(Xinhua) -- Sudanese government said Saturday it was committed to protect Darfur Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who desire to return to their home areas and provide them with necessary services.

"Our strategy stands on supporting voluntary return of the IDPs. The government is committed to protect them and provide them with necessary services," Hassabo Mohamed Abdul-Rahman, the Sudanese humanitarian aid commissioner, told reporters following a meeting of a joint mechanism of the Sudanese government, the UN agencies and some donor countries.

"IDPs return is voluntary, and therefore we will support anyone who desires to return and for those who like to remain in towns, the government is committed to grant them housing lands in any of Darfur towns," he added.

He said the South Darfur state was planning to distribute 8,000pieces of lands for the state's IDPs, while North Darfur state would distribute 6,000 housing lands and the similar number by West Darfur state for the IDPs who want to settle in the big towns of the region.

The Sudanese official, meanwhile, stressed improvement of security and humanitarian situations in the region, saying "peace opportunities are high in Darfur after the decrease in the military operations and after the tribal reconciliations reached there."

He said that around 2.25 million IDPs have returned to their home areas in 650 model villages due to improvement of conditions in the region and that the government has established about 145 villages to receive the returnees.

The joint mechanism, which brings together the Sudanese government, UN agencies and some donors, held a meeting in Khartoum Saturday to evaluate the voluntary return of the Darfur IDPs and how to provide humanitarian assistance for the returnees.

20091212

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's president once again on Saturday blocked opposition leaders from flying back to the Indian Ocean island in a standoff over the formation of a new government.

Foreign donors say time is running out for the island of about 20 million people to form a consensus administration to arrange fresh presidential elections before late 2010 -- a condition placed on the release of frozen donor aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

President Andry Rajoelina, who seized power in a March coup, has said there will be no more talks with his political rivals after they shook hands on the make-up of a unity government without him in Maputo earlier this week.

The president stopped planes from Madagascar flying to Mozambique's capital to collect the opposition figures, so one of the politicians said they had tried to get home by taking a commercial flight via South Africa.

"We were turned around at the boarding gate," Mamy Rakotoarivelo, who was named speaker of the transitional parliament last month, told Reuters by phone from Johannesburg.

The opposition's resolution to push ahead with setting up a consensus government provoked a furious response from Rajoelina, 35, who denounced the move as tantamount to a coup d'etat.

Asked if he had issued the order preventing the officials from boarding the aircraft in South Africa, Madagascar's Internal Security Minister Organes Rakotomihantari said he had.

"Yes I did ... It is my duty to guarantee the internal security of the country," he told Reuters in Antananarivo.

20091212

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya is jailing people for their political views, years after committing to reform, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Saturday.

The New York-based group said in a news conference there had been limited improvements but Libya's human rights record remained out of step with the image of change it had presented since leader Muammar Gaddafi brought the country out of international isolation.

"Over the past decade, Libya dramatically transformed its international status from a pariah state," said the report, entitled Truth and Justice Can't Wait.

"Yet ... an essentially repressive legal framework remains in place, as does the ability of government security forces to act with impunity against dissent."

Commenting on the report, Mohamed Al Haki, president of a human rights association belonging to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, told Reuters: "There is no big difference between our report and HRW's report, but we do prefer that these kinds of issues are discussed by Libya's civic society."

HRW noted the contribution of Saif al-Islam's group in pushing through some changes. He is the country's second most powerful figure and a leading voice for reform.

But it said more reform was needed, and faster. The report, compiled from interviews with prisoners and their families, lawyers and Libyan officials, highlighted the following areas of concern:

* The authorities have not published a thorough account of June 1996 killings at Abu Salim prison, in which over 1,000 prisoners were shot. The results of an investigation promised by the authorities have never been made public and those responsible have not been identified, HRW said.

* The report said Libyan law severely curtailed free speech. However, journalists were now able to criticise some sections of the government, though not Gaddafi.

20091212

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of climate activists staged a colourful rally in Copenhagen on Saturday to urge negotiators at U.N. talks to agree a strong deal to fight global warming in a worldwide "Day of Action".

"Bla Bla Bla. Act now!", "There is no planet B", "Change the politics, not the climate", said banners waved by demonstrators in the Danish capital. Some activists dressed as polar bears, others as pandas -- with a flame rising from their heads.

