30 Aug 2009
Somali Islamic fighters have accused the French government of sending new spies to the capital city of Mogadishu, threatening to kill them.

Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, the chairman of the Islamic Council of Amal, told Press TV correspondent on Sunday that the rebels were ready to kill the new 'so-called military advisers.'

Earlier on Friday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced that Paris would send new advisers to Mogadishu although one French security agent remains in the hands of kidnappers.

Earlier this week, one of two French security advisers escaped from his Somali kidnappers.

The agent, Marc Aubriere, escaped Tuesday night after he and his colleague were kidnapped from their hotel room in Mogadishu on July 14. The other agent is still in custody.

Bilal also urged France's President Nicholas Sarkozy to stop meddling in domestic affairs of Somalia.

presstv

29 Aug 2009

The war in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur has apparently ended despite many obstacles still remaining in the way.

The UN peacekeepers say that the war between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels has finally ended although they admit that many problems are still to be resolved.

However, the rebel groups believe that the war will be over only when a comprehensive peace agreement between the two sides is achieved.

"I don't know how they can consider that war is over in Darfur. The war is not over. The war is over when there is a comprehensive peace agreement," said Tahir al-Faki, spokesman for leading rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

In the wake of several surges of violence, the number of deaths attributable to the conflict has dropped below 100 a month, say leaders of the joint UN-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping forces in Darfur.

"As of today, I would not say there is a war going on in Darfur," Martin Luther Agwai, the outgoing UNAMID military commander, told reporters.

presstv

Aug 29 2009
ABUJA (AFP) - The Nigerian army Saturday commuted to seven years the life imprisonment earlier imposed on 27 soldiers for mutiny after they protested over pay, an army spokesman told journalists.
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"The sentence of life imprisonment given to all the convicted soldiers has been commuted to seven years imprisonment," Brigadier General Christopher Olukolade said.

A military court had last April 27 sentenced the soldiers, including three women, who had served as UN peacekeeepers in Liberia, to life imprisonment following their protest.

The soldiers had staged the demonstration in Akure, capital of southwestern Ondo State in July last year.

The court found them guilty of mutiny for protesting over not getting paid their foreign mission allowances when they served in Liberia between 2007 and 2008.

Olukolade said the commutation of their sentence was based on the "plea of mitigation" by the soldiers' lawyers and "army's attempt to achieve justice and equity in the delivery of justice."

The soldiers still have the right to appeal the army decision, he said.

Their lawyer, Femi Falana, said the commutation was "a confirmation that their sentence was a charade."

"We shall challenge this at the court of appeal when the court resumes from break and when the record of proceeding at the trial is made available to us," Falana told AFP.

The lawyer accused some Nigerian officials of diverting the allowance money.

yahoo[/font]

LUSAKA , 28 August 2009 (IRIN) -

Zambian president Rupiah Banda has signed legislation regulating the operations of civil society, sending shock waves through the sector, which fears its independence will be severely compromised.

Presidential assent means the 2009 NGO Bill, withdrawn in 2007 after widespread protests by civil society and opposition parties, now only needs gazetting to become legislation that will require "the registration and co-ordination of NGOs" and can "regulate the work, and the area of work, of NGOs operating in Zambia".

Dickson Jere, a special assistant to the president for press and public relations, confirmed in a statement: "His Excellency the President Mr Rupiah Banda has assented to 13 Bills, which were recently passed by the National Assembly, including ... the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill."

The new stipulations will compel NGOs to re-register every five years and submit annual information on their activities, funders, accounts, and the personal wealth of their officials; failure to comply could result in the suspension or cancellation of registration.

On 28 August civil society organizations held an emergency meeting in the capital, Lusaka, to plan a response to the looming regulations, which the NGOs have termed "unconstitutional".

"We have already resolved to carry out a peaceful demonstration next week on Friday [4 September 2009] in Lusaka, and there are arrangements going on so that people in the provinces also carry out the protests. I think the court action [a proposed injunction] is a definite intervention as well, but we are still talking," an NGO worker, who declined to be identified, told IRIN.

