HARARE, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - It was in many ways a shotgun marriage, except that both the parties in Zimbabwe's unity government were equally unwilling.

On 15 September 2008 President Robert Mugabe, leader of ZANU-PF, and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction, signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA), paving the way for the unity government to be established in February 2009.

For Mugabe it meant the dilution of nearly three decades of rule, while Tsvangirai agreed to accept the junior position of prime minister, even though his party had won a parliamentary majority and he had convincingly beaten Mugabe in the presidential ballot, but had withdrawn from the presidential run-off in protest over sometimes deadly political violence against his supporters.

The GPA was brokered by then South African president Thabo Mbeki - appointed as negotiator by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - and was envisaged as the mechanism to begin healing the political rifts that had plunged once prosperous Zimbabwe into penury, disease and food insecurity.

A year later the GPA's track record is getting mixed reviews. Sokwanele, an NGO monitoring adherence to the agreement, cites Mugabe's ZANU-PF as being responsible for nearly 88.5 percent of all violations until the end of August 2009, the remainder being shared by Tsvangirai's and Mutambara's MDCs.

"ZANU-PF's favourite political tool - violence - still plagues Zimbabwe's populace to the extent that it is almost accepted as a norm by the majority," Sokwanele noted in a report published on 7 September 2009.
''ZANU-PF's favourite political tool - violence - still plagues Zimbabwe's populace to the extent that it is almost accepted as a norm by the majority''

A senior official in Mutambara's MDC, Renson Gasela, told IRIN: "There are a lot of positives that have been registered following the signing of the GPA - we now have goods in our shops, which was not the case before the GNU [Government of National Unity]. If the power-sharing deal is fully implemented, I think life will even be better for most Zimbabweans."

Tendai Musemburi, a political commentator based in the capital, Harare, told IRIN: "There are very obvious areas of improvement, especially in the area of availability in terms of food and basic commodities in the shops, which was not the case before the signing of the GPA ... The downside to that is that the US dollars needed to make purchases are not easily available."

The Zimbabwean dollar was discontinued and replaced by multiple foreign currencies to end hyperinflation measured in trillions of percent.

However, the GPA has failed to fulfil expectations that life would be better. "The disappointment emanates from the fact that many thought there would be more jobs, and that income levels would improve, but that has not really happened ... more needs to be done on the economic front to solve bread-and-butter issues," Musemburi said.

Degrees of peace

In a statement marking the anniversary Tsvangirai said: "A degree of peace and stability has begun to take root, and basic foods and services have returned to the country."

Nevertheless, he tempered the achievements of the GPA by commenting that ZANU-PF continued to "frustrate" full implementation of the agreement. "To make matters worse, the selective application of the rule of law, including the persecution and prosecution of MDC MPs, continues to inflame political tensions," he said in the statement.

"Equally problematic is the deliberately slow pace of progress on the implementation of key issues connected to human rights and the rule of law. This includes the self-evident deliberate stalemate on the constitutional reform process, as well as the slow pace of media reform."

Political analyst Godfrey Kanyenze said the GPA's first anniversary marked "a very clear stalemate. The MDC says there needs to be implementation of outstanding issues, while ZANU-PF says all issues have been implemented and that only sanctions are outstanding."

ZANU-PF believes the MDC has not campaigned enough for the removal of US and European Union sanctions targeting Mugabe and his associates for human rights abuses.

"The MDC, which urged its international supporters to impose the illegal sanctions, has the sole responsibility to ensure that its international supporters remove the sanctions forthwith," ZANU-PF said.

Western donors have adopted a wait-and-see approach, holding back billions of dollars in aid since the signing of the GPA in 2008 and the formation of the unity government in February 2009. Zimbabwe needs around US$8 billion to kick-start its ailing economy.

The MDC accuse Mugabe of bad faith in not swearing in its deputy agricultural minister, Roy Bennett, a former white farmer, and not resolving the outstanding issues of the appointment of the central bank governor and the attorney general without consulting the unity government partners, while also stalling the appointment of ten provincial governors that reflect the MDC's majority in parliament.

Media hatred

The state media continue to view the partners in the unity government "through the historic perspective of hatred and acrimony, blatantly advancing the interests of a single party [ZANU-PF]," Tsvangirai said.
''The distortions of the political reality by the state media present a real and credible threat to this inclusive government''

"The distortions of the political reality by the state media present a real and credible threat to this inclusive government and its ability to impact positively on the lives of all Zimbabweans."

In a recent report - The political and humanitarian challenges facing Zimbabwe's GPA leadership and its ordinary citizens - Solidarity Peace Trust, an NGO campaigning for peace, democracy and human rights, sounded a note of caution.

"In the absence of sound alternatives to the current political arrangement, the slow international response to the needs of the new government could strengthen the hand of the more regressive elements of the ruling party in the military and security, while frustrating the democratic forces within the transitional state."

irinnews

NAIROBI, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - At least 12 disabled people were killed in Mogadishu when a shell landed in their compound, according to eyewitnesses.

"We were preparing to break our fast when a shell landed on our compound in Demartini hospital; 12 were killed on the spot and 16 injured and taken to hospital," said Abdullahi Hassan Hussein, a disabled activist.

The killing of the disabled is the latest act of violence in an increasingly conflict-ridden city, which has seen the displacement of hundreds of thousands from their homes since the end of 2006.

Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization (EHRO), told IRIN the killings showed that parties to the conflict had reached a new low.

"We condemn this attack in the strongest terms possible and call on both sides to allow an independent investigation to find out who was behind it," he said.

Both the government and the opposition have denied being behind the attack.

The disabled were veterans of Somalia's 1977 war with Ethiopia and were considered heroes. The hospital compound is home to 90 of them and their families, said activist Hussein. "They have been here since the civil war started… I don’t know why they were targeted… These were our heroes and we are killing them now. No one is safe."

EHRO’s Yassin said more than 60 people were killed and 106 injured in fighting in Mogadishu in the last two weeks.

The fighting, between government forces backed by AMISOM (AU peacekeeping troops) and two Islamist insurgent groups, was entering a very dangerous phase "with both sides believing that it is now or never," he said.

People on the move

More families were leaving the city due to the uncertainty, he told IRIN, adding that the internally displaced persons' camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu were getting overwhelmed by the new influx.

Other people were moving towards the Kenyan border, said Asha Sha'ur, a civil society representative in Mogadishu. She said conditions in the camps around Mogadishu were deteriorating.

Previously, people fled north to the central regions but those regions have also become war zones. "Unfortunately no place seems safe inside our country," Sha'ur said. "How many more must die from hunger, disease or wounds, and how many more must lose their homes before this ends?"

Fighting has been going on in Mogadishu since Ethiopian troops withdrew in December 2008, leading to thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as thousands being displaced.

An estimated 3.76 million people - half the population - need assistance, according to the UN Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit.


irinnews

Ameerah Haq, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, meets civilians who fled LRA raids on their homes, during a visit to Yambio, Western Equatoria State

YAMBIO, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - Attacks attributed to Ugandan-led rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed at least 188 civilians and displaced 68,000 in Southern Sudan since January 2009, with 137 abductions also reported, according to the UN.

"Many innocent people are losing their lives every week, and the United Nations is very concerned about the killing, abduction, maiming and displacement of innocent civilians," said Ameerah Haq, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.

In Sudan, Western Equatoria State has been hardest hit by the recent upsurge in attacks blamed on the LRA, which have also taken place in several regions in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR).

"During the last six weeks alone, 11 incidents of LRA attacks have been reported, seven of them in the first week of September," Haq told reporters on 11 September during a visit to Yambio, the state capital of Western Equatoria.

In Nairobi, Justin Labeja, the head of the LRA's peace negotiating team, questioned the authorship of the attacks.

"It is very unfair because nobody can come up with clear concrete evidence. Who can say this is the LRA of [leader Joseph] Kony who is doing this?" he said.

What the "real LRA" is any more is hard to pin down. When it emerged in northern Uganda in the late 1980s the LRA was made up almost exclusively of people from the region's Acholi community, fighting perceived marginalization. The LRA now includes nationals from Sudan, the DRC and CAR - many as a result of recruitment-by-abduction. In Southern Sudan "LRA" has been used as a catch-all label for any armed group which attacks civilians.

However, those displaced by the latest attacks reported tactics which bore the hallmarks of the LRA, including grotesque killings and targeting church congregations.

Hard task

Combating the small groups of guerrillas - experienced in jungle warfare and able to slip across international frontiers with apparent ease - has become a hard task.

"There is not much coming from the [Sudanese] state, they are not able to provide the security that they [people] need," said the UN’s Haq. "While the humanitarian community is providing food and other non-food items, the food itself is becoming a magnet for LRA attacks… The answer to that is really how we can provide security around a perimeter."

Extra troops from the south’s military, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), have been sent to the region, according to spokesman Maj-Gen Kuol Diem Kuol.

"We are working hard and doing all we can to ensure the safety of ci vilians in the region," he explained.

The main military force are Ugandan troops, whose soldiers have established camps in Sudan to try and hunt down the now mobile LRA units in Southern Sudan, DRC and CAR.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has just 200 blue helmets based in the sprawling region of Western Equatoria.

UN stretched

Officials said the force has been stretched by a string of recent violent inter-ethnic clashes elsewhere in Southern Sudan.

Its mandate, one official added, needed to be beefed up by the UN Security Council to allow active military engagement against the LRA.

"We need an integrated approach to really provide security to these people, [and] that will require the support of the UN and UNMIS," said Jemma Nunu Kumba, the governor of Western Equatoria.

"UNMIS needs to get involved just like MONUC [the UN peacekeeping mission] in Congo [DRC], to be able to repulse the rebels when they are attacking the civilians," he added.

Those displaced by the LRA say more effort is needed, not simply to hunt the rebels, but to provide security that would allow people to return to their homes.

"The LRA have killed our people, and they took two of my children," said Karina Zeferino, who fled after attacks in August on her hometown of Ezo, close to Sudan’s border with CAR.

She trekked the 155km to Yambio town with her remaining young daughter.

''The LRA will remain a problem and we will be unable to go home until pressure is really put on tnem by all sides''
After the attacks, peacekeepers airlifted UN staff and aid workers from Ezo by helicopter, shutting down international humanitarian work in that area.

"People are suffering, but we cannot go home because the LRA will attack again," added Zeferino, holding her child tightly to her side. "There is no help for us there, so that is why we have come to Yambio, but it is hard here too."

