LAGOS, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Cecilia Ibru has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos, challenging her removal as the head of the bank, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday.

Ibru, in the suit filed Tuesday by her counsel Taiwo Osipitan contended that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) acted hastily and in bad faith by removing her as the chief executive of the bank.

The former bank chief said she was never given any opportunity to defend herself before the sack.

She alleged that her sack was part of an elaborate design by the CBN to sell Oceanic bank to its friends under the guise of core investors.

"The appointment of John Aboh to replace me was part of CBN design to sell the bank to whoever he nominates," she said.

Ibru wants the court to determine whether the CBN is not bound to observe the rules of natural justice and fair hearing by hearing her side of the story before sacking her.

She also wants an order setting aside her removal and an order restraining Aboh from occupying or parading himself as the Chief Executive Officer of Oceanic bank.

Ibru is also demanding an injunction prohibiting the CBN, their servants, agents or privies from acting in pursuance of their directives and from preventing her from functioning as the managing director of the bank.

But the apex bank in its preliminary objection filed by its Counsel Kola Awodine contended that Ibru lacked the locus standi to institute the action.

It also said the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

The CBN also contended that the plaintiff's suit could not be justified, noting that it did not disclose any reasonable cause of action and should be dismissed.

No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.

The CBN, on Aug. 14, removed Ibru as managing director of Oceanic bank alleging mismanagement of depositor's funds and abuse of office.

She was sacked along with chief executives of three other banks on that day.

LUSAKA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has said it is waiting for a response from the Zambian government on a report it submitted on the proposed development of Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the financing arm of the World Bank, recently completed the first phase of its due diligence and analytical work on the proposed development of the power station which is expected to add 750 megawatts of electricity to the southern African country's power grid, local newspaper the Times of Zambia reported on Wednesday.

World Bank Manager for Zambia Kapil Kapoor said the IFC has submitted its report which contains various proposals on the seize, financing needs and options and institutional arrangements to the Zambian government last month, adding that once the government takes certain steps, the next step would be to identify a sponsor for the project.

He further said given the size of investment needed, which would be in excess of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, the World Bank anticipates that there would be multiple financiers for the project.

The Zambian government last year issued a tender for the construction of the power plant and then appointed the IFC to assess the cost of the project.

Zambia's power consumption has increased by 70 percent in the last five years, and demand from mining activities is expected to double again by the end of this year, a situation that will put further pressure on the existing generation capacity.

Zambia is believed rich in hydropower, while it usually exports to neighbor countries. But with the increase of economic activities in the country itself, power supply appears a serious shortage to its domestic consumers.

Zambia has experienced two nationwide power failures in the first half of this year, highlighting the country's urgent need for more power generation.

Zambia's power utility firm Zesco Limited said earlier this week that the Zambian government should put in place a clear policy on developing small hydro power projects because the country's demand for electricity has been increasing and this may lead to serious power shortages

The company has said the southern African country is likely to face serious power cuts after 2010 if nothing is done to increase generation of power because of increased electricity demand.

The company's acting Managing Director Cyprian Chitundu said there is need for the quick construction and completion of small hydro projects, which are currently being developed to offset the looming power deficit.

Zambia generates 1, 400 megawatts of electricity and consumes about 800 megawatts during the day and 1, 500 at peak periods in the evening.

Earlier this year, Chitundu, who submitted budget estimates for the next year, said more funds are needed to meet the anticipated electricity demand, adding that the power utility firm currently has a weak financial position partially caused by its high debt it had undertaken to invest in its infrastructure development whose total loan stood at 160 million dollars.

According to Chitundu who submitted the budget in October, the company needs about 1 billion U.S. dollars to meet the expected rising demand for electricity in the country.

ACCRA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Ghana's President John Atta Mills would not remove any civil servant from office, solely on the account of political or party affiliation to fulfill the demand of some party activists.

Presidential Spokesperson Mahama Ayariga who said this on Wednesday stressed that no one would be dismissed from his/her civil service post without just cause once the appointment was not political.

