Flooding in the north during this year's rainy season has contributed to the risk of cholera breaking out (file photo)

KANO, 16 September 2009 (IRIN) - Floods in northern Nigeria’s Adamawa state have left over 2,000 people displaced, many of them with no access to clean drinking water, leaving officials worried about a potential cholera outbreak.

Five districts – Fufore, Demsa, Yola North, Yola South and Numan – were flooded in August and early September, when the River Lagdo burst its banks, according to the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Demsa and Fufore districts, along with nearby Maiha, were hit with a cholera outbreak in August and September; the illness killed 70 people out of over 300 infected, according to local government official Yahaya Hamman-Julde.

Adamawa state health commissioner Zainab Baba Kwanci says the outbreak was caused by floodwaters contaminating wells used for drinking water.

"We are really worried about the possibility of the resurgence of the [cholera] outbreak in flood-hit areas and our priority now is averting that looming disaster," Aliyu Sambo, head of NEMA in the northeast, told IRIN.

There is not enough clean water for the displaced, most of whom are living in temporary shelters or in local schools, according to NEMA.

"We are doing our best to provide clean water for the displaced but our efforts are limited to a few trucks a day so people have to [turn to] unsafe water [to meet their needs]," Sambo said. "It is an emergency situation and there is no time to sink boreholes, so we have to make do with what we can provide.”

Nigeria is among four West African countries where less than half of the population can access safe drinking water, according to the UN.

Health commissioner Kwanci said a health worker strike over pay conditions across the state worsened the recent cholera outbreak, as many of the victims were unable to seek medical care.

Medical workers across the state began an indefinite strike on 25 June to protest the state government’s 9 June suspension of an improved salary structure.

irinnews

Nigeria's main armed rebel group has said it is prolonging its truce by 30 days while warning that it is not giving up the fight.

"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is extending its unilateral ceasefire which expired midnight (2300 GMT), September 15, 2009 by 30 days," the group said in a statement.

“The government should use this extension of time to do the right thing instead of pretending to talk peace while arming the military for a war it cannot win,” it added.

"The Oil and Gas industry who will bear the brunt of renewed hostilities should not be deceived by the amnesty charade or the recent military hardware purchases as this is only leading to another cycle of violence."

In August, MEND said it was ready to maintain the ceasefire 'and even extend it if the conditions are encouraging'.

On June 25, Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua offered amnesty to all militants who laid down their arms in the Delta region.

The arms were to be handed over in centers where the fighters would be registered under a reintegration program running from August 6 to October 4.

???????

At least twenty-nine people have been killed and dozens more injured in central Kenya after unidentified hustlers mounted night raids to steal cattle.

Local community leader Joseph Leparia said that attackers from the ethnic Pokot tribe raided a field with animals belonging to Samburu herders late on Monday, the Press TV correspondent in Kenya reported.

The men then killed 21 Samburus and made off with more than 600 cows.

Local lawmaker Raphael Letimalo underscored the fact that women and children were among those killed in the deadly attack. The authorities say that in addition to the 21 Samburu casualties, 8 Pokot raiders also died in the attack.

Clashes over water, livestock, and pastureland have long plagued Kenya's remote regions, particularly during severe dry months.

presstv

afrol News, 15 September - A top United Nations official has warned today, that although Sierra Leone had embarked on a remarkable journey towards a stable, peaceful and democratic country, this journey will be bumpy, long and even, at times, dangerous.

“We must anticipate accidents, derailments and mistakes along this road… there are no easy benchmarks that will tell us that Sierra Leone is out of the woods,” Michael Schulenberg, the Secretary-General’s Executive Representative for Sierra Leone, said in his briefing to the Security Council.

“What Sierra Leone will need to succeed is time, patience, determined national leadership and continued international support,” he added.

Mr Schulenberg noted that Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, it does not have a large educated middle class and over 70 percent of the population remains illiterate. In addition, state institutions remain weak and the nation’s journey towards prosperity is taking place in a “difficult” regional environment.

The political and security situation in West Africa remains “highly precarious,” said the Executive Representative, noting worrying signs of military coups and ethnic and inter-religious conflicts, as well as threats from illicit drug trafficking and international crime.

