Oct 31, 2009

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and three opposition parties have signed a set of rules for next year's national elections amid accusations of a crackdown on dissent ahead of the poll.

The code of conduct was negotiated over two months under the observation of Western diplomats in the capital Addis Ababa. It will become Ethiopian law before parties begin registering in December for the May 23 poll.

"This puts us all on equal footing and forces us to have an election that reaches the standards of a democracy," Meles told an audience of politicians and diplomats late on Friday.

"It will be conducted peacefully," Meles said.

But a coalition of eight parties called Medrek refused to participate in the talks. The group is demanding bilateral negotiations on issues they say were left out, including electoral board reform.

The government says Medrek is the most significant threat to Meles, despite holding only 80 of parliament's 547 seats, and that it can still sign up to the code.

"We will sign only if we are satisfied on substantive issues we want to discuss around the rule of law and we want bilateral talks," Medrek spokesman Gebru Asrat told Reuters. "Our party members are harassed and jailed."

Oct 31, 2009
BELFAST (Reuters) - British parliamentarians travelled to Libya at the weekend to press for compensation for families of Irish Republican Army (IRA) victims who say Muammar Gaddafi's government helped arm the paramilitaries.

The campaigners say the Libyan authorities shipped Semtex explosives in the 1980s and 1990s to the IRA, which was fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

The delegation includes MPs from Northern Irish First Minister Peter Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose Labour Party is also represented in the delegation, said last month he supported the families' campaign.

"I hope that when they hear some of the stories they might understand what exactly these weapons of mass destruction and Semtex have done," said Manya Dickinson, whose father was killed by an IRA bomb in 1990.

Gaddafi's son said last month Libya would fight in court any claims for compensation by the families of IRA victims. Libya has, however, settled out of court with three American victims of IRA bombings.

Britain's relations with Libya have been in the spotlight after the early release in August of a Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing in which 270 people were killed.

Britain has denied pressing the Scottish government to free Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to help improve business ties with Libya, which has Africa's largest oil reserves.

But it has conceded that British business and other interests would have been damaged if Megrahi had died in a Scottish prison instead of being allowed to return to Libya.

Oct 31, 2009
TUNIS (Reuters) - The Tunisian authorities have arrested the journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, a virulent critic of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, lawyers said on Saturday.

A judicial source said Ben Brik was arrested on Friday after a woman with whom he had an argument filed an assault complaint but lawyers say he was arrested for attacking the government.

"The only explanation in this case is his articles published recently in the French press," attorney Radia Nasraoui told Reuters.

Ben Brik will go on trial on November 19, and lawyers say he may face up to five years in prison.

Rights groups and some political opponents say Tunisia's government stifles free speech and beats and jails opponents and journalists, all of which the government denies.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision to detain the journalist, saying the "trumped-up charges (are) designed to ensure that Ben Brik languishes in prison".

The 41-year-old journalist has worked for a number of French newspapers, magazines and media outlets, including le Nouvel Observateur.com.

31 Oct 2009

Somali pirates have hijacked a Yemeni fishing vessel in the Gulf of Aden overnight after a gun battle, in which at least one hijacker was killed.

"We have attacked a Yemeni fishing boat. It was fishing near Eyl last night," pirate Bashir told Reuters by phone from Eyl.

"They had weapons and fought us. They killed one of us and injured another , but we have hijacked it at last. It's in our hands now."

Since last year, an armada of foreign warships has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden in a bid to root out piracy in the notorious region, which is viewed as one of the busiest maritime trade routes on the globe.

Figures released by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) indicate a sharp rise in attacks by pirates in Somali waters.

presstv

31 Oct 2009
Hundreds of Somalis, in response to an al-Shabaab militia request, have held anti-Israeli protests in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

A large crowd of people voiced their opposition to Israel's aggressions against Palestinians by chanting anti-Israeli slogans in the streets of Mogadishu, AFP reported.

According to eye-witnesses, the demonstrations took place in northern Mogadishu which is controlled by al-Shabaab fighters.

They chanted slogans such as "Israel should be destroyed, God is great".

"They are killing your Muslim brothers and sisters and stopping them from performing prayers in the holy sites of Allah," a top al-Shabaab commander, Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Shangole told the crowd.

Shangole said that the time is now ripe for going to war with Israel to liberate the sacred cities.

"You are aware of Israel's terrorist acts against Muslim Palestinians. They ruin the holy shrines of Muslims," he added.

