20091201

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was carrying out public duties this week after taking most of last week off work to recover from a throat illness.

State media said the 73-year-old head of state received the prime minister and the leaders of political parties on Monday and on Tuesday Ben Ali spoke at an economic conference in Carthage north of the capital Tunis.

Spain's King Juan Carlos had been due to visit Tunisia last week but the trip was cancelled after Ben Ali's personal physician advised him to rest for five days to recover from an acute pharynx inflammation.

Ben Ali has led the north African country for 22 years. He won a fifth term in office last month with 89.62 percent of the vote.

20091201

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Discontent young Sudanese are campaigning for change in what will be for many the first multi-party elections in their lifetime, urging the opposition to unite against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

"We're fed up!" read thousands of bright orange leaflets appearing all over the capital, in defiance of a long-standing ban on anti-government papers by the government which took power in a coup more than 20 years ago.

Groups of young Sudanese, forming on the Internet and on the streets, are calling on the splintered opposition to unite at all levels of the elections, presidential and parliamentary, against the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

Some youths distribute leaflets under the radar, throwing them onto buses before running off. A supporter of one group, Girifna, has already been arrested. Others work in the open, saying they are exercising their constitutional rights.

"I'm only worried that they would take away my leaflets, not that anything might happen to me," said 21-year-old student Siraj Omar, a founder of Girifna, which means "We're fed up".

Members contribute money for the printing with some help from Sudanese expatriates, so every last piece of paper is valuable.

"Everything I have is hanging on this election," said Omar.

Opposition parties say they have suffered threats from Bashir's government over the years and many of his opponents have fled the country. They say his party committed widespread rights violations and atrocities throughout the country.

NAIROBI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The West Indian Ocean Cable Company(WIOCC), the largest single investor in the East African Submarine System (EASSy) said Tuesday the construction and the laying of system is on schedule and the installation of the landing is to commence in Maputo, Mozambique, before the end of this week.

This marks a major milestone in the construction of the new system which will deliver 1.4 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity along Africa's eastern seaboard.

The WIOCC Board has been meeting in Nairobi to review the progress of the project and prepare for the commencement of the installation of the cable in Maputo.

WIOCC Chairman John Sihra told journalists in Nairobi that the Board is comprised of 12 African Telecom operators in East, Central and Southern Africa.

"The deployment of the Maputo shore-end represents the next significant step towards completing the EASSy system that will be instrumental in bridging the digital divide and delivering an cost-effective internet access to Africa," WIOCC chairman John Sihra said.

EASSy started its marine survey operations late last year and completed it in July 2009. The entire system, including the various sub-sea components, has been manufactured.

The landing stations have been completed and equipment installation is progressing ahead of schedule.

"EASSy will be the first east coast system to connect on a direct route to Europe, making it the lowest latency system for traffic to key internet peering points in Europe and North America. Whereas, other recently-launched systems use a longer path to reach Europe, via connections in either India or the United Arab Emirates," Wood said.

The cable lay for the entire EASSy system will be completed by the end of April 2010. This will be followed by two months of intensive end-to-end system testing prior to the system ready for service date of June 30, 2010.

The EASSy cable will deliver a massive 1.4 Tbps of capacity, making it the largest submarine cable system serving the African continent.

It will land in nine African countries and offer transit connectivity through backhaul networks to at least 12 landlocked countries, providing the greatest geographic coverage of any system in the region.

WIOCC is telecommunications carriers' carrier, jointly funded by 12 major telecommunications operators in east and southern Africa, and a number of global Development Financial Institutions.

As the largest single investor in the EASSy submarine cable system, the WIOCC will use EASSy together with its shareholders' extensive national networks to interconnect nine coastal countries and 12 of their land-locked neighbors.

It is also extending service reach internationally through interconnection agreements with regional and global carriers.?

OUAGADOUGOU, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The mediation by Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore resumed on Monday in Ouagadougou after a break for the Tabaski festival, with the facilitator admitting difficulties in reconciling the rival sides.

The camp for the opposition pressure groups insists that the departure of military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara is non-negotiable for a peaceful transition in Guinea. It has shown no signs of a backdown.

The pressure groups have conditioned a deal on the stepdown of Camara and the dissolution of his National Committee for Development and Democracy (CNDD) since the Sept. 28 bloodshed.