Given the interdependence of most countries in the sub-region, this could ultimately threaten Sierra Leone’s achievements. On the other hand, a successful and peaceful Sierra Leone could have a positive influence on the developments in the region, added Mr Schulenberg, who also heads the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL).

“Sierra Leone will need the international community for continued political, financial and economic support, but let us not forget that we too will need Sierra Leone for fostering regional peace and stability,” he warned.

He noted that, over the last year, UNIPSIL has been able to prove that it is possible to draw down a large and expensive peacekeeping operation and replace it with a “much cheaper and leaner” peacebuilding mission.

With a staff of only 73, UNIPSIL - which last August replaced the previous UN political office in the country, known as UNIOSIL - has maintained a strong role as a political facilitator in the country, as demonstrated by the Office’s role in helping to resolve the recent outbreak of violence in the country, he said.

In his latest report on the Office, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended a one-year extension of the mandate of UNIPSIL, which works closely with the UN Peacebuilding Commission in supporting the post-conflict peacebuilding efforts of the country.

afrol News, 15 September - The Deal, Awarded to ECtel and its Partner, the LR Group, Reinforces the Company's Leadership as Revenue-Management Provider in Africa.

The principal telecommunications company in Angola, has selected ECtel's fraud management solution to protect revenue through real-time detection and prevention of fraud losses.

ECtel Ltd. was announced today to have been selected for the project together with LR Group, a leading company operating worldwide in financing, managing, developing, producing, and maintaining medium and large scale national projects, with a special focus on Africa.

"ECtel's FraudView(R) provides us with the tools to maximize our revenue potential and prevent fraud losses critical in a fast growing company such as ours," said Dr Antonio Alberto Briffel Neto, Administrator of Angola Telecom. "As the country's leading national, international and domestic communications provider, we require the innovation and flexibility provided by ECtel's leading solution, offering us an unparalleled fraud management solution. Not only did ECtel provide us with the market's best solution, but they packaged it together with supreme service and support as well."

Angola Telecom, Angola's primary telecommunications provider, currently serves over 110,000 Angolan customers, and is the country's international gateway for communication.

ECtel's FraudView will provide Angola Telecom with a wide variety of unique, state-of-the-art fraud detection and prevention technologies, including risk management systems, new subscriber evaluation, best in class network traffic and usage monitoring.

FraudView, the most comprehensive fraud management solution for telecom operators, is designed to meet the needs of wireline, wireless, convergent and next generation communication service providers. The system enables real-time detection and prevention of numerous fraud types, both internal and external, allowing its users to stem revenue losses across all business lines and services. Deployed at over 75 operators worldwide, FraudView boasts the industry's largest installed base for wireline and wireless operators and the market's first solutions supporting 3G and VoIP networks.

"We are excited to work with Angola Telecom, one of Africa's leading telecom providers, as we continue to place substantial emphasis on this fast growing region," said Mr. Itzik Weinstein, President and CEO of ECtel. "This order from Angola Telecom attests to our commitment to the African region and establishes ECtel as one of the leading revenue management providers in Africa."

afrol News, 15 September - The government of Zimbabwe, UNICEF and the international donor community yesterday unveiled a $70 million partnership through the Educational Transition Fund (ETF) and the revitalisation of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to ensure access and quality education for the country’s children.

“The programmes we launch today are momentous. BEAM will ensure that over 700 000 of Zimbabwe’s vulnerable children are in school, creating a huge demand for education,” said UNICEF representative in Zimbabwe, Dr Peter Salama. “On the other hand the ETF will boost the supply side, ensuring that every child has a text book in all of the country’s 5,300 primary schools, within 12 months.”

Recent assessments have revealed serious shortages of learning materials, textbooks and supplies in schools. One assessment showed a ratio of 10 pupils per every text book, across Zimbabwe. Another assessment showed that a staggering 20 percent of primary schools had no textbooks at all for English, Mathematics or an African Language. The impact of the deteriorating quality in education is stark. Grade 7 examination pass rates declined from 53 percent in 1999 to 33 percent in 2007. In addition, statistics showed that almost 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s children graduating from primary school were not proceeding to secondary school.

The support - one of the largest social sector initiatives in the last five years in Zimbabwe - will also see school fees paid for a large number of the country’s orphaned and vulnerable children. The funds will provide text books, stationary and improve capacity for the education sector.