"The LRA will remain a problem and we will be unable to go home until pressure is really put on them by all sides," said Gaaniko Bate, a leader of the ever-growing Makpandu camp in Southern Sudan, which hosts some 2,530 refugees from DRC.

"These people will not be easily stopped," he added.

irinnews

Lake Kivu connects Goma and Bukavu; the capitals of North and South Kivu Provinces (file photo): In Goma, security incidents against humanitarian workers are on the rise

NAIROBI, 14 September 2009 (IRIN) - Security incidents against humanitarian workers in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have increased by 26 percent since January compared to the same period last year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Goma city recorded a 44 percent increase compared with the same period in 2008. There was also an increase in the level of personal violence, OCHA said in a report on security incidents against humanitarian workers in the province.

NGOs were the primary target in rural areas, while UN agencies were less likely to be targeted due to their continued use of MONUC (UN military mission) military escorts when accessing insecure areas.

In Goma, UN staff appear to be as vulnerable as NGO staff, the report said.

On access, the report said UN agencies had easy access to only 0.9 percent of the 5,300km of roads in North Kivu; over 900,000 displaced people were in areas where military escorts were required.

irinnews

14 Sep 2009
France has denied claims that its forces were involved in a raid on a village in a rebel-controlled area of southern Somalia, in which elders say several were killed.

The raid in the village of Erile, about 200km south of the capital Mogadishu, saw four foreign helicopters opening fire on a vehicle believed to carry al Shabaab fighters on Monday, killing at least two people, elders and witnesses said.

A local Islamist commander who asked to remain anonymous claimed that the helicopters were French.

Some accounts of the incident in the southern coastal town of Barawe claimed that the foreign troops had uniforms with French insignia.

"There was no French operation," said Admiral Christophe Prazuck, spokesperson for the armed forces' general staff, insisting that the presence was strictly committed to the EU anti-piracy framework and would not "intervene over Somali territory."

Meanwhile, a Press TV correspondent in Somalia said one of the warplanes involved the raid was believed to be a US aircraft -- the low-flying AC-130. He added that the convoy was carrying at least 9 high-ranking al Shabaab fighters at the time of the attack.

The area is controlled by al Shabaab fighters, who are currently engaged in a massive offensive against the new transitional government in Somalia.

Two French intelligence agents were kidnapped from a Mogadishu hotel in July and separately held by two main rebel groups in the lawless country. One of the two was freed after six weeks, but the other is believed to be in al Shabaab captivity.

The French authorities maintain that the pair, who witnesses say posed as journalists while in Mogadishu, was advisors to the government of President Sharif Ahmed.

presstv

13 September 2009

Harare — Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party began high level talks at the weekend on proposals from its members to disengage from the unity government.

The party wants to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF to make concessions on the outstanding issues of their Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Mr Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesman said the party's national executive council met in the second city of Bulawayo on Saturday evening to kick start the consultation process.

The meeting will be followed up by that of the national council also in the same city on Sunday before the party holds celebrations to mark its 10 years of existence.

Mr Tsvangirai is under pressure from some hardliners in his party who want him to force Mr Mugabe to make compromises on the outstanding issues in the implementation of the last September 15 power-sharing agreement.

The failure by the Southern African Development Community to deal with Zimbabwe's long running crisis at its Democratic Republic of Congo summit has heightened tensions in the fragile coalition.

"We are looking at progress and the lack of it on the implementation of the GPA," he said. "This week's SADC summit will be a topical issue."

Key Western donors have refused to extend any support to the unity government until it implements major reforms.

But a defiant Mr Mugabe on Saturday claimed that he has met his side of the bargain in the GPA.

"They (the EU delegation) thought things were not working, yet we did all the things we were asked to do under the GPA, timeously even," Mr Mugabe said after he met a delegation of senior officials from the EU in the country for high level talks.

Mr Mugabe said he established a good rapport with the EU delegation during the meeting at State House.

"We established a good rapport," he said. "There was no animosity."

The delegation, which consisted off EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid Karel de Gucht, Swedish International Corporation Corporation Minister Gunilla Carlsson and a representative from Spain is the visit to visit Zimbabwe in almost 10 years.

Mr Tsvangirai told them that there were serious challenges in the implementation of the GPA.

"We discussed the EU-Zimbabwe dialogue. We said there are issues in the GPA," he told a press conference after his meeting with the delegation," he told journalists in Bulawayo after talks with the EU officials.

"We want to see the full implementation of the agreement and that is why we have taken the issues to SADC.

"However there has to be progress. The pace of the GPA has been slow but I'm sure the three political principals will be able to sit down and solve the issues."

Ms Carlsson who led the delegation said the EU, which imposed sanctions on Mr Mugabe's inner circle for violating human rights said the block was prepared to re-engage Zimbabwe.

"We would like to engage with the government of national unity in Zimbabwe. But of course, we are concerned by the fact that there has been no progress on some issues included in the global agreement," she said.

"These specifically refer to governance issues."

The EU delegation made it clear that sanctions against Zimbabwe will not be removed until the GPA is fully implemented.

allafrica

13 September 2009

Police officers in riot gear have sealed off streets in Lusaka's main business area to stop hawkers from selling their merchandise.

The Ministry of Local Government and Housing, which is in charge of councils and sanitation welfare, recently released K2.1 billion (about Sh34.4 million) to the Zambia police to help remove the vendors from the streets of Lusaka.

