20091206

MORONI (Reuters) - Voting began on Sunday after a two-hour delay in the first round of Comoros' legislative elections, amid opposition claims of state intimidation in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Witnesses said that early ballot casting was peaceful but thin after the delay which was blamed on logistical problems.

Candidates of the coalition of President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi are seeking votes on the basis of the stabilisation of the archipelago's heavily indebted economy.

They also point to a period of relative political calm after the removal of a self-declared rebel leader from power on the island of Anjouan in 2008.

Sambi's opponents accuse the federal leader of trampling political freedoms, failing to tackle corruption and plotting to extend his time in power.

One of the new assembly's first tasks will be to ratify a "Yes" vote in a referendum earlier this year to extend the presidential term and align together federal and local elections.

The opposition says is a ploy by Sambi to hold on to power while the ruling party says it is necessary to streamline a complex electoral system.

Voters will elect 24 parliamentarians from more than 140 candidates over two rounds.

A further three members of the national assembly are chosen by each of the archipelago's three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, bringing the total number to 33.

OPPOSITION ACCUSATIONS

The opposition has accused Sambi's administration of intimidating its members and supporters during the two-week campaign period.

Charges are still outstanding against Said Larifou, a senior opposition leader briefly detained by police last month, who is accused of calling Sambi an infidel. The authorities this week detained a local journalist accused of spreading misinformation.

For some in the ramshackle, dusty streets of the capital, Moroni, neither side offered much hope for progress in one of the world's poorest nations.

"It's always the same. We organise elections and then nothing changes. Whoever wins will just fill their pockets," said housewife Fatima Ahmed, adding she had no voter card to vote with in any case.

20091206

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - A study involving 128 South African families has identified genetic traits that may protect some people from tuberculosis in a finding that could help lead to a new TB vaccine, scientists said on Saturday.

Tuberculosis is the world's seventh-leading cause of death, killing 1.8 million people worldwide in 2008, about half a million of whom also had AIDS.

The South Africa study, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could help reveal mechanisms behind natural resistance against TB infection, researchers said.

"The take-home message is that to be infected or not infected is not a matter of luck. To be infected or uninfected is a characteristic of individuals and therefore can be manipulated to prevent infection," Erwin Schurr, molecular geneticist at McGill University's Department of Human Genetics in Canada who led the study, said in an interview on Saturday.

"There are, in fact, big advantages because if it is in your genome, it means these are factors you can identify. Once you identify them, you can target them in people who are actually prone to infection," Schurr told Reuters before speaking about the findings at a conference on lung health in the Caribbean resort of Cancun in Mexico.

A better vaccine is needed against TB. The Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine to prevent TB has been around since 1919 but it gives only some measure of protection for children and does not protect adults.

A BACTERIAL DISEASE

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and it typically attacks the lungs.

Schurr and his colleagues studied 128 families living in two Cape Town suburbs where tuberculosis has a high prevalence. No one in the families was sick with TB, although some were infected by the TB bacterium.

Those families included 186 parents and 350 offspring. Among the children, the researchers found that about 40 percent of them were uninfected by the bacterium.

After studying the genes of the people in the study, the scientists detected genetic patterns among children who were infected with TB and those who were not, particularly relating to two specific chromosomes.

"We found chromosome 11 and chromosome 5 that were enriched in particular children (who were uninfected)," Schurr said.

"We need to enroll additional participants in Vietnam and Morocco, in addition to South Africa," Schurr said.

He added that the researchers will clone the genes that appear to provide protection, then do studies to try to figure out how the genes led to the resistance.

"And the next step is you learn how to interfere in that function in people who are susceptible (to TB)."

The team hopes the findings can lead to a better vaccine.

TB spreads very easily through the air when people who are sick with TB cough, sneeze, talk or spit.

One out of every three people in the world is infected with the bacteria, but most of these are "latent infections" and carriers show no symptoms and are not infectious.