Commenting on the support, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart said; "The education sector still faces numerous challenges, but the transition fund we launch today is a positive step towards the revival of the sector. Indeed it is extremely gratifying to see donors, government and the UN come together to ensure quality education for Zimbabwe's children. As a government we are grateful and encouraged."

Zimbabwe’s education sector, once a model in Africa, continues to be riddled with challenges. Public financing of the sector declined significantly over the last decade leaving most schools with no funds to purchase, even the most basic teaching materials such as text books and stationary.

With support from the governments of Australia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the European Commission, the Education Transition Fund is a stop gap funding measure aimed at reinvigorating the educational system, while BEAM, a programme of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, provides a crucial safety net for vulnerable children.

“Support from these donors represents a bold and visionary recommitment to Zimbabwe’s children,” said Dr Salama.

afrol News, 15 September - A study exploring the healing of diabetic skin ulcers using topical oxygen/ozone gas mixtures could not proceed to completion and was now abandoned, according to Ozonics International, LLC, a veteran-owned biotechnology company engaged in the research and development of ozone-based medical therapies.

"This fully scientific study, a world-first in its scope, was to be performed in Egypt, recruiting the collaboration of US and Egyptian experts," said Gerard Sunnen, MD, Ozonics president.

The study was to focus at Egypt which has a diabetic population estimated at 5 million and the prevalence of diabetes is said to be rising rapidly in the Middle East, noted the study group further adding that, 20 percent of diabetics develop skin lesions such as leg ulcers, and 15 percent of those will eventually require amputation.

In the US, the group also noted that out of 24 million diabetics about 80,000 undergo lower limb amputations yearly.

"Pilot research studies have shown that topical oxygen/ozone treatment can dramatically reduce these amputation numbers," Dr Sunnen emphasised, adding, "The FDA has already approved topical oxygen for skin healing in diabetes and vascular conditions. This proprietary technology adds a natural element's remarkable antimicrobial properties to accelerate wound resolution. No other antimicrobial can claim such wide range of action against the entire spectrum of wound-invading bacterial and fungal families, nor claim such unwavering defense against bacterial resistance, the bane of all antibiotics."

Other reported unique features of ozone include its ability to neutralise wound bacterial and fungal toxins - well known to inhibit healing - and to enhance local circulation via the activation of nitric oxide, in biochemical pathways shared by drugs like sildenafil (Viagra).

The study, named "Safety and efficacy of ozone therapy in the treatment of diabetic skin ulcers: A randomized double blind controlled clinical study," was to be sponsored by the University of Cairo, and endorsed by the National Research Centre, Cairo, the Egyptian National Institute for Diabetes and Endocrinology, and the Egyptian National Cancer Institute.

"The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), despite its denials, has long shown adversity to complementary medicine and to ozone-based medical therapies in particular, and research initiatives have suffered. Another US medical ozone company, for example, had to back off from its groundbreaking clinical investigations on hepatitis C and now focuses on ozone disinfection of hospitals," said the doctor also saying NYSDOH's interference has proven to be a potent deal breaker.

"Inhibition of medical ozone development, possibly motivated by commercial interests, is done by discouraging potential business partners from collaborating with US - based medical ozone companies and by discrediting US researchers and entrepreneurs. Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are consequently now far ahead of the US in the development of these forward-looking biotechnologies," he said.

Dr Sunnen concluded, "Let us hope that the abandonment of this study will only be temporary and that research avenues will unlock. Diabetics need not suffer the travails of protracted skin ulcer treatments, often experienced as interminable. Amputations devastate the body and often profoundly demoralize patients. Looking into the future, research in oxygen/ozone topical therapies will find applications in all manner of acute and chronic wound care, including diabetic and pressure ulcers, circulatory skin lesions, post-surgical wounds, and complex accident and war wounds."

15 Sep 2009

The Tanzanian military has vehemently denied reported claims that Rwandan rebel groups are fleeing to the central East African country.

Media reports had earlier accused the Tanzanian government of allowing rebel groups responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide to cross its borders.

"We have no cases of rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (DFLR) in Tanzania and we are yet to receive official reports that this group is fleeing" its strongholds in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzanian military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, the military spokesperson for the UN mission in DR Congo, has however confirmed the reports, saying DFLR rebels, hidden among displaced civilians, have been seen moving into Tanzania.