Where a position is clearly a political appointment, such as Minister of State, or a Member of a Board of a Public Corporation, the power is in the hands of the President to effect that change.

Ayariga, who was speaking at a press conference at the Osu Castle in Accra, said there was no need to remove any competent civil servant who was discharging his or her duties by executing government policies and programmes, solely on the grounds that the official was not a supporter of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The press conference was to react to a number of issues that have come up, the principal of which was an allegation that President Mills was ignoring the NDC and not making appointments from the Party.

Ayariga said any removal of an official in the civil service would be based on the rules governing the service and evidence that the official was sabotaging government policies and programmes.

He denied that President Mills was ignoring his party, and said the Mills government was the one that had had the highest number of appointments made directly from the NDC.

"Even the NDC I (from 1992 to 2000) never witnessed such a massive scale of party officials directly taking up government appointment," Ayariga said, and gave out a list of party officials that had directly taken up government appointments.

These include the national Chairman of the Party, who is the Chairman of the Board of GETFund and also sits in Cabinet meetings; the Vice Chairman Alhaji Hudu Yahaya, who is the Chairman of the Bulk Oil Storage Transport Limited.

The General Secretary of the Party Johnson Asiedu Nketiah openly declared his desire to remain at the party office and not to occupy a ministerial position, but attends Cabinet meetings.

The National Women's Organizer Ama Benyiwa Doe is now the Central Regional Minister; the two Deputy General Secretaries -- Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah and Alhaji Baba Jamal -- are now Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and Deputy Minister of Eastern Region respectively, while the National Youth Organizer Ofosu Ampofo now is the Eastern Regional Minister.

Others are Haruna Iddrisu, the then National Youth Organizer, is now the Minister of Communications; the Propaganda Secretary Fiifi Kwetey, is now a Deputy Minister of Finance and Margaret Clarke-Kwesie, the National Treasurer has moved to become Ghana's Ambassador to Korea.

Explaining further, Ayariga said some Regional Chairmen of the Party were offered ambassadorial appointments. Those who accepted the appointments included the Volta Regional Chairman Modestus Ahiable and the Ashanti Regional Chairman Daniel Ohene Agyekum.

"It is important to observe that none of the core members of the campaign team of Professor Mills in the 2008 campaign -- Nii Lamptey Vanderpuije, Mr Koku Anyidoho or Mr Mahama Ayariga - took up ministerial appointments."

On the cadre front, Ayariga said President Mills appointed Sam Garbah as Administrator of the GETFUND and Kofi Portuphy took back his position as National Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization.

With regard to Regional Ministers, they were all appointed in consultation with the Regional Chairmen of the Party and in some cases they were nominated by the Chairmen and in cases where there was opposition, the nominees were withdrawn.

Ayariga said all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives were nominated by the party structures, and it was only in cases where consensus could not be built around a candidate due to internal party differences that the President went ahead to choose one of his nominees.

He said each district sent a set of nominees and one person was ranked as the preferred candidate.

The Presidential Spokesperson assured Ghanaians that President Mills remained committed to the principle of fairness to all Ghanaians.

Meanwhile, the President has directed all party members who have been given appointments at all levels to make space to enable party members with genuine grievances and legitimate demands to have access to them to enable them to receive attention.

Ayariga said the President himself had made space at all times to meet with constituency and regional executives each time he visited a region.

Ayariga also reacted to media reports that some constituency chairmen drawn from 22 constituencies in Accra last Monday sought audience with the President but were denied the opportunity.

According to the reports they paid a visit to former President Jerry Rawlings at his Ridge Residence to express misgivings about the break in communication between the party and government.

The publication said members of the group were particularly concerned about the failure of the presidency to accord them audience despite repeated requests and said it was dampening the mood in the party.

The report quoted Mr Magnus Anyetei Sowah, Constituency Chairman for La Dadekotopon, as saying that the supporters had spent years working for the party to return to power but unfortunately the synergy between government and party had totally broken down.

He also complained that the Ga constituencies had played a yeoman's role in returning the NDC into power and it was unacceptable that they were being ignored.

