ANKARA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Military Underwater Attack Commandos captured nine pirates in a skiff in the Aden Gulf, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.

A statement issued by the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces on the website Thursday, Turkish frigate TCG Gemlik which serves under an international mission to fight off piracy in the Gulf of Aden, encountered a suspicious boat in the security corridor of the commercial vessels early on Wednesday.

The statement said the Turkish frigate forced the boat to stop and 9 pirates in the boat were captured.

TCG Gemlik is the fifth task force Turkey has deployed to the region since last February.

DAKAR, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was briefly detained on Thursday by military officers amid renewed fears of coup in the Atlantic Ocean country in West Africa.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of 1.5 million population since its independence from Portugal 35 years ago. Coup attempts have repeatedly hit the headlines in Guinea-Bissau, especially since 2008.

In the latest incident, which is already seen by many as another coup d'etat, Minister of Territorial Administration Luis Sanca was also taken hostage after the military officers broke into the office of the prime minister in the capital Bissau.

Before nabbing Gomes, the officers went to the United Nations offices in Bissau to pick up the former head of marines, the rear admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchute, who had been accused of plotting a coup d'etat in August 2008.

The ex-chief of Guinea-Bissau's marines took refuge there after returning to Guinea-Bissau in a canoe from Gambia on Dec. 28, 2009.

The UN office in Guinea-Bissau known as UNOGBIS had previously indicated willingness to settle the issue in a "peaceful and legal" way.

On Thursday morning, national radio stopped broadcasting programs and started playing military songs.

In the capital city, banks and office buildings were shut down. On the streets, only military vehicles could be seen moving, witnesses told Xinhua by phone.

In defiance of the military movement, hundreds of people gathered in front of the office of the prime minister protesting against "coup d'etat."

A senior army officer Antonio Indjai threatened to kill the prime minister if the protesters refused to stop attracting crowds in the streets.

Gomes was nominated in January 2009 by President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was assassinated on March 2, 2009 by rebellious soldiers at his residence.

The West African country of 1.5 million population foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) won the victory.

The Interior Ministry reported another "coup attempt" in early June 2009, just days ahead of the June 28 presidential election which was won by PAIGC's candidate Sanha.

The country is among the poorest in the world, being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index.

With a jagged Atlantic coastline, Guinea-Bissau is chosen by traffickers as a major hub for the flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe

DAKAR, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior has been released by soldiers after briefly detained, media reported on Thursday.

Gomes was held by soldiers on Thursday in another sign of instability in which coup attempts have repeatedly hit the West African country since late 2008. He was detained after a group of soldiers broke into his office in the capital Bissau.

Witnesses also reported soldiers went to a UN office in the city, before leaving with a former navy officer suspected of involvement in an attempted coup in 2008.

The prime minister was nominated in January 2009 by President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was assassinated on March 2, 2009 by rebellious soldiers at his residence.

The West African country of 1.5 million population foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) won the victory.

Report says U.S. navy captures pirates near Seychelles
English.news.cn 2010-04-01 20:54:27 FeedbackPrintRSS

NAIROBI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. naval forces said they had captured five pirates after exchanging fire with them near Seychelles, media reported on Thursday.

The report said, the U.S. vessel was under fire early Thursday in a place west of the Seychelles, adding that five captured pirates would remain in U.S. custody.

No further details was available so far.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

The Horn of Africa nation is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.

DAKAR, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior has been held by soldiers, media reported on Thursday.

Gomes was detained after a group of soldiers broke into his office. The prime minister was nominated in January 2009 by President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was assassinated later by rebellious soldiers at his residence.

The West African country of 1.5 million population has suffered instability since the legislative election held in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde won the victory.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - U.S. Sudan envoy Scott Gration began crisis talks with political leaders in Khartoum on Thursday after the withdrawal of a presidential candidate threatened to undermine the credibility of coming elections.

Yasir Arman, the candidate for the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) pulled out of the race late on Wednesday, less than two weeks before voting, citing concerns over election fraud and insecurity in Darfur.

Opposition parties were due to meet later on Thursday to discuss whether to unite in boycotting the vote, a move that would seriously undermine what were supposed to be Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years.

The presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections are central to a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's Muslim north and the South, where most follow Christianity or traditional beliefs.

As part of the 2005 peace accord, the SPLM joined incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) in a fragile national coalition government.

The SPLM also said it would boycott all voting in Darfur, the scene of a seven-year conflict, going back on an earlier threat to pull out of the whole vote in the north in solidarity with opposition parties.

Analysts said Arman's withdrawal effectively handed the presidential race to Bashir and could be part of a deal with his northern NCP to guarantee a referendum on southern independence also promised under the peace deal.

NO DEAL WITH BASHIR

But Arman denied any deal, saying there was no point in participating in the April elections and that the NCP had already rigged them for Bashir to win. He urged the opposition to take the same stance as his SPLM party.

"I will encourage them (the opposition) not to give legitimacy to Bashir - to boycott the election especially in Darfur and the presidential election," he told Reuters.

He added the SPLM may still consider a full boycott in the rest of the north if the opposition decided to do so.

If the opposition also decided to boycott the presidential vote, it would derail any claim by Bashir to have been elected in a fully democratic process.

But continued participation in the parliamentary vote could give them some say over the passage of laws or any constitutional changes if they won a fair percentage of the 450 seat national assembly.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Gration had flown to Khartoum in reaction to the SPLM move and was planning to shuttle between meetings with leading opposition and government figures.

On Wednesday a joint statement by Washington, Britain and Norway said they were "deeply concerned by reports of continued administrative and logistical (electoral) challenges, as well as restrictions on political freedoms".

But they said "irrespective of the outcome of elections", it was essential the January 2011 referendum go ahead on time.

Sudan's north-south civil war killed 2 million people and destabilised much of east Africa. Darfur's separate conflict has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives in violence Washington has called genocide.

Last year the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. He hopes to defy the court and legitimise his rule with a win in April's polls.

By Sumeet Chatterjee and Tony Munroe

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Nobody likes to lose -- least of all investment bankers.

"It's a winner-takes-all business," said Prahlad Shantigram, who heads the team at Standard Chartered that helped Indian cellular firm Bharti Airtel clinch a big acquisition in Africa at its third attempt.

Getting close doesn't count, as Bharti and its bankers found out the hard way after twice failing to seal a tie-up with South Africa's MTN before this week signing a $9 billion purchase of most of Kuwait firm Zain's African operations.

"Most deals tend to take about as much time as childbirth. In this case, it's been like three births over two years," said Shantigram, global head of M&A advisory at Standard Chartered, which has advised Bharti throughout its efforts to become a major player in Africa's big-potential telecoms market.

For Shantigram, 44, the deal caps a relationship with Bharti and its billionaire chairman Sunil Mittal, that dates back to when the banker was at Merrill Lynch and helped the mobile carrier go public in 2002.

For Standard Chartered, which was joined by Barclays in advising Bharti and is a relative newcomer to M&A, the deal plays to its strengths as a specialist lender in emerging markets, including India and Africa.

In addition to advising Bharti, Standard Chartered led the $8.5 billion financing package for India's mobile leader and committed the biggest single chunk of funding at $1.3 billion. The loan was priced aggressively, at under 200 basis points above Libor.

Barclays, also trying to build a fledgling M&A business, was the next biggest lender to the deal, pledging $900 million.

Swiss bank UBS advised Zain.

NICHE PLAYER

Standard Chartered is a niche player in M&A, a business it only entered in late 2003. Shantigram, for example, heads global M&A for the bank but is based in Mumbai, not at headquarters in London.

The Bharti deal, the second-largest overseas acquisition by an Indian firm, pushes Standard Chartered up to 21st this year on the global M&A league tables, from 56th in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Goldman Sachs topped the global first quarter M&A league table, preliminary data show.

Standard Chartered, which also advised Bharti on its recent acquisition of Warid Telecom in Bangladesh, has been building its investment banking operations in Asia, its biggest market, taking on more established players.

It bought Cazenove Asia in 2008, beefing up its equity capital markets business in the region, and plans to begin equity underwriting later this year in India, joining a fiercely competitive marketplace.

