20091207

Commonwealth Heads of Government ended their meeting Sunday in the Trinidad and Tobago capital of Port of Spain with an agreement for poor countries to get special funding to cope with the impact of climate change ahead of next month's UN Climate Conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

African Union Chairman Jean Ping said last September that Africa will request "polluting countries" to finance the transfer and implementation of climate adaptation technology in Africa.

"We reached two broad conclusions: One there's a political will to see an agreement to emulate in Copenhagen. And secondly, it talks about financing for the most vulnerable states to have access to the funding and technology necessary to reduce their carbon footprint and to make their countries carbon neutral," said Eduardo del Buey, chief spokesman for the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Del Buey said the Commonwealth Port of Spain Declaration is in line with Africa's demand for "polluting countries" to finance the transfer and implementation of climate adaptation technology in Africa

"If you read the communiqué on climate change, it says we welcome the initiative to establish, as part of a comprehensive agreement, a Copenhagen Launch Fund starting in 2010 and building to a level of resources of $10 billion annually by 2012," Del Buey said.

The Commonwealth leaders agreed that an equitable governance structure to manage the financial and technological support be put place.

Del Buey said the Port of Spain Declaration sets the tune for next month's Copenhagen conference on climate change.

The leaders also agreed to admit Rwanda into the Commonwealth as the second member without direct British colonial connection.

"Mozambique was a formal Portuguese colony, but it joined in the 1995, I believe. They made application and the leaders decided to admit Rwanda. It's a decision that leaders take," Del Buey said.

Del Buey said normally there is supposed to be some kind of constitutional or special ties to be a new member of the Commonwealth.

He said Rwanda met the ‘special ties' requirement by virtue of it being a member of the East African Community which members Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania are also members of the Commonwealth.

Some Commonwealth leaders also reportedly raised concern about Uganda's proposed draconian anti-homosexuality bill.

Del Buey said those leaders made their concerns known to the Ugandan government.

"Homosexuality is a question on which there is no Commonwealth consensus. But any kind of discrimination and persecution goes against Commonwealth values," he said.

Del Buey said although the question of homosexuality is a complex one, all Commonwealth member states are required to behave in a way that is in line with international humanitarian law.

He said the issue Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill has been turned over to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group responsible for reviewing the enforcement of Commonwealth values.

voa

20091207

China is continuing to show an interest in developing African research capacity with the announcement of a cooperation programme in science and technology.
microscopes

The China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership was launched by China's Ministry of Science and Technology last week.

According to the ministry, the priorities will be livelihoods and economic development. Technological cooperation will be enhanced in areas such as water management and conservation, sanitation, crop breeding, health and renewable energy.

The programme is one of eight measures announced by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in early November.

At the meeting, Wen promised to spend US$10 billion on low-interest loans for Africa. The sum for the China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership was not disclosed.

The programme is similar to one pledged in 2006 (see African science to benefit from China trade deal).
Under the scheme, China will also help African countries implement major science and technology programmes, including designing high-tech science parks.

There will also be 100 joint research partnerships and 100 African postdoctoral scientists will have the chance to carry out research at China's technology parks, research institutes and private enterprises. Each researcher will then be offered research instruments worth 150,000 yuan (US$22,000) to aid their research back in Africa.

China will also donate laboratory equipment to African countries to upgrade their research capabilities, and Chinese scientists and engineers will travel to African countries to provide technical guidance and services.

The Chinese government will provide most of the funding, and additional money will come from the private sector and international organisations. An advisory committee will be set up to provide advice on policies and approaches to collaboration.

Wang Wenming, a director at the Chinese Research Society of African Affairs, said the programme showed China was willing to provide technology transfer to Africa.

"Western countries often blamed China's activity in Africa on neo-colonialism and accused China of dumping shoddy goods on the continent," Wang told SciDev.Net. "With this programme, China is offering high-tech research achievements with impact on Africa's sustainable development."

Garth Shelton, director of the East Asia Project at South Africa's University of Witwatersrand, says that China has low-cost technologies that would be useful in Africa, and that its commitment to protecting the environment could result in cooperation on technology.

"Chinese science and technology projects in Africa are to be welcomed - China has the appropriate and affordable technology for Africa," he said. "Africa is looking for affordable solutions to its science and technology problems."

africagoodnews

20091207

AFP - Sudanese police detained three senior figures from the south's ruling party and dozens of protesters on Monday including a state minister in a crackdown against a pro-reform protest, witnesses said.

