2010-04-10
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that a preliminary review had found that Comoros was eligible for relief on its debt under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

"The Executive Boards of the ... IMF and the World Bank's International Development Association have deemed, on a preliminary assessment, that the Union of the Comoros is eligible for assistance under ... HIPC," IMF said in a statement on its website.

"The assessment is a step towards forgiveness of the majority of the country's foreign debt stock, which is estimated at $285.9 million as of end-2009."

The statement said that for Comoros to qualify for the relief, Comoros would have to satisfactorily meet the conditions set out under IMF's Extended Credit Facility.

The IMF said Comoros had potential for reaching decision point under HIPC mid this year.

IMF said other factors that could help it reach completion point include improving public financial management and governance, strengthening healthcare and education and improving debt management.

IMF said going forward, Comoros would have to strengthen fiscal performance, particularly by improving revenue collection and boost control of its wage bill.

"The need for debt relief in Comoros is particularly salient, because the resources available to support the most basic public investments in physical and human capital have been constrained," World Bank Country Director for Comoros, Johannes Zutt, said in the statement.

The Comoros, sandwiched between Madagascar and southern Africa, has a turbulent history with some 20 coups, or attempted coups, since declaring independence from France in 1975.

KHARTOUM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) on Saturday reiterated commitment to organizing free, credible and transparent elections in the country.

"The NEC reiterates its commitment to organizing free and transparent elections that will satisfy all Sudanese political parties", said Abil Alier, NEC Chairman, at a press conference in Khartoum.

He said that all arrangements have been finalized for the elections, which are to begin on Sunday in all parts of Sudan and urged the Sudanese people to head to the voting centers to exercise the constitutional right in selecting their representatives.

NEC Deputy Chairman, Abdalla Ahmed Abdalla, speaking at the press conference, acknowledged that the electoral process has encountered some shortcomings, saying that "we believe that this electoral process will not be whole, but we think it represents an important step towards the democratic transition in Sudan".

"We do not claim that there were no mistakes, but we affirm that they were not intended", he said.

"We were strictly committed to the legal references that govern the electoral process, and we have tried as much as we can to observe professionalism and credibility", he added.

Abdalla further refuted accusations by the Sudanese opposition parties that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) was controlling the work of the NEC.

"We hear about these accusations, but no party has managed to provide a single evidence to prove involvement of the NEC in any work against the law. Any talk about this topic is baseless", he said.

Earlier, some Sudanese opposition parties announced their boycotting of the elections and accused the NEC of being biased to the NCP.

The most prominent parties which pulled out from the elections included the National Umma Party, the Sudanese Communist Party and the Umma Party (Reform and Renewal), while the position of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is still contradictive regarding participation or pulling out.

Over 16 million Sudanese voters are to head for the voting centers on Sunday to select their representative for the presidency, the state governors and legislative councils in first multi-party elections in Sudan in more than 24 years.

KHARTOUM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter expressed his hope on Saturday that Sudan's elections, set to begin on Sunday, would be compatible with international standards.

"We hope the elections would be completely compatible with international standards and safe and free and fair and that the decision of individual voter will be expressed freely," Carter told reporters after meeting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

He also voiced hope that the results of the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years will be counted "honestly and fairly."

The former U.S. president said that his observation team from Carter Center was ready to monitor the three-day Sudanese elections.

"Our team is in all parts of Sudan and are now preparing for the elections, which we will be monitoring closely," he said.

He said his observation team and other international observers would prepare a statement on the elections on April 17.

Carter said he was reassured on the arrangements made by the National Elections Commission (NEC) to make the upcoming democratic experience a success, pointing out that his meetings with leaders of the Sudanese political parties availed him the opportunity to get acquainted with their prospects towards the elections.

The U.S.-based Carter Center, which was founded by Jimmy Carter, sent 65 observers to monitor the general elections in Sudan besides an observation team from the European Union of 130 observers.

afrol News, 9 April - As the Catholics struggle with paedophilia scandals, and the Anglicans have an open north-south conflict over homosexuality, African Lutheran churches now threaten divorce with their European partners if the latter continue to perform same-sex weddings.