Some held a giant balloon of an inflatable snowman, under threat of melting from a warming caused mainly by burning fossil fuels that the U.N. panel of climate scientists says will bring desertification, floods, heatwaves and rising seas.

Rallies were held around the world on Saturday, hoping to influence delegates half-way through slow-moving 190-nation talks from December 7-18 in the Danish capital to work out a strong, legally binding U.N. deal to fight climate change.

Thousands of Australians held a "Walk Against Warming" and activists said demonstrations and candlelit vigils were planned from Fiji to the United States to show support for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

In Copenhagen, estimates of the number of people involved varied from a police estimate of 25,000 to a figure of 100,000 given by organisers, who hope the rallies will put pressure on a summit of 110 world leaders in Copenhagen on December 17-18.

Activists planned a 6 km (4 mile) march out of the city to the Bella Center where government negotiators from 190 nations are half-way through December 7-18 talks. Activists came from around the world.

20091212

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States, the EU and other Western powers blasted the U.N. General Assembly on Friday for ignoring Zimbabwe's reported failure to comply with international efforts to curb trade in "blood diamonds."

The 192-nation body adopted a resolution warning that "trade in conflict diamonds continues to be a matter of serious international concern" and increased vigilance was vital.

The assembly was responding to a report on conflict stones by Namibia, which chairs the diamond industry's Kimberley Process, a certification scheme set up in 2003 in the wake of devastating civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Those wars were largely financed by the diamond trade.

Although the resolution was adopted, a number of Western delegations criticized the assembly for failing to mention concerns about Zimbabwe, which is suspected of not complying with Kimberley Process safeguards.

Namibia's report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there were "credible indications of significant non-compliance with the minimum requirements of the (Kimberley Process) by Zimbabwe."

U.S. delegate Laura Ross said: "We regret that language reflecting this concern has not been included in the text of this resolution."

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Sweden's U.N. Ambassador Anders Liden voiced similar views, as did delegates from Japan, Australia and Canada.

20091212

MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation commission has recommended that a special court be set up to prosecute those accused of war crimes committed during a 1989-1996 civil war, its chairman said on Friday.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is being tried in The Hague for war crimes because of his alleged role in the intertwined war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Taylor, who denies backing Sierra Leonean rebels, was a warlord in Liberia's civil conflict, which started when he launched a rebellion. The twin conflicts killed a quarter of a million people between them.

The commission does not have the power to enforce but can present recommendations to parliament which may then enact them. A tribunal would be likely to open old wounds as Liberians try to rebuild a nation shattered by years of war.

It could also prove a headache for President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first women president who enjoys strong Western backing. The commission wants her barred from office because of her support for Taylor in the war.

"The TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) has recommended an extraordinary criminal court to prosecute alleged perpetrators during the civil war," commission chairman Jerome Verdier told Reuters.

The Commission was established in 2005 to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Johnson-Sirleaf is trying to rebuild a ruined economy, buying back $1.2 billion of outstanding government debt earlier this year, a key step towards attracting investment in key sectors like rubber and iron ore.

20091212

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Robbers in Kenya stabbed to death an Irish Catholic priest who had worked as a missionary in the country for more than four decades, police said on Saturday.

Jeremiah Roche, a 68-year-old from west Limerick, was a member of the order of Kiltegan Fathers. He was killed early on Friday at his home on the outskirts of Kericho town, about 200 km (120 miles) west of the capital Nairobi.

Violent crime is a major problem in east Africa's biggest economy where armed robberies and car-jackings are common.

"We are treating the killing as normal thuggery since the gangsters managed to steal a laptop, his mobile telephone and an unknown amount of money," North West regional police commander Peterson Maelo told Reuters by telephone.

"We have launched a manhunt for the killers."

Roche had worked in Kenya since 1968. His body was found by parishioners after he failed to appear for 6 a.m. Mass.

20091212

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday pursued an attempt to resolve a Spanish-Moroccan impasse over a hunger strike by a Western Sahara independence activist by raising the issue with Morocco's foreign minister.

On Thursday, the U.N. secretary-general telephoned Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and proposed what U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky called "possible steps to resolve the situation." Nesirky declined to provide details.

