As militant groups in the Niger Delta respond to disarmament supervised by the Federal Government, there is strong indication that some unidentified groups are raising rebel squads in certain parts of the country.

This indication is heightened by the recent seizures of ammunition and gun training kits made by two commands of the Nigerian Customs Service.

The two commands, Apapa area one and the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT), at separate operations, intercepted containers containing ammunition of various calibers.

While disclosing the results of the command's anti-smuggling operation in Lagos, Customs area controller (CAC) of the Apapa Area one command, Akinade Adewuyi, said 21 containers amongst which was a 40-feet container containing 5,218 live ammunition of various calibers, books of instructions on arms practice among others, were seized.

The 40 feet container, which was declared as personal effects, turned out to contain ammunition and other household items during examination.

According to Adewuyi, who was newly posted to head the command after the former Olufemi Taylor, was promoted to the rank of assistant comptroller general, the items in the container included a carton of gun cleaning kit with accessories and chemicals, two boxes of gun assembling tools and a small bag of gun powder.

Others were reloading scales and other precision tools, 539 empty shells of various calibers, 5218 live ammunitions of various calibers, target practices accessories and books of instructions on arms practice among others.

"The irony of these seizures is that while government is doing every thing possible to ensure peace in the nation through amnesty to the militants and their subsequent surrender of their arms and ammunition, some people are busy importing unauthorised ammunition," Adewuyi declared.

The controller said that the container has been detained for contravention of Schedule 4 of the Common External Tariff pending further investigation, adding that the clearing agent and one other suspect have been arrested and are currently in detention and helping the Command in their investigations.

He said further that the suspects and the offending items will be handed over to the appropriate government agencies when "we conclude our own investigations."

The Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) Command intercepted a double barrel gun and 90 rounds of ammunition being smuggled into the country, even as it arrested one suspect believed to be an agent to the importer.

The weapons were hidden in a carton inside a 40-footer container at the SVD bonded terminal under the command.

Deputy Controller of Customs in charge of enforcement, Aliyu .T. Tukur, revealed that the two luxury cars ( a jeep and Honda) and other personal belongings, which are not contraband in the container but they have been detained because they were imported with the contraband consignment.

Tukur said the incident was reported to the customs headquarters and were directed to hand over the double barrel gun and the ammunition, as well as the case file to the port police for further investigation.

Receiving the items, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Port Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mohammed Jimoh, promised that the police would carry out a thorough investigation to ascertain the truth, noting that those found guilty would be charged to court for justice to take its course.

Other containers intercepted by Apapa Command were arrested through intelligence network which indicated that the consignee was trying to move the containers to Inland Container Depot Kano as Industrial Raw Material.
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On examination of four randomly selected containers, they were found to contain Saba premium grade vegetable cooking oil in 25 liter jerry cans. The consignment was imported from Singapore but the Product was manufactured in Malaysia.

Adewuyi said further "You will recall that importation of refined vegetable oil contravenes Section 5 Schedule 3 of the Common External Tariff 2008- 2012. The containers have since been seized and the suspects have been detained pending further investigations.

"It is indeed saddening to note that while citizens of other nations are working concertedly to tackle the global economic downturn, some unscrupulous Nigerians are busy importing vegetable oil from Malaysia who incidentally borrowed their palm kernel seeds from Nigeria in the '60s."

A leading Egyptian cleric, Mohammed Seyyed Tantawi, has banned face veils in the girls' classrooms and dormitories of al-Azhar University in Cairo.

The decision to ban the Egyptian teachers and students from wearing face veil came four days after Tantawi said that the face veil "has nothing to do with Islam."

He said on Thursday that his decision to impose a partial ban is based on a 1996 constitutional court ruling that granted education officials the right to regulate Islamic attire in schools. He also said the goal was to "spread trust, harmony ... and the correct understanding of religion among girls."

The majority of scholars say this trend is merely a custom that dates back to tribal, nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert before Islam.

