August 24, 2009

JOHANNESBURG — Leading South African scientists challenged the governing party on Monday to break with its deeply flawed record on AIDS and public health, spurring the country’s new health minister to say that he and his party shared their diagnosis of systemic problems and were determined to repair them.

The decision by the health minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, to embrace the often withering assessment of his party’s failings, laid out in six papers published online Monday by The Lancet, a medical journal based in London, provided a strong signal that the governing party’s new leadership intended to shake up a badly managed health system.

It was also evidence that the long often strained relationship between the government and the country’s senior medical researchers, who at times saw their cutting-edge scientific findings ignored by their political leaders, could be coming to an end.

“We do take responsibility for what has happened and responsibility for how we move forward,” said Dr. Motsoaledi, who took charge of the Health Ministry in May.

He also said, “I am feeling quite at home and comfortable with this Lancet report.”

South Africa, still struggling to overcome the legacy of the racist apartheid system, has H.I.V. and tuberculosis epidemics that are among the world’s worst. The rate at which women here are killed by intimate partners is six times the global average.

It is also one of only a dozen nations in the world where child mortality has risen since 1990 — a period when many countries, including African ones far poorer than South Africa, have seen significant declines. South Africa, which delayed carrying out dual drug therapies proved to prevent the transmission of H.I.V. from mother to baby, could save some 37,000 children’s lives a year by 2015 by broadening the provision of such therapies, the researchers estimated.

Dr. Motsoaledi vowed Monday that he was committed to eradicating such deaths. “If others can do it, why can’t South Africa?” he asked.

The team of Lancet authors — public health doctors, epidemiologists, health economists and other researchers from South Africa — said the April elections that brought the new leadership of the governing African National Congress to power offered an opportunity for change.

The party has run the country since apartheid ended 15 years ago, but the new president, Jacob Zuma, had for years been at odds with his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and has pledged a new direction. South Africa’s approach to AIDS and health began to shift significantly last year after Mr. Mbeki was forced out of office by his own party and Barbara Hogan was named health minister.

The current government “has the mandate and potential to address the public health emergencies facing the country,” the authors wrote, adding, “Will they do so, or will another opportunity and many more lives be lost?”

The scientists described the calamitous and now familiar consequences of what they called Mr. Mbeki’s “bizarre and seemingly unshakable belief that H.I.V. did not cause AIDS.” But they went further to detail the management failures of his health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, that too often crippled the quality of services even after good policies were adopted.

“South Africa is this great paradox of excellent policies,” said one of the main authors, Prof. Salim S. Abdool Karim, who leads the Durban-based Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa. “The problem is they can’t implement them.”

In The Lancet, the authors decried what they described as “a stubborn tendency to retain incompetent senior staff and leaders, including (until recently) the former minister of health. As a result, for many years, loyalty — rather than an ability to deliver — has been rewarded in the public sector.”

The authors of the papers prescribed what they considered an affordable agenda to improve the health system, including a more strategic effort to prevent the further spread of H.I.V.

The potential to contain the AIDS epidemic “was irretrievably lost,” they wrote.

South Africa, with less than 1 percent of the world’s population, now bears 17 percent of the world’s burden of H.I.V. infection. It has more H.I.V.-infected people than any other nation.

Expanding efforts to prevent mothers from infecting their babies and to discourage people from having multiple sexual partners, as well as moving urgently to routinely offer circumcision to men — a relatively simple surgical procedure proved here in South Africa to more than halve their risk of infection — could help the government achieve its goal of halving new infections.

But doing so will be no easy task. Dr. Motsoaledi, asked when South Africa would adopt a policy to promote circumcision, said that before moving forward the country still needed to consult leaders of various ethnic groups. Some of them practice circumcision, while the Zulu, the country’s largest ethnic group, do not. The World Health Organization recommended circumcision more than two years ago as an effective H.I.V. prevention method.

Still, there is no question that the tone of the debate between the government on one side, and scientists and advocates on the other, has lost the contentious edge that often characterized it during the Mbeki era.

Dr. Motsoaledi noted Monday that he had been classmates with Dr. Karim at the University of Natal’s medical school in the early 1980s. Dr. Motsoaledi and Dr. Karim were both students of another of the report’s authors, Hoosen M. Coovadia, a pediatrician and professor of H.I.V./AIDS at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“I’m quite happy and excited about this gathering and the report,” Dr. Motsoaledi said.

Professor Coovadia repaid the compliment, saying, “I’m so pleased we’ve reached a moment when we’re all going to work together.”

nytimes

WASHINGTON — For days, members of the Obama administration have expressed outrage and threatened consequences for Libya’s welcoming celebration of the man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing that killed 189 Americans.

But United States officials conceded Monday that there was little they could do and that there remained the potential for an awkward encounter between President Obama and the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“It’s not like we can send in the 82nd Airborne,” said a United States official who, like others in this article, requested anonymity to speak about the limited options available to the Obama administration.

Administration officials said the Libyan welcome last week of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the Pan Am jet bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, sharply strained the already uneasy American relationship with Libya. Yet the practical implications of the strain were unclear.

Ian C. Kelly, the State Department spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the United States was “going to be watching very closely how they receive this man and, if they continue to lionize him in a public fashion, that these kinds of public demonstrations can only have a profoundly negative effect on our relationship.”

Pressed on what he meant by a “profoundly negative effect” — and whether Washington was considering sanctions against Libya — Mr. Kelly replied that “it’s premature for me to say that we’re actually sitting down and considering concrete actions that we would take.”