Shantigram, born and raised in Mumbai and a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat, described his "day job" as running the bank's global M&A business.

"My night job is really dealing with transactions as and when they come along, where I have a personal relationship or things of that sort," he said in a phone interview.

AFRICAN ADVENTURE

Firming up a deal with a target whose operations are spread over 15 African countries presented plenty of challenges.

The Standard Chartered team for the Zain deal was about 9-strong, spread across India and Africa, most of them veterans from the MTN bids.

"I think the simple lesson in Africa is: whatever other rules of M&A that might apply in the rest of the world don't necessarily apply there, because it's a whole different ballgame," he said.

Africa has become an increasingly frequent target for expansion by overseas firms, especially from China and India.

"A lot of recent Indian acquisitions have been into relatively more stable jurisdictions, be it Europe or even certain parts of Asia, that are a lot more well researched and well understood relative to some of these countries in Africa," Shantigram said.

A heavy travel schedule limits Shantigram's outside interests to movies, reading and finding time to spend with his family.

He noted the Zain deal puts Bharti into just 15 of Africa's 53 countries.

"It's at best a stepping stone to much larger ambition, I would say," he said. "I'm sure we will do a lot more with Bharti in Africa."

ABUJA (Reuters) - A man rammed his car into a parked airliner in Nigeria's southeastern city of Calabar on Wednesday, an aviation spokesman said.

There was no indication of the man's motives or whether police intended to charge him, but the spokesman insisted on Thursday that Nigeria had no problem with flight security.

The United States put Nigeria on a list of countries needing tighter security after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested on suspicion of trying to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner in December using explosives hidden in his underwear.

"There is no problem at all at our airports, no cause for alarm, as we have the necessary security on the ground," said Akin Olukunle, spokesman for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria.

He said the driver had broken through two security gates at Calabar's international airport and rammed his car into the Arik Air plane before military security arrested him.

The crew of the plane, which had arrived from Lagos and was on its way to the capital Abuja, were not injured and no passengers were on board at the time.

"Our men rushed to the scene and evacuated crew members on board," Olukunle said. "We have beefed up security."

A bomb squad found no explosives in the car, which was still at the airport on Thursday. Flights continued despite the incident.

A photograph in the Nigerian newspaper NEXT showed a blue automobile stuck underneath the middle of the plane. Authorities were questioning the driver in Calabar.

Africa's most populous country has started installing body scanners at its international airports, an aviation official said on Tuesday.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday swore-in members of a Human Rights and an Electoral Commission, expected to steer reforms towards free and fair elections.

Mugabe formed a unity government last year with long-time foe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, but reforms, which Western donors say are critical for a fair vote, have been slow.

The MDC was formed in 1999 and has come closest to ending Mugabe's grip on power, but the party says Mugabe's ZANU-PF has rigged elections and used violence against its supporters.

An official list seen by Reuters showed the Electoral Commission would be headed by Simpson Mutambanengwe, a former Zimbabwean Supreme Court judge who was serving as acting Chief Justice in the Namibian Supreme Court.

Mugabe also swore-in members of the Human Rights Commission, the first body tasked with investigating cases of rights abuses.

Reg Austin, a law professor and former Commonwealth secretariat's head of legal and constitutional affairs division, will chair the rights body.

The commissions were agreed by Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

Last month the government published names of members of a media commission. It said this month it would soon start licensing newspapers.

Analysts say the three commissions look politically balanced with technocrats and officials with ties to ZANU-PF and the MDC.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai remain deeply divided over appointments of provincial governors and Mugabe's refusal to swear-in Tsvangirai's ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.

Mugabe has refused to sack two of his allies who he appointed central bank head and attorney general without consulting Tsvangirai.

The 86-year-old said last Friday his party would not concede ground to the MDC until Western sanctions against his inner circle and a general financial freeze on Zimbabwe were lifted.

On Wednesday, ZANU-PF and MDC negotiators were holding a final round of talks on the power-sharing dispute but a breakthrough was not expected. State television said negotiators would compile a report to be discussed with South African mediators before presenting it to their political leaders.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - OPEC is worried it may invest far more in new oil production capacity than is needed due to uncertainty over demand, according to a speech to be delivered by OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri on Wednesday.