Pagan Amum, Yassir Arman and Abbas Gumma from the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) were led away as they arrived by car at the parliament building in Khartoum, said the witnesses, including an AFP reporter.

Amum is the SPLM?s secretary general, Arman its deputy secretary general in northern Sudan, and Gumma is a state minister at the country's interior ministry.

Police had announced that the demonstration to push for reforms ahead of national elections and over an independence referendum for south Sudan would be considered illegal.

But by mid-morning, several hundred opposition protesters trailed by armed police were marching on the streets of Khartoum, waving placards and chanting: "We want our freedom."

Among those arrested were Siddig al-Turabi, son of veteran Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, and more than 50 of the demonstrators.

Security forces blocked roads leading to parliament, with a heavy presence in key areas. They were also reported to have closed the bridge to Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, which lies on the west bank of the Nile river.

"The security committee for Khartoum state has met and decided that the protest is illegal," senior police officer Mohammed Babikir said on state television late Sunday.

"Whoever takes part in this demonstration will be breaking the law," he said, shortly after Arman had told journalists he expected "thousands of our people" to take part.

The SPLM and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar al-Beshir have failed to agree on democratic reforms ahead of elections next April and on a law for the south's referendum scheduled for January 2011.

The national vote will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before Beshir toppled a democratically elected government in a bloodless military coup.

The SPLM and around 20 opposition groups called for a "peaceful protest" to exert pressure on the NCP.

Registration for regional, legislative and presidential elections began on November 1 and was extended until Monday after a request from opposition parties and the former southern rebels.

Khartoum state announced the closure of schools on Monday and a day off for public employees to underline the government's "engagement ... towards democratic reform" and to aid voter registration.

Reform and changes to the election law were key aspects of a 2005 peace accord which ended the African continent's longest-running civil war, between north and south Sudan.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, called for the general election and the referendum.

20091207

AFP - Guinea junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara is unable to communicate after being shot by an aide and operated on in Morocco for a head wound, his foreign minister said in an interview on Monday.

"I have seen President Dadis. He recognises his entourage," Alexandre Cece Loua told Radio France Internationale from Rabat.

Asked whether he can engage in conversations, the minister said: "No, not for the time being. On the advice of doctors, he cannot yet communicate."

Cece Loua had previously said the junta leader underwent surgery for a head wound and his condition was "very favourable."

"His life is not in danger," he said.

He has indicated Camara may address the nation in the coming days.

Camara was wounded Thursday when his aide de camp, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, allegedly shot him in what a junta spokesman said was a bid to seize power in the west African country.

Opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dadis Diallo denied there had been a coup attempt and called the shooting a "a settling of scores between two people who were accomplices but who have since fallen out."

Guinea has been tense since junta soldiers carried out a massacre of opposition supporters at a stadium rally in September.

Camara seized power in a coup a year ago following the death of longtime leader Lansana Conte.

20091207

Two top military commanders have been sacked in Somalia four days after a bomb killed three ministers in the capital of the Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia's transitional government had already been debating for several weeks over the dismissal of police commander Abdi Hassan Awale and military commander Yusuf Hussein to bolster security.

Former diplomat Ali Mohamed Hassan is now to take on the role of police commander while senior military colonel Mohamed Gelle Kahiye has been appointed as Somalia's military commander, a government spokesman announced on Sunday.

"The prime minister and his cabinet have agreed to make these changes to tackle the security problems in Somalia," Abdi Haji Gobdon told Reuters.

The development comes four days after a massive hotel blast in the country's restive capital, Mogadishu, claimed the lives of six people, including three ministers, two journalists and a doctor.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the fatal attack.

Over the weekend, violence continued to take its toll in the lawless state, where at least 27 people were killed in ethnic clashes.

Somalia has been torn apart by 18 years of civil war, and powerful warlords are currently fighting to topple President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's fragile UN-backed government.

About 19,000 civilians have died since the start of 2007 and over 1.5 million have been driven from their homes, bringing about one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

presstv

20091207

A suspect in the attempted assassination of Guinea's military ruler has been arrested while attempting to flee the country.

Brought back to the capital, Conakry, in handcuffs on Monday, Mohamed Camara was charged with conspiracy to kill Moussa Dadis Camara, the Guinean president.

Mohamed Camara was in charge of security at the Koundara military camp where the president was shot in the head last Thursday.