Almost all streets of the Zambian capital, Lusaka, have a multitude of vendors selling all sorts of goods making it difficult for people to move on the streets or enter shops.

The vendors have even covered some lanes on main streets with their commodities. The vendors also sell their goods on the pathways, corridors of shops even entrances to shops.

Some shop owners are believed to be giving some of their goods to street vendors to be selling for them outside their shops because buyers opt to purchase goods from the streets instead of shops because the entrances are blocked by vendors.

The Ministry of Home Affairs - which is the parent ministry for the Zambia Police - and the Lusaka City Council gave the vendors an ultimatum of up to Saturday midnight to stop selling from the streets.

The police officers sealed off the streets early Sunday morning to prevent the vendors from continuing with their businesses.

But this is not the first time that the Zambia police and Lusaka City Council police have swung into action chasing vendors from the streets. Whenever they are barred, the vendors still come back on the streets after a period.

The government struggles to permanently remove street vendors because of their political influence as voters.

allafrica

14 September 2009

Nairobi — Despite the ongoing tensions in the region, President Paul Kagame sees a secure and peaceful East Africa and Africa in general thanks to ongoing efforts at economic integration.

And Kenyan politicians will need to display a higher degree of leadership and sense of ownership if the country is to pull back from the brink of self-destruction.

In a wide ranging interview with The EastAfrican, the Rwandan President argues it is not bullets and regional military formations that will bring enduring security to the region but aggregation of common interests across the region that will bring peace and stability.

"Security is not about guns. It is about the sentiments, the attitude, the benefit you get from the other and what he gets from you. Once you allow that to happen, work becomes easier," he says.

Making reference to the blood relations that cut across national borders in the region and official efforts at achieving regional integration, Kagame says while political leaders matter because they wield authority, it is important to find a point of convergence between the interests and hopes of the ordinary people for the process to pick up momentum.

Says he: "At times, even when there are issues between countries, like we have had for a long time with the DRC, ordinary people will still use informal panya [illicit] routes, they will trade with and visit each other. Even if you sent an army to stop them they will still do it because, for them, it is their life. I think they just fall short of saying, 'I don't know what these stupid leaders are doing.' Maybe they don't express it out of good manners, but this is what must be going on in their minds."

On the post-election violence that rocked Kenya and the ongoing debate over whether to try its suspected perpetrators at the International Criminal Court in the Hague or in a local tribunal, he advises caution.

"When I read about the International Criminal Court being used as a stick to whip people into line.... In the world where I come from, I would avoid that because it can be counterproductive. In our [Rwanda's] case, for example, if we had to strictly say, 'You did wrong, you must answer for it like this,' rigidly, we would not be where we are today," says the Rwandan leader.

"If we were to try everybody who was involved in the genocide and sentence them to hang, well, legally, it would be correct. Morally, it would sound good to hang everybody who was involved in killing people.

But realistically, we couldn't do that. Not that we don't understand the importance of justice, but ... we understood it to be the price we had to pay for a stable future.

"So there is a tricky, very complex balance between holding people accountable and therefore dealing with the question of impunity, and forging stability by way of a politics that is not always black and white -- you kill us, we kill you, you do this, we do that. This is the delicate balancing act we have had to go through."

President Kagame further says leadership has to start showing up among Kenyans so that they can work towards owning their problem. He says even if a semblance of stability came out of the international pressure as has been exerted on President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the results would be temporary.

So the political class need to show some leadership among themselves to make some of these sacrifices of give and take and own the problem, and not only deal with some of these superficial things," he says, arguing that the December 2007 elections just helped some problems that had been "in the mind" to surface and some people were using them to express other grievances.

Kagame also sees the uneasy relations with Rwanda's former godfather France thawing, saying: "A lot of things have happened and there has been easing of the bad relationship we had with France. I don't want to say much, I don't want to sound like I am pre-empting anything, but from the way they are progressing I think things are going to get better once we are done with these cases. We are sure moving in a positive direction."

Regarding the infrastructure deficiencies the region suffers in key areas such as transport, the President said there is an ongoing dialogue at the highest levels to take a regional approach to these problems.

"We have been working with the Tanzanians; we have worked with the Ugandans and, by extension, the Kenyans. We have been working closely with the Congolese and the people from Burundi on trying to develop a railway network. Every other day, we keep reminding ourselves of how important this is and how much difference it can make."

Looking forward at the political succession in Rwanda and in the wider African context, Kagame says: "It is important for East Africans, not just Rwandans, that we achieve stability to that level where succession should not be a problem. We should reach that level sooner rather than later.

"In my position, I think that can be obtained in this country where we can see leaders change hands without causing instability. I think that would be a gift from God and those of us who have played leadership roles of one kind or another."

allafrica

13 September 2009

Visiting the world's largest refugee camp, housing refugees from Somalia, on the Horn of Africa nation's border with Kenya, Academy award-winning actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency Angelina Jolie today characterized the site as "one of the most dire" she has ever seen.

"If this is the better solution, then what must it be like in Somalia?" Ms. Jolie asked during her day-long visit to Dabaab, one of three camps that together were designed for 90,000 people but now host some 285,000 refugees.

