credibility of the exercise.

Qazi thanked the CPA parties for their part in ensuring an inclusive and peacefu l voter registration process, but urged them to ensure that their members abide b y and respect the rules of the NEC.

"The CPA parties are the ones responsible for ensuring that the environment fo r conducting these elections is an open and fair one, avoiding any malpractices a nd irregularities that would otherwise compromise or destroy the integrity and c r edibility of the upcoming elections and referendum," he added.

Khartoum - 14/12/2009

President Robert Mugabe was re-elected yesterday as leader of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF at a depleted party congress in Harare, which showed signs of strain after officials struggled to raise funds for the five-yearly traditional jamboree.

He said yesterday that the unity Government would be short-lived and he planned to regain his hold over the country he has ruled for nearly three decades.

"The inclusive Government has a short life of 24 months," he said.

"So we must be ready for the elections and we must not be defeated like we were last year. We must win resoundingly and regain the constituents we lost."

Mugabe, 85, had used a speech on Saturday to decry factionalism in his party, the Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front.

"There are too many leaders now outside the scope of the leaders provided for in our constitution," he said, adding that the party was "eating itself up".

University of Zimbabwe lecturer John Makumbe said the address showed Mugabe's desperation after 29 years in power.

"He was shouting and screaming about factionalism, but really he was saying 'we are dead' as a party."

Last February Mugabe was forced into a unity Government with Morgan Tsvangirai, 57, now the Prime Minister, after Zanu-PF lost its parliamentary majority and the presidential race ended in dispute.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change remain politically hamstrung by Zanu-PF obstructionism. But targeted sanctions by the United States and European Union and the move by MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti to abolish the Zimbabwe dollar - whose use as a patronage tool had wrecked the economy - have removed the last of Zanu-PF's authority.

Neighbouring South Africa has also hardened its stance after years of dithering under former President Thabo Mbeki. Two weeks ago President Jacob Zuma sent a new team of negotiators to Harare to try to advance talks between the MDC and Zanu-PF over the troubled "global political agreement" which divides power.

Makumbe said Mugabe's continued tenure of the party leadership simply proved that Zanu-PF "is too sick" to survive a healthy leadership battle.

"They know they do not have anyone who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Tsvangirai and hope to win an election."

Zanu-PF has already endorsed Mugabe as the candidate for elections in 2013, when he will be 89.

nzherald

comes to an end, we need to pause and reflect on institution building as one of the enduring challenges of our time.

Why was Africa colonised? Why did it take long to reassert civil rights to the majority?

Is it not ironic that the people who colonised Africa chose to adopt it as a home?

The infrastructure built to support colonialism is still in situ. If the settlers did not love Africa, why would they build real estate in the adopted home?

It would not make sense to build permanent structure in a place where you are not confident about the future?

Why invest in education if the intention was to annihilate native African civilisation?

Contemporary Africa is a product of the choices made not just by native Africans who were not strong enough to resist the intrusion by other civilizations but the investment by the settlers who must have known that the ultimate beneficiaries of their sweat would be the very people they disliked in life.

The colonialist must not have been moved principally by a desire to deny a future to natives otherwise the simple choice would have been to kill the natives.

However, our past shows that the settlers really wanted to create a new home and had to secure the resources to give them a promising and secure future that was possible in their native lands.

We all want to advance our lives and pass on an inheritance to our successors.

I am not convinced that it was God’s intention that, for example, land and mineral resources belong to people who are lucky just to be born in a country.

The minerals resources are hidden and it costs money to find them let alone to uplift and process them for the market place.

Without the law, we are all animals and the law of the jungle would take precedence.

However, human civilisation has demonstrated that the rule of law is a sine qua non for development and progress.

Without the law, the house I have the privilege of calling my own is not really mine because anyone can claim the same right were it not for the law.

If there is no separation of powers, then citizens would be at the mercy of the people vested with unfettered powers.

If power is concentrated in few hands the propensity to abuse it is high. Any progressive society needs checks and balances.

Property rights are only relevant in environments where the rule of law is respect.