The suspect was caught trying to escape across the border to Sierra Leone on Monday, the Reuters news agency reported.

Meanwhile Guinea's military leader is in hospital in Morocco, recovering from a gunshot wound which is said to have lodged a splinter of bone into his brain.

The ruling junta has played down the seriousness of president Camara's injuries, saying his head was grazed by a bullet when a former aide allegedly shot at him at point blank range.

General Sekouba Konate, the vice president of the military junta, has taken charge in Camara's absence.

'Encouraging signs'

Alexandre Cece Loua, the country's foreign minister, said Camara's condition was "encouraging".

"I saw him, I spoke to him, he answered me, all this shows that he retains his mental faculties," he told the AP news agency.

Camara was flown to Morocco on Friday, where he was operated on for cranial trauma at a military hospital.

"There has been no estimate for ... how long it will be before he returns," Loua said.

"He is responding well to the treatment he has been prescribed and there is no worry over his life."

Gunfire broke out on Sunday evening after state TV announced a toll-free phone number where citizens could call if they had information about Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, the former aide alleged to be the would-be assassin.

Presidential elections are expected in Guinea at the end of January, but those plans have been affected by news that Camara, who seized power in a coup a year ago, intended to run as a candidate.

aljazeera

20091207

Three senior leaders of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) have been released after being briefly held in a police crackdown against an opposition protest in Khartoum, an AFP news agency reporter said.

Police arrested the three figures and dozens of protesters on Monday during a protest to demand changes to the country's electoral law.

Pagan Amum, Yassir Arman and Abbas Gumma from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) were led away as they arrived by car at the parliament building in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman.

Amum is the SPLM's secretary-general, Arman its deputy secretary general in northern Sudan, and Gumma is a state minister at the country's interior ministry. Amun was moved to a local jail.

Protesters in south Sudan responded to the arrests by torching the offices of the country's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), a southern government official said.

Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, condemned the arrests, saying they broke the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 that ended a devastating 22-year civil war between north and south.

"These arrests are not only provocative but unjustified, because the interim national constitution of the Sudan and the CPA allow for peaceful and democratic procession," Kiir said, who is also first vice-president in a national unity government in Khartoum.

'Illegal' protests

Police had announced that the electoral reform demonstrations would be considered illegal.
However, several hundred opposition protesters marched on the streets of Khartoum and Omdurman, waving placards and chanting: "We want our freedom."

Police, who initially trailed the demonstration, used tear-gas to disperse them and beat protesters with batons.

Also among those arrested were Barmina Awrial, Khartoum's state minister for health, and Siddig al-Turabi, son of Hassan al-Turabi, the veteran opposition National Islamic Front leader, along with more than 70 others.

Security forces blocked roads leading to parliament, with a heavy presence in key areas. They also closed the bridge to Omdurman, which lies on the west bank of the Nile river across from Khartoum.

"The security committee for Khartoum state has met and decided that the protest is illegal," Mohammed Babikir, a senior police officer said on state television late Sunday.

"Whoever takes part in this demonstration will be breaking the law," he said, shortly after Arman had told journalists he expected "thousands of our people" to take part.

The SPLM and the ruling NCP of Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, have failed to agree on democratic reforms ahead of elections next April.

They have also yet to agree on a law for the south's referendum scheduled for January 2011.

The national vote will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before al-Bashir toppled a democratically elected government in a bloodless military coup.

The SPLM and around 20 opposition groups called for a "peaceful protest" to exert pressure on the NCP.

Khartoum state announced the closure of schools on Monday and a day off for public employees to underline the government's "engagement ... towards democratic reform" and to aid voter registration.

Reform and changes to the election law were key aspects of the 2005 CPA.

aljazeera

20091207

Sudan has warned the opposition over a demonstration planned for Monday outside parliament in favor of key laws on elections and a referendum on independence for south Sudan.

"The parties must ask permission to stage a protest, but they have only warned us of their intention to do so," senior police officer Mohammed Babikir said on state television.

"The security committee for Khartoum state has met and decided that the protest is illegal. Whoever takes part in this demonstration will be breaking the law," he added.

Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has been unable to agree with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar al-Beshir on democratic reforms ahead of elections next April and a law on the referendum in the south scheduled for January 2011.

The national vote will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before Beshir toppled the government in a bloodless military coup, and the fifth since independence in 1956.

