NEW YORK, December 9, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Statement Attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General:


The Secretary-General placed on record his strong condemnation of the 5 December attack the second in two days, on troops from the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). The second attack took place at Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur, where the UNAMID troops were providing water to local civilians. Two UNAMID military personnel from Rwanda were killed and another peacekeeper was wounded as a result of the ambush.

The Secretary-General reiterates the commitment of the AU-UN mission to carry out its important work in Darfur. He notes the Government of Sudan’s rapid action to apprehend the alleged perpetrators and renews his call that those guilty of these cowardly attacks should be brought to justice immediately.

The Secretary-General expresses his condolences to the families of the peacekeepers who lost their lives and to the Government of Rwanda and reiterates his appreciation for their service and commitment to the search for peace in Darfur.

SOURCE :United Nations – Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General

WASHINGTON, December 9, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) have partnered through the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) initiative to bring more than 12,000 people in Ramotshinyadi Village of South Africa access to clean drinking water.

The WADA project aims to shift the way Ramotshinyadi villagers experience and conceptualize healthcare provision, and therefore will emphasize how clean, running water promotes good health. Family Health International South Africa (FHISA), Mvula Trust, and Re-Solve are collaborating to implement the program in Ramotshinyadi.

Malik Jaffer, USAID/Southern Africa HIV/AIDS technical officer, expects the WADA project to improve health in the region. “USAID wants to help South African children and their families get the basic essentials they need to lead happy, healthy lives,” he says. “Without clean water and sanitation, these kids don’t stand a chance.”

WADA is investing a total of $1.6 million over a three years period to build the appropriate water infrastructure in Ramotshinyadi Village – a priority health district in Limpopo Province–and two other villages, ensuring that every street has water pipes.

“The Bophelo Ka Metsi project further demonstrates Coca-Cola’s commitment as a company to contribute towards the development of our communities. Our continent’s chronic water shortage also prompts us, together with strategic partners such as NGOs and government, to act immediately in overcoming this challenge,” said Tulisiwe Mkatshwa, community affairs manager for Coca-Cola South Africa.

Water and health education and knowledge sharing exhibitions showed residents how to practice good hygiene and illustrated the consequences of drinking dirty water. These events culminated in the formal WADA launch on Nov. 27, attended by representatives of the Limpopo Provincial Government; the Greater Tzaneen Municipality, led by Mayor Mushwana; donors USAID; Coca-Cola; Family Health International; and traditional leaders. All attendees pledged to work together to ensure the sustainability of the project.

WADA is a joint initiative between USAID and The Coca-Cola Company that operates in 22 countries worldwide, contributing to protecting and improving the sustainability of watersheds, increasing access to water supply and sanitation services for the world’s poor, and enhancing productive uses of water. The Alliance is a positive example of how public-private partnerships can give localized support to those with the greatest needs for water and sanitation services, ensuring that water resources are managed to serve future generations.

For more information about USAID and the WADA initiative, please visit: www.usaid.gov.

For FHI South Africa, please contact Lorato Tshenkeng 084 588-6257.

For Coca-Cola South Africa, please contact Sammy Mohlaoli 079 525-6934.

For USAID South Africa, please contact Reverie Zurba 012 452-2000.

SOURCE :United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, December 9, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — On Thursday 10 December, Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson will head an EU Troika to Kenya to convey, at the highest political level, the EU’s strong commitment, support for and expectations of prompt implementation of necessary reforms in Kenya.

The EU Troika will meet Kenya’s President Kibaki, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ms Carlsson will also meet representatives of civil society in Kenya.

Kenya plays an important role in the region and in Africa. During the EU visit, the Swedish Presidency will emphasise the importance of continued close dialogue, political leadership and respect for human rights, and reiterates that the EU is prepared to continue to support peaceful and democratic development.



SOURCE

Sweden – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ACCRA, Ghana, December 9, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — On 3 – 4 December 2009, a workshop was held in Accra, Ghana, to raise awareness about the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) among West African states and to encourage their engagement.

The meeting was hosted by a South Africa-based research organisation, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), with financial support from the UK and Norwegian governments.

Participants from a range of West African governments and civil society organisations, with representatives from ISS, UNREC and the UK and South African governments, discussed the relevance of the NPT to African countries.

The workshop focused on how the treaty promotes the peaceful uses of nuclear energy which a growing number of African countries are considering to meet their future energy needs.