However, one in 10 will become sick with active TB in his or her lifetime due primarily to a weakened immune system. The U.N. World Health Organization estimates that 9.4 million people developed active TB in 2008.

20091206

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government fired the head of its police force and its military chief on Sunday two days after a suicide bomber killed three ministers and several others in the capital of the lawless Horn of Africa nation.

Ministers had already been debating for several weeks about replacing the two men to bolster security before a government spokesman announced the sacking of police commander Abdi Hassan Awale and military commander Yusuf Hussein.

"Ali Mohamed Hassan, a former ambassador was appointed as the police commander while Mohamed Gelle Kahiye, a senior military colonel was also appointed as Somali military commander," Abdi Haji Gobdon told Reuters.

Hassan was sacked in 2007 and replaced by Awale. Hussein had been at his post for close to a year.

"The prime minister and his cabinet have agreed to make these changes to tackle the security problems in Somalia."

Neighbouring Kenya has stepped up police patrols in Eastleigh, a Nairobi suburb, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Somalis, residents said. Thursday's hotel bombing in Mogadishu heightened concerns about the Somalia's ability to destabilise the whole region.

"Police have arrested more than 80 people in the last two days, Somalis and non-Somalis. They are arresting everyone who does not have immigration papers," Hussein Mohamed, deputy head of Eastleigh Business Association told Reuters.

"It seems there is a fear that fighters from Somalia may infiltrate the people and attack Nairobi."

20091206

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian police colonel was shot dead and another officer wounded in a shootout between security forces and fishermen in Cairo during a licensing crackdown, security sources said Sunday.

Security forces scoured Cairo's riverside on Sunday for 28 fishermen wanted for questioning after the shooting on Saturday, which broke out after police demanded to inspect fishing licences, the sources said.

Several officers have died in a series of shootings in recent months between police and marginalised groups of Egyptians, including Bedouin in the Sinai peninsula.

Men trying to steal telephone and power cables shot dead a police officer in Sinai in October. A month earlier, gunmen ambushed and shot dead the head of criminal investigations for Suez in an attack blamed on drug dealers.

20091206

RABAT/CONAKRY (Reuters) - The health of Guinea's junta leader is not a cause for concern, the chief doctor at Morocco's main military hospital said on Sunday after Moussa Dadis Camara was treated for head wounds from a gun attack.

A government source in the Moroccan capital Rabat said it could still be several days before Camara was well enough to return to his West African nation, where he survived an assassination bid by renegade soldiers on Thursday.

"The current health condition of the Guinean president does not inspire concern," said the Moroccan doctor, Ali Abrouq.

"The result of the operation is favourable," he said in a statement, adding that Camara underwent surgery on Friday to treat trauma of the cranium.

Defence Minister Sekouba Konate, viewed as loyal to Camara, has assumed temporary control of the world's top exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite, seen as a security linchpin in a region that has experienced three major civil wars in the last decade.

A Reuters eyewitness said the capital Conakry was quiet and many residents remained at home, fearing outbreaks of violence between factions of the unruly army in Camara's absence.

A Moroccan government source told Reuters earlier that Camara was conscious after the operation he underwent in a hospital outside Rabat.

"It may take more than three days for the president to leave the hospital," the source said.

20091206

Equatorial Guinea is Africa's third-largest exporter of oil and gas, but the vast majority of its 500,000 people live in dire poverty.

The small country pumps out nearly 300,000 barrels of oil each day but the production in effect controlled by foreign companies, leading to fears that Equatorial Guinea is not developing the skills of its own people.

There are also concerns that Eqauatorial Guinea will become too dependent on just one export - like most oil-rich African nations.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege reports from the capital, Malabo.

20091206

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea's military leader, is "out of danger" after he underwent an operation to treat injuries he sustained in a gun attack by his own soldiers, officials have said.

"The president is out of danger. The operation succeeded," Idrissa Cherif, Guinea's information minister, said on Saturday.

General Mamadouba "Toto" Camara, the Guinean number two, was also receiving medical treatment in Morocco.