Registration for the regional, legislative and presidential elections began on November 1 and was to have ended with the month, but was extended until Monday after a request from opposition parties.

Reform and changes to the law are key aspects of the 2005 peace accord that ended the African continent's longest-running civil war, between north and south.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement or CPA included provisions for a general election in 2010 and a referendum on southern independence a year later.

The SPLM and around 20 opposition groups called for a "peaceful protest" to exert pressure on the NCP.

alalam

As the rape and death toll mount in military offensives against Hutu rebels in eastern Congo, a key leader of the military campaign is forming his own paramilitary group, the United Nations has said.

Nearly a year after being installed in a senior position in the Congolese armed forces, former rebel-general Bosco Ntaganda has teamed up with the Front for the Liberation and Emancipation of the Congo (FLEC).

The group is consolidating control over regions of eastern Congo, particularly Masisi territory in North Kivu province.

Unlike some other rebel groups in the Congo -- including Ntaganda's Tutsi-led National Congress for the People's Defence (CNDP) who wreaked havoc in the country last year -- FLEC does not appear to be built along ethnic lines.

It remains unclear whether FLEC will be an insurgency or just a way to make more money, but it is the latest sign that the CNDP is breaking up, and that Congo's army is unravelling in its yearlong war against Rwandan Hutu rebels.

Dissatisfied elements

"It appears to incorporate other dissatisfied elements associated with some Mai-Mai armed groups," said spokesperson Jean-Paul Dietrich.

"According to local sources, FLEC was established because of the reported refusal of pro-Nkunda elements and the former political leadership of the party to associate CNDP with the reported Coalition pour la protection et la promotion du Congo (CPPC)."

Ntaganda, who became military commander of the CNDP at the beginning of the year when its charismatic leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested by Rwanda, was supposed to lead the group into integration with the Congolese national army, along with an assortment of rebel groups and splinter factions.

In the United Nations-backed offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda -- Hutu rebels accused of orchestrating the 1994 Rwandan genocide -- Ntaganda is accused of playing a senior role.

In South Kivu, where the bulk of the fighting is focused, Ntaganda's CNDP lieutenants are doing the finding and the killing.

But now, he and other CNDP officers are spending their time organising FLEC.

They already control some of North Kivu's most fertile areas, including large swathes of Masisi territory.

"The people are forced to pay exorbitant taxes," said the United Nations this week. "Officials justify them by the need to assist the war-wounded ex-CNDP."

20091206

Nairobi — Both Britain and Canada's prime ministers have told President Yoweri Museveni that a proposed law that would result in homosexuals in Uganda being imprisoned for life or even executed needs to be withdrawn.

The proposed legislation has created a furore in Western countries with protesters saying it contravenes international human rights legislation.

Both British leader Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are understood to have told President Museveni that the legislation was unacceptable when they met with Uganda's leader over a private breakfast meeting at the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit that finished on Monday (November 30).

Although homosexuality remains a crime in many Commonwealth countries, few have proposed as draconian new legislation as that currently being debated in Kampala.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is going through Uganda's Parliament after receiving its first reading last month.

According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment.

But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty -- under the heading "aggravated homosexuality" -- is death.

The Bill is not an official piece of legislation from the Ugandan government but it has allowed it to proceed, and some top officials are said to have supported it.

"If adopted, a Bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda," a Canadian government spokesperson said.

The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours.

It would also impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of homosexuals.

Mockery of principles

Addressing the Commonwealth People's Forum, Stephen Lewis, the former UN envoy on Aids in Africa, said that the Bill made a mockery of Commonwealth principles.

"Nothing is as stark, punitive and redolent of hate as the Bill in Uganda."

In the UK, so strong is the level of protest that there have been calls either for British aid to Kampala to be halted or for Uganda to be suspended from the Commonwealth until the legislation is withdrawn.

Meanwhile, despite concerns over its human rights record, Rwanda has been admitted to the Commonwealth at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

It was only the second country to be admitted without a British colonial past or constitutional link to Britain.

A Rwandan minister said the move showed his country's "tremendous progress" over the last 15 years.

Mozambique is the other Commonwealth member without historic UK ties.

It joined the 54 member state organisation 14 years ago

A report in July by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) urged Rwanda to tackle a lack of political freedom and harassment of journalists before it was admitted.

It also articulated deep reservations over the country's human rights record.

