KHARTOUM, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government on Monday described the current U.S. strategy towards Sudan as "tactic," and called on Washington to come out with a true strategy that deals with the overall relations between the two countries.

"We believe that the U.S strategy toward Sudan is tactics more than anything else, and therefore we need the U.S. to come out with a true strategy dealing with the overall relations," said Ghazi Salahuddin, adviser to the Sudanese president.

Salahuddin made the remarks in a statement following his meeting with visiting U.S. Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration.

Salahuddin said "We haven't discussed the strategy thoroughly, but we are critical on some of the points that were contained in it. We believe it was an intention to engage, but engage for what! We need to discuss these thoroughly."

Gration, for his part, said in a statement issued after the meeting that "our discussions were about the U.S. strategy, our priorities and how to continue to work together."

"Our strategy includes elements of bringing an end to the conflict in Darfur and fully implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," he said.

"There are issues that we are focusing on -- the referendum, and the census and the associating elections and of course the component on security," Gration said.

The American envoy also met Undersecretary of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Mutraf Siddq, on Monday and expected to talk later with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday renewed economic sanctions on Sudan.

The renewed sanctions restrict U.S. trade and investment in Sudan, freeze the Sudanese governmental assets in America, and banall forms of transactions with individuals and entities associated with the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

Sudan has been subject to U.S. sanctions since early 1990s. Washington also includes Sudan in its list of countries sponsoring terrorism and bans travel of a number of Sudanese officials.

BARCELONA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A top Sudanese negotiator in UN climate change talks on Monday warned against dismantling the Kyoto Protocol, the existing binding deal on climate change, at the latest round of UN talks.

"The killing of the Kyoto Protocol would have the effect of undermining the foundational principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and ultimately puts at risk any ambitious outcome to aggressively address climate change in Copenhagen," said Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim, head of the Sudanese delegation.

He stressed that the Kyoto Protocol must continue to form the legal basis for emission reduction commitments beyond 2012.

He added that the Group of 77 was ready to stand against all attempts by developed countries to dismantle the Kyoto Protocol, which is "the only instrument we have for developed countries to take the lead in cutting their increasing emissions."

At the last round of UN talks in September in Bangkok, some countries indicated a willingness to move away from the Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets for industrialized nations tocut greenhouse gas emissions before 2012.

MOGADISHU, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb killed a senior military commander and wounded four others on Sunday in the northwestern Somalia region of Somaliland, local media reports said.

Osman Yusuf, commander of the 12th infantry division, was instantly killed and four of his bodyguards were wounded in two consecutive blasts that rocked the relatively stable Las Anod town in Sool region, Shabelle radio quoted senior elder in the region as saying.

One of the two bombs hit the two vehicles used by the commander and his bodyguards, and the sound of the blasts was heard in many areas of the town, which is under control of the breakaway republic of Somaliland and has been a disputed region between Somaliland and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamist Al-Shabaab movement, active mainly in southern and central Somalia, has threatened to target Somaliland.

Al-Shabaab, considered by the Somali government as a terrorist group with links to Al-Qaeda, controls much of the south and center of the war-wrecked east African country and has been waging deadly insurgency against the Somali government forces and the African Union peacekeepers.

Somaliland and Puntland, which have been stable compared with the rest of Somalia, experienced bomb attacks blamed on Al-Shabaab late last year with dozens of people killed and many others wounded.

The two regions have their own self-governments since the fall of the former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991. Somaliland, unlike its southern neighbor Puntland seeks outright independence from Somalia, while Puntland is after greater autonomy within federal Somalia.

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Cote d'Ivoire, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro is upbeat about the holding of the Nov. 29 presidential elections, saying that the long-awaited publication of provisional electoral list could be a matter of hours.

He announced on Sunday that the list would be published after cross-checking and that the process could be a matter of hours.

The announcement came after his meeting with President Laurent Gbagbo and the president of the independent electoral commission (CEI) in Yamoussoukro.

A communiqué to be published on Monday is to give details on "the operation which we have asked the technicians to undertake so that we can get to know the fate of the Ivorians who are among the1.9 million after the publication of the different lists," he said.

He pointed out that the meeting had the objective of getting to know more on the electoral process, especially on the preparation of the poll list.

"We have discussed all the questions related to the preparation of the provisional poll list and other measures to be taken," Soro explained.

"There are 1.9 million voters who are still subject to investigation. It's these investigation that we have called for today," the prime minister told the public.

According to Soro, the provisional poll list will be displayed "in all public places so that Ivorians can thoroughly examine it before the beginning of the campaign periods."