A senior administration official characterized the Libyan welcome of the bomber as a setback in relations between the United States and Libya, but said that it was too early to determine how the Obama administration would respond beyond angry words. The official also noted that it was August and that much of the administration, including the president, was not in town.

The United States government lifted economic sanctions against Libya and restored diplomatic ties after Libya gave up its nuclear and chemical weapons program under the Bush administration in late 2003. An American Embassy was opened in Tripoli, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited in 2008, the first time the nation’s top diplomat had been to the Libyan capital since a visit by John Foster Dulles in 1953.

But Libyan officials have said recently that they are dissatisfied that the United States has not done more in return for Libyan concessions, like providing civilian nuclear technology and some conventional weapons systems. Libyans have also been upset about a State Department report that strongly criticized the country’s record on human rights.

Obama administration officials have responded that the Libyans are unrealistic in their expectations of how quickly the relationship will improve.

Mr. Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence agent who has terminal cancer, was released on compassionate grounds by Scotland last week and returned to Libya to a jubilant welcome, despite American demands that he not be treated like a hero.

Mr. Obama called the release a “mistake,” and Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, called the arrival scene in Tripoli “outrageous and disgusting.” Mr. Megrahi had served 8 years of a 27-year-minimum sentence.

Administration officials said the next hurdle for the United States would be at the United Nations on Sept. 24, when the 15-nation Security Council is to meet on the subject of nuclear proliferation and disarmament. As part of a regular rotation, the United States will lead the session; Libya is one of 10 nonpermanent members on the Council.

Administration officials said that Mr. Obama, who is to serve as the chairman of the meeting, had no plans to meet with Colonel Qaddafi, who is expected to represent Libya at the session. But they predicted discussions within the administration about how to manage the choreography of the session. Part of the meeting is to be in an open chamber where every word and gesture will be covered by the news media.

“If he happens to be in the same forum, there’s very little we can do about it,” said another administration official.

nytimes

Aug 23, 2009

By Tarek Amara and Mohamed Argoubi

TUNIS (Reuters) - For Tunisian boxer Naoufel Ben Rabah, abandoning his national team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics seemed a matter of necessity, not choice.

Born in a slum on the edge of the capital Tunis, Ben Rabah wanted to box his family's way out of poverty but decided the money he earned as one of Tunisia's leading light-welterweights was not going to make it happen.

He left his squad in Sydney, applied to box in Australia and became an Australian citizen.

"In Tunisia my salary was no more than $200 a month and now I get $2,000 a week in Australia. Being poor has become a thing of the past," said Ben Rabah during a visit to his home country.

The lure of foreign climes can prove irresistible for athletes from poorer countries where national coaches run the risk of defections when their teams travel abroad to compete.

A wealth of talent but a dearth of funding has left North African countries especially vulnerable.

Four Tunisians athletes disappeared at the Sydney Games. Three Egyptian boxers fled abroad in 2007 during preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

At the recent Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Italy, five Tunisian athletes disappeared along with others from Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.

Rashid Ramzi, a native of Safi in Morocco, switched colors to Bahrain in 2002 and became the first athlete in history to win gold in 800 and 1,500 meters in the same world championships in Helsinki in 2005.

However, Ramzi faces a two-year ban after testing positive for doping after last year's Beijing Olympics where he won the 1,500 meters.

HEAD COACH

"It's certain that the flight of athletes is a dangerous phenomenon and there is no excuse for it," said Hassan Maleki, head coach at the Tunisian Boxing Federation, who called such defections a "virus."

The number of departures by high-level athletes is now threatening the future of individual sports in Tunisia, said Younus Chettali, vice-president of Tunisia's Olympic Committee.

"It's no surprise that athletes think of fleeing to Western countries. We know their wages are relatively poor."

He said the committee was trying to stop it happening by stepping up supervision of athletes and providing them with special grants to train and to study.

reuters

24 August 2009
Libya had assured Scotland that it would give a "low-key" reception to convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi following his release on compassionate grounds, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has told the Scottish parliament.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill defended his decision to release the Lockerbie bomber during an emergency parliament session on Monday.

MacAskill said Libya had welcomed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in an "inappropriate" manner after having assured Scottish authorities he would be given a ‘”low-key reception”’.

Megrahi, who was released on compassionate grounds due to his terminal cancer, was given a hero’s welcome on his return to Tripoli last Thursday. Hundreds of people waving Libyan and Scottish flags welcomed him. Megrahi also had a televised meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The justice secretary drew fierce criticism from Edinburgh parliament members during Monday’s debate. FRANCE 24’s Benedicte Paviot in London says MacAskill came under fire for not considering the option of putting Megrahi in a local hospice instead of allowing him to return home.

The justice secretary reiterated that his decision leaned entirely on compassionate grounds under Scotland's laws.

"It was not based on political, diplomatic or economic considerations," he said, adding: "It was my decision and my decision alone. I stand by it,” he told Scottish MPs who had returned early from their summer break.

Fifty-seven-year-old Meghrahi, sentenced to life in prison in 2001, served just eight years in a Scottish jail.

He is the only person convicted in connection with the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The majority of the 270 people killed were American.

‘Crass decision’

MacAskill has survived Monday’s grilling session, but he is likely to face further testing times as the political fallout from his controversial decision continues to grow, says Paviot.

Former Scottish first minister Jack McConnell called the decision a "grave error of judgement."

"The way in which the decision has been made and the decision itself have damaged the reputation of the Scottish justice system," McConnell said on Sunday. "It's damaged that reputation, but much more significantly it's also damaged the reputation of Scotland internationally."