"CHRI acknowledges that Rwanda has what appears to be a well-deserved reputation for governmental efficiency and for being less corrupt than a number of other countries -- but its claims about the lack of corruption appear hollow when considering its complicity in the illicit economy of the region," the report said.

Rwanda expressed its desire to join the Commonwealth in 2008, despite its historic association with Francophone countries.

allafrica

20091206

Lagos — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is billed to return to Nigeria next week, one of the medical doctors attending to the President at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, said yesterday.

The doctor told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, a German news agency under anonymity yesterday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that Yar'Adua was no longer in the intensive care wing of the hospital and was undergoing routine medical tests.

This development corroborates the claims of the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Abdullahi Garba Aminchi, that the president was fit enough to return to Nigeria anytime next week.

Aminchi told newsmen in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, that the call on the president to resign from office as a result of his ill-health was out of place.

"President Umaru Yar'Adua has been attended to by his doctor. He was given a week to recuperate after which he will be examined again. From the one week, he has just spent two days (Thursday). So, he still has five days to recuperate.

"After one week rest, if he is certified fit and capable to return home and resume his work, God willing, he will be back in Nigeria by next week," Aminchi said. He dismissed insinuations making round among Nigerian pilgrims in Makkah that the president was brought to the Mount Arafat by Saudi medical officials to pray and take part in the Hajj rites.

The ambassador frowned at the spate of criticisms going on in Nigeria and the call on the president to resign from office, describing the euphoria generated by the president's trip for medical check-up as uncalled for. According to him, Yar'Adua could not become president of Nigeria if it has not pleased God or if God did not approve it, advising critics of the president to wait for their own time.

Aminchi thanked all Nigerians who had been praying for the president, especially Nigerian pilgrims currently in Saudi Arabia and government officials. When contacted on the development, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, yesterday said he had no information to give.

Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Goje and his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday took a swipe at politicians and other Nigerians calling for the resignation of the president from office. Speaking at Okada, Edo State, yesterday, during the 7th graduation ceremony of Igbinedion University, the governors said those making the call were seeking easy way to power.

Goje said: "If democracy is to be sustained, we should not be sentimental. We should pray to God to speedily give better health to Yar'Adua."

He said anything that would bring instability to the country was unpatriotic and admonished Nigerians to pray for the President because, "God who gives life and everything will save His people."

On his part, Oshiomhole said: "All of us have the duty to pray for our president. Yar'Adua has made contributions to ensuring the peace and stability of this country at very difficult times. I do not belong to the same umbrella with him but we belong to the same country.

"Yar'Adua is an asset to this country. He is a statesman. We are in a democracy and we have people who look at issues in terms of immediate political calculation. Unknown to many Nigerians, Yar'Adua has demonstrated certain qualities of leadership that are uncommon. I am speaking with authority because I have been privileged to interact with many leaders. That is critical to the growth and development of this country," he said.

Yar'Adua, 58, had suffered severe chest pain a fortnight ago and medical examination revealed that the President is suffering from acute pericarditis, (an inflammatory condition of the coverings of the heart).

allafrica

20091206

Cape Town — The success of the 2010 Final Draw is a glimpse of the flair and professionalism which South Africa will deliver to the world during the World Cup, says Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

"I trust that the success of the Final Draw has provided you with a strong sense of the passion, flair and professionalism with which South Africa is preparing itself for the historic first FIFA World Cup tournament in Africa," he said at the first World Press Day on Saturday.

Motlanthe, who also chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee which is tasked to oversee government's preparation for the tournament, told international and local press that government remains confident that the country will host the best World Cup ever.

The World Press Day was organised by FIFA to outline and discuss the role of the media in making the World Cup better, not only for next year but for other coming tournaments. The conference also outlined the opportunities and challenges of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Motlanthe said government and South Africa recognises and appreciates the role play of the media in creating abuzz and informing the world about the preparations of the World Cup.

"By being here today, we recognise the important role that you play in creating excitement among people around the world and informing them about the build-up to an event that is important both for South Africa and the continent of Africa itself.

"Your words, pictures, sounds and blogs enable millions of people around the world to understand the opportunities and challenges presented by our hosting this glorious event," Motlanthe said.

Motlanthe also called on media and people in general to focus on the excitement and the buzz that a tournament of this magnitude brings.

He said when it comes to assessing South Africa's readiness for hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the focus has changed dramatically.

"The question is no longer whether or not the stadiums will be ready on time; but how the stadiums will showcase our technological and architectural excellence to the world.

