20100401
aljazeera



The International Criminal Court prosecutor has pledged to focus on victims as he prepares to begin an investigation into Kenya's 2007-08 post-election violence.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he assures protection to the victims and witnesses of the violence.

"I have a duty to protect the witnesses and I will do it.

"We are not going to rely on Kenyan authorities to protect our witnesses. We will relocate them when needed and put them in safe places," he said.

Moreno-Ocampo said he has a list of 20 possible suspects made up of political and business leaders and that he will prosecute "those most responsible".

'Crimes against humanity'

A day earlier, the ICC authorised the prosecutor to investigate the post-election unrest, in which about 1,200 people died.

The ICC said in a statement issued on Wednesday that "the information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed on Kenyan territory".

Weeks of violence followed the 2007 general election, with about 400,000 people fleeing their homes. Hundreds were killed in tribal clashes and police were accused of brutality.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons said that outside Moreno-Ocampo's list of 20 top suspects, there were many others involved in the unrest.

"Beyond those 20, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of killers, who haven't been brought to justice."

He also said that the witnesses Morano-Ocampo vowed to protect were just a small number of the victims.

"There are countless others out there, in hiding, worried about their lives ... Most human rights campaigners believe there's no such thing as independent justice in Kenya and there's no such thing as independent protection for those who are prepared to risk their lives to give evidence in court."

Kenya's failure to set up a tribunal to try suspects of the unrest prompted Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, to hand in the names of important suspects to the ICC.

Annan has welcomed the investigation decision, describing its start as an "important day for justice."

"Justice for the victims suddenly looks brighter. I urge all concerned to fully co-operate with the ICC," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

'Witnesses protected'

Mutula Kilonzo, the Kenyan justice minister, also "welcomed" the investigation.

He also said that victims who give evidence are already protected under Kenyan law.

"We have already on the ground a law on witness protection ... and right now there is a draft in parliament seeking to amend it to meet international practices on witness protection," he told Al Jazeera.

"The country has not only local but international obligations that the witnesses are protected. The world is watching, we are well aware of that."

Kenya has agreed to provide the court with confidential information about incidents during the unrest.

Mark Ellis, the executive director at the International Bar Association, praised the ICC's decision on Wednesday.

"I think it is a very important step for Kenya and the international community," he told Al Jazeera.

"The ICC provided an opportunity for Kenya to undertake their own investigation and prosecution, but they were not able to do that.

"It is morally and legally right for the International Criminal Court now to undertake this first step and that is the investigation into the crimes that were committed in Kenya."

Ellis said Kenyans cannot enjoy "sustainable peace and certainly not reconciliation" unless those who have committed the atrocities are brought to justice.

The ICC is the world's first permanent court mandated to bring to justice perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.

Currently, 110 states are parties to the ICC.

20100401
africanews

At least 400 children, mostly pedestrians, die in road accidents in Uganda every year, the Minister of Works and Transport has announced. 46% of those injured road accidents are urban children and it is twice the percent of falls and burns added together, according to the Injury Control Centre of Uganda report.

Another 1,200 people are severing with serious injuries in road accidents every year.

The ministry has said that this report makes children the most vulnerable to road accidents.

The numbers of road accidents are increasing each year, despite numerous government measures to reduce them. The road accidents in Uganda have killed about 21,807 people since 2000 while other 120,121 people are victims of accidents.

Engineer John Nasasira at the Ministry of Works and Transport said accidents were becoming as dangerous as malaria which kills an estimated 320 people in Uganda every day.

“In Uganda, road accidents have become a scourge equally of concern as HIV/Aids and malaria in terms of claiming lives and we need to do something before it’s too late,” Nasasira was quoted by local media.

Uganda is planning to halve on the road accidents in the next 10 years.

20100401
africanews

Sierra Leoneans have woken up today for the first time after ten years without the United Nations radio. The UN radio which was set up in 2000 played a significant role in consolidating peace in the West Africa nation. Until last night it was the 'most trusted' independent broadcaster with a country wide transmission.

According to the Transition Management Team (TMT), effective April 1st the assets of the UN Radio will merge with West Africa’s oldest broadcaster the former Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) to what is now known as the new Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).