In a copy of prepared remarks to be given at the International Energy Forum in Cancun, Mexico, Badri said the lingering effects of the financial crisis and consuming nations' efforts to reduce their dependence on petroleum posed a multibillion dollar problem for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The oil exporters' group, which has committed to spending $165 billion through 2013 on new oil production capacity, thinks the actual requirement for new investment could range between $70 billion and $170 billion due to the uncertainty over demand.

"Even to 2013, which represents a time frame over which investments are effectively locked in, requirements could be as low as $70 billion or as high as $170 billion," the OPEC chief said.

"There is a very real possibility of wasting financial resources on unneeded capacity."

Badri said that the "uncertainty gap" between the minimum and maximum needed for upstream investments by OPEC could grow to $250 billion in real terms by 2020.

Badri went on to say that both producers and consumers understood that an oil price that is neither too high nor too low is favorable to all. He expressed hope that oil market volatility, which saw prices rise to a record near $150 a barrel in 2008 then collapse to $33 later that year, as over.

"It is my hope that the large price swings and the extreme volatility that we have witnessed in 2008 and 2009 are consigned to the past," said Badri.

OPEC spare crude production capacity currently exceeds six million barrels per day, he said.

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Oil producers and consumers plan to meet annually to discuss the outlook for energy markets as part of efforts to tackle price volatility dangerous to the economies of both groups.

The plan is part of an effort to deepen cooperation between producer and consumer members of the biannual International Energy Forum, who met this week to discuss how to address volatility in oil markets, which saw record prices swings in recent years.

The first meeting between the IEF, The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the International Energy Agency in Riyadh will be held in January 2011. It will follow a workshop scheduled for the end of 2010 on crude oil as a commodity and a financial asset, according to an IEF communique issued on Wednesday.

"This is a very big achievement. Years ago the producers and consumers had absolutely (no) dialogue. We are seeing a lot of change," said Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah.

Crude oil prices surged to an all-time high near $150 a barrel in 2008, when IEF members last gathered, battering the economies of consumer countries already hard hit by the financial crisis.

Prices then dropped to below $33 a barrel as fuel demand plummeted, squeezing the coffers of producer nations.

"We need a shared understanding of what triggered the volatility of 2008 and 2009. We need the analysis to make sure we do not face the same energy price volatility again," said Lord Philip Hunt, Minister of Energy and Climate Change for the United Kingdom.

"Our international agreement today will set the IEF on a course to becoming a forum that will guide action and delivery for both producers and consumers."

OPEC members and some consumer nations have expressed concern about the role of speculators in energy markets, which some experts say exaggerate price swings beyond what supply and demand fundamentals justify. The United States is proposing position limits on oil futures as part of efforts to limit volatility.

Ali al-Naimi, oil minister for top exporter Saudi Arabia, said that oil market stability had also been harmed by uncertainty about demand, which could be impacted by efforts by the United States and others to reduce oil dependency and shift to cleaner burning fuels.

"Oil producers are faced with daunting uncertainty on both sides: demand, which continues to be subject to downward revisions, and supply, where sizable but uncertain increments are being planned," Naimi said.

"Certainty and predictability in the oil market are undermined by a lack of reliable data and policy on energy supply and demand, both now and into the future. Certainty and predictability are also undermined by financial markets," he said.

NO PRICE RANGE ACCORD

The joint statement did not address a preferred oil price range for both producers and consumers.

OPEC members said this week that a price range between $70-80 a barrel was best for to spur investment in new supplies without hurting demand. U.S. crude prices closed at $83.76 a barrel on Wednesday, up $1.39.

Some consumers agreed that that was a fair range, while the United States and others stressed fundamentals were better for determining prices.

"In terms of price what do you want? Well you clearly want suppliers to feel they are being fairly treated and that it's conducive for long term investment. Equally for consumers you want a price that is not going to inhibit economic growth, especially at the near term," the U.K.'s Hunt said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The short-term economic outlook in the Central African Republic has improved and the pace of growth is likely to pick up to 3.25 percent this year, an International Monetary Fund official said on Wednesday.