Without an independent judiciary, the risk of self help schemes taking root is high as people in the executive vested with power can easily be tempted to use such power to advance their personal rather than national interest.

A democratic order requires institutions. It is in the arena of institution building that we have been found wanting in Africa.

How do we build and sustain institutions? Most of us want to be led and inherently believe our salvation lies in the benevolence of strong men.

This is not the case because God did not want it that way otherwise he would have made us different and given more time in a day, for instance, to leaders so that they could do what we cannot do for ourselves.

If God was smart enough to make us all human then we can benefit from each other by understanding our purpose and how to work together for a common purpose.

We need to have shared goals and values.

We know how powerful organisations such as FIFA are. After all, Africa will host the first soccer World Cup in less than six months.

FIFA is a federation of football associations and it represents citizens organised into interest groups.

It is not a government but has power to decide how soccer is governed and without it the sport would not be able to provide a living to the players.

The soccer loving public is all the better because of institutions like FIFA.

Soccer is a game of rules. Without rules, the implications would be too ghastly to contemplate.

The soccer industry is a global one whose economy is bigger than many nations and yet an executive that is drawn from the members and presided by a president selected by members governs it.

Without a business model, it is difficult to imagine how such institutions can sustain themselves.

The genius of institution building is to identify a mechanism that can ensure that resources required to administer its affairs are mobilized and deployed for the good of the organisation.

The state as an entity is a creature of citizens. Without taxpayers the state will wither.

No state can therefore afford to undermine the interests of citizens who after all have the responsibility of giving it life.

Most of Africa’s political institutions i.e. political parties are weaker financially than churches. We all want to be well governed and yet we take for granted the challenges of setting up institutions to guarantee us of a secure future.

My own personal experiences in being part of Africa Heritage Society www.africaheritagerivonia.com have given me an insight into the African tragedy.

I often get calls and emails from people who want assistance to advance their business interests and personal careers in the hope that I can as a Chairman of the organisation respond to all such requests.

When I remind people that I am only human and mortal, many are disappointed as they expect the organisation to be me rather than an institution that they must believe in.

I have always remarked that the only power people who do not have power is the power to organise.

Imagine if we all believed in an idea and subscribed to it. How much power could we garner?

I have often imagined how different Africa would be if we paused to reflect on what makes nations and organizations great.

Great nations have institutions that inspire confidence.

Citizens need not be reminded that their voices can speak eloquently if they are organised.

Like a pyramid, human beings can organise themselves vertically by electing among them people who can speak on their behalf rather than each individual speaking at the same time.

There is no one who owes anything to anyone. However, by working together like a quilt with a common thread/bond it is possible to convert the power resident in each individual into collective power that can make a difference.

On Friday, December 11, members of the AHS who are in the legal profession hosted a Christmas party.

I was invited as a guest and my message to the audience was simple. Black lawyers, for example, have to invest in their clients in as much as we may want to build an empowered continent we cannot afford to assume that a lawyer can be good if he/she is not given experience.

If we want corporate lawyers who reflect the majority in Africa then we also must have corporate black players.

I often observed that blacks spent a lot of time imaging what whites are doing to keep them down economically forgetting that whites are as human as everyone of us and all they want in life is no different from what any human being aspires for.

It may be the case that whites are concerned that blacks are stuck in the past and not in the present where opportunities are open. If whites can do business for gain they will without focusing on skin color as was done before. When Africa ceases to be good to its promise whites will soon look for other pastures just like many blacks in the diaspora have done.

What is remarkable in South Africa, for example, is that in each suburb there is a club that provides a venue for gentlemen and ladies to network.

Members who believe in the power of networking finance such clubs.

They know that without such addresses it would be difficult and expensive to do business.

As a Zimbabwean born South African citizen, I have often wondered how big the Zimbabwean heritage economy in South Africa.

The numbers could be staggering. A million Zimbabwean born South African citizens and residents who spent about R1 000, for example, on insurance per month would be able to create a R1 billion a month economy.

But how easy is it to get the million people to wake up to set up a New Mutual instead of believing that the salvation lies in Old Mutual.