Children ran to greet her as she made her way to the new arrivals area, where she met a young women with three small children with distended stomachs and streaming noses who just reached the camp in Kenya after walking for days to flee Somalia, where half the population - or some 3.8 million people - are in need of aid.

The Goodwill Ambassador saw first-hand the daily reality of life in Dabaab, where women and children line up for hours every day at water taps which are turned off for hours.

"The the toilets are already overflowing," she observed. "There is not even enough space for trash dumps so people are living amongst the garbage."

Ms. Jolie was told of a cholera outbreak earlier this year by staff from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the camp, where some families who have made their homes there for years are hosting newly-arrived refugees.

"What is amazing is that as more and more people come into the camp, the Somali families continue to be generous with what little they have, even if that means having one eighth of the water they need and their children suffering from dehydration," she said.

At the end of her visit, Ms. Jolie noted that "the Somali families I met today are full of warmth and affection. I wish more people could meet them [because] then they would have a stronger desire to help."

When he visited Dabaab last month, High Commissioner AntÃ'nio Guterres was assured by the Kenyan Government that it understood the urgency of granting additional land to alleviate overcrowding at the site.

Mr. Guterres, who called Dabaab the "most difficult camp situation in the world," pledged UNHCR's support in the interim to boost the refugees' living conditions by upgrading the aging water and sanitation systems, increasing health services and providing adequate shelter and nutrition.

He also committed an additional $20 million for refugees and the host community in Dabaab, calling for massive international donor support.

UNHCR has recently begun moving 12,000 refugees to the Kakuma camp in northern Kenya as an emergency measure for new arrivals.

allafrica

13 September 2009
Lusaka — Burundi has received euro 4.4 million (US$6.4 million) grant from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) under the adjustment facility.

Burundi, one of the 19 member states of the regional economic bloc, is the first beneficiary of the COMESA adjustment facility.

According to a media statement issued by the COMESA secretariat in Lusaka, Comesa secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya presented the euro 4.4 million cheque to Clotilde Nizigama, Burundi's minister of finance in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura on Friday.

According to COMESA, the euro 4.4 million was a grant to Burundi meant to assist the country integrate into COMESA and the East African Community (EAC).

"Burundi has provided a programme for implementation of commitments which includes the elimination of non tariff barriers; support to the COMESA Common Investment Area; and fiscal and monetary harmonization," said Mr Ngwenya.

According to COMESA, Ms Nizigama said the euro 4.4 million was only 65 per cent of the funds that Burundi expects to get and that data required collection with the view to get the remaining 35 per cent is on an advanced stage.

In 2000, when COMESA launched the Free Trade Area (FTA) it was envisaged that the progress towards achieving the level of integration desired in the region would entail adjustments by governments. Therefore, the COMESA secretariat formulated programmes to support its member countries in this process.

As a result, COMESA created the COMESA fund, with two windows, one of which being the adjustment facility.

"We went through a rigorous process which entailed showing that COMESA is indeed an institution with the capacity and credibility to handle direct provision of such support to its member states through its own mechanism," said Mr Ngwenya.

Other COMESA member states include host Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

allafrica

13 September 2009

Hie Saidou, AfricaNews reporter in Harare, Zimbabwe Photo: Daniel Sibanba
President Robert Mugabe on Saturday launched a scathing attack on a visiting European Union delegation following progress on the SADC - initiated Global Political Agreement that led to a unity government.
Robert Mugabe rally, photo by Daniel Sibanda
He said the EU delegation he met chose to ask about how Zimbabwe would appoint senior government officials, choosing to ignore “illegal” sanctions imposed “on the country”.

Mugabe was officially closing a Zanu-PF Youth Conference in the capital, Harare. “I met the EU delegation today (Saturday) but instead of talking about sanctions, they talked about (Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon) Gono and (Attorney General, Johannes) Tomana. Coming all the way from Europe just to talk about the appointment of officials! They also talked about (Roy) Bennet and MDC officials who were arrested. However, I told them there were two Home Affairs Ministers from both MDC and Zanu-PF who are in charge of the police. The Ministers have both got two eyes,” Mugabe said.

Mugabe told the youth conference that Zimbabwe was for Zimbabweans and foreigners should keep away. “There are predators, outsiders who want to control us. They are colonialists who are armed to conquer. Therefore, don’t give in to outside interference,” he said. He urged party youths to be “the vanguard of the party and the country at large in the face of persecution by the West”.

“The road to independence was tough. It will remain tough because imperialists will always want to come and take our country. Never to surrender, never ever.
“Zimbabwe is ours, let others keep out of our family. Our resources are ours together, be it agriculture, the forest, birds even the lizards and poor frogs. We share them (resources) together.”

Mugabe and senior members of his party are under targeted sanctions from the EU, Britain and US, among other western countries. President Mugabe insisted that the EU delegation was supposed to lobby for the removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Carlssen, Sweden’s International Development Cooperation Minister, also expressed concern over the slow pace at which the unity government was making progress, particularly in the area of political reforms. “We would like to engage with the Government of National Unity but we are also concerned about some progress not being made. We are worried about the progress that is not being made speedily as we would like to see, specifically when it comes to political reforms,” she said.

“That is why we are here, to meet the signatories of the agreement. To see what are the obstacles and how to deal with them, because it is in the interest of the Zimbabwean people.”