The local United Nations radio seized operation last night and is now part of a new outfit which will be officially launched by Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma on April 27th, Independence Day.

The new SLBC will be an independent broadcaster with support from the United Nations Peace building Funds. The transformation has spark debate among Sierra Leone’s six million populations. President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist stated in a Facebook forum that “we will ALL be watching to ensure its independence. I doubt anything fundamental will change at once.

“We will still see reporting on the president, president, president, minister, minister, minister, and so on. Yes because the powers-that-be want it to be so, but also because the staff will keep thinking so they must do to keep their jobs.’’

The BBC reporter said further ‘’ However... See more; I am full of hope that with constant training of the staff there, and with our watchful eyes and big mouths over them, their mindset will change and those attempting to dictate to them from outside with hands-off.

"We must all always remember the ultimate good thing about the SLBC - the government agreeing for a change of management. It is a rare feat on our continent. As far as I know only South Africa has been there before us. Let us be proud of ourselves and our Government for this.”

20100401
africanews

Zimbabwe's first human rights and electoral commissions have been sworn in by President Robert Mugabe. The creation of the two commissions is seen as crucial in moving the country towards free and fair elections.

The Human Rights Commission will be chaired by Reginald Austin, a law professor and former head of the legal affairs division of the Commonwealth.

The head of the Electoral Commission will be former Zimbabwean Supreme Court judge, Simpson Mutambanengwe, who was serving as acting chief justice in the Namibian Supreme Court.

This is a step towards implementing the power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but others issues remain.

Analysts say the two commissions seem to be politically balanced between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the MDC of Mr Tsvangirai, his long-time rival, according to the BBC.

20100401
africanews

The campaign manager of the main opposition party in the Gambia, United Democratic Party's Femi Peters has been sentence to one year mandatory jail with hard labour after being found guilty on two counts of unlawful assembly in Banjul.

Peters was also slammed with a $500 by the court; the convict is accused of holding a meeting without the approval from the office of the Inspector General of Police, a charge he vehemently denied when he appeared before the Banjul Magistrates court.

However, opposition supporters’ belief the verdict is a crack on the opposition ahead of the 2011 presidential election.

Sources told AfricaNews that after the court verdict many opposition sympathizers who appeared hopeless and shock were shedding tears while the embattled Politian is being whisk away by prison wardens.

Sources added that Ousainou Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party, who also represented Mr Peters in court was unable to speak at the moment, is expected to file an appeal in the higher courts to challenge today’s verdict.

20100401
africanews

Pop star Madonna will be accompanied by the Sony Ericsson President Hideki Komiyama and Earth Institute at Columbia University Director Jeffrey Sachs on her trip to Malawi on April 5 2010.

According to reports, Madonna is expected to visit the Millennium Development site in Mchinji district and the Raising Academy for Girls - a school she is building in Lilongwe, the commercial city.

“There are prospects that Komiyama, Sachs and Madonna are interested to invest at the Millennium Development site and they also have interest in girl child development.

“They are also going to visit some developmental and orphanage centers which they are intending to be jointly helping,” said an official from the Raising Malawi Foundation for Girls.

20100401
africanews

Participants at the 19th Session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the European Union, MPs have learned how food security can be improved rather than jeopardized through the sustainable introduction of bio-energy.

Meghan Sapp, Secretary General of Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA) said the oil price spike in 2007/08 were a result of many factors, such as bad cereal crops in Australia, Canada and elsewhere due to drought, underinvestment in agriculture for decades, increased demand for protein in Asia, and Latin America as well as increased demand for cereals in Africa.

“When oil prices went up, so did the prices of fertilizer, tractor diesel and transportation.

Yet when oil prices came down, the high prices for food commodities—which at the time were blamed on biofuels—also came down. The foodstuff whose price had increased the most was rice, which is not used anywhere as a feedstock for biofuel,” said Sapp.

According to the FAO, over the last 20 years, food production has risen steadily at over 2% a year, while the rate of population growth has dropped to 1.14% a year.

Access to food depends on levels of poverty, purchasing power of households, prices, and existence of transport and market infrastructure of food distribution systems.