Camara was flown to Morocco on Friday for treatment after he was apparently shot by his top aide, fuelling worries of a power vacuum.

General Sekouba Konate, Guinea's vice-president and defence minister, became the country's de facto leader after returning from Lebanon early on Saturday.

Tense situation

The news came amid soaring tensions in Conakry, Guinea's capital, where pickup trucks full of heavily armed soldiers searched for suspects in the assassination attempt. Residents mostly stayed indoors.

The attack on Thursday was allegedly carried out by Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, an aide to Camara, who went into hiding soon afterwards.

It appeared to have stemmed from weeks of mounting tensions between Carama and Diakite over the September 28 crackdown on anti-government protesters in which, according to witnesses, more than 150 people were killed.

One diplomatic source suggested Camara wanted to implicate Diakite, who commanded the troops that carried out the crackdown "and so remove any blame from himself".

Late on Saturday, a Guinean official appeared on state television, urging Guineans to help search for Diakite, also known as Toumba, and those working with him, promising a "large reward" to anyone aiding his capture.

Television networks broadcast Diakite's photograph, while the official announced the arrest of at least four officers, including three on the border with Sierra Leone.

Political troubles

Camara took power after a bloodless coup in December 2008, following the death of Lansana Conte, the former president.

The attempt on Camara's life has prompted fears of a power vacuum in the West African nation.

Tara O'Connor, an analyst with Africa Risk Consulting, said: "If you look at Guinea's history, it is only the army that has proven able to take the political process forward."

"We only hope they will be more malleable to affecting a transition to civilian rule than the military leaders of the past," she said.

A United Nations source said that one of Camara's bodyguards and a chauffeur were killed in the attack while trying to protect the president.

aljazeera

20091206

Comorans cast their ballot on Sunday in legislative elections which are being billed by the opposition as a vote on President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi's bid to extend his stay in office.

AFP - Voters in the Indian Ocean state of the Comoros went to the polls Sunday for a legislative election that could determine President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi's chances of extending his tenure.

Some polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0400 GMT) in the capital while voting started late in other parts of the federation's three islands due to the late delivery of ballot boxes, an AFP correspondent reported.

The election, held in two rounds with the second due on December 20, will return 24 deputies to the national assembly.

The campaign for the elections, during which Comoroans will also elect councillors for each of the islands in the coup-prone state, was peaceful.

If the presidential "Baobab" movement wins a majority after the second round, parliament is expected to approve a move by Sambi to extend by a year his current mandate, due to expire next year.

A constitutional amendment extending the federal president's term from four to five years has already been passed but part of the opposition argues the new rule cannot apply to the sitting president.

"One should not misread what is at stake in this election. In fact, it's a presidential election," French-Comoran lawyer and key opposition figure Said Larifou said in a recent campaign meeting.

Sambi's supporters have campaigned for the election with a plea to voters for the president to be given an opportunity to "continue the work already undertaken."

His top aide Mohamed Bacar Dossar made it clear before the campaign that the constitutional amendment should be interpreted as applying to the current presidential term.

The amendment also curtails the powers of the presidents of three islands -- Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli -- to make them more like governors.

But the main opposition leader, Houmed Msaidie, has repeatedly warned that the opposition would prevent Sambi from extending his mandate if it won the parliamentary polls.

Around 20 observers from the African Union (AU) will monitor the elections, which have been funded with help from the AU, the European Union, the Arab League, France and Libya.

Sambi, now 51, was elected in 2006 in the first ever peaceful transfer of power in the Comoros, which has seen 19 coups and coup attempts since its independence from France in 1975.

He pursued Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Iran, with which he maintains close ties, earning him the nickname of "the ayatollah of the Comoros".

20091206

Guinea's ruling junta described the attack against junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara (pictured) as an attempted coup by his aide Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, and offered a large reward for his capture. Camara is undergoing medical treatment in Morocco.

AFP - Guinea's junta Sunday called the shooting of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara this week a failed coup attempt, as the junta leader was reportedly recovering well from surgery in Morocco.