Addressing the Press, after meeting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai – another signatory to the Global Political agreement in the second largest city of Bulawayo – delegation head, Ms Ganilla Carlssen said the EU wanted to restore relations with Zimbabwe. “Being here is a commitment from the European Union that we care and we would like to come back to normal relations with Zimbabwe.”

Tsvangirai said the issue of sanctions should be left for bilateral discussions with the EU. The delegation arrived in the country on Saturday morning after meeting Global Political Agreement guarantor, South African President, Jacob Zuma.

africanews

12 September 2009
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has said it will settle and re-integrate Internally Displaced People (IDP) into society after the United Nations closes camps in the restive Kivu provinces of that country.
congo_village_home
Government spokesman Lambert Mende is quoted as saying that his government has budgeted for financial and logistical support for the returning displaced Congolese.

He said the government has accepted the move of Non Governmental Organisations and international agencies to close these camps because people are going back home and the numbers of those remaining were low.

He said the presence of remnants of armed groups in the area of Kinshasa will provide adequate security for the returnees.

"The government is well aware of the location of those remnants elements they are not all over the provinces… there are a lot of other places that are secured by the army (and) police," he said.

He however, refuted reports that the displaced returnees were forced out of the camps, saying that they came by their own volition and are going home by their own will.

He added that there is need for the displaced persons to return to the life they know.

It should be noted that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees announced that it will be closing IDP camps after a sharp drop of violence in Kivu.

But political pundits express worry that the government is ill-prepared to provide adequate security because of the presence of armed groups in the area.

africanews

13 September 2009

Kampala — The Radio One talk show host, Mr Kalundi Sserumaga, who was on Friday night grabbed by unidentified people, became the first journalist to fall victim as government continues to clamp down on the media amidst chaotic scenes in parts of the country.

The government yesterday also suspended two other media practitioners on allegations of inciting violence and demeaning the President.

Uganda Broadcasting Council (UBC) yesterday confirmed the suspension of Mr Sserumaga, who is still in police custody, on charges of media-related offences, WBS-TV talk show host, Mr Peter Kibazo, Radio Simba's local dramatist, who hosts Binsangawano morning show, Mr Charles James Senkubuge Siasa.

Mr Ssenkubuge told Sunday Monitor that: "They sent us a communication that we demeaned the President, but I don't know whether I have been suspended."

But Mr Kibazo confirmed his suspension on allegations that he fell short of minimum broadcasting standards during Friday's Talk Show on WBS-TV discussing Mengo-central government relations.

It was after this show that Mr Sserumaga was grabbed.

While the police and army both denied arresting Mr Sserumaga, the Deputy Director for Criminal Investigations in police, David Magara, told this newspaper yesterday; "He (Sserumaga) is in Kireka; he is going to be transferred to Central Police Station."

Police spokesperson, Ms Judith Nabakooba, said yesterday Mr Sserumaga had been taken to CPS pending investigations into what she described as "media-related offences".

"We shall inform you when we are through with the investigations. I cannot tell you the details of the charges as we have to get all the recordings of the case," she said.

Speaking to reporters at Uganda Journalists Association headquarters in Kampala yesterday, Mr Sserumaga's wife, Ms Sarah Nsigaye appealed for the release of her husband.

"He was arrested for no reason, he is a journalist doing his job and his arrest has affected the education of my children and the family members."

She added: "In 1976, Idi Amin got my grandfather and put him in the car boot and later killed him. Today it's my husband and I don't know what is going to happen."

Mr Sserumaga's arrest came after the government shut down four major FM radio stations allegedly due to their consistent breaching of the Electronic Media law, according to Information Minister Kabakumba Masiko.

Addressing a news conference at government's Media Centre in Kampala on Friday, Broadcasting Council chairman, Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, said the suspension of the radio stations was in light of current unrest in the country.

The government also announced a ban on Bimeeza programmes saying they are increasingly becoming difficult to manage due to the inability of radio stations to control content.

Explaining the current clamp down on the media, Ms Masiko said that the government decision was in line with the mandate entrusted to the Council to regulate media houses.

As the government comes down hard on media, at least a dozen journalists in the country are facing prosecution over stories that the State deems either seditious or defamatory.

Besides, the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee to propose a way of reining-in the media and the proposed Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Bill, 2008, commonly known as phone tapping bill, which is before Parliament for consideration are some of the plans the government is seeking to use to clamp down on independent media.

While President Museveni always emphasises the importance of free speech, he has at the same time consistently attacked the media for allegedly "misleading and misinforming" the public.

The President has repeatedly promised to tame the media, accusing particularly independent media of bias and sabotaging national development.

allafrica

13 September 2009

At least 550 people have so far been arrested in connection to the riots that have, for three days, affected business in Kampala city and claimed 14 lives, police announced yesterday.

Police also warned that the arrest the hunt for the ring leaders was still ongoing.

"I can tell you that we are still arresting, this is not all, we are going to arrest more," the Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura told journalist yesterday at the CID headquarters in Kampala, adding that 83 of the suspects have been charged in court.

The Police chief also said that the rioters had retreated to the suburbs describing the mayhem as pre-planned by ill intentioned and malicious characters.

"There has been orchestrated violence and lawlessness in the suburbs of Kampala this (Saturday) morning; surburbs like Nateete,Kyengera,Kamwokya and Kireka have experienced sporadic incidents of hooliganism and brief episodes of disturbances,"Mr Kayihura said.