Trade barriers and subsidies also reduce access to food markets for developing countries. IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes (80s-90s), forced developing countries to drop tariffs, eliminate food marketing boards, and be victims of dumped food exports from the US, Europe (and Brazil), destroying local markets.

WTO Agreement on Agriculture keeps away tariffs, duties, domestic and export subsidies, and other protection mechanisms yet the CAP and Farm Bill still exist.

“Several countries are developing policies to ensure that biofuel production is produced sustainably with a positive impact on their social and natural environments. Mozambique is leading Africa in this regard. Other supranational policies like the Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels and the Renewable Energy Directive have all placed high priority on ensuring food security in areas where biofuels are produced,” said Sapp.

“There are many opportunities to increase food and fuel production simultaneously, thereby increasing energy and food security while counteracting decades-long underinvestment in agriculture. Through crop-rotation and various forms of intercropping, crops can be grown for both food and fuel offering farmers diversified markets and opportunities to gain from production of co-products,” she said.

Better agriculture production methods alone can make a big difference, allowing the extra production to remain available for energy production, rather than taking food supplies out of mouth in order to put into tanks. There needs to be more technology transfer in Africa on how to use wastes—human, animal and agriculture—in order to create energy sources while cleaning up the environment at the same time.

“In order to succeed with biofuels and use them as a tool for development, there needs to be a strengthening of regional markets for both food and fuel with increased access and Infrastructure. More investment in agricultural research and extension services to increase productivity/efficiency is needed to counteract the last few decades of neglect,” said Sapp.

Low-cost technologies using local resources for local needs need to be developed instead of just imported technologies for developed countries. In addition, governments need to take responsibility while also taking action to promote biofuels including blending mandates, feed-in tariffs for renewable sources and mini-grids for rural areas.

20100401
africagoodnews

The European Union announced Wednesday that it would start training about 2,000 Somali soldiers from next week to strengthen the war-wracked country's shaky transitional government.

The Somalia training mission (EUTM) "is to contribute to strengthening the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia as a functioning government serving the Somali population", said a statement.

The training will begin from April 7.

The 27-nation bloc had given its green light for six-month missions under Spanish command in January.

EUTM Somalia will take place mainly in Uganda, where Somali forces are already being trained, said the statement.

The EU military mission will operate in close cooperation and coordination with international partners in particular the United Nations, the African Union, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and the United States.

France and Spain launched a European Union military operation to combat piracy off the Somali coast in November 2008.

In their view a Somali army strong enough to crack down on pirates off and on the Somali coast should complement maritime surveillance operations.

France already agreed to train a battalion of 500 Somali troops in Djibouti, north of Somalia.

In October 2008 France also called on other EU members to help train Somali coastguards and police officers.

Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes in the western Indian Ocean, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.

Over the past year, Somali pirates also shifted operations away from the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden to launch their attacks further out at sea.

20100401
africagoodnews

Angola's transport minister on Wednesday welcomed the removal of national airline TAAG from a European Union blacklist, saying the government made a "good decision" in restructuring the company.
TAAGairplane


"The government made a good decision when it began the restructuring and refounding of TAAG," minister Augusto Tomas told state radio.

"The effort does not stop there. TAAG has requirements to satisfy," he said.

The EU on Tuesday authorised TAAG (Transportes Aereos de Angola) to resume flights to European territory, three years after placing the airline on its list of carriers banned from Europe for security reasons.

"The (European) Commission recognises the improvements in the operations of TAAG Angola Airlines by allowing the air carrier to operate under certain strict conditions with specific aircraft to all destinations in the EU, not only to Lisbon," it said in a statement.

Under the decision, TAAG must engage in bilateral negotiations with authorities in each country before flying to new destinations.

The EU placed TAAG on its blacklist in July 2007. The decision caused the company close to 200 million dollars (148 million euros) in losses, according to the transport minister.

In July 2009, the EU authorised TAAG to resume flying to Portugal only.

20100401
africagoodnews

Sierra Leone is doing away with its state broadcaster in a merger with United Nations radio which will establish an independent national radio and television service, UN officials said Wednesday.