The decision seems to be setting the stage for the government to ban the face veil in public institutions.

Al-Azhar University is a segregated school, and men and women's classrooms are separated.

Somalia's main rebel groups say recent fighting over strongholds in the country's south has ended following an agreement.

The agreement was signed between Al-Shabaab and Hizbul-Islam groups on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

“Today (Wednesday) we are, hereby, clearly and loudly informing our Muslim brothers that we have signed significant agreement with our brothers Hizbul-Islam,” Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, the head of Al-Shabaab's political affairs and regional relationship told reporters.

In the past two weeks, fighter of the two groups have clashed in the strategic southern port of Kismayo, 500 kilometers from Mogadishu, which was formerly shared by the two.

Sheikh Mohammed Ma'alim Ali, Hizbul-Islam's press secretary, confirmed the ceasefire, adding that a committee has been set up specifically to look into the causes of the disagreement in Kismayo.

The two groups joined forces against the new UN-backed government in Mogadishu, but remain poles apart in ideology. While Hizbul-Islam favors politics, Al-Shabaab seeks a strict interpretation of Islamic law across the nation.

Nigeria's leading anti-government militia has pledged to re-launch attacks on oil and gas projects 'soon.'

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) slammed an amnesty offer by President Umaru Yar'Adua, in a Wednesday statement, and promised renewed attacks on the oil installations after a three-month ceasefire, meant to restore peace in the southern oil-rich regions of Niger Delta.

The MEND guerrillas condemned the recent offer asking the fighters to lay down their arms and censured those who embraced the government disarmament proposal.

"Most of those who participated in this fraud were rented by the government in the hope that real militants would be persuaded to emerge," the militants said in their latest declaration.

The development comes in the aftermath of new government efforts to uproot militancy and help revive the teetering oil sector in Africa's largest producer of fossil fuels.

Instead, the group vowed fortified campaign against the government and said, "MEND considers this next phase of our struggle as the most critical," referring to the expiration of a government-brokered truce that will end next week.

"In this next phase, we will burn down all attacked installations and will no longer limit our attacks to the destruction of pipelines," MEND's statement read.

MEND launched an anti-government movement in late 2005 and has been vying for power via attacks on oil and gas plants.

Nigeria's central bank has estimated the damage inflicted on the oil and gas works by the group at about USD one billion per month.

Cairo will suspend its cooperation with France's Louvre Museum until it sends back stolen Pharaonic steles belonging to Egypt.

Louvre Museum bought the Egyptian steles in 1980 although French officials knew the artifacts were stolen.

Egyptian officials called on the Louvre Museum to return the country's stolen Pharaonic steles, AFP reported.

They are suspending all cooperation with the world's most visited museum until it returns stolen Pharaonic steles, said Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass.

“We made the decision to end any cooperation with the Louvre until they return the five steles,” Hawass said, adding that decision had been made two months ago.

Egypt's move will affect conferences organized with the museum, as well as work carried out by the Louvre on the Pharaonic necropolis of Saqqara, south of the capital Cairo.

One of the most wanted suspects in the Rwandan genocide, which left some 800,000 people dead, has been arrested in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Former intelligence chief Idelphonse Nizeyimana stands accused of organizing the killing of thousands of ethnic Tutsis — including the revered former queen during 100 days of slaughter in 1994.

Nizeyimana was arrested while travelling to Kenya through the Democratic Republic of Congo and was immediately flown to Arusha, Tanzania, to face trials in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ugandan police said Tuesday.

Officials in Tanzania are yet to confirm the arrest, but described Nizeyimana as one of their most wanted targets.

According to the tribunal, he is charged with setting up roadblocks where people carrying Tutsi ID cards were hacked to death with machetes, and helping draw up death lists of Tutsis.

He also allegedly ordered soldiers to kidnap a group of refugees, including 25 children and two priests from a convent, who were never to be seen again.