Although he did not name who had organized the thugs into rioting, Mr Kayihura said the rioters targeted security personnel on patrol.

He also disclosed that 82 victims including 13 police officers were being treated for injuries in various hospitals.

The police also paraded 11 suspects who reportedly torched down Nateete police station. The hunt for other suspects was still on by last evening.

The IGP also refuted reports that the Kabaka had been put under house arrest, saying as police they have no intention to place the Kabaka of Buganda under any kind of arrests.

Following the deaths and incidence of excessive use of force by the security agencies, Mr Kayihura ordered no more use of teargas and live bullets against the rioters.

"I don't want to hear cases of live bullets or excessive force, just arrest those causing chaos but do not use excessive for because there is no need now," he told journalists.

He also castigated the way Mr Robert Sserumaga was arrested, saying he will be given police bond as the investigations go on. He also promised to investigate incidence where journalists have been beaten and tortured while covering the riot.

Meanwhile Mr Sserumaga, a senior journalist who was picked after a TV talk show on Friday night, was last evening taken to Kampala Central police station to record a statement after spending a night in unknown location.

allafrica

12 September 2009

A number of mortar shells hit parts of central Mogadishu on Friday evening leaving at least ten dead.

One of the mortars landed in a residential area while another crashed onto the city's main jail.

The worst incident, however, occurred at De Martino Hospital, a former medical facility that had been converted into a lodge for the Somali war veterans of the 1977/78 conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia.

Most of the residents are the Ogaden war veterans and the blast killed six on the spot and left twenty five severely injured.

It was just before Iftar (Futuru) as the residents were waiting to break the fast.

By early Saturday morning, four more wounded veterans lost their lives at Medina Hospital.

"It is one of the most shocking events we witnessed," said Hassan Sheikh Qalli, a resident in Hamarweyne district where De Martino Hospital is located.

The injured persons included the spokesman of the disabled war veterans, Abdi Ali Mahad.

The Transitional Federal Government was quick to blame the Islamist group, Al-Shabaab, for the attack.
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Sheikh Abdirizak Mohamed Qaylow, the spokesman of the pro-government paramilitary unit known as Drawiish condemned what he called the anti-peace (opposition) groups.

"The anti-peace (Al-Shabaab) group engage in this kind of merciless act in the course of their drive to defeat the government in Somalia," said Sheikh Qaylow. "They do not even care who suffers in civilian populated areas," he added.

"We are all shocked," said a legislator who lost a relative, but declined to be named.

Mogadishu residents have been experiencing intense battles between the TFG and the opposition Islamist groups since early May.

Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam have declined repeated calls from the government to settle differences through negotiations.

allafrica

13 Sep 2009
Riot police have clashed with angry protestors in breakaway Somaliland, killing at least three people and arresting more, including a number of journalists.

On Saturday, opposition demonstrators tried to enter the parliament building in Hargeysa after police tried to stop a debate scheduled on a motion to impeach the president over delays in the elections.

The protestors, who were chanting anti-government slogans, also set fire to three police vehicles and burned tires in the streets, AFP quoted a police officer as saying.

People within the crowd, however, accused the police of using force against their 'peaceful demonstration' and 'aggressively' dispersing the crowds by 'indiscriminate gunfire'.

Local journalists also reported that police arrested three of their colleagues, identified as Abdiqani Husein, Abdifatah and Abdiqani Abdulahi, as they were covering the demonstrations.

Interior minister of the semi-autonomous Somaliland, Abdulahi Osmail Ali, said a number of protestors were armed and used grenades and guns against government forces, wounding four policemen.

On Tuesday, police stormed the parliament building after lawmakers started fighting among themselves and one of them drew a pistol.

The tensions come amid the impeachment of President Dahir Riyale Kahin, who has been in power since 2002, and the growing calls for him to step-down.

The embattled president is seeking re-election in the upcoming polls in the face of strong challenge from Faisal Ali Warabe, of the Justice and Welfare Party, and Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, of the Development and Solidarity Party.

The conditions on the ground remain tense in Somaliland with a delay in the presidential election scheduled for September 27, the third such postponement, adding to the intensity of tensions.

A former British protectorate, Somaliland split from Somalia SME/less than a year after Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991 and is seeking international recognition as an independent state.

presstv

10 Sep 2009
Top EU officials are to visit Zimbabwe after seven years, to work on normalizing ties, as African leaders have urged the removal of all sanctions on Harare.

It will be the first such visit since the European Union imposed crippling sanctions on President Robert Mugabe's government in 2002.

The trip dubbed as only a preparatory visit aimed at reviving political dialogue between the West and Zimbabwe.

The EU's Aid and Development Commissioner Karel de Gucht and Swedish Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson will head the delegation in talks with Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other senior officials, EU officials said on Thursday.

The development comes as South African leaders on Wednesday urged the international community to lift all sanctions against Zimbabwe, arguing that it would help its power-sharing government to work smoothly.

European powers have however ruled out the immediate removal of all sanctions on Harare.

Pro-western opposition leader Tsvangirai wants a removal of sanctions to be conditional on how well the one-year-long power-sharing deal has been implemented.

But this week the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), along with South African President Jacob Zuma, rejected the proposal, saying there should be no conditions placed on the removal of sanctions.