There is nothing to stop such individuals to join the political institutions in the adopted countries so that they can be the change they want to see.

However, many of us want other people to change while we remain helplessly complaining about the things we can do something about.

I do hope that all of us who believe that Africa’s better days are yet to come will join us at AHS to make the face of Africa look like all of us.

If we choose to work together we can make the right noises and more importantly we can secure the future on a foundation that we help architect and construct. – ZimOnline

THE most bizarre, perhaps most catastrophic, outcome of the just ended 5th National Congress of Zanu-PF was that it was a massive slap in the face of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The Zanu-PF leadership did not mince its words on the unlikely prospect of the ongoing negotiation around the Global Political Agreement (GPA) ever delivering the desired result, the compromise, peace and national development that Zimbabwe has been awaiting with bated breath.

“Congress has noted that the inclusive government brings the party into partnership with ideologically incompatible MDC formations from which it must extricate itself in order to defend its mantle as the only dominant and ascendant political party that is truly representative and determined to safeguard the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe,” the Zanu-PF congress said in a final communiqué on Saturday evening.

With such inflexible words, Zanu-PF could have finally sealed the fate of the GPA; perhaps that of the government of national unity itself. In the circumstances any continued pretence, for whatever reason on the part of the MDC, that everything is working according to the dictates of SADC would be an act of self-delusion that is tantamount to treachery of the faith that the people of Zimbabwe have placed in the party and its leadership.

This willfully abject humiliation of the MDC by Zanu-PF was delivered in the aftermath of Tsvangirai’s own unguarded expression of optimism around the current negotiations.

Speaking in Cape Town on December 3, an upbeat Tsvangirai said he was anxious to convince all skeptics that Zimbabwe was entering a new chapter of abundant opportunity for Zimbabweans. He then again urged fellow countrymen in the Diaspora to consider returning to participate in the rebuilding of their devastated motherland.

Far from the sublime optimism expressed and the rosy picture painted by the Prime Minister, the utterances emanating from the Zanu-PF conference appear calculated to trap Zimbabwe in the old chapter of mutual suspicion, despondency, violence and economic ruin.

That is unless SADC facilitator President Jacob Zuma rises to the fore and surprises all by intervening with a clarion call for a much-needed restoration of order. Otherwise Zanu-PF now appears more concerned only with doing mortal battle with the MDC and delivering what in the party’s scheme of things must be the final blow on its rival.

The enthusiastic readmission of Professor Jonathan Moyo to the Zanu-PF Central Committee amid much celebration and the categorical declaration by Mugabe that the GNU has no life beyond 24 months are indisputable pointers in this direction. We pray that what Zanu-PF envisages are elections that are free, fair and totally devoid of violence.

In its resolutions, Zanu-PF lamented the fact that the GPA had joined its hand in holy matrimony with the MDC. Zanu-PF said the MDC was an incompatible partner, still bent on trying to force the reversal of the land reform programme.

Listening to this obvious treachery on the part of its ally of the past 10 months must have been more of a painful experience to the MDC leadership than to anyone else.

For that reason, the thunder of responding to the dramatic and traumatic developments over the weekend should not be stolen from the MDC. Traditionally, there has been a tendency for spokespersons of foreign governments and civil society organisations to rush to preempt the MDC and other Zimbabwean political organisations by issuing statements on developments such as these that undermine the welfare, if not the very existence of Zimbabwe.

The spokespersons in question have obviously been motivated by their sympathy for the underdogs, the MDC, in particular.

Even if such organisations may have proceeded on the basis of good intentions, the indecent haste with which they have issued statements has unfortunately served to weaken politically the supposed beneficiaries of their benevolence.

They have unwittingly created the impression that they are the official policy formulators or the ideological mentors of the MDC. They have thus undermined the credibility of the MDC in the face of charges, however false, that the party is a puppet of the West, while providing the Zanu-PF arsenal with fresh ammunition as it seeks to demolish the MDC as a foreign-controlled party. While the chances of Zanu-PF’s subterfuge achieving success are minimal, the international community should nevertheless desist from rendering such assistance to the party.