The meeting also disc ussed the implications of the recent entry into force of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (the Pelindaba Treaty) and the possible creation of a network of African civil society organisations to promote a world without Weapons of Mass Destruction.


SOURCE :United Kingdom – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ARUSHA, Tanzania, December 9, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The two-day annual meeting of the Chief Justices from the EAC Partner States ended yesterday by making several recommendations to the EAC Council of Ministers for consideration with view to strengthening the administration of the judiciary in the region.

Among them include ratification and domestication of relevant international laws dealing with impunity and human abuses and allowing for empowerment of regional and national judicial mechanisms to handle these issues.

The meeting urged the Council of Ministers to consider establishment of a unit within the EAC Secretariat to coordinate the activities of the Chief Justices’ Forum and all issues related to good governance.

The delegates recommended for initiation of studies on the existing legal systems and court structures in the region to enable harmonisation given the divergence in Common Law and Civil Law applied in some Partner States.

Hon. Augustino Ramadhani, Chief Justice of Tanzania and Chairperson of the Forum, said the initiative should be undertaken in collaboration with the EAC Judicial Training Committee.

The participants also agreed to explore ways to create regional judicial training institutions.

The meeting, which was attended by about 50 top judges and judiciary officials from the Partner States, also resolved that the Council of Ministers should take a position on where within the EAC region the archives of the Arusha-based UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) should be hosted. The meeting recognized that the archives will be an important resource for reference in future as EAC builds its own research capacity. The Tribunal is expected to wind up its work in the next two years.

The delegates also appreciated the decision of the Council to institutionalise the EAC Partner States Chief Justices Forum.

The Deputy Secretary General of EAC in charge of Political Federation, Hon. Beatrice Kiraso, said the Forum would help to strengthen the judicial activities in the region and support increased activities of the regional integration, especially those directly related to the fundamental principles of the Community, which include upholding the rule of law, constitutionalism, democracy, anti-corruption and equal opportunities, among others.

She said that the judiciary was key to ensuring enforcement of those principles as a foundation for the EAC Political Federation.

The meeting follows the inaugural session in Kigali, Rwanda, where the Chief Justices recommended for establishment of EAC Forum of Chief Justices. The two-day Nairobi meeting was convened by the EAC Secretariat and will be held at least once a year.

It was also attended by the President and Judges of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), representatives of Transitional Justice Programme based in Cape Town, South Africa , African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).



SOURCE

East African Community (EAC)

MOGADISHU, Dec 9 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Wednesday urged the nascent navy and army force of the war-torn country to fight Islamist insurgency in land and the rampant piracy off Somali coast.

"The pirates who are seeking illicit gains by hijacking foreign ships in our waters are sullying the good name of Somalia so they are to be fought and eradicated," President Ahmed told navy cadets in Mogadishu.

The president said that the pirates were a problem to Somalia as much as they were to other nations and urged the newly trained navy force to be part of the global efforts to fight piracy off Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden.

The leader who was speaking with the new Somali navy force, reminded the international community that foreign illegal fishing and the dumping of industrial waste was also a problem that should be addressed in parallel with piracy.

Piracy off the war-torn country wrecks havoc on international as well as commercial ships for Somalia despite the presence of several foreign warships patrolling the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden who have recently been extending their reach.

The Somali president reiterated that the Islamist insurgent fighting his government were behind the killing of three ministers in a hotel blast that also left dozens of other people, mainly civilians, dead and scores of others wounded.

Both Islamist movements, Al Shabaab and Hezbul Islam opposed to the government distanced themselves from the attack, blaming what they characterized as "in-fighting" within the government's security apparatus.

The president, who was clad in military uniform as he spoke with security forces in Mogadishu, vowed that the Somali security forces would step up their fight against the rebels who wage near daily attacks on Somali government and African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu.

KINSHASA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A delegation of experts from the Burundian government arrived on Tuesday in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to prepare for a tripartite accord with UNHCR on refugees living in the two countries, Congolese News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Led by Emmanuel Nkengurutse, Burundi officer in charge of judicial and administrative issues, the delegation will work with their Congolese counterpart on an agreement to be signed on Friday by the interior ministers of the two countries and UNHCR, in view of voluntary repatriation of these refugees.

The deal was already decided upon in October at the end of a tripartite meeting held in Bujumbura at the initiative of the DRC government. The agreement centers on the repatriation of Congolese refugees living in Gihinga camp in Mwaro province in Burundi.

