US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson talks to the media on Oct. 26 at the US ambassador's residence in Nairobi.

The United States has revoked the visa of a senior Kenyan government official whom it considers to be an obstacle to key reforms.

On Monday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson described the official as being too influential, adding that he had “obstructed the reform process, failed to end the cycle of impunity, and has been an obstacle in the fight against corruption.”

Although he did not name the official, he hinted that he has been in government service for more than 20 years and added that the US is considering similar action against three other senior officials, the Press TV correspondent in Nairobi reported on Monday.

“President Obama's position is clear. We will maintain and steadily increase pressure for implementation and we will not do business as usual with those who do not support reform or who support violence,” Carson stated.

A month earlier, Washington issued a list of 15 top Kenyan government officials, including cabinet ministers, members of parliament, permanent secretaries, and other prominent personalities, whom it accused of blocking the implementation of the country's long-awaited reform agenda.

Kenya, a vital ally of US policy in the East Africa region, has been under pressure ever since the formation of the coalition government more than one and a half years ago after the post-election violence, which claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people.

presstv

TUNIS (Reuters) - President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has won a fifth term with 89.62 percent of the vote in Tunisia's presidential election, officials announced on Monday.

One opposition party called Sunday's vote a missed opportunity to make the North African country more democratic, echoing accusations by international human rights groups that the campaign took place in an atmosphere of repression.

Ben Ali, who is 73 and has been in power for 22 years, has rejected those allegations and warned that anyone spreading lies to damage the country's image will be prosecuted.

"It is a matter of pride that the results have confirmed the people's support for President Ben Ali and their trust in him," Interior Minister Rafik Bel Haj Kacem, who oversaw the election, told a news conference at his ministry.

He was interrupted several times by female ministry employees clapping, ululating, and shouting "Long live Ben Ali!"

Many voters credit the president with turning Tunisia, which attracts millions of foreign tourists each summer, into a stable and relatively prosperous country in a region that suffers from poverty and political turmoil.

His winning margin was down slightly compared with the 94.4 percent he received in the last election five years ago, a dip seen in Tunis as possibly helping to deflect foreign criticism that the latest race was tilted in his favour.

Ben Ali has established Tunisia as a moderate voice in the Arab world and Western governments view it as a bulwark against Islamist extremism -- though some have reservations about its record on democracy.

"MEANINGLESS VOTE"

Tunisia's most prominent opposition figures did not take part in the election. Two of Ben Ali's challengers on the ballot rarely criticise the president and the third acknowledged during the campaign that he could not win.

"The regime has missed another opportunity to carry out a democratic transition in Tunisia," said Rachid Kechana, deputy Secretary-General of the opposition PDP party, which boycotted the election.

"The election was meaningless and the results confirm that," he told Reuters.

Tunisia is especially sensitive to criticism of its democracy record because it is expected to apply to the European Union next year for "advanced status" -- which could give it preferential trade terms and boost its international standing.

The Tunisian president came to power in 1987 when doctors declared his predecessor, Habib Bourguiba, unfit to rule after more than 30 years in power.

Almost all voters who spoke to Reuters reporters on polling day said they had backed Ben Ali.

"He is the saviour of our country," said 50-year-old Nejia Azouzi as she cast her ballot in the capital on Sunday.

Ben Ali's RCD ruling party won 161 seats in the 214-seat parliament in a legislative vote that was held simultaneously on Sunday, officials said.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States has banned a senior Kenyan government official from visiting the country and may slap similar travel bans on three more people, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson said on Monday.

Carson sent letters to 15 prominent Kenyans in September, threatening them with travel bans for blocking political reforms agreed after last year's post-election violence that killed at least 1,300 people.

The move sparked a bitter diplomatic row with President Mwai Kibaki sending a protest note to U.S. President Barack Obama.

The spat was cited as a factor weighing on the Kenyan shilling because it risked hitting the monetary support Kenya receives from its development partners.

"The U.S. government has taken the decision to revoke the visa of a senior Kenyan government official who has been obstructive in the fight against corruption," said Carson.

He declined to name the person, telling reporters just that he was a senior government official "of influence".

"We are considering similar action with three other government officials," Carson told reporters in Nairobi.

Kenya's government spokesman had no immediate comment.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian Senate committee members want additional time to finalise controversial legislation that would overhaul Africa's biggest oil and gas sector, a senior lawmaker said on Monday.