Unconstitutional

Engwase Mwale, executive director of the NGO Co-ordinating Committee [NGOCC], an umbrella body for civic organizations promoting gender issues, told IRIN after the emergency meeting: "We wish to register our dismay and shock at President Rupiah Banda's assent to the NGO Bill.

''We still find it upsetting and retrogressive that in a democratic society such as Zambia, the president could see it fit to assent to a proposed law that has brought constitutional encroachments on our well-entrenched constitutional rights of freedom of association and expression''
"Although we appreciate the constitutional obligation that he has to assent to any proposed bill that he wishes, we still find it upsetting and retrogressive that in a democratic society such as Zambia, the president could see it fit to assent to a proposed law that has brought constitutional encroachments on our well-entrenched constitutional rights of freedom of association and expression," she said.

Mwale said the law was conceived without consultation with civil society, and government's "micro-management" of the sector would impact negatively on Zambia's social development.

"As NGOs, we recognize the legality of our existence and therefore we are resolved not to allow any unconstitutional means, let alone illegal legislation, to regulate the existence of NGOs ... and have requested an audience with the president so that we can put before him some of the development challenges as well as constitutional deviations of the NGO law that he has just assented to," Mwale said.

"As president, he's still got an opportunity to reconsider his decision ... before it finds its way into the gazette," she said. A bill can take from a few days to a few weeks to come into effect after the president has signed it.

[img align=right width=200]http://d.yimg.com/bg/p/090829/afp/iphoto_1251586840880-1-0jpg.jpg?x=180&y=135&sig=Cvr0baLsx5DONLb5zU397w--[/img]

Aug 29 2009
ABUJA (AFP) - The Nigerian army Saturday commuted to seven years the life imprisonment earlier imposed on 27 soldiers for mutiny after they protested over pay, an army spokesman told journalists.
ADVERTISEMENT

"The sentence of life imprisonment given to all the convicted soldiers has been commuted to seven years imprisonment," Brigadier General Christopher Olukolade said.

A military court had last April 27 sentenced the soldiers, including three women, who had served as UN peacekeeepers in Liberia, to life imprisonment following their protest.

The soldiers had staged the demonstration in Akure, capital of southwestern Ondo State in July last year.

The court found them guilty of mutiny for protesting over not getting paid their foreign mission allowances when they served in Liberia between 2007 and 2008.

Olukolade said the commutation of their sentence was based on the "plea of mitigation" by the soldiers' lawyers and "army's attempt to achieve justice and equity in the delivery of justice."

The soldiers still have the right to appeal the army decision, he said.

Their lawyer, Femi Falana, said the commutation was "a confirmation that their sentence was a charade."

"We shall challenge this at the court of appeal when the court resumes from break and when the record of proceeding at the trial is made available to us," Falana told AFP.

The lawyer accused some Nigerian officials of diverting the allowance money.

yahoo

August 30, 2009

The Government has decided to establish a resident Sri Lanka diplomatic mission in Eritrea, a nation in the Horn of Africa that was once part of Ethiopia and bordering Sudan and Djibouti.

The move follows a recommendation made by Foreign Minister Rohita Bogollagama. He told the Cabinet that close ties with Eritrea - a nation of five million people - in the field of trade, education and culture would be greatly beneficial. Also beneficial to Sri Lanka, he said, was the exchange of security and intelligence from that country.

Foreign Ministry officials said that the mission will be at Charge d’ Affaires level with home based officers and local staff. The head of the mission will be at the level of Minister Counsellor. The cost of the mission is estimated to cost US$ 350,000 (Rs. 42 million) per year, initially. Sri Lanka and Eritrea established diplomatic relations on November 15, 2007.

sundaytimes

30th August 2009

Six African countries say they will open up their markets to goods and services from the European Union.

Four of the countries - Mauritius, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe - signed the agreement with the EU Saturday, while two other countries - Madagascar and Comoros - say they will formally sign the deal in the near future.

The African countries have been able to sell many goods to the EU since 2008, and the deal ensures full access to the EU market will continue. In return, the African countries have agreed to remove tariffs on EU goods over the next 15 years.

EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton says the deal will help the eastern and southern African nations diversify their economies and create a more stable economic environment.

She says several other countries from the region - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi and Sudan - have also been involved in trade talks and could also join the pact.

