{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 16 juillet 2010  –– The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the release of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who used child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s civil war.

 

 

BURUNDI :

RWANDA

Rwanda: Kagame in Spain for MDG Advocacy Group Meeting
16 July 2010/The New Times

President Paul Kagame and Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Zapatero, will today co-chair the first meeting of MDG Advocacy Group in Madrid.

The two co-chairs, announced last month by the UN Secretary General, will lead a group of eighteen eminent personalities from around the world who have shown outstanding leadership in promoting implementation of the goals.

The MDG Advocacy Group will support the UN Secretary General generate the political will and mobilise global action to make the upcoming MDG Summit, to be held in September, a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the Goals by 2015.

As co-chair of the group, President Kagame will be a lead advocate in driving the MDG agenda forward, raising awareness of the most effective strategies to accelerate progress, drawing lessons from Rwanda and other countries on the continent and beyond.

The UN Secretary General and other prominent figures from the development world will attend today’s meeting, which will take place at the Mancloa Palace in Madrid.

Rwanda: Suspect Arrested in Connection With Murder of Green Party Official
Edwin Musoni/The New Times/16 July 2010

Kigali — Police have arrested a man suspected to have played a hand in the murder of Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the vice president of the unregistered Green Party of Rwanda.

The suspect was identified as Thomas Ntivugurizwa, and according to the Police Spokesman, Eric Kayiranga, Ntivuguruzwa was a close business partner of the deceased.

Rwisereka was also the owner of a popular entertainment spot, Sombrero, in Butare town. Witnesses told the police that before he was murdered, he shared drinks with Ntivuguruzwa until late in the night at Sombrero.

“Ntivuguruzwa passed the night at Sombrero and when he was requested to sign in, he claimed he was too drunk to write. Next morning, he did not write his real name, which makes prime suspect,” said Kayiranga.

“Rwisereka also shared dubious business loan sharking (Banque Lambert) with Ntivuguruzwa, and the night Rwisereka was murdered, he was carrying on him a large amount of money. He left the bar, went and gave some of the money (Rwf670, 000) to his sister, and took with him the remainder,” Kayiranga said.

“At the scene where the body was found, there was no money, meaning that the murderer’s intention was to steal from Rwisereka.”

Rwisereka was reported missing after his car, a Toyota pick-up, was found by residents on the banks of River Mukura near the border with Burundi.

Police immediately mounted a hunt only to find him dead about 1km from where his car was abandoned.

UGANDA

Ugandan toll in World Cup bombings rises to 74
The Associated Press/Friday, July 16, 2010

An al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group suspected in twin bombings in Uganda’s capital that hit crowds watching the World Cup final endorsed the attacks Monday but stopped short of claiming responsibility, while the death toll rose to 74.

The blasts came two days after a commander with the Somali group, al-Shabab, called for militants to attack sites in Uganda and Burundi, two nations that contribute troops to the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

The attacks on two soft targets filled with civilians also raise concerns about the capabilities and motives of al-Shabab, which the U.S. State Department has declared a terrorist organization. If confirmed that the group carried out the attacks, it would be the first time al-Shabab has struck outside Somalia.

Sheik Yusuf Sheik Issa, an al-Shabab commander, told The Associated Press early Monday that he was happy with the attacks in Uganda but refused to confirm or deny that al-Shabab was responsible.

“Uganda is one of our enemies. Whatever makes them cry, makes us happy. May Allah’s anger be upon those who are against us,” Sheik said.

Kampala’s police chief, Kale Kaihura, said he believed al-Shabab could be responsible. One of the targets was an Ethiopian restaurant _ a nation despised by the al-Shabab militants.

A California-based aid group, meanwhile, said one of its American workers was among the dead. Police said Ethiopian, Indian and Congolese nationals were also among those killed and wounded, police said.

At least three of the wounded were in a church group from Pennsylvania who went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala early to get good seats for the game, said Lori Ssebulime, an American who married a Ugandan. Three Ugandans in the group were killed when a blast erupted. One of the wounded was 16-year-old American Emily Kerstetter.

“Emily was rolling around in a pool of blood screaming,” said Ssebulime, who has helped bring in U.S. church groups since 2004. “Five minutes before it went off, Emily said she was going to cry so hard because she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay the rest of the summer here.”

Ugandan government spokesman Fred Opolot said Monday there were indications that two suicide bombers took part in the late Sunday attacks, which left dozens wounded. Opolot said the death toll also had risen to 74.

Blood and pieces of flesh littered the floor among overturned chairs at the scenes of the blasts, which went off as people watched the game between Spain and the Netherlands.

“We were enjoying ourselves when a very noisy blast took place,” said Andrew Oketa, one of the hospitalized survivors. “I fell down and became unconscious. When I regained, I realized that I was in a hospital bed with a deep wound on my head.”

The attacks appeared to represent a dangerous step forward by al-Shabab, analysts said, and could mean that other East African countries working to support the Somali government will face attacks.

“Al-Shabab has used suicide bombers in the past and shown no concern about civilian casualties in its attacks,” said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and a professor at George Washington University. “Some elements of al-Shabab have also prohibited the showing of television, including the World Cup, in Somalia.”

At a wrap-up news briefing Monday in South Africa, FIFA President Sepp Blatter denounced the violence against fans watching the game.

“Can you link it to the World Cup? I don’t know… Whatever happened, linked or not linked, it is something that we all should condemn,” he said.

Florence Naiga, 32, a mother of three children, said her husband had gone to watch the final at the rugby club.

“He did not come back. I learnt about the bomb blasts in the morning. When I went to police they told me he was among the dead,” she said.

Invisible Children, a San Diego, California-based aid group that helps child soldiers, identified the dead American as one of its workers, Nate Henn, who was killed on the rugby field. Henn, 25, was a native of Wilmington, Delaware.

“He sacrificed his comfort to live in the humble service of God and of a better world,” the group said in a statement on its website.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni toured the blast sites Monday and said that the terrorists behind the bombings should fight soldiers, not “people who are just enjoying themselves.”

“We shall go for them wherever they are coming from,” Museveni said. “We will look for them and get them as we always do.”

Ugandan army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said it was too early to speculate about any military response to the attacks.

Somalia’s president also condemned the blasts and described the attack as “barbaric.”

Al-Shabab, which wants to overthrow Somalia’s weak, U.N.-backed government, is known to have links with al-Qaida. Al-Shabab also counts militant veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts among its ranks. Their fighters also include young men recruited from the Somali communities in the United States.

Ethiopia, which fought two wars with Somalia, is a longtime enemy of al-Shabab and other Somali militants who accuse their neighbor of meddling in Somali affairs. Ethiopia had troops in Somalia between December 2006 and January 2009 to back Somalia’s fragile government against the Islamic insurgency.

In addition to Uganda’s troops in Mogadishu, Uganda also hosts Somali soldiers trained in U.S. and European-backed programs.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. was prepared to provide any necessary assistance to the Ugandan government.

President Barack Obama was “deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks,” Vietor said.

Officials said the Sunday attacks will not affect the African Union summit being held in Uganda from July 19-27. Many African leaders are expected to attend.

Sunday’s terror attacks are not the first to hit East Africa. U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were the targets of deadly twin bombings by al-Qaida in 1998, killing 224 people including 12 Americans. An Israeli airliner and hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, were targeted by terrorists in 2002.

The United States worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden has declared his support for Islamic radicals there.
 

Museveni declares war on al Shabaab
Friday, 16 July 2010/By The Citizen Correspondent, Kampala

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush the militant Somali group al Shabaab groups, which has claimed responsibility for last Sunday’s twin bomb attacks, which killed 74 people in Kampala.

“We are going to go on the offensive and go for all who did this in all areas, starting here,” he said on Wednesday evening.

“We were just in Mogadishu to guard the airport and the presidential palace – that was all. Now they have mobilised us to look for them. We were just doing our small mandate…now we are taking interest. It was a very big mistake on their side,” Mr Museveni told journalists at a news conference at his Ntungamo country home in western Uganda.

The attacks at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant and Kyadondo rugby grounds also injured over 50 people, who had gathered at the venue to watch the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.

Mr Museveni, speaking for the first time since investigations into the attacks got underway, also blamed intelligence failure.

“The main problem was our laxity and liberal atmosphere…we never interfere with functions of private people. We never monitor very closely the foreigners who come here…we have been having a free atmosphere.

“Those incidents were a surprise because we were totally relaxed,” he said. “The problem with tight security is that it interferes with the tempo of doing business so we try to avoid it.”

Mr Museveni said Uganda’s security agencies had some information about the possible infiltration, but it was not enough to make them act.

He added: “Outside, in the case of Somalia where these people seemed to have come from, IGAD has already taken a position to send about two to three thousand more troops and then, we are going to build up the strength of that force to 20,000 so that working with the transitional government of Somalia we eliminate these terrorists.”

Al Shabaab recently threatened to attack Uganda and Burundi for sending peacekeeping troops to Somalia to protect the government of President Sheikh Ahmed Sherif.

The group has close ties with Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, which masterminded the 1998 simultaneous bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which more that 200 people died, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, which killed over 3,000 people.

Mr Museveni said boosting troop numbers in Somalia was key to dealing a decisive blow against the group.

“I am optimistic that these numbers will be raised, especially now because these people have provoked the world more than ever before. And I can assure you they have invited a lot of problems for themselves.

“Those terrorists are sponsored apparently by some groups in the Middle East – those groups have a wrong and confused orientation both in terms of aims and methods. They seem to aim at narrow goals, chauvinistic goals which have caused much havoc in the Middle East and that’s why the Middle East is a hotbed of extremism,” he said.

President Museveni also appealed to Ugandans not to target the Somali community in the country, saying they had nothing to do with last Sunday’s bombings.

“Some people may misinterpret the tragic events on Sunday, but (Somalis) living here are part of the system,” he said. Asked about the upcoming African Union Summit, a relaxed Mr Museveni said suggestions that it may be cancelled were “all rubbish”.

“The AU summit will definitely take place. There is no way it can be stopped because of these incidents – procedurally neither from a security point of view. The AU summit is not going to take place in a pitch.”

He also dismissed calls for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from Somalia.

“Well, those people are not right. Do you remember ADF? ADF was planting bombs in Kampala in the 1990s and that time we had not sent troops to Somalia. Terrorists are terrorists. They will act against order unless they are stopped.

“In fact, one of the reasons for sending our troops to Somalia was because we knew the character of these types of people. If they had succeeded in taking over Somalia at that time, then they would have been more problems for the region,” he said, adding:

“Those who argue that the best way of avoiding trouble is to surrender Africa to terrorists from the Middle East are definitely wrong. The correct way is to ensure that the people of Africa enjoy their freedom, which we fought for. We fought for freedom not for slavery from some confused groups in the Middle East. Those people are definitely wrong.”

The President said some years ago there were attacks on American on their Embassies of America in Kenya and Tanzania, asking where the Kenyans had sent troops. “Had they sent troops to Somalia or Afghanistan or to Iraq. Why did they attack the Kenyan people or Tanzanians,” he wondered.

The country has dismissed the danger to international visitors after the bombings.

Uganda wants peacekeepers to take on al-Shabaab, Obama pledges help
Written by defenceWeb /Friday, 16 July 2010

Uganda wants new rules of engagement allowing its peacekeeping troops in Somalia to go on the offensive against Islamist rebels who claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Kampala last weekend. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama says his country “will redouble our efforts, working with Uganda, working with the African Union, to make sure that organisations like this are not able to kill Africans with impunity.”