"It would mean ending 75 years of broadcasting by the government-run Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) and the end of transmission of the local UN radio which has been running for the past nine years," said UN radio station manager Sputnik Kalambi.

The UN radio in Sierra Leone -- set up as part of all peace-keeping missions -- continued operating despite being slated to close down several years ago after the nation emerged from a bloody decade-long civil war in 2001.

The station will cease broadcasting at midnight Wednesday. Kalambi said Sierra Leone was a test case to see if other UN missions could transform broadcasting structures in other post-conflict situations.

The merger would make the new media body Africa's second independent broadcasting corporation after the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) -- which is still seen as government controlled.

The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation will initially be funded by the UN, later earning money from advertising and receiving public funds from the government as well as revenue through fees and tariffs.

"A substantial chunk of money has been set aside for the SLBC which will take care of the first three months of operation," said Kalambi.

"From now on, there will be a fusion of programmes which will be broadcast on UN transmitters which have been turned over to the new corporation, said Kalambi"

Currently Sierra Leone has one private television station and one state-run, one private radio station and one state-run as well as the UN radio station.

Information Minister Ibrahim Kargbo, who steered the bill through parliament, said: "The corporation will be run by a board of trustees headed by a former information minister, professor Septimus Kaikai who is a leading member of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP)".

Board members will include a youth representative, and those from the inter-religious forum, women's forum, the Association of Journalists, the Chamber of Commerce, the Bar Association and the private broadcasting industry.

During the civil war, the state broadcaster was used by rebel leaders to disperse propaganda. In the past the government has been criticised for not giving opposition parties a platform.

"We have undertaken the merger in good faith so that we would have an effective broadcaster that will benefit everybody," said Kargbo.

"The government will make sure that it remains independent and caters for all shades of opinion. The government will have no say in how it is run," he added.

20100401
africagoodnews

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe swore in members of electoral and human rights commissions on Wednesday, a step toward fully implementing his power-sharing agreement with rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
UN Climate Change Summit Enters Final Week

"I think what is important is that we are able to fulfill some of the agreements," Tsvangirai said after the swearing-in ceremony, according to state news agency New Ziana.

This is the first time the southern African country will have a human rights commission.

It is headed by a former dean of the University of Zimbabwe law school, Reginald Austin. The electoral commission is chaired by high court judge Simpson Mutambanengwe.

Since forming the unity government in February 2009, President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai have battled over the naming of provincial governors, a series of key political appointments, and the removal of a Western travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle.

Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of obstructing full implementation of the power-sharing deal.

Earlier this month, South African President Jacob Zuma announced after a trip to Harare that Mugabe and Tsvangirai had agreed to "a package of measures" to bring them toward full implementation of the agreement.

The two leaders in December agreed on a slate of key appointments of officials to oversee reforms in media, elections and human rights.

However, they did not name the chairpersons of the election and human rights body.

Zimbabwe was thrown into crisis following a March 2008 presidential poll in which Tsvangirai beat Mugabe but took less than 50 percent of the vote.

Tsvangirai withdrew from the subsequent run-off, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters and an uneven electoral playing field.

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said Wednesday's swearing in of the electoral commission was meant to pave the way to fresh elections.

"The commission will go a long way in creating conditions for free and fair elections in our country," he said.

20100401
ipsnews

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Apr 1 (IPS) - East African countries risk not attaining the millennium development goal (MDG) on universal treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases if the region’s parliament adopts the anti-counterfeits policy and bill currently under consideration.

Civil society representatives, government officials and intellectual property experts warn that the region would not meet MDG six if it adopted the proposed policy and bill as they would block the production and importation of generic medicines used by healthcare services to treat diseases. The countries affected are Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.

The draft bill and policy could erode recent gains in the scaling up treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS, said Tenu Avafia, policy specialist on intellectual property, trade and HIV and AIDS at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He spoke to IPS at a regional meeting hosted by the Open Society Institute, Health Action International Africa (HAI Africa) and the UNDP on Mar 25-26 to discuss the proliferation of anti-counterfeit goods legislation in the East African Community (EAC) and its implications for public health and development.