The Scottish government’s decision drew the ire of Washington and victims’ families. FBI chief Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the decision was “a mockery of the law” and “gives comfort to terrorists around the world.”

But Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said he "clearly disagreed" with the FBI director. "It is difficult for people sometimes in the United States to recognise that it is a different legal system, but it is a different legal system, it is a Scottish legal system and therefore we have to follow the tenets of Scottish justice," Salmond told Sky News.

The diplomatic fall-out with Washington could have serious repercussions for the Scottish government and is by far the toughest challenge the Scottish National Party (SNP) has faced since taking office in 2007.

france24

25 August 2009
Madagascar's power-brokers will resume talks Tuesday to appoint a transition government to lead a return to constitutional rule. The international community has ostracized the island since Andry Rajoelina (pictured) seized power in March.

AFP - Madagascar's power-brokers will resume talks in Mozambique on Tuesday with the delicate task of appointing a transitional government to lead the Indian Ocean island's return to constitutional rule.

Madagascar was thrown into crisis in March when Andry Rajoelina, former mayor of capital Antananarivo, overthrew president Marc Ravalomanana with military backing following weeks of violent street protests.

The international community has ostracized Madagascar since the ouster, isolating the country diplomatically and cutting off aid.

The rival leaders, together with ex-presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy, met in the Mozambican capital Maputo earlier this month to seek an end to the crisis, signing an agreement on August 9 to establish a transitional government and hold democratic elections by the end of 2010.

But the leaders left the last round of talks without picking a transitional president or dividing up the posts in the new government.

This week's talks, dubbed "Maputo II", will bring the four leaders together again to appoint an interim president and prime minister and distribute key ministries in the transitional authority.

Ousted president Ravalomanana, in exile in South Africa since his overthrow, has promised not to seek a direct role in the interim government.

But sources close to the mediation say tension may still run high as the leaders jockey for position.

Rajoelina, the country's current leader, declared on national television after returning from the last round of talks that only he could be the transitional president.

"One can't imagine that it could be anyone else that would lead the transition," he said.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the regional bloc organising the talks, downplayed the possibility of power grabs derailing this week's meetings.

"The important thing is not what is best for Rajoelina or what is best for Ravalomanana, the important thing is what is best for Madagascar," said SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao.

But the mediation team, which is led by former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, still face a delicate task.

"We are going to have some very hard meetings," said Edem Kodjo, mediator for the International Organisation of the Francophony, the union of French-speaking countries.

Under the August 9 agreement, no member of the transitional government except its president will be eligible to run in the 2010 presidential election.

This week's talks are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Under the terms of the transition agreement, the four leaders must name an interim government by September 8.

france24

23 August 2009
Some 50,000 people joined a demonstration in Bamako on Saturday to protest against legislation that would strengthen the rights of women in Mali. Leading imams and Muslim scholars say the new law "violates several articles of faith."

AFP - Some 50,000 people joined a demonstration in Bamako's main stadium on Saturday to protest against legislation that would strengthen the rights of women in Mali.

They carried posters and banners declaring "No to this law that divides the people of Mali", "Let women remain women, and men remain men" and "Western civilisation is a sin."

The proposed new family law -- which replaces the words "paternal power" with "parental authority" and raises the legal age for marriage to 18 -- was adopted by the National Assembly at the beginning of August, but has yet to be signed into force by the president.

Imam Mamoud Diko, the head of Mali's High Islamic Council, which organised Saturday's protest rally, has appealed to President Amadou Toumani Toure not to sign the legislation in order to "maintain peace and order" in the nation.

Several demonstrations rejecting the legislation have already taken place in other town and cities across Mali.

Numerous veiled women were seen at Saturday's demonstration, where a religious leader regularly interrupted the chanting with cries of "respect God", to which the crowd responded "God is great."

At the end of the demonstration, leading imams and Muslim scholars issued a statement saying the new law "violates several articles of faith, teachings of the Koran and traditional values of the Malian people."

They said they had decided to boycott the lawmakers and non-governmental organisations who supported the legislation.

"We will not have anything more to do with them or their families ... They are traitors to Allah," they said.

Muslim organisations have in particular criticised the fact that religious marriages are not legally recognised under the new laws.

"We are asking all mosques to revive religious marriage as if nothing has happened," they said in their statement.

The legislation's chapter on succession is one of the most controversial. It stipulates that a child born outside of marriage is also entitled to a share of any inheritance.

france24

23 Aug 2009

A fire has killed 12 students and injured another 20 at a girl's school in Tanzania's central Iringa region after starting at a dormitory.

Police said Sunday that the blaze broke out overnight when a one of the girls at the school tried to study in candle light, Reuters reported.

The fire razed Idodi Secondary School's dormitory to the ground.

“It burnt one dormitory completely and 12 students were killed. Another 20 have been injured,” Iringa Regional Police Commander Evarist Mangala told Reuters by phone.

Mangala said the school had 461 students.

presstv

22 August 2009

Mogadishu — Heavy fighting between government soldiers and Islamist forces has broken out in around Ex-control Afgoi checkpoint in the south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses and officials told Shabelle radio on Saturday.

Reports said that fighting started early on Saturday morning at Ex-control intersection, a government soldiers' strategic checkpoint in the main street that connects Mogadishu and Afgoi town in Lower Shabellle region where both sides exchanged heavy weapons during the fighting.

Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad known as (Inda Adde), the minister of state of the TFG, told Shabelle radio that they had the upper hand of Saturday's clashes in Mogadishu adding that they killed several fighters in the fighting.

There is no comment from the Islamist forces about the fighting so far.

The movement of the traffic was halted due to the heavy clashes between the Islamist forces and Government soldiers continued there for a while.

Residents told Shabelle radio that the more shelling from the area of the fighting landed in the other areas of the capital expressing concern about the fresh fighting.

It is unclear the real casualties of the fighting and reports from the warring area say that the situation is calm now.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Lagos — The Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Chief Timi Alaibe said the amnesty programme has recorded tremendous success within the past two days in Rivers State with a large cache of arms and ammunitions surrendered by militants.

Yesterday, a total of 38 weapons and assorted ammunitions were surrendered at Okrika axis, while today, the Kula Community in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area voluntarily handed over d42 assorted community held weapons to the Federal Government's Amnesty Programme, including 371 live ammunitions, 14 dynamites and 74 magazines.

Receiving the weapons, the Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Chief Timi Alaibe said the success of the programme in Rivers State is worthy of commendation.

Chief Alaibe assured the people of the Niger Delta region that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has demonstrated enough sincerity with the amnesty issue and enjoined other militants and communities habouring arms to surrender them, as the guns were not necessary anymore.

He explained that Mr President has shown commitment to develop the region, but that the efforts cannot be actualized without a conducive environment to drive the process.

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, congratulated the youths, chiefs and the people of Kula Community, for taking a historic step in handing over the large number of arms and ammunitions by keying into the government amnesty programme. Chief Alaibe remarked that the people of the Niger Delta should utilize non-violence as a means of resolving differences, and cited countries like India under Mahatma Gandhi that used dialogue to achieve their objective of positive change in society.

He, therefore enjoined Niger Delta militants, and warring communities in the region, to avail themselves of the amnesty period of opportunity to surrender their arms to enable the youths benefit from federal government rehabilitation programme.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Former UN Undersecretary Olara Otunnu and the prodigal son of the Uganda People's Congress has finally arrived at Entebbe airport this morning after spending 23 years in exile in the United States of America.

He will hold a press conference in Entebbe - Wakiso district before proceeding to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

He is expected sign the visitor's book at the UPC Headquarters at Uganda House later in the afternoon.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Lindi — President Jakaya Kikwete has cautioned residents of southern regions of Lindi and Mtwara from selling land to foreigners.

Speaking at Mkwajuni village in Lindi Region shortly before inaugurating the Mbwemkuru-Mingoyo road on Wednesday, President Kikwete said after the completion of the southern road, many investors would flock to the two regions.

He noted that though it was true that the 95km road was opening economic opportunities, that should not include locals selling their land to foreigners.

"There are other places in this country where locals have sold all their land and they are now living like servants and agents of activities done by other people whom they sold the land," said President Kikwete.

He said completion of the Dar es Salaam-Kibiti-Lindi-Mingoyo road was a milestone and open a new era for Lindi and Mtwara regions residents who used to spend more time when travelling to and from Dar es Salaam.

"We are now done with the tale that people living in southern parts of the country were still Tanganyikas and those living in the southern part were real Tanzanians, that is now history," he said.

The completion of the road was also historical in a sense that its construction has been fully funded by the Government through tax payers money.

The construction of the road which was completed late last year, consumed a total of Sh113.7 billion. The money includes Sh2 billion which was used to pay compensation to people whose structures were removed to pave the way for the road.

Since the Government started using local funds to build roads in the country, 500 kilometres of roads have been constructed including bridges across Ruvu and Mpiji rivers in Coast Region.

The permanent secretary in the ministry of Infrastructure Development, Mr Omar Chambo, said during the celebrations that three other road construction projects funded by the Government were still going on.

He listed the projects as the construction of 50km Geita-Sengerema road, Sengerema-Usagara (40km) in Mwanza Region and Unit Bridge which connects Tanzania and Mozambique. The later project is being implemented in Ruvuma Region.

allafrica

23 August 2009

Mogadishu — Calm has returned to the warring zones in the Somali capital Mogadishu, just after heavy clashes between the transitional government soldiers and Islamist forces that killed 5 people, injuring 17 others overnight.

Reports say that the Hodan and Hawl Wadag districts in Mogadishu are calm today after both sides exchanged heavy weapons at all night causing casualties of deaths and wounds.

The sound of heavy gunfire could be heard from all directions in the capital the whole night as most of the people in areas of the fighting were in great fear due to the shelling and fighting.

Traffic and movement of people and business was normal though there were several injured people who were taken from the warring areas and rushed to Madina hospital in south of Mogadishu according to emergency traffic and health officials.

The clashes between the government soldiers and Islamist forces come as the people in Mogadishu were preparing to have breakfast after the fast of the holy Ramadan month in which all Muslims in the world abstain from eating, smoking and so on in day light.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Nairobi — Kenya's new world marathon champion, Abel Kirui, says he will now run a world record two hours, three minutes and 30 seconds next year, as he had planned earlier, after recovering from his golden run at the world championships on Saturday.

The confident champion - born on June 4, 1982 and who comes from Samitui village of Nandi district - said at the famous Brandenburg Gate that he will go back home, rest and decide whether to run in the Dubai Marathon or next year's London Marathon before assaulting Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's world record on 2:03.59 set at the Berlin Marathon last September.

"I need to have proper preparations before taking on this title and this is my next main aim, to run 2:03.30 next year. Right now I need my body to relax, get some massage and then slowly get into world record shape," he said after winning the world championship gold in a new championship record time of 2:06.54.