They rejected the proposal by Compaore on Nov. 20 for an inter-Guinea political accord (APGIG) to put in place a transition team headed by the junta leader and a prime minister from the pressure groups.

Compaore, who was named the facilitator by the West African region bloc ECOWAS, met with an immediate outcry against his plan.

The military junta in its counter argument demands a solution which sidelines all the former prime ministers, holding them responsible in one way or another for the impoverishment of Guinea.

The junta camp has totally rejected the proposal of the pressure groups, insisting Camara is a Guinean citizen just like any other one in the country and that nothing should bar him from vying for the highest office.

The military junta is also pressing for an audit of the ruling by the late president Lassana Conte in the past decade, indicating they came to power to rescue the country from a corrupt government.

In the face of the high political stakes of each camp, African political observers have doubts on how President Compaore will reconcile the opinions that seem to be irreconcilable.

The observers fear President Compaore may need more time and support for his mission, which may even come to an end if no room could be found for a compromise.

The crisis has lasted for nearly one year since the military junta seized power in December 2008, hours after the death of President Conte.

The standoff between the junta and the opposition seems ever more difficult to break since the Sept. 28 clash, in which a local human rights organization said more than 150 protestors were killed, against a toll of 57 claimed by the junta.

The African Union and ECOWAS have suspended Guinea and imposed other punitive measures to force a return to the constitutional order.?

LAGOS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua will soon return from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, local media reported on Tuesday.

The ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) said in a statement carried by media that Yar'Adua would come back from Saudi Arabia, where he is being treated for acute pericarditis, an inflammatory condition of the coverings of the heart.

"Reports reaching us have it that the President is improving steadily and will soon returned to continue the good work he is doing," Rufai Alkali, the party's national publicity secretary, said in a statement.

He frowned on calls by some people on the president to either resign or be forced out by the members of the National Assembly.

The PDP, which also blamed opposition parties for what it called the tension being generated over the president's medical treatment abroad, wondered why they had failed to pray for him.

"The Peoples Democratic Party has observed with amazement the hype and tension being deliberately generated by so-called members of opposition parties over the medical check-up currently being undertaken by the President, Umaru Yar'Adua in a Saudi hospital," the statement said.

"We consider it particularly shocking that some Nigerians have chosen to over-sensationalize the situation and magnify it out of proportion in order to satisfy their selfish prejudices," it added.

"We pray for the safe return of the President and pray that the Almighty God touches the hearts of those peddling these rumors to repent from their evil ways," the party said.

KATIMA MULILO, Namibia, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- As more results are pouring in for the recent presidential and National Assembly elections held in Namibia, the ruling party Swapo continues its lead in the race.

Xinhua's correspondent currently stationed at Katima Mulilo has noticed the ruling party's new gains such as in the Onayena constituency in Oshikoto Region, although there are 41 rejected ballot papers.

Swapo has secured a resounding 8,589 votes in the parliamentary vote, in which the Rally for Development and Progress won 185 votes and the Congress of Democrats (CoD) got six.

Among other contenders, all People's Party received two of the votes that were cast, the South West Africa National Union (SWANU)received 32 votes and the United Democratic Front (UDF) received four.

In the presidential vote, Hifikepunye Pohamba, the incumbent president, received 8,332 votes, compared with his rival Hidipo Hamutenya of the Rally for Development and Progress, who managed to get 159 votes. Ignatius Shixwameni of the All People's Party (APP) received eight votes. Ben Ulenga of the Congress of Democrats(CoD) took nine of the votes that were cast.

The latest information also indicated that Henk Mudge of the Republican Party (RP) got 17, Kuaima Riruako of the National Unity Democratic Organization (NUDO) received 26 votes and Maamberua Usutuaije of the South West Africa National Union (SWANU) garnered four votes.

More than one million voters are registered in the elections in Namibia, a country with a population of around 2 million. The country holds the polls every five years since its independence from South Africa on March 21, 1990. For the past three elections, Swapo has emerged with two-thirds majority.?

KATIMA MULINO, Namibia, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's ruling Swapo party is far ahead in recent polls, leading a crowded field of a fragmented opposition front comprising several parties in results announced so far for the 2009 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

A Xinhua correspondent is currently in Katima Mulilo, the regional capital of the far northeastern Caprivi Region located 1,300 km from Windhoek, the administrative and commercial capital of Namibia, which is a vast but sparsely populated country.