One of his units is believed to have killed Queen Rosalie Gicanda, widow of King Mutara III who died in mysterious circumstances in 1959 shortly before the Rwandan monarchy came to an end.

According to human rights reports, Hutu soldiers took the 80-year-old queen along with several other women from her house and shot her dead behind the national museum in the south-eastern town of Butare.

Two days later, the queen's mother was also murdered.

Most of the former Rwandan military and Interahamwe militia members responsible for the genocide fled to Rwanda's giant western neighbor, DR Congo, after Tutsi rebels came to power in July 1994 and ended the carnage.

Their presence in eastern Congo sparked a war and a humanitarian catastrophe that has killed at least 5.4 million people over the past decade.

Andry Rajoelina remained as president following power-sharing talks.
Madagascar's feuding political parties have reached an agreement on the top three posts in an interim government.

"We now have the three posts that were missing in Maputo," Ange Andrianarisoa, head of one of the four delegations at power-sharing talks, told reporters, referring to previous talks in Mozambique.

"The president is Andry Rajoelina, the vice-president is Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, and the prime minister is Eugene Mangalaza."

Rajoelina toppled Marc Ravalomanana in a coup in March, triggering months of political turmoil on the Indian Ocean island that is increasingly eyed by foreign investors for its oil, nickel, cobalt, gold and coal resources.

Foreign governments branded the political power grab by 35-year-old Rajoelina as unconstitutional while international key donors suspended their aid to Madagascar worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mangalaza, the man picked as prime minister on Tuesday, is close to former president Didier Ratsiraka but is considered politically neutral. He is a professor of social anthropology.

Libya has called for an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss a UN report that found Israel guilty of war crimes during its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Libya circulated a letter on Tuesday on behalf of the UN Arab group requesting an emergency meeting of the body to consider the report by the UN Human Rights Council's Gaza war commission, Libyan deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told AFP.

The independent fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone released a report last month mainly accusing Israel of committing war crimes, including deliberate targeting of civilians, during the three-week Gaza war.

Arab diplomats said the Security Council was to hold consultations on Wednesday to decide whether to hold a formal meeting on the Goldstone report.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council decided on Friday to delay until March a vote on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's non-cooperation with the investigation and pass on the report to the Security Council.

The decision was made under pressure from the United States, Israel's closest Middle East ally, the European Union and Russia and was welcomed by the Palestinian Authority delegation.

A Libyan UN envoy, Ahmed Gebreel, said his country, which currently has a Security Council seat, had requested a meeting 'because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it's too long to wait until March'.

A statement by the Palestinian observer mission at the United Nations said it fully supported the Libyan request for a Security Council meeting.

This is while the US has been taking advantage of its veto power in the Security Council to block any action or statement against Israel.

Armed men have assassinated a top Hizbul-Islam leader along with guards and two civilians shortly after the group made a pact with Al-Shabaab fighters.

At least eight people including five guards, a woman and a child lost their lives along with an unnamed Hizbul-Islam leader on Friday after unknown armed men sprayed their convoy with bullets in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The killing of the Hizbul-Islam member follows a recent agreement between Somalia's warring guerillas in which Al-Shabaab and Hizbul-Islam groups reportedly sealed a deal to unite in their anti-government campaign.

“Today (Wednesday) we are, hereby, clearly and loudly informing our Muslim brothers that we have signed a significant agreement with our brothers Hizbul-Islam,” Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, the head of Al-Shabaab's political affairs and regional relationship had earlier told reporters.

In the past two weeks, fighter of the two groups have clashed in the strategic southern port of Kismayo, 500 kilometers from Mogadishu, which was formerly shared by the two.

The two groups maintained differences in the activities, with Hizbul-Islam favoring politics and Al-Shabaab seeking an armed campaign in the nation.

Ugandan authorities have released Somalia's state minister of defense, Yusuf Mohamed Siad, after he was mistakenly detained overnight in the capital Kampala.