This compares with growth in 2009 of 1.7 percent versus 2.0 percent in 2008. Inflation is expected to ease to about 2.5 percent in 2010 from 3.5 percent last year.

Martin Petri, who led IMF talks with the government, said in a statement the country's current account deficit would likely remain stable amid higher aid flows and a rise in exports on the one hand and higher oil imports and a larger public investment program on the other.

Petri said the country's performance under its $107 million IMF program had been "broadly satisfactory." He expects the IMF to approve the country's performance under the program and to disburse about $13.2 million of the loan to the government in the second quarter.

He said, however, that additional donor support would help "in managing the fiscal situation while limiting resources to expensive domestic financing".

The country, which holds deposits of gold, uranium and diamonds, has been bedeviled by internal rebellions that have discouraged large-scale investment.

The country delayed its presidential elections by three weeks to May 16 after donors declared a free and fair election would probably not be possible until rebels had been disarmed under a U.N.-backed process.

LONDON (Reuters) - A European naval force tasked with patrolling pirate-infested waters off Somalia called on Wednesday for more states to prosecute those intercepted while planning piracy, not only those caught in the act.

The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia, where an Islamist insurgency and lawlessness has created a pirate safe haven, has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars, but it is difficult to prosecute those planning an attack.

"We had to let this lot go," said European Union Naval Force operation commander Rear Admiral Peter Hudson, commenting on a photo of alleged pirates. "You can see the ladders, the weapons. So they're not out to go fishing for tuna. The question is which court can I get these rogues into, and there isn't one."

"It would be useful to us if more states were prepared to charge and prosecute on the grounds of conspiracy," he later said, speaking to Reuters after a news briefing in London.

EU NAVFOR's mandate to protect vessels carrying food aid to Somalia, and other ships passing through vital commercial shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden and near the Somali coast, began in 2008, and has been extended to the end of 2010.

World powers struggle to effectively prosecute captured pirates, even those caught in attacks, either because governments lack jurisdiction or because they fear suspects could seek asylum in the country where they are tried.

Somalia itself lacks the legal infrastructure.

ARREST A DETERRENT?

There are currently eight vessels under Somali pirate control and 157 hostages being held.

EU NAVFOR said successful pirate attacks had dropped sharply through the heavily policed Gulf of Aden, which leads to the strategically important Suez canal into the Mediterranean.

But this has only forced pirates further afield. Small groups of men typically use "mother ships" to sail hundreds of miles out to sea, then launch attacks in small skiffs, armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Hudson said there had been a surge of pirate activity and "swarms" of pirate groups further down the Somali coast.

He questioned whether EU NAVFOR's activities alone were enough of a deterrent, and urged more international action to get war-ravaged Somalia "back on its feet".

"It's an interesting academic debate as to whether jailing pirates, breaking pirate groups, serves as a deterrent to a 16, 18, 21-year-old youth on the beach of eastern Somalia with very limited life opportunities," Hudson said.

In a sign of greater international cooperation to tackle piracy near Somalia, EU NAVFOR and its partners, NATO and U.S. naval forces based in Bahrain, have held talks with China about it taking a greater role in protecting sea traffic.

Chinese vessels and several other countries currently escort ships vital to their own interests, but the Asian superpower -- which has massively boosted its investment in mineral-rich Africa -- may soon take a role in coordinating shipping protection regardless of the vessel's flag.

"It's being processed through the Beijing authorities and we expected to hear in the not too distant future ... We're optimistic they will join us," Hudson said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments said on Wednesday they had given the go-ahead for a military mission to start on April 7 to train Somali forces battling an Islamist insurgency.

The mission will be led by Spain and involve around 100 troops plus several dozens of additional staff.

Germany said it would contribute 20 soldiers for the mission, which will take place mainly in Uganda, where some Somali forces are already being trained. France has also committed troops and Britain is expected to participate.

The goal of the mission is to strengthen the Western-backed transitional government in Somalia.

But some EU member states have expressed concern that training its troops and providing them with guns could cause more problems than it solves without long-term commitments in place to pay them and give them institutional support.