Election results tallied so far indicated that incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba and Swapo, the party he heads, have scored 54 percent in the results released so far, winning in even in areas previously perceived as opposition strongholds.

At the Omuntele constituency in the copper-rich Oshikoto Region, electoral officials said 25 of the votes that were cast were declared as spoilt ballots for National Assembly elections, in which Swapo won with a wide margin of 6,550 votes, compared with its main rival the Rally for Democracy and Development (RDP), which only received a paltry 68 votes.

Among other opposition parties contesting for the 72 seats that are now unoccupied in the National Assembly, the All People's Party only got six votes, the Democratic Turhalle Alliance secured three votes and the Republican Party won nine.

The National Unity Democratic Organization of Namibia (NUDO) and the Congress of Democrats each collected five votes. The Namibia Democratic Movement failed to secure even a single vote. The Democratic Party of Namibia (DPN) took one vote.

Results for the presidential election indicated that Pohamba received a massive 6,665 votes, compared with his closest rival Hidipo Hamutenya of the RDP, who only managed a distant 60 votes. Ignatius Shixwameni of the All People's Party received seven votes. There were 31 rejected ballot papers, electoral officials said.

Other presidential contenders include Katuutire Kaura of the DTA who got zero, Chief Kuaima Riruako of NUDO with at least 15 votes from Omuntele, Ferdinand Mudge of the Republican Party with 14 votes, Usutuaije Maamberua of the South West Africa National Union (SWANU) with four votes from Omuntele.

The Omuntele constituency located in Oshikoto Region has 58,266registered voters, It covers an area of 26, 607 square km with a population of 128,745.

Namibia is a southwestern African country boasting resources of diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and huge gas reserves, with a lengthy coastal line that has one of the highest yields of sea fish in the world. The country holds presidential and parliamentary elections every five years.

WINDHOEK, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's ruling Swapo party is taking the lead so far in election results trickling in, according to the country's electoral commission.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) could only make available the results of four constituencies by lunch hour on Monday.

The country has 107 constituencies, and only the results of the Omaruru, Otjinene, Rehoboth Rural and Kabbe constituencies have been certified by the ECN.

In the parallel National Assembly elections, Swapo is leading the race with 6,479 votes, followed by 1,719 scored by the National Unity Democratic Organization of Namibia (Nudo) and the new kid on the block, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), which garnered 1,525 votes.

A former liberation movement in Namibia, Swapo has been the ruling party in since independence in 1990.

Election observers are scheduled to present their findings over the next two days after voting for a president and members of the National Assembly ended on Saturday.

Fourteen parties and 12 presidential candidates were registered to contest in the elections.

(Xinhua) -- Madagascan transitional president Andry Rajoelina said Monday afternoon that he would not go to Maputo, the Mozambican capital city, for negotiations scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Speaking at a press conference at the presidency, the Madagascan transitional president said that it is shameful to go abroad to settle a disagreement about some ministerial posts.

"It is shameful and expensive to go abroad," said Rajoelina, 35, the former mayor of the capital city.

He proposed a video conference between him and his predecessors, namely Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy.

Referring to his enquiry, Rajoelina said that holding a video conference between the four protagonists is not expensive instead of spending a lot of money to travel to Maputo.

He said that he has made many concessions by agreeing what his predecessors asked during the meetings Maputo and in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

He called on Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka and Zafy to keep the best interests of the nation instead of haggling over the appointment of ministers.

Rajoelina said on Friday during his provincial tour in Morondava, a coastal town about 700 km west of Antananarivo, that he would not go abroad for the meeting between the four stakeholders.

(Xinhua) -- The UN sponsored high-level conference on South-South cooperation is set to kick off in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday.

The three-day conference will discuss common development challenges affecting developing countries under the United Nations.

Under the South-South cooperation theme, the forum will seek to come up with an inclusive partnership to tackle the challenges facing the developing nations.

Speaking to journalists ahead of the conference in Nairobi, UN Director of Special Unit for the Cooperation Yiping Zhou said the meeting will be looking for a commitment to sharing experience and expertise on growth issues.