Siad's entry to Uganda by road from neighboring Kenya raised suspicions of security officials in the East African country, which is currently hosting a regional security meeting and is about to celebrate its independence day. Siad was supposed to enter Uganda by plane.

"He was released this morning (Wednesday). He was held comfortably through the night," said army spokesman Felix Kulayigye. "Once we realized who he was, he was not treated as a prisoner."

"We followed him up. After the arrest was made he was identified as a minister," he explained. "Certainly he should have come by air. He should have notified us and traveled as a visiting foreign official."

Asked whether Siad would be staying in Uganda or return home, Kulayigye said, "I don't know what his plans are, but he is now a free man."

Siad recently ditched a militant group to join the embattled UN-backed Somali transition government and is now the state minister for defense, a position that saw him going at loggerheads with his former allies.

Uganda has about 2,000 troops that make up the 5,100-strong African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is in charge of shoring up the fragile government in Mogadishu from powerful militants.

At least 20 al-Shabaab fighters have been killed in clashes with Hizbul Islam fighters in the suburban Afmadow Town located 120 kilometers to the south of Kismayo.

The clashes left dozens injured while 21 others, including an al-Shabaab commander, were captured in Afmadow.

Al-Shabaab fighters launched an attack on Afmadow near Kismayo on Tuesday morning, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Hizbul Islam fighters also blocked roads five kilometers south of the town.

Fighting between Hizbul Islam and al-Shabaab erupted last week over control of the key southern port of Kismayo, where al-Shabaab rulers established an administration independent of Hizbul Islam.

Both rival factions have been fighting jointly since May to topple the Somali interim government in the capital, Mogadishu.

Twelve people have died in a cholera epidemic in Tanzania, where the government is optimistic the situation will be brought under control soon.

Over the past seven days, 600 cases have been reported in the relatively large east African country, which has a population of around 37 million.

The Handeni district in the northeastern region of Tanga was hit the hardest, with 511 cases of cholera reported, the country's Health Ministry spokesman Nsachris Mwamaja told reporters on Monday.

He added that the government is doing everything within its power to contain the spread of the water-borne disease and treat patients by ensuring adequate supplies of medicine required.

Handeni District Commissioner Seif Mpembenwe said he was glad the situation was getting better and expected to see positive results by the end of the month.

Cholera can also be transmitted by water and food that has been in contact with sewage. It causes serious diarrhea and vomiting, leading to body dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time.

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NAIROBI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have released a Turkish vessel which was captured in July with 23 crew members aboard, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program, said the Istanbul-based cargo ship the MV Horizon-1 was set free by the pirates on Monday.

The vessel was hijacked in July in the Gulf of Aden.

The development came after pirates in the Horn of Africa country have hijacked a Spanish fishing boat in the dangerous waters of the Indian Ocean after a month of a lull of activity along the coast of the Horn of Africa nation, Mwangura confirmed on Friday.

The official said the 100-meter MS Alakrana was seized early Friday by armed gunmen with 36 crew members on board.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

An estimated 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast. Over 10 ships and 200 crew members are still held by Somali pirates.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world. About 25,000 ships use the channel south of Yemen, between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

06 Oct 2009

Somali pirates release a Turkish ship, hijacked almost three months ago, after receiving a ransom of 1.5 million dollars.

The bulk carrier, the Horizon-1, seized on July 8 with 23 crew members aboard, and carrying sulphate en route to Saudi Arabia from Jordan, was released on Monday, Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program confirmed.

"We accepted USD 1.5 million to release the Turkish ship," one of the pirates, who identified himself as Abshir, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"We delayed leaving because of accounting; we were sharing out the money. We disembarked from the ship this afternoon," he said.

This is while, Nilgun Yamaner, a lawyer for Horizon Shipping, told the Anatolia news agency that the amount of money paid in ransom was much higher than what was stated.

