Sep 22, 2009

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. raid in Somalia that killed a senior al Qaeda militant last week raises questions about "lone ranger behavior" by the United States, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Monday.

U.S. special forces killed Kenya-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, 28, who was wanted for a hotel bombing and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Kenya's Mombasa airport in 2002.

Asked about the U.S. raid, which analysts say risks further inflaming anti-Western opinion a region of growing concern, Wetangula expressed mixed feelings.

"To the extent that the United States has said that the operation had some limited success ... if their operation has any value to add, we would welcome it," Wetangula told Reuters in New York where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

"What I do not feel comfortable with is the fact that the U.S. would want to conduct operations in our neighborhood without information or cooperation or collaboration," he said.

"That lone ranger behavior has often not succeeded in many places."

reuters

Sep 22, 2009

MUMBAI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - India's Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO: Quote) has offered to retain the top management at MTN (MTNJ.J: Quote) for at least three years and given the option of an all-cash offer to minority MTN shareholders to sew up the planned tie-up between the two firms, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

The paper, citing a person familiar with the revised tie-up plan, said MTN would get a 27-percent stake in Bharti instead of the 25 percent earlier proposed.

MTN's minority shareholders would have the option to take $13 billion in cash instead of $7 billion cash and $6 billion worth of stock, the paper said.

Bharti would also cap its holding in MTN at 49 percent for at least five years. These moves would pacify the South African government keen on retaining MTN's national character, the paper said. [ID:nBOM447515]

A Bharti Airtel spokesman said the company would not like to comment beyond an earlier statement. The company had said on Sept. 9 that despite reports in the media, no agreement had been reached between the two companies and discussions were still ongoing.

The planned tie-up between the two firms, which may lead to an eventual merger, would create the world's third-largest mobile phone group by subscribers but is subject to end-September deadline. The firms have extended the talks twice. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Valerie Lee)

reuters

Sep 22, 2009

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect South African markets on Tuesday.

- - - -

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares inched up on Tuesday with softer commodity prices weighing on Australian stocks, while the New Zealand dollar hit a 13-month high on signs of a recovery in prices for the country's key dairy exports.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS edged up 0.7 percent and the Asian Development Bank raised its growth forecasts for developing Asia to 3.9 percent for 2009, from 3.4 percent, and lifted its 2010 forecast to 6.4 percent from 6 percent. [ID:nLM137965]

SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS

South Africa's rand fell against the dollar on Monday but was off its day's lows after retail sales data reinforced views that rates will remain steady while local stocks closed in the red as metal prices retreated.

South Africa's central bank started its two-day meeting on rates and will announce its decision around 1300 GMT on Tuesday. ...

reuters

Sep 22 2009

An intersexed Kenyan has applied to Kenya’s constitutional court to be released from Nairobi’s Kamiti Maximum Security Prison on the grounds that he belongs in neither a jail for men nor women.

Richard Mwanzia Muasya, who was convicted and jailed for robbery with violence, says he is subjected to continuous human-and constitutional-rights violations at the prison, which is for men only. He claims to suffer inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of male convicts, prison warders and the public.

Muasya was born with both male and female sex organs, but regards himself as a man. He has asked the court to release him because, he says, he is neither man nor woman and there is no special prison for people like him. He argues that if he is transferred to a female prison he will suffer the same fate.

The second leg of his case challenges Kenyan law for discriminating against him. He argues that the law recognises only the two sexes, male and female, and should be changed.

The fact that Kenyan law does not recognise intersexuality makes it difficult for him to acquire vital documents, including the national identity card, Muasya says in papers filed in court. This is because he does not know whether to complete application forms as a man or a woman.

The birth and death registration law also does not provide for intersexuality, making it impossible for him to acquire a birth certificate.

Muasya was arrested with three other suspects in February 2005 after a robbery during which a woman was gang-raped. However, the rape charge against him was dropped after medical reports confirmed that he is intersexed.

The medical examination determined that none of his sex organs was fully developed and that it was unlikely that he could commit rape.

Muasya and other intersexed people in Kenya suffer ridicule and discrimination. In some instances they are kept out of the public eye because people are ashamed of them.

The problem facing Kenya’s constitutional court is that he has been convicted of an offence, yet the country has no separate facility for holding intersexed offenders.

In addition, the Kenyan constitution does not recognise the unique rights of intersexed citizens. Under South African law, the intersexed are recognised and their rights are protected.

www.mg.co.za

2009-09-22

KHARTOUM, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- About 100 people were killed during the latest tribal clash in southern Sudan, where witnessed mounting tribal violence this year, sources from the UN peacekeeping forces said Monday.

Thousands of armed men from the Lou Nuer tribe attacked the village of Duk Padiet in Jonglei state Sunday. The fighting killed about 100 people, including about 80 civilians, the sources of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said.

Last month, about 185 Lou Nuers were killed during the tribe clash in the same state.

Some 2,000 people have died in tribe violence across the south this year, according to UN figures.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, inked in 2005 to end a two-decade war between northern and southern Sudan, stipulates a referendum in the south in 2011 to decide whether an independent state would be set up in the currently semi-autonomous region.

However, the two peace partners, namely the ruling National Conference Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), have not ironed out their differences on the referendum.