The Kenyans were defending the title won by Prisons officer Luke Kibet in Osaka two years ago. Kibet did not make the team to Berlin.

The atmosphere was great with a crowd count of 700,000 spectators following the race under the sunny conditions on the streets of the German capital.

It was a Kenyan 1-2 finish as 2007 Amsterdam Marathon champion Emmanuel Mutai took the silver in 2:07.48 with Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede, bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics, added another bronze to his collection by taking the final podium place in 2:08.35.

Needs a perfect start

Four times Boston Marathon champion, Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot (2:10.46), one of the pre-race favourites, was fifth behind another Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay (2;08.42). Kenya won the overall title - the World Marathon Cup - by accumulating six hours, 25 minutes and 28 seconds from the top three finishers.

Benjamin Kiptoo dropped out while Daniel Rono was unfortunate to pick up an injury before the race in training.

Unlike the traditions straight course, yesterday's was run on four 10-kilometre loops around the streets of Berlin, starting and finishing at the famous Brandenburg Gate on Ebertstrasse. Kirui was always confident coming into this race.

Three days ago, he told journalists here: "We (Kenyans) will stay with the rest until the 35-kilometre mark and then from there the battle starts."

Yesterday (Saturday), the script was very much as he had planned, as the 27-year-old Administration Police officer, who started running at Samitui Primary School, stayed in touch to the 35-kilometre mark where he made his move.

"Every athlete needs a perfect start and I started well today (Saturday)," he said. "After 10 kilometres, we were still in a group and we didn't know who among us would push first," he described the race.

"The same was the case after 20 kilometres." Kirui's split times were 15 minutes and 10 seconds (in fifth place after five kilometres), 30:09 (ninth place at 10km), 44.58 (seventh after 15km), 59.42 (second place after 20km), 1:03.03 (joint leader at half marathon stage), 1:14.38 (second at 25km), 1:29.43 (leader at 30km), 1:44.56 (leader at 35km) and 2:06.54 (winner).

Gathered the courage

"At the 30km mark the pace went high and we were four of us - Cheruiyot, Kirui, Mutai and Kebede (a little behind the three Kenyans). It was at this point that I said it's everyone for himself.

"When I saw Mutai go ahead, I said to myself that I don't mind a silver medal but when I saw that he had problems, I gathered the courage to push ahead and that's how I won it." Mutai said he was happy with his silver. "It is great representing my country and I'm happy that we won two medals and the team title," he said.

Kebede said the course was difficult for him. "Making the turns on the circuit proved a bit uncomfortable for me," he said.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Harare — PARLIAMENT has been forced to bend the rules to accommodate two people who failed to be nominated to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) including a known Zanu PF activist.

Chris Mutsvangwa, former ambassador to China and a Zanu PF candidate in last year's parliamentary elections and Zimpapers board member Lawton Hikwa were added to the list of 12 nominees submitted to President Robert Mugabe.

It was not clear last week which names were dropped from the final list.

The duo had not made it into the top 12 list from which Mugabe is supposed to select nine that will constitute the ZMC.

Zanu PF caused a furore after their publicists including former Media and Information Commission chairman Tafataona Mahoso failed to impress at the public interviews earlier this month.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who accused the panel of experts that was in charge of the selection process of favouring the MDC, led the onslaught against parliament's standing rules and orders committee (SROC).

The SROC organised the interviews.

"The controversy stemmed from the fact that politicians had their own list and our panel of experts came up with people that it felt excelled in the interviews," said Masvingo MP Tongai Matutu, who chairs the SROC.

"While we believe this was not the best way to do the nominations, we do not see the amendment of the list as compromising the process because this was a product of consensus among the main parties."

The original list of the ZMC nominees contained lawyer Chris Mhike, journalists Nqobile Nyathi, Mathew Takaona, Miriam Madziwa, Henry Muradzikwa, Godfrey Majonga and Wabata Munodawafa, academics Rino Zhuwarara and Clemence Mabaso, Pastor Useni Sibanda, publisher Roger Stringer and banker Millicent Mombeshora.

Mahoso was left out after he came last in the interviews that drew 27 participants.

There was optimism that the commissioners who were seen as largely untainted by Mugabe's previous administration that fought hard to destroy media plurality will drive the reform agenda.

Zanu PF loyalists including Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba have been fighting tooth and nail to retain the status quo that would have included Mahoso who gained notoriety for closing down independent newspapers.

Matutu said if his committee had refused to alter the list there would have been an impasse in the media reform process, which is a key indicator for the troubled Global Political Agreement (GPA).

But media activists said the latest developments were a clear indication that true media reform in Zimbabwe was still a long way off.

"It is an insult to journalists to have people who performed badly in the interviews being nominated to head such an important institution," Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary-general Forster Dongozi said.

"It shows lack of seriousness on the part of the politicians leading the process and raises serious credibility questions for the ZMC.

"This is but a mirror of what is happening elsewhere as far as the implementation of the GPA is concerned where there are some forces in the inclusive government who are working hard to ensure that important reforms are not done properly."

Dongozi said there were already signs that the selection of various commissions would be compromised after the SROC failed to invite applications for commissioners for the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.

The SROC simply forwarded names of nominees who had failed to make it into the ZMC to Mugabe for consideration.

"There are some experienced broadcasters who did not apply to be considered for BAZ because they thought those positions would be advertised," he said. "The whole process is compromised and could reverse all the gains made so far in media reform."