African member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) met in Abuja, Nigeria, this week to discuss theological and policy issues. While they neared their northern liberal sister churches on gender issues - now defining "gender equity" as an "urgent priority" for Africa - the African Lutherans spoke up against liberal tendencies in Europe and North America concerning homosexuality.

On gender justice, African Lutherans expressed concern that some member churches in Africa "still do not heed the voices of women in the region crying for inclusivity within the church structures, leadership and in the ordained ministry." They urged churches to fulfil their commitment to gender justice by putting in place concrete steps to address these issues.

But on homosexuality, African Lutherans made it clear they would take a conservative position, adding that liberal tendencies in northern churches were seen as a provocation.

The Lutheran churches in Africa in a statement said that the issue of "marriage, family and human sexuality" had been dealt with in a 2007 LWF Council meeting in Sweden. At that meeting, Lutheran churches world-wide had agreed that "marriage is holy, ordained by God and is a relationship between a man and woman."

But since 2007, several northern Lutheran churches have liberalised their practices or are in the process of doing so. In Denmark and Sweden, Lutheran priests have wed same-sex couples, while Lutheran church communities in Norway, Germany and the US are considering new liturgy that would permit such marriages.

In their statement, African Lutherans say "the majority of African member churches say 'NO' to homosexual acts and regard it to be sinful."

The African LWF member churches added they "are extremely disturbed and deeply regret the recent developments taking place in some member churches of the communion who have taken unilateral decision on same sex marriages, disregarding the strong sentiments expressed by other members of the communion."

They noted that such "unilateral action" had "negatively impacted our life together as a communion, something which could have been avoided. The statement is seen as an indirect threat of a north-south schism within the Lutheran church community.

The same reaction had come within the Anglican communion, as US and British churches decided to accept homosexuality. African Anglican churches - with the exception of South Africa - denied communion with northern churches that accepted same-sex relations. The unity of the Anglican Church is fragile, if not broken, over the issue of homosexuality.

Meanwhile, the conservative Catholic Church is struggling with homosexuality and paedophilia within its own rows as a result of celibacy and sex segregation, by many seen as a magnet for young men that are frustrated or insecure about their sexuality. The discussion about removing the celibacy duty or even becoming more liberal on its view on homosexuality is becoming louder in the Catholic Church in Europe and North America, despite protests from Rome.

In Africa, except South Africa, the main church communities however are going in a conservative direction. This is also the case among African Lutherans, contrasting their northern sister churches that are among the most liberal in the world.

The move towards conservatism about homosexuality among African Lutherans is driven from both within and outside. Regarding sexuality, most African societies are conservative and homosexuality is often viewed an un-African or a taboo. African Lutheran priests as such reflect their congregations.

But both Lutherans and Anglicans in Africa are strongly influenced by conservative church leaders from North America and Europe, taking the battle they are losing in their home countries to Africa.

Also, Lutheran missionaries from Europe and the US operating in Africa belong to the most conservative Lutherans found, often described as "fundamentalists" and even "extremists" in their home countries. Often ridiculed at home, in Africa, they are mostly left to preach their conservative message without protest.

20100409

Nairobi (Alshahid) – Politicians on Thursday joined churches when a group of 24 MPs formed a caucus to campaign against the proposed Constitution at the forthcoming referendum.

Led by Cabinet Ministers William Ruto (Agriculture) and Amason Jeffa Kingi (East African Community), the leaders cited concerns on a powerful presidency as well as issues regarding land, devolution and abortion which they say must first be resolved.

Addressing a press conference at Parliament buildings, Wajir West MP Adan Keynan added that minority communities would be affected by demarcation of constituencies while Tigania East legislator Peter Munya maintained that consensus should be sought before the draft constitution goes to the referendum.

“The fact that Kenyans have been waiting for a Constitution for a long time does not mean that they must pass a draft that does not meet their expectations,” said Mr Munya.

Also dissenting was PNU Vice Chairman George Nyamweya who has accused the international community of pushing the reform agenda on Kenyans.

“We are being asked that because it pleases some people in Washington that we must support because they have given Kenya some timelines; we are the ones who live here and we know where the shoe pinches. We would like to do what is right for Kenya and at our own pace,” said the Nominated MP.

The news conference was attended by MPs from Rift Valley, Coast, and Eastern provinces. Notable attendees included Rev Mutava Musymi, Eugene wamalwa and Simon Mbugua, among others.