The OPEC member wants to drastically change its oil sector with legislation to restructure state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into a profit-driven firm like those in Brazil, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

But foreign oil companies in Nigeria have warned the plans contained in the Petroleum Industry Bill could threaten billions of dollars of investment if they go ahead in their current form.

A joint Senate committee was expected to send a final version of the nearly 1,000-page bill to the full Senate earlier this month, but lawmakers said they needed more time.

"The joint committee will certainly request the Senate for an extension of time. At least two weeks to tidy it up and submit the report," a senior senator told Reuters.

"The main issues are the fiscal regimes, like taxes and such," said the senator, who asked not to be named.

The far-reaching bill, which has been in planning in some form for more than a decade, has been promoted by the presidency as the answer to problems including funding shortfalls, domestic gas shortages and budget-debilitating fuel subsidies.

In its present draft, the legislation could allow the government to renegotiate old contracts, impose higher costs on oil companies and retake acreage that firms have yet to explore.

The bill could also contain a provision, supported by President Umaru Yar'Adua, to provide 10 percent of Nigeria's oil joint ventures to the Niger Delta. The plan could translate into hundreds of millions of dollars each year in cash benefits for impoverished residents in the oil-producing region.

It is not clear whether Yar'Adua will get enough political support from non-oil states, which represent the vast majority of Nigeria, to pass the bill through parliament.

LILONGWE (Reuters) - U.S. pop star Madonna launched the construction of a multi-million dollar girls' school she is building in Malawi on Monday and pledged to build similar schools in other countries if the project succeeds.

The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls -- in Chinkhota village about 15 kilometres outside the capital Lilongwe -- is expected to be completed in two years and will admit 500 girls from the small southern African country's 28 districts.

The construction is expected to cost $15 million.

"Growing up in a privileged life, I took education for granted...but coming to Malawi has taught me a lot of things and (I have) learnt to appreciate what life gives," Madonna said.

The singer, who has adopted two children from Malawi, said she wanted to give opportunities to underprivileged young girls.

"I realised how much they deserve to be educated and so for me the best thing I could do was to build a school, a unique school that will create future female leaders, scientists, lawyers, doctors and if this school is successful it will be used as a model to replicate it in other countries," she said.

An AIDS epidemic has left over a million children orphaned in Malawi, an impoverished country of 13 million people.

Malawi's government came under fire after Madonna adopted a 13-month-old boy, David Banda, in 2006, with critics accusing it of giving her special treatment by skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children.

In June this year, Malawi's Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling made in April which said Madonna could not adopt a four-year girl -- Mercy James -- because the singer was not a resident of the country.

Oct 26, 2009

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed Special Court rejected the appeals of three former rebel commanders on Monday, upholding jail terms of up to 52 years imposed for crimes during the country's 1991-2002 civil war.

Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, the most senior surviving members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) whose uprising sparked the conflict, were sentenced in April after earlier being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Their convictions included recruiting child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers and forced marriages.

"Today's appeals judgment is a final condemnation of one of the most brutal and notorious rebel groups in modern times," acting prosecutor Joseph Kamara said.

"With the end of this trial there is now a final recognition of their crimes, and there is a strong measure of justice and accountability for their victims," he said in a statement.

The dismissal of the appeal leaves Charles Taylor, the former president of neighbouring Liberia, as the only remaining indictee of the Freetown-based court.

Taylor, whose trial is being held in The Hague for security reasons, is accused of stoking Sierra Leone's conflict in exchange for diamonds from the east of the country.

The war was characterised by bands of rebels, including drug-addled child soldiers, killing, raping and mutiliating civilians.

"During the Sierra Leone civil war it was more dangerous to be a civilian than a soldier," Kamara said.

Oct 26, 2009
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's opposition parties walked out of parliament on Monday after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's party refused to back down over its plans to allow the intelligence service wide powers, parliamentarians said.

The powerful security forces were blamed by opponents for mass torture and murder during the north-south civil war.

Sudan acknowledges some abuses by security forces but says it investigates cases of torture and killings.

A 2005 peace deal to end the north-south conflict included a new democratic constitution limiting the powers of the security service to gathering intelligence.

Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) tabled a National Security Forces law in parliament which would allow the intelligence service to retain widespread powers of arrest and search.

Analysts say Sudan's national security and intelligence forces are almost as powerful as the army, controlling a myriad of militias and facing little accountability for their actions.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which entered into coalition government after signing the 2005 peace deal, and opposition parties have described the NCP's proposals as unconstitutional.