"There have been movements of civilians and people … along with some DFLR rebels into Tanzania … but there is no evidence to suggest that these rebels are evacuating their DR Congo bases," Dietrich stressed.

The presence in eastern DR Congo of FDLR rebels, accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, before fleeing across the border, has always been a major source of instability in the region.

That is why in January, the Congolese and Rwandan governments launched a joint offensive to fight the remnants of the Hutu rebels, mainly active in North Kivu.

As a result of the recent spark in fighting, over 35,000 people have been displaced in the region, mostly seeking relieve in the wild refuge of the African jungle to escape terror and hostilities.

presstv

15 Sep 2009

A British filmmaker from the northwestern city of Liverpool has been freed following his incarceration without charge in the Republic of Congo.

Graham Hughes, 30, was arrested last week in Brazzaville, the country's capital, while on a round-the-world charity tour. He had been taken into custody at a checkpoint and held since September 10, when security officers accused him of taking pictures of “political figures.”

His arrest in the Central African state was the globetrotter's second in his attempt to travel to some 192 world states by public means of transportation.

Hughes had earlier been taken into custody in June at Santiago - the largest island of Cape Verde - on allegations of unlawful entry into the country.

The video director set off for his global charity journey from West Derby in January. He has great hopes of raising 1 million British pounds (nearly $1.65 million) for the London-based WaterAid, a charity dedicated to providing safe drinking water and hygiene education to the world's poorest people.

The thirty-year-old adventurer captures episodes of his journey on camera for transmission on Lonely Planet Television and for display in National Geographic.

presstv

afrol News, 15 September - The European Council has adopted a joint action on the EU mission to provide advice and assistance for security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Joint Action renews EUSEC RD Congo's mission statement and under the new Joint Action, the EUSEC RD Congo Mission is designed to assist the Congolese authorities in setting up a defence apparatus capable of guaranteeing the security of the Congolese people, while respecting democratic standards, human rights and the rule of law, as well as the principles of good governance and transparency.

In particular, the mission will also contribute, in close coordination with international partners, to creating conditions to facilitate the implementation of the guidelines adopted by the Congolese authorities in the revised plan for reform of the Armed forces of DR Congo (FARDC) approved by the DRC President at the end of May 2009.

The Joint Action will cover a period of one year, from 1 October 2009 until 30 September 2010, with about 10,9 million euros budgeted for thw whole mission.

The European Union has been conducting the EUSEC RD Congo mission since June 2005. The mission, currently composed of some 60 personnel headed by General Jean-Paul Michel, has been instrumental in the implementation of several key projects such as the "chain of payments" project and the biometric census of the troops in the DRC's armed forces.

The EU has consistently supported security sector reform in the DRC, as one of the elements of a more general EU commitment to supporting development and democracy in the African Great Lakes Region.

afrol News, 15 September - Thirty-One people have been reported killed in a cattle rustling battle between the herdsmen in the northern district in central Kenya.

The conflict is reported to have taken place between comunity members of Samburu and Pokot.

The Daily Nation reported Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode confirming the killings and further saying that over 100 heads of cattle had been stolen during the early morning raid in the mainly pastoral area.

“I’ve been told that even children have been killed. I will give the correct picture once I land on the ground,” he told the newspaper.

The persistent drought in the region has largely been blamed for the conflicts where pastoralists have had to fight over greener patches and watering holes for their animals.

The Kenyan government has vowed to sweep the region of such incidents this time around, calling for supporting for the regional leaders.

The northern region of Kenya borders parts of Somalia, Southern Sudan and Southern Ethiopia, where the proliferation of small arms into the hands of the pastoralists has been seen as a major security crisis in the region.

Conflicts over pastural land have even crossed the borders creating serious diplomatic feuds between Kenya and its neighbours.

This hand out picture released on September 15, 2009 by the Belgian navy shows a seaman rescuing a refugee in the Gulf of Aden on September 14, 2009.

15 Sep 2009
The United Nations refugee agency fears as many as 65 Somali migrants have died off the Yemeni coast in separate incidents onboard three smuggling boats.

The UNHCR said on Tuesday that sixteen deaths had been confirmed, including eleven cases of suffocation and three deaths due to excessive beating by human traffickers.