The SPLM accused the NCP of being involved in the tribal violence in southern Sudan, but the NCP denied the claim.

xinhuanet

2009-09-22

NAIROBI, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Poor harvests due to lack of rain, worsening conflict and effects of El Nino threaten to hit millions of east African people with food shortage this year, the UN food agency said on Monday.

With almost 20 million people in East Africa dependent on food assistance, this number may increase as the hunger season gets under way, especially among marginal farmers, pastoralists and low-income people in urban areas.

Also compounding the problem is the El Nino meteorological phenomenon, which typically brings heavy rains to the area at the end of the year.

This could result in floods and destroying crops, livestock, infrastructure, and homes, FAO said in a statement issued on Monday.

Kenya is already feeling the heat as dwindling stocks at the national grain stores and the high prices are making it difficult for the growing population of the urban poor to buy food.

This is worrying the government and relief agencies who have warned the gloomy situation is deteriorating fast.

The UN food agency said the number of people in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia depending on food assistance is likely to rise beyond 20 million in case of a drop in cereal production.

In Kenya, the vital maize crop which accounts for 80 percent of annual cereal production is forecast 28 percent below usual levels at 1.84 million tons.

A report by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group, a government crisis group that monitors drought situation, has said about 355 million U.S. dollars are needed to feed more than 3.8 million starving people between this month and next February.

"Food assistance will be required for the next six months to fill the gap in areas where terms of trade and loss of incomes and own production have made it impossible for vulnerable poor population to access the minimum food required until end of February 2010. Total amount required is an estimated 398,000 tons of assorted food commodities," the organization said.

The steering group operating under the Prime Minister's Office monitors drought in the country and recommends intervention. It said about 3.8 million people are living at the risk of hunger and need daily food rations to survive.

Although global prices have been on a downward trend recently, prices of maize, a major staple, are still higher than they were two years ago, with households having low purchasing power.

This year's harvest is predicted to be the fourth successive poor harvest in Uganda, with some regions possibly seeing food production well below 50 percent average.

Over 1 million people are estimated to be food insecure in the country, with more possibly becoming hungry.

In Kenya, this year's poor maize crop has reduced access to food.

Kenya's National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) said it has about 2.5 million bags of maize in its stores against 8 million bags required to feed vulnerable communities till the end of the year.

The government has, in its 2009/2010 budget, allocated 2 billion shillings for drought relief, out of which 1 billion shillings will be used to develop a food subsidy scheme.

According to FAO, forced migrations in search of water suppliesand pasture have worsened livestock conditions, increased disease outbreaks and exacerbated resource-based conflicts among pastoralists.

In Ethiopia, production of the secondary "belg" season crop is also estimated at levels well below average. Scarce rains have resulted in crop losses of up to 75 percent in some of the hardest hit areas.

With the partial failure of the "belg" season crop, the number of people in need of emergency assistance is expected to increase by 1.3 million to 6.2 million, FAO said.

"Kremti" season crop prospects are also poor in Eritrea. FAO's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit warned that Somalia is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years, with half the population, 3.6 million people, in need of life-saving assistance.

This includes 1.4 million people in rural areas affected by severe drought, over 650,000 urban poor facing high food prices and 1.3 million people who have been uprooted by violence.

xinhuanet

2009-09-22

KAMPALA, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The population of the endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda has more than doubled in the last 30 years due to conservation efforts, an official said here on Monday.

Moses Mapesa, executive director of Uganda Wildlife Authority told a joint press conference with Hollywood celebrities that the current number of gorillas in the country is 380, more than half of the global population of 720.

He said because of the increasing population, Uganda is about to scrap mountain gorillas off the list of endangered species.

"In Uganda, we are about to declare the mountain gorillas not endangered although they will remain endangered globally," he said.

The executive director said the country is scheduled to launch online gorilla tracking next Saturday in a bid to raise revenues to conserve the gorillas.

Gorilla lovers on social networks like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter will be able to track the gorillas online in real time at a cost of one U.S. dollar.

Jason Biggs of American Pie and My Best Friend's Girl said their visit to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home of the gorillas, will raise awareness on gorilla conservation.

"I think we are going to have really eye-opening experience but most importantly I'm thrilled by the idea of raising awareness for the conservation of mountain gorillas," said he, flanked by two other stars, Kristy Wu and Simon Curtis.

Uganda is home to 53 percent of the world's mountain gorilla population, with the other half spread in three trans-boundary national parks, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Virungas in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

xinhuanet

22 September 2009

Goma is not a city that sits still. Less than a year after it was poised to fall to the army of renegade General Laurent Nkunda, the capital of Eastern Congo is conspicuously back in business.

Garish advertising hoardings now compete for space with billboards proclaiming the good works of international aid groups. A flood of cheap Chinese motorcycle taxis bounce along roads that only seven years ago were rivers of lava after the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano.

Sadly, the new prosperity, however shallow, does threaten one of Goma's truly unique inventions – the "chikudu". A kind of wooden bicycle meets scooter that can be found nowhere else and is testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of Congo.

The chikudu is an ingenious invention, with high handlebars above a large front wheel trailing a plank on which the driver and cargo sit, and a smaller back wheel. The bikes, invariably ridden by young boys immune to fear, can bear loads up to one ton, flying down North Kivu's endless hills at breakneck speed with the rider's plastic sandalled foot on the back wheel as the only brake.