By the time their messages of democratic support for the MDC are disseminated to distant rural voters by Zanu-PF channels, the line between fact and fiction is completely blurred.

The most memorable example of this was the somewhat witless statement – in the Zimbabwean political context – which was made by former Prime Minister Tony Blair in Parliament in 2004 when he stated that his Labour Party worked hand-in-hand with the MDC. Former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo instantly seized on this stray gem and put if to effective use in casting the MDC as puppets of the British. The MDC could have lost a few votes in the 2005 parliamentary elections as a result.

One of the most critical factors in shaping former President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” on Zimbabwe could have been the speed with which western governments hastened to issue statements on Zimbabwe, including suggestions to Mbeki on how he should couch his own statements. Former US President George W Bush was a culprit. Mbeki is an arrogant pan-Africanist intellectual who does not take kindly to unsolicited advice on matters where he feels competent enough to make his original pronouncements.

Instead of creating the impression that he was parroting statements channelled through him from western capitals he elected to simply remain quiet.

It would be most desirable, in the interests of the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe, if the first response to Zanu-PF’s outrageously provocative weekend assertions were to be made spontaneously either by the MDC or by President Zuma, the facilitator of the process of negotiation.

On its part, the MDC has constantly proven totally incapable of or devoid of capacity to re-assert its proprietorship of the profound sentiments patronizingly expressed on its behalf. In fairness, third parties have often intervened on behalf of the MDC in the absence of any coherent pronouncement from the MDC when one was clearly required.

On the positive side, political parties other than Zanu-PF should derive solace from the fact that the recall of Moyo is a manifestation of the desperation currently prevailing in Zanu-PF.

Even if it stands doubtful that Moyo commands sufficient credibility to restore the falling fortunes of Zanu-PF as demonstrated by the outcome of the harmonized elections in March 2008, the parties preparing to challenge Zanu-PF at the forthcoming elections would be ill-advised to dismiss his arrival back at Zanu-PF with sleight of hand. Zanu-PF may be at its weakest ebb, but it would be an act of folly if its rivals were to leave anything to chance in their bid to restore Zimbabwe to full democracy and prosperity.

The MDC, in particular, being the party currently possessing the greatest potential to replace Zanu-PF, must strategize to reinforce the effectiveness of its information department to take on the challenge presented by the combination of Moyo, George Charamba and Tafataona Mahoso as they exploit the opportunities presented by the Zimbabwe Newspapers/Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings media behemoth in the absence, as of now, of alternative sources of news on a regular basis.

thezimbabwetimes

Gale-force winds with gusts of up to 80km/h lashed Cape Town and kept the city's fire and emergency rescue services on high alert as trees were uprooted and roofs were blown off buildings.

The most badly affected area was the city centre and the surrounding suburbs of Zonneblom and Gardens, where at least six properties had all or parts of their roofs blown off.

The offices of King James Advertising at Wembley Square in Gardens, where The Times is located, were left open to the elements and computer equipment had to be moved off desks. Mangled metal roof sheeting lay in the road below, some on top of a Citi Golf.

Disaster management services head Greg Pillay said his team had responded to numerous reports of roofing blowing off since 7am.

"This includes Wembley Square, Vista Primary School in the Bo-Kaap, the Park Inn Hotel in Greenmarket Square, Glen Alpine flats in Gardens and the Velocity Films building in the CBD. Power lines are down in Geneva Drive in Camps Bay and the electricity department is attending," he said.

In Fish Hoek, a roof of a sports complex also took a beating from the south-easter. Traffic services closed off a road in Vredehoek where a tree had fallen across the road, and in Long Street where fire services were securing roofs.

Remarkably, Pillay said, there had been no reports of deaths or injuries. However, howling winds and the sound of metal sheets smashing against each other kept some residents awake.

Said Wembley Square resident Lauren Kohn: "I sleep with earplugs in and I still woke up at 5am because of the loud banging."

Cape Town traffic department spokesman Kevin Jacobs said Baden Powell Drive in Strandfontein had been closed to traffic "due to sea sand which has completely covered the road, car-high in some places".