The fate of 49 people, missing after one of the three boats capsized and another one sank, remains unknown,

The UN refugee agency fears the death toll in the incidents, which occurred in the dangerous Gulf of Aden waters on Sunday and Monday, will rise to 46.

Ninety-eight people swam ashore.

One of the boats experienced engine failure and capsized when the smugglers onboard attempted to jump overboard.

The other vessel, carrying 112 Somalis, imprisoned some passengers in the engine room, where 14 people died of asphyxiation and beating.

The third boat with 46 people onboard sank. The Belgian navy says 38 refugees were rescued.

According to UNHCR estimates, 43,586 refugees on 860 boats have fled politically unstable and famine-ridden Horn of Africa on perilous journeys to Yemen.

The UN refugee agency also expressed alarm at the “increasing number of larger vessels making the journey” that put more lives at risk.

presstv

A Southern Sudanese woman (file photo): Poor rains and conflict have increased the number of people who do not have enough to eat in Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria states

NAIROBI, 15 September 2009 (IRIN) - The number of people who do not have enough to eat in Southern Sudan has increased significantly from initial projections, due to poor rains and escalating conflict between communities, a food early warning agency has said.

Recent assessments found that up to 1.3 million people were food insecure - an increase of 20 percent on earlier projections. Most of these were in Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria states where needs have tripled and doubled respectively, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) said in a September update.

Current food insecurity, it added, would persist until late October, when harvests were expected. Despite predictions of a high probability of normal to above normal rainfall between September and December, delayed crops were at risk of flooding - something which is common in Southern Sudan.

"Persistent inter-clan and inter-tribal cattle raiding conflicts since last year, and last year’s crop shortfalls caused by June-August dryness followed by floods, have been the main causes of food insecurity," it noted.

"Below average rains from May through August have now dampened the prospects for recovery that were expected with the onset of the September-October harvest, which has now been delayed."

In August, Lise Grande, the UN deputy resident and humanitarian coordinator in Southern Sudan, warned that the region faced a massive food deficit caused by a combination of late rains, high levels of insecurity and displacement, disruptions to trade and high food prices.

irinnews

Ostracized for marrying a man from a marginalized clan

NAIROBI, 15 September 2009 (IRIN) - In the eyes of her family and relatives, Ubah Abdi Adood committed a serious crime by marrying a man from the "wrong" clan.

Adood, 29, fled her home at the end of 2008 not because of fighting but because of threats and beatings from those closest to her. Adood's husband, Mahamud Abdi, is from one of Somalia's marginalized minority groups, the Madiban.

Minority groups such as the Madiban, Gabooyo and Tumal, are often discriminated against, mostly for the work they do, such as shoemaking and iron-smelting. Though Somalis and Muslims, these minority groups have traditionally never married into the larger Somali clans and do not mix with them socially. Adood spoke to IRIN on 15 September:

"I knew Mahamud [husband] before we got married. We both grew up in Galkayo in the same area. But because of his clan, I never really paid any attention to him. I was married off young to a man who died shortly afterwards, and my family then married me off again - but that marriage ended up in a divorce.

"We met again in 2007 and we started seeing each other secretly. I fell in love with him. He is kind, gentle and handsome. I adore him.

"We decided to get married in secret. We did it in July 2007. That is when all my problems started. My family and relatives found out and immediately wanted me to get a divorce. I refused. I was beaten repeatedly by my brothers, cousins and uncles. He [Mahamud] was threatened and on one occasion shot at. He fled to the south side of Galkayo [the town is partly in Puntland and partly in south-central Somalia].

"My relatives found out that I was pregnant with Mahamud's child and tried to force me to abort. I had to sleep in friends' homes or hotels to evade them.

"My mother was the only one who tried to protect me. At one time they broke my mother's arm while she was trying to protect me from the beatings.

"I told them my husband is Muslim and that is all I care. I didn’t break any laws, but they would not listen.

"Finally, my mother and I decided that I should leave before they killed me.

"I am now in Nairobi but even here I don’t feel safe. I was recently attacked and now I stay indoors. I don’t go anywhere. My husband fled to Ethiopia. I hope we will be reunited soon in a place we can both feel safe.