Also present, Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo said the Chapter on Land completely alters the land tenure system and could lead to chaos similar to the ones that occurred after the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe`s government nationalised farms belonging to white settlers.

At an earlier function, Mr Ruto differed with Prime Minister Raila Odinga over his statement that the draft cannot be renegotiated before a referendum is held. The ODM Deputy Leader maintained that this was the proper time to review and correct contentious chapters in the document.

While declaring his support for the draft on Wednesday, Mr Odinga ruled out any room for amendments at present.

But Mr Ruto wants amendments on the Constitutional Review Act (2008).

He said; “If the document was as sound as we were meant to believe, what were the amendments all about? Whoever is telling Kenyans that pass the document you can amend it later is not being honest.”

20100409
alshahid

Mogadishu (Alshahid) – The insurgent group Alshabab had banned the BBC from operating in areas under their rule with effect from today, according to an order from the Alshabab’s information office in Mogadishu.

The order also bans local FM stations from broadcasting the BBC and VOA.

According to the order, Alshabab decided to ban the two media houses due to the bias reporting which encourages Somalis to be against the installation of an Islamic state in Somalia.

Alshabab also cited that BBC and VOA are owned by Britain and USA respectively and the two are leading the Zionist war against Islam.

The order calls for the local FMs to terminate their contract with the two broadcasters and hand over their equipments to Alshabab.

Alshabab had earlier on banned the World Food Program from operating in areas under their control.

20100409
alshahid

Mogadishu (Alshahid) – The first deputy speaker of the Somalia parliament Prof. Mohamed Ummar Dhalxa had on Friday accused the security forces of the TFG for denying some of the Somalia MPs to hold a meeting in Mogadishu.

Prof. Dhalxa stated that some MPs who are opposed to the TFG were denied by the police to meet in some of the hotels in Mogadishu.

Dhalxa added that the police on several occasions refused the MPs to meet in Mogadishu. He urged the MPs not to be tired of reminding the government of her mistakes.

There is an apparent dispute between some of the Somalia legislators and the government led by Premier Omar Abdirashid which is based on accusations that the government has failed its duties and should resign.

20100409
alshahid

Khartoum (Alshahid) – Sudanese political parties addressed supporters on Friday on the last day of general election campaigning, as President Omar al-Bashir, looking assured of re-election, makes a final push for parliamentary seats.

“We will build roads to Geneina (in west Sudan). We have built a road that reaches the border of Ethiopia (in the east) … We are not focused on just one region, we are working for balanced development,” Bashir told a rally in Dalgo, north Sudan.

“People ask ‘why are you launching all these projects today?’ We say they are solid projects; it is not publicity. It is our duty to offer services to our people,” he said in an address carried by private TV channels.

Bashir’s resources have allowed him to stage rallies in all corners of the country, which drew the ire of opposition parties who accused him of dipping into state funds for his personal bid.

The 66-year-old Bashir is counting on the landmark elections to redeem his stature but the credibility of the election has been marred by a boycott of a significant part of the opposition.

SPLM said it would not field candidates in the northern states, except in the sensitive Blue Nile and south Kordofan, after it said it was withdrawing its presidential candidate, Yasser Arman, from the race.

The Umma Party also announced a boycott of the election, with leader Sadiq al-Mahdi refusing to run against Bashir.

Hatim al-Sir, of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party, who has now become Bashir’s main challenger though his chances of beating Bashir are very slim, is to meet supporters later on Friday in the Nile state in north Sudan.

But Sir is hoping to push for the legislative and local elections which remain fiercely competitive in large parts of the country.

Bashir’s National Congress Party currently controls 52 percent of the 450-seat National Assembly and is hoping to maintain its support in the north, the south being dominated by the SPLM.

The current south Sudan leader and head of the SPLM, Salva Kiir, is to address a rally in Juba, the southern capital, later on Friday.

In a bid to quell accusations of fraud, Bashir who has ruled Africa’s largest country since 1989, promised free and fair elections at a rally on Thursday.

“Unfortunately the trends on the ground are very disturbing,” Susan Rice the US envoy to the United Nations told reporters on Thursday.

She said a decision by the European Union to withdraw observers from Darfur underscored “how insecure and problematic the electoral process is in that portion of the country and elsewhere.”