However, Ayariga said the Presidency had been accessible to Party functionaries.

Ayariga said the issue was not about accessibility to the Presidency, but about the issues that were to be discussed.

He said the government had ensured regional equity in the sharing of ministerial posts, adding that the Greater Accra Region has had a reasonable share of ministerial appointments.

President Mills, according to the Spokesperson, is calling on all Ghanaians to rally behind his government to implement the social and economic policies set out in the 2010 budget, adding that "the benefits of growth shall equally be shared".

KHARTOUM, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and Egypt said on Wednesday that there was not any tension between the two countries in the wake of the Egypt-Algeria soccer game, hosted by Khartoum on Nov. 18.

Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir Wednesday received the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and chief of the Egyptian intelligence Omer Suleiman who arrived in Khartoum in a one-day visit to Sudan.

"President al-Bashir has listened to statements by the visiting Egyptian delegation, and we have decided to surpass what had happened after the match. We affirm that there is not any tension in the two countries relations," adviser to Sudanese president Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters following the meeting.

"The Sudanese-Egyptian ties are deeply-rooted and cannot be affected by a football match. We briefed the Egyptian delegation on measures adopted by the Sudanese government to organize and secure the match between Egypt and Algeria," he said.

The Egyptian foreign minister and intelligence chief arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum Wednesday to meet with the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir and officials of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

The Egyptian delegation's visit to Sudan came in the wake of media skirmishing between Khartoum and Cairo following Egypt-Algeria qualifying playoff match to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

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PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Rich and poor states grouped in the Commonwealth and representing a quarter of the world's population hope to create critical momentum toward a global climate deal when they meet in the Caribbean this week.

Leaders of the 53-member Commonwealth, a group of mostly former British colonies, gather in Trinidad and Tobago from Friday in the last major international summit before high-level U.N. climate change talks due in Copenhagen on December 7-18.

They have placed the climate issue at the top of their agenda in Port of Spain, along with measures to beat the global recession and democracy-building.

They will be joined in Trinidad by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish President Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who want to use the Commonwealth gathering to cement an international consensus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming.

Although most nations have given up hopes of agreeing to a binding legal treaty text in Copenhagen, the Commonwealth is viewed as an important microcosm in which to align such a consensus on a far-reaching climate pact.

"They want to clinch a deal, as much as possible ... at least try and build consensus and keep the smaller states on board," Victoria teVelde, director of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, a University of London think tank, told Reuters.

The sought-after treaty to fight global warming, now expected to be adopted as a final text only next year, will replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

TeVelde said the leaders of the Commonwealth, which includes many small island states that fear rising sea levels caused by global warming could threaten their future existence, were expected to issue a firm and clear statement in favor of reducing global carbon pollution and how best to achieve this.

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BANGUI (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed in a remote corner of Central African Republic when Ugandan rebels attacked villagers but were then ambushed by Ugandan soldiers, a witness and local media said.

The killings took place last week around Djemah, 850 km (530 miles) east of the capital, Bangui, and are the latest in a wave of attacks by the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, a militia that roams around CAR, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo killing and kidnapping civilians.

"There were more than 40 rebels armed with guns, machetes and clubs. They attacked the village from three directions," said Leon Hetanga, a Djemah resident who escaped the attack and travelled to Bangui to speak about the November 18 incident.

"What followed was carnage. The village's two shops were pillaged, houses burned. Hidden up a mango tree I saw this horrible scene ... three men were killed by machetes and two women were bound up and taken as prisoners," he added.

Hetanga said at least 11 people had been killed by the time he escaped the village and alerted Ugandan soldiers, based 25 km away, who launched an counter attack on the rebels.

"It was carnage for the rebels when they were ambushed next to the Ngoangoa River by the Ugandan soldiers," Hetanga said.

Bangui has allowed Kampala to dispatch Ugandan special forces to hunt down rebels in CAR, one of the weakest and most isolated nations in central Africa.

The LRA's wave of attacks across the three countries follows a nearly two-decade long war in Uganda's north and a Ugandan-led multinational strike on rebel bases in Congo last year.