"The challenges of these nations are in a development agenda that requires enlightened thinking and practical solutions. We are looking for a commitment for an inclusive partnership for development," said Zhou

He said the conference will highlight growing political and economic ties within the developing world, as countries from the South assume leading roles in decisions on hot global issues ranging from economic recovery to food security and climate change.

The conference is being convened on the 30th anniversary of adoption of Buenos Aires Plan of Action for promoting and implementing technical cooperation among developing countries.

The cooperation was born out of a meeting in Argentina in 1978 to tackle technical challenges facing developing nations. This was through promoting self-reliance within the nations as opposed to seeking support from the first world.

Zhou said the Dec. 1-3 meeting will seek to promote and sharpen the benefits of mutual support among developing and transition economies, as well as maintain support for the process from the developed world through "triangular" cooperation.

Participation in the High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation is expected at Head of State and ministerial levels.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro and UN Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark are among the senior officials who will attend the meeting.

"The role of developing countries in the global arena is increasingly becoming important and there is an agreement that they face common challenges that need to be addressed conclusively," Kenya's Planning Permanent Secretary Edward Sambili said.

Over the years Kenya has benefited from this cooperation with 69.5 percent of the country's exports being to the COMESA region.

Kenya has also benefited from projects supported by south-south cooperation through the G77 Perez-Guerrero trust fund.

Zhou said that Kenya can even benefit more were it to explore avenues of trade such as the tax exemption by countries such as china and India on certain products.

Zhou however, said that the conference will try and encourage developing countries to sign more multilateral agreements shifting away from the current one on one agreement to enhance trade between themselves.

The conference is the outcome of a UN decision to convene such a conference on the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among developing countries (TCDC).

The UN General Assembly has described South-South cooperation as an important element of international cooperation for development, which offers viable opportunities for developing countries in their individual and collective pursuits of sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and emphasized that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but is complementary to, North-South cooperation.

20091130

GENEVA (Reuters) - It is "far from certain" the Doha Round accord will be clinched next year, South Africa's trade minister said on Tuesday, cautioning it was a mistake to rush the agreement to an end.

"The issues that are stopping its conclusion are issues of substance, of content," Rob Davies told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Trade Organisation ministerial in Geneva, where many officials stressed the need for an agreement in 2010.

He said it would not be possible for South Africa to agree to the tariff- and subsidy-cutting deal -- which needs consensus among the WTO's 153 members -- unless it provides tangible gains for poorer countries. "Even if we have to wait for it, we would rather wait for it," Davies said.

20091130

LUANDA (Reuters) - An Angolan minister said on Tuesday a separatist group that has waged war for control of the country's oil-producing province for more than 30 years no longer existed.

Antonio Bento Bembe, a former fighter with the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) who is now a minister without portfolio, said all that remained of the group was a few individuals who tried to attract unhappy Cabindans to their cause with false statements.

The end of FLEC would help increase the flow of foreign investment into Angola's oil sector.

More than half the country's oil comes from wells offshore of Cabinda, a small enclave in the north of the African country and separated from it by a strip of land belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"FLEC no longer exists," Bento Bembe said in an interview with Reuters.

"What you have is some individuals who issue war statements. They try to push the people to take up arms, sinking them into trouble. But who will point a shotgun at a whole army?"

Angola has succeeded in protecting oil companies such as Chevron in Cabinda by concentrating a significant amount of troops in the small territory -- branded the "Kuwait of Africa" because of its oil wealth.

20091130

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa, which has the world's highest HIV caseload, will roll out life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to significantly more people infected with the virus from next year, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

Zuma announced a new era in the approach to AIDS in South Africa, where at least 5.7 million people are infected with HIV and predecessor Thabo Mbeki was accused of failing to address a sickness that kills an estimated 1,000 people a day.

"Let there be no more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigma. Let the politicisation and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop," Zuma said in a speech on World AIDS Day.

From April 2010, all children under one year will get anti-retroviral drugs if they test positive. Pregnant women and patients with both tuberculosis and AIDS will receive treatment if their CD4 or T-cell counts are 350 or less.

Currently, public hospitals dispense ARVs when HIV deteriorates to AIDS and patients' CD4 counts are below 200. It was unclear exactly how many more people would now be covered, or how the government would meet the cost.

Former President Mbeki drew sharp criticism for questioning accepted AIDS science and failing to make life-prolonging ARVs widely available. Mbeki's health minister was lampooned for recommending garlic and beetroot as treatments.