He affirmed that only the technicians can explain the fate of the 1.9 million registered voters whose names did not appear in former registrations.

"We have asked the technicians of SAGEM and INS to find out the fate of these 1.9 million Ivorians," he said.

Initially scheduled for Aug. 24, the publication of the provisional electoral list has been put off twice, despite its official hand-over early in that month for verification.

The presentation of the voter list that has 6,384,816 people must be followed by its publication, which has to be done as early as possible.

Under a recent decree, the publication is done at least one month before the first round of the election.

After the hand-over of the list to President Gbagbo by the technical team in charge of the voter identification operation, " contentious cases" were alleged to number 2.7 million, posing a risk to derail the whole process.

Of the 6,384,816 people enrolled, 2,678,069 were put on the 2000 electoral list, while 2,752,181 did not appear in any historical registration.

The case of those who do not feature in any voter registration has triggered controversy among politicians, of whom some are decrying it as a "fraud," asking for their removal from the list. Others see it as a "controversial issue" that needs clarification.

The newly unveiled figure of 1.9 million whose names did not appear in former registrations marked a sharp decline in controversial voters.

The controversy is reminiscent of the ignition of turmoil years ago. The issue of nationality was the Gordian knot of the crisis which started in September 2002, following an attempted coup d'etat of the ex-rebels of the FN, who are stationed in the northern parts of the country.

The West African country has repeatedly postponed the planned presidential vote since 2005, when Gbagbo's term of office expired.

KINSHASA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has confirmed the improvement of the situation in the conflict-stricken central African country, especially in its unstable east.

Despite occasional reports of violence by remnants of insurgency and ethnic clashes, MONUC is seeing progress and considering a shift of the mission to other concerns, local media reported on Sunday, citing Alain le Roy, the UN deputy secretary general in charge of peacekeeping operations.

A new configuration for MONUC is in the offing based on the progress achieved in Congo's east, he said, expressing total satisfaction with the situation, which has remarkably improved compared with a year ago.

During his meeting with the MONUC staff and Congolese Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, the UN official noted that the mission was looking at how to reduce its number so that they could now concentrate on the important tasks of peace consolidation and the re-establishment of the human rights.

The emissary vowed to go along with development partners to assist the reconstruction efforts being made by the Congolese authorities.

Meanwhile, he denounced sexual violence committed by any perpetrators in the aftermath of the joint military crackdown on insurgency with neighboring Uganda and Rwanda early in the year, urging the government to bring criminals to justice.

NOUAKCHOTT, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Gulnara Shahinian, UN special rapporteur on the modern day slavery, is in Mauritania at the government invitation, official sources said on Sunday in Nouakchott.

"Mauritania just made slavery a criminal offence very recently in 2007. This visit will therefore give me a unique opportunity to examine the impact of the new legislation that was adopted," Shahinian declared to the local press.

During her visit, the rapporteur will meet with government and judicial officials, activists of NGOs, community representatives, university staff and people who are involved in the fight against slavery.

Shahinian will present the report concerning the results of her visit to Mauritania to the United Nations Council on Human Rights in 2010.

Incidences of slavery still persist in Mauritania, especially among the rural populations and on the periphery of big towns.

Organizations actively engaged the crusade against slavery, notably SOS Esclave of Boubacar Ould Messaoud, denounce the existence of "slavery centers" in many of the country's provinces.

These organizations call for measures to accompany the anti-slavery law, which was promulgated in 2007. They propose financial aid for the former slaves to make them engage in productive activities in society and the narrowing of the huge gap between various classes in society.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 2 (Reuters) - South Africa is proposing a new 1 percent tax to boost its cash-strapped national broadcaster instead of relying on licence revenues, newspaper Business Day reported on Monday.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation made 822 million rand ($105.7 million) for the 2007/08 financial year in licence revenues, the daily said, and the new levy may more than double that.

"A tax of up to 1 percent would be imposed on taxpayers above their personal income tax to assist broadcasting," the daily quoted the director general of the Department of Communications, Mamodupi Mohlala, as saying.

She said the broadcaster should concentrate on local production, not collecting fees, but critics of the new levy say is too much for citizens already facing a 45 percent hike in electricity costs this year. ($1=7.780 South African Rand) (Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; editing by Simon Jessop)

LAGOS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 50 people were feared dead on Sunday in Bukoro village in central north Nigeria's Kwara State while crossing a border river between Nigeria and Republic of Benin.