Goods from the six countries that have already agreed to the trade deal make up only a fraction of a percent of all EU imports, worth almost $4.6 billion in 2008.

The African countries imported about $6.2 billion worth of goods, mostly mechanical and electrical components and vehicles, over the same time span.

malaysiasun

30/08/2009

KINSHASA - The Democratic Republic of Congo military said Saturday it had killed or captured more than 500 Rwandan Hutu rebels in the country’s east since launching an offensive against them six weeks ago.

The army has killed 354 rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and captured 151 in Sud-Kivu province, Colonel Delphin Kahimbi told AFP.

Forty-three DR Congo soldiers have been killed and 29 hurt since the offensive began in mid-July, said Kahimbi, who commands army forces in Sud-Kivu.

Many of the rebels have fled to neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi, he said by telephone from the eastern city of Bukavu.

“The second phase will begin before September 10 in the Fizi district (near the Tanzanian border), the only one that was not addressed in the first phase,” said Kahimbi.

An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 FDLR rebel fighters had been in Nord and Sud-Kivu provinces, some having taken part in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi minority in Rwanda before crossing into DR Congo.

The head of the UN mission in DR Congo, Alan Doss, earlier this week said high-population areas in the region were now under government control. DR Congo forces have received logistical support from UN troops.

Last month, the UN refugee agency said around 56,000 Congolese had been forced from their homes after the government launched its campaign against the rebels on July 12.

khaleejtimes

Aug 29, 2009

Senator Edward Kennedy, who many were proud to call a friend, cared deeply for this country and took up the liberation cause with aplomb and distinction in the American corridors of power and across the free world.

But it was his elder brother, Robert, who came here first, in July 1966. The two brothers shared the same boyish zest for life, sparkling humour and that inimitable Boston penchant for straight talking.

I met Ted Kennedy for the first time when I was in the US in 1971. The senator, unlike his liberal counterparts here, supported sanctions. He told me matter- of-factly that the South African sugar quota to America had only been saved by two votes.

I replied, “Oh, you nearly did wonders, but please in future don’t do it, because it is going to harm us.”

Fifteen years later, in January 1985, I again met with the senator in South Africa. Times had changed. In the intervening years, his career had been blighted by the Chappaquiddick tragedy and the vilification campaign against me was in full swing.

The senator could not make up his mind whether to meet with me privately or publicly, if at all. A meeting was agreed at the Royal Hotel in Durban.

I spoke to Kennedy of my frustration at President P W Botha’s intransigent refusal to take negotiations with blacks further and why, in any case, serious negotiations were impossible while so many black leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were still in prison. I also told him that I believed that the siren calls for disinvestment were “madness”.

As South Africans, we, perhaps, more than any nation, will appreciate how Kennedy became the Democratic Party’s leading champion of liberalism, focusing his energies on healthcare, education, civil rights and immigration.

As Obama said in his tribute: “For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic wellbeing of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.”

I would also add that, until Obama, Kennedy’s conventional liberalism would not have been able to overhaul the Republicans. In the year that he was a viable candidate for president, his liberalism was not a viable philosophy.

So it can be said that in the year of his passing, his political vision has come to pass in the Age of Obama. In that sense, the Kennedy inheritance has been secured for this and future generations.

Kennedy also demonstrated the merits of authentic bipartisanship and the value of friendship across party lines. — Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the IFP (This is an edited version of a motion made by Buthelezi to parliament this week)

thetimes

29 August 2009

WHAT do you say to a man widely blamed for beating you, stealing your job and trying to have you thrown out of a 10th-floor window? Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister of Zimbabwe, insists that he is now able to joke with his long-time opponent, President Robert Mugabe.
“Over a long period of time you start to develop some chemistry,” he says, leaning forward in a black armchair in his ministerial office. “That’s where you can’t just go in and talk about business, you actually have to talk about personal issues. Sometimes it’s helpful to unlock the barriers that may exist between people.”




Tsvangirai and Mugabe are six months into southern Africa’s most curious marriage of convenience. Their power-sharing agreement followed a bitterly contested election that robbed Tsvangirai of victory and left scores of his supporters dead. Their two parties continue to fight, but Tsvangirai describes the odd couple’s meetings as “cordial … not acrimonious”.