Former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Khartoum on Thursday as election monitors from his Carter Center prepare for the three-day process.

“We are hoping and praying that it will be a fair and honest election for those (who) are participating,” Carter told reporters.

“I regret that some parties have decided not to participate,” Carter said, underlining, however, that “there are around 16,000 candidates who are still involved in the election” on all levels.

20100409
PRESS TV

Four employees of an engineering company in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria were abducted on Friday by gunman dressed in military attire, police say.

One Lebanese worker and three Syrian expatriates were taken near the oil hub of Port Harcourt, said police spokeswoman Rita Inoma Abbey.

"The hoodlums kidnapped the four ... and fled while firing at the police," she said.

Every year, hundreds of kidnapping incidents take place in the oil producing region of the Niger Delta.

The victims are usually released unharmed a few days after the kidnapping.

afrol News, 9 April - Island hopping is no longer defined to the Caribbean or Aegean, but growing more popular in the Indian Ocean. Seychelles has found that tourism marketing on the close-by French island Réunion and a tighter cooperation is gaining quick results.

Last year, Seychelles tourism authorities and stakeholders for the first time went on a promotional tour to the sister Indian Ocean island of Réunion. It paid off. The trip resulted in Air Austral introducing a second flight from its Réunion base to Seychelles and a growth in island hopping tourists.

This year, therefore, Seychelles sends a strong delegation comprising of tourism and cultural officials to Réunion this weekend for yet another Seychelles promotional tour. Two ministers join the trip.

Last year, the Seychelles tourism officials met with different tour operators in two cities in Réunion to update them on developments on the tourism market as well as with the press to spread the awareness on Seychelles, as also the Réunionnais public increasingly is travelling on holidays abroad.

"The exposure proved to be a huge success which saw the visitor arrivals from that market increased during the third quarter of the year and which is on a consistent rise since the beginning of 2010," according to authorities.

Speaking ahead of this promotion, the Seychelles' director of tourism marketing, Alain St Ange, said that Réunion is an emerging market which is doing very well and they feel it should be given the support to produce better results.

"The figures picked up faster than we expected and it shows that our promotional tour last year was necessary to reactivate that market and bring Seychelles back in the minds of the Réunionnais public," he said.

He explained that they are going back with a cultural group so as to show a different aspect of the destination and to get the Réunionnais public to associate them with the cultural similarities that bond the two countries.

"There are so many points in common that bond the two countries and we want to incite the Réunionnais through these to visit our islands," Mr St Ange added.

afrol News, 9 April - As an African Union (AU) representative today arrived Comoros to mediate in the archipelago's renewed political crisis, protesters on the island of Moheli call for President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi's dismissal. Thoughts of secession again are popular among Moheli islanders.

The current political crisis emerged in Comoros as President Sambi last year prolonged his term in power by one year in a constitutional referendum. The move broke with a complicated power-sharing deal from 2001 between the Comoros Union presidency and the archipelagos' three autonomous islands.

According to the 2001 deal, union presidents are elected from each of the three islands in a rotation system for one four-year term each. The first union president, according to the deal, was from Grande Comore, who transferred powers to Mr Sambi in 2006. Mr Sambi was elected from the island of Anjouan.

President Sambi's term ends on 26 May this year, according to the original scheme of the power-sharing deal. Then, a union president was to be elected from the island of Moheli.

Moheli islanders now demand their turn at the presidency and protest marches have been growing in scale and intensity on the island during the last weeks. Protesters have thrown stones against security forces and burnt tyres.

The Mohelian opposition to President Sambi has declared it will not accept Mr Sambi as union president after 26 May. If no Mohelian is heading the union presidency by that date, the 2001 power-sharing agreement will be seen as null and void.

On Moheli, secessionist thoughts are again emerging. In the 1990s, both Moheli and Anjouan declared independence from Comoros. While Moheli soon returned to the union, Anjouan staid independent in practical terms for years, only giving into an AU blockade that caused famine on the island. The secessionist crisis was only solved by the AU-brokered 2001 agreement, giving wide autonomy to the three islands.

The AU is now working hard to save the 2001 peace deal. AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, arrived in the capital Moroni yesterday for a three-day working visit to Comoros. "We hope to leave this country with the assurance that the situation is going to improve," Mr Lamamra said upon arrival. In Moroni, he held talks with President Sambi.