Yamaner, however, refused to disclose the amount citing security reasons. A lawyer for Horizon Shipping had earlier said that the pirates were demanding USD 20 million in ransom for the release of the ship, Today's Zaman reported.

Last Friday, after a month long lull, Somali pirates hijacked a Spanish tuna fishing vessel with 36 crew members in the Indian Ocean, some 360 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia.

Somali pirates continue to re-emerge despite a growing anti-piracy mission in the region, piling millions of dollars in ransoms paid to secure the release of ships seized in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

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KHARTOUM, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese parliament speaker threatened on Monday to table a bill on the referendum on the self determination of southern Sudan in case two major political partners failed to agree on the legislation.

Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir was referring to the differences between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) which runs the southern Sudan government.

Addressing the ninth session of the Sudanese parliament, al-Tahir said "the parliament has run out of patience as it is waiting for the political forces to agree on the points of difference."

The parliament, "in response to its duty in endorsing this bill during this last session, will be forced to table the bill if differences around it remain," he said.

"Guaranteeing the right of the southern Sudan sons to cast their votes in the referendum remains a duty on us and it should be fulfilled, no matter what the results were."

"The transitional constitution places on the national legislative council the responsibility of issuing this law to prepare the country for the referendum in 2011," the speaker said.

Chairperson of the SPLM parliamentary bloc Yassir Arman criticized al-Tahir's remarks, saying that the parliament does not have the right to endorse the referendum before the SPLM reaches an agreement with the NCP.

"If such a thing happens, it would be a serious violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Transitional Constitution," he told reporters.

Arman said the SPLM will make necessary responses to any move to pass a bill for the referendum that the SPLM disapproves, saying "the referendum law should be agreed on by the SPLM and the NCP."

The NCP and the SPLM differ on all essential points of the referendum law, notably on who has the right to vote. The NCP argues that all southern Sudanese people, wherever they are, have the right to vote and that this right should not be confined to the SPLM members.

Another difference is over the headquarters of the referendum commission. The NCP insists that the CPA stipulates that the commission is to be based in Khartoum, while the SPLM demands that a sub-office be established in southern Sudan to be responsible for the state offices.

The most serious rift, however, is over how the referendum is to be decided.

The NCP demands separation be decided by more than two thirds of the registered voters and that unity by a simple majority, while the SPLM insists both separation and unity should be decided by a simple majority.

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara said he bears 'no responsibility' for last week's bloodbath.

05 Oct 2009

The military leader of Guinea says he bears 'no responsibility' for last week's bloody crackdown on opposition protestors, in which over 150 people were killed.

While regretting the recent bloodbath, President Moussa Dadis Camara stressed Sunday that he was 'blameless' for the September 28 massacre at a stadium in the country's capital, Conakry.

"What happened cannot be disputed. But on whom should responsibility be put? It cannot be put on President Dadis... President Dadis was in his office," Camara told Radio France International in an interview, referring to himself in the third person.

The junta leader also added that it is 'dead wrong' to say he gave the order to fire on protesters, refuting allegations that his aide de camp, who is also his nephew, was among those commanding the deadly operation.

The recent flare of violence in the world's leading bauxite supplier has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Analysts believe that tensions in the war-scarred region might increase still further, as Guinea's January 31 presidential election draws near.

Camara, who seized power in the wake of a coup last December, has so far declined to say if he is planning on entering the presidential race, saying it would be 'inhuman' to comment so soon after the bloodshed.

The leader's comments come as the African Union threatens sanctions against his government, should he miss the appointed mid-October deadline to confirm that he will stay out of the election.

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One of Nigeria's key militant leaders in the volatile oil hub of the Niger Delta Ateke Tom who has also agreed to disarm.

05 Oct 2009

Another Nigerian militant leader has agreed to lay down his arms and halt fighting in the Niger Delta oil hub, under a government amnesty which expires Sunday.

Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as 'Tompolo', is the third and last known factional leader with links to Nigeria's main armed group, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to surrender.

"I and my people are accepting the amnesty offer and we are going to work with the President to achieve the dreams of this country," said the commander at a meeting with Nigerian President, Umaru Yar'Adua, on Sunday.

Before his acceptance of the amnesty, Tompolo was a militant leader in the Delta state, who commanded thousands of fighters and was in charge of main operations in that state.

According to Yar'Adua, the amnesty (which officially began on August 6 and ends on October 4), has opened up a new chapter for Nigerians.

"I pledge that we will do all within our power to ensure that the oil in the land and waters of the Niger Delta shall begin to be a source of blessing and not a curse to the people," the president said on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, two other prominent militant leaders, Ateke Tom and Farah Dagogo accepted the amnesty and agreed to lay down their arms.

Officials said militants, who give up their weapons by October would benefit from a rehabilitation program, including educational and training opportunities.

However, according to our correspondent in Nigeria, there are still pockets of militant groups left who have yet to accept the amnesty.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is responsible for attacks that have wreaked havoc on Africa's biggest energy industry for the last three years, has so far rejected the government deal, announcing that it has already replaced its former commanders.

MEND is, however, observing a ceasefire which expires on October 15 and has named a team of mediators to negotiate with the government on disarmament.


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05 Oct 2009

Sudan's semi-autonomous region in the south has blasted the central government for what it describes as the escalation of violence in the country.

The United Nations records suggest that the tribal cattle raids in the south are increasingly taking the form of organized crimes claiming 1,200 lives only this year.

The past three days have seen the killing of at least 23 people in the marshy Jonglei state in the south.

"President Salva Kiir held a press conference and blamed the Sudanese army for that action in Jonglei by forming militia groups and giving them orders to attack citizens," said Atem Simon, a communications officer for Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) party that has claimed autonomy in the south.

"He said ... there is no doubt that these arms are coming from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)," Simon told Reuters.

Sudan's central government denies claims by the south that it is provoking violence between the north and south.

Sudan blames the violence on the rebels that declared war on the country on December 23.


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05 Oct 2009

There is intense rivalry between armed groups to control Kismayo.
Heavy fighting between al-Shabaab fighters and Hizbul-Islam forces on the outskirts of Kismayo, in Somalia, have left 11 civilians dead and scores injured.

The fighting erupted 60 kilometers southeast of Kismayo late on Sunday and is reportedly still ongoing in a region called Jiijo Mahaad, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The leader of al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, and his counterpart in Hizbul-Islam, Sheikh Hassan Dahir, met for a second time behind closed doors near the town of Afgoye to resolve the deadlock.

The two leaders departed the meeting without a compromise.

Al-AShabaab has given Hizbul-Islam seven days to leave Kismayo.

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Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (file photo)

DAKAR, 5 October 2009 (IRIN) - West Africa ranks third after Southern Africa and North Africa on the 2009 Mo Ibrahim index of African governance assessing governance across the continent's five regions, spanning 53 countries.

The index, released on 5 October, assesses performance on safety of populations and the rule of law, participation in political processes and human rights, sustainable economic opportunities and human development in each country.

Cape Verde, ranked second overall, is the highest-scoring West African country. Liberia’s score has increased the most in West Africa since 2005. “Its score is a reflection of the high participation…in its post-conflict political process,” Mo Ibrahim Foundation head of research, Hania Farhan, told IRIN. “But Liberia is still brought down by poor human development indicators, having made little progress on education,” she added.

Guinea fell substantially in the safety and rule of law category – “a direct reflection of the shift in power to the junta,” according to Farhan, with personal safety dropping sgnificantly.

Mauritania, which saw a military coup in August, also scored low on personal safety, Farhan said.

The index was created in recognition of the need for a robust tool for civil society to track government performance in Africa.

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