Close to 2,300 Congolese refugees wanted to return to the DRC after they were refused to be transferred to another camp located in the north of Burundi.

According to the statistics of the national refugees commission in the DRC, some 34,000 Congolese refugees are living in Burundi.

NAIROBI, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government has donated 270,000 U.S. dollars of maritime police equipment at the Port of Mombasa to enhance security along the Indian Ocean coast.

U.S Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger said on Wednesday the donation, which included three 31-foot boats with engines and trailers, was provided as part of a broader U.S. effort to support police reform.

Washington has pledged over 14 million dollars in training and equipment in support of the Kenyan government's implementation of fundamental police reform.

"Reforms, including first and foremost establishment of independent external and internal oversight mechanisms, are critical to assure Kenyan citizens that the rights of all will be respected and protected," Ranneberger said.

The U.S. has urged consistently the Kenyan government to implement fully the recommendations of the Task Force on Police reform.

"The U.S. will continue to push for reform and will provided increased support as actual implementation takes place," he said.

Among other recommendations, the Kenyan Task Force on Police Reform called attention to the need for material support to Kenya's police services, as well as the need for independent oversight of police activities to ensure that the operations and conduct of the police are in compliance with democratic principles and the best practices of modern policing.

KHARTOUM, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russian special envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov said on Wednesday his country supports peaceful settlement of the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

"We support all efforts aiming at finding a peaceful settlement of Darfur conflict through political dialogue," said Margelov at a press conference following his meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum.

He said the international community and the UN Security Council were exerting efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict, referring to the recent Doha-hosted forum involving Darfur civil community representatives.

Russia also took part in the conference, according to the envoy.

The Russian envoy urged the two parties which signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) -- the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) -- to work together to sustain stability and peace in the country.

He also affirmed his country's readiness to support the two parties to solve the issues in dispute.

Margelov arrived in Khartoum on Friday on a six-day visit to Sudan where he held talks with the Sudanese officials in Khartoum and the regional capital of south Sudan Juba and visited Darfur.

LAGOS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria is to build an Ozone Village to mitigate the impact of climate change, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday, citing an official.

Funds for the first phase of the project, to be sited at Ikennein southwest Nigeria's Ogun State, has been released, the official said.

Abdulkasim Bayero, the assistant director in the pollution control department of the ministry of environment, said in Abuja on Tuesday that the concept of the project is to have an ozone-friendly technology development and training outfit.

"What we intend to achieve by establishing the ozone village is to have a center where various types of ozone-friendly technologies will be constructed and it will also serve as an indigenous capacity center," he told reporters.

"The Ozone village is just a title to make it unique. It will be expanded in the long run to general environmental protection technology," he said.

According to him, some indigenous engineers have fabricated various technologies that are ozone-friendly, such as prototype box foam machine, hydrocarbon machine and CFCs recovering and recycling machine.

"All these will be showcased at the ozone village. They have been completed and will be assembled in the village," he said.

Bayero said the project is a sustainable project with regards to the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances and embracing Nigerian indigenous technology rather than importing from abroad.

He added that the environment for the construction had been cleared and fenced, while the equipment house, office blocks and generators are in place.

LAGOS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Africa will demand 50 billion U. S. dollars as compensation for carbon emission from developed countries at the ongoing climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, sources have said.

The sources said on Tuesday in Abuja that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi would present the position on Dec. 18.

"Africa is the worst hit when it comes to global emission. We are going to Copenhagen with one voice; our position is that the developed countries should pay us 50 billion dollars in the short term," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the sources as saying.

"Our requisition also is that in 2015, the compensation should be increased to 250 billion dollars," one of the sources added.

They pointed out that Africa, which generated only 4 percent of the global carbon emission, was the hardest hit, and that is why the issue of compensation is justified.

They disclosed that the decision to ask for compensation was part of the recommendations made by the AU Presidential Committee of 10, including Nigeria.

According to the sources, the major challenges facing the continent included the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change.

"Apart from funding, we are also seeking for technology transfer to enable us change from our obsolete technology," another source said.

Justifying Africa's position, the source said the continent had suffered devastation in the past decades, adding that climate change would further compound the situation.

"Take Nigeria for instance, which has nearly 150 million people majority of who depend on agriculture; the direct negative impact of climate change will further worsen the poverty situation in the country," the source said.

"Once agriculture is affected, poverty will be intensified," he added.