The state of Camara's health caused "no worries" after undergoing an operation in Rabat Saturday, the Moroccan army said Sunday in a statement, for wounds suffered when a bullet grazed his head.

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

Idrissa Cherif described the scene as a "trap" in which Camara answered Diakite's call to come to the Koundara military camp, although the spokesman was not himself a witness.

He claimed that Diakite and his men opened fire, killing all those who were with Camara.

"One of the body guards who threw himself on top of the president to protect him, they killed him.... The driver was also killed," said Cherif.

According to the spokesman, Camara "pretended to be dead," and Diakite said on his walkie-talkie: "We killed the president, power is in my hands, I am the new strongman of this country."

Meanwhile, Diakite said in a telephone call with AFP Saturday that he was still at large and "in a safe place" inside Guinea with "a fair number of men."

Diakite, known as Toumba, refused to discuss the attack on Camara, saying he was waiting "to see how things develop."

A junta officer appeared on state television late Saturday urging the population "to help actively in the search for Diakite and his henchmen," promising a "large reward" to anyone helping capture him.

Television networks broadcast Diakite's photograph, while the junta member announced the arrest of at least four officers, including three on the border with Sierra Leone.

The leader of the junta which took power in a bloodless coup a year ago after the death of long-time ruler Lansana Conte had been airlifted to Morocco on Friday for medical treatment.

Again on Sunday the junta spokesman sought to dampen questions about Camara's condition. At his Conakry office Cherif turned up the speaker on his telephone so journalists could hear the comments of Guinea's ambassador to Morocco about Camara.

"He is doing very well, no problems, he no longer has a bandage," the Guinean ambassador said in the phone call from Rabat. But no date was given for Camara's return to Guinea.

Meanwhile, Guinea's defence minister, Sekouba Konate, number three in the junta, has taken charge as interim leader and on Sunday held a meeting with government officials, Cherif said.

Guinea's opposition coalition of political parties, unions and civil societies issued a statement repeating its call for the junta to relinquish power as "a pressing necessity".

A return to civilian rule had been anticipated with a presidential election in late January. But those plans became mired in conflict over Camara's intention to run as a candidate.

In September an opposition rally against Camara's candidacy resulted in a massacre when junta soldiers stormed the stadium where thousands of protesters had gathered.

The government is probing the September disaster and a UN panel arrived in late November to investigate the matter. The junta said 56 people died and 934 were injured, but Guinean rights groups and Human Rights Watch estimated at least 157 were killed, while the United Nations put the death toll at 150.

KHARTOUM, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian special envoy to Sudan Mikhail Margelov expressed on Sunday his government's readiness to provide all possible support for reaching a peaceful settlement of the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, reported official news agency SUNA.

The Russian envoy made the remarks following talks with Sudanese Presidential Adviser Ghazi Salahuddin, who is in charge of the Darfur file, said the report.

Describing the talks as "very constructive," the Russian said, "I reiterated Moscow's readiness to support the peaceful efforts in Darfur."

He said the talks focused on the Darfur crisis, the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) inked between northern and southern Sudan, and the general elections in the country, slated for April 2010.

Margelov further said he presented proposals on how Moscow could contribute to the electoral process in Sudan, noting that the Sudanese side initially agreed on those proposals.

The Russian official said a great development had occurred in Darfur, describing the security and humanitarian situation in the region as "stable."

He urged the international community to fulfill its commitments to the peaceful process in Darfur and put pressure on the Darfur armed movements to reach a comprehensive and fair peace in the region.

The Sudanese presidential adviser, meanwhile, welcomed Russia's proposal to send monitors to participate in the country's general elections.

"We welcome Russia's proposal to send monitors from the Russian parliament to participate in the forthcoming general elections," Salahuddin told reporters.

He described Sudan's relations with Russia as important and strategic and based on mutual benefits, saying that "we welcome Russia's positive contribution to the general elections and all other political issues."