The coordinated explosions killed up to 76 people watching the World Cup final after al-Shabaab insurgents threatened to strike Uganda for its contribution to the 6100-strong African Union peacekeeping force (AMISOM) deployed in Somalia.

Against a backdrop of threats of more attacks by al Shabaab, President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted AMISOM troops to be permitted to take on the al-Qaeda-linked insurgents and prevent more attacks in the region. Museveni also said Uganda would tighten its internal security to keep out foreigners intent on further attacks.

The Ugandan government yesterday added the discovery of a second unexploded device in Kampala is proof that the al-Shabaab group is refusing to let up in their campaign. Eyewitness News reports this “presents a security nightmare for the African leaders who are due to arrive in the country next week.” Uganda has laid on world class facilities for African Union (AU) Summit at Muyonyo on the banks of Lake Victoria.

“The security men have already moved in, sifting through every bag that comes onto the premises, days before the AU ambassadors arrive and more than a week before heads of state are due. Adding to the complications, some international non-governmental organisations have banned some staff from visiting Uganda following the bombing,” the radio news service said.

Reuters continues Museveni says the Ugandan peacekeepers are part of the African Union mission to guard the port, airport and state house. “We are now going to go on the offensive and get these people,” he told a news conference on Wednesday night. Asked if that approach would require a change of mandate for the force, Museveni said, “It will have to be peace enforcement to bring a solution to Somalia.”

al-Shabaab said the attacks had avenged the indiscrimate shelling of civilians by peacekeepers in Mogadishu. Uganda’s grieving, the rebels said, was a result of Museveni’s “flawed policies”. “They bombard the densely-populated areas … with approximately 300 mortars a day. Families are massacred, children are orphaned, women are widows and close to two million Muslims have been displaced,” al-Shabaab said in a written statement dated July 14. In April, the United Nations condemned the shelling of heavily populated areas by Somali forces, AU troops and the rebels, calling it a clear violation of the law of war.

Separately, al Shabaab’s leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, warned Uganda to expect more attacks. “Attacks in Kampala were preliminary. We shall do more as AMISOM continue massacring our people,” he said in an audio tape issued on Wednesday. Museveni said regional powers would not be deterred from sending 2000 more troops to Somalia by mid-August. Regional leaders eventually want 20 000 troops there. “Therefore this force … will be expanded and the African Union will be able to clean up this place,” he said.

Kenya said yesterday a Ugandan who had surrendered himself, confessing to being a member of al-Shabaab but claiming he had no link to the blasts, had been handed over to Ugandan authorities.
“The Ugandan handed himself over just after the explosion. He saw he had joined an organisation that was also killing his own people and that he had been misled …” government spokesman Alfred Mutua told a weekly news briefing.

Meanwhile, US president Barack Obama has warned Africans that groups such as al-Qaeda view their lives as cheap and expendable. Speaking to the South African state broadcaster, the SABC, on
Tuesday, he said “it was so tragic and ironic to see an explosion like this take place when people in Africa were celebrating and watching the World Cup take place in South Africa. On the one hand, you have a vision of an Africa on the move, an Africa that is unified, an Africa that is modernising and creating opportunities; and on the other hand, you’ve got a vision of al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab that is about destruction and death.

“And I think it presents a pretty clear contrast in terms of the future that most Africans want for themselves and their children. And we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support those who want to build, as opposed to want to destroy,” he said in a transcript posted on the US Embassy in SA’s website.

Obama continued that Somalia has now gone had a generation of war and conflict. “The Transitional Government there is still getting its footing. But what we know is that if al-Shabaab takes more and more control within Somalia, that it is going to be exporting violence the way it just did in Uganda. And so we’ve got to have a multinational effort. This is not something that the United States should do alone, that Uganda or others should do alone, but rather the African Union, in its mission in Somalia, working with the Transitional Government to try to stabilise the situation and start putting that country on a pathway that provides opportunity for people, as opposed to creating a breeding ground for terrorism.”

He also criticised the fascist views of al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda. “…what you have seen in terms of radical Islam is an approach that says that any efforts to modernise, any efforts to provide basic human rights, any efforts to democratise are somehow anti-Islam. And I think that is absolutely wrong. I think the vast majority of people of the Islamic faith reject that. I think the people of Africa reject it.

“And that’s why it’s so important, even as we deal with organisations like Al Shabaab militarily, that, more importantly, we also are dealing with the development agenda and building on models of countries like South Africa that are trying to move in the right direction, that have successful entrepreneurs, that have democracy and have basic human freedoms — that we highlight those as an example whereby Africans can seize their own destiny, and hopefully the United States can be an effective partner in that.

“…it’s not just … poverty. I mean, I think there’s an ideological component to it that also has to be rejected. There’s – obviously young people, if they don’t have opportunity, are more vulnerable to these misguided ideologies, but we also have to directly confront the fact that issues like a anti-democratic, anti-free speech, anti-freedom of religion agenda, which is what an organisation like Al Shabaab promotes, also often goes hand in hand with violence.”

French news agency AFP afterwards quoted an unnamed US official as branding al-Qaeda “racist”.
Obama’s intervention marked the first direct comments by the president, whose father was Kenyan, on the Kampala bombings. A senior American official made clear that Obama was taking a direct swipe at the ideology and motives of al-Qaeda affiliates on the continent, which US intelligence agencies say are the extremist group’s most active franchises, AFP added.

“The president references the fact that both US intelligence and past al-Qaeda actions make it clear that al-Qaeda, and the groups like [al-Shabaab] that they inspire, do not value African life. “In short, al-Qaeda is a racist organisation that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life,” the officia
l said.

US officials drew parallels between the Uganda attacks and the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed hundreds of Africans, saying that al-Qaeda viewed people on the continent as acceptable casualties. Earlier, another administration official validated al-Shabaab’s claims that it was responsible for the Uganda bombings. He said the group might try to attack outside Africa.

TANZANIA:

CaTS to launch IBM’s Tivoli Foundation Software in Tanzania
Expects a 12% increase in revenue….
16 Jul 2010 /www.itweb.co.za

CaTS
Press release issued by BE Agency
Pretoria, 16 Jul 2010
Visit our press office.Computer Assisted Telephony Systems (CaTS), one of a number of active business partners for IBM, has announced it will be launching IBM’s Tivoli Foundations software solution for small and medium businesses at its Tanzania offices at the end of July.

Johan Grobler, MD of CaTS, said 80% of the company’s revenue stems from outside SA, adding that countries like Tanzania “have not been hit as hard by the credit crunch recession as many other First World countries”.

“There is a lot of building development going on in Tanzania, especially in Dar Es Salaam. The difference is that investments are made in cash – not credit. This is one of the reasons why countries like Tanzania have not been as badly affected by the credit crunch as many other First World countries.”

He said while Tanzania is still a “small” market for CaTS, the establishment of its offices in Dar Es Salaam serve as a launch pad into the “surrounding African countries”.

“We expect that sales of Tivoli software from IBM will boost our revenue by around 12% during the next 12 months. We are focusing on the Tivoli Foundations Service Manager and Application Manager solutions – applications that are well-suited to small and medium businesses, especially since IBM launched these special versions, which offer all the necessary features, and yet come in at about half the price of the full-blown Tivoli offering.”

IBM Tivoli Foundations Service Manager is described as a service desk solution designed and priced specifically for smaller and medium sized organisations. It provides focused service desk capabilities, including service request, incident and problem management processes.

IBM Tivoli Foundations Application provides entry level monitoring for the growing medium-sized organisation looking for the right functionality in an easy to use and cost-effective solution. It provides key capabilities to implement application management in the IT environment, including IT asset recovery, network monitoring, and monitoring for key IT elements, such as databases, mail servers and virtual servers.

CaTS is active in a number of African countries, including Tanzania, Lesotho, the DRC and Nigeria.

A hectic five years comes to conclusion
Friday, 16 July 2010/thecitizen.co.tz

Speaker Samwel John Sitta: Pledged to lead Parliament with standards and speed
By Lucas Liganga

When Mr Samuel John Sitta was elected the fourth Speaker of the National Assembly on December 26, 2005, he made his celebrated pledge to lead the august House “with standards and speed.”

The Urambo East Member of Parliament on the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ticket is a long time politician and civil servant. He became the fourth Speaker since the country’s independence in 1961.

The first, Chief Erasto Mang’enya, occupied the hot Speaker’s seat from 1961 to 1967; followed by Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa (1967-1994) and Mr Pius Msekwa (1994-2005).

Mr Sitta pledged that he would not tolerate “shallow” answers from ministers during House sessions, and was looking forward to upholding the highest legislative standards.

“I wanted to include the civil society in decision-making within parliament and introduce more open committee systems,” he says in a report published by Africa Research Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in London.

The report has been co-authored by Mr Sitta, Karatu MP Dr Willibrod Slaa (Chadema) and Bariadi East MP John Cheyo (UDP) who describe their roles in far-reaching reforms ranging from the first parliamentary committee of enquiry to regular Prime Minister’s questions.

“In the struggle to create a vigilant and accountable public institution in Africa, Tanzania has set an important precedent,” says Mr Mark Ashurst. He is the director of the Africa Research Institute and a former BBC Africa business editor as well as foreign correspondent in Africa for the Financial Times, The Economist and Newsweek.

He adds that a group of activist MPs has boldly asserted their constitutional role: the oversight of government business and the challenge function of standing up to the executive power.

At the end of its five-year tenure, the National Assembly officially winds up business in Dodoma after President Jakaya Kikwete addresses it later today. The House will officially be dissolved on August 1, this year, to allow MPs full participation in the electoral process towards the next October General Election.

Mr Sitta says his message was to empower parliament to fulfill its role as a true pillar in terms of governance so that the government does not get complacent. He thinks that MPs responded to that with an 80 per cent vote in his favour.

“In hindsight, perhaps I was elected to my position against the wishes of the government,” recalls the Speaker.

The report says one of the first things that Mr Sitta did in 2007 was to source an independent budget—the National Assembly Fund—for parliament. Until then costs of running parliament had always been included in the budget for the Prime Minister’s Office.

“MPs were subject to government instructions on driving privileges, mileage limits and other regulations dictated in the form of circulars,” he says.

He explains that these circulars were binding because the clerk of the National Assembly acted as an accounting officer of the government, and in that sense MPs were treated as civil servants.

He says the National Assembly Fund signifies that the government has accepted that parliament should be completely independent.

“Parliament is very expensive to run. Just to keep up with the amount of paperwork requires energy and resources,” Mr Sitta points out in the report titled: A Parliament with Teeth, noting:

“The National Assembly Fund gives us more autonomy to employ researchers and expertise. We can hire new blood and transfer those members of staff who lack the necessary skills to work in parliament back to the civil service.”

Among other things, the Speaker says the National Assembly has introduced a new package for Hansard editors who always work up to midnight because they have to document all the day’s proceedings before the next morning.

In November 2007, he recalls, the National Assembly revised the Standing Orders to enable more vibrant discussions and debates.

“It was not easy. For example, at first they (Members of Parliament) refused to have the Prime Minister’s Questions. They said that it was not appropriate because we have an executive president,” he says.