"I know we will never be able to return to our homes and live in peace. I am sure if we return to Galkayo we will be killed."

irinnews

A government car is set ablaze in Hargeisa, capital of the secessionist territory of Somaliland , on 12 September as opposition supporters and civil service activists protested the closure of the lower house of representatives

HARGEISA, 15 September 2009 (IRIN) - There is a need for all-inclusive consultation and support for local mediation efforts in secessionist Somaliland, which has recently experienced sporadic opposition and civil society-led protests over the indefinite postponement of national elections there, say analysts.

Initially set for April 2008, national polls were pushed to July, then 27 September, before being postponed indefinitely due to the current political situation.

In July, Somaliland president Dahir Riyale Kahin announced that he and the National Election Commission had decided to discard a recently completed hi-tech biometric voters' register, over the generation of an unreliable list, and would proceed with elections without it. This prompted opposition protests.

According to Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, a veteran of the 1981-1991 Somaliland liberation war, the situation in Somaliland is alarming.

"Somaliland has experienced so many difficult situations but this is unique because it is not a matter that can be resolved traditionally. It is based on voter registration, elections, and a motion to impeach the president," Gabobe said. "For this reason, we are obliged to make wide consensus consultations to deal with the issue."

Protests

The 14 September re-opening of the House of Representatives, which had been shut days earlier after a scuffle among members of parliament, has not eased the conflict, Gabobe said. The closure sparked deadly protests in the capital, Hargeisa, on 12 September in which four people died and 22 were injured.

"The solutions must come from an all-party or stakeholder agreement. The National Election Commission, political parties, the upper and lower houses of parliament, traditional elders and civil society should be consulted; it is not an issue for one party," he said, adding that more public protests were likely.

The opposition-led house was set to debate an impeachment motion against president Riyale over the oft-postponed elections before its closure.

Somaliland is governed by an elected lower House of Representatives and an upper house comprising clan elders. The elders have twice extended president Riyale's mandate.

A Nairobi-based regional analyst who preferred anonymity told IRIN the recent violence showed that the crisis in Somaliland had changed from being "political to one of security and stability".

"It underscores the importance of political dialogue to defuse the situation," he said. "For things to improve, the rule of law must be followed. This includes the holding of credible elections based on an agreed formula."

"For any elections to be credible there must be changes in the electoral commission," he said. "In the short-term there has to be some sort of short extension for the government, but if it does not hold elections in that time, then the other option would be a caretaker government."

Nicole Stremlau, a research fellow with Oxford University's Comparative Media Law and Policy Programme, said the recent violence did “not necessarily mean that the country will erupt into civil war"... Things in Somaliland appeared to be settling down after Saturday [12 September] as the negotiations are continuing."

She said: "President Riyale believes his government should remain in power whereas the opposition argues a caretaker government should be put in place… "

Riyale's term in office expires on 29 October.

More active role for media urged

A September report on the upcoming Somaliland elections, in which Stremlau and Gabobe are among the authors, said: "Just as Somaliland’s pre-election period is proving exceptionally divisive and conflictual, there are strong indications to suggest that if the election is as close as predicted there will be challenges in the post-election period."

The report thus urges the media to be more proactive. "It [the media] can have a role in potentially exacerbating tensions and violence as well as mediating, appealing for calm and explaining the political developments to the population," Stremlau said.

"In recent years there has been little international attention on Somaliland as the focus has been on the south. But Somaliland has made significant progress and has held competitive elections in the past."

HRW report

Echoing this, a July report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), warned that 18 years of progress in security and governance were threatened by the delayed elections.

"Somaliland now faces a moment of real danger. The president may be intending to prolong his mandate without elections for as long as possible, and his administration risks doing lasting damage to Somaliland’s emerging democratic system in the process," warned HRW.

HRW noted that there are also "severe limits to public willingness to openly challenge government actions for fear of threatening Somaliland’s hard-won peace and stability or damaging its chances of international recognition."

It went on: "The president and his party have successfully exploited this widespread aversion to direct confrontation to occupy a space well past the legal limits of their power but short of what would trigger real public anger. Many Somalilanders lament that they are effectively 'hostages to peace'."