Scientists have described the Copenhagen conference as the current most important event in the world.

Nearly 15,000 delegates and 100 world leaders are expected at the summit, which started on Monday, over the next two weeks.

The meeting is expected to come up with a deal that will supplant the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, which sought to help developing countries deal with the negative effects of climate change.

A delegation of 251 Nigerians, including journalists, is attending the summit.

20091209

HARARE (Reuters) - A battle over who will eventually succeed 85-year-old President Robert Mugabe as party leader threatens the future of his long-ruling ZANU-PF but analysts say an immediate split is unlikely at a congress this week.

By balancing competing factions and through a political patronage system, Mugabe has kept a tight grip on ZANU-PF since becoming party leader in the mid 1970s and spearheaded a guerrilla war against white minority rule.

But as Mugabe heads into the twilight of a political career spanning over half a century, his lieutenants have stepped up an internal fight for prime positions to take over the party when Mugabe retires. He has not given a date.

Rival factions have been jostling for posts in ZANU-PF's "presidium" leadership before a five-yearly party congress opening in Harare on Friday, widening cracks within ranks already torn over personalities, ethnic and regional issues.

"These fights are going to go on until Mugabe goes, and when he goes ZANU-PF is in danger of disintegration," said Eldred Masunungure, a leading political analyst.

"There is no consensus candidate on who should succeed Mugabe, and Mugabe himself has apparently created that crisis to remain in power," Masunungure told Reuters.

But whoever eventually wins the battle to succeed Mugabe -- whenever his position becomes vacant -- will have a huge task to reorganise a party which many critics say just managed to hang onto power last year through violence against the opposition.

20091209

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's stock market rose phoenix-like from the ashes of hyperinflation in 2009, but is unlikely to ascend further next year due to a continued chronic lack of capital to rebuild the economy, fund managers say.

With the Industrial and Mining indexes re-zeroed to a nominal value of 100 in February after the scrapping of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar, it is hard to assess their performance against other African bourses over the year.

However, the Industrial index, Harare's main benchmark, is now at 148 points, nearly three times its level in March -- testament to the revival that has taken hold since the birth the previous month of the fractious but vaguely functional unity government of Robert Mugabe and arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

After a 50 percent economic contraction during the previous decade, Tsvangirai's Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, was able this month to forecast growth of 4.7 percent for this year and 7 percent for next.

Barring a few politically fuelled wobbles, the INDZI has plateaued since May around 140-170, but looks hard-pushed to extend much beyond that until serious cash arrives to start patching up the rust-bucket economy.

Harare has been asking donors and investors for $10 billion, but little will land until everybody from the International Monetary Fund to global mining giants are confident Mugabe really is sharing power with his opponents.

Critics accuse the 85-year-old, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, of ruining a once prosperous economy through policies such as seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks and threatening to nationalise mines and banks.

"There's no question that they can't turn back from the path they're on but it might still take a long time," said John Mackie, head of Africa funds at Stanlib in Johannesburg.

20091209
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's president vowed on Wednesday to intensify his war against insurgents blamed for a suicide bombing at a medical graduation ceremony last week that killed 22 people, including three government ministers.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's fragile administration controls only a few districts of Mogadishu and comes under near daily attack by rebels including the hardline al Shabaab group, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of African state.

Western security agencies 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.

A spokesman for al Shabaab denied the group was responsible for last Thursday's suicide bombing, but few Somalis believed him and the U.N. special envoy to the country said it was "outrageous" to suggest that anyone else was to blame.

Speaking to the commanders of his fledgling naval forces, Ahmed said the rebels had "humiliated" the Somali people.

"We have to be ready to clear them out of the country and restore peace," Ahmed said. "They have decided to kill anyone who does not subscribe to their ideology. But Somalis have realised the trouble caused by these groups."

The country has known no peace for almost two decades since the overthrow of a military dictator heralded a period of warlord fiefdoms. But even that era did not witness the bloodletting and violence that Somalis have seen in recent years.

20091209

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's military junta chief is in a "difficult" condition after an assassination attempt and a return to Guinea is not imminent, a junior French minister who works on relations with African countries said on Wednesday.

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was shot on December 3 and later evacuated to Morocco, where he has been treated for head wounds. He has left behind a power vacuum and a divided military in the world's number one bauxite producer.