But the AU efforts were thwarted today. Mr Lamamra had planned a visit to Moheli today to talk with the opposition to President Sambi. However, riots on the island again turned violent and the AU Commissioner's trip to Moheli had to be cancelled for security reasons.

20100409
PRESS TV

About 3,000 people attended the funeral of South Africa's white supremacist leader, who was murdered on Saturday by two of his black farm-workers.

The funeral of Eugene Terre'Blanche, who led the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), was held on Friday at the conservative Afrikaner Protestant Church in Ventersdorp, BBC reported.

South Africa's police and army units were present at the service as a precautionary measure in case of clashes between the local black community and members of AWB broke-out.

As a good will gesture, notable figures from the black community attended the funeral ceremony in the midst of the white AWB members, who were dressed in paramilitary clothes.

Police authorities now believe that the murder of Terre'Blanche, who was hacked to death on his farm, was not politically motivated rather as a result of a pay dispute between him and his employees, Reuters reported.

However, Secretary General of AWB, Andre Visagie, who disagrees with police, told reporters, “We think it was an assassination, not a murder.”

“We are going to ask the government to give us our own homeland. We want to be free. We are not interested in being a part of this failure of South Africa,” Visagie said. “Our very very last resort would be violence, but we hope that we can go without it.”

Terre'blanche had become marginalized for his efforts in the early 1990's to maintain white minority rule and to preserve apartheid in South Africa, Reuters reported.

The reaction to his murder by the white supremacists is a clear indication of the racial divide that still exists in South Africa 16 years after the fall of apartheid.

afrol News, 9 April - Humanitarian organisations are warning that the developing food crisis goes far beyond the known drought areas in Niger and Chad. Millions are facing malnutrition and hunger all over the Sahel, from Mauritania and Guinea to Nigeria and Sudan. Food aid is already under-financed.

Today, the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) announced it had already freed some US$ 20.5 million to address the food crisis in the Sahel this year. CERF funds so far have focused on five West and Central African states - Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad.

The large amount was only to meet the most urgent humanitarian needs in the Sahel. In a region under the threat of food crisis, CERF funds are to enable UN agencies and their partners to mainly respond to nutritional, food and health needs of vulnerable populations.

The crisis is reaching enormous proportions. According to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), only in Niger some 7.8 million persons are facing a food crisis, while more than 2 million in neighbouring Chad are in the same desperate situation. Several millions, still poorly mapped, will be affected in other Sahelian countries.

The UN's children agency UNICEF has started mapping child malnutrition in the entire region and is alarmed by its findings. "Already an estimated 859,000 children under the age of five in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria and Chad are classified as needing treatment for severe malnutrition," UNICEF spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told media in Geneva today.

UNICEF was said to be very concerned that the ongoing drought in much of the Sahel region of Africa "has created a food crisis that is jeopardising the health of the region's most vulnerable children."

Tens of thousands of children are at risk of severe malnutrition in Niger and neighbouring countries unless donors urgently provide more funds for humanitarian programmes, Ms Berthiaume said. UNICEF was ready to help the children, but it did not have the funds it needs to carry out its programmes, she added.

Only half of the US$ 50 million sought by the UN agency to deal with the crisis has been received so far, Ms Berthiaume said, adding that the funds were needed as soon as possible because the crisis was "expected to peak within the next two months."

20100409
ALALAM

Sudan's political parties are preparing on Friday for their last day of campaigning before voting begins on Sunday.

President Omar al-Beshir, whose resources have allowed him to stage rallies in all corners of the country, is expected to make a final campaign speech later in the day.

South Sudan leader Salva Kiir is expected to address a rally in Juba, the southern capital.

Three days of polling in presidential, legislative and local elections begin on Sunday in Sudan's first multi-party elections since 1986.

Residents of south Sudan will also be voting for the leader of the semi-autonomous government there.

The election has been marred by a boycott of the opposition parties on the presidential level, although legislative and local elections are expected to be more competitive.

The Umma party, one of the two largest opposition groups, announced its boycott on Wednesday.

Umma was among a group of opposition parties that had given the government four days from April 2 to implement key reforms in return for a pledge to take part in elections postponed to May.