Somalia has had no central government since 1991. Foreign governments have stepped up efforts to stabilise the country in the past three or four years, since it became a major source of piracy, with dozens of ships and crew taken hostage for ransom.

Since the start of 2007, conflict in Somalia has killed 20,000 civilians and uprooted more than 1.5 million from their homes. The government is confined to a few small blocks of the capital and exerts little influence over the state.

An African Union force is on the ground protecting the government's key institutions, but Somalia needs a larger contigent of its own capable, reliable troops.

The EU mission is expected to train around 2,000 Somali troops and complement other missions, bringing the total of better-trained Somali soldiers to around 6,000.

The EU said in a statement its mission would be conducted in coordination with Somalia's transitional government, the African Union, the United Nations and the United States.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Liberia's president brokered talks between Nigeria and Libya on Wednesday to try to ease tension between the two countries after Libya's leader suggested Nigeria be broken up along ethnic lines.

Nigeria recalled its ambassador from Tripoli earlier this month when Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi proposed that Nigeria be split into two countries formed from the Muslim north and mainly Christian south.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and a Libyan envoy met Nigeria's acting president in Abuja, but were unable settle the dispute immediately.

"The purpose of the meeting basically is to establish the level of rapport so that the two nations can put behind them the recent statement that has been made and move forward," said Ima Niboro, spokesman for Nigeria's presidency.

"The next step is that this meeting will continue until Nigeria and Libya are able to resolve this issue."

Gaddafi this week repeated the idea of dismantling Nigeria, but this time suggested not two, but several, independent states for its multiple ethnic groups.

Hundreds of people have been killed in violent clashes this year between Muslim and Christian gangs around the central Nigerian city of Jos and prompted the government to question whether Libya might be sponsoring the violence.

"(Nigeria's) acting president made it abundantly clear that all leaders should be diplomatic in their comments about other nations," Niboro said.

"There are certain kind of statements that you can make that can substantially ruffle feathers in other nations."

The Liberian leader and members of the Libya delegation declined to comment. It was unclear when the next meeting might take place.

Gaddafi was chairman of the African Union until recently and has adopted the title "King of African Kings", but the veteran leader has a mixed reputation on the continent.

Praised by some leaders as a generous benefactor and a champion of development, he is accused by others of financing rebellions and fomenting instability, often to counter the interests of the United States and its allies.

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped an employee of the French oil company Total in Nigeria's Niger Delta on Wednesday, police said.

The Nigerian worker was abducted after leaving his home in Port Harcourt, the main city in the OPEC member's restive oil-producing Niger Delta.

"A Nigerian employee of Total was abducted by unidentified gunmen this morning on his way to work and driven in a getaway car, said Rita Inoma-Abbey, spokeswoman for Rivers state police.

Kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery and carjackings are common in the Niger Delta, where poverty is widespread despite its vast oil and gas reserves. Most victims are released unharmed after payment of a ransom.

2010-03-31
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a small Indian trade boat, the Al-Barari, as it left Mogadishu port, but another boat that was also attacked managed to escape, traders and officials said on Wednesday.

"Pirates attacked two boats that left Mogadishu seaport on Tuesday. One boat escaped and came back to the seaport," Hassan Ahmed, chief superintendent at Mogadishu port, told Reuters.

Last weekend, Somali pirates captured seven of the small Indian boats known as dhows, with a total of 100 crew.

India said on Tuesday it was trying to trace the whereabouts of the boats and their sailors.

A trader in the capital confirmed Wednesday's hijacking.

"It had unloaded food and medicine at the port. Two boats were sailing away from the seaport, one escaped the attack and returned to the port and the other was taken," said Bashir Hassan, a Somali trader.

Sea gangs operating off Somalia have stepped up attacks in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

2010-03-31
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Clashes between supporters of rival political parties and delays in completing voter lists are fuelling worries that Guinea's June 27 election may be derailed.

The presidential poll in the world's biggest exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite is intended to end the unrest in the West African country that has raised concerns over stability in the region since a December 2008 military coup.

While officially the vote is still on track, the haphazard preparations of the caretaker government charged with staging the vote are creating a mood of impatience, and the limbo is weighing on the economy and public finances.