But Zuma, an old rival of Mbeki who was elected this year, encouraged all South Africans to undergo HIV testing and likened the battle against AIDS to the struggle against apartheid.

20091130

NIAMEY (Reuters) - The European Union has extended until next week a deadline it gave Niger for talks about the northwest African country's constitutional crisis, political sources in the desert state said on Tuesday.

World bodies have heaped criticism on Mamadou Tandja, president of the uranium-exporting nation, for earlier this year rewriting his country's constitution to give himself more power and extend his term in office without an election that had been due this month.

At the start of November, the EU froze development aid to Niger in protest at what it said was a "grave violation" of constitutional rule.

At the same time, it gave him 30 days to send an envoy to Brussels for talks to address the union's worries, and called for a "return to constitutional order as soon as possible".

"The government asked for a delay and the EU agreed ... the EU gave five (extra) days," said Morou Amadou, a spokesman for the opposition and human rights activist.

A delegate is now due in Brussels by December 8, sources said.

The EU agreed to the delay because it wants to work in concert with regional bloc the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), which is also conducting dialogue with authorities in Niger, Amadou said.

"This extension demonstrates a rational reading which the EU is applying to the situation in Niger," said Abdoulkarim Mamallo, a politician close to Tandja.

The EU had commmitted around 458 million euros in development funding for 2008-2013. Earlier this year the bloc froze 180 million euros in budgetary aid in an effort to pressure Tandja into backing down, but such sums are dwarfed by the huge revenues Niger receives from minerals investors.

Energy firm Areva, majority-owned by the French state, is spending an initial 1.2 billion euros on what would be Africa's biggest uranium mine, and Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corp struck a $5 billion deal to pump oil and build a refinery.

20091130

GENEVA (Reuters) - Freer trade can help create jobs and support economic growth, and tariff-cutting accords should not be scaled back on account of the global downturn, senior U.S. and other officials said on Monday.

World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy told a WTO ministerial conference that completing the long-running Doha round would strengthen the global trading system that had helped countries come through the crisis.

But trade liberalisation had to be backed by other domestic policies to absorb the shocks of increased competition, he told the opening session of the conference.

Launched eight years ago to open markets and help developing countries prosper through more trade, the Doha talks have been extremely tortuous. Political leaders have called for an accord in 2010, but a deal is not yet ready.

"The moment of truth is fast approaching when you will have to decide whether the 2010 target can be met," Lamy told trade ministers from the WTO's 153 members.

"Political leaders are practically unanimous that they want to meet it, but reaffirmation is not enough. Now we need action, concrete and practical action, to close the remaining gaps."

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Reuters that the ministers and senior officials gathered in Geneva needed to make sure trade can power continued growth and job creation.

"It's an important opportunity for us to reaffirm the valuable role that liberalising trade around the globe has in sustaining and promoting growth," he said.

20091130

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - First results from Namibian elections trickled in on Monday, but too few to show if a breakaway opposition faction would end the two-thirds majority in parliament that the ruling party has held since 1995.

Results were confirmed from around 48,000 of 1.18 million registered voters in the arid state, which is one of Africa's wealthier states because of diamond and uranium exports but has suffered heavily from the global downturn.

First results gave 62 percent of parliamentary votes to the South West Africa People's Organisation, a former guerrilla movement that has led since independence in 1990 and is set to keep power for five more years and to retain the presidency.

In second place with 11 percent was the Rally for Democracy and Progress, which split from the ruling party in 2007 and accused SWAPO in its campaign of failing to do enough on unemployment, health and education.

Opposition parties in the country of 2.2 million, which is bigger than Turkey, hope to at least deprive SWAPO of the two-thirds majority needed to be able to change the constitution.

Delays in releasing results after polls closed on Saturday have been criticised by observers and opposition parties who say there were voting and counting irregularities which the electoral commission failed to address.

Six opposition parties said they would seek legal advice to determine if the election was legitimate.

"We would consider to approach the high court in order to verify the legitimacy of these elections," Henk Mudge, president of the Republican Party told a news conference.

20091130

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's new President Ali Ben Bongo has won over some doubters with early policy shifts, but many in the central African nation still await proof of a real break with the era of his long-ruling father Omar.