Both sides have launched media campaigns to push their point of view and opposition parties say they will boycott elections due in less than six months if laws are not amended in line with the new constitution.

Farouq Abu Eissa, a member of the opposition alliance, said: "It would not be acceptable to pass this law with only the northerners present," before his people left the session on Monday.[/font]

Africans living in the United States are twice as likely to graduate from college as the average American.

These African students often come from families who value education as a way to get on in life and place a high value on working and studying hard.

Sara Tsegaye, a straight-A student at UCLA, is one example of that success. Her parents fled Ethiopia in the late 1980s, first to Sudan and then, when Sara was one year old, they moved to San Jose, California.

Sara’s father works on a mobile ice cream truck in San Jose and her mother used to be a factory worker before she got laid off.

“We manage to pay for school because I’ve been working since I was 11,” Sara told Reuters Africa Journal. “I’ve been working with my dad on his ice cream truck, he’s been paying me and I’ve been saving the money. Also I had two jobs in high school and I saved up a lot of money. I understand the value of money.”

Sara wants to work with an NGO or a non-profit organisation after she graduates. She wants to travel and she wants to make a difference in the world. Other African students say they want to go home once they get a bit of experience in their careers.

But Africa is suffering from a massive brain drain just now and it’s questionable whether enough of those highly motivated students from America will return home in large enough numbers to really make a difference.

reuters

Oct 26, 2009

CAIRO (Reuters) - Commercial International Bank (CIB) said on Monday that Egypt could be approaching a "breakthrough" in consumer banking demand within five years and that the bank was expanding its capacity to capitalise on it.

CIB Chairman Hisham Ezz al-Arab, said that Egypt's biggest private bank by assets would focus on organic growth, not acquisitions for now, as it expanded its modest retail business and met renewed corporate demand for borrowing.

CIB, which has long focussed on corporate customers, has been building up its retail business, although consumer lending still makes up only about 10 percent of total assets, reported as 63 billion Egyptian pounds as of June 30.

Household debt was equivalent to just 10 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product, while some comparable emerging markets which had already been through an expansion in retail banking had levels of 40 to 60 percent, Ezz al-Arab said.

"If the breakthrough happens today, in three to five years' time we could have 20 percent. But it takes time," he said.

"The natural progression that happened in other emerging markets and in mature markets in consumer lending is happening here," he said, adding that the bank was investing in technology and training to have new retail processes in place by late 2010.

Analysts say Egypt, with 77 million people and a cash-dominated economy, is ripe for expanding retail banking.

Ezz al-Arab said Egypt had very few targets for acquisition on which it was worth spending his bank's limited resources.

Oct 26, 2009
LONDON/RABAT (Reuters) - Shokri Ghanem has been reinstated as chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., an unexpected return to the top oil post in the OPEC member-nation only weeks after he left the position.

"Reinstated, and no other comment," Ghanem told Reuters on Monday. He left the post in September for reasons that were never made clear and had been replaced provisionally with Ali Seghir Mohamed Saleh.

The reappointment of Ghanem, 67, will be welcomed by investors in the oil industry of Libya, home to Africa's largest reserves, analysts said. Oil firms have viewed Ghanem as a reliable partner in an often unpredictable country.

"My gut feeling is this is a rebalancing over the vital oil sector to make sure there are more positive elements from the companies' and investors' point of view," said Samuel Ciszuk of IHS Global Insight.

"They got a lot of negative feedback from the recent changes."

A statement on the NOC website made it clear that Ghanem is backed by Saif al Islam, the powerful son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"Doctor Engineer Saif al Islam Muammar Gaddafi visited NOC headquarters on Sunday when he held a meeting with (Prime Minister) Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi and Shokri Ghanem, Chairman of NOC, during which they discussed issues related to oil sector," it said.

Ghanem's reappointment was unexpected. Usually the head of Libya's delegation to meetings of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, he had missed the group's last conference in September.[/font]

Oct 26, 2009

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan is concerned about an inflationary trend and is trying to move away from its dependency on oil exports after the global financial crisis hit Africa's largest country hard, the central bank governor said on Monday.

Sabir Mohammad al-Hassan told Reuters in an interview that growth may be impacted by a poor harvest this year but was expected to reach 5.5 - 6 percent in 2010, just higher than 5.5 percent in 2009.

He also said it was possible Washington could forgive Sudan's around $30 billion external debt as an incentive for implementing a north-south peace deal.