Aminatou Haidar has been at Lanzarote airport in Spain's Canary Islands fasting for nearly four weeks, since Moroccan authorities put her back on a plane when she returned home to Western Sahara's capital Laayoune after a trip to New York.

The hunger strike by Haidar, 43, has strained relations between Spain and Morocco, which annexed most of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975. The future of the territory is the subject of deadlocked U.N.-led negotiations between Morocco and Sahara's Polisario independence group.

U.N. officials said Ban had expressed deep concern to Moroccan minister Taieb Fassi Fihri over Haidar's health.

After meeting Ban, Fihri gave few details of their talks, but told reporters it had been decided "that we will maintain the contact and each of the parties will evaluate what they heard from the other."

Fihri accused Haidar of "blackmail" and charged that the hunger strike was aimed at distracting attention from what he said was the refusal of the Polisario Front to engage in further talks over Western Sahara.

"It's not a humanitarian situation, it's a political decision ... to avoid negotiations," he said. "All (Moroccan) political parties agreed that we cannot respond to blackmail."

20091212

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Colourful American golfer John Daly has told world number one Tiger Woods to fight for his marriage if he still loves his wife Elin.

Woods is taking an "indefinite break" from the game after he admitted to infidelity in his marriage following revelations by a succession of women of extra-marital affairs with him.

Daly, who has been married four times, said it was important the couple stayed together if they still loved each other.

"I feel like if there's anybody in this world, after what I've gone through, the ups and downs ... I might give him some advice," Daly told reporters at the Australian PGA championship in Queensland.

"I'm in shock over it all. I think a lot of our players are in shock. I've tried to get hold of Tiger and his manager but he just didn't want to talk to anybody.

"You don't stay married for the kids, you don't stay married for the money. You stay married because you love each other.

"I hope they're staying together for the love they have for each other.

"I pray and hope they both get through it and if they ever need anything from me, I'll be happy to talk to them because I love them both."

Daly also told Woods he should take as long as he needed to fix his marriage before he returned to the course.

"Tiger's lifetime exempt on our tour, he can play (anytime) he wants on our tour," he said. "Take a break, get it together. My heart is out to both of them, I just hope they can make it."

LAGOS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Pan African Parliamentarians Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC) on Friday bemoaned the lack of progress in negotiations on climate change at the ongoing UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Awudu Mbaya Cyprian, president of PAPNCC, said in Copenhagen on Friday that African countries had embraced the cause of climate justice, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

"We are working together to ensure success in the negotiations on the implementation of the Kyoto protocol," he told reporters.

"We want the full, effective and sustained implementation of the UN Climate Convention with a common African position," Cyprian said.

The African parliamentarians, who held a special briefing with delegates and the media, warned that industrialized countries should be aware that this is the last chance to act selflessly to ensure that the future generations have a cooler world to live in.

Speaking at the forum, Nigerian representative, Ezuiche Ubani, said that Africa attached great importance to the ongoing conference because the climate crisis was worse than the current global financial crisis.

"The developed countries must show absolute concern and determination to cut their greenhouse gases' emission," he said.

"This is not the time to play politics with the lives of people; we from Africa will not agree to any deal that does not ratify the position of Africa," Ubani added.

LOME, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 24th meeting of the International Conference of advocates (CIB) was opened here on Friday in the Togolese capital under the theme "Solidarity for rights."

Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe presided over the opening ceremony of the five-day meeting which brought together 400 participants coming from about 30 French speaking countries at the Lome Conference Center.

The participants included members of government, parliament and other Togolese public institutions, the representatives of the Francophone advocates' conference, the diplomatic representatives and the representatives from international organizations.

The Lome meeting is meant to discuss the central theme of "judicial aid" and the "children's rights." These two sub-themes are motivated by the absence of judicial aid in terms of the state assistance to the advocates so that they can help the poor and the powerless to have access to justice.

According to the Togolese head of state, due to the high fees charged on the justice procedures, many of the powerless people are constrained not to go and get the value of their rights before courts and tribunals.

He described it as "a discriminatory situation" and announced the decision to create a fund for judicial aid.

The management of this fund will be entrusted with the advocates' body.?