The logic of these machines – made of scrapwood, ballbearings and sometimes a strip of distressed rubber – is that most of what Goma needs to survive is grown high in the hills above it. The market town of Kibumba, about five miles out of the city is a magnet for the produce that sprouts from the fertile volcanic soil. This is then bagged up and loaded in unbelievable quantities onto the locally made chikudus which let gravity do the rest.

Better roads and a growing economy are to be welcomed if they ever appear in Eastern Congo, but if they signal the death knell for the chikudu then there will be a tiny note of regret.

Beware the jungle buffalo

No one will tell you that searching for gorillas in the Virunga mountains is without risks. You can expect an arduous trek of maybe eight hours or more, often in forest so dense it has to be hacked open with a machete in order to move forward. There's a risk of running into armed poachers, renegade soldiers, and of course an angry silverback.

But who knew about the buffalos? It's almost impossible to imagine these huge creatures navigating the dense vegetation, let alone the sheer slopes. But there they are. Just like gorillas they favour the bamboo shoots that are in season and like to sleep the day away in the shade and comfort of the bamboo groves. As for how they move in the claustrophobic jungle, the answer is fast. You can tell when they move as the ground shakes and the trees give way to their weight, allowing them to run in straight lines. Make sure you get out of the way quickly by whatever means necessary should you disturb one .

independent

22 September 2009



Amnesty International is warning of a "human rights emergency" in Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. One in eight women in the west African country risk dying during pregnancy or childbirth, compared with one in 4,500 in the developed world, an Amnesty report says.

Many women and girls are too poor to pay for lifesaving treatment, the report adds. Thousands bleed to death after giving birth. Most die in their homes. Some die on the way to hospital – in taxis, on motorbikes or on foot. Less than half of deliveries are attended by a skilled birth attendant and fewer than one in five are carried out in health facilities.

"These grim statistics reveal maternal deaths are a human rights emergency in Sierra Leone," said Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, launching the report in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. "Women and girls are dying in their thousands because they are routinely denied their right to life and health, in spite of promises from the government to provide free healthcare to all pregnant women."

Women in poor rural areas are particularly vulnerable, due to a lack of transport and infrastructure. Campaigners say that the issue is partly a legacy of the country's 11-year civil war. Abigail Renner, of Women in Peace Building in Sierra Leone, said: "We are a postwar country. The cost of living is very high, the roads are bad, drugs are very expensive and we don't have enough hospitals." She added: "Before the war, women were not afraid to have children. Now they are."

The Amnesty campaign coincides with tomorrow's United Nations general assembly meeting, where Gordon Brown is expected to announce finance packages to provide free healthcare for millions more women and children in the developing world, including Sierra Leone.

Amnesty's research found the difficulties experienced by women in Sierra Leone were exacerbated by women's low status in society, the fact that many girls marry and become pregnant at a young age, and the ongoing practice of female genital mutilation. Women's health is often treated as a low priority.

Gareth Thomas, Britain's international development minister, who is visiting the country this week, said: "There has got to be a huge change in the way that women are seen in Sierra Leone. The numbers of women raped and killed during the conflict partly reflects a culture where they are far from equal."

Thomas said postwar improvements in governance should now be matched by basic services. Britain will put £16m into a healthcare plan, working with Unicef and other non-government organisations. "In the 21st century it is unacceptable for people to die because they are too poor to see a doctor or nurse," the minister added.


guardian

22 September 2009

Plans by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to roll out a warehouse receipt payment system by November is a step in the right direction considering the severe constraints most farmers face in accessing credit.

Though the concept has widely featured in the public domain since 2007, its implementation has remained a tall order for its proponents such as the private-sector driven East African Grain Council (EAGC) mainly due to lack of produce storage capacity.

The entry of the resource endowed NCPB should, however, rekindle fresh hope particularly if it comes to play a complimentary role to the projects already conceived by other players such as EAGC.

World over warehouse receipts systems have today become important and effective tool for creating liquidity and easing access to credit besides offering extra benefits such as streamlining the supply chain and prices in the market, improving grower incomes, and reducing food losses.

Kenya should not miss out such benefits if we have in place a properly functional system to replace the current scenario where reckless government interventions in commodity markets have suppressed the economic returns to private storage and affected the need for private credit.

It is common knowledge that with the opening of markets and the liberalisation of global as well as regional trade, concepts such as the warehouse receipts are becoming vital in reducing uncertainty and enhance efficiency.

Notable gains from the warehouse receipt system is that it helps mop-up credit to agriculture by creating secure collateral for the farmer, processor, and trader, smoothing market prices by facilitating sales throughout the year rather than just after harvests and reducing risk in the agricultural markets thus improving food security and credit access in rural areas.

It also helps increase market power of small-holders by enabling them to choose at what point in the price cycle to sell their crops besides helping to upgrade the standards and transparency of the storage industry since it requires better regulation and inspection.

But like any other initiatives aimed at addressing mass and sensitive issues such as commodity trade, there must be a sound legal and institutional framework to guarantee performance and keep cost at manageable levels.

Foolproof legal backing has an advantage of providing a secure system whereby stored agricultural commodities can serve as collateral, be sold, traded or used for delivery against financial instruments including futures contracts.

The NCPB has had its fair criticism over its institutional capacity in areas such as corporate governance and its management must first prove to the public its commitment to change in order to win back the confidence of the farmers it targets through the scheme.