"We are concerned really about these inflationary pressures because now it is a trend when inflation continues to rise for two, three, four months consecutively," he said.

"Inflation is now...about 11 percent last month."

Sudan's economy has been wracked by multiple civil wars but a 2005 north-south peace deal brought in new foreign investment mostly from Asia and the Gulf, powering economic growth averaging 9 percent a year.

Hassan said the massive fall in oil prices, which accounts for 50 percent of government revenue, meant Khartoum had to draw on its foreign reserves and other areas to meet a shortfall in the budget and in foreign currency.

Sudan's oil minister told Reuters on Sunday that production fell short of estimates at 470,000 barrels per day in 2008/09.

Oct 26, 2009

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African opposition party COPE accused the government on Monday of bowing to pressure from left-leaning unions and shifting economic policy towards more socialist agendas.

Mvume Dandala, parliamentary leader of the Congress of the People, formed by dissident members of the African National Congress (ANC) last year, said COPE was worried about recent changes by President Jacob Zuma to his cabinet structure.

The party, which won 7.42 percent of votes in April's general election and has 30 seats in South Africa's 400-seat parliament, was also concerned about the resignation of a senior policy maker from government and the end of central bank Governor Tito Mboweni's contract, Dandala said.

"The discontinuation of Tito Mboweni's contract as Reserve Bank governor and the resignation of the head of government's policy, Joel Netshitenze, is a growing concern," Dandala said in a statement.

"And it is another indication of this continuing trend by the alliance partners to suffocate the free-market system and replace it with socialism."

The resignation of Netshitenzhe, an architect of policy since the end of apartheid, added to investor concerns that Zuma may be bowing to labour and communists, who are allied with the ANC and helped bring him to power.

Zuma announced new cabinet clusters last week, tasked with planning and decision-making, leaving out former finance minister Trevor Manuel -- who was widely respected by markets and now heads a new planning commission -- after pressure from influential unions and the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Manuel, who steered South Africa's economy through its longest period of recorded growth, is loathed by powerful unions, who saw him as a champion of business-friendly economic policies under former President Thabo Mbeki.

"We are alarmed that Trevor Manuel has been edged out of the economic planning cluster," Dandala told reporters at a media briefing.

South African opposition parties have long criticised the ANC for being swayed by leftist allies on policy decisions.

Zuma, in office since May, has been under pressure from COSATU and the SACP to move economic policy to the left to help the millions of poor people in Africa's biggest economy.

They want more government spending on welfare and job creation, lower taxes for the poor and for the central bank to be brought under state control.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland advised its citizens on Monday not to travel to Libya after the North African country failed to free two Swiss businessmen held there since last year.

The Swiss foreign ministry said in a travel advisory published on its website that political tension which started after the arrest of the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Geneva last year was continuing.

"The Libyan authorities are reacting with measures against Swiss persons and firms in Libya, for example the arrest of Swiss citizens and the obstruction of business," it said.

The ministry advised against all travel to Libya, adding that the risk of kidnapping was very high due to armed gangs and Islamist militants who operated in large parts of the Sahara.

The Swiss say Gaddafi promised to free the businessmen after meeting Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month.

The two men are Max Goeldi, head of the Tripoli unit of the Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering conglomerate ABB, and a construction firm employee identified as Rachid Hamdani in Swiss media.

They have been prevented from leaving Libya since July 2008, days after Swiss police arrested Hannibal Gaddafi on charges, later dropped, of beating and mistreating two domestic employees while staying in Geneva.

ABB said on Friday it had not heard from Goeldi for five weeks and did not know where he was. ABB called on the Swiss and Libyan governments to resolve the situation swiftly.

After Hannibal Gaddafi and his pregnant wife Aline were arrested in a Geneva hotel, Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrew more than $5 billion in assets from Swiss banks.

The Geneva prosecutor dropped the case last year when the plaintiffs withdrew their formal complaint after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the Gaddafis.

[/font]

GENEVA (Reuters) - All African economies bar South Africa will grow this year because of China's demand for their raw materials, a leading South African analyst said on Monday.

Out of 53 African states only the continent's biggest economy, South Africa, will not grow this year, Martyn Davies, executive director of Stellenbosch University's Centre for Chinese Studies, told a conference.

"Chinese demand is underpinning African growth," he told the conference on China, organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

Africa is already exporting 1 million barrels per day of oil to China, accounting for 25 percent of China's foreign energy supplies, said Davies, who is also chief executive of emerging market investment strategist Frontier Advisory.