Al-Shabaab commander, Abdifatah Aweys Abu-Hamsa, said the group's fighters "are prepared to liberate and defend the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa."

Abu-Hamsa pointed out that a special military unit named Quds Brigade will be set up for the purpose of liberating and defending Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Tensions have been high in the Palestinian territories in recent weeks after Israeli extremists backed by police forces entered the holy Al-Aqsa mosque and clashed with Palestinian youths who tried to defend the site.

The Israeli assault sparked mass demonstrations in numerous Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Turkey.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has also warned Israel of "dangerous consequences" for acts of sacrilege in the holy mosque.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday he was working to resolve a political dispute threatening his power-sharing government with rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said a fortnight ago it was "disengaging" from cabinet until Mugabe agreed to fully implement the fragile coalition's power-sharing deal, including swearing in several MDC officials.

Speaking at the burial of a senior member of his ZANU-PF party on Saturday, Mugabe again condemned the MDC's partial boycott of the government as "baffling and illogical," but said the issue had to be addressed as a domestic issue.

"We are glad that we are talking about it. We are treating it as a domestic political problem, and our attitude is that ultimately it is up to us as Zimbabweans to sort out our problems," he said in a mixture of English and the local Shona language.

Mugabe gave no further details or made reference to the mediation efforts of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community which had a ministerial team in Harare on Friday.

NATIONAL SHRINE

Tsvangirai and his officials did not attend the funeral at Harare Heroes' Acre, a national shrine where Mugabe's ZANU-PF movement has been burying mostly veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war since it won power at independence in 1980.

Mugabe accused Western powers of "endlessly and shamelessly" interfering in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs and said the national economy had suffered under sanctions imposed in a drive to oust his party.

"They are trying to direct the way our politics should go. They are not ashamed. They want us to go down on our knees."

Mugabe -- who was speaking a day after regional officials announced that Southern African states would soon hold a summit on the Zimbabwe crisis -- said even in cases where Zimbabweans seek outside help, they have the ultimate responsibility to resolve domestic disputes.

The veteran 85-year-old president sounded slightly conciliatory to the MDC on Saturday, saying he only wonders about his rivals' political strategy of "one leg in and one leg out of the power-sharing government."

Besides refusing to swear in some of its members into government, the MDC accuses ZANU-PF -- which it calls an "arrogant and unreliable partner" of persecuting its officials and delaying media and constitutional reforms that will be key to holding free and fair elections in about two years.

Mugabe says he has met obligations under the power-sharing deal and maintains the MDC needs to campaign for the lifting of Western sanctions against his ZANU-PF, including travel restrictions and a freeze on general financial aid to Zimbabwe.

ANTANANARIVO, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Civil society leaders hope that politicians, who will leave Madagascar next Monday for political arrangement in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia, will end the political crisis, which started last December.

Leaders of four political camps in Madagascar, including Madagascan transitional president Andry Rajoelina and former presidents Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy will meet in Addis Ababa, African Union headquarters, for their third face-to-face scheduled to take place on Nov. 3 to 5 to share the remaining of the 258 seats in the transition.

At a press conference held on Friday in Antananarivo, leaders of civil society invited all politicians, who will go to Addis Ababa “to demonstrate their level of patriotism during the negotiation”.

They reiterated that international mediators had to be impartial and prove non-interference in their mediation in the political crisis in Madagascar, so that the four camps will find durable solutions for the people.

Civil society leaders wanted that the meeting in Addis Ababa would establish a clear roadmap for the preparation of a new republic stable and cyclical political crises never come back in the country.

During the press conference, attended by representatives of four stakeholders, Désiré Ramakavelo from Rajoelina’s camp said that the consensus is easily found among representatives of the camps.

Saying that only Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka and Zafy who question the consensus already reached, Ramakavelo called leaders of the four camps not to take hostage the lives of 20 millions Madagascans because of the opinion of one person.

Madagascan political analysts said that 2009 political crisis was caused indirectly by the vengeance of Ravalomanana to Ratsiraka’s supporters by imprisoning them rather than followed national reconciliation proposed by Zafy, when Ravalomanana take over Ratsiraka as president of the country in 2002.

The crisis was also caused by Ravalomanana's proposal to sell 1.3 million hectares of land to the South Korean company Daewoo Logistics for planting corn and the purchase of the presidential aircraft worth 60 million U.S. dollars while most of Madagascans survive with less than two dollars per day.