Perhaps it would be prudent to give the private sector a frontal role in the whole warehouse scheme so that the concept can be handed an urgent image boost, which is critical at this time when the economy is loaded with caution over wasteful or risky ventures.

allafrica

September 22, 2009

More than 100 people have been killed in clashes in the Jonglei state in southern Sudan, officials have said.

The extent of the clashes, which erupted one day earlier when fighters from the Lou Nuer tribe raided a rival village, emerged on Monday after officials reached the remote settlement.

Kuol Diem Kuol, a spokesman for the South's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said a total of 51 villagers and 28 soldiers, police and national security officers had been killed.

"From the attackers, 23 bodies were found on the ground. These attackers were found in uniform with arms and organised in a military organisation in platoons with G3 rifles," Kuol said.

Soldiers attacked

Mayen Ngor, the commissioner of Duk County, said the attackers had burned down 260 huts, the police station and local government buildings.

"This is a campaign against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [the 2005 accord that ended Sudan's north-south civil war] and against the people of Duk," he said.

The attack injured 46 people and forced thousands to flee, according to Ngor.

"It is way too early to call this a civil war, but it is a significant law and order problem and one that the government of southern Sudan need to stand up and address."

David Gressly, United Nations Missions in Sudan
David Gressly, a regional co-ordinator in south Sudan for the United Nations Missions in Sudan, said the attack appeared to have targeted SPLA forces based in the village.

"It is quite clear that the focus of the attack was on the organised forces themselves," he said.

"It is way too early to call this a civil war, but it is a significant law and order problem and one that the government of southern Sudan needs to stand up and address," he told the AFP news agency after visiting the area.

A surge of tribal killings this year has sparked fears for the stability of Sudan's under-developed south.

The United Nations estimates more than 1,200 people have died in ethnic attacks this year.

The Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which heads an autonomous regional government in the south, fought a two decades long civil war with the northern National Congress Party (NCP), now headed by Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president.

The two parties signed a peace treaty in 2005, but tensions have remained.

North blamed

Yien Matthew, a spokesman for SPLM, told Al Jazeera that his movement believed the NCP was behind Sunday's attack.

"Some of the civilians who witnessed the attack saw they [the armed men] had big weapons and thuraya [satellite] phones - a clear indication that they are directed by the NCP.

"We cannot expect that in such an area armed men have satellite phones and big weapons, which proves that they have been directed by the NCP in Khartoum," Matthew said.

"All evidence at the moment proves the NCP is behind this."

Southern politicians have accused the north of arming rival tribes to destabilise the region in the build-up to elections in 2010 and a referendum on southern secession in 2011.

The government in Khartoum denies the accusation.

Analysts say many of the northern political elite are nervous about the referendum, and the prospects of losing the south, the source of most of Sudan's oil reserves.

aljazeera

2009-09-21

Jose Eduardo Dos Santos celebrates 30 years as President of Angola on Monday. He is now Africa’s second longest serving leader after Moamer Kadhafi of Libya.

“He was brought into Angola as a kind-of compromise candidate,” Nicolas Shaxon, an oil industry analyst, told RFI. “He turned out to be an incredibly sophisticated operator and he very quickly established his control. He’s been very, very dominant in Angola ever since,” he added.

But the anniversary coincides with a period of upheaval for Dos Santos’ ruling MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) party, after delayed presidential polls.

“He will definitely get his way with a new constitution, the ruling MPLA has the overwhelming majority in parliament after elections last year,” said Shaxon. “They have on occasion in the past shown very small signs of being prepared to concede minor points to opposition parties, but generally the MPLA is absolutely dominant,” he added.

The polls will not take place until a new constitution is adopted, which will outline the electoral system.

There are no significant plans to mark Dos Santos’ 30th anniversary on Monday, in one of Africa’s biggest oil producing countries.

“There’s huge amounts of corruption, lots of members of his family have built up very large stakes in the economy,” said Shaxon.

But the London-based analyst, who specialises in West Africa, questions whether he is worse than other African leaders, “is he any more corrupt than other oil-rich leaders? Probably not,” he said.

Angola has crude oil reserves of 9.5 billion barrels, and in 2008 exported 64 billion dollars of petroleum. It joined Opec (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) at the start of 2007. But in the UN’s Human Development Report of 2007/2008 Angola remained at the bottom of a list measuring human poverty, ranking 162 out of 177.

www.rfi.fr

21 September 2009

Harare — Zimbabweans with emergency travel documents purportedly issued in Bulawayo and Gweru have been barred from entering South Africa because of a flood of fake documents acquired in those two cities.

Zimbabwe asked the South African authorities to stop clearing travellers with ETDs obtained from the two cities while police investigate a major theft of these documents from Gweru Passport Office and follow up leads that many ended up in Bulawayo.

A number of travellers last Friday were left stranded after being turned away across the Limpopo despite having been cleared on the Zimbabwean side.

A South African senior immigration official said clearance of Zimbabweans with ETDs obtained from the two cities had been suspended.

"We have, with effect from Friday, stopped clearing Zimbabwean travellers with ETDs obtained from both Bulawayo and Gweru at the request of our Zimbabwean counterparts," she said.

"They said investigations were underway into a massive scam of people fraudulently issuing fake travel documents in those cities."

She said the suspension would be lifted as soon as the Zimbabwean Government was through with its investigations and had tabled before the South African government a credible way of issuing the documents.