The director of the Zimbabwean chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Takura Zhangazha said the confusion surrounding the nomination of ZMC commissioners showed the urgent need for self-regulation in the media.

"This (altering of the list) undermines any assumption that the ZMC will be an independent commission because the nomination of commissioners had to be negotiated by political parties," Zhangazha said.

"The commissioners will now be seen as people who hold briefs from political parties.

"This also emphasises the need for voluntary regulation of the media."

If the ZMC is successfully constituted it will pave the way for the registration of a number of private newspapers that are waiting in the wings to challenge the monopoly enjoyed by the state media.

Last week, The Sunday Mail claimed that papers such as The Daily News were still a long way off because the three principals to the GPA, Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara had to intervene in the selection of the ZMC and BAZ commissioners.

The claims were seen as an attempt to fuel confusion and stall the process further.

Meanwhile, Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe has called for transparency in the selection of commissioners to sit on various commissions to be created under the GPA.

"The appointment of commissioners should be strictly on merit not political affiliation," ROHR said in a statement.

"As an organisation we encourage all law-abiding Zimbabweans to reject any attempts by the political parties in the inclusive government to impose commissioners with self-serving partisan interests at the expense of the nation."

The SROC is yet to conduct interviews for commissioners of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.

allafrica

22 August 2009

Kayelekera — "We are serious about the integrity of the environment," says Neville Huxham, the country director for Paladin Energy Africa. "We're taking the uranium out of the ground, we're exporting it to be used for productive purposes, so we should be getting a medal for cleaning up the environment."

In the rolling hills 575 kilometres north of Malawi's capital city Lilongwe, lies Paladin's Kayelekera uranium mine, the first major mining development in Malawi, and the standard on which future mines will be based.

The narrow, winding road to Kayelekera is mostly unsealed, crossing the North Rukuru and Sere Rivers as it makes its narrow, winding way past numerous scattered villages hugging its edges.

"The road is much better now," Reinford Mwagonde, director of Citizens For Justice (CFJ), tells us on the way out to the village. "At least four trucks carrying sulphuric acid drive this road every day - what would happen if one of them had an accident?"

Mwagonde has been campaigning against Paladin's activities since 2005, when he became aware of the company's plans to develop the mine. CFJ and four other civil society organisations (CSOs) took Paladin to court in 2006, challenging the company's mining licence on a number of grounds including inadequacies in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

The case was later settled out of court but Mwagonde has never missed a beat since.

"The EIA didn't address serious environmental concerns around the issue of water contamination of the rivers that flow into Lake Malawi," says Mwagonde. The lake is a major source of potable water and fish for millions of people in Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique.

"They say that we're anti-development," says Mwagonde, "because we're against the mine. But we're against the mine because of the long-term health and environmental implications that are unique to uranium mining that the community has not been properly informed about."...

allafrica

23 August 2009

Kampala — The arrest and commencement of court proceedings against two Monitor editors for publishing contents of the President's July 15 proposing that certain elective political positions be restricted to only indigenous natives in Bunyoro sub-region yesterday drew wide condemnation.

The leaders who spoke to this newspaper on Saturday were unanimous in their view that the government's "high-handedness" was unnecessary. Ms Salaam Musumba, the vice president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), said: "This is an indicator of a failing or decayed and dictatorial system and therefore government needs to look into [themselves] instead of going for the messenger".

Ms Musumba observed that this was not the first time such an incident has happened and it signalled all journalists that they are at risk. Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire, an 'immigrant' in Bunyoro and MP for Buyaga County, Kibaale District, said the charges were misplaced. Mr Tinkasiimire comes from the ethnic Bakiga community whose presence in parts of Bunyoro is at the heart of the current national debate sparked by the President's letter.

"I don't find any basis why these journalists were prosecuted, there is just no reason whatsoever and right now this government has gone too far," he said.

Mr Tinkasiimire added that President Museveni knew what he was writing and cannot now turn around and blame "innocent people".

"We won't allow such acts to continue", he noted.

For Makerere University political historian, Mr Mwambustya Ndebesa, the State is attempting damage control. "This is not fair enough as journalists [they] were doing their work as the fourth estate of government and citizens," said Mr Ndebesa. Adding, "I think government has put in place damage control since the letter has received a lot of attention both locally and internationally and now wants to regain its legitimacy".

Mr Ochieng and Mr Kalinaki in court cells before they were released on bail.

The ruling National Resistance Movement's vice chairman for eastern Uganda, Capt. Mike Mukula, said: "the press is the fourth estate of government, what we need to do is build a harmonious relationship. It is therefore important for those in government to understand that leaks out of government into the media are normal all over the world. Rather than harassing the media, government develops a common medium of information exchange; what government needs to do is plug and reduce leaks.

"The media in this country is young and vibrant, what government needs to do is to find common ways and means of working with the media while following the principles of patriotism and nationalism. No media in the world should be suffocated for the sake of the broader tenets of democracy."

allafrica

23 Aug 2009

Men with alleged links to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have reportedly been tortured by police ahead of their trial in Egypt.

During the hearing, which began in Cairo on Sunday, some of the defendants made the torture allegations, AFP reported.

"If you don't believe us, just look at our bodies," one man shouted to the judge.

The 22 men accused of plotting attacks in Egypt denied the charges of "conspiracy to murder, spying for a foreign organization with intent of conducting terrorist attacks and weapons possession."

Four more persons sought in the case are on the run and are being tried in absentia.

Egypt arrested 49 people in early April, accusing Hezbollah of recruiting the group to mastermind acts of terror in the country.