"We now no longer talk in general terms. We have entered a period in which we talk action, specifics, numbers and deadlines.

"This is also a period during which the focus is shifting to the most important actors in the FIFA World Cup, the players, the teams, the fans and the administrators of the game," he said.

He said South Africans are looking forward to open their hearts and homes, their pubs and clubs, their airports and harbours, and their sites of cultural and natural heritage to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to descend to the country next year.

allafrica

20091206

Harare — Zimbabwe's three governing parties are close to reaching an agreement on a range of thorny disputes threatening their power sharing agreement, insiders revealed at the weekend.

Sources close to the talks said negotiators from Zanu PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations who have been meeting in secrecy since November 23 had agreed on a raft of media reforms.

An announcement is also expected early this week on the establishment of media, human rights, anti-corruption and electoral commissions as spelt out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed last year.

The parties have also agreed on the issue of provincial governors and they will now work on the dates for implementation.

A total of 27 items have been placed on the agenda and the most divisive include President Robert Mugabe's unilateral appointment of his cronies to head the central bank and the attorney general's office.

The respected Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that the negotiators have already gone over 15 items, agreeing on 12 of them.

They have also agreed to put the issue of the appointment of MDC treasurer general Mr Roy Bennett who is facing terrorism and banditry charges on hold until they agree on the matters because they fear it could jeopardize the talks.

President Mugabe has refused to swear in Mr Bennett as deputy Agriculture minister until he is cleared of the charges, which his party says were trumped up.

The negotiations gathered pace last week after South African President Jacob Zuma sent a new facilitation team that met the principals in the unity government -President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara - and urged them to respect a regional timeline.

Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC on November 5 ended their boycott of the unity government after an emergency summit of the Southern African Development Community.The party had given Mr Mugabe 30 days to fully implement the GPA but the deadline passed on Saturday without any major announcement.

allafrica

20091206

Heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants attacked a mosque in the Somali town of Basra between Afgooye and Balcad, northwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing seven people and injuring 13 others.

According witnesses, the guerrillas forced their way into the mosque where celebrating people gathered to commemorate a ritual but met with force, leading to all out violence.

At least seven people, including two Shabaabs were reportedly killed in the clashes and 13 others injured, said an eyewitness.

Sheikh Abdirahman Hassan Hussein, an Al-Shabaab official in Lower Shabelle confirmed the attack at the mosque, claiming that the people were 'apostates' who gathered to do un-Islamic ritual.

The killings are inline with hostilities between Al-Shabaab, who prophesise Wahabism and Sufi group Ahlu- Sunna Wal-Jamaa in the central and southern regions of the war-torn country.

allafrica

(Xinhua) -- Women representatives from 16 Arab countries met on Sunday to shed more light on violence against women in the region and discuss ways to fight against the issue calling for wider role of women in the Arab states.

"Tunisia is keen to unify Arab efforts to protect women from violence and improve their situation in a comprehensive approach to human rights in line with the various international agreements and conventions," Tunisian Minister of Women, Family and Children Sarra Kanoun Jarraya told reporters at the meeting's opening ceremony.

"Violence is not limited to direct physical abuse, but extends to other forms such as preventing women from education and participation in public life," She added.

Jarraya stressed the need to forge a united action and exchange experiences to fight against such issue.

"The aim of this meeting consists in defining efficacious procedures to eradicate violence against women and take benefit from the various Arab expertise and experiences," she said.

During the three-day meeting, representatives of member countries of the Arab Women Organization and civil society looked to identify a preventive and strategic approach and develop joint front to set concrete mechanisms to trim violence against women in Arab societies.

Workshops on women's rights in international conventions are on the agenda of this event. Participants will also discuss Arab women's rights and the legal definition of violence against women.

20091206

CAIRO (Reuters) - Former nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei, tipped as a possible opposition Egyptian presidential contender, said a decision on entering the 2011 race would be contingent on guarantees of a fair election.

ElBaradei also laid out a series of other tough conditions for mounting a campaign that Cairo has long shown no signs of addressing, including a demand for a new constitution that would better respect human rights and put checks on power.

Some voices in Egypt's opposition, hoping to block President Hosni Mubarak from passing on power to his politician son, have urged ElBaradei to run, hoping to capitalise on his reputation at the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"I have followed with great concern the opinions and voices that call me to nominate myself in the coming Egyptian presidential elections," ElBaradei said in a statement.