Home Affairs Co-Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi said last Friday the suspension would remain in force until investigations were completed at the passport offices in the Midlands and Bulawayo provinces.

He said the arrangement came into effect following the disappearance of a substantial batch of ETD forms at the Gweru Passport Office.

Chances were high some of the forms had been taken to Bulawayo Province.

"A number of ETD books went missing in Midlands Province and currently we are conducting intensive investigations into the matter," he said.

"We also want to check on the missing books' serial numbers so that we issue a directive to all ports of exit across the country that these should be withdrawn from the holders."

Minister Mohadi said a substantial number of fake ETDs that were being produced in Gweru and Bulawayo were recently intercepted at Beitbridge and Plumtree border posts, hence the need to investigate the matter.

"In light of this, we have requested our counterparts to stop accepting such documents until investigations are conclusively done," said Cde Mohadi. He said some employees at the passport offices were among the prime suspects in the theft.

A Zimbabwe immigration officer at Beitbridge said officials were in the midst of collecting documents deemed fake and obtained through unscrupulous means.

They had also notified their South African counterparts to only let in those with ETDs authenticated by Zimbabwe immigration.

However, the South Africans are applying a blanket approach to all the travel documents from Gweru andBulawayo.

Travellers from the two cities, most of them cross-border traders who regularly go to South Africa to sell wares, had their hopes dashed as they were left counting their losses.

Mrs Sukholuhle Mpala of Mzilikazi in Bulawayo, who wanted to collect the body of her son who died in South Africa recently, could not hide her anguish.

"This is frustrating. Zimbabwe immigration should have notified us before we proceeded to this side of the border. I am disappointed as I was on my way to collect my son's body in Thohoyandou in Limpopo Province," she said.

South Africa scrapped stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans wishing to work or travel to that country in May this year. Since then, there has been a steady increase in the number of people travelling across the Limpopo.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Masaka District has launched a mass immunisation against Tetanus, following an outbreak of the killer disease that has claimed lives of women and children.

A nursing officer, Ms Tereza Namisango said: "Fourteen children and 11 adults last year died of tetanus," adding, "out of the 57 per cent of people immunised against tetanus, only 5 percent were pregnant mothers."

Ms Namisango said the immunisation is targeting about 2.000 expectant mothers and girls between the age of 13 and 49, who are more susceptible to the disease. The immunisation exercise started last Friday in primary and secondary schools and will run for three days.

The District Education Officer, Mr Xavier Ssekadu, warned the public against misconceptions that if girls or women are immunised, they will not produce children. Ms Betty Irwasi, an official from the Ministry of Health, said Masaka, Mityana, Mubende, Busia and Nakapiripit are among the high risk district with cases of tetanus.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Johannesburg — IN A BID to smooth over relations with its increasingly impatient alliance partners, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) yesterday called for an urgent meeting and a fresh alliance summit.

"It is important not to take the relationship for granted," ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said at a media briefing yesterday.

Long lapses between alliance meetings had contributed to an atmosphere of "unnecessary misunderstandings and negative perceptions", Mantashe said, a day after the party's national executive committee meeting in Johannesburg.

The proposal, on the eve of ANC ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu's) national congress, comes as the ANC is desperately trying to quash debate about possible challenges to the top six position holders.

In recent weeks ANC leaders have been forced to declare their support for President Jacob Zuma . Cosatu and the South African Communist Party have also entered the fray, supporting the leadership.

"It had to happen on the eve of conference because all of Cosatu's documents have been in the press and the ANC would have realised that this is not just (Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima) Vavi's rants, but actually well-thought-out positions in the alliance, which make it more dramatic," said Adam Habib, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Johannesburg.

The ANC and Cosatu have been at loggerheads over strikes by construction and municipal workers, the unionisation of members of the armed forces, the controversy over ministers who have bought expensive new cars, and the role of the National Planning Commission.

"All suggest tensions in the alliance ... but the alliance is much stronger today than it ever was under (former president Thabo) Mbeki and I think (the tensions) can still be managed," Habib said.

Differences between the ruling party and Cosatu are still likely to bubble to the surface during the congress, which begins today.

One issue on which the two will lock horns is the party's push to de- unionise the South African National Defence Force in the wake of last month's protests by soldiers at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Other issues up for discussion are SA's response to the economic downturn, corruption, the proposed national health insurance scheme and the planning commission.

Mantashe said that the ANC's top brass had ordered all party structures to stop the succession debate.

"The ANC and its allies must not engage in the succession debate now. It is not appropriate. There is no crisis," Mantashe said.

Members who contravened the decision would be taken to task, he said. "You cannot go against the grain of a decision of the party. Loyalty and organisational discipline are part and parcel of being in the ANC," Mantashe said.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Members of the notorious Boko Haram religious sect that scattered from Maiduguri after their violent clash with the authorities last July are regrouping in Kano State, state Controller of Prisons Alhaji Lawan Abubakar said in Kano yesterday. He also said security reports indicated there were plans by the sect members to attack prisons in Kano State in order to free their detained colleagues who were captured in the wake of the sect's ill-fated uprising.

In the wake of the uprising, dozens of Boko Haram members were arrested in Wudil town, some 40 kilometers away from Kano. The leader of the sect has been at large since the Kano government destroyed his house and the Boko Haram mosque in the area. Police authorities confirmed the arrest of 53 sect members in Wudil and another five in Bachirawa area in Kano metropolis.