"We've got to clarify the situation and shake off the burden of having a military leadership. If we get an elected president, the foreign donors will start coming back," Mamadou Baddiko Bah, a leader of the Forces Vives opposition grouping, told Reuters.

Guinea's woes culminated in the massacre last September of over 150 pro-democracy protesters by authorities, turning then junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara into an international pariah.

His December 3 wounding in a gun attack by an ex-aide brought the prospect of a return to order when his deputy Sekouba Konate took power and promised elections within six months.

But since then, authorities have missed a March 18 target date for completing a census of voters, and caretaker Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore has struggled to find his feet with erratic policies.

The prolonged crisis is hitting the economy, with shipments of bauxite down by 16.4 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, while state coffers are owed around $250 million -- almost double last year's mining revenues -- in uncollected taxes and other dues.

Guinea's latent ethnic tensions are beginning to show.

"The biggest fear in this election is that it will lead to an exacerbation of ethnic divisions, or between militants of parties competing for the same electoral base," said Mamady Kaba of African human rights group RADDHO.

Street clashes in the past few days have involved supporters of Guinea's two main ethnic groups the Malinke and the Peul.

Kaba warned the minority groups collectively known as the "forestieres" from the wooded south could press demands for Camara, their figurehead, to return from his convalescence in Burkina Faso.

2010-03-31
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court has approved an investigation into violent clashes after Kenya's 2007 presidential election, raising the prospect that Kenyan leaders could face trial in The Hague.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday the court had approved the request he submitted last November.

He has said that Kenyan political leaders organised and financed attacks on civilians and has cited figures from Kenyan authorities that 1,220 people were killed, hundreds were raped and more than 350,000 forcibly displaced in ethnic clashes that broke out after the hotly disputed election.

He has submitted a confidential list of 20 names of those "who appear to bear the gravest responsibility."

"The ICC will do its part but the Kenyans will be in the lead," Moreno-Ocampo said in a statement, adding there would be "no impunity for those most responsible".

The ethnic clashes shattered Kenya's image as a stable centre for trade and tourism and the economic powerhouse of east Africa.

"It's a very important statement in terms of fighting impunity in Kenya," Omar Hassan, vice chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said of the decision.

On a visit to Kenya late last year, Moreno-Ocampo said he believed he had a strong case against a few individuals and was pursuing the investigation because Kenya's leaders had decided against referring the case themselves to The Hague.

"I welcome the decision," Mutula Kilonzo, Kenya's justice minister, told Reuters through a text message.

SEEKING JUSTICE

In a court filing earlier this month, Moreno-Ocampo said senior political and business leaders from Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) were "guided by political objectives to retain or gain power".

Former legislator Jane Kihara, who lost her seat in the botched election and has openly admitted that her name may be on the list, told Reuters she was ready to face the tribunal.

"I have not heard about it (the decision) but as I have said in the past, am ready to face the tribunal so that the truth can be known. If my name is among those 20 been investigated, then I will not have an option but to respect the summon."

At public meetings, Kihara has defended herself saying that she was framed for political reasons.

In Wednesday's statement, Moreno-Ocampo said Kibaki and Odinga's "commitment to justice" and cooperation was crucial.

Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who mediated an end to the bloody conflict, warned that unless the architects of the killings were brought to book, there was a serious risk violence would erupt again at the next presidential election in 2012.

The ICC, established in 2002, is the world's first permanent court set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations.

The court is trying several individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur, and has an outstanding arrest warrant for Sudan's president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

2010-03-31
PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam dissolved parliament on Wednesday and said the Indian Ocean island would hold elections on May 5.

The country, one of Africa's most stable and prosperous nations, holds general elections every five years. By law, the country has between 30 and 150 days to organise elections after the prime minister dissolves parliament.

"I have advised the president of the republic that I have dissolved parliament today," he told reporters. "I am calling the nation to vote on the 5th of May."

Analysts believe Ramgoolam, 62, will seek another term. He served as prime minister for five years from 1995 and won another five year mandate through his Labour Party in the last elections held in 2005.

The leader of the winning party will automatically become prime minister.