These links are based on strong support by African leaders for Chinese investment in extractive industries -- in contrast to objections raised to Chinese investment in sensitive sectors in developed countries, he said.

China's engagement in Africa -- where it is the biggest trading partner -- reflects both state enterprises benefiting from preferential capital from state banks, and private entrepreneurs, of whom around 1 million may now be in Africa, he said.

China's export prowess has so far failed to provoke much protectionism in Africa, except, again, in South Africa, where sensitive labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and light industry compete with Chinese firms.

Chinese imports from Africa come in at an average tariff of 0.64 percent -- almost the duty-free level sought by developing countries in rich markets -- because of China's eagerness to facilitate imports of African energy and commodities.

Conversely, China faces considerable protectionist sentiment outside Africa, said Simon Evenett co-director of St Gallen University's Centre for Economic Policy Research.

According to Global Trade Alert, a website run by academics that Evenett co-founded, China is now the most targeted country for trade measures such as anti-dumping duties and safeguards, a trend likely to increase as the global economy and international trade recover, Evenett told the conference.

"They can expect to be targeted even more. Now that world trade flows are increasing is perversely going to make it easier to demonstrate that Chinese imports are causing injury," he said.[/font]

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's political crisis deepened on Monday after the first meeting between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai since the prime minister's MDC party boycotted the unity government, an MDC spokesman said.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the Movement for Democratic Change and Mugabe's ZANU-PF were "worlds apart" after the two leaders met to try to resolve the crisis.

"If they (Mugabe and his ZANU-PF) are facing west we are facing east," Chamisa said.

The crisis hit the fragile coalition earlier this month when the MDC said it would stop attending cabinet meetings in protest against the arrest of one of its senior officials and Mugabe's refusal fully to implement a political agreement.

Mugabe and his old foe Tsvangirai entered the unity government after disputed elections left the impoverished African state in a stalemate and in danger of serious violence.

¦Difficulties in implementing their agreement have delayed efforts to secure billions of dollars from Western donors, money that is crucial for Zimbabwe's economic recovery.

Chamisa said the MDC would now wait for the outcome of mediation by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and if this failed to end the deadlock the party would start to prepare for elections.

"If that (mediation) fails, unfortunately we have to start to prepare for elections because there is no government without the GPA (Global Political Agreement)," Chamisa told Reuters.

"The elections have to be managed by credible institutions."
[/font]

25 Oct 2009

The US military says it has deployed its drones capable of carrying missiles to patrol waters off Somalia in a move to clamp down on piracy.

The deputy commander for the US Africa Command, Vice Adm. Robert Moeller, said unmanned planes called MQ-9 Reapers were stationed on the island nation of Seychelles.

The drones are being deployed to patrol the Indian Ocean in search of pirates, the commander said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The patrols began this week, according to military officials.

The drones are capable of carrying a dozen guided bombs and missiles. They would not immediately be fitted with weaponry, but military officials did not rule out doing so in the future.

Moeller said the aircraft would primarily be used against pirates, adding that they could also be used for other missions.

Washington says the deployment is a response to the rising piracy in a country that is without an effective government since the overthrow of the last military rule under Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

Earlier reports had said that US operatives were expected to fly unmanned surveillance aircrafts from American ships off its coast to spy on the Somali pirates.

The developments come as the White House seeks grounds to establish a major military presence in Africa.

Peter Chalk, an expert on piracy at the Washington-based RAND Corp., said he believed the new drones would be "largely irrelevant" in bringing an end to the lawlessness because problems with Somalia's government need to be addressed first. Otherwise, piracy will persist, he added.

presstv

25 Oct 2009

Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have attacked a camp for Darfur displaced persons in south Sudan, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

A Sudanese army spokesman confirmed on Saturday that the attack happened in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, which has a long border with Darfur.

"The attack happened on the 21st (of October) ... targeting the displaced people from Darfur in a camp," the Reuters news agency quoted Kuol Diem Kuol as saying.

Military sources said three police guarding the camp and two Darfuris were killed in the attack.

The attackers from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also abducted a number of people in the region during the ambush.

The LRA rebels, in desperate need of supplies, often raid southern Sudanese border villages.

The LRA became active in northern Uganda in 1988 and is categorized as one of the most brutal guerrilla movements in the world.