Mugabe agreed to share power with his long-time rival Tsvangirai last September, in a bid to prevent Zimbabwe from lurching towards total economic collapse.


presstv

12 Sep 2009
Amid uncertainties and anger about the release of Lockerbie bomber, a report reveals that Britain and Libya have been sharing closing relations over the last six months.

The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that a contingent of between four and 14 men from the Special Air Service (SAS) had been training Libyan forces in the past six months.

An unnamed SAS source told the paper that the training was related to an agreement struck with Tripoli over release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

Last month, Scotland freed Megrahi on compassionate grounds to the anger of many relatives of the 1988 airliner bombing, which killed 270 people.

London says that the decision to free him was taken by the Scottish government and had not been done to improve Britain's trade links with the oil-rich Libya.

On Saturday, the British government confirmed the training, but asserted there had been no defense deal connected to the release of Megrahi.

Britain's Ministry of Defense and Foreign Office also announced that they could not comment on the work of the SAS.

However, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, "We have ongoing cooperation with Libya in the field of defense, but to suggest that this is part of any deal related to Megrahi is simply untrue."

The spokeswoman claimed there had been defense cooperation with Tripoli since Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

presstv

NAIROBI, 11 September 2009 (IRIN) - Rapid urbanization is fuelling poverty among the urban poor in Kenya, an estimated four million people, almost a third of whom are in the capital Nairobi and unable to meet basic nutritional, health and other needs, says a new report.

"[Despite] a reduction in the level of absolute/overall poverty since 1997... food poverty and hardcore poverty... have actually [increased]," states an Oxfam GB September report, Urban Poverty and Vulnerability In Kenya.

"Urban food poverty increased from just over 38 percent in 1997 to nearly 41 in 2006, while the percentage of hardcore poor rose slightly from under 8 to just over that percentage," it said, adding that in cities such as Nakuru and Mombasa, half the population is now food poor.

A household is deemed to be overall poor if it is not able to meet its nutritional and other basic requirements, food poor if it cannot meet all its nutritional needs due to expenditure on other basic non-food essentials, and hardcore poor if unable to meet basic food needs even by foregoing other essentials.

Food crisis

High food prices, blamed on poor rains, among other factors, have "led a majority of slum dwellers to decrease the frequency and size of their meals as well as [pushed] people into high-risk livelihood activities in order to meet their basic needs", states the report. These include sex work, crime, scavenging and child labour.

With the costs of basic health services, fuel and water up by 16, 65 and 114 percent respectively, expenditure on items such as water, soap, sanitation and education has also dropped.

Oxfam warns that such coping strategies have gradual long-term adverse effects such as asset-erosion, higher illiteracy and crime.

Already, most of the slum population spends at least 75 percent of their income on staple food alone.

In the past year, the price of maize has risen 133 percent while average household incomes have fallen by 21 percent. Over-reliance on markets for food and non-food items has increased susceptibility to external shocks.

Disease burden

Disease and poor social support systems stalk the urban poor. For example, Nairobi residents are twice as likely to be HIV-positive as their rural counterparts; child and neo-natal mortality rates in the slums are also above the national average.

Low immunization coverage, inadequate access to prohibitively costly clean water and poor sanitation also breed disease in slums. Pit latrines, where available, may serve up to 500 people per day.

"Relative to rural areas, ‘social capital’ is thought to be weak in Nairobi and consequently people do not have the same kin and support networks," says the report, which also found the levels of inequality in urban areas to be dangerously high. Social capital refers to family networks, and relationships of trust and reciprocity.

Income disparities have also widened in Kenyan cities. "Rising inequalities can severely hamper both poverty reduction efforts and economic growth, as well as leading to increased conflict and violent crime."

Added to this are some about 2.5 million jobless youth, according to a 2008 World Bank report.

Oxfam recommends that good urban governance should be promoted through an enhanced policy environment; building government and community capacity and improving access to critical urban services such as water and sanitation.

irinnews

NAIROBI, 11 September 2009 (IRIN) - Faced with increasing climatic variability, Africa needs to invest more in irrigation to boost food security, a new report says, pointing out that agricultural land in Asia is six times more likely to be irrigated.

"Much of Africa is expected to experience reduced annual precipitation, which would, along with higher temperatures, enhance the potential productivity-enhancing effects of irrigation," the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), says in a 2 September discussion paper, Measuring Irrigation Performance in Africa.

"African countries produce 38 percent of their crops (by value) from approximately 7 percent of their cultivated land on which water is managed," the report states.

"The disproportionate contribution to agricultural production of Africa’s small irrigated area suggests that returns on additional investment in irrigation would be high, both in terms of greater food security for the continent and greater production of export-quality agricultural goods."

Quoting statistics from a survey conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, IFPRI says African countries have less renewable water per unit area and a higher population density than the world as a whole, with about 1ha of cultivated land per person in both sub-Saharan Africa and Africa as a whole.

"They [African countries] withdraw only a quarter as much water for human uses as does the world as a whole, and the irrigated share of their crop land is less than one-fourth of the world average," according to IFPRI.

Sub-Saharan Africa's internal renewable water availability per hectare is less than two-thirds of global availability, IFPRI says, reflecting both regional scarcity and the trans-boundary nature of water flows in the region.

irinnews