While gale-force winds are expected to have subsided in Cape Town by this morning, Stella Nake, SA Weather Service forecaster, said this did not include Cape Point and Cape Agulhas.

timeslive

ZIMBABWE’S PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe lashed out at factionalism in his Zanu-PF party at this weekend’s five-yearly congress and warned supporters to be ready for elections in the near future as the transitional government would not be long-lived.

The 85-year-old was unanimously re-elected as Zanu-PF’s leader on Saturday, and in an attempt to heal the divisions behind the battle to succeed him, he urged delegates at the Harare congress to unite ahead of the coming poll.

“The inclusive government has a short life of 24 months,” he told an estimated 10,500 party faithful, “so we must be ready for the elections and we must not be defeated like we were last year. We must win resoundingly and regain the constituents we lost.”

While Mr Mugabe’s re-election was uncontested, party insiders say his appointment and that of the two party vice-presidents only came after months of infighting between the party’s Mujuru faction and those who want defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to replace Mr Mugabe.

Joyce Mujuru, wife of retired army general Solomon, moved up a slot to become the party’s senior vice-president, while John Nkomo, a compromise candidate, became the second vice-president. Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo was elected as party chairman, meaning Mr Mnangagwa and his supporters were left unrepresented at the top table.

On Friday evening during his opening speech to the congress Mr Mugabe warned that infighting was “eating” Zanu-PF, and the factionalism at the heart of the succession battle had cost them last year’s election.

Zanu-PF lost the parliamentary election in March 2008 to the then opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

“Instead of organising against the opposition, we are sweating for support, not for the party, but for oneself. We should be able to admit that the election produced a result that left a huge dent on the party. We are responsible for the poor performance in the election last year,” he was quoted as saying in Saturday’s state-run Herald newspaper.

Observers say Zanu-PF’s election loss has severely weakened the party and that Mr Mugabe’s aura of all powerful has suffered as a result. Delegates attending the congress reportedly spoke openly about the succession battle for the first time, with many people saying the veteran leader, who has led the party for 35 years, should not have been re-elected for another term.

“Some of us had candidates imposed on us in the provinces,” one delegate told South Africa’s Sunday Tribune newspaper.

“I come from Harare province and we don’t want Joyce [Mujuru], many of us think she is corrupt and we want [defence minister] Mnangagwa, but he is not going to succeed until Mugabe goes.”

Now that the party’s leadership has been decided for the foreseeable future it is hoped Zanu-PF will start to meet their obligations under the powersharing deal with the MDC, which has been in place since last February.

The transitional government broke down for a month recently when the MDC accused Mr Mugabe and his supporters of not sticking to their end of the arrangement.

irishtimes

Human rights activists have accused the South African government of double standards for "flirting" with Sri Lankan government officials and ignoring the genocide in the country, South Africa's Times reported Saturday. The accusations followed South Africa's minister of international relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to Colombo last month, where the Minister was quoted by Times as saying, "Sri Lanka has become a key partner [of South Africa] on several international issues such as human rights, poverty alleviation, globalisation and the reform of the United Nations."

However, South Aftrica'sactivists said the minister's speech ignored the conflict in the country since 1983 between the Sinhalese government and the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers.

Roy Chetty of the Social Movement Indaba said they were "outraged" that the SA government had ignored the oppression of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka, the article said.

The paper quoted Chetty as saying, "I do not believe that the SA government has dealt with the Tamil population even-handedly. They have tended to prioritise their relationship with the Sri Lankan regime."

Attorney Abbey Naidoo said he found the speech "disconcerting, as it seemed to reinforce the position of the Sinhalese genocidal regime," the paper said.

The paper also quoted Richard Govender, Tamil Coordinating Committee spokes-man and member of The Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka, as saying, "[w]hen there were offensives by the army of the Sri Lankan government, there was no statement issued by our government condemning atrocities and human rights violations."

tamilnet

IT was Martin Luther King Jnr. who once asserted that the level of oppression does not depend on the oppressor but on the oppressed. In other words, until the one under oppression rises to say no, enough is enough, oppression is wont to continue because freedom is not given; it is taken. The late Reggae maestro, Bob Marley re-echoed this same point in his 'Redemption Song' when he sang that 'none but ourselves can free our minds'. Regrettably, many Nigerians seem not to have internalised the message contained in these axioms.