He explains: “There are certainly many areas where we differ, but we agree to differ. We communicate, we talk, we discuss, we don’t believe that there’s anything insurmountable to discuss … I’m very free. I’ve decided that I will not keep anything to myself. I will express it and express it forcefully if it affects my own constituency, my own party and the general thrust of the inclusive government.”


Recently, for example, Mugabe made a populist speech to assert Zimbabwe’s disdain for western help, in direct contravention of the policy agreed with Tsvangirai. The prime minister used humour to defuse the tension by remarking: “Well, your statement was quite predictable.” Mugabe, apparently, laughed it off.


Tsvangirai has proved doubters wrong simply by still being here and holding together the fragile compromise. The unity government has rescued the economy from the brink and slowly put schools and hospitals back in some semblance of working order, though the headaches that remain are legion.


Plenty of sceptics believe the president, who retains the “hard power” over the army, police and law courts, is bending the prime minister to his will. Tsvangirai insists, however, that the man who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 29 years is no longer the main obstacle to democracy.


“This is a perpetual suspicion of Mugabe,” he says. “It’s a template. People can’t believe that Mugabe has any capacity to change. It’s an inherent mistrust and it’s nothing to do with what we are trying to build.”


So does Mugabe, even at 85, have the capacity to change? “I have no doubt he himself is committed to see this through. I have no doubt that perhaps there could be people in his own party or other elements who have reservations about it, but so far I think we are moving to achieve those incremental gains.”


He continues: “You must understand Mugabe’s political character has always been a character of denial, shifting blame for his own shortcomings. But it’s always good to have a legacy, and I’m sure that for him, it is the positive aspects of his life that he wants to take, not to be reminded about the negative aspects.”


Last year, it is estimated that about 200 of Tsvangirai’s supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were murdered in violence perpetrated in the name of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. And more than 200 people were massacred when troops seized control of diamond fields in the eastern Marange district. Yet Mugabe apparently tries to laugh off his global infamy.


“He jokes about it. He says, ‘People say I’m a tyrant.’ So what do you think of yourself? He says, ‘I’m not a tyrant.’ … We don’t ignore what has happened. Sometimes those things are facts on the ground which have characterised him.”


Tsvangirai himself was once almost hurled from a 10th-floor window by men thought to be from Zimbabwe’s secret service. He has faced three more attempts on his life and been repeatedly beaten and arrested. It is widely considered that Mugabe stole the elections from him in 2002 and again in 2008.


How, then, does the 57-year-old bring himself to now sup with the devil? He replies: “What is reconciliation without that? Reconciliation is a measure of tolerance across the very serious political divide that has existed in this country. How can we stand up as leaders and call for national unity when between us we don’t relate to each other?”


Tsvangirai admits that Zanu-PF’s influence over the judiciary remains problematic but dismisses fears that continuing arrests of MDC MPs will threaten the party’s parliamentary majority, saying that he will simply put up more MPs in their place. He is equally sanguine about the threat of assassination, despite his finance minister, Tendai Biti, having received a 9mm bullet in the post last month.


“Those threats I don’t think will go overnight. There are people who feel threatened by the very existence of the inclusive government: it threatens their patronage, it threatens their benefactors, so naturally they react.”


Conspiracy theories continue to swirl around the car crash, less than a month after he became prime minister, in which Tsvangirai was hurt and his wife, Susan, was killed. He insists it was an accident.


Tsvangirai’s conciliatory attitude has led to criticism, not least from within his own ranks, that he has conceded too much ground to Mugabe, sacrificing change for the facade of unity. Sceptics prophesy that, come the next election, violence will flare up again and the power-sharing agreement will be worthless.

Tsvangirai vehemently rejects the charge. “I’m not bending over backwards. This is a shared compromise. It has never been meant to be winner takes all … It’s not a perfect marriage. It’s a marriage that is meant to ensure that this country moves forward and so, yes, frustrations will be there.


“But let’s not miss the goal … We will keep our eye on the ball until such time as we are going to have an election which is free and fair.” — Guardian.co.uk

29 August 2009

THE Federation of African Journalists, FAJ, will hold its March 2010 congress in Zimbabwe.
The congress, which brings together representatives of journalists from African countries, will be held in Harare.