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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia is not ready to bow to pressure to liberalise its telecoms and banking sectors while negotiating terms to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), its trade minister said on Wednesday.

Analysts say the giant Horn of Africa country's hopes for WTO membership hinge on calls for the authorities in Addis Ababa to open those areas to international competition.

"There is a demand from some WTO member countries for Ethiopia to liberalise some of our service sectors and it will be subject to discussion in future negotiations," Trade Minister Girma Birru told Reuters in an interview.

"But from what we see now, we are not convinced it will be appropriate for our own economic policies to liberalise at this stage."

Girma said his ministry was answering questions about the Ethiopian economy from WTO members. U.S. officials have publicly said the nation should liberalise those sectors.

The country is one of Africa's largest potential markets -- with a population of about 80 million -- and most of its people have no telephones or bank accounts.

It is attracting growing interest from foreign investors in agriculture, hydropower, and oil and gas exploration, and has recorded growth of more than 10 percent for the last five years.

Opposition parties, however, dispute those statistics.

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MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The U.N. World Food Programme must immediately stop importing relief rations to Somalia, hardline rebels said on Wednesday, accusing the aid agency of devastating local agriculture.

Al Shabaab insurgents control most of the south of the drought-ravaged country, where fighting has worsened one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises. Washington says the group is al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation.

WFP is a major player in the international response to the emergency. Experts say 3.76 million people -- or half the Somali population -- now need aid, and that three-quarters of those are concentrated in central and southern regions.

But in a statement, al Shabaab's self-styled Office for the Supervision of the Affairs of Foreign Agencies said imports by the U.N. organisation had become a barrier to Somalia's self-sufficiency.

"It has been decided that WFP must immediately refrain from bringing food rations from outside Somalia and rather purchase food from Somali farmers and then that food will be distributed to the needy," the statement said.

"The bringing of immense quantities of free food rations, specifically during the harvest season, has been devastating to the agriculture industry in Somalia and has greatly discouraged the Somali people from the agricultural trade."

The rebels said all local businesspeople contracted by WFP must terminate those contracts before January 1, 2010, and that WFP must empty its warehouses and food stocks by the same date.

"WFP is working in Somalia because the country cannot currently support the food needs of its population," a WFP spokesman said in neighbouring Kenya.

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's opposition parties said on Wednesday they would delay a decision on whether to boycott the first multi-party elections in 24 years because of the Muslim Eid holiday and extended voter registration.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which is the junior partner in the governing coalition, and 20 opposition parties had threatened to boycott the vote if a package of democratic laws were not passed by November 30, showing a rare united front.

They accuse the dominant National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread fraud including vote-buying and intimidation as Sudanese registered for next year's election, which the party denies.

"On November 30...the parties will meet and ...decide on a date and venue for the (party) summit before which we will put our reports on whether they boycott or not," said opposition alliance official Farouk Abu Eissa.

Senior SPLM official Yasir Arman told reporters the meeting would happen after the electoral registration period which had been due to end on November 30 but which was extended for almost a week. The joint news conference gave no new date.

Because of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, Sudan will be on holiday for five days beginning on Thursday, making any decision on a boycott by November 30 impossible, the parties said.

The SPLM and NCP signed a 2005 peace deal sharing wealth and power and ensuring democratic transformation in Africa's largest country. But accusations of backtracking and delays from both parties mean relations are at their lowest since the end of the two-decade civil war, analysts say.

With just over four months until the first democratic vote in almost quarter of a century, changes in the criminal code and reform of Sudan's powerful intelligence services are long overdue and necessary before the vote, the opposition says.

Sudan's north-south civil war was fuelled by issues including religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology between mostly Christian southern rebels and the Islamist Khartoum government.

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LUANDA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday Angola's commitment to increasing transparency, especially in the oil sector, was key to this week's approval of a $1.4 billion loan to the African nation.

Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer, has for years failed to agree a loan programme with the IMF because of a refusal to open the books of state-owned oil firm Sonangol.