He stressed Russia's important role as part of the international efforts to find a comprehensive peace in Darfur and accelerate implementation of the CPA between north and south Sudan.

Margelov, who arrived in Khartoum on Friday on a six-day visit to Sudan, on Saturday visited Darfur, where he met officials in North Darfur State government, and held talks with officials of the United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

20091205

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibia's ruling SWAPO party won a resounding victory in parliamentary polls, giving it the chance to change the constitution at will, final results showed on Friday.

Results of 107 contested constituencies showed SWAPO won 75.27 percent of the vote - a clear two-third-majority - and returned President Hifikepunye Pohamba for the second term in office in the mineral-rich southern African country.

SWAPO's nearest rival, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) which broke away from the ruling party in 2007, won 11.31 percent of the vote.

Earlier on Friday, the RDP and seven other opposition parties said they will not accept the results because the vote contravened the country's laws.

Analysts said their protests against the dominant SWAPO party -- a former guerrilla movement that led the arid state to independence from South Africa in 1990 -- were unlikely to have much impact.

Three African observer missions have declared the November 27-28 elections transparent, peaceful and fair, although some recommendations were made to improve the counting process, media balance, voting and accuracy of the voters' roll.

Local observers and the opposition parties have widely criticised delays in vote counting and releasing results, also alleging voting and counting irregularities.

The electoral commission said the final count from 811,143 votes showed SWAPO won 54 seats of the 72 in the National Assembly, a seat less than in its previous victory in 2005. RDP took eight seats.

Namibia has enjoyed political stability and economic growth, but is struggling in the face of rising poverty, unemployment and widening cracks in its once highly regarded health care and school systems, further exacerbated by the global recession.

20091205

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's government called on Saturday for an international peace plan like President Barack Obama's new Afghan strategy, saying it would be more effective and far cheaper than current efforts to combat Somali piracy.

"We accept that ... the situation in Somalia will appear beyond repair but the reality is very different," Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said in a letter to The Times newspaper in Britain.

Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since 1991 and is home to insurgents and pirates, who prey on shipping in the Indian Ocean despite international naval patrols. Sharmarke's U.N.-backed administration controls only part of the capital, Mogadishu.

Obama's plan for Afghanistan marked a "sea change in international support to troubled countries", wrote Sharmarke. "What is so startling is that all the conclusions are as true about Somalia as they are about Afghanistan."

Obama announced this week that the United States would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan to combat Taliban insurgency, as well as measures aimed at ending corruption and promoting local accountability before a U.S. withdrawal.

"Piracy and the growth of Islamic extremism are not the natural state of being. They are but symptoms of an underlying malaise -- the absence of government and hope," Sharmarke said.

"The irony is that it would cost only a quarter of what is being spent right now on the warships trying to combat piracy, to fund our plan and actually solve the problems rather than simply chasing them round the Indian Ocean," he said.

The Horn of Africa state hit the headlines again this week when a suicide bomber struck a medical graduation ceremony and killed at least 22 people, including three government ministers, several doctors, students and their relatives.

(Xinhua) -- Guinea's junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara who was wounded in an assassination attempt was "out of danger" following a surgery in Morocco, his spokesman Idrissa Cherif said Saturday.

Camara was shot by his military aide Aboubakar Diakite (Toumba) in a dispute on Thursday and received medical treatment in a military hospital in Rabat, capital of Morocco, on Friday.

Burkina Faso's President Faso Blaise Compaore, who is mediator for the Guinea crisis, also said Friday that Camara was "in a difficult, but not desperate situation."

Following the incident, security levels have been raised in the Guinean capital of Conakry, eye witnesses said, adding that calm was restored as soldiers were deployed to major strategic points in the capital.

The political crisis in the West African country has lasted for early one year since Camara seized power in December 2008, hours after the death of long-time President Lansana Conte.

In August 2009, Camara announced that he would return the country to democracy in a presidential poll in January 2010. But his intention to contest the elections ignited strong opposition in the country.