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe has again attacked the United Kingdom and the United States of America for what he said is a relentless campaign to seize control of Zimbabwe’s rich mineral resources.In his opening address at the ongoing Zanu-PF congress in Harare Friday, President Mugabe decried what he said was infiltration of the country by the two rich countries.

“If the rich countries of the West see that you are a naturally resourced country and they envy those resources, they find a way of penetrating into your systems and indeed of wanting to control those resources,” Mugabe said.

He warned party supporters to be wary of Great Britain which he said continued to use Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change MDC, Zanu-PF’s partner in the inclusive government, as a front to advance an anti-Zimbabwe agenda.

“Defence of the natural resources means political defence through our being together,” he said, “being united in making a stand that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans and those who come here who are not Zimbabweans must support us.

“We have the right to national sovereignty and the right of control over our resources. When we open avenues for their participation, we are not saying they can become the owners of our country.

“We are only saying become partners with us and nothing more, nothing more, nothing more.”

There was loud applause from the delegates as Mugabe said this.

He said the MDC was formed in Great Britain through the Westminster Foundation and was now parroting a western agenda.

The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) was established in London in 1992 “to support the consolidation of democratic practices and institutions in developing democracies”. The foundation says on its website that it specializes in parliamentary strengthening and political party development; working at national, regional and local levels.

The foundation is sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and is accountable to the British Parliament for its expenditure.

Mugabe said MDC was talking a language “contrary to the language of the revolution” through support of the continued existence of sanctions against Zimbabwe and advocating for the reversal of the land reform programme.

Although Zanu-PF had embraced the MDC as a partner in the inclusive government, Mugabe said, the two parties’ appreciation of national issues was wide apart.

“We say svinurai, MDC, chinjai pfungwa. Nyika ndeyenyu, haisi yevarungu kwete. Haisi yanaBennett, (We say to the MDC, ‘Wake up, change your way of thinking. The country belongs to you, not to the white people. It does not belong to Roy Bennett and others.’),” Mugabe said.

“These people are settlers. Even if Bennett and the others were born here, they remain the off-spring of settlers.”

Mugabe said only divine intervention would make the MDC realize the folly of blindly following the white man’s thinking.

“We need that day when we can pray for the readjustment of our mental setup,” he said.

Mugabe also lashed at some Zanu-PF members and accused them of “playing into the hands of the enemy by squabbling for positions using channels which are not availed by our party’s constitution”.

Zanu-PF on Thursday thwarted an attempt by some party delegates to reopen nominations for the positions of Zanu-PF vice president and national chairman.

Mugabe read the riot act to some provincial chairpersons who threatened to resign from their positions in protest over what they alleged was the party’s continued imposition of candidates into the presidium.

The congress will confirm Mugabe as leader of Zanu-PF for another five-year term, with Joice Mujuru and vice president designate John Nkomo as his deputies. Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo will return from Pretoria to become the new national chairman of the party. Moyo was a protégé of the late PF-Zapu founder, Dr Joshua Nkomo.

Sources within the party say reform-minded members in the leadership of Zanu-PF now view Mugabe’s reelection as leader as retrogressive. They are said to blame the plunge in the party’s fortunes in elections last year to his faltering leadership.

Mugabe will turn 86 years old in February.

thezimbabwetimes

Pretoria has suspended dozens of officials being investigated for giving fake birth certificates and citizenship to mainly Pakistani foreigners, nearly a year after Britain said corrupt officials were handing out false South African passports.

nzherald

FORMER chairman of the then Nigerian Football Association, (NFA), Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima has rubbished predictions in some quarters that an African country will win the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

Galadima spoke in a chat with brilafm.net yesterday, just as the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that it received invitations from Serbia, Portugal and New Zealand for possible friendlies before the 2010 World Cup.

According to Galadima, it would be unrealistic to think an African country will win the Mundial because it will be hosted on African soil, noting that the continent's teams have not prepared well enough to win the global tourney.

He said: "Of course, like every other African, I would like to see an African team do well in South Africa. The reality of the situation is that a lot of people have been expressing their concerns and fears about the caliber of players that will be taken to South Africa."

The Kano-born football administrator went on to cite examples of top African teams which he says still fall short when it matters most, saying: "Take a look at Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, but people are still saying we don't have the material. I believe it's not impossible for us to go there and do well, that is, Africa as a continent.