Zambia has been put on standby to host the congress in Livingstone, in the event of Zimbabwe failing to host the congress which will come a few weeks before the 2010 Soccer World Cup Finals kick-off in South Africa.


ZUJ president, Matthew Takaona told The Standard that African journalists who met in Djibouti voted unanimously to hold the congress in Zimbabwe ahead of the Zambian bid. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), has won the right to host.


The Federation of African Journalists is an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing almost a million journalists worldwide.


The announcement to host the congress coincided with the visit to Zimbabwe of the IFJ president, Jim Boumelha and the executive of the National Union of Journalists in the UK and Ireland.


The NUJ has a membership of 38 000 journalists and was in Zimbabwe on a solidarity visit with ZUJ. It used the opportunity to explore ways of partnering with its Zimbabwean counterpart.


Head of the NUJ delegation and deputy secretary general, Michelle Stanistreet said the partnership was among other issues, expected to result in the capacity-building of ZUJ.


“From the meetings that we have held with ZUJ, some of the issues that have emerged are the need to improve the capacity of the union as an organisation, to try and increase the number of female journalists and to increase their participation in trade union activities and the need for more professional training, especially in Online journalism.”


As part of a programme to build the capacity of freelance journalists, the NUJ announced that it would boost the ZUJ resource centre to enable journalists to embark on research by contributing computers and literature.


The NUJ and IFJ delegations held meetings with the ZUJ and the ZCTU leadership.


The government and party officials they met include Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, Media, Information and Publicity minister, Webster Shamu, ICT’s minister, Nelson Chamisa and veteran journalist and Zanu PF spokesperson, Nathan Shamuyarira.


Officials from the Ministry of and Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, also met the visitors.


Government officials pledged to throw their support behind the hosting of the congress by ZUJ.
As part of the partnership between the two unions, a ZUJ representative will be a keynote speaker at the NUJ’s congress in Liverpool, November later this year.

thezimbabwestandard

29 August 2009

SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma told President Robert Mugabe to show more flexibility in resolving outstanding issues in the inclusive government during private meetings last week but failed to break the deadlock over the parties.

Sources said Zuma who is also the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) surprised Mugabe with his frank assessment of the problems threatening the seven-month-old coalition during meetings on Thursday and Friday.


Zuma held separate meetings with Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara during his two-day state visit.
“Mugabe was told in no uncertain terms that the region cannot continue shielding him,” one of the sources said. “Even Zuma’s speech was a departure from the pampering that Mugabe has enjoyed from his peers.”

The South African leader whose ruling African National Congress (ANC) had said it expected him to curb “deviant behaviour” in the Mugabe camp ahead of his visit, said Western aid won’t be forthcoming until the outstanding issues were resolved.


“The inclusive government has the responsibility to fully implement the global political agreement and thus create confidence in the process,” Zuma said when he officially opened the Harare Agricultural Show on Friday.


A number of countries have been offering Zimbabwe humanitarian assistance but they have set conditions for the provision of large-scale economic aid.


The government says it needs over US$8 billion to revive the comatose economy.
“Since these relate to the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to which the signatories remain fully committed, meeting these benchmarks should be a priority in the inclusive government,” Zuma said.


In thinly veiled remarks on disruptions to farming activities Zuma said: “…it will be critical that the country guarantees food security and self-reliance. The GPA seeks to ensure the restoration of full productivity on all agricultural land in the interest of all people of Zimbabwe.


“We must underline that agriculture is the backbone of the economy of the Sadc region as a whole, which is why it is important to us all… The performance of agriculture has a strong influence on food security, economic growth and stability of the Sadc region.”


The MDC described Zuma’s statement as “refreshing” and “unequivocal.”


Tsvangirai called for Zuma’s intervention to help resolve feuding over the reappointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, the appointment of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and the speed of political reforms.


Zanu PF says the only outstanding issue is sanctions against Mugabe’s inner circle, which it says the MDC must campaign for removal.


“The outstanding issues were given the due attention they deserve,” MDC-T spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said.


“We are now waiting for the Sadc meeting early next month (September) to help bring finality to these disputes.