"In the last four or five years we have made great strides in scaling up treatment. We managed to have three million people globally on treatment by 2007. By the end of last year there were four million people on treatment. To have legislation that would restrict use of generic medicines in the region, particularly ARVS (antiretrovirals), would have the effect of stifling the great progress that has been made on MDG six," he said.

MDG six aims at halting the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015 and achieve universal access to treatment for HIV and AIDS by 2010. It also aims at halting and reversing the spread of malaria and tuberculosis by 2015.

Avafia told IPS that the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008 in Kenya, the Counterfeit Goods Bill in Uganda and now the EAC Anti-Counterfeits Bill would cause public health problems by limiting local production and importation of generic medicines.

"Apart from HIV and AIDS, we also feel that there are other health-related MDGs of which the attainment could possibly be endangered by legislation that impede access to medicines," he added.

Sangeeta Shashikant, a legal advisor with Third World Network (TWN), told IPS that the EAC bill seems to reduce every generic medical product to a counterfeit. "The definition states (counterfeits) are substantially identical copies of the protected goods (produced) without the authority of the owner of the intellectual property rights of the protected goods. This is dangerous for countries that depend on generics in the health care system" she said. TWN is "an independent non-profit international network of organisations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, Third World and North-South affairs".

This definition flies in the face of the gains won by developing countries in the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Declaration that confirmed the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement’s allowance of parallel importation to address public health problems. Parallel importation involves the importation of non-pirated goods without the permission of the copyright holder.

According to the World Health Organisation, "the rationale for parallel importation is to enable the import of lower priced patented products. Parallel importing can be an important tool enabling access to affordable medicines because there are substantial price differences between the same pharmaceutical product sold in different markets".

Christa Cepuch, director with HAI Africa based in Nairobi, "the issue of access to medicines is essential to the response to HIV and AIDS. Instead of building on with the progress so far, these laws are now putting up barriers to accessing generics which have been a backbone to HIV treatment in Kenya and East Africa at large," she explained. HAI Africa is a network of organisations and individuals involved in health and pharmaceutical issues that uphold health as a fundamental human right.

Dr. Thomas Walter, project manager for TRIPS and pharmaceutical promotion in East Africa at the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Technische Zusammenarbeiten (GTZ), said "barring generic medicines by defining them as counterfeits will be a disaster in terms of access to medicines and also for the local manufacturers whom we are supporting to go more into generic medicine. The bill has to be adjusted." GTZ is an organisation that has a mandate from the German government to promote capacity building in developing countries. (END/2010)

20100401
ipsnews

NAIROBI, Apr 1 (IPS) - Pregnant mothers who are HIV-positive could soon find it challenging to access life-saving HIV drugs because Kenya was denied 270 million dollars in funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Global Fund cited the existence of two ministries of health and the jostling between them over control of funds as a major source of concern.

According to James Kamau, coordinator of Kenya Treatment Access Movement, jostling between the ministry of medical services and that of public health over who should handle donor money is already affecting the smooth functioning of the health sector.

"Already, due to the confusion and competition between the two ministries on who should control the money, procurement of essential drugs for public hospitals has not been done leading to shortages," Kamau says.

Dr John Ong’ech, a HIV specialist at the University of Nairobi, states the funding shortfall will worsen access to lifesaving treatment following the move by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to introduce new treatment guidelines.

In 2009 the WHO recommended new guidelines on antiretroviral therapy (ART), calling for an earlier start to treatment and urging HIV-positive mothers and their infants to take ARVs while breastfeeding to prevent transmission.

"Under the new guidelines, WHO raised the CD4 count (measure of immunity to ascertain when HIV positive persons should begin treatment) from 200 to 350. What this means is that more people than was the case in the past will require to be put on treatment.

"This is obviously a challenge considering we were already facing drug shortages in trying to treat people with CD4 count below 200," Ong’ech says. Approximately 600,000 people will now require treatment.

The new guidelines called for HIV-positive mothers to begin treatment at 14 weeks - up from the previous recommendation of 28 weeks - to prevent mother-to-child transmission. They further urge seropositive mothers and their infants to continue taking ARVs up to 12 months after giving birth. Of the 1.5 million women in Kenya who fall pregnant each year, 100,000 test positive for HIV.