"I am looking more towards 2014, which will help us have long term planning. I think that will help us in this country. World Cup is not a small boy's business. I believe we should get it right when we plan over time," he said.

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles qualification for the 2010 World Cup has turned the team into a beautiful bride, as the NFF has confirmed that some countries are seeking friendlies with the team before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Spokesperson of the NFF, Ademola Olajire said yesterday that the Glasshouse had received invitations from Serbia, Portugal and New Zealand for possible friendlies, adding that the team's officials will take a decision on the matches they want.

"We've talked with a number of people, a number of delegations. There are prospects. We have countries like Serbia and Portugal expressing interest. We will sit down and look at a whole lot of things. New Zealand expressed interest as well. So, we are looking at a wide range of possibilities. It's just about sitting down and asking the coach what he wants to do," Olajire stated.

ngrguardiannews

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, has condemned splits within Zanu-PF, saying internal fighting is tearing the party apart and emboldening its rivals.

Mugabe opened the party's congress in the capital, Harare, on Friday, and addressed the party for the first time since it lost absolute grip of power and entered a unity government.

"The reason why we lost last year was because of factions in many provinces. This is how the party has suffered damage," Mugabe told about 5,000 party members.

"The party is eating itself up. The more intense the internal fighting is, the greater opportunity we give to the opposition to thrive."

Zanu-PF lost its majority in parliament for the first time last year to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Mugabe was forced to share power with his rival Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, who was appointed as prime minister.

"We have to restore our party as the people's choice, the only choice, the people's party," Mugabe said.

Succession split

The Zanu-PF congress comes amid reports that Zanu-PF is facing a deep split over Mugabe's succession.

Mugabe, 85, took up the party leadership in the 1970s at the height of the guerrilla war against the white-minority government of Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia.

He has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980 and is hailed by his supporters as a liberation hero.

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

Washington Ali, a London-based founding member of the MDC, said what is happening in Zanu-PF is "very disappointing but not surprising".

"Zanu-PF has been in power for nearly 30 years and they still want to continue to be on the lead and yet they've got nothing to offer the people of Zimbabwe," he told Al Jazeera.

"I would have expected them to be focusing on real issues - the bread and butter issues - and their time and resources trying to resolve the situation which is bedevilling the country."

Ali said the possibility of Mugabe standing for re-election cannot be ruled out.

"Already he has been campaigning that he be endorsed to be the presidential candidate," he said.

"So whether he's going to be the one on the seat or somebody else that will soon come out, but I'm not surprised with whatever comes out ... because the old man doesn't want to go and this is being reflected by what's been happening."

Critics say Mugabe is responsible for the last decade of economic collapse and political violence in Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF itself has been divided over who should eventually succeed him.

Joice Mujuru, the vice-president and the wife of a former army general, is seen as the front runner to replace him.

But a second camp is led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country's defence minister, who local media have long touted as a possible favourite.

'No noise'

Haru Mutasa, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Harare, said that while there was little likelihood of an immediate split, the division could potentially destabilise the party.

"The fear in people's minds is that if Mugabe shouldn't manage to live out his term - or if he steps down for any reason - and he hasn't appointed anyone to take over from him then the factions within Zanu-PF might start squabbling among each other to see who comes out on top," she said.

"The fear is that the groups who want to vie for this position have military backgrounds and could be prepared to do anything to hang on to power."

Despite this, analysts say there is likely to be little overt debate on the subject at the conference.

"There will be no noise during the congress, and there will be no meaningful debate," said Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the pro-democracy group National Constitutional Assembly.

Takura Zhangazha, the country director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, said: "Zanu-PF will come out of the congress still limping ... They won't come out with a pragmatic approach to revitalise the party."

Although the Zanu-PF retains significant support, especially in rural areas, opinion polls suggest that it would probably lose any new election.

aljazeera

(KHARTOUM) — Democracy Reporting International (DRI), a group of mainly European experts, recommends that Sudan may simplify its electoral system ahead of the planned April 2010 voting. DRI made this conclusion in a just released report titled “Assessment of the Electoral Framework” of Sudan.

Under the current system for Sudan’s legislative races, three ballot types exist at each of the three levels of government — State Assemblies, South Sudan Legislative Assembly, and National Assembly. The three ballot types are: single member districts, party lists and women lists.