The incident occurred when two canoes conveying people from Yarawodo village in Republic of Benin to Bukoro capsized in the middle of River Nano which marks the border of the two countries, the Lagos based Daily Independent newspaper reported on Monday.

About 80 passengers were said to have boarded the two canoes. The canoes were said to be conveying the victims from neighboring Yarawodo village in Benin Republic back to Bukuro after business transactions and schooling.

About 30 corpses have reportedly been found while the number of survivors is put at about 35. Sabi Idris, the head of Guanara in the local government, described the incident as the worst in the history of Guanara district.

The traditional ruler, who sympathized with the families of those who died in the incident, urged the Nigerian federal government to pay more attention to the development of border towns.

LONDON (Reuters) - African miners Randgold Resources and AngloGold Ashanti have agreed to buy an additional 20 percent in the Moto gold project in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo for about $113.6 million.

The acquisition will be funded equally by Randgold and AngloGold, with Randgold funding its share from existing cash resources, Randgold said.

On Oct 15, Randgold and AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third-biggest mining group, completed the acquisition of Moto Goldmines, which owns 70 percent of the Moto gold project.

Nov 2, 2009
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was weaker in early trade on Monday, partly on waning risk appetite after briefly diving to a 5-½ month low against the dollar, while stock futures followed world stocks lower.

The rand plunged to 8.50 to the dollar in Asian trade due to selling by a Japanese margin trader, with dealers in Asia suspecting a mistaken trade may have sparked the around 10 percent fall.

It was trading at 7.90 at 0640 GMT, just over a percent weaker than its close in New York.

Risk aversion resurfaced after Wall Street fell 2.5 percent on worries about the U.S. financial sector after CIT Group filed for bankrupcy and an accounting expert said Citigroup may need more writedowns, knocking Asian shares.

Analysts said the big drop in the rand may have been related to platform trading, with trades triggered by specific levels.

"It will be interesting to see if it retraces to levels around 7.80," George Glynos, managing director of market analysts ETM, said. "At this stage that looks as if that move was overdone and it has retraced."

The global stocks decline may hit local markets, although steady gold and higher U.S. stock futures could limit any decline on the resource-heavy bourse.

South Africa's blue chip Top-40 December futures contract was last 1 percent down, suggesting the JSE Securities Exchange would open lower at 0700 GMT.

Investors will watch for the local purchasing managers index, which points to activity in the manufacturing sector, at 0900 GMT, with PMIs also released elsewhere in the world.

Nov 2, 2009
BUNIA, Congo (Reuters) - Lack of much needed aircraft that U.N. member states were meant to donate has hampered the ability of a Congo peacekeeping force to protect civilians, the U.N.'s head of peacekeeping said on Sunday.

"We are still lacking, I think, 16 military helicopters. And we are still lacking a C-130. We are requesting that from many member states," Alain Le Roy told Reuters during a visit to the central African nation.

"When we don't have them yet, we are disappointed. But we will keep trying," he added.

The Security Council voted last December to send 3,000 extra soldiers and additional air assets to Democratic Republic of Congo, where peacekeepers are backing army efforts to stamp out Rwandan rebels seen as a root cause of a decade of conflict.

After repeated delays, troop reinforcements began arriving last month, but there has been little progress toward securing helicopters and a cargo plane.

Congo launched an offensive in January against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), some of whom participated in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The anti-rebel drive was part of a deal aimed at improving relations between Kinshasa and Kigali, enemies during a brutal 1998-2003 war.

However, the disarmament of more than 1,000 of the estimated 6,000 FDLR rebels has come at a cost of nearly 900,000 people displaced, 1,000 dead, and 7,000 rapes of women and girls.

Nov 2, 2009
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's attorney general Amos Wako was the senior government official handed a travel ban by Washington last month, the U.S. envoy to Kenya said on Sunday.

There has been intense speculation in Kenya over who had been banned, with Wako high on most lists given that Washington has criticised him several times for not cracking down on corruption during his 18-year tenure.

Ending a culture of impunity in a country where corruption is almost endemic is seen by international donors has a crucial step towards avoiding a repeat of last year's post-election violence at the next presidential election in 2012.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson announced the travel ban during a visit to Kenya last month and said Washington was considering similar action against three more prominent Kenyans. But he declined to name the official.

Ending the speculation, U.S. ambassador Michael Ranneberger directed readers of his Twitter page to The Standard newspaper, saying: "Still wondering which senior Kenyan official has been banned from the U.S. for obstructing reforms? The answer is:"

The front page of the Standard read: "U.S. ban: It's Wako."