According to Stremlau, the international community must support local negotiation efforts: "The Somalilanders have shown an extraordinary ability to mediate themselves. This is part of Somaliland’s success, particularly compared with the south where international involvement has further complicated and prolonged the violence."


irinnews

Central Bank of Nigeria


A Nigerian court sets tough bail terms for the chief executive officers of three banks who are facing trial over alleged financial crimes.

Two other bail applications by FinBank PLC and Intercontinental Bank PLC officials, also facing charges, will be decided on Tuesday.

Judge Dan Abutu of a Lagos court ordered each of the former heads of the Oceanic International Bank PLC, Union Bank Nigeria PLC and Afribank PLC, to pay a bail for 100 million naira (USD 649,000).

Conditions under the bail included barring the three executives from leaving Nigeria and the securing of the bail by two guarantors who are serving members of parliament or chairmen of a financial or oil services firm which have assets of at least one billion naira.

All the chief executive officers were charged on August 31 and are facing charges ranging from recklessly granting loans, to share price manipulations following a USD 2.6 billion bailout last month. Their trial will continue on November 23.

The Central Bank of Nigeria injected 400 billion naira (USD 2.6 billion) into Afribank, FinBank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank a month ago and sacked their chief executives, saying they were so weakly capitalized that they posed a systemic risk.

presstv

Picture released by the Kenyan police in 2002 shows Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan

After interference in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has now made itself busy in Somali soil, claiming to have "likely killed" one of their most wanted men and his companions.

American sources familiar with the operation said late on Monday, that their Special Forces' helicopter-borne troops attacked a car in southern Somalia and killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was wanted over a hotel bombing that killed 15 people and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner departing from Kenya's Mombassa airport in 2002.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has retrieved what it believed was the body of the 28-year-old Kenyan-born Nabhan.

Meanwhile, a senior Somali government source in Mogadishu told Reuters that the fugitive had been riding in a car with four other top foreign commanders when they were attacked near Roobow village in Barawe District, some 250 km (155 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

The Somali source said all five were killed in the raid. However, a BBC report quoted witnesses as saying that the troops took away two people and left two bodies in the road after the attack near the southern town of Barawe.

A local witness said the foreign commandos, who carried out the raid, were wearing French flags on the shoulders of their uniforms. But a spokesman for the French Defense Ministry, Christophe Prazuck, denied any French soldiers were involved.

Paris maintains a large military base in neighboring Djibouti.

The US military is known for launching airstrikes inside Somalia, targeting individuals that Washington considers "legitimate targets" for assassinations.

In May 2008, the US claimed its war planes killed the then-leader of al-Shabaab group and alleged al-Qaeda's top man in the country, Afghan-trained Aden Hashi Ayro, in an attack on the central town of Dusamareb.

presstv

Although Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has defused crisis for now, he is accused of rights abuses and political repression of opponents, analysts say.

Last week, three days of rioting rocked the Ugandan capital Kampala, leaving at least 21 people killed and more than 80 others injured, while the government arrested hundreds.

Protesters from the Baganda tribe took to the Kampala streets to protest against government's decision to bar their King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II from attending a ceremony in capital's north-eastern district of Kayunga.

Police spokeswoman Jujith Nabakooba said that 663 people had been arrested. Some 120 protesters were brought before a Kampala court on Monday and charged with offences, which include rioting and unlawful assembly and incitement, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Security forces have been accused of firing live bullets that killed more than a dozen people. As a result protesters reportedly attacked some security officers with guns and burned down a police post and some public premises, bringing the capital's business and traffic to standstill.

Meanwhile, critics accuse Museveni of rights abuses, political repression of opponents and of turning a blind eye to high level corruption, and they denounce his authoritarian leadership style.

They also say that he is determined to hold onto power in the region's third biggest economy.

presstv

DAKAR, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - Mamadou Ndiaye wades across his flooded house as his children bail out dirty water bucket by bucket. He and his family are among many thousands of Senegalese whose homes have been under water for days.

Thirty years ago when Ndiaye moved to Guédiawaye, 26km outside the city centre of the capital Dakar, the land was dry and cheap. Now residents of this densely populated suburb endure floods every rainy season.

Recurrent flooding in towns and cities across West Africa is more about people than rains, according to Professor Cheikh Mbow at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Dakar, who studies the impact of climate variability on urban flood risk. The region’s annual flooding reflects explosive population growth in the cities, poverty and poor urban management, he said.