It is currently engaged in an armed rebellion against Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and some other African governments in what is now one of Africa's longest-running conflicts.

The movement, led by its ruthless leader Joseph Kony, is spread out in Congo, south Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

presstv

26 October 2009

Bulawayo — Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu yesterday declared his interest in the vacant Vice President's post.

After rumours had linked him to the post for about a month, Minister Mpofu broke his silence and said people should be allowed to choose the party's next Vice President.

Minister Mpofu said he was prepared to take the vacant Zanu-PF Vice President's post if elected by the people.

He becomes the fourth party cadre to openly declare his interest after Cdes Naison Ndlovu, Cain Mathema and Ambrose Mutinhiri.

National chairman Cde John Nkomo had already been proposed as the candidate of choice by Bulawayo Province.

Speaking at Zanu-PF election victory celebrations in Nyamandlovu, Minister Mpofu said those interested in the post should stop campaigning through the media and let the people decide who they wanted to be their leader.

"Some of the candidates who are vying for the post have never won a ward in the constituencies. They do not have the support of their wives while at the same time they want to be elected to be the Vice President of the country.

"As for me, I'm quiet. I do not speak to anyone but if the people give me the mandate to be the Vice President I will never let them down, I will take the post," he said.

Minister Mpofu is also the Member of the House of Assembly for Umguza.

"We are looking at the future of the country. People should be given the chance to elect an individual who represents the future and not those who want to benefit by campaigning through the media when they know that they do not have the support of the people."

Minister Mpofu said the essence of democracy was competition, hence if given the chance he would show all the people vying for the position that he represented the people.

"Let those who are interested in the post let the people decide who they want and see who will oppose me.

"What I know is that when the people are given a chance to choose the leader they want they do not stand a chance against me," he said.

Minister Mpofu said the people should be given the chance to elect a leader who would serve their interests.

"If we choose a candidate that does not have the support of the people who will he be speaking for?

"My record proves that I represent the people of this region.

"I was the only one in the region to be voted (for) by many people," said Minister Mpofu.

He castigated those who said the Vice President should be imposed through party structures.

"The party should not impose the person they want to be the leader. As for me I'm not

interested in impositions. If the post is given to me by the party I will not take it but if the people vote for me I will take it," he said.

Minister Mpofu said there was no substitute for democracy.

The post of Vice President and party Second Secretary fell vacant in August after the death of founding nationalist Cde Joseph Msika.

Since then, Senate President Cde Ndlovu, Bulawayo Metropolitan Governor Cde Mathema and former Youth Minister and Zipra chief of staff Cde Mutinhiri have all expressed their interest in the post.

National chairman Cde Nkomo has refused to comment on the issue saying it would be wrong to do so because one of the provinces had nominated him and this consequently made him an interested party.

allafrica

26 October 2009

Nairobi — The refugee situation in East Africa has reached alarming levels and the United Nations is urging members countries to adopt the Tanzanian formula of integration.

Even though there is no armed conflict in East Africa at the moment, there are about 880,000 refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

This is because of civil war in Burundi prior to the peace talks, strife in Somalia and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, war between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the post election violence in Kenya.

The latest report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says people fleeing their home countries cite poor human rights record, discrimination on account of ethnicity, persecution for political beliefs, lack of sound democratic ideals, poor governance and intolerance to dissent.

Recently, Tanzania gave citizenship to 3,568 of 160,000 Burundi refugees who have lived in the country for over three decades.

Other EAC member states are being asked to emulate this example and absorb refugees who are not willing to return to their countries of origin, but who have useful skills.

Judith Basutama/IRIN

Refugees in Burundi collecting water

Kenya's hands could be tied by its immigration laws, even though top government officials say they are considering granting citizenship to refugees born in the country and those who have lived there for more than 20 years.

Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang' recently told The EastAfrican that it is up to parliament to change the laws governing refugees.

He said the main problem is that some of the countries the refugees fled are still in active combat.

Tanzania and Rwanda are the only countries without IDPs.

According to George Kuchio, senior protection officer of UNHCR Uganda, EAC member states, in the spirit of the regional integration, should expedite their protocols on freedom of movement, not just for goods and services.

The countries, however, during negotiations on the Common Market, failed to reach a consensus on automatic citizenship of long staying individuals.

They instead resolved that national laws should apply. But according to Beatrice Kiraso, deputy EAC secretary general in charge of political federation, the EAC is working on a framework that will be used to address the plight of refugees and IDPs.