“We are heartened that Zuma publicly implored the political leaders in this country to work towards concluding the outstanding issues so that the political agreement can be fully consummated.
Chamisa said although the meetings between Zuma, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara were brief, “they were thorough”.


The Sadc summit will be held early in September in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, analysts fear that once Zuma passes on the Sadc chairmanship to the inexperienced President Joseph Kabila, Mugabe will return to his arrogant ways.


“Zuma should have taken Zimbabwe much earlier in his tenure as chairman of Sadc,” political scientist Eldred Masunungure said. Kabila is one of Mugabe’s few remaining allies in the region.


thezimbabwestandard

Tripoli : 29. 8. 2009 - JANA
More African delegates arrive in Jamahiriya to participate in the AU Executive Council meeting to prepare for the AU summit devoted to solve hot conflicts in Africa due to be held on the 31st of the current month on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Great al-Fatah Revolution .
Among those who arrived this evening at Tripoli International Airport :
- Foreign Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo .
-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Mauritania .
- Secretary General of Arab Maghreb Union , '' al-Habib Ben Yahya ''.
- Assistant to Egyptian Foreign Minister , '' Mona Omar Attiya ''.
- Vice- President of Liberia , '' Joseph Boakai ''
They were received at the Airport by members of the Committee in charge of guests' Reception and Welfare ''.
/ JANA /

KINSHASA, 28 August 2009 (IRIN) - Fifty-eight prisoners have died over the past two years because of poor conditions in the jail in Bunia, a town in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, say human rights workers.

“Civilians are kept with soldiers who make them clean their faecal waste by hand or pay US$20 to avoid the degrading treatment,” said Nicholas Londjiringa, coordinator of Pax Dei, an NGO based in Bunia.

“The prison resembles an old people’s home because of malnutrition and the lack of healthcare and hygiene in which the 632 detainees live,” he said, noting that the facility, converted from a pig sty with minimal work in 1960, is supposed to have a capacity of just 200 inmates.

According to Londjiringa, 27 prisoners have died since the start of 2009.

He added that police regularly took the food brought to prisoners by relatives, as well as their money, and as a result many stop visiting.

“Detainees’ families don’t even know if their loved ones are dead because their case files are still in the courts,” he said.

Only 185 of those held in the prison have been convicted of criminal offences, according to Pax Dei; the others are awaiting trial, some for years.

Bunia’s prosecutor, Chris Aberi, conceded there had been deaths in the prison because of poor conditions, but said there had not been as many as alleged by Pax Dei. He did not provide a figure of his own.

Attempts to obtain comment from prison staff were unsuccessful. One official said only the director was authorized to speak but he was on holiday in a village with no telephone reception.

irinnews

29 Aug 2009
At least 21 people have been killed after heavy fighting breaks out between al-Shabaab and Somali government troops.

The three-hour fighting started when al-Shabaab fighters launched an ambush against Somali troops near Burundi AU Base.

Both sides used heavy weapons during the fighting. Sounds of heavy weapons could still be heard in many parts of Mogadishu last midnight.

Insurgents vowed to continue their attacks against Somali government for the month of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates were reported to have raided a number of boats, taking captive several foreigners.

Somali Business Community said they seek the urgent release of the boats because they are carrying goods for the holy month of Ramadan, which started a week ago.

Somali pirates have renewed their attacks on ships off Somalia's coastal water and vowed to attack US warships helicopters.


presstv

NIAMEY, 26 August 2009 (IRIN) - Some of the highest-ranking teachers of Islam, known as marabouts, are responsible for trafficking children through Niger to neighbouring countries to beg and bring home cash, according to the research group Open Society Initiative for West Africa, which funded a recent local NGO training with more than 20 marabouts on the Koran and education.

Koranic teachers are often implicated in domestic and cross-border child trafficking from Niger, according to a 2005 study by the National Nigerien Association of Human Rights.

The non-profit Niger Association to Deal with Delinquency and Prevent Crime (ANTD) conducted a training late July in the capital Niamey, the first of three scheduled seminars nationwide, with marabouts chosen “for their power and influence” said the group’s coordinator, Amadou Idrissa. The seminar covered Koranic passages on the religious necessity of educating children.