Ravalomanana political rivals could not tolerate the interference of Ravalomanana’s private enterprises in the government budget, which pushed them to support the young Antananarivo mayor, Andry Rajoelina, who also felt victim of dirty tricks perpetrated by Ravalomanana regime in late 2008, to dismiss Ravalomanana.

But the situation was not easy for Andry Rajoelina, who could manage to overthrow Ravalomanana last March 17, because the international community does not officially declared until now that it recognizes Rajoelina as Madagascan president, despite he was recognized by High Constitutional Court on March 21.

The crisis becomes difficult because besides the three former presidents who were not ready to let Andry Rajoelina lead himself the country, his Prime minister, Monja Roindefo, that he appointed last Feb. 7 does not accept the arrangement organized by Rajoelina since last Oct. 6 to get international recognition.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe on Friday accused United Nations torture expert Manfred Nowak, who was expelled from the country, of trying to provoke a diplomatic incident by ignoring a request to delay his trip.

Nowak said he would recommend that the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) take action against Harare after Zimbabwean security officials detained him on arrival overnight and forced him onto a South African-bound plane on Thursday.

Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said on Friday that Nowak, the UNHRC's special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, had ignored a decision by President Robert Mugabe's government to postpone a week-long visit.

Nowak had said he received an invitation from the office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with President Robert Mugabe in February that has been strained by a dispute over implementing a power-sharing agreement.

Nowak said his expulsion underscored disarray in the new administration. Mumbengegwi is a close ally of Mugabe.

"You are dealing with independent sovereign states, and you do not treat independent sovereign states in that manner -- whether you like it or not I am coming into your country," Mumbengegwi told a news conference.

"This was a calculated move to create a diplomatic incident."

Nowak said the refusal to allow him entry to Zimbabwe was either a misunderstanding or something more deliberate on the part of some members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched an international inquiry headed by an Algerian diplomat to look into a bloody crackdown on protesters in Guinea last month, the United Nations said on Friday.

Gunmen opened fire on anti-government protesters on September 28 in a stadium in Conakry, the capital of the West African country. The violence killed 157 people and wounded more than a thousand others, a local rights group reported.

The U.N. Security Council earlier this week condemned the violence, but failed to voice explicit support for Ban's inquiry because Russia was opposed, council diplomats said. They said Moscow did not like the idea of interfering in the domestic politics of an individual country.

The United Nations has said Ban's inquiry will "investigate those incidents with a view to determining the accountability of those involved." It did not say what action might follow.

Guinea's military government, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, has promised to cooperate with the U.N. inquiry. Camara took power in a coup last December after the death of veteran strongman President Lansana Conte.

The inquiry will be chaired by Algerian diplomat and jurist Mohamed Bedjaoui.

It will have two other members, Francoise Ngendahyo Kayiramirwa of Burundi, who has served with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and Pramila Patten of Mauritius, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

They are due to report their results to Ban, who then could hand the results to the Security Council for possible action.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials suffered its worst slide since July on Friday on concerns that the economic recovery won't be robust enough to sustain the seven-month stock rally, while financials sank on renewed worries about Citigroup's balance sheet.

Investors unloaded shares across the board on the day that marked the end of the fiscal year for many mutual funds, putting the S&P 500 on the brink of a correction.

Wall Street's favorite measure of investor fear, the CBOE Volatility Index, soared 24 percent -- its biggest one-day percentage gain since October 2008 -- and the Dow had its worst day since July.

Analysts said there were doubts that the recovery would be strong enough to justify higher stock prices a day after government data showed the economy returned to growth in the third quarter.

"There's still some systemic risk to the environment," said Anthony Conroy, head trader for BNY ConvergEx, an affiliate of the Bank of New York, in New York.

"You need growth, you need a healthy financial system to have a healthy economy. There are questions out there about how things go from here. Right now the government is fueling the system with cash. That can't last forever."

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 249.85 points, or 2.51 percent, to end at 9,712.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 29.92 points, or 2.81 percent, to 1,036.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 52.44 points, or 2.50 percent, to close at 2,045.11.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snapped seven straight months of gains.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to meet with bank executives on Monday to discuss executive pay at large financial firms, a Fed spokesperson said on Friday.

They would discuss "the process for the reviews of incentive compensation arrangements at the large, complex banking organizations", the spokesperson said.