"I would like to explain that my position on this issue will be decided in light of certain basic issues."

He said he wanted judicial supervision of the vote, U.N. monitoring and equal coverage for all candidates by state media.

"This will send a clear message to the world that there is true reform and change in Egypt," he said, adding he wanted a national consensus in favour of his candidacy before deciding.

Under Egypt's election rules, ElBaradei would realistically have to hold a leadership post for at least a year in a political party represented in parliament to be eligible to run.

Egyptian media have speculated that opposition parties might court ElBaradei, hoping he could join the leadership of their parties in time to ensure eligibility.

ElBaradei, 67, stepped down at the end of November as head of the Vienna-based IAEA after 12 years. He and the IAEA jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

ElBaradei last month declined to rule out a presidential run, telling CNN that one should "never say never" but saying he wanted guarantees a vote would be conducted properly.

Mubarak's son Gamal, a top official in the ruling National Democratic Party, is seen by analysts as most likely to lead U.S. ally Egypt after his now 81-year-old father leaves office, although father and son have denied such plans.

Mubarak, who has given no sign he plans to step down when his term ends in 2011, would be 89 at the end of another term.

Opposition politician Ayman Nour, the main challenger to Mubarak in Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential vote in 2005, said he was disappointed with ElBaradei's statement on the race because it demanded unrealistic pre-vote reforms.

"ElBaradei's statement is less than we expected, because it raises questions more than it gives answers, especially that he links his participation to the presence of near-impossible conditions," Nour told the independent al-Masry al-Youm daily.

20091206

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan on Sunday said it had arrested a number of men suspected of killing three Rwandan peacekeepers in an ambush in Darfur, the first of two deadly attacks on the mission.

The three members of Darfur's joint U.N./African Union UNAMID mission were killed when gunmen opened fire on their convoy in the north Darfur settlement of Saraf Omra on Friday.

A day later, two Rwandan peacekeepers were killed by men dressed in traditional robes who shot them as they distributed water in a refugee camp in the north Darfur town of Shangil Tobay.

The governor of north Darfur Osman Kebir told Sudan's state Suna news agency a number of men had been arrested and would be charged with the first attack.

Kebir condemned the shooting, saying bandits had started to target UNAMID convoys to try and steal their vehicles.

He said the men had been taken to north Darfur's capital El Fasher where they would "be presented before a court to receive punishment for their heinous act".

UNAMID told Reuters it was investigating both attacks and said it was too early to say whether they were linked.

Bandit attacks, armed robberies and kidnappings have surged in Darfur more than six years after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government, accusing it of neglecting the western territory.

Sudan's government mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising, unleashing a wave of violence that Washington and some activists call genocide, a term rejected by Khartoum.

Estimates of the death toll range from 300,000 according to the United Nations, to 10,000 according to Khartoum.

20091206

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt ended a search on Saturday for victims of a collision of two Nile ferries without finding any bodies despite initial fears that dozens were missing, a regional official said.

The two craft hit each other near Rashid city in Beheira governorate in north Egypt on Friday. Initial reports suggested several dozen passengers and crew may have been missing as the exact number of people on board the vessels was unclear.

"Rescue units ended the search after they searched an area of two km in the Nile, where no bodies were found," Beheira Governor Mohamed Sharawy told Reuters.

Sharawy also said no statements for missing people were filed since the accident, suggesting all passengers had now been accounted for. "There is no indication that someone has died in this accident," Sharawy added.

Public river ferries in Egypt can sometimes be crowded and total numbers being carried are not always recorded, making an accurate count of those involved or missing difficult.

One of the ferries was a passenger ferry that broke apart during the accident while the other, carrying both passengers and cars, overturned causing no injuries or fatalities.

Sharawy said six of those injured had been transferred to hospital and his governorate would pay each injured victim 2,000 Egyptian pounds in compensation.

The prosecution in Alexandria ordered the detention of the two ferry drivers and the owners, the official MENA news agency reported. It said they faced charges including causing injury by mistake and failure to follow regulations.

A series of road, rail and sea accidents in Egypt in recent years has triggered an outcry over the government's handling of transport safety.

In February 2006, a ferry in the Red Sea caught fire and sank en route to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, killing 1,034 of the 1,400 people on board, many of them poor Egyptians.