The Umma announcement came just hours after the European Union said it was withdrawing its election monitors from Darfur, citing security issues.

The Sudanese authorities however confirmed that the withdrawal of European monitors from Darfur would not affect the elections.

The former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement had already decided to boycott the election in northern Sudan, after withdrawing its presidential candidate Yasser Arman from the race.

However, the SPLM said it would still field candidates in the sensitive border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where the party enjoys support.

The US also said on Thursday that it will support the postponement of elections in the Sudan for a brief period to allegedly ensure more security.

US envoy to the United Nations Susan Rice claimed "disturbing trends" could mar the outcome of the vote.

She said a decision by the European Union to withdraw observers from Darfur underscored "how insecure and problematic the electoral process is in that portion of the country and elsewhere."

afrol News, 9 April - The World Bank has approved a US$ 3.75 billion loan to help South Africa achieve a reliable electricity supply, despite some protest from environmentalists for the country to shift to greener energy sources.

However, the bank has said it is also financing some of the biggest solar and wind power plants in the developing world.

"The loan - the Bank's first major lending engagement with South Africa since the fall of apartheid 16 years ago - aims to benefit the poor directly, through jobs created as the economy bounces back from the global financial crisis and through additional power capacity to expand access to electricity," the World Bank said in a statement.

The loan which is provided to South Africa's power utility, Eskom, the bank justified, was brought about by unique circumstances including South Africa's energy crisis of 2007 and early 2008, and the global financial crisis that exposed the country's vulnerability to an energy shock and severe economic consequences.

"Without an increased energy supply, South Africans will face hardship for the poor and limited economic growth," said Obiageli K. Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region. "Access to energy is essential for fighting poverty and catalyzing growth, both in South Africa and the wider sub-region. Our support to Eskom combines much-needed investments to boost generation capacity for growing small and large businesses, creating jobs, and helping lay the foundations for a clean energy future through investments in solar and wind power."

The Eskom Investment Support Project (EISP) is to co-finance the following blend of energy technologies: US$ 3.05 billion for completing the 4800 MW Medupi coal-fired power station, using for the first time on the African continent the same proven, efficient supercritical technology used in OECD countries; US$ 260 million for piloting a utility-scale 100 MW wind power project in Sere and a 100 MW concentrated solar power project with storage in Upington; and US$ 485 million for low-carbon energy efficiency components, including a railway to transport coal with fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

In approving the project, the World Bank noted South Africa's achievement in increasing energy access from around 30 percent of citizens to more than 80 percent since the fall of apartheid in 1994 and noted its Free Basic Electricity policy that provides 50 kilowatt hours (KWh) of free electricity per month to poor families.

The Bank also noted South Africa's pivotal role as generator of 60 percent of all electricity consumed on the African continent and the importance of a functioning electricity sector for job creation, economic progress, human welfare, and poverty reduction.

"The Eskom project offers a unique opportunity for the World Bank Group to strengthen its partnership with the government of South Africa, Eskom, and other financiers and help South Africa chart a path toward meeting its commitment on climate change while meeting people's urgent energy needs," said Ruth Kagia, World Bank Country Director for South Africa.

"As part of the project, Eskom will pilot 100 megawatts of solar power with storage and wind power, the biggest grid-connected renewable energy venture in any developing country," added Vijay Iyer, World Bank Energy Sector Manager for Africa. "We are optimistic that the lessons learned from these projects will facilitate the scale-up of the renewable energy industry across Africa."

The project has received strong support, both from South Africa and other parts of the world. In a letter to World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, South African President Jacob Zuma stated that the energy sector in South Africa is of "strategic national importance" and "achieving energy security will be a critical factor for restoring economic growth, both in South Africa, and the wider southern Africa sub-region."

President Zuma has also stated that his government is "committed to reducing the country's carbon footprint and broadening its energy sources in line with our cabinet-endorsed Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios" and expressed appreciation that the EISP includes "investments in cutting-edge, supercritical technology being installed for the first time on the African continent as well as substantial investments in renewable energy."

afrol News, 9 April - May be it is time to say enough is enough! This may be the stance that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, is taking as racial tensions again escalate in the country.