Abubakar, who was explaining to Daily Trust why men of the Prisons Service fired sporadically into the air while arraigning sect members at a court in No Man's Land last week, said adequate measures had already been taken to beef up security around all prisons where members of the sect are being detained. He said armed policemen and men from the Civil Defence Corps have also been deployed to strengthen security around the prisons.

He said his men fired those shots at No Man's Land court premises in order to disperse the surging crowd that turned out to witness the arrival of the prison Black Maria truck conveying the sect members to court.

The prisons controller said security reports indicate that sect are now regrouping in Gezawa Local Government area of Kano State with the intent of launching attacks on some prisons where their colleagues are being detained.

Abubakar also said long before the security reports came in, his men were on red alert to forestall any threat to prisons, especially where Boko Haram members are held. That was why, he said, the prison wardens took pre-emptive action at the court premises because sect members could be lurking among the crowd.

However, the Prison Controller's claim that the Boko Haram members were regrouping in Kano was disputed both the police and the State Security Service (SSS) in the state, which said they were not aware of any such plan. Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Kano State Police Command Alhaji Baba Mohammed said he was not aware of any such reports and that all is calm in Kano State. He said, "There is no cause for alarm as we are always on top of any security situation."

Kano State Director of State Security Service Alhaji Bello Tukur Bakori said such security reports as indicated by the Prisons boss did not emanate from SSS. He demanded to know where it came from.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Johannesburg — EXPERIENCE was not the only factor the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) should consider in making appointments, chief justice- designate Sandile Ngcobo said in his interview before the JSC yesterday.

While a judicial candidate did not need to be an expert in certain areas of law, he must have the "capacity to grow," Ngcobo said. "Judicial temperament is the key."

What was, and what should be, considered by the commission when deciding who to recommend for appointment dominated yesterday's interviews for four Constitutional Court posts due to become vacant next month.

Candidates were quizzed on what weight the JSC should give to the constitutional injunction to consider racial and gender representivity and whether the constitution envisaged a "hierarchy" in which experience was primary and representivity was secondary.

Ngcobo said the JSC should also look for scholarship, experience, dignity, rationality, capacity for articulation, diligence, intellectual integrity, energy and courage -- "the ability to stand alone when the circumstances call for that".

Ngcobo said Constitutional Court judges came from different backgrounds.

"We learn from one another and we educate each other. That kind of representivity enriches us. Experience is not the only factor."

Candidates Eberhard Bertelsmann and Geoff Budlender said they believed demographic representivity was a constitutional imperative. But Bertelsmann said no matter how good a transformation candidate was, he would not be appointed without qualifications.

Budlender provoked the ire of a number of commissioners when he said it had been reported to him that one reason for him not being appointed previously to the Cape High Court was because the previous administration had been "angry" at his litigation for the roll- out of HIV treatment.

Budlender, interviewed three times to be a judge but never appointed, said he believed the approach of the previous administration had changed and that was why he was back before the JSC.

Commissioner Marumo Moerane said he found this assertion "astounding" because it implied that about 25 commissioners had been taking instructions from former president Thabo Mbeki 's administration.

Two others, who had been on the JSC at the time Budlender was not appointed, African National Congress (ANC) MP Cecil Burgess and Inkatha Freedom Party MP Koos van der Merwe, told Budlender that he was "operating under false information" and that had never been a factor.

Budlender said he had not referred to all commissioners or to any particular one. By the end of the interview, he said he regretted what he had said and apologised for "stepping on any toes".

He said that despite people who used his non-appointment to argue that white men should never stand for judicial office, he had never been a standard-bearer for disaffected whites and had never been critical of the JSC for failing to appoint him. He said he was simply trying to respond to a question as to why he was trying for appointment again.

Moerane also asked almost every candidate whether they had been one of the four people former Constitutional Court judge Johann Kriegler had persuaded to stay in the race, despite misgivings.

Bertelsmann and Budlender said no. Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Azhar Cachalia said he was uncomfortable with the question, saying to Moerane: "You cannot get at Kriegler through me." He said he had discussed his candidacy with Kriegler but in the context of a number of issues.

On how the JSC should make its appointments, Cachalia warned of the dangers of a numbers game. He said the Constitution wanted a competent judiciary and it wanted a nonracial, nonsexist judiciary. This did not mean the judiciary had to reflect every ethnic group in proportion, he said.

But ANC MP Ngoako Ramatlodi said "the national question" was not something to be treated lightly. As Africans were in the majority, the need to broadly reflect the population meant that the court would be majority African, he said.

Outgoing Chief Justice Pius Langa said his understanding of the approach was that good people should not stand back , but that it was for the JSC to decide what the constitution said it must do.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Any moment from now, President Umaru Yar'Adua shall be travelling to Saudi Arabia again. He recently returned from the country where he had gone for medical check-up and allegedly performed Umrah, the lesser Hajj.

This is coming on the heel of the revelation that the president will not be attending this year's United Nations General Assembly starting tomorrow and has also cancelled scheduled meetings with the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, and US President Barack Obama.

He will now be represented at the UN by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, who will only speak after presidents and heads of government have addressed the General Assembly.