Thus in the upcoming elections, Northerners will mark 8 ballot papers: one for president, one for governor, three for the different selection categories of the national assembly, and three for their respective State Assembly. Southerners will have to mark ballots papers in those categories in addition to four more: one for for the South’s president and three for the selection categories to the South Sudan Legislative Assembly.

"There are serious questions whether the electoral systems used are too complex for a post-conflict election: The election administration must correctly print and distribute 1,268 different types of ballots. Voters, many of whom have never voted before, will have to mark up to 12 different ballots. A simplification of the electoral systems may be a solution," stated Michael Meyer, the co-coordinator of DRI.

DRI proposes that it is possible to simplify the district-by-district, first-past-the-post system of distributing parliamentary seats, also eliminating the ballots for party lists and women lists.

The DRI report states, "Given cumbersome electoral systems with voters receiving up to 12 ballots, there is a serious risk the elections may fail on logistical grounds. There is consideration of only holding elections to executive positions while postponing those to legislative bodies. However, that would do little to promote pluralism and would strengthen the already powerful executive branches of government further. A simplification of the electoral systems may be a more appropriate solution."

DRI says that Sudan can significantly simplify the ballot system "by dispensing with the majoritarian component and introducing a full PR [proportional representation] system. A voter in the north would then have to mark four ballots, a voter in the south six ballots. The number of ballot types would be reduced from more than 1,268 to 54. This solution could also solve the census dispute as far as it relates to elections and address some problems of IDP voting."

"To maintain the women quota there could be a requirement to place women candidates on fixed positions on party lists. The drawback of this option would be that if elections were not held in some regions, such as parts of Darfur, the overall results would be affected, and voters may be unfamiliar with list-based election systems."

The report was financed by the Kingdom of Belgium. It was researched by an assessment team sent to Juba from May 9 – 20 and Khartoum from August 31 - September 6. The Center for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Juba helped to author the report.

sudantribune

BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (IPS) - Some of the world's most polluting companies are receiving financial support from the European taxpayer to promote the continued use of the fuels that cause global warming, according to a new report.

In 2005, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, set up a group known as the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) to advise it on the possibility of capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and burying it underground. Dominated by large energy firms, ZEP has secured 1.5 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) in public subsidies and is busily lobbying for support from policy makers at the international climate change talks now under way in Copenhagen.

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), an organisation which monitors the influence of big business on the EU's institutions, deems it inappropriate that such vast sums are being allocated to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects when the technology they employ has not yet proven to be environmentally benign.

In a report titled 'Public funds used to lobby for fossil fuels in Copenhagen', CEO notes that the proponents of carbon storage admit that it will not be ready for use before 2020. As a result, it will not help realise the EU's objective of reducing by 20 percent its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the next decade.

Yet while the technology it is extolling is still in its infancy, ZEP is holding an event in the Danish capital this weekend to urge that carbon storage should be eligible for funding under the United Nations' clean development mechanism. This mechanism allows industrialised countries to invest in low- polluting projects in poorer nations as an alternative to cutting their own emissions of greenhouse gases.

ZEP's 23 members mainly represent major energy companies including Shell, BP, Vattenfall, E.ON, Alstom, Siemens and Statoil. Some of these companies have a hugely controversial environmental record; Shell's gas-flaring activities in the Niger Delta, for example, are the biggest single source of carbon dioxide emissions in Africa. By contrast, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is the only well-known environmental group involved in ZEP.

Yiorgos Vassalos, a CEO campaigner, said: "The fossil fuel industry has used public money to push the case for carbon capture and storage within the EU - and now, they are in Copenhagen to argue for more of the same. Giving CCS credits under the clean development mechanism will provide another source of subsidy - and legitimise the expansion of fossil fuel projects in the developing world."

He argued that the EU appeared more eager to devote public finances to carbon storage than to renewable energy, even though wind and solar power are among the cleanest forms of energy generation available.

Hans van der Loo, head of Shell's EU affairs office, denied that ZEP is trying to win support for fossil fuels at the expense of renewables. Carbon storage should be part of a multi-pronged approach to tackling climate change, that will also incorporate energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy, he said. "CCS is not a silver bullet," he added. "It will not save the world. But without it the world will not be saved."