Ong’ech says the new line of treatment recommended by WHO will require more funds, a challenging scenario in light of the reduced funding.

In its report denying Kenya’s appeal for the cash, the Global Fund raised concern over duplication of roles between the two health ministries and the existence of a huge unjustified and unsustainable workforce. The government proposals were also said not to be clear on how they would implement the projects they were sourcing funds for.

The Global Fund has denied Kenya two consecutive rounds of funding (eight and nine) and Kamau says the issues that led to the funds being held back persist. He says the Global Fund has in the past raised queries over Kenya’s absorption capacity for the monies which they request.

"Civil society exhausted its part of the allocation but the cash with the government, which should have been used to buy drugs and other services has never been used," Kamau says.

Kamau raises concern whether a new application for round 10 monies will sail through unless things change drastically.

Kamau now warns that unless alternative funds are sourced for it remains unclear how the government will continue to provide free HIV drugs since money from the Global Fund constitute a huge component of the total expenditure of the HIV sector.

"Approximately 300,000 people (with low CD4 counts) in need of life-saving antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs are now not sure of continued access to medication. These 300,000 HIV-positive people also include pregnant mothers and HIV-positive children," Kamau says. There are currently 1.4 million HIV-positive people in Kenya.

He says the situation is further aggravated by the fact that the Clinton Foundation, which also funds HIV/AIDS projects is set to stop at the end of 2010.

"It means more HIV-positive people will join the list of those who cannot access treatment," he says.

Sarah Oluoch, an HIV-positive resident of Kibera slums, told IPS that public health facilities are already experiencing erratic supply of ARVs and other drugs.

"I am not sure what is going on, but lately we keep getting different brands of ARVs every time we go to the hospital and this is causing confusion. In fact one of my friends with a newborn recently confused her medication taking one of the drugs twice because she is not accustomed to the changing brands," Oluoch says.

Currently, the government allocates 6.6 million dollars for each financial year towards fighting HIV, a far cry from the estimated 133 million dollars spent annually in previous years.

According to Kamau, the government allocation has only been enough to provide for 25,000 people, with monies from U.S. President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) catering for slightly over 100,000 people and the Global Fund paying for another over 100,000 people.

Kamau says after 2010, there will be no drugs as the stocks purchased in previous years will run out at the end of the year. He says the remaining nine months in the year is not adequate time to source funds because of the bureaucracy involved.

LUANDA (Reuters) - Thousands of construction workers are being laid off in Angola because the government has failed to settle over $2 billion in arrears to foreign firms rebuilding the African nation, a union leader said on Thursday.

Francisco Jacinto, leader of the country's largest union CGSILA, said the arrears and a slowdown in the construction sector were the two main reasons behind the lay-offs.

"Thousands of people are being laid off every month because the government has failed to pay the building firms," Jacinto said in an interview with Reuters.

"I don't see an end to the lay-offs until the government starts paying."

The government has vowed to begin settling the areas this month. Finance Minister Spokesman Bastos de Almeida said the government was working to settle the arrears with the building firms.

Jacinto said that Brazil's Odebrecht, the biggest foreign construction firm in Angola, had cut its 27,000-strong workforce by more than half in the last year and had recently warned him that more lay-offs would follow.

"Yesterday the firm told us that it was letting go another 2,095 workers. It says it needs to cut costs and I'm afraid there is not much we can do," he said.

A senior Odebrecht official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that more layoffs would take place in coming weeks.

Angola, which depends on oil for 90 percent of its income, began delaying payments to the firms last year after the global economic recession triggered a slump in oil prices.

Brazil's Camargo Correia, along with Portuguese building firms Mota Engil, Teixeira Duarte and Soares da Costa, who were hired by the government to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by a civil war that ended in 2002, have all suffered from the late payments, Jacinto said.

"There isn't one company in Angola that hasn't laid off workers. Either because the government suspended some projects or simply because they haven't received money from the state," said Jacinto.

Urban Planning and Construction Minister Jose da Silva Ferreira said last announced last week that the government would start paying off the arrears in April.