After almost a week of racial tensions, following the murder of leader of the white right wing party, Eugene Terreblanche, preceded by political flops at different levels, the party is now doing everything to avert a possible civil explosion to a full-scale war, or maybe too late.

The ANC has today issued a strong statement condemning its youth leader, Julius Malema, after yesterday's racial attack and dismissal of the BBC journalist, Johan Fisher, during a press briefing at the party's headquarters in Johannesburg.

Mr Fisher was insulted and called names such as ‘rubbish, bastard, agent' before he was shown the door, for simply asking why Mr Malema was contemptuous of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party being housed at the rich Sandton part of Gauteng, while he himself lived in the same suburb?

The attack on the journalist has been widely criticised, with Mr Malema being called a future dictator in the making. It was also seen as something that was probably being partly enjoyed by the ruling party executive, which only responded the next day.

While the ANC statement distances the party from Mr Malema's utterings, and even insinuations that the party was supporting the party of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, the different political sectors in South Africa have been left baffled, in that Mr Malema's high-profiled Easter weekend visit to Zimbabwe, could not have been done without the sanctioning of the ANC executive – unless he has totally gone out of control.

Unless, the ANC is only realising too late that, South Africa's mediatory role in Zimbabwe means more than just flights, wining and dining in Harare.

Just as with the hate speech turnabouts, be it in singing, chanting or spam mail, South Africa may realise too late the damage and danger posed by these rhetoric. It is just in the not forgotten months when xenophobic attacks on political and economic refugees left thousands homeless and causing the country to fork more than it could ever budget, to restore law and order and relocate the refugees into the communities – something that has not yet been fully achieved.

For some political critics in the country, the racial war is far from over, with just the switching of positions. While the past it was the whites against the blacks, this time around it is the blacks against the whites, but, with the majority of those who have embraced the true rainbow nation, non-racial South Africa, being left wondering in the wilderness. In fact, for many whites, what they are experiencing is the reverse apartheid, which they say it's worse than the yesteryears' one.

The reality of an open filthy racial war has now dawned in South Africa, and unless it is urgently swept off to the darkest of dungeons, it will grow and like wildfire sweep the country to its humiliating demise.

More legal cases of hate speech or racial-based human rights issues are growing and while the laws of the country may not ably deal with all, there will be more setbacks and bitterness. For instance, would it be okay for one group to want to be left alone and sing the so-called historical freedom songs, while the other is barred, not barred, fiercely prohibited, from singing its apartheid anthem or other songs?

As the funeral of Eugene Terreblanche is underway and his body will be buried on the open earth, the hope for Africa's most prosperous economy, would be for the history to also be buried, once and for all. But, it may be too late to put out the fires!

afrol News, 9 April - The Catholic Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Tlhagale, has warned that also clergy in Africa have committed sexual abuse of children. Abuse was not a Western problem, it affected Africa too, he said.

The South African Archbishop in his Chrism Mass deplored that the "image of the Catholic church is virtually in ruins because of the bad behaviour of its priests, wolves wearing sheep's skin, preying on unsuspecting victims, inflicting irreparable harm, and continuing to do so with impunity. We are slowly but surely bent on destroying the church of God by undermining and tearing apart the faith of lay believers."

So far, there have been no sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church in Africa. Revelations of sexual abuse of thousands of children by Catholic clergy in North America and Europe have rocked confidence in the church and the Pope's capability of leading the faith community.

But the lack of revelations in Africa so far should not be misinterpreted as a sign that everything was right on the continent, Archbishop Tlhagale warned. The fact that "the misbehaviour of priests in Africa has not been exposed to the same glare of the media as in other parts of the world," did not mean this misbehaviour did not exist.

Archbishop Tlhagale added that Catholic priests now found it difficult to address moral issues as their own poor morals were exposed. "As Church leaders, we become incapable of criticising the corrupt and immoral behaviour of the members of our respective communities."

"We become hesitant to criticise the greed and malpractices of our civic authorities. We are paralysed and automatically become reluctant to guide young people in the many moral dilemmas they face," he deplored.

Mr Tlhagale is the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference and is described as one of Africa's most influential Catholic leaders.

Africa is among the main mission fields of the Catholic Church, where membership in the church is fastest growing. But there have already been reports about congregants leaving the church in disgust over the sex abuse scandals, protesting the moral standards among Catholic clergy.