Sanjeev Kumar, WWF representative on the platform, said the body provides a "good snapshot" of what different interest groups think. Yet he agreed that the dominance of private sector representatives in ZEP and other such bodies was an example of how "there are far too many doors open to industry" in the Brussels bureaucracy.

Carbon storage projects have benefited considerably from a "recovery plan" approved by the EU in response to the financial crisis. About 1 billion euros has been made available to the technology as part of that blueprint, while over 400 million euros has been provided from the Union's scientific research funds.

Eight of the firms belonging to ZEP have received EU research funding. These are Shell, BP, Alstom, RWE, Siemens, Total, Air Liquide and Vattenfall. Both Vattenfall and Alstom run the Union's first demonstration project for carbon storage at Schwarze Pumpe in Germany.

The European Commission has calculated that 13 billion euros will be needed for the development of carbon storage techniques over the coming decade. Because this technology can draw money from the EU's emissions trading scheme - which allows companies to buy and sell permits to pollute - and from a major investment plan to transform Europe into a "low-carbon" economy, as well as from the national budgets of EU governments, the CEO estimates that more than half of all support for carbon storage could come from the public purse.

The CEO report says there is a risk that the EU's zealous promotion of so- called clean coal could ultimately prove ruinous for the climate, particularly if other governments are convinced to share that enthusiasm during the Copenhagen talks . The result of ZEP's activities, said the report, could be that "precious resources for the funding of real solutions such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation will be put on the back burner, while the coffers of the fossil fuel companies historically responsible for climate change will be full of public money."

DAKAR, Senegal — A waiter, reacting to the mosquitoes plaguing a customer on a recent hot night here, said sharply, “Those aren’t mosquitoes; those are French people!”

Two thousand miles away, in another coastal African capital, Libreville, in Gabon, a crowd yelled: “We’re sick of the French! Let’s kick them out! Let’s kill them!” after learning this fall that their nation’s reigning autocracy was staying in power.

It is not a good time to be French in Francophone Africa, except if you are a high official from Paris privately visiting a strongman’s palace. As democracy slips in country after country in the region, France often quietly sides, once again, with the once-and-future autocrats.

All summer long, while African opposition figures were protesting, demonstrating and fleeing, men in power were coolly visiting Paris, or receiving visits in return.

Nicolas Sarkozy, now France’s president, promised a departure in relations with Africa three years ago. Instead, the nation appears to be reverting to historic type, looking past unsavory rulers for the sake of a uranium mine in Niger, oil interests in Gabon and a deep-water port in Cameroon.

On the region’s streets, where people have been clamoring for democracy, this choosing of sides — the side of power — by the region’s old colonial ruler has led to attacks on French structures, rock-throwing at French people and warnings for French citizens to stay indoors or evacuate.

For decades, France played a preponderant role in the making and unmaking of governments and economies in this part of the world. And while perception now outstrips current reality, France is still a principal commercial partner. Three French banks accounted for nearly 70 percent of the banking business in the African franc zone in 2007, according to a prominent French political scientist, Philippe Hugon, and the French government itself says that 60 percent of its foreign assistance goes to sub-Saharan Africa.

The antigovernment demonstrators think France still pulls the strings, and while French officials deny this, their actions often suggest otherwise. In Gabon, where the election of an autocrat’s son dashed hopes for ending 40 years of rule under the Bongo family, Mr. Sarkozy’s man in Africa, Alain Joyandet, showed up at Ali Bongo’s pomp-filled inauguration, telling reporters that Mr. Bongo “must be given time.”

Publicly, France said it had no horse in the Gabonese elections; behind the scenes, Robert Bourgi, a Paris lawyer with documented access to Mr. Sarkozy’s entourage, openly supported the candidacy of Mr. Bongo, his client. Mr. Sarkozy even accorded Mr. Bourgi one of France’s highest honors, the Legion of Honor.

In Africa, “opposition to power also means opposition to France,” said Mamadou Diouf, the director of Columbia University’s Institute of African Studies. “We find ourselves in a paradox: The champion of the rights of man practices a politics absolutely contrary to its principles,” Mr. Diouf said of France’s policies in Africa.