The African nation has seen its economy improve significantly this year on the back of a rebound in oil prices and is seeking its first credit rating before it issues up to $4 billion in bonds to foreign investors.

Analysts say that by settling the arrears, which industry sources say are much higher than the $2 billion the government announced in July 2009, will have a positive impact on Angola's credit rating and the sale of the international bonds

BISSAU (Reuters) - Soldiers briefly detained Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, freed a suspected coup leader and said they had ousted the army chief of staff on Thursday in what one diplomat said appeared to be a coup attempt against Gomes.

Former navy chief Bubo Na Tchuto, suspected of leading a 2008 coup attempt in the tiny West African state, had returned from exile in December and immediately sought shelter on U.N. premises in the capital Bissau.

Na Tchuto still holds sway with parts of the armed forces and his return increased tension in a fragile state that is a hub of drugs trafficking to Europe. The United Nations agreed in January to hand over him over to Gomes's government but the transfer did not take place.

"(Gomes) was detained this morning. Bubo Na Tchuto has voluntarily left the U.N. compound. The events are related," a Western diplomat in Bissau told Reuters by telephone.

"It looks like a coup d'etat against the prime minister and the chief of staff."

Soldiers apparently loyal to Na Tchuto said they had replaced the chief of staff, Admiral Jose Zamora Induta, with his deputy, General Antonio Njai.

Gomes's press attache Mamadou Diao subsequently confirmed Gomes had been released and a Reuters witness saw his vehicle heading towards the office of President Malam Bacai Sanha.

The Reuters witness said Na Tchuto had driven off with soldiers to an undisclosed location. The capital Bissau was calm, with some banks and shops shutting and little traffic in the streets.

Na Tchuto took refuge in the U.N. offices in December after returning from exile in nearby Gambia in a canoe, disguised as a fisherman.

He was wanted in connection with a failed 2008 coup attempt against then-president Joao Bernardo Vieira. Vieira was killed by renegade soldiers in March 2009 and replaced by an elected government.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor aims this year to complete most of his investigations into the deadly violence that followed Kenya's 2007 election, and to start trials in 2012.

Judges at the ICC approved an investigation on Wednesday into the 2007-2008 Kenyan unrest, in which authorities have said more than 1,200 people were killed, several hundreds raped and more than 350,000 forcibly displaced.

Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said in previous filings that Kenyan some political leaders organised and financed attacks on civilians.

"To contribute to the prevention of crime at the next election, we must move swiftly. We will," he told a news conference at The Hague-based court. "We aim to finalise the bulk of our investigation in 2010."

Kenya's next national elections are due in 2012.

Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters he aims to have filed the first cases and complete confirmation hearings in those by the end of 2011, with trials to start as early as 2012.

The prosecutor noted that the circumstances of this investigation - such as the fact Kenya was a fully formed democracy and that no rebel groups were involved - made it easier to move quickly than in other pending ICC cases.

"I would say the Kenyan cases are our easiest cases," said the Argentine Moreno-Ocampo.

He plans go to Nairobi in May to begin his investigation and ultimately expects to file at least two cases against the worst perpetrators, with one to three people charged per case.

Those charged may or may not come from a list of 20 people considered most responsible that he previously submitted to the court. "As you know the list is just indicative, it is not binding," he told reporters.

Moreno-Ocampo reiterated that some suspects, namely those considered most responsible, would be tried in The Hague and that many others would potentially be tried in Kenya. He said he has had full cooperation from the Kenyan government and promises of further cooperation, including in arrests when needed.

OLD WOUNDS

He acknowledged that the ICC needed to move quickly to help heal rifts in the country before the next election in 2012.

"I believe if we can proceed with these cases against the most responsible, that will help to prevent violence. But it's not enough," he said.

But some who were affected by the violence were sceptical that the ICC investigation would help matters.

"Many of us are yet to heal or reconcile with our neighbours who attacked us and the move by the ICC will end up bringing more tension," said David Kilo, who lost all his possession during the violence in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha.

"Some of these politicians will go back to their communities saying that they are being persecuted further, straining the current relations between communities."