One of the marabouts who attended the training told IRIN Islamic principles sanctions child begging – but only to a certain limit. “Once the child has received his daily quota in his tin can, he should return to his Koranic teacher to pursue his religious studies and not stay on the streets,” said Oumarou Garba.

Entrusted by their families to live with marabouts to study the Koran, the children – known as talibés – are frequently seen begging with tin cans to earn their keep, which – Garba said – is part of their religious education.

“These children should under no condition serve to enrich their teacher,” he told IRIN. “But certain rogue teachers take advantage of this situation to deprive children entrusted to them of an education.”

He said the training helped him to learn more about the Koran’s position on the value of education.

Some international child protection organizations question whether children labelled as trafficking victims fit the legal definition or are working in exploitive conditions.

ANTD’s Idrissa said some Koranic students are pushed by uninformed parents as well as their teachers into begging under brutal conditions, losing out on education years.

“These youths are completely dependent on their teachers, at least for their food,” said Idrissa. ANTD cond ucts regular skills training for former Koranic school students to help them become self-sufficient after years of begging, he added.

Most the youth regret never having received a formal, secular education said one of ANTD’s trainers, Aria Maiga, who works with former talibés in Tillabéry, 115km west of the capital Niamey. “They welcomed the training and many are making a living in their new jobs,” she said.

There were 384,000 students registered with more than 50,000 Koranic schools in Niger in 2004, the most recent data available from the Ministry of Education.

But ANTD’s coordinator told IRIN it is difficult to estimate the number of Koranic students in Niger because teachers move their classes frequently and their attendance lists are unreliable.

irinnews

29 Aug 2009

Ethnic clashes in south Sudan have killed dozens, days after UN peacekeepers in Darfur suggested the war between the Khartoum and rebels was temporarily 'over'.

A military spokesman said Saturday that clashes in the Twic East region of Jonglei state had left at least 43 people, including seven soldiers, dead and dozens more wounded, Press TV correspondent reported.

Other reports indicated that gunmen in conflict-torn western Darfur region had kidnapped two members of the joint UN and African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID).

Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said the fighting broke out early on Friday, when armed men, reportedly from the Lou Nuer ethnic group, attacked a vulnerable settlement 'to take the cattle, and to loot and steal'.

"There was only a small police force based in Wernyol, and they were soon overrun, but nearby SPLA platoons heard the shooting and rushed to the area," AFP news agency quoted Kuol as saying.

It was not immediately clear how many of the gunmen had died in the gunbattle between some 70 soldiers and the raiders, but Kuol assessed the situation as 'calm', adding that "the SPLA have deployed extra units to ensure security is maintained."

Ethnic conflict over livestock and disputes over basic natural resources such as water as well as retaliatory attacks are common in south Sudan.

The United Nations has put the death toll in clashes in the south at more than 2,000 since January alone.

However, the abduction of the two UNAMID members -- a man and woman -- in Darfur could shatter hopes that the bloody six-year war that according to the UN has killed more than 300,000 people dead had finally come to an end.

Under a peace pact in 2005 between the warring North and South to end Africa's longest-running civil war, the south is set to hold a referendum on self-determination in 2011, after six-years of regional autonomy and partnership in the unity government.

The civil war in Darfur began six years ago, and Khartoum has so far acknowledged only 10,000 deaths, while Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir faces an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
presstv

29 Aug 2009
The sole man convicted of the Lockerbie plane bombing says he backs calls for a public inquiry into the atrocity that killed 270 people in 1988.

Since his controversial release on compassionate grounds, the terminally ill convict, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, has repeatedly vowed to clear his name and promised to publish evidence.

"I support the issue of a public inquiry if it can be agreed," Megrahi told Scottish newspaper The Herald from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where he moved back following his release.

He rejected the notion of 'pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities' forcing him to drop his attempt to exonerate himself, adding that the probe, called by British families of the victims, would help shed light on who planned the bombing and the motives behind the attack.

"It is all about my family. People have said there was pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities, but it wasn't anything like this," said Megrahi.

However, Britain has rejected the need for such an inquiry.