Mr. Joyandet, the secretary of state for cooperation, disagreed sharply. “It’s not right; we absolutely don’t uphold the existing power at whatever cost,” he said. “Everywhere, we are asking for a return to democracy.”

Mr. Joyandet pointed to Ivory Coast, where France has been pushing for long-delayed elections. “France supports institutions, not candidates,” he said. He insisted that France had gone beyond “practices of another age that we don’t do anymore.”

When Mr. Sarkozy promised “a new relationship” with Africa three years ago, he said it would be “equal, and freed of the scars of the past.” His first cooperation secretary, Jean-Marie Bockel, later reinforced the message, saying he wanted to “sign the death warrant” of the old France-Africa relationship, which he called “ambiguous” and “complaisant.”

But Mr. Bockel was soon out of his post after offending Mr. Bongo’s father with his anticorruption declarations. His replacement, Mr. Joyandet, has been careful to moderate his tone when speaking of African autocrats.

Last month, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the general who staged a coup in the desert nation of Mauritania and consolidated his power with an election this summer, was cordially received in Paris and abundantly photographed with a smiling Mr. Sarkozy.

In Niger, President Mamadou Tandja has methodically rolled back civil liberties, locked up opposition figures and prolonged his stay in power beyond his electoral mandate; his picture with Mr. Sarkozy is on the French Foreign Ministry’s Web site, and a spokesman in Paris said two weeks ago that “high-level contacts were being maintained with the Niger political class,” though he added, “especially” with the opposition.

nytimes

20091211

THE European Commission (EC) and the Zambian Government yesterday signed a K200 billion (30 million Euros) Budget support agreement.

EC head of delegation, Derek Fee said in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis, the commission recently introduced a new mechanism designed to cushion the fiscal effects of the economic and financial crisis in developing countries.

Dr Fee said during the signing ceremony that with the crisis negatively impacting on domestic revenues and fiscal deficit, Zambia was considered eligible for the Vulnerability Flex Support in 2009.

He said Zambia applied to the EC for additional K200 billion and was happy that the application was favourably received in late October and agreed upon in November after the conclusion of the Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) dialogue with the Zambian Government.

Finance Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane paid tribute to the EC for considering the application which he said would go a long way in enhancing the financial support to the country.

Dr Musokotwane said the additional resources combined with the Government's renewed commitment to protect vital service delivery and infrastructure investments would go along way in ensuring that aggressive development agenda did not lose momentum.

He assured that the Government would continue to ensure that the funds were put to good use for the benefit of the country's development.

20091211

VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda has warned Zambians against practicing tribalism because it has potential to trigger serious national conflicts, including war.

Speaking at the commemoration of the International Human Rights Day, Mr Kunda said Zambians should learn from tragic experiences of other countries that had been thrown into serious conflicts, including war.

The vice-president said in a speech read for him by Justice Deputy Minister, Todd Chilembo some countries even had wars because of intolerance based on tribal or ethnic consideration.

"The Government calls upon all Zambians to embrace their diversity and recognise that diversity is part and parcel of Zambia's democratic dispensation," he said.

It was Government's desire to ensure that tribalism was dealt with because it fell under the broad definition of racial discrimination in terms of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

He said the theme 'Embrace Diversity- End Discrimination' was very important as it focused on ending racial discrimination, gender discrimination, stigma and discrimination against the disabled, prisoners and HIV/AIDS patients.

Mr Kunda said, however, that although racial discrimination was not pronounced in Zambia, the Government was committed to fight it because it hindered people's enjoyment of fundamental freedoms.

He said people should stop HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination because it had an effect of eroding human rights and the rights of the people affected by such violations.

Mr Kunda said the Government was saddened that people in incarceration or detention were subjected to stigma and discrimination by society even after they had been released.

On the discrimination of disabled people, he said society should first eradicate environmental and attitudinal barriers that hindered persons with impairments from effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

He urged all stakeholders to ensure that all children, regardless of their background or socio-economic standing, were afforded the protection of their rights on an equal footing.

Human Rights Commission acting chairperson, Palan Mulonda commended the Government for its continued support to the commission, saying it would continue to ensure that human rights were observed at all times.

Mr Mulonda urged all institutions in Zambia to promote human rights, adding that denial of rights was a serious infringement.

allafrica