"Camara is in a condition that is apparently rather difficult, but in any case his life is not in danger," said Alain Joyandet, France's Secretary of State for Cooperation, speaking to reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting in Paris.

"In terms of his capacity to return to Guinea, I don't think it's reached that stage yet. For now he is in Morocco and for a certain amount of time, it would seem," Joyandet added.

Moroccan officials said on Sunday Camara was stable after an operation to treat "trauma of the cranium" but they have not given details on when he could be discharged from hospital.

Camara's Defence Minister Sekouba Konate has taken over as junta chief but as uncertainty about Camara's future grows, so does the risk of instability in Guinea spreading across a historically volatile region.

Bordering countries Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast are trying to rebuild their economies and infrastructure after civil wars and are acutely sensitive to local disturbances.

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma said his country was securing its frontier with Guinea and preparing for a possible influx of refugees.

20091209

ABUJA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Nigerians are unlawfully killed by corrupt and ill-trained police officers each year and authorities are ignoring the problem, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

In a two-year investigation, Amnesty found rampant human rights violations including torture and executions of suspects committed by Nigerian police officers.

"The Nigerian police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year," said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty's Africa programme.

"The majority of the cases go uninvestigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished."

Armed robbery and kidnappings are common in Africa's biggest energy producer, especially in the oil-producing Niger Delta, with the security forces often overpowered by criminal gangs.

With low pay, minimal training and old equipment, police officers have often been accused of shooting first and asking questions later. More than 100 officers are killed in gunbattles with criminals each year, Amnesty said.

"Many unlawful killings happen during police operations. In other cases, the police shoot and kill drivers who fail to pay them bribes at checkpoints," the report said.

Official government figures estimate the police killed 3,014 suspected criminals between 2003 and 2008, but Amnesty believed the numbers were much higher.

20091209
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's economy could face risks from political instability in trade-partner nations in the region as well as from any derailing of the global economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund said.

East Africa's third-largest economy has largely weathered the fallout from the world financial crisis and has seen increased exports to non-traditional markets like south Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, buoying its balance of payments.

But IMF Uganda Representative Tom Richardson told Reuters in an interview that any instability in Congo or south Sudan could hurt the Ugandan economy.

"There's a lot of uncertainty in southern Sudan ... DRC has issues, so there are risk factors related to trade with these non-traditional markets," he said late on Tuesday.

"It's a little too soon to declare victory (over the global economic recovery) ... that means for Uganda that there's still risk out there in the global economy, and that demand for Ugandan exports including services like tourism could be vulnerable."

A Reuters poll of analysts showed that Uganda's economy is expected to grow 6.4 percent next year, nudging down from 6.5 percent in 2009.

The nation's balance of payments has been supported by trade in food and industrial products mainly to south Sudan, which is recovering from decades of war. But an election next year and a referendum on independence in Sudan in 2011 have raised risks.

Foreign investors have been returning to Uganda's fixed income and currency markets since exiting late last year due to the global crisis. Investor interest in its burgeoning oil sector is also heating up.

20091209

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua remains in hospital in Saudi Arabia and is responding to treatment for a heart condition, but only his doctors will decide when he returns home, the government said on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old leader was flown to a clinic in Jeddah more than two weeks ago after complaining of chest pains and has been diagnosed with acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane around the heart that can restrict normal beating.

"It is only the doctors that can determine when Mr President will be back, but I can confirm to you that the President is still in the hospital and responding to treatment," Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters in the capital Abuja.

Yar'Adua's stay in a clinic in the Red Sea port is the latest in a series of overseas medical trips which have raised concern about his fitness to govern Africa's most populous nation. He has in the past visited Saudi Arabia and Germany to treat a chronic kidney problem.

Nigeria's cabinet unanimously agreed a week ago that there were no grounds on which to seek the president's resignation, rejecting calls for him to quit or let a panel of doctors determine whether he is fit to govern.

The cabinet came out strongly backing Yar'Adua after at least nine Nigerian newspaper front pages carried a statement reportedly signed by more than 50 public figures calling on him to resign or allow a medical panel to assess his health.

The opposition Action Congress party described the cabinet's decision as "unprincipled, self-serving and predictable" and said its assertion that government was functioning properly in Yar'Adua's absence was "the biggest joke of the year".

ACROSS Africa, there are growing concerns that the continent is marginalised in the major debates of the COP15 climate-change summit in Copenhagen.