“The rural poor come and settle on unsuitable land and are then exposed to flooding and other hazards like landslides and industrial risks.”

West Africa’s population is expected to grow at an average rate of 2.4 percent from between 2005 and 2010, and the population is likely to more than double from 293 million in 2008 to 617 million in 2050, according to the UN Population Fund, most of this growth in urban areas.

Amid this year’s flooding in West Africa, which the UN says has killed at least 160 people to date, observers repeatedly point to the problem of urban congestion. In Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown the main cause of recent flooding was “indiscriminate building” in green belt zones [undeveloped land] according to national disaster management head, Mary Kamara.

In northern Nigerian cities overpopulation has people building homes on waterways, with natural drainage systems becoming blocked by rubbish, according to Hassan Musa, an environmentalist at Bayero University in the northern city of Kano.

“In some cases when people build houses on waterways and the government hardly restrains them, this leads to a cycle of flooding, destruction and sometimes death,” Musa told IRIN.

''...We live in atrocious conditions. The flooding is a problem the government could solve. But they have forgotten us. It is that simple...''
Dakar: No urban plan

Fifty years ago Dakar consisted of a triangular peninsula surrounded by wetlands, known as “cap vert.” The once-green surroundings are now mostly grey, as a 1970s and 1980s Sahel-wide drought pushed rural dwellers to settle in the flood-prone depressions on the city’s outskirts in spite of regulations outlawing construction.

“The State has not really carried out a strong policy to ban occupancy of this unsuitable land," said Mbow. Now 95 percent of the Dakar region, which includes the districts of Pikine, Rufisque and Guédiawaye, is covered with buildings and roads that block natural waterways and basins.

Malick Faye, an urban planner at Dakar’s Regional Council, said the severely flooded neighbourhood of Wakhinane in Guédiawaye – where people have built at the level of the water table – is a good example of the wider problem.

“The water table used to be very low, but now that the rains have come back the water has returned to its natural level. So now all you need is 5mm of rain for it to flood,” he told IRIN.

While emergency response teams pump water from Dakar’s flooded neighbourhoods, experts agree that relocating people is the only solution.

“You can never fight the path of the water,” said the Mbow. “As you pump, the aquifer restores the water level. You have to take the people out and make sure others will not replace them.”

New cities

In response to devastating floods in Dakar in 2005 the government launched a housing scheme, ‘Plan Jaxaay’, aiming to relocate flood victims to an area 25km east of the capital.

The government has built 1,793 two-bedroom houses of a planned 3,000, as well as three primary schools, a technical college, a nursery school and a police station.

Cité Jaxaay resident Aliou Ba, a retired schoolteacher, is pleased with his new house. “I prefer living out in the sticks to living under water in the city,” he said. "The only problem is there is no electricity or running water yet.”

Chimère Diallo, field coordinator of Plan Jaxaay, said relocating 3,000 families is a good start, but it is not enough given the enormous scale of Senegal’s housing problem.

Some 1.6 million people live in Dakar’s suburbs, with 10,000 per square kilometre in some areas, according to Mbow.

The relocation task is enormous, said the regional council’s Faye. “If you want to move 2,000 families you must create a new city…with all the services and infrastructure required – electricity, water, drainage systems. This is an enormous task….Plan Jaxaay is a good thing. But we cannot build houses for everyone in a year.”

Frustration over the lack of services and dire conditions in Dakar’s suburbs recently boiled over into sreet protests.

Guédiawaye resident Ndiaye said: “We live in atrocious conditions. The flooding is a problem the government could solve. But they have forgotten us. It is that simple. We cannot count on our politicians. We can count only on ourselves.”

irinnews

JOHANNESBURG, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will soon start distributing agricultural inputs funded by the European Union (EU) to 176,000 poor communal farmers in Zimbabwe.

The EU Food Facility is funding the inputs as part of a larger programme that brings together the humanitarian community in Zimbabwe to reach a total of 620,000 farmers with agricultural assistance this year.

The Food Facility funds are being channelled through UN agencies as well as other organizations. The FAO has allocated over $22 million of its share of more than US$290 million from the facility to Zimbabwe. The EU aims to bridge the gap between emergency aid and medium- to long-term development aid.

irinnews