The standoff between the junta and the opposition seemed ever more difficult to break since a Sept. 28 clash, in which dozens of people were reportedly killed.

(Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe will not benefit from the "patronizing" and "ignorant" meddling of foreigners who know nothing about the real situation in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has said.

Mutambara was quoted by Saturday's The Herald as saying that Zimbabwe was better guided by Sadc and the African Union, and that Zimbabweans have the last say on the way forward politically.

Although the inclusive government had a two-year lifespan, from September 2008 to September 2010, there was room to keep the arrangement in place if conditions on the ground so required, he said.

"There are two major reasons why there is scepticism (about the inclusive government by Western countries), one of them is sheer ignorance and arrogance on the part of the West.

"In my opinion, the starting point is to remove ignorance and to remove arrogance on the part of the West vis-a-vis what's good for Africa," he said.

"So we, for example in this inclusive government, we are guided by SADC member countries, they said 'do it in your country's national interest'. Once they advise us to do that, we cannot succeed if we go up against them. So the greatest influence over the future of Zimbabwean politics lies not with the intervention of Western governments, but rather lies with Africa and the will of the African people," he said.

Mutambara said Zimbabweans were best placed to know their needs, adding that the inclusive government was the best alternative at the moment for the governance of the country.

He also said the problems Zimbabwe was facing were not insurmountable. "Our people are experiencing a new reality. Yes, there are problems, yes there are challenges, but they are not insurmountable."

On elections, he said while the GPA said they should be held within two years of the signing of the agreement, what was more important was the creation of conditions so that the poll outcome would not be disputed.

CHIRUNDU, Zambia, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Sub-Saharan Africa's first One-Stop Border Post (OSBP), the Chirundu Post, at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe opened on Saturday with the aim to reduce the delays of clearing customs and immigration and further promote regional economic growth.

The background message from the Commerce Ministry of Zambia showed that the Chirundu border post, one of the busiest inland border crossing in the southern and eastern Africa, has been experiencing long delays of clearing customs and immigration.

Zambia President Rupiah Banda, who launched the opening ceremony of Chirundu Post together with Zimbabwe President Rober Mugabe, said in a speech that the opening of Chirundu OSBP comes at a critical phase in Zambia-Zimbabwe economic relations and demonstrates partnership that embraces the benefits of regional trade.

Banda noted that a country or region that has inefficient transport and border clearance systems would find it difficult to trade competitively.

"Chirundu's strategic location as a node of trade between southern and eastern Africa and its role as gateway between two busy regions has made the port an ideal choice as a pilot site forthe one-stop border control programme," the President said.

Kingsley Chanda, the project manager of the post, said that it takes a truck three to five days to pass the Chirundu post before, adding that the newly-born Chirundu OSBP will reduce the time greatly.

According to Helen Mealins, head of Department For International Development (DFID) Southern Africa, one of the partners of the Chirundu project, the open of the Chirundu OSBP will cut delays at the post by 30-50 percent.

On a typical day, the new Chirundu Post is able to hand an average of 270 trucks, making it the busiest port in Zambia and one of the most utilized inland border points in the eastern and southern Africa region.

Delays at border posts along the North-South Corridor are one of the biggest constraints to trade in the region, Mealins told media earlier this week at a pre-event press briefing about the project.

"The delays increase costs for businesses, making exports uncompetitive and imports more expensive. For landlocked countries especially, transport costs are a serious constraint to economic growth," she said.

The Chirundu OSBP is jointly launched by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), together with the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Chirundu OSBP will allow people, vehicles and goods to exit one country and enter another through a single facility staffed and operated jointly by adjoining countries, limiting the duplication of border agency interventions and reducing transport time and costs, said Amos Marawa, director of infrastructure and development of COMESA.

According to Amos, the construction of Chirundu OSBP was decided in October, 2008 by the COMESA, EAC and SADC, adding that more such OSBPs are to be constructed along the North-South Corridor.

He hinted that OSBPs between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi are to be opened in the next step.