The relaxed atmosphere on the streets of the capital Libreville on Monday was a far cry from the mood in August, when Ben Bongo's disputed election victory sparked clashes between anti-riot police and supporters of his aggrieved rivals.

While few expected the unrest to last in an oil-producing country that is wealthier and more stable than most of its neighbours, even sceptics said Ben Bongo had earned respect with moves to rein in once-rampant cronyism and state profligacy.

"He is slowly enjoying the confidence of some of those who voted against him," said local activist Nicaise Moulombi of steps to sack once untouchable politicians and a vow to clean out ghost workers in the country's bloated civil service.

Ben Bongo scored 42 percent of the vote in an August 30 poll denounced by rivals as fraudulent. Some observers said he could only retain power by forming a national unity government, but the opposition has proved too divided to apply any pressure.

One of Bongo's first steps was to slash from 50 to 30 the number of ministers in government. Officials running state businesses have also seen monthly salaries capped at 5 million CFA francs down from over 25 million CFA for some.

An audit of the civil service -- whose staff swelled over the years to 55,000 as posts were handed out to family, friends and foes in a vast web of patronage -- has gone down well.

"He has done well by reducing government. People are supporting the audit. If all this is followed through, he could make some savings," Moulombi added.

20091130

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A group purporting to have kidnapped three French aid workers in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) threatened to kill them unless Paris negotiated with them directly, a spokesman said on Monda

"We will kill the hostages if France does not negotiate with us directly," Mohamed al-Rizeigi, who said he was the group spokesman, told Reuters.

One of the aid workers was taken in Chad and the other two in the CAR in two separate incidents a few weeks apart.

20091130

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's COSATU labour federation launched a "war" on Monday against anti-left elements of the ruling ANC, saying the continent's biggest economy could face another divisive leadership struggle.

In a 19-page summary of a policy meeting last week, COSATU said it was the victim of a smear campaign by senior ANC members opposed to its inclusion, along with the Communist Party, in a three-way ANC-led alliance 15 years after the end of apartheid.

The roots of the alliance, dominated by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, lie in the common struggle against the white-minority rule that ended in 1994, and COSATU said it would fight to preserve that union.

"It is now clear that there is a realignment of forces in the National Executive Committee of the ANC, with a new tendency emerging," COSATU, which claims a membership of 2 million workers, said.

"These forces are also seemingly frustrated with the President, whom they accuse of allowing too much ground to the communists and COSATU. If this agenda persists, the ANC may have a bitter battle for leadership yet again in 2012," it said.

President Jacob Zuma was elected in April after a 2007 internal putsch against the pro-business Thabo Mbeki that exposed the bitter ideological divides within the anti-apartheid movement. The next leadership debate is set for 2012.

Union and communist support was key to Zuma's campaign against Mbeki, and ever since then analysts have been trying to discern signs of him yielding to their desire for political payback, notably in the form of more pro-poor economic policy.

So far, there has been precious little evidence but investors are concerned that, under Zuma, organised labour and the communists are shaping the terms of debate about issues such as central bank independence and inflation-targeting.

20091130

CASABLANCA, Nov 30 (Reuters Life!) - A decade of social reforms has granted more freedoms to Moroccan women, yet most who give birth outside marriage are still treated like criminals, abandoned by family and friends.

The sight of a young, unwed mother being forcibly separated from her newborn baby shocked Aicha Ech Channa, a nurse in a Casablanca hospital who had also recently given birth.

"As the other nurse pulled the baby from her mother's breast, her milk spilled onto the baby's face and it started to cry," she said. "This woman was devoted to her child and yet she was forced to sign it away."

The baby's cries and the mother's anguish haunted Channa, who gave up her job to devote herself to single mothers in distress, who were often persuaded to give up their babies rather than live with the shame and public disapproval.

Over more than two decades, her association "Women's Solidarity" has offered thousands of women a stable future so they don't have to abandon their offspring.

Counsellors offer the mothers psychological support, doctors check their health and for three years they are taught skills that can bring them an income such as cooking, baking, sewing, make-up and hairdressing.

Channa's work made her the first Arab Muslim woman to win the $1 million U.S. Opus Prize, awarded to individuals for outstanding achievements in resolving serious social problems.

Receiving the prize at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis this month, Channa dedicated her win to King Mohammed and the Moroccan people.