Sonangol acts as both a player and a regulator of Angola's booming oil sector, and also invests some of Angola's oil money abroad by buying stakes in listed companies in Portugal.

IMF mission chief Lamin Leigh said the government was committed to increasing transparency and would soon publish Sonangol's recently-audited financial accounts. Angola has said there were no pre-conditions for the loan.

"Meeting those targets is what justifies the 27-month programme," Leigh said, adding that a balanced budget, increased social spending and a stable exchange rate were also needed.

His remarks signalled the IMF could stop or delay disbursements if the targets were not met.

In its 2009 index, global corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Angola among the 18 most graft-ridden countries, placed in Africa below Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Billions in oil revenues and Chinese loans have helped rebuild infrastructure devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. But the spending has done little to improve life for ordinary people, two-thirds of whom live on $2 a day or less, according to the World Bank.

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's health ministry will give licences to five companies to produce up to 5 million doses of generic H1N1 flu drugs in 2010, a health ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin said the ministry has a Tamiflu supply of 5 million doses it purchased from Swiss drugmaker Roche but was looking to increase its supply through local manufacturers to 10 million in 2010.

Each dose would be sold for 75 Egyptian pounds.

"In case of higher demand for the medicinal preparation in the coming stage ... we would supply higher quantities for a lower price," Shahin said.

He added that the five companies would obtain the licences on condition that the active ingredient used in the medicine is accredited by a globally recognised organisation such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Five laboratories will also be authorised by the ministry to conduct testing for the H1N1 virus, Shahin said.

Egypt has had 3,216 cases of swine flu, including 13 deaths.

Cairo has taken various initiatives it hopes will limit the spread of H1N1 including culling all pigs in the country, temporarily closing schools and stopping feverish travellers at airports.

Nov 25, 2009
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two freelance journalists kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008 were freed on Wednesday, and are in a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, a Somali member of parliament and hotel sources said.

"We have now brought both foreign journalists to the Sahafi hotel. We have been working for eight days on their release, but finally succeeded," MP Ahmed Diiriye told Reuters. "I don't want to comment on how we released them now."

Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, and Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist, were kidnapped in Mogadishu in August 2008.

Nov 25, 2009
ALGIERS (Reuters) - The United States will persevere with its policy of supporting Somalia's fragile government because restoring security there will take time, the top U.S. military commander for Africa said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military has been providing weapons and training to forces loyal to Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, but the government still only controls a few blocks of the capital with the rest of the country in the hands of Islamist rebels.

"What's going on in Somalia did not just get that way. It won't correct itself overnight either," General William E. Ward, commander of the U.S. military's Africa Command, told reporters during a visit to Algeria.

"And so the current policy, that has international support, not just from the United States, to reinforce, to help the transitional federal government, and be supportive of the African Union mission to Somalia is where we ... also see our big contribution," he said.

The al Shabaab militant group, who Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, has been waging a two-and-a-half year insurgency against the central government to impose its harsh version of Sharia law throughout the country.

Troops from the African Union are protecting government sites in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Western security agencies say Somalia has become a safe haven for militants who use it to plot attacks on Western targets, and also a bolt-hole for pirates who have been hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean.

Ward was in the Algerian capital for meetings with officials that focused on the threat from violent extremism in another part of Africa, around the Sahara desert.

He said the U.S. military would continue to provide counter-terrorism training to Sahara region governments but that there were no plans for U.S. forces to take part directly in operations against insurgents.

Nov 25, 2009
NAIROBI (Reuters) - African economies will grow by an average of 1.7 percent this year, a downgrade from an earlier forecast of 3.5 percent, as a result of the global recession, the World Bank's vice president for Africa said on Wednesday.

Obiageli Ezekwesili told Reuters the continent's growth in 2010 will be 2.5 percent, down from an annual average of 5.8 percent over the last decade.

"This year it is 1.7 percent and next year, we think it will probably get to 2.5 percent," she said. "Commodities are gradually strengthening, (there will be growth) if there is a resumption in private capital flows, and diaspora remittances, investments in construction then the agriculture sectors."