However, despite all this, Mr Sitta says, “you can see a new mood, an appetite to get things done in a different way.” He says it has now become possible to appoint a select committee to investigate a public controversy, something that would have been very difficult under the old Standing Orders.

He says according to the Standing Orders, MPs must notify the Speaker that they wish to appoint a committee by putting the whole issue in writing, and then it is put to the vote.

In the past, if such a request appeared inconvenient to the government, they would impose a three-line whip and the investigation would not take place, he explains. According to him, in 2006 there was no request for any kind of investigation by parliament.

Mr Sitta says the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been trained and travelled to all the Commonwealth member countries. It is now better equipped and has a lot of informal connections with similar committees in ot
her places.

“We have also set up a Local Authorities Accounts Committee, Public Investments Committee and Public Organizations Accounts Committee. These are headed by the opposition MPs,” he says.

The Speaker explains that the new rules require the PAC reports to be discussed by parliament. On the other hand, the PAC reports to the House with an analysis of the report of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), and this triggers a two-day debate in parliament.

Observes Mr Sitta: “Previously no discussion was required. The report was tabled and perhaps an MP would take the initiative to raise certain issues. But that was all.”

The National Assembly has been working on a five-year corporate plan for parliament with support from Scandinavia, UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank and Association of West European Parliaments for Africa (AWEPA).

“Once operational, the Bunge Foundation will form a committee to meet twice a year to discuss government spending. Previously, this role of analysing government expenditure to see if we are getting value for money was exclusively the role of the donor community,” he says.

Another aspect in the five-year plan is a legislative programme to entrench the separation of powers. This tries to elevate the Bunge so that its independence is not in question, says Mr Sitta.

He says some constitutional changes are necessary to achieve a more effective parliament. “The Public is appetite for this. People want independent MPs,” he adds.

Dr Slaa says: “If we are going to have a parliament with teeth, then we need a president who is willing to drive that.”

However, he thinks President Kikwete has supported reforms in parliament but does not have full support from the CCM ranks.

Mr Cheyo says under the multi-party system, parliament is pushing for more aspects of accountability.

“Under previous administrations, the role of parliament had been undermined for a long time,” adds the Bariadi East MP.
 

Stop criminal gangs terrorizing suburb
Friday, 16 July 2010/thecitizen.co.tz

The gunning down of a renowned university law professor and two other people in a Dar es Salaam suburb on Tuesday has brought to the fore the worrying incidence of insecurity in a city that is now home to more than 4 million people.

Of late, there have been many reported cases of armed robberies targeting the posh homes on the city’s outskirts. Most of the attackers have been hoodlums brandishing guns. And the number of those killed in these raids has risen, and the victims include traders.

As a result, the people living in these otherwise tranquil and serene areas are fearing for their lives and this is simply unacceptable.

No one can feels safe anymore and the public anger is understandably rising with each death. The loss of a top scholar, Prof Jwani Mwaikusa, who has been teaching and the University of Dar es Salaam and also working as an advocate at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, will anger even more people. But other cases could have gone unreported.

In just under five months, five people have been killed and more injured by gun wielding thugs roaming the suburbs. Scores of others have been maimed, injured or have lost their property. Obviously, the city residents want the police to do more to protect them and their property.

There have just been far too many robberies and the only way to restore public confidence in the police is to move with utmost speed to eliminate the danger that lurks in the suburbs.

Ironically, the residents of Kunduchi Beach, which is not far from Prof Mwaikusa’s residence, only recently called a press conference to demand that police step up patrols to stop armed robbers terrorizing their neighborhood.

We hope their cry has been heard and that the police will hasten efforts to bring to book the professors’ killers and complete investigations into last month’s killing of two businessmen at Kimara.

This is the time to send a tough warning to the crooks that their days are numbered. The rising insecurity is hurting the image of our country as a safe place to live and do business.

CONGO RDC :

ICC releases Congolese warlord
Press Trust Of India/www.hindustantimes.com/ July 16, 2010

United Nations,
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the release of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who used child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s civil war. Last week, proceedings against Lubanga were suspended after the defense complained that prosecution led by Argentinean lawyer Luis Moreno-Ocampo was not disclosing information by not identifying a key
witness.

The ICC trial chamber judges said on Thursday that Lubanga “an accused cannot be held in preventative custody on a speculative basis, namely that at some stage in the future the proceedings may be resurrected”.

The Prosecutor has failed to implement two of the Chamber’s orders; those of July seven. For the reasons set out in the decision imposing the stay, this constituted a deliberate and in our judgement, wholly unjustified refusal to comply with the directions of the Court”, Judge Fulford said.

“It is fair that the issue of sanctions should await the outcome of the appeal,” he added.

Lubanga, the former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots from 1999 to 2003, operated in the Ituri region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

He has been charged with war crimes for recruiting and using child soldiers in inter-ethnic conflict in Congo’s Ituri Province.

Lubanga, who surrendered in 2006, was the first person to go on trial at the ICC. He has pleaded not guilty.

The hearings, which began in January 2009, have been bogged down by procedural irregularities.

Several witnesses asked for special protection during the trial since the Ituri region is still a dangerous place.

The prosecution has five days to appeal the decision.

The court also noted that before the order releasing Lubanga could be implemented, arrangements would have to be made for his transfer to a country that would receive him.

The ICC is presently dealing with situations in four countries, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic.

In 2009, the ICC issued its first arrest warrant for a sitting head-of-state, Sudanese President Omar-al Bashir, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict. This week, it added genocide to the charges against Bashir.

In April, the judges of The Hague based ICC, gave Moreno-Ocampo the green signal for investigating the ethnic violence that erupted after the disputed elections in Kenya, two years ago.

 

Congo: Troops Battle Ugandan Rebels
By REUTERS/ July 16, 2010

Congolese troops are fighting Ugandan rebels in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in clashes that have killed two dozen combatants and forced thousands of civilians to flee, military and aid officials said Thursday. They are the first clashes in years between the army and the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, a rebel group trying to set up an Islamic state in Uganda. The army said it attacked the rebels in Eringite in North Kivu Province late on Wednesday. Gen. Vainquer Mayala said that the army had killed 22 rebels and that three of its soldiers had been killed.

 

DRC: Congolese church leader warns about more militia killings
ENI/www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/16072010

A Congolese pastor, who works for peace in the midst of his country’s deadly mineral war, says churches want the United Nations to complete its mission there.

At the same time, the Rev Josue’ Bulambo Lembelembe, the vice president of the Church of Christ in Congo, South Kivu, said his church members want the government to protect civilians and their property as he cites growing insecurity in the mineral rich nation.

“The safety of the population is not possible because of the violation of human rights, including assassinations and killings, rape and many other tolls on humans,” Bulambo said in a letter dated 7 July, sent to the Rafto Foundation, a Norwegian human rights organization.

The United Nations says it is reducing a peacekeeping force, known as MONUC, which it has stationed in the DRC since 1999. Some members of the force have been accused of sexual abuse and of smuggling of minerals.

 

DR Congo : Women and children first: on the frontline of war in the Kivus
Source: Oxfam/www.reliefweb.int/Date: 16 Jul 2010

Oxfam briefing on the protection of civilians in the Kivus, DRC

In 2009, the government of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with international backing, launched military offensives against the FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda) and other militias in eastern DRC, with devastating humanitarian consequences: an estimated 900,000 people displaced and over 1,400 documented civilian deaths attributed to militia and government forces. In 2010 a new offensive, Amani Leo (‘peace today’), continues efforts to disarm the militias, with some additional safeguards for civilian safety linked to UN peacekeeping support for the operations. However, while some areas have become safer as a result, ongoing population displacement (over 164,000 January- April 2010) and protection cluster monitoring of human rights violations (up 246% January-February in South Kivu after the launch of Amani Leo) are indications of continuing fallout for civilians. A survey conducted by Oxfam and partners in North and South Kivu in April 2010 enquired into the experiences of people in areas affected by the military operations. It found that, for 60% of respondents this year, things are worse than in 2009.

Amani Leo was very widely blamed for much of the insecurity: three-quarters of communities surveyed were against continuing the military action, calling instead for a political resolution to the conflict. While 46% of communities consulted gave examples of ways in which the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) provided much-needed protection, sections of the security services were themselves cited as a major cause of insecurity. Human rights abuses were reported everywhere: committed by the FDLR and other militias in almost 80% of the communities surveyed, and by undisciplined soldiers in 96%. Residents in every single community were subject to looting, and women and girls were subject to rape in all but one; sexual violence was reported to be on the increase in 20 out of the 24 communities consulted. The big losers are women (75% of those consulted said they were less safe than last year) and boys and young men (65%); but everyone loses: humiliation, pain and penury are the dividends of war for whole communities, and the lack of adequate provision for many of the soldiers sent to fight on their behalf compounds the insecurity for civilians

KENYA :

Kenyan forces detain several Somalis in Nairobi
Mareeg.com/16072010

NAIROBI ( Mareeg.com) –The police forces of Kenyan government have detained several Somali people from their neighborhoods in Nairobi overnight and jailed in a prisons, witnesses, residents said on Friday.

Locals in Nairobi city said that the troops had captured the Somalis from their neighborhoods in the capital for charges relating to the twin blasts occurred in Kampala of Uganda’s capital on the last Sunday that left the lives of the more than seventh people as watching the final game of world Cup 2010.

The foreign affairs minister of Kenya Moses Wantangula said that his government would take any step assuring the security of his country pointing out Kenya will not tolerate any insecurity created in its soil or surroundings.

It is unclear the reason that Kenyan forces had arrested the people and there is no comment from the officials yet, but latest reports form the country indicate that they detained people would be brought before a court for the coming hours.

More people have expressed concern about the arrest of the Somali people in Kenya as many others have the fears to be targeted by the Kenyan forces for the security matters.

Kenya launches SMS service to monitor hate speech
Dusan/www.intomobile.com/Friday, July 16th, 2010

We love when mobile technology is used for good and today we bring you the story of such an example.

In Kenya, government launched a toll-free SMS service to monitor hate speech during campaigns ahead of the next months’ constitutional referendum. The service launch comes after five people have been killed in twin blasts at a rally against the draft law in Nairobi in June.

Mary Onyango, the deputy head of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (which is behind the SMS service), said: “We know that there are still those who are making remarks that are not conducive to integration and cohesion and we are dealing with such persons.”

Thus far, three politicians were charged in court for hate speech.

Those unfamiliar should know that Kenya is recovering from ethnically-driven violence, following the disputed December 2007 presidential elections which left some 1,500 people dead. A new constitution is part of wide-ranging reforms agreed on in a 2008 peace accord that brought an end to the violence.

Kenya’s Environment Minister joins the ‘Yes’ Team
Written By:PPS/www.kbc.co.ke/Posted: Fri, Jul 16, 2010

President Mwai Kibaki has welcomed Environment Minister John Michuki to the ‘Yes’ campaign team and called on other leaders still opposed to the draft constitution to reconsider their stand for sake of unity and harmony in the country.

Mr Michuki broke his silence and resolved to support the proposed constitution during a ‘Yes’ campaign rally attended by a mammoth crowd at Ihura Stadium in Muranga town on Thursday.

Mr Michuki said he will join President Kibaki and other leaders in drumming up support for the constitution so as to bequeath the nation a firm foundation of building model country for future generations.