"As the sub-Saharan Africa's first one-stop border, Chirundu is leading the way forward for creating single border stops, not only for this region, but for Africa as a whole. Indeed, the One-Stop Border Post at Chirundu is making a positive and important contribution to the realization of Africa's integration ambition," the official added.

20091205

MOGADISHU, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Somali government has singed a cooperation deal with a main moderate Islamist group opposed to the two radical Islamist rebels in war-torn Somalia, a joint statement said Saturday.

The agreement between Somali government and the moderate Islamist faction of Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama which is also opposed to the radical Islamist movements of Al shabaab and Hezbul Islam comes as the two sides face daily attacks from the insurgents.

"(The agreement comes) after the two sides saw the danger facedby the country and the national and religious responsibility on our shoulders towards the country we have agreed to work together," said a joint statement issued by the two sides in Mogadishu.

Ahlu Sunnah group controls several districts in the central Somalia regions of Mudug and Galgadud where the group fought deadly clashes with both Al Shabaab and Hezbul Islam.

Both sides agreed to make Sharia the sole law of the country and that Ahlu Sunnah faction would join the Somali government. Further talks will be held inside the country in December.

20091205

KHARTOUM, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three soldiers of the United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were killed and two others seriously injured in an attack by unknown gunmen in the restive Sudanese region of Darfur, the hybrid peacekeeping mission said in a statement Saturday.

Three land cruiser pick-ups, with a UNAMID platoon of 20 Rwandan peacekeepers on board, were attacked by a group of unknown armed men in Saraf Umra when escorting a water tanker Friday, the statement said.

Two Rwandan soldiers were shot dead at the scene and a third one died later, while two soldiers were seriously wounded and taken to el-Fasher, the capital city of the North Darfur state.

The UNAMID Rwandan team, which arrived in the area less than two weeks ago, returned fire with restraint due to the presence of civilians.

"The UNAMID condemns in the strongest terms this criminal attack against its forces and calls on the government of Sudan to identify the perpetrators, arrest them and bring them to justice," the statement said.

The incident brought the death toll of UNAMID peacekeepers to 20 since the mission assumed its tasks in Darfur in January 2008.

20091205

NAIROBI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government has launched the National Climate Change Response Strategy which outlines the evidence and impact of climate change in Kenya particularly on key socio-economic sectors and physical infrastructure.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said during the launch late Friday that the government was seriously addressing the issue of climate change especially after a new report revealed that the country can expect to loose up to 3 percent GDP per year by 2030 if remedial measures are not urgently taken.

Odinga said the country has experienced serious droughts in the last three to four years, which have compromised our hydro- power generation, food security and led to human and livestock deaths.

"In response to these devastating impacts of climate change, the government is today launching its climate change response strategy," he told journalists in Nairobi.

Early this week, Kenya called on the South-South member countries to push for a common and favorable agenda during the forthcoming Copenhagen conference on climate change.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said though South-South member states are not major contributors to climatic change phenomenon, they suffer most from its effects, hence the need for a unanimous drive to push for measures that would reverse the trend.

"South-South member states should therefore go to Copenhagen as a united and formidable force to make its voice heard on the international platform," Musyoka said on Thursday when he officially closed of a High-Level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation in Nairobi.

The prime minister also received the National Position Paper from the Minister for Environment, John Michuki which will be presented by the government in Copenhagen during global summit on climate change that kicks off next week.

He said the Kenyan delegation to Copenhagen will kick-off a resource mobilization campaign by engaging with development partners and others who are committed to engaging with the country in this journey.

Odinga pointed out that a task force in his office was looking into opportunities of driving the economy through green energy by year 2020.He added that this calls for more resources.

Odinga said that Kenya was ready for the Copenhagen conference." We are going to the meeting with open arms, to give and take so that something positive can come out of this summit," he said, adding, "because matters of the environment are critical."

"The government is acutely aware of the fact that existing climate variability has significant costs in Kenya and that future climate change will have additional and potentially larger costs," he said.