She said Africa's economic recovery can be quickened if governments invest in core infrastructure projects and China's investment on the continent is welcome.

"The fallout remains and there is going to be a lead time (to recovery)," she told Reuters, adding that the last wave of the global economic crisis hit Africa last.

"If indeed governments spend resources well, if they are efficient in spending in important areas of public investment, in human capital development, economic infrastructure for growth, that lead time will reduce."

Financing for the projects needed will be key and should come from African governments, traditional donors like the World Bank and new partners such as Brazil, China or the Arab world.

China's involvement in developing Africa's infrastructure was welcome, Ezekwesili said, although many people on the continent complained that the Asian giant did not ask hard questions on governance or corruption in countries it invests in.

24 Nov 2009
The commander of Benin's naval forces says that a pirate attack on an oil tanker off the coast of the West African nation has left one Ukrainian seaman dead.

The vessel, Monrovia-flagged Cancale Star, came under attack some 18 nautical miles (33kilometers) off the coast of Benin earlier on Tuesday, with initial reports suggesting its captain had been killed.

However, naval commander Maxime Ahoyo identified the victim as "the chief mechanic, who is responsible for the engines”.

He said the victim was Ukrainian, adding that the Lithuanian captain was not hurt.

Ahoyo said the tanker's remaining 24 crew members were rescued by his forces.

The nationality of the pirates was not immediately known, but some reports suggested they were Nigerians.

The pirate attack, reportedly the first in Benin's recent history, bears testimony to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) figures showing a rise in piracy off West Africa, where 100 attacks were reported last year.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The massive U.N. peacekeeping effort in eastern Congo has failed to deliver a knockout blow to Rwandan rebels while local insurgents have seized new territory under its nose, United Nations experts said on Wednesday.

Far from resolving the root causes of the violence, the presence of the world's biggest peacekeeping mission has aggravated the conflict in North and South Kivu provinces, the report seen by Reuters on Wednesday said.

"Military operations have...not succeeded in neutralising the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the Kivus and have resulted in an expansion of CNDP military influence in the region," the group said, referring to Congolese Tutsi CNDP insurgents.

Congo's army, backed by the 25,000-strong U.N. force, launched an offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda earlier this year as part of a deal to improve ties with neighbouring Rwanda, its enemy during a 1998-2003 war.

In return for Congo's pledges to stamp out the Hutu rebels, some of whom helped orchestrate Rwanda's 1994 genocide, Kigali arrested General Laurent Nkunda, whose CNDP insurgents were then integrated into the army.

While the U.N. Security Council has twice voted to continue peacekeeper support for the operations, rights groups and aid agencies have decried the displacement of more than a million villagers, thousands of rapes, and hundreds of killings.

Despite the surrender of more than 1,200 of its estimated 6,000-to-8,000 fighters, the FDLR continues to replenish its ranks through the active recruitment of both Congolese and Rwandan Hutus, the group said.

The rebels benefit from support networks in Africa, Europe and North America, as well as financing from its control of the east's lucrative tin deposits despite the army's efforts to push them out of mining areas.

KINSHASA/PARIS (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday accused Canada of holding up progress towards rescheduling its foreign debt but Ottawa said it was now prepared to provide the needed financing assurances.

The Central African nation said the dispute centered on a mining contract it had canceled but it was not right for Canada to delay its debt refinancing.

In response, Canada said it had asked for more time to consult "on the current investment environment" in Congo but that after its consultations it was now ready to proceed.

The International Monetary Fund said this month Congo must make arrangements on the rescheduling of its debt with the Paris Club of creditor nations before it could qualify to enter a global debt relief program.

A source from the Paris Club said a deal could be reached in the coming days and it was not the correct forum for a discussion on the business climate of any particular country.

Congo is estimated to have $10 billion to $11 billion in foreign debt. At the end of September 2008, it owed $6.1 billion to the 19 developed countries who are members of the Paris Club and had fallen behind on its repayments.