An Egyptian appeals court in March this year found the owner of the Red Sea ferry guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to seven years in jail, reversing an earlier decision exonerating Mamdouh Ismail, a member of Egypt's upper house of parliament.

Former Transport Minister Mohamed Mansour resigned in October over a train crash south of Cairo which killed 18 people

20091206

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview published on Sunday that he was optimistic the December 7-18 climate conference in the Danish capital would produce an agreement all member states would sign.

Delegates from 190 nations have descended on Copenhagen over the weekend for the U.N. climate change conference that starts on Monday and aims for a new global deal to replace provisions of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012.

"I am very optimistic for Copenhagen," Ban said in an interview in the Danish daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

"We will get an agreement -- and, I believe, that the agreement will be signed by all U.N. member states which is historic," Ban said in the interview at his office at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"We have the right political spirit," Ban said. "All heads of state and government have the same goal -- to prevent global warming."

How to act to achieve that goal remains to be determined, the South Korean secretary-general said.

World leaders coming to Copenhagen will try to reach a political agreement on how to combat climate change.

Last month, Denmark upgraded the Copenhagen conference by inviting the heads of state and government of all 192 U.N. member states, hoping to gain the political clout for a deal.

So far 105 world leaders have accepted the invitation, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese leader Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Ban said that Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had done well to aim for a political agreement in Copenhagen, saying the idea had "given dynamism to the negotiations."

"With so many heads of state and government gathered, we will obviously enter an agreement, first a political agreement and immediately after that a legally binding document," Ban said. "I am convinced that we will."

Ban also said that U.N. member nations had recognised the conclusions of the scientists on the U.N. climate panel.

"Climate change is real, and it is happening now at an even faster pace than we believed just a few years ago," Ban said, according to the newspaper.

"The meeting in Copenhagen is entirely the right moment to deal with it from the knowledge that we have," Ban said.

20091206

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Anti-poverty campaign group Oxfam accused European politicians on Sunday of planning to "cannibalise" existing development aid budgets and repackage them as part of a deal to fight climate change.

Oxfam said it had found evidence that exposed "undercover accounting" in some rich nations' pledges to help poor nations to tackle the climate threat.

But Sweden, holder of the rotating European Union presidency, denied the charges made the day before a U.N. summit starts in Copenhagen on negotiating a new global deal to combat climate-warming emissions.

"What is new and additional money is not always clear cut, but many countries, my own included, have foreseen and planned for Copenhagen, and the money is already in state budgets," Sweden's chief climate negotiator Anders Turesson told Reuters.

Finance has emerged as one of the key obstacles in the talks to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main tool for dealing with global warming which expires in 2012.

Developing nations want billions of dollars a year to help them adapt to a problem they say was initially caused by industrialised countries. The EU says poor countries will need around 100 billion euros a year by 2020, of which as much as half would come from the public purse globally.

FAST START FUNDING

But it has also proposed up to $10 billion a year of "fast start" funding in the three years before any Copenhagen deal kicks in. The United States has embraced the idea of early funding, but has been less forthcoming on long-term aid.

"The financial support -- short or long term -- is probably the most important bargaining chip that developed countries have at their disposal when seeking a comprehensive global agreement," said an informal paper by the Swedish EU presidency.

"For fast-start actions, existing funds should be used," added the document, seen by Reuters.

Oxfam said the mention of using existing funds showed politicians were considering taking funds that have already been earmarked for schools and hospitals, and presenting them as new money to tackle climate change.

Such funds might be used to develop drought-resistant crops, build dams to control dwindling water supplies, or be spent on flood protection.

"We have been watching global negotiations over climate finance for months, and it now seems clear that pledges of fast-start money will involve cannibalising existing promises of overseas aid," said Oxfam campaigner Tim Gore.

"This undercover accounting is an attempt to win the support of developing countries for a deal in Copenhagen, which distracts attention from the big long-term commitments of real money that poor countries need," he added.

But Turesson said the text referred to funds that have been built up in anticipation of Copenhagen and the channels that will be used to deliver it, such as the World Bank.

"If the money is to be on the table on January 1, 2010, it must already be in state budgets," he said. "And the very nature of fast-start financing requires existing institutions."

Oxfam estimates that poor countries need to be given $200 billion a year of new public finance by 2020 -- on top of existing aid pledges -- a figure which is far higher than the EU's estimate of 22-50 billion euros.

The document, called "Structure and Elements of a Copenhagen Outcome", was circulated among EU climate experts on Thursday.