The premier noted the need to take advantage of the situation presented by the climate change and move towards a low carbon growth path.

The Danish ambassador said that climate change will have a negative impact with increasing water shortage for urban and irrigation consumption, substantial loss in hydro power with an estimate annual costs of 66 million U.S. dollars leading up to 2050.

"This loss across the economic sector means that Kenya must take action now if she hopes to be transformed into a newly industrialized middle income country providing high quality of life to her citizens.''

Jensen also lauded the prime minister's commitment and firm resolve taken in saving Kenya's water towers.

20091205

OUAGADOUGOU, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, the facilitator in the Guinea crisis, on Friday evening wished the quick recovery of Guinea military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara from his gunshot wounds.

Camara was shot at by one of his guards in what was believed to be an attempted assassination in Guinean capital Conakry on Thursday. He was flown to Rabat, Morocco the next day for medical treatment on board a plane sent by President Compaore.

"It's a difficult situation but we should not despair," Compaore said, adding that on Friday evening, he had spoken to the personal doctor of the head of junta.

Sources close to the junta confirmed that Camara was touched by bullets in the head and in the neck shot by his aide de camp, Aboubakar Toumba Diakite, who went into hiding in the suburbs of the Guinean capital.

In the eyes of Compaore, the anti-constitutional situation of Dec. 23, 2008 when Camara seized power, the Sept. 28 killing of 150 people and the Dec. 3 attempted assassination leaves Guinea and the sub-region in distress.

Compaore said African states are still learning democracy, calling on "our generation to embrace it" so that they redirect their energies towards development and peace.

Since the attempted assassination, life in the Guinean capital has slowed down with police and soldiers deployed and round-the-clock patrols in the city.

African political observers fear that the situation in Guinea may will not get better if Camara does not recover very soon.

The attempted assassination has further complicated the task for the facilitator who was designated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

No breakthrough has been made since Compaore invited the rival sides to Ouagadougou for talks on a compromise. The opposition insists on the step-down of Camara while the junta rejects the demand.

20091205

CHIRUNDU, Zambia, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Sub-Saharan Africa's first One-Stop Border Post (OSBP), the Chirundu Post, at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe opened on Saturday with the aim to reduce the delays of clearing customs and immigration and further promote regional economic growth.

The background message from the Commerce Ministry of Zambia showed that the Chirundu border post, one of the busiest inland border crossings in the southern and eastern Africa, has been experiencing long delays of clearing customs and immigration.

Kingsley Chanda, the project manager of the post, said that it takes a truck three to five days to pass the Chirundu post before, adding that the newly-born Chirundu OSBP will reduce the time greatly.

According to Helen Mealins, head of Department for International Development (DFID) Southern Africa, one of the partners of the Chirundu project, the open of the Chirundu OSBP will cut delays at the post by 30-50 percent.

Delays at border posts along the North-South Corridor are one of the biggest constraints to trade in the region, Mealins told media earlier this week at a pre-event press briefing about the project.

"The delays increase costs for businesses, making exports uncompetitive and imports more expensive. For landlocked countries especially, transport costs are a serious constraint to economic growth," she said.

The Chirundu OSBP is jointly launched by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), together with the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Chirundu OSBP will allow people, vehicles and goods to exit one country and enter another through a single facility staffed and operated jointly by adjoining countries, limiting the duplication of border agency interventions and reducing transport time and costs, said Amos Marawa, director of infrastructure and development of COMESA.

According to Amos, the construction of Chirundu OSBP was decided in October, 2008 by COMESA, the EAC and SADC, adding that more such OSBPs are to be constructed along the North-South Corridor.

He hinted that OSBPs between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi are to be opened in the next step.

"As the sub-Saharan Africa's first one-stop border, Chirundu is leading the way forward for creating single border stops, not only for this region, but for Africa as a whole. Indeed, the One-Stop Border Post at Chirundu is making a positive and important contribution to the realization of Africa's integration ambition," the official added.