While the main focus has been on the impact of climate-change mitigation on industrialised countries, the urgent adaptation needs of the world’s poorest countries, in the face of possible catastrophe, have largely been ignored, at least in terms of concrete measures.

Perhaps the world needs reminding that Africa is the continent that contributes least to climate change, but must now live with its most serious consequences. The signs are already ominous. Weather patterns are changing; the rains, in certain areas, have been failing; and great swaths of the continent have been suffering unusually severe drought.

Africa’s geographical position, sensitive water resources, unsustainable agricultural methods, and exploitation by foreign and other private companies increased its vulnerability. Deforestation for timber and energy precipitate erosion and reduce soil fertility. Conflict is increasing as communities compete for scarce resources. Indeed, the conflicts in Darfur, Somalia and Côte d’Ivoire were partly caused by disputes over agricultural and grazing land.

Africa’s potential can be harnessed only by adaptation to climate change, using disaster risk-reduction mechanisms. Moreover, parts of Africa possess massive latent potential for agricultural development, which it is in our collective interest to encourage.

If communities can replant rather than deforest, they can create carbon-dioxide sinks, improve the water balance, and protect the micro-climate — all of which would favour agriculture, food security, and efforts to mitigate global climate change in a sustainable way.

Historically, Europe must shoulder much of the responsibility for Africa’s current state of development. The slave trade, colonialism and the flawed process of colonial divestment all left their mark on Africa’s newly independent and fragile states. Now materialistic Europe and the developed world are imposing another disaster by on a struggling Africa through a lifestyle of self-enrichment, consumption and waste.

The African-European Parliamentary Dialogue on Climate Change was launched by Awepa (the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa) in cooperation with the Pan-African Parliament and other major parliamentary actors in Nairobi in August 2008. During follow-up meetings in Africa and Europe, concrete action plans with a special focus on Africa began to be developed.

Other parliamentary networks such as Globe (Global Legislators Organisation), PGA (Parliamentarians for Global Action), and PNOWB (the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank) are also participating. The aim was to put Africa high on the agenda at the Copenhagen summit.

The conclusion of the dialogue is being presented to the Copenhagen summit. The African-European Parliamentary Seminar in Stockholm in August (Sweden is the current EU president) emphasised the need for an implementation strategy to ensure that commitments made at Copenhagen in such areas as the development of climate change-related policies and legislative reform are fulfilled.

Similarly, Awepa will work with African and European parliamentarians to ensure that international assistance for African adaptation is delivered and carefully monitored. It will also mobilise support for African parliamentarians, enabling them to work with their constituents in raising awareness of new sustainable agricultural policies that respond to changes in weather patterns and other consequences of climate change.

African countries, as parties to global negotiations, have crucial contributions to make to climate politics. But climate-change mitigation and adaptation are costly. European and other high-income countries, including the United States, must meet their obligation, in accordance with the “polluter pays” principle, to provide Africa with new, accessible, dependable, and reliable funding to support mitigation and adaptation strategies in areas such as disaster risk reduction, renewable energy, technology, and skills development.

The position taken by the EU’s national leaders in October, that developing nations would need E100 billion (RM500 billion) worth of help annually by 2020 to cope with climate change, was an important step in the right direction.
But those commitments are still vague, given that EU leaders failed to say how much of the funding would be coming from Europe. Therefore, the real results of this EU agreement on climate funding remain to be seen.

The time has come for Europe, the US, and others to recognise their responsibilities concerning the impact of climate change on Africa. But they must do so in ways that respect African priorities. This is simple justice. — Project Syndicate

Graça Machel is founding president of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique; Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004; Mary Robinson is a former president of Ireland

www.nst.com.my

[img align=right width=200]http://www.postzambia.com/article_image.php?image_type=article&id=3004[/img]

OUTH African President Jacob Zuma yesterday said he is confident that the situation in Zimbabwe will be addressed.

And President Zuma said it was heartening that Zambia has now become South Africa's number one trading partner in Africa.

During a joint press briefing with President Banda at State House yesterday, President Zuma said there should be no reason for people not to be confident that the situation in Zimbabwe will be addressed.

He said the Zimbabwe issue was being handled by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) under the troika and the regional bloc had decided to evaluate the unity government after six-months but MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai decided to disengage when they were about to do so.

However, President Zuma said the decision was made by SADC at a meeting in Maputo for the MDC to get back into the government.