Hezbollah, however, dismissed the allegations and described them as a politically motivated campaign against the movement.


presstv

22 August 2009

Lagos — The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has frozen the bank accounts of the managing directors of the five banks sacked last week.

The affected former MDs are Union Bank's Bartholomew Ebong, FinBank's Okey Nwosu, Afribank's Sebastian Adigwe, Intercontinental Bank's Erastus Akingbola and Oceanic Bank's Cecilia Ibru.

The external and internal auditors of the five banks have also been invited for interrogation by the EFCC.

Also yesterday, the commission mounted surveillance on the home of Akingbola in Ikoyi, Lagos in a bid to gather information about his movement.

According to a source at the EFCC office in Abuja, the accounts of the sacked MDs were frozen "so that they will not continue to have access to huge money while being investigated."

The five banks MDs are said to operate accounts in different banks in the country with unspecified but large amounts.

Although, their foreign accounts were not affected by yesterday's action, the EFCC source said that it was only a matter of time before their foreign accounts are frozen, wherever they might be.

"With money in their accounts, you and I know quite well that they would do and undo. But without money anywhere, intense and proper investigations would be conducted on them. We hope to arrest the remaining two banks chiefs in no time."

The source said further: "Wherever they are, we will fish Mrs. Ibru and Erastus Akingbola out and they would be made to face the music they have been playing.

"We will ensure that not only their local accounts are frozen but also their foreign accounts.

"This will be done so as to properly prosecute them effectively and so that those suspected to have fled abroad would be left with nothing to bank on wherever they may be.

"We will ensure that sanity returns not only to the banking sector, but to every part of our economy."

The EFCC's spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the story, said as event unfolds, members of the public would be furnished with more information.

The EFCC boss, Farida Waziri alleged that the auditors conspired with the erring bank MDs to defraud their banks.

She warned that if they do not all appear before the commission today, they would be declared wanted and this, she said, would further compound their problems.

"During our investigations, we found out that all the erring bank chief executives were given a clean bill to operate by both external and internal auditors who were paid to do so.

"It is sad to know that these auditors conspired with the bank MDs to commit the crime.

"Our officials are already out for them and anyone who fails to appear before the commission by tomorrow (today), will be declared wanted and would be made to face the music," Waziri warned.

A close aide of Akingbola said officials of the commission have been parading the house of the former bank chief in Ikoyi, but are yet to enter the building.

He said: "To start with, Akingbola never fled the country. He actually travelled on medical grounds.

"They (EFCC) know Akingbola is not around and they are trying to break into his house when they have not established anything against him.

"They have taken photographs of his house and even went to the extent of writing the Registrar of Titles in Lagos to get more information about his house. "

The EFCC's spokesman confirmed that Akingbola's house was under surveillance "since the commission is still looking for him."

"It is also not unusual for anybody that has a case to answer to have his or her house and other known places where they go under surveillance," he said.

In a bid to compel bank debtors of the five banks to pay up, the apex bank last Wednesday published the names of debtors - a development that triggered a string of protests by the companies and individuals whose names were published.

But Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs yesterday protested the inclusion of his name as "the majority shareholder/director" in respect of a loan granted to MTS First Wireless Limited by Union Bank.

A letter from his solicitor said: "Our client unequivocally denies any involvement whatsoever in the grant, issuance, disbursement or application of this loan either as a director, shareholder or majority shareholder of MTS.

"He therefore views the prominent display of his name with respect to this loan either as a grave error of judgement or a mischievous and malicious attempt by the bank to impugn his well earned reputation and reduce the esteem in which he is held in the society."

Briggs' lawyer said the loan facility for which the CBN publication listed MTS as a debtor customer of the bank was secured and expended to MTS in 2003, "three years before our client became a shareholder /director of MTS in 2006."

The lawyer said Briggs was neither a shareholder nor director of MTS when it obtained and disbursed the loan with officials of the bank and as such cannot be personally liable in any manner whatsoever.

Bank Auditors

Oceanic Bank - PriceWaterhouseCooper

Intercontinental - PriceWaterhouseCooper

Union Bank - Akintola Williams Deloitte

Oyekanmi Soetan Adeleke & Co

FinBank - Akintola Williams Deloitte

Afribank - Akintola Williams Deloitte

allafrica

22 August 2009

Nairobi — One of the most but least explored questions about democracy is what do citizens think about their democracies. Over the last 10 years, the AfroBarometer sample surveys have made an important contribution by asking that question in considerable depth and breadth in 20 African countries.

The AfroBarometer surveys have been conducted by a team of distinguished African and Non-African scholars with the support of the Centre for Democratic Development in Ghana, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy in Benin, the University of Capetown, and Michigan State University.

Several things are important to note about the survey results. Opinion surveys capture citizens' views at a point in time. In Kenya, the surveys were conducted in 2008, six months into the life of the present power-sharing government.

The surveys offer comparisons of Kenya to 19 other countries, all of which necessarily have reached a certain threshold of democracy, or it wouldn't be possible to conduct the surveys! What's a critical threshold number for any given question above which serious consequences may flow? A majority of only 51 per cent elects someone to office, but what would it mean if only 51 per cent report trust in the leaders they have elected?

With these qualifications, the survey results for Kenya and its neighbours are revealing, suggestive, and arguably troubling in the long run. Overall, the surveys report that Kenyans believe deeply in the desirability and the principles of democracy with numbers somewhat above average for the countries in the survey.