"In my view, it is unfair to the victims' families that this [inquiry] has not been heard. It would help them to know the truth. As I said, the truth never dies. If the UK guaranteed it, I would be very supportive," he added

After his release, he expressed frustration that he would never prove his innocence, but has vowed to do so.

The 57-year-old Libyan abandoned a second appeal against his conviction earlier this month, while the Scottish government mulled over the decision to free him or transfer him to a detention center in Libya.

Megrahi said his desire to see his family again had increased when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, with possibly several months to live.
presstv

27 Aug 2009
US authorities have called for the disbarment of the Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, from a UN visit over his decision to pitch a Bedouin tent in New Jersey.

US Congressmen from the State of New Jersey joined voices with Governor Jon Corzine on Wednesday in order to express dismay at Gadhafi's aspiration to install his Bedouin-style camp on a Libyan diplomatic residence in New Jersey during his first US visit in which he is to address the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman John Adler objected to Gadhafi's scheduled stay, calling for the withdrawal of his plan to erect a stylized pavilion.

"I want him barred from New Jersey," said Adler, adding elsewhere, "Let him land at the UN by helicopter, do his business and get out of the country."

The US officials have been angered by the latest 'backward' episode in which Colonel Gadhafi warmly received the Libyan convict for the Lockerbie bombing, Abdul Baset Al Megrahi, renewing controversies between the West and the Muslim nation.

270 people, mostly Americans, lost their lives after a planted bomb onboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

Meanwhile, the US Department of State has stepped up diplomatic efforts meant to deflate the situation.

State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly said on Wednesday that the US government seeks out a compromise from the Libyan delegation to relinquish its bid for the Bedouin tent.

"The most important thing here is that we respect the feelings of the many families who live in the New York area who lost family members in that horrific bombing," Kelly said, referring to the family of the victims aboard the downed Pan Am Flight 103.

"We're hoping that -- and we are expecting -- we will be able to come to some sort of agreement where all these sensitivities are respected. ... Some kind of understanding regarding where Mr. Gadhafi will stay that is respectful of the sensitivities of residents," CNN quoted him as saying.

Relations between the two countries became strained after the release of the terminally-ill Megrahi drew criticism from Washington, which had warned against a 'heroic' homecoming of the Libyan citizen.

presstv

Past News
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has reviewed downward some allowances of political office holders including those in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms, in a move which reflects the effects of the global economic meltdown in the country.
However, the agency is still sustaining the old salaries, which are used for the computation of percentages for the allowances.
In the new package, the Senate President would be receiving a total sum of N3,353,727.38 per annum, his monthly take home pay is N279, 477.28; the Speaker of the House of Representatives’ annual total package is N2,105,543.50, which translates to N175,461.96 per month.
However local government councilors are the worst hit in the new packages.
The figures are contained in an analysis of the percentages of the deduction in the August 2009 edition of the Economic Confidential, the economic intelligence publication, under a report titled, “Facts and Figures: Salaries and Allowances of Legislators in Nigeria”.
According to the report, the Deputy Senate President now receives N3,117,375.10, which translates to N259,781.26 monthly, while the Deputy Speaker receives N1,722,440 annually but translates to N143,536.67 per month.
These four principal officers’ pays do not include allowances, which the Federal Government would provide for them directly from the national treasury. The government is to take responsibility for their accommodation, vehicle fuelling and maintenance, domestic staff, entertainment and utilities (for electricity and phone calls) and newspapers.
The Economic Confidential also computes the total monthly pays for other legislators. A Senator now receives N759,900, while a member of the House of Representatives will earn N661,737.50 monthly.
At the state Houses of Assembly level, the Speaker now receives N170,820.31 monthly, Deputy Speaker N150,623.18, while a member of the assembly goes home with N120,907.39 monthly.
The major casualty of the new pay packages are the legislators at the local government level, known as councilors whose allowances have been reduced drastically by more than 300 per cent presently.
The Leader of the legislative chamber in a local government will now receive N152,118.75 monthly, his deputy N147,825.00, while a councilor now goes home monthly with N88,675.53; without provision for some of the old perks.
Most of the old entitlements councilors enjoyed in the previous packages have been cancelled or not to be provided by government. They include allowances for vehicles, personal assistant, domestic staff, utility, leave responsibility, legislative aide and even newspapers.