The purpose of the current trip to Saudi Arabia is still unknown as there has not been any official statement. A government source close to the president said it could be a state visit, adding, "But it is curious that a state visit will be so shrouded in secrecy. And besides, it doesn't make diplomatic sense to cancel one top state function at the UN at the last minute and replace it with another."

The last time Yar'Adua travelled to Saudi Arabia, it was a well-publicised event as it should be for a sitting president.

There are, however, strong indications that Maduekwe will not be allowed to take part in tomorrow's meeting between President Obama and heads of state from Africa.

A reliable source within the US Department of State told Leadership correspondent in New York that the meeting had been scheduled for only the African presidents, adding that the hierarchy within the system would not allow the minister to attend such crucial meeting.

However, a diplomat the Nigeria Mission to the UN told Leadership yesterday that Maduekwe would attend the meeting with Obama.

He disclosed that as at Friday, the Nigerian Mission was yet to receive confirmation of Maduekwe's attendance from the US Department of State in Washington.

"When we got the form on Friday, September 18, 2009, we filled the names of the Minister and his wife, Mrs Ucha Maduekwe, as the ones representing President Yar'Adua and his wife at the meeting, and that serves as a confirmation that they both will be allowed to meet with President Obama alongside other African heads of state.

"We also returned the confirmation forms back to the United States Mission on that same Friday, though. We are yet to get a new confirmation from the Department of State through the US Mission to the United Nations."

The Nigerian diplomat, who pleaded anonymity, revealed that the United States Permanent Representative and President of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Susan Rice, had confirmed, in a meeting at the end of last week, that Nigeria's foreign affairs minister would be allowed at the meeting.

"She told us that since President Yar'Adua is not available for the meeting, then the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, who is the head of Nigerian delegation, automatically stands in for the president and he will attend the meeting with President Obama," the diplomat hinted.

A source at US Department of State said the government was not happy over the common attitude of Nigerian leaders, who turn down this kind of invitation at the last minute without any tangible reason.

"We are still in shock that President Yar'Adua, who has a vital role to play, will not attend the meeting. Investigation is in progress to know the reason behind his 'unjust' action," he hinted.

The source, a senior official in the Department of State, further revealed that Yar'Adua's absence from the African heads of state's meeting with Obama could jeopardise Nigeria's election for a seat on the UN Security Council.

It was gathered that Nigeria has commenced an impressive campaign to clinch a non-permanent slot on the UN Security Council between 2010 and 2011.

A source close to the Nigeria Mission to the UN told Leadership that President Yar'Adua had been expected to discuss Ambassador Joy Ogwu's chance of clinching the seat in an election slated for October 15 with other African heads of state as it appears that Nigeria still needs almost 128 votes to get the seat in spite of the country's endorsement by other African countries.

In a related development yesterday, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, refuted media reports that his office was blocking the request of the London Metropolitan Police to send witnesses to London in the money laundering case involving the president's Principal Private Secretary, Mr. David Edevbie.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP yesterday from London, Aondoakaa, who was upset that such an act should even be attributed to him, said he had not seen the request from the London Metropolitan Police, but said he would act on it with despatch whenever he saw it.

LEADERSHIP checks showed that the request might still have been with the EFCC and has indeed not got to the AGF's desk.

By Emmanuel Iffer and Mojeed Jamiu in Lagos and Abiodun Oluwarotimi in New York

allafrica

21 September 2009

Pretoria — The sports ministry has expressed its dissatisfaction with Athletics South Africa's (ASA) President, Leonard Chuene, for admitting that he lied about his knowledge of gender tests conducted on Caster Semenya.

Chuene admitted during a press briefing at the weekend that gender tests were conducted on Semenya before she left for the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) world championships in Berlin.

He said that he had thought he was acting in the best interests of the 800m gold medallist and wanted to guard her privacy and confidentiality.

"Chuene has not only lied to us as the ministry but to the whole country, and this is not acceptable," said Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen.

He said the department was convinced that the perpetual denial of the knowledge of the tests had fuelled the continuous violation of Semenya's rights and dignity, by foreign and some local media.

"We do not agree with Chuene's insistence that he lied in Semenya's interest, in fact we are of the view that his lies were to Semenya's detriment."

Oosthuizen requested the membership of ASA to not only take disciplinary action against Chuene, but to fire him from his position as the President of ASA. "If they fail to do so, they will be running the risk of being led by a liar," he said.

He further urged ASA to get their house in order, and act in the best interest of sport.

The minister said the resolutions adopted at the Athletics South Africa Council last weekend had also been based on a lie.

At that meeting, ASA called on Chuene to withdraw his resignation from the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and resume his responsibilities after it approved the manner in which he handled the issue of Semenya.

At the time, ASA confirmed its support and confidence in Chuene and said that he had handled the matter exceptionally well and advised him to continue defending the athletes.

On two occasions, the ministry requested a report from Chuene on what happened prior, during and after Berlin and they still have not received the report.

allafrica

21 September 2009

Nairobi — President Paul Kagame spoke to Michael Wakabi and Ali Zaidi on September 1 at the President's Office in Village Urugwiro, Kigali, about the challenges he is facing in his quest to build Rwanda from a war-ravaged country to a prosperous nation. Part II of the interview:

There is a widely held perception that there is no media freedom in Rwanda. In certain quarters, you have yourself been named enemy number one of the press. Given the burden of history on the media here and the capacity constraints on the industry, what is your strategy for seeing the emergence of a free and responsible press?