LONDON (Reuters) - Somali pirates are expected to step up attacks on merchant vessels as better weather allows them to operate more easily at sea, the U.S. government warned.

Seaborne gangs have already increased their attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms from seizing ships, including tankers and dry bulkers, in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. Assailants hijacked a number of vessels this week alone.

"Vessel operators should anticipate an increase in piracy attacks from March through May ... when calmer weather favourable for small boat activity will prevail," The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration said.

Foreign navies have been deployed off the Gulf of Aden since the start of 2009 and have operated convoys, as well as setting up a transit corridor across dangerous waters.

But their forces have been stretched over the vast expanses of water, leaving ships vulnerable.

"Despite the increase in presence and effectiveness of naval forces in the region, as well as the effectiveness of defensive and protective measures, pirate activity has continued," the Maritime Administration said in an advisory on Monday.

Senior U.S. admiral Mark Fitzgerald has told Reuters Somali pirates have extended their range, snatching ships as far as the Mozambique Channel and off the coast of India.

India's Directorate General of Shipping said that small Indian trade boats, known as dhows, had become the "preferred prey" of pirates in recent months.

To ensure the security of dhows, it has ordered that all Indian registered vessels be prohibited with immediate effect from operating in waters south or west of the line joining Oman's port of Salalah and the Maldives capital Male.

It remained unclear how easy it would be to pass the latest advisory on to dhow operators.

The shipping directorate said in a statement issued on Wednesday that while dhows did not elicit ransoms as high as other merchant vessels, they were easy to seize and could be used as mother ship for pirates operating further off the coast.

It said many of the maritime agencies also lacked information on dhow traffic along the east coast of Africa.

"Dhows are more difficult to track than other ships because they do not have the requisite technical equipment and normally the piracy monitoring agencies do not even know that the dhow is hijacked."

India said this week it was trying to trace the whereabouts of nearly 100 sailors on seven Indian vessels taken captive by Somali pirates.

DAKAR, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Soldiers arrested Guinea-Bissau's chief of defence staff General Jose Zamora Induta and 40 officers on Thursday, media reported.

The source said they had arrested the chief of defence staff General Jose Zamora Induta and led them under escort to the air base near the airport.

"Some 40 officers are currently under arrest," the unnamed source was quoted as saying.

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy detained suspected pirates off the Seychelles Thursday after exchanging fire, sinking a skiff and capturing a suspected mother ship, according to the Pentagon.

While operating west of the Seychelles in international waters, sailors on board USS Nicholas, an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate, reported taking fire just past midnight local time from a suspected pirate skiff and returned fire, pursuing the vessel until the disabled skiff stopped.

Less than two hours later, Nicholas personnel boarded the disabled skiff and detained three people. The boarding team found ammunition and multiple cans of fuel on board. After taking the suspected pirates on board, the warship sank the disabled skiff.

The warship then captured a mother ship, detaining two more suspected pirates. They would remain in U.S. custody on board the warship until a determination was made regarding their disposition, officials said.

The Nicholas, home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia, is supporting U.S. Naval Forces Africa, the naval component of U.S. Africa Command, according to the Pentagon.

KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration on Thursday commenced a series of talks with a number of Sudanese opposition leaders in Khartoum, who are to decide whether to participate or boycott the general elections, scheduled for April 11, 2010.

Gration on Thursday held separate meetings with leaders of the three major Sudanese opposition parties, Hassan al-Turabi of the Popular Congress Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi of the National Umma Party and Mohamed Osman al-Merghani of the Democratic Unionist Party.

According to local media, Gration's talks with the opposition leaders focused on the opposition position towards the general elections and their demand for their postponement.

The Sudanese political parties are scheduled to hold a meeting Thursday to decide their position whether to participate in the elections or boycott them, amid predictions that they would opt for boycotting.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement decided on Wednesday to withdraw its presidential candidate Yassir Arman for the presidential race, and to boycott the elections in the Darfur states.

Sudanese opposition political parties recently submitted a memo to the Presidency and the National Elections Commission (NEC), demanding postponement of the elections until November.

This year's general elections will be the first multi-party elections in Sudan in more than 20 years.