The Kangema legislator said he has been a friend of President Kibaki for over 50 years whom he termed as a visionary leader whose commitment to the building of a prosperous nation is beyond doubt.

The Environment Minister declared that he would not act as a stumbling block to the passage of a new constitution which has eluded Kenyans for over twenty years.

President Kibaki who was flanked by the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, several cabinet Ministers, Assistant Ministers and over twenty MPs from across the country, urged Kenyans to intensify public education on the proposed constitution to persuade the opponents to support the draft.

The Head of State told Kenyans not to create enmity with those holding contrary opinion towards the new document but instead to endeavor to win them so as to ensure peace and tranquility in all parts of the country.

He reaffirmed that any contentious clauses in the proposed law would be amended later to reflect the changes that Kenyans will advocate for in accordance with their future desires.

“Uphold tolerance and preach forgiveness among neighbours holding divergent opinions on the constitution as Kenyans needs peace, unity and harmonious co-existence even after the national referendum,” the President said.

Urging Kenyans to come out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right during the referendum day, President Kibaki said passage of the new constitution would ensure a new beginning in governance and management of public resources.

On his part Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka assured religious leaders that the passage of the proposed constitution with not erode the credibility and authority of the church after the referendum.

Mr Kalonzo said the proposed constitution guaranteed separation of power and equitable devolution of resources to the grassroots for prosperity of regions in the country.

Welcoming Mr Michuki to the ‘Yes’ team, the vice President commended the Environment Minister for making the right decision to support the proposed constitution.

“The decision by Mr Michuki to rally behind the President in campaigning for the proposed constitution is a sign of respect to the Head of State and other leaders in the forefront charting the country’s destiny.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said the proposed constitution was good for all Kenyans as it safeguarded the individual creativity and the right to own property in any part of the country.

Mr Uhuru also observed that the new constitution once enacted would ensure fair representation through equality of the vote.

Cabinet Ministers Prof. George Saitoti, Joseph Nyaga, Paul Otuoma, Amos Kimunya and Kiraitu Murungi, who also addressed the Yes rally, appealed to Kenyans to come out in large numbers and vote for the proposed constitution to give the country a new beginning.

Enumerating the benefits accruing from the new constitution, the leaders observed that the new law will address injustices that contributed to ethnic hatred and political clashes in the past.

Prof. Saitoti specifically censured the ‘No’ team for using undiplomatic language on international leaders who have shown goodwill and supported genuine reforms that would propel the country to higher heights of development.

Noting with regret that opponents of the proposed constitution continued to mislead Kenyans on the alleged contentious clauses, the leaders urged Kenyans to read the document for themselves to make an informed decision during the referendum.

Others who addressed the ‘Yes’ campaign rally included Assistant Ministers and over 20 members of parliament from across the country who declared their support for the proposed constitution.

ANGOLA :

Angola to pay debt to Portuguese construction companies by November
[ 2010-07-16 ]/(macauhub)

Lisbon, Portugal, 16 July – Angola’s Minister for Urbanism and Construction, José da Silva Ferreira, gave assurances Thursday in Lisbon that debts from 2008 and 2009 owed to Portuguese construction companies would be paid by November of this year, under the terms of a programme that has already been approved by the government.

“We are currently validating the debts in order for the debts going back to 2008 and 2009 be paid by October or November,” said the minister, after signing a number of protocols and memoranda of understanding between Portugal and Angola in the construction sector.

According to news agency Angolahub the debt recognised by the Angolan state to construction companies totals US$3 billion and to Portuguese construction companies total US$2 billion.

Last April, Portugal’s Finance Minister, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, announced in Luanda a credit line set up by Portugal in 2009, to the value of 500 million euros, that would finally be activated and used by Angola essentially to pay off construction companies. (macauhub)

Apex-Brasil takes 40 companies to Luanda International Fair
[ 2010-07-16 ] /(macauhub)

Brasilia, Brazil, 16 July – Brazilian export and investment promotion agency, APEX-Brasil, is organising the participation of 40 companies in the Brazil pavilion in this year’s edition of the Luanda International Fair (Filda), from 20 to 25 July, the agency said.

According to Apex-Brasil, the group is made up of companies from various business sectors from the state of Sao Paulo as well as from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás and Paraná, interested in the great potential for Brazilian products and services in Africa, particularly Angola, which is now Brazil’s main trading partner on the continent.

In a statement, Apex-Brasil said they were mainly export companies that already had some experience in the African market and that were taking a wide variety of products to Luanda, ranging from electricity transmission and telecommunications towers, grain silos and chassis for vehicles to footwear, food and domestic items.

The list of products offered by the Brazilian pavilion also includes cleaning products, agricultural machinery and equipment, motors and generators, construction materials, metallic housing modules, scales and evangelical publications.

The boost to trade relations between Brazil and Angola has seen string growth over the last two years rising from US$520 million in 2005 to US$1.5 billion in 2009, a figure that was lower than that for 2008 (US$2 billion) due to the world economic and financial crisis.

In 2009, the companies that were part of the Brazil pavilion, which was also organised by Apex-Brasil, made 900 contacts with Angolan buyers and did deals worth a total US$30 million during the fair and in the 12 months that followed. (macauhub)

SOUTH AFRICA:

SA and the future of journalism
by Kevin Douglas Grant/www.news24.com/ 2010-07-16

Amidst the madness of the World Cup semi-finals last week, delegates of three global journalism conferences challenged African governments to open their countries to the free press – and journalists from around the world to report accurately on Africa.

Grahamstown-based Rhodes University simultaneously hosted the Highway Africa conference, the triannual World Journalism Education Congress, and a citizen journalism event called Digital Citizen Indaba. In doing so, organisers including Rhodes journalism head Guy Berger demonstrated the incredible value of partnerships for African democracies (and rebels in non-democracies) looking to grow their press.

Hundreds of media, technology, and political heavyweights from around the world made the pilgrimage to Grahamstown, arriving just as the National Arts Festival was winding down. They hoped to raise the bar for reporting in and about Africa, and there is plenty of evidence they succeeded.

I was struck by the great balance of world-class talent from academia, mainstream media, citizen journalism, and the technology space. Engineers from Google taught workshops on new media reporting while executives from telecommunications giants MTN and Telkom discussed their efforts to build infrastructure supporting high-speed Internet access throughout South Africa.

South Africa’s Department of Communications called on the reporters in the room to present a fair and positive view of the country in their work. Of course, positive views are not necessarily the work of journalism, but sponsors like the DOC get to deliver their message to the audience whose meals they purchase.

At the same time, the US State Department showcased its “Democracy Video Challenge”, one way that America pursues its interests in Africa. Some of the most powerful panels featured journalists who report from crisis zones, whether from Haiti during and after its massive earthquake or in exile from repressive states like Zimbabwe and the Gambia. One exiled journalist spoke about how she missed her mother’s funeral because she cannot return to her home country.

Delegates who were not already aware learned that mobile penetration tends to be dramatically higher than that of broadband access throughout the continent. This presents a very different environment for Internet storytelling in Europe and the United States, for example.

One innovative use of available resources is Ushahidi.com, a Kenyan information mapping site built on open source software by developers around the world. The site accepts SMS updates from people on the ground, and was first launched in response to the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya.

African entrepreneurs are now pressuring media outlets here to pay market prices for locally created content, while building venues where African journalists can sell their work. They are pulling stories and information from the “crowd” to supplement their own reporting. The larger picture is that African journalists are tired of outside media telling and profiting from stories they feel best qualified to report.

When Archbishop Desmond Tutu signed the Declaration of Table Mountain calling for more press freedom at a farewell braai last Wednesday night, he reminded those assembled of their responsibility as pursuers of truth. Some of those in the audience knew the cost of this pursuit all too well. Tutu also reminded us that South Africa’s media had chronically failed the public during apartheid, just as media organizations often fail the public in countries around the world.

I left the conferences realising the centrality of journalism inside a budding democracy. The power of the press is even more starkly evident in countries where democratic freedoms are not recognised. Those countries with longstanding free presses may take them for granted, but journalism becomes a more sacred task when so much risk is involved in doing it.

Grahamstown represented a gathering of influencers of all types with a vested, long-term interest in the African media. It was also a testament that South Africa will continue to serve as a home base for media development in Africa, and that Rhodes University will continue to be a stronghold. There is much work left to do but no doubt that journalism is better for it.

Author Gordimer face minted on gold coins
Friday, July 16, 2010/OneIndia News

Pretoria, Jul 16: Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel literature honoree and anti-apartheid activist had her face coined into special gold collector coins on Thursday, Jul 15.

This kind of honour previously bestowed on outstanding statesmen like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.

“I am overwhelmed (by) the honour, it has to do with my work, the centre of my life and the centre of my life in South Africa,” said 87-year-old Gordimer.

Gordimer won Nobel prize for literature in 1991, when the Nobel committee said her “magnificent epic writing has been of very great benefit to humanity.

About 13 novels translated into 40 languages, more than 200 short stories and several volumes of essays were written by Gordimer.

“Nothing is as true as my fiction,” said Gordimer once of her novels.
 

Nelson Mandela turns 92
Charlotte Plantive, AFP/Friday, 16th July 2010

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela celebrates his 92nd birthday at home with his family on Sunday, just one week after the World Cup showed off the successes of democratic South Africa.

“The man who has suffered so much and who, when he came out (of jail) set out to bring peace, solidarity and humanity, he had a dream, and his dream was to see the World Cup in his country,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said this week. “That dream has now come true.”

After spending 27 years in an apartheid prison, Mr Mandela emerged in 1990 to lead South Africa to elections that made him President in 1994.

He stayed in power for only one term, but even out of office remained one of the driving forces behind bringing the World Cup to South Africa.

“As a unifier and a world symbol for peace, (he) knew the role the event will play in uniting and deepening the spirit of patriotism our nascent democracy so much thirsted,” said the committee charged with organising commemorations of his birthday. The World Cup flatly dismissed the racist fears of the apartheid era, said Verne Harris, historian at the Mandela Foundation.

“In terms of the struggle against oppression and white domination, there is a narrative from the apartheid area that black South Africans would not be able to run this country efficiently and effectively,” he said.

Despite his advanced age and his grief over his great-granddaughter, killed in a car accident on the eve of the tournament, Mr Mandela braved the winter cold to appear for a few moments at last Sunday’s final.

In gloves, hat and overcoat, he sat next to his wife Graca Machel in an open vehicle to tour the pitch and wave to the fans before Spain’s victory over Netherlands.

But this year the world will celebrate with him on the first Nelson Mandela International Day, which the UN decided in November would be observed every year on his birthday to recognise his struggle for peace and freedom.

The UN General Assembly will hold an informal session today in honour, while the UN mission in Darfur is organising a “football for peace” tournament.

In a chance of history, Madrid was chosen months ago by Mr Mandela’s AIDS charity 46664 to host the first annual concert in honour of the former President, which will now enjoy the euphoria of Spain’s World Cup win.

The Mandela Foundation is asking people around the world to give 67 minutes of their time to volunteer work – one minute for every year that Mr Manela spent in the struggle for equality.

 

Mohadi, Makone ignorant of xenophobia
KELVIN JAKACHIRA/ FELUNA NLEYA/www.newsday.co.zw/ Jul 16 2010

Co-Home Affairs ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone yesterday made stunning revelations that they were oblivious of Zimbabweans fleeing xenophobic attacks from South Africa soon after the curtain came down on the World Cup.