There are 281,592 refugees from Burundi in various EAC states, 21,093 in Burundi and 100,000 IDPs.

There are 9,688 refugees from Kenya, 320,605 in Kenya and 404, 000 IDPs. Uganda has 162,132 refugees in the country and 7,548 outside and 853,000 IDPs.

Tanzania has 1,270 refugees outside the country (mainly those who fled violence in Zanzibar), 321,090 in the country (mainly from Burundi) and zero IDPs. Rwanda has 72,530 outside, 55,062 in the country and zero IDPs.

The UNHCR says it is unable to solve the refugee problem on its own, given that it does not have the mandate to deal with IDPs, whose protection is the responsibility of the host country.

But through its cluster approach. UNHCR assists governments to take care of IDPs and end situations of displacement.

The organisation has helped repatriate over 50,000 refugees to Burundi, and over 100,000 to the southern Sudan region.

According to the 2006 statistics, the total number of people uprooted worldwide stood at 42 million.

Today, Africa hosts 10.5 million displaced people.

allafrica

Lagos — GOVERNOR of the Central Bank, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, has said that no Nigerian has been mentioned in relation to the $10 million polymer bribery scandal.

He said when the money is eventually traced to Nigeria or to a Nigerian, he would expect the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, to swing into action.

Sanusi added that many media houses and other Nigerians have called to ask for CBN's position, wanting him to confirm that the said scam took place.

He said at this time when some people are seeking political office, some are looking for what to use against their opponents.

The CBN Governor said no Nigerian has so far been named or accused of taking the said bribe, stressing that no official reaction has come either from CBN or the Federal Government.

Sanusi declared this at a session with Vanguard Editors, in Lagos last Thursday.

According to him, investigations are ongoing and that until names are mentioned, there is nothing any government official can do about it.

He dispelled speculations by some international and local media reports that he has asked the Australian Central Bank to investigate the company that supplied Nigeria the polymer notes and disclose the names of Nigerians that were allegedly bribed by the company.

According to him: "Concerning the polymer issue, I cannot add anything to what I have said about the issue.

"There is a story that says that there is an investigation being carried out on an Australian company, that gave $10 million bribe in connection with the contract for printing polymer notes in Nigeria.

"None of the people mentioned so far, among the recipients of the bribe, are Nigerians. Nobody has said that the bribe was given to somebody in CBN. It said it was given to some top government and political officials in Nigeria.

"As far as I am concerned, at this level, I place them on the same level of accusation that the Governor of the CBN is pursuing a Northern agenda. When they begin to give names, when they trace the money to Nigeria or to a Nigerian, I would expect EFCC to swing into action.

"As I speak to you, to the best of my knowledge, not a single Nigerian has been named in the issue. Is it a true story? I do not know. I think that as they continue tracing the money, they would end up finding where it went."

The immediate past Governor of the apex bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, had in an interview with Vanguard in 2006, when CBN was planning to introduce the polymer notes, said: "We are planning or not planning is not the word. The whole issue of this currency policy is evolving include the clean note policy.

"That is part of the master-plan that we are planning. It links also to the design, to the restructure that we mean. The polymer technology is new, and is not being used widely around the world.

"People who advocated the idea do think that is the best thing that has happened while those against it think it is the most horrible thing.

"We, at CBN, are open to examine our actions, but will be guided by what is in the best interest of Nigerians.

"For example, I want to get down to what you said about security features.

"Most people think that the polymer is more difficult to counterfeit than the paper, and that the major reason people are moving to the polymer is because of the security.

"In Chile, they launched it last week, and was the major argument that they had.

"People say the marks can washout because they are plastic. We are open. We are going to have presentations from the various groups.

"If we have any cause to change one side or the other, we will also subject it to serious scrutinising in terms of technology and compatibility with the master-plan that we are developing for the mint.

"The cost-benefit analysis will also be considered. The major reason people call for the polymer is that it is durable, it is plastic and it can last for an average of three to nine years or more. It is also more expensive to print.

"For us, it is going to be another cost-benefit analysis and also given the technology that we have.

"It will cost us a lot of money to begin to redo them. We have spent quite a lot of money to do it better. In short, we are open to proposals but we have to make the best decision for Nigeria.".

Media reports had it that a Reserve Bank of Australia company is under Federal Police investigation for allegedly bribing Nigerian officials to win a bank-note deal in the most serious development yet in the cash-for-contracts scandal.

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