Wako has been criticised for failing to prosecute the perpetrators of the post-election violence that killed at least 1,300 people, and for not nailing the architects of several audacious corruption scams worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Announcing the ban, Carson said the official in question had been "obstructive in the fight against corruption".

Nov 2, 2009
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 36 people have been killed and scores wounded in three days of fighting in towns across chaotic southern and central Somalia, a local human rights group said on Sunday.

Government troops fought a rebel group in a central town, the two main insurgent forces battled each other in the south and police from the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region clashed with soldiers on their border.

In the breakaway northern enclave of Somaliland, a roadside bomb killed a senior army officer on Sunday and wounded one of his bodyguards, according to a government official.

In the capital Mogadishu, police said even some of the president's own bodyguards made off with an escort vehicle and took it to the main weapons market, which is run by insurgents.

"At least 36 people died and 175 others were injured in Mogadishu, Galkayo and in Bakool region in the last three days," said Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of Elman human rights group.

Somalia has been mired in chaos for nearly two decades and there is little sign the latest attempt to establish central government is proving any more successful than the 14 previous efforts since a dictator was ousted in 1991.

Western nations worry that the longer anarchy reigns in Somalia, the more entrenched hardline rebels accused of links to al Qaeda will become. They fear Somalia could then be used as a base to wreak havoc in the region and beyond.

The chaos on land has also allowed pirate gangs to operate with impunity, hijacking merchant ships, fishing vessels and yachts to demand hefty ransoms for their return.

MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party was headed for a resounding victory in national polls on Sunday that would allow it to change the constitution at will and hand President Armando Guebuza a second term in office.

Estimates released on Sunday gave Guebuza 75 percent of the presidential vote, with Frelimo set for a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections that took place on Wednesday.

Afonso Dhlakama, candidate for the opposition Renamo party, was seen taking 15 percent of the vote in the presidential contest, with Davis Simango, head of the new Movement for Democratic Change (MDM) party, seen on 10 percent.

The estimates were compiled by the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin of the Association of European Parliamentarians of Africa (AWEPA) and the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation.

According to figures based on 72 percent of the vote counted, Frelimo had secured 192 seats, Renamo 48 and the MDM 8 in the 250-member parliament.

"There are fears that the party will amend the constitution to allow Guebuza to run for a third term and this is definitely not good for democrary. There should be space to balance opinion," political analyst Moises Mabunda told Reuters.

No estimates have yet been released from provincial polls also held on Wednesday.

Guebuza's Frelimo party has ruled Mozambique since it led the country to independence from Portugal in 1975.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Barely a month goes by without some new energy or mineral deal being struck between China and an African nation. These deals have transfixed the West, but China gets far more from the relationship than raw resources.

Africa offers China two important things -- a chance to earn the global respect it believes it deserves in recognition of its growing economic clout, and friends who do not judge it, or who at least have little reason to directly fear China's rise.

Communist China's friendly relations with Africa go back decades, to when Beijing backed newly independent states as well as liberation movements. The continent's backing was vital in getting China into the United Nations in 1971.

"You could argue that the contemporary driver is economic, but they've always had a political interest in Africa, from the mid-1950s onward," said Chris Alden, an Africa expert at the London School of Economics.

"As China becomes a more active player in multilateral affairs, it recognises it needs partners, and Africa in many ways is a very suitable partner."

In 2006, President Hu Jintao promised a leap in investment, trade and aid at Beijing's first summit with African leaders. At the G20 summit of big developed and developing economies last November, he raised Africa's needs during the global economic turmoil.

When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Egypt for the second Africa-China summit from November 8-9, analysts and diplomats expect him to match the $5 billion in loans and credit offered then by Hu, or even exceed it.

Africa's GDP is about $1.2 trillion, roughly one quarter the size of China's $4.4 trillion economy.

Nov 1, 2009
EL JADIDDA, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco is expecting tourist arrivals to grow 5 percent this year to a record 8.4 million but revenues will fall a less-than-expected 6 percent, Tourism Minister Mohamed Boussaid said.

Official estimates earlier this year said tourism earnings, Morocco's biggest foreign exchange earner, would decline 15 percent.

"Even with the expected 5-6 percent decline in receipts, our tourism is proving remarkably resilient and its performance is good as the persistent global crisis is projected to cut global tourism demand by 5 percent this year," Boussaid told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday.

"Tourism receipts had shrank by 21 percent in the first quarter before recovering in the following quarters. We expect this improvement to continue for the rest of the year in both terms of arrivals and receipts," he said.