If somebody were accusing me, saying President Kagame is not doing enough as a president to finance or to promote the quick development of a vibrant press and media, I would say maybe he has a point.

Maybe there are some things I haven't done that I could have. But to accuse me of stifling the media or being anti-freedom of the press -- that is really absurd.

I think this is where the media or some members of the press indict themselves, raising the question of whether, after all, these are not all innocent people trying to the good work of exercising freedom of analysis; that maybe some of them have a different agenda.

If you look at the facts on the ground and still end up with such a conclusion, then there is something terribly wrong.

Prove your point: How does Kagame become number one enemy of the press, or even number 20? Where do you get that from? If you were saying can you do more to help the press; why not?

For me, the single point we should be talking about is lack of capacity. We have certainly been trying. We have financed a school of journalism at our national university.

Even when it comes to the media law here -- first of all, I was not involved, the government did not have a direct hand in it.

Most of it was formulated by the media practitioners themselves. In the end, I think in their discussions, they took a wrong turn, and they are the ones who went to parliament.

Then after that, they came to me saying that something had been slipped into the law that they didn't like. And I said, "Fine, I am not going to sign it; you go back and discuss it again and put in what works for you and works for everybody."

They went back, they tinkered with it and added whatever they wanted to add. I think they fell short of one or two clauses out of the many they had wanted, then it came back. This time I signed it because it was just going back and forth.

[This reputation for being anti-press] can't be because we have put journalists in prison or because we have hidden them somewhere. I have seen media people in the neighbourhood -- they are always in and out of prison.

Ever since 1994, when I came into government as vice president, I have never asked the police or anybody else to arrest a journalist. I have the authority to order the arrest of anybody, but I have never caused the arrest of a journalist or asked any other person to do it on my behalf.

Even when people have written in the papers insults on me and other people have become agitated and come to me, I have always told them, "Please ignore that fellow. It is me who is being insulted, and I have no problem with it because, after all, it does affect me. I remain me; I don't change into something else.

Let's talk about the role of the media in sensitive situations, especially in conflict situations...

If am annoyed with the media, I say it, I don't hide it. There were times when I got seriously annoyed with Ugandan journalists for fuelling conflict.

When we had problems with Uganda, it was as if they were enjoying the conflict.

Then we had a few people here who began doing the same thing and it became a war fuelled by journalists. Sometimes I would call our own people and ask them what benefit they saw in fuelling a war between two countries.

When I am not happy about something, I say so, there is no underhand dealing. I have quarrels with the media here but they are open quarrels, there is nothing under the table.

I also have the freedom to express my views. Whether I am right or wrong is a different matter, but I have the right to express those views.

That said, I think there is a lot of politics being played out in the media, either by journalists themselves or on behalf of others.

That is the only explanation I can find for some of these misrepresentations. On media and human rights, you will find that in the reports that Human Rights Watch writes about Rwanda, the story of 1995 is the same as that of 2009. They seem to see no difference between the Rwanda of 1995 and that of 2009.

So what do we do about it? We try to explain [our stand] because sometimes things are misrepresented merely because you have not explained them enough. But sometimes you are misrepresented because someone doesn't want to understand you, however much you try.

So what we do is explain as much as we can, and also concentrate on doing the right thing. In the end, the facts will speak for themselves. Interestingly, the very people who say there is no freedom of the press are the ones who have been here and enjoyed full access to everyone and exposure to everything that is happening.

Maybe they are trying to say the Rwandans don't allow their own people access to information?

The interesting thing here... is that we have wholeheartedly embraced information and communications technology precisely because it empowers people, including journalists. In fact, it turns ordinary citizens into journalists because you can blog, you can express yourself and send information to wherever.

That is how, even in tight situations, such as the elections in Iran and some cases in China, information was filtering out. Ordinary citizens acting as journalists were taking pictures with their cellphones and putting them online.

In other words, with our embrace of ICT, we are not only empowering the few journalists we have with unlimited means to express themselves, we are doing this for every citizen in the country.

As outlined in our Vision 2020, the key areas that we want to invest in are our people, their health, and their education. And specifically to create a knowledge-based economy because people are the main asset we have.

The Vision will be facilitated by modern infrastructure -- I emphasise the word modern because when it comes to information and communications technology, we want to reach the next generation.

This is one way of adding value to our main asset, the Rwandan people. ICT is a facilitator that eases progress in areas such as education and health, and adds value in other areas of knowledge.

We have put in place a national plan for laying out the broadband connectivity infrastructure on which we shall build many other things.

As we wait to be connected through either Mombasa or Dar es Salaam, we are doing our homework.

We already have a master plan for laying out a fibre-optic backbone internally and reaching every district so that every school, hospital and administrative centre is wired. We shall have reached every district by December this year.

Your ICT focus is indeed exciting; in the whole region, yours is perhaps the one country that is taking the new technologies with the seriousness they deserve. Assuming the leaders of the region get things right, what does the future hold for East Africa in let's say 10- 20 years?

In 20 years, East Africa should be one country -- I think that is not unattainable.

There are building blocks you need to put in place, but this is already happening -- the Customs Union, Common Market and later on a Monetary Union which should lead up to a Political Federation.

There will necessarily be obstacles, concerns and apprehension. These are natural, because people have different reasons for coming into the Community and they think differently -- so they may complain about one thing here and another there.

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