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africagoodnews

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) would invest $100-million in the second Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund (AIIF2), which was aimed at promoting the development of basic infrastructure on the African continent.

The AIIF2, which was established by the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), a joint venture between Macquarie Africa and the Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa, was aimed at raising between $600-million and $1-billion to invest in unlisted equity and equity like infrastructure investments in sub-Saharan Africa.

The fund would take "significant" stakes in a range of infrastructure projects including toll roads, wind farms, other renewable energy projects, ports, water and sewerage utilities, and social infrastructure, the IFC said in a statement this week. "AIIF2 is a vital addition to the pool of specialised African infrastructure equity capital. It will facilitate the development and sustainable operation of a number of infrastructure projects, which are critical to accelerating Africa's development," noted AIIM MD Andrew Johnstone.

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africagoodnews

Two partial skeletons unearthed in a South African cave belong to a previously unclassified species of pre-human dating back almost 2 million years and may shed new light on human evolution, scientists said on Thursday.
ProfLeeBurgerWithPartialRemains

Fossils of the bones of a young male and an adult female suggest the newly documented species, called Australopithecus sediba, walked upright and shared many physical traits with the earliest known human Homo species.

The finding of the pre-human, or hominid, fossils - which scientists say are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old - was published in the journal Science and may answer some key questions about where humans came from.

Prof. Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, who led the team that found the fossils in August 2008, told a news conference held near the cave outside Johannesburg the discovery was "unprecedented".

"I am struck by the exceptional nature of something right on our doorstep ... there are more hominid fossils than I have ever discovered in my entire career," he said.

"When we found it we never imagined that we were looking at a new species."

Berger earlier told reporters by telephone the team were hoping to reveal a possible two further skeletons from the same site.

He was reluctant to define the new species as a "missing link" in human evolutionary history, but said it would "contribute enormously to our understanding of what was going on at that moment where the early members of the genus Homo emerged".

South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the news conference: "As any parent knows, one of the most common questions a child asks is, 'where do I come from?' It has become clear the answer is 'Africa'.

"With the World Cup in 63 days, we will now be able to welcome people from the world with fresh news of our past."

Many experts believe the human genus Homo evolved from the Australopithecus genus about 2 million years ago. One of the best-known pre-humans is "Lucy", the skeleton of a species called Australopithecus afarensis, and this new species is about 1 million years younger than "Lucy", the scientists said.

The fossils, a juvenile male and an adult female, were found in the Malapa caves in the "Cradle of Humankind" World Heritage Site, 40 km (25 miles) outside Johannesburg.

The species had long arms, like an ape, short powerful hands, a very advanced pelvis and long legs capable of striding and possibly running like a human, the researchers said.

The scientists estimate both hominids were about 1.27 metres, although the child would have grown taller.

The brain size of the younger one was probably between 420 and 450 cubic centimetres, which is small when compared with the human brain of about 1200 to 1600 cubic centimetres, they said.

"These fossils give us an extraordinarily detailed look into a new chapter of human evolution ... when hominids made the committed change from dependency on life in the trees to life on the ground," said Berger.

Prof. Paul Dirks of James Cook University in Australia, who also worked on the study, said he and a team of researchers from around the world identified the fossils of at least 25 other species of animals in the cave, including sabre-toothed cats, a wildcat, a brown hyena, a wild dog, antelopes and a horse.

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AFRICA NEWS

Thousands of supporters are expected to throng the funeral grounds of Eugene Terreblanche, the infamous South African white supremacist leader, who was shot in his farm last Sunday. The burial rite is taking place in the rural town of Ventersdorp to commemorate his controversial life.
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Two of his workers have been charged with murder.

Terreblanche fought South Africa's transition to democracy and was hated by many, if not most, of his fellow countrymen, according to the BBC.

But thousands of Terreblanche's supporters are expected to fill the grounds of the Afrikaans Protestant Church for his funeral.

Though all the indications are that the murder had more to do with money than politics, it has led to a period of heightened racial tension.

White groups and opposition parties blamed an ANC official, Julius Malema, for singing an apartheid-era song at rallies, that includes the lyrics "shoot the farmer".

The ANC has rejected that link, but accepts that the song and the debate around it was polarising society. It has now instructed its members to stop using it.