Boussaid said Morocco's strategy of building more hotels and facilities as well as liberalising air transport had helped support the industry.

The Mazagan complex, which opened in El Jadida, outside Casablanca, on Saturday night, was part of a government plan to build six resorts with a total of 80,000 beds between 2001 and 2010.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Choosing a possible successor to Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, 81, is not on the agenda for a ruling party conference this weekend, a party official said, despite silence on the issue fueling speculation it might be.

Mubarak, who has run Egypt for 28 years and will address the National Democratic Party conference that began on Saturday, has yet to say whether he will run in the 2011 election.

His politician son Gamal, 45, a top party official, is tipped as the most likely candidate to lead U.S.-ally Egypt after his father leaves office, although father and son have denied any such plans.

Safwat el Sherif, the National Party's secretary-general, poured cold water on the idea that a decision could come this weekend, saying selection of a presidential candidate could only occur at a special party meeting.

"We have a special conference to choose the party's candidate in which the name would be put forward to the special conference, which is not held annually, and choosing the party's candidate for the presidency would be its one and only subject," he said, adding this was based on the party's rules.

His comments were made to a television programme and reported by the official news agency MENA.

Hala Mustafa, an Egyptian analyst and member of the party's policy committee, told Reuters the issue of a presidential candidate would more likely be on the agenda next year.

"There is still a lot of debate regarding the next candidate mainly because the president did not say whether he will run or not. He had in the past said he will lead until his last breath which gave the impression that he might re-run," she said.

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Mahamadou Issoufou, a leading opposition figure in Niger, returned home on Friday from a trip abroad and said he was ready to face charges of money laundering, a day after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Issoufou is one of dozens of former parliamentarians caught up in a graft investigation that critics say is a bid to muzzle opponents of President Mamadou Tandja's moves to tighten his grip on the West African nation, a major uranium producer.

"The fact that I have returned means something very simple. I have nothing to run away from," Issoufou told reporters on his return to Niger from Abuja, Nigeria, where he was in talks with West African bloc ECOWAS, which is seeking to end the crisis.

Security officials made no effort to detain Issoufou.

"I heard that they issued an international arrest warrant for me. The powers that be didn't have to go to that length. They could have simply called me to face a judge and I would have turned up," he added.

Several thousand supporters of Issoufou's Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) turned up at Niamey airport to welcome him and accompanied him home.

The case against Issoufou is the latest twist in a political crisis that has seen Tandja extend his time as president, increase his powers and remove term presidential limits. The row has deeply divided the impoverished desert state and drawn sharp criticism from donors and regional organisations.

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - An elephant killed a British man working as an expedition guide for a British Broadcasting Corporation children's channel filming in Tanzania, the BBC and an embassy official said.

The BBC reported on its Web site late on Friday that 38-year-old Anton Turner, an experienced guide, wildlife ranger and former army officer, was helping film an episode of the CBBC series Serious Explorers when he was attacked.

The show being filmed is tracing the footsteps of 19th century explorer David Livingstone on the continent.

"We understand at this stage that he was charged by an elephant and was mortally injured," the BBC quoted one of its spokeswomen as saying in a story on its Web site.

John Bradshaw, spokesman at the British High Commission in Dar es Salaam, said the Tanzanian authorities had contacted them about the incident.

"We are aware of that. Because the deceased person is British, we have been helping, offering consular assistance," he told Reuters by phone.

The BBC said three children with the film crew were safe and had been airlifted from the area.

Oct 31, 2009

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Saturday that a captured British couple had been moved on shore from a container vessel and that there was a dispute between different groups over the two Britons.

Gunmen kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, last Friday soon after they left the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean and took them to the Somali coast.

One pirate told Reuters on Friday they had agreed on a $7 million ransom for the Britons, but others said it would only be decided once the couple were in a secure place on land.

The two Britons were moved from their yacht to a large container ship because the pirates feared foreign forces might try and rescue them. The gang that seized the Britons is finding a safe place on land to hold the two sailors.

"We were displeased by the men holding the British people. They were our friends. We helped them when a rescue operation was likely," pirate Hassan told Reuters.

"But they disrespected what we did for them. They took the pair yesterday to land and broke off relations," he said. "We are warning them it will lead to disaster for them. We will spare no efforts to foil them if they insist on separating from us."

Pirates have plagued busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia for several years. Foreign warships from 16 nations are patrolling the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea gangs are now hunting for ships far into the Indian Ocean.