The Fed last week issued bank pay guidelines aimed at curbing the type of reckless risk-taking officials say contributed to the crisis that nearly brought down the financial system last year.

Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo told Congress this week that the Fed would supplement those recommendations with "supervisory initiatives to spur and monitor" industry reforms.

One of those initiatives would be a simultaneous review of incentive compensation practices at the 28 largest firms under the Fed's supervision, he said.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Anti-dumping measures against unfairly priced imports jumped by more than one third in the year to June, the World Trade Organisation said on Friday.

The figures suggested that governments had become more aggressive during the financial crisis in countering imports that they believed were unfairly competing with home products.

Anti-dumping measures are often a source of trade disputes, but in principle WTO members are allowed to impose duties on goods that are dumped -- sold for less than cost -- if an investigation shows they are being sold cheaply and are hurting domestic producers.

The fact that the WTO's 153 members are using anti-dumping measures rather than other more overtly protectionist tools, and are notifying them to the WTO also suggests the global trading system is holding up under pressure from the crisis.

The 2009 report from the WTO's Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices said members had notified a total of 281 provisional and final anti-dumping measures that they had launched between July 2008 and June 2009.

In the same 2007/08 period the total was 201.

However, the actual number of anti-dumping measures is likely to be higher, as the report shows that many members had not filed notifications, especially for the first half of 2009.

Out of the notified measures, India was the most active user, with 68 provisional and final measures launched in 2008/09, up from 45 the previous year.

RABAT, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The second World Policy Conference (WPC) started in the Moroccan city of Marrakech Friday with the participation of representatives of 30 countries from the world, state news agency MAP reported.

The conference will continue until Nov. 1, attracting well-known figures in the scene of international politics, such as ArabLeague Secretary General Amr Moussa Amr Moussa, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and former UN secretary general Kofi Anna.

This year's edition of the event gathers over 120 delegates from different countries, organizers said.

Meanwhile, major international firms will take part in the event, especially those being active in the energy, finance, health, industry and development sectors.

Seven themes will be discussed, including political governance, international law, economic and financial governance, migration movements, energy and the climate, health and the environment, agriculture and food.

The first edition of WPC was held in October 2008 in Evian, France.

LAGOS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Jean Ping, the chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU), is warning that the crisis in Guinea is in a very dangerous situation.

Ping issued the warning on Friday in the Nigerian capital Abuja at a dinner hosted by Nigeria's Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe, noting that the rest of the world is looking forward to how the AU will take measures to resolve the Guinean crisis.

"The situation in Guinea is very unsafe," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying.

He said the AU had adopted many resolutions on Guinea before the killing of more than 120 demonstrators by Guinean soldiers.

"The AU had given an ultimatum to the Capt. Dadi Camara-led military junta to go back to their previous commitment; otherwise sanctions will be imposed on them," he said.

"The ultimatum ended on Oct. 17, the exact day the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) took its decision on Guinea," he added.

Ping, who lauded the West African bloc ECOWAS for its decision on Guinea, stressed that the AU must give a strong support to ECOWAS.

"This will show the rest of the world that we (AU) are not compromising a situation where women were raped and innocent people killed," he said.

"It is not acceptable to present that type of image of Africa to the rest of the world," he added.

Ping, a Gabonese diplomat and politician, was elected into office on April 28, 2008.

29 Oct 2009
Somalia's President has escaped a surprise mortar attack shortly after his plane landed in Mogadishu's Aden Adde International airport.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was returning from an official visit to Yemen on Wednesday when Al-Shabaab insurgents fired mortars at his plane, witnesses told the Press TV correspondent.

"The insurgents fired several mortar shells towards the airport shortly after the plane landed, prompting a response from African Union peacekeeping troops," said Abdulkadir Barnamij, the President's public office manager.

At least five civilians were killed in the street battle that erupted between insurgents and AU troops at the capital's Maka Al- Mukarama road, which links the airport to the presidential palace, Villa Somalia.

Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa termed the situation in the Horn of African nation as one that is hopeless, blaming it on "foreign fingers."

"Somalia is a hopeless case. It is hopeless because of the situation in Somalia itself. There are a lot of foreign fingers there, and a lot of certain interests,” he told London-based Arab Media Watch on Wednesday.

