20110326
reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Individuals accused of bombing and shooting anti-government protesters in Libya will end up on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) sooner or later, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes said.

20110326
reuters

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recalled its ambassador to neighbouring Republic of Congo over what it said was Brazzaville's suspected involvement in a thwarted attack.

20110326
reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Americans on Saturday that the military mission in Libya is clear, focused and limited, and that it has already saved "countless" civilian lives

20110326
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A weeping Libyan woman made a desperate plea for help on Saturday, slipping into a Tripoli hotel full of foreign journalists to show bruises and scars she said had been inflicted on her by Muammar Gaddafi's militiamen.

20110326
reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - More than 2,000 people gathered across the Egyptian capital on Friday to demand more political reform, including a speedy trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, state news agency MENA said.

20110326
reuters

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police on Friday cancelled an opposition rally set for the weekend and arrested a cabinet minister, deepening antagonism between the president and the prime minister's party ahead of a possible election.

20110326
reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France and Nigeria circulated a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Friday that would impose sanctions on Ivory Coast's incumbent leaders and ban heavy weapons from the Abidjan area.

20110326
reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - Up to one million Ivorians have now fled fighting in the main city Abidjan alone, with others uprooted across the country, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday as violence escalated in a four-month power struggle.

ORIGIN ENERGY LTD has signed an agreement to sale to Apache Corporation 50 per cent of oil exploration interest in an offshore bloc k in Kenya.

Apache will reimburse Origin Energy of Australia $13.2 million (Sh. 1 billion) incurred in acquisition and past exploration work of block L8 north east of Mombasa town in the Lamu basin. Houston-based Apache Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the US, Canada, Egypt, the UK North Sea, Australia and Argentina.

Origin’s Executive General Manager Dr Rob Willink said the sale is subject to approval by the ministry of Energy and is expected to be concluded by the end of Jun 2010. He added that they are pleased to have secured the agreement with Apache which will see the joint venture go forward and assume a commitment to drill. They also welcome Apache to bring its specialist drilling experts.

The deal is also subject to approval by Pancontinental Oil & Gas of Australia and its wholly owned subsidiary Afrex as joint venture partners. Apache will meet Origin’s costs of exploration well to be drilled on Mbawa structure.

Apache will have 50 per cent as operator, Origin 25 per cent, Afrex 15 per cent and Pancontinental 10 per cent. Willink said offshore in East Africa has become an industry focus for exploration as a result of recent deepwater gas discoveries in Tanzania and Mozambique

Piracy has cost Kenya a lucrative live animals export market.
South Africa and Australia snapped up the Mauritius market after shipping companies withdrew from the Kenyan waters due to threats of piracy.

Livestock traders, who raked in millions of shillings from the exports, are now stranded with their animals. Kenya Livestock Traders Company director Mohammad Mursal said the decision by the shipping lines has dealt a big blow to the industry that was picking up only three years after the European Union lifted the ban on the export of animals and meat products from Kenya. The EU had imposed the ban after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the country.

In the agreement with Mauritius – the only country that was buying live animals from Kenya – the traders were to export about 5,000 animals every year.

Mr Mursal said the owners of the ship that used to carry a consignment of about 1,000 animals withdrew, citing increase operational costs because they had to hire more security during the voyage in the Indian Ocean. He added that due to piracy, buyers switched to other countries for animals.

Either he said, the are timing ships in transit that are willing to ferry the animals as they seek markets in other regions, especially Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Islamic Republic of Iran.

Kenya is keenly watching the nuclear crisis in Japan for useful lessons, the committee spearheading the country’s nuclear programme said, as nations across the world began rethinking their nuclear plans. Nuclear Electricity Development Project Committee executive chairman Ochilo Ayacko, said Kenya hopes to stay on course but the ongoing international debate and discourse (on the Japan crisis) will inform our decisions on issues like selection of location as well as safety and security requirements.

The committee members were reacting to public concerns over the government’s nuclear plans after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 140 miles north of Tokyo, sparking fears of radioactive contamination.

Other countries like the US, France, Britain and Australia are preparing to evacuate or have advised their citizens to move to the south of the Japanese capital. Mr Ayacko assured Kenyans that they will not compromise on the standards and will ensure Kenya have the best systems for safeguards, security, liability and production.

According to the committee, the country expects to have its first 1,000MW nuclear plant between 2020-2022 subject to approvals by among others, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear technology watchdog.

Noting that demand for power could hit the 15,000MW by 2030, Mr. Ayacko said the country has to go nuclear because, unlike countries like Germany, it does not have many options if it hopes to meet its development objectives under Vision 2030.

Kenya best bets are geothermal, whose maximum potential is 5,000MW, and coal, which is not an option in the present global warming sensitive era.

Kenya government failed to stand by its ally Libya whose support the government sought in the bid to defer ICC cases. The country joined the rest of the world to vote for Tripoli’s suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

But the government’s voting at the UN General Assembly was defended by the Foreign Affairs ministry in Nairobi. Acting Foreign Affairs permanent secretary said Kenya’s action should not be viewed as hostile. He said the matter even the African Union has spoke out against because the response against Libya people was well beyond what was expected adding that almost every other country has expressed dismay.

The suspension was due to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s lethal crackdown on protests as the Security Council warned of new action against his regime. 192-member assembly passed a suspension resolution without a vote, after UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the body o “act decisively.”

No country spoke up for the Libyan regime at the brief debate. Col Gaddafi was one of the African leaders Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka met as he lobbied to continent’s leaders to support Kenya’s request to have the ICC cases deferred.

The VP’s meeting with Col Gaddafi, who unsurprisingly gave his blessings to Kenya’s request, has come under criticism from several quarters. Past weeks Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi told reporters in Kakamega that the VP owed the country an apology for seeking support of e embattled Libyan leader in the bid to have the cases deferred. He commented what kind of people the VP is associating Kenyans with.

20110325
America.gov (Washington, DC)

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States is transferring command and control of the international community's enforcement of the no-fly zone in Libya to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

20110325
IPS

Washington — As the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) prepares to assume command and control of military operations in Libya after five days of the United States at the helm, U.S. President Barack Obama's doctrine of multilateralism is on the line.

20110325
allafrica

Cote d'Ivoire faces a humanitarian tragedy, with aid access becoming increasingly difficult, hospitals and schools closing, law and order collapsing and casualties mounting, France's representative to the United Nations said on Friday.

20110325
UN News

As many as 1 million people have been driven from their homes in Côte d'Ivoire in the months-long turmoil stemming from the outgoing president's refusal to leave office, with violence mounting and his loyalists using heavy weapons against civilians, a top United Nations official said today.

20110325
Leadership (Abuja)

Abuja — The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has, in its communiqué issued by its president Victor James Gbeho, after a two-day exhaustive session of the 39th extraordinary summit of heads of states and government of ECOWAS, which ended in Abuja yesterday, urged the United Nations Security Council to facilitate the immediate transfer of power to the acclaimed winner of the disputed November 28 presidential election, Alassane Ouattara.

20110325
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Western warplanes bombed Muammar Gaddafi's armour in eastern Libya on Friday to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels take the strategic town of Ajdabiyah.

20110325
reuters

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters marched through the Malian capital Bamako on Friday, chanting support for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi's in a rally against Western air raids aimed at breaking down his military.

20110325
reuters

NEAR AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels were massing near Ajdabiyah on Friday for a new push after Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the strategic eastern town refused a ceasefire offer.