On the other hand, the surveys, also reveal deep dissatisfaction with the quality of democracy in Kenya, substantially deeper dissatisfaction than do citizens of other countries in the survey. Many of my political science colleagues tend to call incomplete democracies "hybrids" - countries exhibiting both democratic and non-democratic features.

I'm tempted to suggest a distinction between countries that retain some authoritarian features along with democratic ones and those that retain characteristics that aren't so much authoritarian as badly, even very badly, functioning democratic processes.

On the one hand, 78 per cent of Kenyans interviewed by AfroBarometer reported that they preferred democracy to any other kind of government, just a bit behind Botswana (85 per cent) and Benin (81 per cent) and essential tied with Uganda and Ghana. Morever, 80 per cent of Kenyans surveyed preferred multiparty democracy to legally one-party democracy advocated and enforced in the past, and effectively tied with Botswana and Ghana behind only Senegal (90 per cent).

Kenyans (at 83 per cent) were second only to Tanzanians in upholding two-term presidential term limits. Kenyan were about average among these 20 democracies in allowing the media to publish freely (76 per cent) and that people should be free to speak their mind, no matter how unpopular their views might be (77 per cent) but slightly below average (57 per cent vs 66 per cent) in their support for freedom to join any organisation they choose, regardless of what the government might think about it - one might suspect that countries in the survey may vary considerable in terms the presence of organisations that severely test public tolerance.

One striking finding of the surveys is that almost all African democracies feature constitutions investing presidents with substantial powers in relation to parliaments. Every country in the surveys produced super-majorities for the proposition that parliaments should make laws for the country even if the president does not agree. On this question, Kenya, Benin, and Senegal produced the largest majorities at just under 80 per cent.

By comparison with other countries in the survey, Kenyans were more patient with the shortcomings of their democracy than others, with 58 per cent agreeing that the "present system should be given more time to deal with inherited problems" versus the 50 per cent average for all countries.

On the other hand, Kenyans expressed substantial dissatisfaction with the state of their democracy. No democracy is perfect, of course, but at what level over what period of time, if any, does popular dissatisfaction with the quality of democratic performance try the patience of citizens beyond endurance? It is probably safe to say that no one knows the answers to these question, in general or for any specific country.

Overall, however, at 43 per cent, Kenya joined Nigeria, Lesotho, Senegal, and Madagascar as the only countries surveyed where less than half of those surveyed believed that the country had a full democracy or one with only minor problems.

Those same four countries were joined by six others in which only a minority of those surveyed pronounced themselves very satisfied or at least fairly satisfied with the way in which their democracies worked. At 43 per cent, Kenya was closer than several of the others to the overall average of 50 per cent for all countries.

The tantalising thing about these is findings is that they can mean diametrically different things - those dissatisfied may be motivated to redouble efforts to strengthen democracy or their dissatisfaction over the long-term may sap public patience with democracy's shortcomings. The AfroBarometer surveys apparently did not probe that question.

Questions about political trust and political legitimacy probe citizen beliefs about as deeply as any. On these questions, the results are not particularly encouraging for most of the countries in the survey, including Kenya, particularly since these are the countries of the continent that have taken the largest strides toward democracy, in institutional terms.

allafrica

21 August 2009

THE PRESIDENT, Prof. John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, has been cautioned against promoting corporate fraud, abuse, waste and corruption in Ghana.

The admonition by Nana Nanabanyin Quessy Ninsin-Imbeah II, Mfantsehen of Anloga/Oforikrom in Kumasi, who is also the Nyimfahen of Mfantseman Council of Ashanti, comes at the heels of the President's directive recently that all chief executives in the public sector are to work with the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) to establish functional Audit Report Implementation Committees by the close of this year.

It also comes against the disclosure by the Director General of the IAA, Mr. Patrick Nomo that in five years of the agency's work, some systematic weaknesses have run through their findings in respect of the MDA's and MMDAs, as reported in the Agency's annual reports to the President.

The Mfantsehen wondered why the internal audit units were not functioning over the years, as evidenced by the said "systematic weaknesses" which had duly come to the notices of the President, against a similar presidential directive by ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, as reported by the Daily Graphic of Wednesday November 21 2007, that all CEO's in the public sector are to "ensure the establishment of functional Internal Audit units by March 2008 and also to ensure that all outstanding internal and external Audit recommendations are cleared by June 2008"

According to Nana Ninsin-Imbeah, if the departmental Internal Audit Charters and functional audit report implementation committees were established as directed then, there would not have been reported cases of corporate fraud and corruption and that abuses and waste in the system would have been stalled by now.

He blamed the executive arm of government, particularly former President Kufuor, of promoting corporate fraud since his directive in 2007 was never implemented, saying it is an indictment for the presidency to have looked on and encouraged corporate fraud of all forms while corrupt practices became part of society.

The chief wondered if it was the case of author Peter Oborne's second rule that "Never pay much attention to what a politician says: watch what he or she does," as propounded at the Centre for Policy studies 2009; Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture on March 4, 2009, under the topic - "The problem of Integrity in Modern politics".

The Anloga/Oforikrom Mfantsehen discounted the slogans - "Zero Tolerance for corruption" and the promise of "Accountability and Transparency", when nothing was being done to institutionalize directives and policies. "Enough of the Zero tolerance for corruption and the promise of accountability and Transparency" he said.

He reminded President Mills of Obama's call for Africans to put in place strong institutions and ensure that directives and policies are fully implemented. Nana Ninsin-Imbeah commended the Judiciary for making epoch judgments in recent times to assert its independence and hoped the Internal Audit Agency would follow suit.

allafrica