He said the League would continue with the efforts to bring together the warring factions to settle the raging conflict in the war-torn country.


presstv

29 Oct 2009

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture is barred entry to Zimbabwe, where he was due to examine reports on the arrest and intimidation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party members.

"The immigration officials told us you are not allowed to go any further. It's a little bizarre because I do have a written invitation from the Prime Minister who wants to see me tomorrow at 10:00 am," Nowak told AFP on Wednesday.

Immigration officials refused to allow Nowak through, saying he had no security clearance.

Earlier on Monday, the Zimbabwe government said it has withdrawn its invitation for Nowak's eight-day mission.

Nowak was also invited in February by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to Harare after reports of widespread torture by Mugabe's security forces.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's ZANU-PF have recently been trading accusations.

ZANU-PF blames the MDC for the slow progress of the power-sharing government, saying Tsvangirai should appeal for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle by Western governments.

The UN human rights office has highlighted the urgency of the fact-finding mission, as MDC reports of members being arrested and intimidated by the ZANU-PF.

presstv

Armed villagers in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo have killed at least 47 policemen who were trying to intervene in ethnic clashes.

"They've been fighting over fishing ponds. We know that there were clashes. There was fighting with machetes and with hunting rifles, but at present we don't know how many dead there are," said Lambert Mende, DR Congo's information minister.

The fighting took place between residents of Iyele and Muzaya villages.

According to Col. Joly Limengo, the police inspector for Equateur province, some of the villagers were ex-combatants from rebel movements and others had been recently released from the army.

Authorities and police confirmed the violence had taken place but could not comment on the condition of the victims.

presstv

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza (C) speaks to journalists after casting his ballot.

Early results indicate that the ruling party of incumbent President Armando Guebuza is heading for a landslide victory in Mozambique elections.

The victory of the Frelimo party in Wednesday's presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections was widely expected.

The party has ruled over the southern African country since its independence from Portugal in 1975.

Out of the only 17 percent of votes counted, Guebuza has garnered 77 percent, the national elections commission announced late Thursday.

Should Guebuza win the election, he will secure his fourth term in office since the introduction of a multi-party democracy in 1994.

The party Renamo, led by Afonso Dhlakama, appears to be losing it status as the country's main opposition party to the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) in the parliamentary vote.

The MDM has claimed more votes than the Renamo, despite being barred from running in most of the electoral districts due to alleged irregularities in its candidates' registration documents.

According to figures announced by the national elections commission, the MDM is in second place, behind Frelimo in three of the four districts where it had been allowed to run.

presstv

30 Oct 2009

Somali pirates are demanding a ransom of $7 million to set free a British couple and $3.5 million for the release of a Greek ship they captured off the Somali coast.

The Chandler couple — Paul, 59, and Rachel, 55 — were sailing in their yacht the Lynn Rival last Friday when they were captured by pirates, according to Britain's Foreign Office.

A spokesman for the pirates in a taped voice released by the BBC said, "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them. We only need a little amount of seven million dollars".

The two Britons are thought to be held in a Singapore-flagged container ship called the Kota Wajar, which was seized by pirates two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the Somali pirates said on Thursday that they had agreed a ransom of $3.5 million for the release of Greek ship Ariana hijacked in May.

They said that they would release the ship once the ransom money is received.

The Ariana was seized on May 2 north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil with 24 Ukrainian crew aboard. The Maltese-flagged ship belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece.

presstv

LILONGWE (Reuters) - Slow donor inflows may affect Malawi's domestic borrowing targets for the 2009/10 fiscal year, and the government could borrow more than planned due to lower donor support, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo said on Monday.

Malawi's government plans to cut domestic borrowing in the current fiscal year by about 1.3 percent of gross domestic product from last year's 1.4 percent, but Kandodo said the target could be missed.

"On the expenditure side, we are well within the budget framework, however, we have experienced slow donor disbursements which may affect our domestic borrowing targets," he told Reuters in an interview.

In the last five years the southern African nation has managed to reduce domestic debt from 25 percent of GDP at the beginning of 2004 to 11.5 percent in September last year.

The International Monetary Fund last year advised the government to reduce domestic borrowing because it would crowd out the private sector and slow growth.

Malawi, which relies heavily on donor assistance for its development budget, expects about $578 million from donors this financial year, down from $642 million last year.

Donor inflows account for over 50 percent of the country's development budget.

Kandodo said he would still manage to contain inflation in single digits and that the economy would expand as forecast.