Despite the ministers’ purported ignorance of the situation, there was a hive of activity at Road Port, the international bus terminus in Harare, with fear-stricken Zimbabweans arriving in droves.

Mohadi and Makone told journalists that Pretoria had not yet officially informed them about possible xenophobic violence, hence they could not rely on media reports on the mass movement of Zimbabweans.

“Where are you getting this from? This has not been officially communicated to us,” Mohadi said.

Mohadi and Makone had just come out of a brief meeting with South African Foreign Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, at a local hotel in Harare when they professed ignorance of the attacks.

Speculation swirled that the ministers discussed the ongoing threats of xenophobic violence. But Mohadi and Makone said their South African counterpart was in Zimbabwe on a private visit. “She was just paying a courtesy call on us and informing us that she is here on private business,” the ministers said.

Mohadi and Makone spoke to reporters after Dlamini-Zuma had left. Dlamini-Zuma was in Zimbabwe together with her former husband, South African President Jacob Zuma, to console the family of Industry and International Trade Minister Welshman Ncube, whose father died recently. Their daughter Gugulethu is married to Ncube’s son, Wesley.

President Zuma — who was coming from State House where he met President Mugabe — arrived at the hotel in his motorcade.

He did not disembark but only waited for his former wife to get into her own car before he waved to reporters and took off.

The South African government has acknowledged the threats of xenophobic violence and has responded by deploying solders in volatile townships.

Mohadi said if the South African government had problems they “will communicate to us”. Makone weighed in saying: “Our citizens have not yet communicated with us. We cannot rely on media reports.”

Those retuning told Newsday in interviews that they fled South Africa fearing possible attacks.

“I decided to come home because I am afraid, I do not want to be a victim because I have three children here,” said Delia Mataure, who had come from Polokwane, adding, “So for me I can’t afford to die and leave my children.” A Zimbabwean man, who was a truck driver in South Africa for five years, said he came back after he saw a neighbour being thrown out of a window from a flat in Durban.

“I came back because I saw one of our flat mates being thrown out of the window from the fourth floor. That is when I thought I should come home,” he said. The influx of Zimbabweans was welcome news to metered taxi drivers who said they were making brisk business. “We are paid in cash and in kind,” said one taxi driver who operates from the Road Port. “The other day I was hired by someone who didn’t have cash and I was given a blanket,” he said.

Tafadzwa Muranda (23), who is based in Cape Town, said it had now become dangerous to work in South Africa. While Mohadi and Makone were professing ignorance about the possible danger, Zimbabwean immigrants returning from South Africa said the police were on high alert in the neighbouring country – patrolling volatile townships.

Chairperson of the South African inter-ministerial committee on xenophobia, police minister, Nathi Mthethwa, said they had the “capacity” to deal with any possible outbreak of violence.

Mthethwa said SA was not a “banana republic” and had the capacity to deal with the threats of violence.

AFRICA / AU :

East Africa should jointly respond to Somali terrorism
Friday, 16 July 2010/thecitizen.co.tz

I deeply regret the loss of lives and the senseless injuries caused by the bombings in Kampala. I wish the injured a speedy recovery and the dead mercy from the creator. And to the relatives of the victims, time will heal the wounds and sorrows. The killing of innocent people should be forcefully condemned.

What should Uganda do now? The issue of dealing with al Shabaab should not be left to Uganda alone. If they can bomb Kampala, then they are indeed capable of bombing Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or Kigali at any time in the future. It should be a collective gesture by the East African Community to show al Shabaab that East Africa is fed up with this barbaric and nonsense killings of innocents.

Somalis terrorists have now become a regional nuisance that needs to be dealt with decisively. Forces should be combined (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda etc etc) to uproot them from their bases in Mogadishu and wherever they might be hiding in the countryside. Their acts and existence are destabilising the region and hindering further investment in East Africa from outside investors.

As East Africans are trying to build an integrated East Africa, we can’t lose sight of the problem of piracy, terrorism and refugees streaming from Somaliland. It is in the interest of East African nations to deal with this problem now, once and for all. These resolutions after resolutions by the AU of sending peacekeepers to keep nonexistent peace in Somalia should end.

We East Africans actually need to go into Somali, create peace by disarming all the fighting factions and then keep the peace until Somalis are ready to lead their own county.

We have been watching Somalis kill each other for far too long, over 20 years in fact. The fact of the matter is they seem incapable of figuring out solutions to their problems. It is now time for neighbours to intervene. We are not going to intervene just because it is morally right, but because we will also be preventing future attacks.

If Tanzania, with the support of Ugandans, was able to uprooted the ruthless regime of Idi Amin Dada, three countries or more in the East African bloc should be able to do the same in Somalia with the help of moderate Somalis.

This is our problem and we need to deal with it as East Africans. America and the West will not be fully engaged in this as their interventions around the world usually involve the presence of oil or minerals resource in the country in question, and Somalia has neither.

As the AU head of states gather in Kampala from July 25, this issue needs to be at the top of the summit’s agenda. The Somalia problem cannot be left to take its own cause any longer and needs to be dealt with forcefully and conclusively.
Shaaban K. Fundi
Atlanta, Georgia.

 

Southern Africa in circumcision drive to fight AIDS
2010-07-16/By Godfrey Marawanyika/AFP

HARARE, Friday 16 July 2010 (AFP) – Thomas Mukone wonders exactly how he would tell his wife that he wants a circumcision at age 41, even with the government in Zimbabwe urging adult men to get snipped to slow the spread of AIDS.

“It’s not easy to discuss this as she is bound to accuse me of promiscuity,” he said. “It is a really nice programme, but how will I tell my wife that I want to go for circumcision?”

Zimbabwe has joined the growing list of countries in southern Africa that is pushing, and sometimes paying, for adult men to get circumcised, in the wake of studies that found men without a foreskin are 60 percent less likely to catch HIV.

Scientists think this is because the foreskin has more cells that are easier for HIV to infect. The findings have sparked a regional drive to make circumcision a routine party of prevention efforts.

Zimbabwe aims to have 30,000 men undergo circumcision by year end, said Owen Mugurungi, head of the national HIV prevention programme.

It’s an ambitious target — 82 men would have to get trimmed every day in a country where the medical service struggles to provide basic care.

Mugurungi said 4,000 men have taken part so far, including many in the army, and donor funding means the procedure is free for volunteers.

But convincing men to undergo the procedure requires tackling issues both complicated and intimate in the region hardest-hit by AIDS.

“In many households, the issue of circumcision is still treated with suspicion and we need to do more campaigns” to educate the public, Mugurungi said.

Trials in Kenya and Uganda have shown that circumcision, while far from being a silver bullet, dramatically reduced the number of new infections for men.

Uganda, a pioneer in HIV prevention, is currently running television and radio campaigns to encourage men to visit clinics for safe circumcision procedures.

Botswana has launched a scheme to circumcise 500,000 men — a quarter of the total population — by 2012.

Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland all encourage circumcision as a matter of policy, and South Africa is running a pilot project to offer free circumcisions.

Each country is facing its own hurdles.

In some communities, circumcision is practised as a rite of passage for teenage boys. Xhosa boys in South Africa are taken to initiation schools where their foreskins are cut by traditional doctors of varying competence.

Every year, dozens of boys die of complications from the procedure, while scores more suffer amputations or gangrenous infections. That can scare off potential volunteers from safe medical circumcisions performed in clinics.

Zulus abandoned the tradition more than a century ago, but their king has proposed reviving the practice to fight HIV, with trained medical staff doing the work.

In countries like Swaziland, where HIV infects 26 percent of adults, circumcision trials began five years ago and worries have already sprung up that after the procedure men see less need to use condoms, creating a new HIV risk.

Still, the country is aiming to circumcise 80 percent of men aged 15-24 over the next four years.

The question remains, will the men participate?

Malawi has refused to look at circumcision as an option, saying it is too difficult culturally for people to accept.

“Malawi is not a circumcised country, so circumcision cannot work,” said Mary Shawa, head of Malawi’s AIDS and nutrition programme. “It’s very difficult to implement as a policy.”

Still, across most of the region billboards are sprouting up like those in Zimbabwe, which show five footballers forming a wall in front of the goal line, under the message: “Male circumcision is one of the top defenders against HIV.”

Admire Murerwa, 21, a street vendor selling his wares a few metres (yards) from the sign, is not convinced.

“Yes, circumcision is right,” Murerwa said. “I still think the condom is better to reduce HIV infection. Circumcision is right, but it also depends on how one behaves for you not to be infected.”

 

NTT tackles the cloud with $3.6b DiData bid
Jul 16, 2010/www.itnews.com.au

Telco-integrator deals to be a trend, EMC predicts.
Japanese telco powerhouse NTT has made a $3.6 billion offer for global IT services firm Dimension Data

NTT’s president and CEO Satoshi Miura said an acquisition would ensure NTT is competitively placed “in the coming age of cloud computing”.

“We are confident that we will provide end-to-end, global-one-stop and high quality ICT Services,” he said.

“NTT’s network carrier capabilities and assets coupled with Dimension Data’s global system integrator expertise create an incredibly powerful and unprecedented combination of capabilities and skills.”

The two companies feel they are a complementary fit with services that “do not substantially overlap”.

Geographically, NTT Group’s business focuses on Asia, Europe and the USA, while Dimension Data boasts extended coverage in Africa, the Middle East and Australia.

In terms of services, NTT offers network services, data centres, system integration and mobile services. Dimension Data is stronger in development, operation and maintenance of IT infrastructure.

In Australia, however, Dimension Data is arguably stronger than its regional peers in terms of both networking and systems integration.

EMC’s CTO and global marketing VP Chuck Hollis called the deal “surprising but not totally unexpected” in a blog post today.

“I see it as an early signpost in the restructuring of the IT industry: from IT as a product, to IT as a service,” he wrote.

Hollis congratulated both companies on the deal, using it as evidence that “cloud changes everything”.

He forecast a trend of large service providers acquiring customer-facing systems integrators, noting, “I’ve even got a private list of who I think is going to want to buy who.”

Historically, Australian telcos have attempted to purchase IT services firms in similar fashion, but not always with stellar results.

Telstra purchased KAZ Computer Services for $333 million in April 2004, only to spin it back out to Fujitsu in March 2009 for $200 million.

SingTel-owned Optus’ acquisition of Alphawest is being used to combine IP WAN services with ‘cloud computing’ style outsourced IT, but the company remains tight-lipped as to how much the Alphawest business contributes to SingTel’s profitability.

“Together, NTT and Dimension Data define a new industry standard for IT service quality, delivery, and support. NTT’s network carrier capabilities and assets coupled with Dimension Data’s global system integrator expertise create an incredibly powerful and unprecedented combination of capabilities and skills,” Dimension Data executive chairman Jeremy Ord said in a statement.

The acquisition has been unanimously approved by Dimension Data directors but is subject to shareholder approval.