Talks with the Paris Club creditors were held this week, but Congo said they had become snagged over its decision in August to cancel a copper and cobalt project. Toronto-listed First Quantum Minerals was the majority shareholder in the project.

The Canadians "have a problem with what's happened with a Canadian company, KMT," Information Minister Lambert Mende said of First Quantum's Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings (KMT) unit. "The Canadian government wants to use the Paris Club in order to resolve a particular problem. This is unacceptable."

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed Ivory Coast's publication of a provisional voter list, which he described as a key step in organizing the country's long-delayed presidential election.

"(Ban) believes that with this important development, the Ivorian parties and institutions have made significant progress towards the establishment of a consensual and transparent voters list," the U.N. press office said in a statement.

Presidential elections in the world's top cocoa producer, still scarred by a 2002-03 civil war that divided it in two, have been delayed five times since 2005 in a tortuous peace process.

The United States called on Ivory Coast on Tuesday to hold the presidential election as soon as possible, saying it was disappointed a vote originally set for later this month had been delayed.

"It is imperative that all parties take every measure to ensure that elections are held without further delay," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.

Ban's statement echoed that, saying the West African country must now "prepare the final voters list and move forward in determining a new election date as soon as possible."

Officials in Ivory Coast confirmed this month the presidential vote originally set for this Sunday would be pushed back, the latest in a series of delays over rebel disarmament and identifying voters.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Shareholders of 16 American Funds products on Tuesday soundly defeated a nonbinding proposal to pull investments from companies doing business in Sudan.

Votes opposing the measures totaled more than 80 percent of votes cast at each of the funds, with votes in favor ranging from 8.5 percent to 11.8 percent, said Chuck Freadhoff, spokesman for the investment adviser to the funds, Capital Research and Management Co.

Activists had put the measures on the mutual fund company's ballot as part of a broader campaign to pressure several Chinese oil companies whose royalty payments the activists say prop up Sudan's central government, blamed for human-rights violations in the country's western Darfur region.

Managers of American Funds had opposed the proposals, saying such decisions were best handled as part of the funds' regular investment process.

The votes in favor were about half of what similar measures garnered at several other U.S. fund companies this year.

Last week at Putnam Investments, for instance, Sudan proposals received 24 percent and 21 percent of votes cast.

Activists, led by Boston-based Investors Against Genocide, had complained that the American Funds vote was marred by an abridged ballot that did not properly describe the measure, and by poor telephone-poling procedures.

American Funds had responded that the ballot question was spelled out in a proxy statement mailed to shareholders.

Separately, investors passed other ballot measures making administrative changes to a total of 30 funds. In two cases, not enough votes were cast; those ballots have been rescheduled to December 23.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's government has bowed to demands from teachers' unions for a big pay increase after a three-week strike forced thousands of schools to close, a leader of one of the unions involved said on Tuesday.

The strike was the biggest in six years in Algeria, whose government is struggling to keep a lid on inflation and faces its first budget deficit in a decade despite holding large cash reserves from oil and gas exports.

Teachers have complained that they are being forced into poverty and debt because inflation, 5.8 percent according to the International Monetary Fund, has eaten up previous pay rises.

Their complaints are part of a broader pattern of social unrest -- also fuelled by anger over unemployment and poor housing -- that diplomats say is on the increase and could threaten Algeria's stability.

Meziane Meriane, head of an independent union for secondary school teachers, told Reuters the government had agreed to the strikers' main demand -- to backdate a teachers' pay increase to January 2008.

"Thanks to a major mobilisation in the education sector, which has been paralysed for three weeks ... the prime minister has agreed to the back-dating," Meriane said outside the education ministry after a meeting with officials.

The government has not released any figures for the cost of the back-dated rise, but Meriane said it would be "enormous".

Calculations based on the average salary of Algeria's roughly 600,000 teachers suggest the cost of the rise could be over $1 billion. Total government expenditure in this year's budget is the equivalent of $73 billion.

The teachers' success may encourage unions in other sectors to launch strikes of their own. Algerian media reported this week that some unions representing healthcare workers were planning stoppages to demand better pay and conditions.