“They have been meeting, discussing the outstanding issues. There is a facilitation… we have no reason not to be confident that we will resolve these matters. We will certainly do so. And I am sure, you would recall that Zimbabwe comes from a very difficult period, even to reach the global political agreement was a difficult one they did.

They established the unity government, and I don't think anyone of us at this point in time should feel not confident that Zimbabwe is going to solve the problems,” President Zuma said. “I think all of us, including Zimbabweans believe that, that situation must be resolved once and for all so that we can be able to move forward and change the situation in Zimbabwe. We are therefore very confident, and I think having interacted with our colleagues in all the parties, there is no reason not to be confident.”

President Zuma said South Africa and Zambia shared a warm history of friendship and solidarity, saying the difficult years of fighting colonialism and apartheid together must now translate into a successful joint quest for economic freedom and social development.

He said the shared history should encourage both countries to fight poverty, disease and ensure that the people had decent jobs and a better quality of life.

President Zuma said the two countries had a well-established trade relationship, which had substantially increased since 1994.

He said South Africa's major exports to Zambia included mineral oils and fuels, autos and components, chemicals, steel and capital equipment.

“It is heartening Mr President that Zambia is now South Africa's number one trading partner on the continent. We need to explore more investment opportunities. In this regard I have brought a business delegation comprising representatives of 60 companies,” President Zuma said. “They have interests in the following sectors - Energy and petroleum, ICT, infrastructure, Financial services, healthcare, mining as well as agro-processing.”

President Zuma said Africans must continue to fight for equality and fairness in international relations, and ensure that Africa takes her rightful place amongst other continents of the world.
“As we speak, climate change negotiations are going on in Copenhagen. We will go to Copenhagen next week and strongly push our position as the African continent,” he said.

President Zuma said Africa needed a strengthened international climate regime that ensured global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, in accordance with what was required by science.
On the same issue, President Banda said he would not attend the summit in Copenhagen.

President Zuma said he welcomed the commitments on finance that were being made by some developed countries, but that these remained extremely limited and did not come close to the scale required, which was at least US $100 billion per annum for mitigation, and US $100 billion per annum for adaptation.
Meanwhile, Zambia and South Africa yesterday signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in agriculture, health, energy and mining.

Asked on what mechanisms had been put in place to ensure the success of the MoUs, President Zuma said what was important now was to start the process first and implementation would be the next step.
When asked what could be done on the matter where Zambians sought medical treatment in South Africa at huge cost, President Banda said there was no country in the world that was self-sufficient on the matter of health.

On a lighter note after the briefing, President Banda reminded President Zuma over an instance where a monkey urinated on him.

Just as the two leaders had finished addressing the press and headed for lunch at Nkwazi House, President Banda asked the South African President if he had heard of the incident where a monkey urinated on him.

President Zuma said he heard about the incident.
Then President Banda explained that it actually happened under the tree while he pointed at the same tree.
And during a state banquet and investiture ceremony at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka on Monday night, President Banda conferred the Order of the Eagle of Zambia first division on Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma for his outstanding contribution to the liberation struggle of South Africa.

In February, during his visit to Chipata as guest of honour at the Nc'wala traditional ceremony of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province, Zuma who was not yet South African President at the time was bestowed with the status of Freeman of Chipata town.

In his address after receiving the medal on Monday, President Zuma said he was humbled to be a recipient of an award similar to the one that was posthumously bestowed on Oliver Reginald Tambo, the late leader of his governing African National Congress (ANC).

“The story of liberation in southern Africa will not be complete without a full acknowledgement of the centre role played by Zambia towards freedom of the sub continent,” President Zuma said. “It was from here that the ANC and many other liberation movements including Frelimo of Mozambique, MPLA of Angola, ZAPU and ZANU of Zimbabwe and SWAPO of Namibia conducted their struggles against colonialism and apartheid.”

President Banda commended Zuma for his election to the presidency.

“I am happy to note that from the time Zambia and South Africa established formal diplomatic relations in 1994, commercial interactions between our two countries have increased greatly over the years. South Africa has also become one of Zambia's most important single sources of direct foreign investment,” said President Banda. “I am delighted that South African investors still find Zambia an attractive and viable destination for their investment.

In this regard I wish to assure South African investors as well as those of other countries that their investment in Zambia is secured, safeguarded by the progressive policies and robust legal framework put in place by my government. I am, therefore, encouraging South African investors to take advantage of available opportunities in Zambia.”

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