 

Cuba to mark ‘Nelson Mandela Day’
Source: Xinhua/July 16 2010

The Cuban parliament Thursday decided at an extraordinary session to mark the first international “Nelson Mandela Day” which falls on Sunday.
In response to a call of the UN General Assembly in 2009 to laud the former South African president, the country’s first black president, Cuban lawmakers decided to make the “Nelson Mandela Day” a national holiday celebrated across the country, said the Foreign Relations Committee of Cuban People’s Power National Assembly in a statement.
The document highlighted “the example of resistance and the indomitable spirit of Mandela who never gave up his principles during his 27 years in prison and dedicated his life to serve the humanity.”
It also stressed the close friendship between Mandela and Fidel Castro, former top Cuban leader and the Cuban people’s admiration for the South African leader.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on November 10, 2009 to commemorate every year starting in 2010 on July 18 — Mandela’s birthday — to recognize the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s contribution to resolving conflicts and promoting racial reconciliation and human rights.
After 27 years of imprisonment under the then-Apartheid government in South Africa, Mandela managed to reconcile with his oppressors and lead the country peacefully through the transition from 46-year racial segregation.

 

Zambia: Zambian Airways probe partially concluded
Friday, July 16, 2010/www.lusakatimes.com

INVESTIGATIONS into the operation of the defunct Zambian Airways have partially been completed in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Richard Taima said this in Parliament yesterday.

He also said authority has been granted for security personnel to travel to South Africa for further investigations now that the FIFA World Cup is over.

Mr Taima said investigations have delayed to be conducted in South Africa because most of the officers who were expected to assist were involved in World Cup special duties.

He said investigations are expected to be completed as soon as possible.

“The delay to conclude investigations has been due to challenges in accessing information in foreign countries where the airline used to operate,” he said.

Mr Taima said the responses to applications for mutual legal assistance from the Zambian Attorney General to the attorneys general of other countries took time but that they have been positive.

He said a total of K139,328,800 has been spent on investigations as at March 31, 2010.

Mr Taima was responding to a question from Kanchibiya MP Davies Mwango (PF) who wanted to know when investigations into operations of the defunct airline by security agencies will be completed, what the delay in the completion has been and how much money has been spent on investigations.

Three government investigative wings are investigating alleged financial irregularities at the defunct Zambian Airways to establish if there are some criminal elements in the matter.

The Zambia Police Service wrote to foreign governments requesting for clearance to enable it investigate certain institutions in connection with operations of Zambian Airways.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

 

Iran, Israel take their tussle to Africa
Friday, 16 July 2010/David Lewis/thecitizen.co.tz

Arch foes Iran and Israel have taken their diplomatic rivalry to Africa, courting the continent with everything from trade to security ties in their search for support in the United Nations.

Both nations are sending politicians and business leaders across the continent to forge or revive contacts, clinching a string of deals ranging from arms and agriculture to promises of dams, oil and protection.

Although not on the scale of the Cold War-era rivalries that saw Russia and the US fight proxy wars in Africa, analysts say the continent is increasingly important to Iran and Israel and believe countries will take what is on offer from both sides.

“The main battleground is the UN, where Africa’s 53 votes can really add up,” said Eurasia Group’s Philippe de Pontet.

“This isn’t likely to take the form of an auction-like bidding contest, but increased financial diplomacy by both the suitors, including targeted investments and aid projects designed to curry favour,” de Pontet added.

In June, the United Nations Security Council adopted a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend nuclear work, which Iran says is peaceful but Western countries believe is cover for a weapons programme.

The 15-member Security Council includes three African states — Gabon, Nigeria and Uganda, which all supported the sanctions.

Last week Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Nigeria, which is hosting the summit of D8 developing nations and also holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council. Nigeria is also Israel’s top Africa client for defence exports.

Ahmadinejad says Africa is a foreign policy priority and has been a frequent visitor to the continent in the last 18 months.
Before Nigeria, he was in Mali, where Iran is meant to be building a hydroelectic dam. Ahead of a recent UN vote, he was in Uganda, dangling offers of oil and refining capacity.

He has also been a regular visitor to Senegal, which he calls Iran’s “Gateway to Africa”, and where an Iranian-built factory has churned out thousands of bright yellow taxis.

“Iran is really using some of these African nations to balance its increasing isolation and, drawing from that, access markets. Africa is a fertile ground,” said Sanam Vakil at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Despite failing to win support from the three African US Security Council members in June’s sanctions vote, Ahmadinejad has been feted from Senegal to Zimbabwe and Iran has secured support for its nuclear programme from some African countries.

Israel, too, has launched a charm offensive.
Once admired by African nations as a post-colonial success after its 1948 founding, Israel was cut off from dealings with many African countries after its 1967 occupation of land now sought by Palestinians.

In the highest profile visit in decades, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and a batch of businessmen went on a five-nation tour of Africa in September last year, looking to drum up diplomatic support and business deals.

In terms of aid, the government touts its expertise in health and farming arid lands. Israeli businessmen also work in mining, security and telecommunications across the continent.

“(It is) a battle to constrain operations or groups that can be harboured and used against them,” Mark Schroeder, director of Sub-Saharan Africa analysis at Stratfor, a global intelligence company, said of Israel’s activity in Africa.

In East Africa, Israel worries about Islamists in Somalia. In the West its concerns include the large Lebanese trading community which may make contributions to the militant group Hezbollah back home.

Jack Rosen, head of the American Jewish Congress, who lobbies African leaders, said neither Israel nor the United States took the threat posed by Iran in Africa seriously enough.

He said Africans voting for sanctions was a clear sign that leaders understood the limitations of standing with Iran, and the importance of a future with Israel and the United States.

Despite their diplomatic push, Iran and Israel still fall well behind other countries in terms of trade with Africa.

Israeli exports to Africa last year totalled just over $1 billion and imports were around $1.5 billion. The semi-official Fars news agency said Iran’s non-oil exports to Africa in the last nine months of 2009 came to around $230 million.

By contrast, African trade with China is over $100 billion per year. Brazil’s exports to Africa were $8.7 billion in 2009.

A number of Iran’s projects, like the much-vaunted hydro project and a tractor plan in Mali, have failed to materialise, or been overtaken by Chinese and Indian rivals.

Vakil said Cold War comparisons were an overstatement, and played into Iranian rhetoric. Some nations, like South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, happily court both sides.

Citing what she called the “weakness and isolation” of both Israel and Iran, Sanusha Naidu of the South Africa-based Fahamu social justice network said the wider issue was whether it would be Africa’s countries or merely their elites that would benefit.

“The question is how African nations capitalise from this.”

David Lewis filed this analysis for Reuters from Dakar

UN /ONU :

Sudan ejects two aid workers after new al-Bashir warrant
Jul 16, 2010/www.monstersandcritics.com

Nairobi/Geneva – Two senior aid workers have been ordered to leave Sudan’s restive Darfur province, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

The government’s decision comes just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a new arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, adding genocide to list of charges he faces relating to the Darfur conflict.

‘No explanation has been given as to why this decision was taken,’ IOM said in a statement on its website Thursday. ‘IOM regrets this development which will seriously impact on its capacity to continue its humanitarian work in Darfur.’

Following the issue of the first warrant in March 2009, Sudan expelled thirteen aid agencies from the western province – a move which caused uproar amongst charities attempting to care for millions of people displaced by the conflict.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said that the two workers had violated the terms of the agreement made with the agency that allowed their employment.

IOM did not reveal the identities of the expelled workers, but reports said they were the director of the organization in Darfur and the head of office in South Darfur.

The Sudanese government rejected Monday’s warrant, which adds three counts of genocide to five counts of crimes against humanity.

The UN estimates 300,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003, when mainly black mainly non-Arab tribesmen took up arms against what they called decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

Even though fighting has died down to sporadic clashes, millions remain in internationally funded camps for fear of revenge attacks by the Arab militias al-Bashir is accused of arming and allowing to run amok.

USUN – Remarks by Ambassador Brooke Anderson, U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs, on the situation in Guinea-Bissau at a Security Council Stakeout
www.isria.com/July 16, 2010

Brooke Anderson
U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, NY
July 15, 2010

Good morning. The Security Council is being briefed on the current situation, both the security and political situation, in Guinea-Bissau. The United States is committed to achieving a lasting stability and peace in Guinea-Bissau, and we are deeply concerned about the current political and security situation both in that country and the implications for the region.

The UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau is an important tool to help address these challenges, but its efforts alone are not enough to meet the challenges.

Narcotrafficking and the effect of drug money in organized crime are a clear and present threat to the stability and security in Guinea-Bissau and in the region. This is a message that has been repeatedly presented to the Security Council by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and underscored again today by Special Representative Mutaboba.

Local, regional and international counternarcotics efforts are essential, and that means we have to hold accountable those who attempt to profit from narcotrafficking in countries where the drugs are produced, transported, and consumed.

The stakes for Guinea-Bissau and the region are very high. The United States has imposed sanctions, under the authority of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, against two individuals involved in narcotics trafficking in Guinea-Bissau. These individuals are prohibited from all financial transactions with U.S. citizens and businesses. And wherever U.S. jurisdiction applies, we will freeze their assets.

The United States will continue to target through sanctions other individuals who are facilitating the narcotics trade through Guinea-Bissau and West Africa. The U.S. efforts alone, however, are not enough, and we call on all nations to join this effort and to launch similar sanctions against narcotraffickers.

We applaud the increased collaboration between the UN Office of Drugs and Crime and the Economic Community of West African States; this is going to help strengthen a coordinated, regional response to the issue.

Narcotrafficking is a very serious issue that requires responsible action from all nations.

And with that I’m happy to take a question or two.

Reporter: Thanks Ambassador Anderson. I just wanted to ask, one of the two people named as kingpins, Bubo Na Tchuto, was actually put up by the United Nations, was held in the UN compound, was protected in December for several months. I’m just wondering, what does the U.S. think, does the U.S. think that was a bad decision for the UN to essentially provide protection and supper to a man that is now known as a drug kingpin?

Ambassador Anderson: We have designated him as a drug kingpin, we are taking action to address this issue and we are concerned about the fact that he was in the UN compound.

Reporter: Was there any communication at some point, because he was known for his involvement?

Ambassador Anderson: We have taken action now, and we are also looking to designate additional individuals under this. The issue of narco-trafficking is a direct threat to Guinea-Bissau and to stability in the region, and I’m here today to express that concern and to talk about the steps that we are going to be taking to address it.

Reporter: Ambassador, can you tell us more about how might be also designated as a kingpin, are they in the military or not, what can you tell us about that?

Ambassador Anderson: I can’t say anything further about it at this point, thank you.

Reporter: Ambassador, I [inaudible] am working for Radio Deutschland [inaudible], my question is did you receive any kind of input or more information regarding the extraordinary session of the Security Council last week at the request of the Serbian government, regarding who is to be blamed for that incident? Do you have any other information [inaudible] that you can share with us?

Ambassador Anderson: I don’t have any additional information at this point, but I’d be happy to follow up with you afterwards. Thank you. Thank you very much
 

First ‘Nelson Mandela Day’ on July 18, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010/OneIndia News

New York, Jul 16: United Nations will memorialize the first ‘Nelson Mandela Day’ on Jul 18 in honour of ‘the father of the new South Africa’, informed Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman on Thursday, Jul 15.

The decision to memorialize Jul 18 as Nelson Mandela Day was adopted in Nov, 2009 by the 192-member world body. They adopted the date as it was Mandela’s birthday, in order to recognize the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s contribution to resolving conflicts and promoting race relations and human rights.

Ali Treki, UN General Assembly President said that by adopting the resolution, the international community was expressing its appreciation for a ‘great man’ who suffered for the sake of people everywhere.