Forty-nine years after the end of colonialism, 49 good years since the British left us to our own devices, many Nigerians still blame Europe and America for everything that is wrong with our system politically, socially, and more especially economically, particularly with the present state of economic recession in the country. They quickly cite slave trade and colonialism, and when you remind them that the former ended over 200 years ago, and the latter close to half a century ago, they quickly tell you again that colonialism has survived in the form of neo-colonialism, which is simply old wine in new wine skin. But again, the question is: can neo-colonialism work without the involvement of insiders? Political economy experts and analysts have explained, having studied the internal dynamics of neo-colonialism, that neo-colonialism cannot exist or survive without the active participation of internal collaborators, the so-called bourgeoisie class.

But again, if one takes the argument from another angle, assuming we decide to blame colonialism for Nigeria's plight, many questions readily come to mind. Importantly, was it only Nigeria that was colonised? It is on record that only two African countries escaped colonisation: Ethiopia and Liberia. Every other part of Africa was colonised, and yet they have forged ahead. Look at Ghana, Nigeria's next door neighbour. What about South Africa where the white man built a home and refused to leave, and even segregated against the true owners of the land through that obnoxious policy called Apartheid? Yet South Africa has grown to become the biggest economy in Black Africa. America too was colonised. Americans fought and regained freedom in 1776, just like Nigeria did in 1960. The American dream was their propelling force and continues to urge them on. But could we really talk about a Nigerian dream? I doubt.

In the present circumstances, the argument that the West is responsible for Nigeria's, and by extension, Africa's inability to break through the perpetual cycle of poverty can no longer be sustained. We agree that colonialism put paid to an ongoing process, that of Africa's development. As many scholars have argued, if the slave trade had not happened, and if Africa had not been colonised but left alone to develop at its own pace, then things would have been different. Sound logic, one would say. But that is just an opinion. On the other hand, others too have called for re-colonisation, if that is possible, basing their argument on the assumption that we were better off in the colonial days than we are now. That is another opinion too. And opinions are free.

In truth, the slave trade and colonialism affected Africa negatively, but we have wept enough. From Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth to Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism to Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa; from Chinweizu's The West and the Rest of Us to Daniel Offiong's Imperialism and Dependency and Globalisation: Post Neo-dependency and Poverty in Africa down to our own dear Claude Ake's Political Economy of Africa, I think we have really lamented enough. This is time for action, time to take the bull by the horn. It is time to evolve new approaches to solving social, political and economic problems of this country. It is time to evolve leaders who have the will to take us out of the present economic quagmire and lead us to the Promised Land, leaders who are altruistic and who are ready to make sacrifices for the betterment of this nation. One million years of tears cannot and will not solve our problems.

Good a thing 2010 is around the corner. We need leaders who can, like Stalin did in the defunct Soviet Union, tell us the bold truth about our situation: 'We are one hundred years behind the rest of the world. We have ten years to catch up. We either do this or they will exterminate us', not leaders who keep reminding us of our position as the giant of Africa when we well know that we are a mere giant with feet of clay.

In concluding this, I would like to quote elaborately, as food for thought, from R.C. Eze's International Law and Political Realism, where he urges Nigeria, and indeed the rest of the Third World thus: 'Instead of sitting down and blaming European countries for their predicaments, preaching morality in world politics... orally condemning the USA or other powerful states for lording it over one weaker country or the other... crying against imperialism and the like, seeking membership of UN Security Council (without the economic-techno-military capability), etc, the leaders of Third World countries should as a matter of urgency embark on nationalistic programmes directed towards genuine socio-economic, political and military advancement that will enable them participate as relatively equal actors in global politics devoid of being pawns in the chessboard of the prevailing political realism in international relations.'

This is what we must do, and the time to do it is now. To continue to lament about how the West has continued to plunder us is analogous to a child who killed both parents only to later plead for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.

ngrguardiannews