The General Assembly resolution greets Mandela’s leading role in Africa’s struggle for liberation and the nation’s unity. The day will also honor his outstanding contribution to the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic South Africa.

USA :

U.S. Pledges More Support to Battle Somali Rebels
By WILL CONNORS in Kampala, Uganda, and KEITH JOHNSON in Washington/online.wsj.com/JULY 16, 2010

The Obama administration on Thursday said it would bolster its support to the African Union troops providing much of the firepower in Somalia’s battle against al Shabaab, the Somali militant group that has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s deadly blasts in Uganda.

The triple bombing in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, killed 76 people, including one American, gathered in a restaurant and a bar during Sunday’s World Cup soccer final.

Ugandan officials say they believe more than 20 members of Somalia’s al Shabaab militant group entered Uganda several months before the blasts. Ugandan authorities have arrested nine people, all Somalis, in connection with the attack since Monday, according to a Ugandan military official close to the investigation.

Uganda is part of an African Union force that launched an offensive early this month, alongside Somalia’s government, against al Shabaab militants who control large swaths of largely lawless Somalia.

An Al Shabaab leader on Thursday thanked its militants who carried out the weekend attacks and said more such attacks would be carried out in Uganda. “I say to the Ugandan president what has happened in Kampala was only the beginning. We will keep revenging what your soldiers remorselessly did to our people,” Sheik Muktar Abu Zubayr said in an audio message played on Mogadishu radio stations, according to the Associated Press.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said at a news conference Thursday that his country is committed to sending 2,000 more troops to Somalia that would add to some 3,500 Ugandan soldiers under the African Union Mission in Somalia, or Amisom.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, speaking in a briefing on Thursday, welcomed Uganda’s pledge to add the troops. Mr. Crowley also said 63 FBI agents have arrived in the region to assist with the investigation into Kampala attacks.

“We have reviewed since Sunday the support that we’re providing to Amisom. We are going to beef that up,” Mr. Crowley said. “We’ve been the major contributor to the Amisom mission. That won’t change.”

The U.S. State Department, under a program known as Africap, provides funding for private contractors to train, outfit, transport and supply African troops in various peacekeeping missions. The State Department’s latest contract, which began in September 2009, provides $1.5 billion to private contractors to outfit Amisom and other troops.

Sunday’s attacks have soured many Ugandans on the presence of its countrymen as Somalia peacekeepers. But Mr. Museveni, who is up for reelection next year, said he won’t pull troops from Somalia.

In a nod to critics, though, the president vowed to get tougher at home in order to prevent any attacks from al Shabaab. The initial targets of a security crackdown could be those in Uganda, notably the estimated 6,000 Somalis who mostly have fled fighting at home.

There have been several bomb scares throughout Kampala since Sunday’s attacks, including six on Wednesday alone. Ugandan police say all were false alarms.

Write to Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com

CANADA :

Crisis averted by last-minute deal on Zimbabwe diamonds, but campaigners warn that biggest test lies ahead
Source: Global Witness Limited/www.reliefweb.int/ 16 Jul 2010

Press Release – 15/07/2010

Campaign groups Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada today acknowledged that a deal reached by the Kimberley Process (KP) diamond certification scheme could pave the way for reinforced oversight of diamond production in Zimbabwe, while allowing for limited exports.

The agreement, if fully implemented, would help end abuses in the country’s Marange diamond fields. It was finalised this evening at a meeting in St Petersburg by the government of Zimbabwe and other members of the anti-conflict diamond scheme.

Under the terms of the agreement, Zimbabwe will be allowed to export a limited number of diamonds produced since 28 May in two sites in Marange. At the same time a Kimberley Process Review Mission will visit the country to assess conditions in the region and compliance with the scheme’s standards. Zimbabwe will be able to export one more batch of diamonds at the start of September, but any exports thereafter will be contingent on measurable improvements in the diamond fields.

Nadim Kara, of Partnership Africa Canada, said: “This agreement is far from perfect, and it will take considerable efforts by all parties to the Kimberley Process, especially Zimbabwe, to make it work. The crisis in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector should act as a wake-up call to governments and the diamond industry: this issue is too important, both to consumers and to diamond mining communities, to keep lurching from crisis to crisis. The system needs urgent and far-reaching reform at a time when consumers are demanding action on blood diamonds.”

The Marange diamond fields have been plagued by serious human rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean security forces, along with systematic smuggling. In November 2009 the Kimberley Process agreed a ‘Joint Work Plan’ with Zimbabwe to bring the country back into compliance with the scheme’s minimum standards.

To date, progress on the conditions in the work plan which address the fundamental causes of violence in Marange has been limited. Today’s agreement renews and strengthens the commitment of the Zimbabwean government and the KP to resolve all aspects of the work plan and links continued exports of diamonds to progress on the ground in Marange.

Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness says: “It is too early to give a final verdict. Ultimately the success or otherwise of this agreement will be determined by what the main players do next. The ball is now in Zimbabwe’s court to make good on its promises and act to end one of the most egregious cases of diamond-related violence for many years. We fervently hope that the governments in the Kimberley Process will, for their part, hold Zimbabwe to its commitments in order to begin to restore the battered integrity of the scheme.”

/ Ends

Hotel fire in northern Iraq, 40 dead
Friday, July 16, 2010/OneIndia News

Sulaimaniya, Jul 16: A hotel fire in Sulaimaniya, the northern city in Iraq, claimed the lives of at least 40 on Friday, Jul 16.

The fire broke out around 5:15 am (02:15 GMT). Another 23 people got injured in the fire at the five-storied building, Soma Hotel in the central area of the city.

The victims of the incidents include several foreigners from Bangladesh, Philippine, Canada, Thailand and African countries. At least six among the deceased jumped from the fourth floor of the hotel due to the smoke.

A police chief in northern Iraq said that an electrical short caused fire. A local security official, Qader Hama-Jan said that it is not suspected to be a terrorist act.

AUSTRALIA :

Aspen takeover plan hits snags as Sigma cuts 2011 guidance news
16 July 2010 /www.domain-b.com

Australian pharmaceutical major Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited (Sigma) lowered its profit forecast for the fiscal year 2011 as the company’s generics division continues to underperform, which could put at risk the possible takeover attempt by South African drug maker Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (Aspen).

In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday, Sigma said that the net profit for the year ending 31 January 2011 is expected to be in the range of A$43-47 million, approximately 43 per cent lower than the budget estimate. The company said the underlying net profit excluding one time charges and infrequent expenses would be A$53-57 million for 2011.

Earlier, the Melbourne-based drug maker had said the company’s FY2011 net profit would return to FY2009 levels which was A$80.1 million. However, in a June statement Sigma indicated that given the performance of its generics division and continuing volatility of the industry in general, there was considerable uncertainty about achieving the target.

For FY2010 Sigma reported a net loss of A$389 million with an underlying profit of A$68 million. The company had a net debt of A$785 million as at the end of January 2010.

In May, Durban-based Aspen had offered to buy Sigma for A$60 cents a share or A$707 million ($579 million). It however lowered its bid to A$55 cents a share or A$648 million last week and also stipulated more stringent conditions.

Further to that, Sigma said it would continue working with Aspen to assist it to improve the proposal for its shareholders, including the removal of conditions that had the effect of making the proposal highly conditional.

The revised guidance projects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of A$180-190 million and EBIT of A$130-140 million with corresponding underlying earnings of A$190-200 million and A$140-150 million respectively.

The performance of the generics division for the first five months of the fiscal year is below expectations due to intense completion in the field. Sigma believes this is primarily due to suppliers seeking market share in anticipation of substantial future growth in the generics market and also uncertainties due to regulatory changes.

Nevertheless, the company’s performance has been in line with expectations in most other areas of business including consumer, marketing, medical and retail. Its wholesale business has registered a 9.3 per cent growth year on year.

 

Australia Sundance gets environmental nod for Cameroon iron project
16Jul2010/(Platts)

Melbourne —
Australian explorer Sundance Resources Limited said Friday its Mbalam iron ore project had received environmental approval from the government of Cameroon in West Africa.
“The green light from the environmental regulator is a key milestone for the Mbalam project as Sundance seeks to position itself as the leading developer of a global-scale regional iron ore province,” the company’s action CEO Peter Canterbury said in a brief statement.
Canterbury assumed leadership after the company’s entire board was killed in a plane crash en route to the remote project June 19.
The aircraft chartered by the company was reported missing when it failed to arrive from the Cameroonian capital Yaounde in Yangadou, Congo, near the Mbalam iron ore project, which straddles both countries.
There were no survivors when the wreckage was located June 21. The company’s shares have been in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange since then.
On board were Sundance chairman and ex-BHP Billiton iron ore chief Geoff Wedlock, managing director and chief executive officer Don Lewis, company secretary John Carr-Gregg, non-executive directors Ken Talbot, John Jones and Craig Oliver and consultant Jeff Duff, along with two other passengers and two pilots.
Sundance on June 2 announced a new resource estimate for Mbalam that indicated it could support 35 million mt/year of iron ore production for at least 25 years and said it would complete a definitive feasibility study into the project by end-2010 and commence construction in 2011.
The project encompasses iron ore deposits controlled by Sundance in Cameroon and Congo, with the DFS targeting an integrated development of the Mbarga deposits on exploration permit 92 in Cameroon and of the Nabeba deposit
on research permits 362 and 363 in Congo. Nabeba is located 42 km south of Mbarga and could be connected to the company’s planned rail and port infrastructure in Cameroon, the company said at the time.
–Wendy Wells, newsdesk@platts.com

EUROPE :

Botswana – President Khama Attends SACU Summit
www.isria.com/16072010

– President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama is expected to join four other heads of state and government for the July 15-16 Southern African Customs Union (SACU) summit in South Africa.

President Khama leaves today and is expected back home tomorrow. The summit, which will be preceded by the council of ministers meeting, is expected to discuss, among others, challenges facing SACU as well as map the way forward. All seems not well for South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland which form the world’s oldest customs union.

Rifts and standoffs between the continent’s oldest free trade zone members ensued after Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana signed what was termed a controversial interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The other two members, South Africa and Namibia, did not sign citing “inconsistencies” in the deal. However, while South Africa remains the region’s economic powerhouse, the four other smaller member countries depend on revenue from the SACU pool to cover between 20 and 40 per cent of their annual budgets. Therefore, expected on the agenda will be the issue of revenue sharing formula and enlargement of the union which is anticipated to “consolidate the free trade agreements within the region”.

The summit will also revisit the unfinished agenda of items discussed during a meeting held in Namibia in April. The Windhoek meeting was to launch commemoration of the union’s 100 years of existence, reflect on the achievements and challenges, as well as to deliberate on SACU’s future strategic direction in view of recent regional and global developments. Also on the agenda of the Windhoek meeting was the new vision and mission for SACU which were subsequently adopted while an agreement was reached that it be translated into a strategic work programme.

The five-nation union came into existence in 1969 with the signature of the Customs Union Agreement between member states. It entered into force in 1970, thereby replacing the Customs Union Agreement of 1910. It is regarded as a necessary instrument to facilitate trade, regional economic integration and social cohesion within the region.

Ashton eyes October for decision on top jobs
ANDREW RETTMAN/euobserver.com/16072010

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton is to shortly unveil the names of 31 new heads and deputy heads of EU delegations. But the 10 top jobs in the European External Action Service (EEAS) are to be doled out in October.

The British baroness is currently conducting interviews with the final two or three candidates for each of the 31 diplomatic posts and will announce the results en bloc before the EU’s summer recess.

The most prestigious placements are Brazil, China, Japan and South Africa. The list also covers several strategically-important missions such as Bosnia, Chad, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan.

Member states that are too small to compete for the 10 first-tier EEAS jobs, or which are ineligible for other reasons, such as Belgium, which already has EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, will be looking to the diplomatic postings as a consolation prize.

Personal merit will also play a role. “She [Ms Ashton] knows the EEAS will stand or fall on the quality of heads of mission. The first generation of EEAS heads of mission will have a big job to do to give the service credibility,” a senior EU diplomat said.

Ms Ashton plans to advertise the top 10 posts after EU foreign ministers sign off on the legal blueprint for the EEAS on 26 July. But she will be unable to make the appointments until EU institutions clear the 2010 salaries budget for the new body – worth €9.5 million – in a move expected in September.

The 10 posts are the EEAS secretary general; two deputy secretary generals; an official in charge of budgets and personnel; the chair of the Political and Security Committee (PSC); the head of the SitCen intelligence-sharing bureau; and four directors general (DGs). One DG will handle a “thematic” directorate handling issues such as human rights and UN relations. The others will each take charge of a “geographic” directorate, splitting the globe into industrialised countries, developing countries and a final set including post-Soviet states, the Western Balkans and the Middle East.

Another 10 or so second-tier posts will come up for grabs at the same time.

Ms Ashton is considering a classic EU recruitment process consisting of joint interview panels with member states, EU commission and Council officials. But due process is likely to be outweighed by political considerations. “Member states have been lobbying vis-a-vis Ms Ashton from day one. She has a pile of papers on her desk proposing candidates,” a contact in her inner circle told this website.

The constellation of names will keep changing over the summer. But as things stand, the French ambassador to the US, Pierre Vimont, is interested in the secretary general post, worth €216,000 a year. France is also fishing for the PSC job for its current PSC ambassador Christine Roger. A French EU official, Patrice Bergamini, is already the temporary head of SitCen and may be reluctant to let go the reins.

German EU official Helga Schmid is said to be a shoe-in for deputy secretary general. Berlin can expect little else – in the wider scheme of things, it already has the post of EU parliament secretary general and is in 2011 and 2012 expected to pick up the European Central Bank president, EU parliament president and EU Council secretary general jobs.

Poland, with the support of other ‘Visegrad’ states – the loose eastern alliance, is pushing its junior minister for Europe, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, for the other deputy secretary general post. A Polish secret service agent, whose name is being kept out of the press for security reasons and who is currently chairing a temporary working group on EEAS counter-intelligence systems, could also emerge as a candidate for the SitCen post.

Italian EU official Stefano Sannino is being talked about as a potential personnel and budgets chief.

As for the other major countries, the UK already has Ms Ashton and most of her cabinet, while Spain is considered to “have had its turn” after Spanish diplomat Javier Solana spent 10 years as her predecessor. On top of this, the Spanish foreign ministry antagonised Ms Ashton by competing for power during the Spanish EU presidency.

Smaller EU members are unlikely to give way softly to their big cousins, however. “There’s a theory that says if the big countries run the EEAS they will not want to make it too effective so that it doesn’t encroach on their turf,” a diplomat from one smaller EU country said.

Veteran Irish EU officials Catherine Day and David O’Sullivan are being talked about as alternatives for the personnel and budgets role. Romania is reportedly competing with Poland for the deputy secretary general job and Swedish PSC ambassador Olof Skoog is also a runner for the PSC president post.

If Ms Ashton creates a new human rights supremo in the second tier of EEAS management, an Estonian EU official, Riina Kionka, could be in line for the role. The baroness has said several times she wants to see more women in high-level posts.

A few good men
In a final round of 2010 recruitment, Ms Ashton in the October to December period is also looking to hire 80-or-so extra diplomats to beef-up staff at strategic embassies, especially multilateral missions in Addis Abbaba, Geneva, New York and Vienna.

When she cuts the red ribbon on the EEAS headquarters on 1 December, probably in the Triangle building or in the so-called Axis building in the Schuman roundabout area of the EU quarter in Brussels, it will house around 500 senior officials and their assistants, all shifted en masse from the commission and the Council. EEAS foreign delegations will employ a further 400-or-so people holding a diplomatic rank.

Member states’ diplomats will begin to feed into the service from 2011 onward, with the whole process of getting the EEAS on its feet causing much confusion in foreign ministries.

“Does the fact that I did not submit my candidature previously (before the European Parliament got involved in the process) mean I won’t be able to do it now? … Will the whole process start from scratch now that we have a new legal blueprint? Do candidatures have to be submitted within the framework of the foreign ministries diplomats belong to?” one exasperated diplomat from a southern EU country emailed EUobserver asking for advice this week.

Al-Shabaab’s Regionalization Strategy
While Uganda has paid a bitter price at home for its military engagement in Somalia, al-Shabaab’s recent attacks will likely foster a more interventionist agenda in East Africa and play into the hands of insurgents, Georg-Sebastian Holzer writes for ISN Security Watch.
By Georg-Sebastian Holzer for ISN Security Watch /16 Jul 2010

It was the biggest militant attack in sub-Saharan Africa since the infamous 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The two coordinated bombings in Uganda’s capital Kampala killed 74 people and wounded dozens of others watching the World Cup final on 11 July.

For al-Shabaab it was a successful attack against the country that forms the backbone of the 6,000-strong African Union force in Mogadishu. The movement previously threatened both Uganda and Burundi, the second major troop-supplier to the AMISOM mission, which secures the survival of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) whose movement is virtually confined to a few blocks in the capital.

Provoking an intervention

On the surface, attacking Uganda on its own soil seems to be as much retaliation for Uganda’s refusal to withdraw its troops from Somalia as a political message with the aim to deter outsiders from future meddling in Somalia.

However, at least two other, albeit less obvious goals can be attributed to these attacks.

One the one hand, the attacks will strengthen al-Shabaab internally by converging the agendas of the nationalist and the international wing of their movement. As a recent International Crisis Group Policy Briefing pointed out, already existing internal divisions of the group drastically increased in recent months. Since the official withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in January 2009 and the introduction of Islamic law by the TFG, the insurgents have had an increasingly difficult time justifying their continued armed opposition to the government of President Sheikh Sharif.

Evidently, crossing the border satisfies the international wing, wedded to al-Qaida-inspired notions of a permanent global jihad. At the same time, attacking Uganda pleases the agenda of the nationalist wing, which views the TFG as an illegitimate foreign puppy that is able to survive only because it is propped up by AMISOM troops, US weapons and EU money.

On the other hand, the Kampala bombings are part of a rather cynical but rational strategy that is well known from other terrorist groups. The regionalization of the conflict builds on the notion that such an attack will trigger a harsh response in the name of pre-emption and lead to renewed foreign intervention.

In turn, indiscriminate retaliations and more foreign boots on the ground would help al-Shabaab to portray itself again as fighting a nationalist struggle and thereby overcome the steady erosion of its popularity and credibility among the Somali people. It was exactly this playbook that brought the movement broad popular support and legitimacy in the aftermath of the Ethiopian intervention in late 2006.

Finding the right response

The nature of the external response will determine if al-Shabaab will succeed with these strategies.

Here the stakes look rather dire: Already a week before the Kampala attacks the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional body of six East African States, agreed in a communiqué to a request by the TFG delegation to reinforce the AU mission with an additional 2,000 troops.

The fact that IGAD did not rule out bordering states – in particular the archenemy and dominant regional military power Ethiopia – taking part in the AMISOM mission resulted in stiff criticism, not only from al-Shabaab but also from within the TFG.

Criticizing his own president, Somalia’s special envoy to the US, Abukar Arman, wrote in an opinion piece on Aljazeera that “the IGAD resolution will embolden the very extremist elements it is intended to subdue.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi already wisely ruled out sending troops again to Somalia, but he stated previously that he would not hesitate to do exactly that if Islamist insurgents seized power there.

The Obama administration, which is currently reviewing the failed Somalia policy of its predecessor, is known to invest political capital to restrain Ethiopia from officially re-entering Somalia. Washington is urging its regional ally to keep a low profile in its (not so) secret operations in the border regions and in its technical and logistical support of the TFG and allied Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in turn, is currently in the run-up to national elections scheduled for early 2011. In power since 1986, he is seeking a fourth term in office and is campaigning on his legacy of bringing stability to his war-torn country after a decades-long struggle with the Northern Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). He is responding to the Kampala attacks by a show of force for the domestic and international audiences, announcing that Ugandan troops will now go on the offensive and with troop expansion “the African Union will be able to clean up this place.”

Already hours after the Kampala attacks, Ugandan AU soldiers shelled a densely populated residential quarter in Mogadishu, which looked very much like a first retaliation. Such indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas antagonized the Somali population and galvanized resistance to the TFG and its allies (apart from violating the law of war as stated in a UN report this May).

Part of the problem in finding an adequate strategy to tackle the intractable Somali conflict is evidently the absence of a local partner that resembles some sort of government. While the EU, with US logistical help, started to train Somali soldiers for the fledgling TFG army this June, its counterpart still looks like a Potemkin façade with no change in sight. The TFG was not even able to deliver any services in their manageable quarter in Mogadishu, hence yielding no performance legitimacy whatsoever, which could convince and attract the Somali people to put their faith behind President Sheikh Sharif.

The irony is that at a time when the US is finally searching for a more sober approach, having reflected on its failed security-dominated policy and acknowledged that foreign intervention has exacerbated the long-running conflict in Somalia, Somalia’s regional neighbors may prompt a re-learning of the lesson.

CHINA :

Africa has greater potential than India or China: Airtel
By: Our News Bureau| afaqs! Telecom Yatra | New Delhi/July 16, 2010

Bharti is betting big on the African market as during a conference call to provide an update on the Zain acquisition, Bharti said that the current teledensity in Africa stands at only 20 per cent, while population coverage is 60 per cent. With the population of Africa expected to rise to 1.8 to 2 billion from 1 billion right now, according to Bharti, and with urbanisation already at 40 per cent, the potential of the African market is greater than that of India and China.

Also, Africa currently has a middle class of 400 million and a median age of 17 to 18 years, which implies that it is ripe for telecom services to grow, provided tariffs become affordable and network coverage proves adequate.

“Bharti see a huge opportunity in African market and that their growth in African will be driven by low teledensity (20 per cent in most geographies, low minutes of usage, which is around 40 to 50 minutes at present, and three data usage as broadband penetration is very low,” says a report released by Religare based on conference call.

The report further said that as per the Bharti Airtel management, regulators in Africa are not looking to further increase competition in the market (currently three to four players in most markets), owing to a scarcity of spectrum (on average 2G players have 20MHz spectrum, while 3G players have 10MHz). This also means that Bharti will not face the kind of competition it is facing in its home market.

Airtel enjoys a market leading position in at least six of the 15 it is serving after the Zain acquisition. It commands more than 50 per cent market share in five countries.

Bharti has taken operational control in Africa and will launch its brand in 15 countries this October.

INDIA :

BRASIL:

 

EN BREF, CE 16 juillet 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,16/07/2010