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BURUNDI :
RWANDA
DR Congo: Armed groups in eastern DRC use rape as weapon According to the agency, of the 15 women who were abducted and raped by the armed assailants, five were brutally tortured and then beheaded, three survived and were taken to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu for emergency medical care, and the remaining seven are still missing, presumed dead. The attacks took place in February, less than two weeks before UK Foreign Office Minister Baroness Kinnock’s visit to rape survivors at Panzi hospital. Since then, the Minister has made commitments to addressing the crisis of impunity surrounding rape in the DRC. Christian Aid said it welcomes this renewed commitment and urged Baroness Kinnock to work with the DRC and Rwandan governments and with the UN to address the underlying causes of insecurity in the Great Lakes region. This, it suggested, must include increasing political will and material support for the voluntary demobilisation and repatriation of Rwandan FDLR armed groups and refugees, many of whom have been in the DRC since the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. ‘With the continued presence of various armed groups, women throughout the region are more vulnerable than ever to reprisals and systematic rape,’ explained Shuna Keen, Christian Aid’s Great Lakes analyst. ‘Innocent women and young girls continue to be raped by both the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and the Rwandan FDLR and, as a result, many of these women and their subsequent children are HIV positive ” the social and psychological effects are devastating and long-term,’ she added. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) last year reported that a substantial proportion of the sexual violence in DRC was committed by men in uniform. Most cases of rape in insecure remote areas go unre ported and survivors unable to get treatment. It is estimated that more than six million civilian lives have been lost in war and genocide in DRC and Rwanda since the early 1990s, with the conflict now the most deadly since the Second World War. ‘More can and must be done to encourage voluntary demobilisation and repatriation by FDLR rebels and Rwandan refugees through effective accompaniment, sensitisation and confidence-building measures. The non-military options have not been given enough of a chance,’ added Keen. More than 15 years since the Rwandan genocide, it is estimated that there are still around 90,000 Rwandan refugees living in the volatile region of eastern DRC, as well as many thousands of armed FDLR rebel combatants. Christian Aid believes that the voluntary repatriation of refugees is crucial for building lasting peace in the region, as is the voluntary demobilisation and repatriation of the FDLR. According to the agency, the ongoing insecurity in the North and South Kivu regions of DRC, which gives rise to systematic sexual violence, is itself the result of deep long-term political crisis in the wider African Great Lakes region. ‘As a major diplomatic actor and number one bilateral donor to both DRC and Rwanda, the UK must use its influence in favour of the peaceful resolution of this crisis, the promotion of civil and human rights and the correct exercise of justice mec hanisms,’ it said. To mark International Women’s Day 2010, Christian Aid has urged Baroness Kinnock to draw inspiration from her recent visit to DRC and lead international efforts to accelerate voluntary demobilisation of armed groups and to address the illegal militarised mining and trade, a major cause of insecurity in the region. Dar es salaam UGANDA
Minnesotans show solidarity with Uganda’s gay and lesbian community A bill being proposed by Uganda’s government would impose a life sentence on the east African nation’s gay and lesbian citizens and in some cases make death the punishment for homosexual activity. Fortunately, the plight of Uganda’s LGBT community is not being ignored by Minnesota’s elected officials. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 has roots in American evangelical traditions. In fact, “The Family,” a secretive group of evangelical members of Congress and other political leaders, had a hand in converting Uganda’s president to evangelical Christianity. And a group of “ex-gay” evanglicals gave a presentation to Ugandan leaders that including unsupported assertions such as gays target children for recruitment, gays are evil, and gays commit rape in higher numbers than heterosexuals. It was in this toxic environment of evangelism that Ugandan leaders crafted a bill that makes being gay or lesbian a crime punishable by life in prison — and if they are HIV-positive, a crime punishable by death. Fortuntely, Minnesota’s political leaders — exclusively Democrats — have spoken out against Uganda’s pending legislation. Sen. Al Franken is one of the orginal nine sponsors of a bill in the U.S. Senate that condemns the bill. Democratic Reps. Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and James Oberstar sent a letter to President Obama urging him to speak out against the Uganda bill. That letter said, in part: The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009 is by far the most extreme and hateful attempt by an African country to criminalize the LGBT community. It would increase the penalty for “same sex sexual acts” to life in prison, limit the distribution of information on HIV through a provision criminalizing the “promotion of homosexuality,” and establish the crime of “aggravated homosexuality” punishable by death for anyone in Uganda who is HIV positive and has consensual same-sex relations. Further, the bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are, to the government. Locally, the Minneapolis City Council has passed a resolution condemning the “kill gays” bill. Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie was on hand for a the “American Prayer Hour” which was held last month as a response to the Uganda bill. The event was also a critique of the “National Prayer Breakfast,” which is hosted each year by members of the secretive evangelical group, “The Family.” “It’s a terrifying thing that a religious organization can justify the silencing or annihilation of anyone just because of who they are,” American Prayer Hour organizer Rev. Laurie Crelly told TheColu.mn, a Minnesota-based LGBT news website. “We’re defending a Christianity and a faith tradition that would be totally opposed to what’s going on” in the US and Uganda, she said. Minnesotans should be proud that their elected leaders are looking out for the human rights of LGBT people half a world away. However, among Minnesota’s Republican and evangelical leaders, there’s been a definitive silence about Uganda’s intent to violate the human rights of its LGBT community. TANZANIA:
Suspected clan gunmen kill five in Tanzania Armed men in northern Tanzania have killed at least five people and injured seven others at a party on Saturday, police says. The unidentified gunmen attacked a wedding party in the rural areas of the Tarime district in the northern Mara region where inter-clan fighting is commonplace, Reuters reported. “The attackers were armed with machetes and firearms and killed five people at the wedding ceremony,” Tarime police commander Constantine Massawe was quoted by Reuters as saying. “Police have launched an investigation into the incident to establish if it was part of the inter-clan fighting that has been going on in the region or otherwise,” the official added. Disputes over land and livestock ownership are said to spark frequent violence in the area. GHN/MMA CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Two Britons were among dozens of tourists on a luxury Kenyan safari holiday to be airlifted to safety after their camp was hit by flash flooding. Campers staying at the popular Samburu National Park in the north of the country were forced to clamber up trees or onto roofs as 4x4s were swept away. Safari tour guide Steve Tilas Lekango, of the Samburu Intrepids camp, described what happened. STEVE TILAS LEKANGO’S STORY I was sleeping when the flood came. It was 0630 and I was woken by an alarm call from my team members. I saw immediately that our camp was completely surrounded by the flood water – the offices, the tents, the 4×4 vehicles. Everything was engulfed. There was no escape route and the waters were rising fast. Everybody was trying to rescue themselves. I went into my hut and gathered my valuables – my camera and my phone – and then I ran for the nearest tree and climbed up. It wasn’t long before a log came sweeping towards me and knocked my tree down. I had to swim for the next tree and climb up again. But again – a log smashed into my tree and knocked me off. I was scared. I have never seen a flood like this before. I swam for one of the buildings. I made it and I clambered up on to the roof. There were three of us up there – and we could hear the cries of others all around us. We had tourists staying from Germany, the US and Britain – they had all climbed trees. It was about 10am that the waters came down and we were able to climb down from the roof. We had some injuries – some of the tourists were taken away by helicopter for medical attention. But there were no deaths – we were very lucky. I went back into my hut and saw what was left of my bedroom. Oh my God! The whole place was a swimming pool. I have never seen a flood like this. ANGOLA :
THE WELL FMC Technologies will manufacture and supply subsea production equipment for Total Exploration and Production Angola in a deal valued at $65 million. The equipment will support Total’s Block 17 development offshore Angola. The systems will be made and assembled at FMC’s facilities in Dunfermline, Scotland; Kongsberg, Norway; and Luanda, Angola. Deliveries are scheduled to begin early next year. FMC has supported a number of Total’s projects in Block 17, including Girassol, Rosa and Pazflor. Diamond Offshore Drilling has been awarded drilling contracts for three floating rigs from Petrobras for drilling offshore Brazil. The deals are valued at about $1.4 billion, excluding possible performance bonuses or contract extensions. The Ocean Valor will be moved from the shipyard in Singapore to begin working at mid-year. The three-year contract is valued at $493 million. The Ocean Baroness will be moved from the Gulf of Mexico to begin drilling in the third quarter. The three-year contract is valued at $307 million. Petrobras could extend the Valor and Baroness contracts to five years at a slightly lower day rate. TheOcean Clipper received a five-year commitment valued at $557 million. The rig is currently working for Petrobras under a contract that extends until mid-December. Tubular Instrumentation & Controls has acquired CSE Automation Engineering & Services, known as Automation USA. Mark Provine, chief executive officer at Tubular Instrumentation, will assume the CEO role over both companies. John Rosso will be chief operating officer over both companies. Initially, the companies will operate independently and under the same names. Petrohawk Energy Corp. has agreed to sell its interest in the West Edmond Hunton Lime Unit Field in Oklahoma County to a private company for $155 million. The properties are estimated to contain proved reserves of 23 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent. Daily production is 12 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent. SOUTH AFRICA:
Wounded South Africans ask: Why do the Brits hate us so much? Radio phone-ins and the press across South Africa were dominated last week by British newspapers’ assault on President Jacob Zuma during his visit to London and on criticism of World Cup preparations Why do they hate us? That was the question dominating South African headlines and radio phone-ins last week after British press coverage of both President Jacob Zuma’s state visit and the imminent football World Cup. Leading the charge, like Michael Caine in red tunic and white pith helmet in the film Zulu, was journalist Stephen Robinson, whose critique of South Africa’s Zulu leader in the Daily Mail bore the headline: “Jacob Zuma is a sex-obsessed bigot with four wives and 35 children. So why is Britain fawning over this vile buffoon?” Robinson was not alone in interrogating Zuma’s polygamous lifestyle and recent love child, past brushes with corruption charges and the rest of what the Guardian delicately described as a “colourful CV”. The stinging reports came with South Africans already sensitive about the way their country is being portrayed in Britain as it prepares to host the World Cup in June. When the Sun and several other British papers recently reported on the state of England’s training camp in Rustenburg, the Times of South Africa ran a headline: “English hacks raining on World Cup parade again.” It said: “The English media have again been accused of sabotaging the World Cup with negative reporting – this time by slagging off their national team’s training base.” Radio talk shows in South Africa have speculated on the reasons for what they see as relentlessly negative coverage bordering on “Afro-pessimism”. Butana Komphela, chairman of the national assembly’s sport committee, said: “There are racist writings by journalists who are very malicious.” Could such reporting really be an overhang of colonialism propagated by modern-day Henry Morton Stanleys? Zuma suggested so when, in a departure from diplomatic protocol, he said: “When the British came to our country, they said everything we are doing was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in whatever way.” The youth wing of Zuma’s governing party, the African National Congress, put it more baldly: “British media seem to have developed a habit of rubbishing our president and constantly portray him as barbaric and of inferior belonging. It is quite apparent that the British media is the one that is characterised and defined by the worst form of barbarism, backwardness and racism. “These British racists continue to live in a dreamland and sadly believe that Africans are still their colonial subjects, with no values and principles.They believe that the only acceptable values and principles in the world are British values of whiteness and subjugation of Africans.” Such a critique might carry more weight if the British press did not also regularly eviscerate its own political leaders and organisers of its own forthcoming Olympic Games. Nor is Zuma the target of British journalists alone. He has plenty of acidic domestic critics, including the satirical cartoonist Zapiro, who has depicted him unbuckling his belt and poised to rape the blindfolded figure of lady justice. The Daily Mail seems timid by comparison. 40,000 prostitutes may enter South Africa during World Cup 2010-03-07 /sify.com/ANI The authorities, at a meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, feared local children would also be targeted by drug and prostitution underworld. The threat is even more serious as World Cup takes place during a four-week national school holiday. “It’s horrific and very concerning. Money talks, and if you’re a sex worker then there is going to be money in South Africa in 2010,” the New York Daily News quoted Davis Bayever, South Africa’s deputy chair of the country’s Central Drug Authority, as saying. He added: “There is no doubt that they will be targeted to become prostitutes. Children from poor rural families will be given a carrot by criminals who tell them they will have a job if they come to the big city.” However, as a preventive measure to stop influx of prostitutes, strict passport checks, screening, and profiling will take place at the borders. It is believed that 16 percent of the population is living with HIV in South Africa. (ANI) AFRICA / AU :
Polio battle begins in Africa From today, 400,000 health workers and volunteers will go from door-to-door giving oral polio vaccine to children under the age of five. Africa has made significant progress in recent years in the fight against polio, which attacks the nervous system, but the virus still has not been wiped out. The latest epidemic began in Nigeria in 2008, and nine countries in west and central Africa have recently reported cases. Martin Dawes of the UN children’s agency Unicef says this campaign is a chance to turn the tide. “It basically involves keeping the vaccine at below 8 degrees centigrade, getting it into the field, where 400,000 volunteers will cross deserts, go over rivers, go through jungles to go door-to-door, and try to get two drops into the mouth of every child under five,” he said. Previous attempts at eradication have failed because not enough children were vaccinated. -BBC Indonesian ‘hobbit’ challenges evolutionary theory LIANG BUA, Indonesia — Hunched over a picnic table in a limestone cave, the Indonesian researcher gingerly fingers the bones of a giant rat for clues to the origins of a tiny human. This world turned upside down may once have existed here, on the remote island of Flores, where an international team is trying to shed light on the fossilized 18,000-year-old skeleton of a dwarf cavewoman whose discovery in 2003 was an international sensation. Her scientific name is Homo floresiensis, her nickname is “the hobbit,” and the hunt is on to prove that she and the dozen other hobbits since discovered are not a quirk of nature but members of a distinct hominid species. “They butchered the animals here,” said the researcher, Rokus Due Awe, studying the toothpick-sized rat bones possibly left over from hobbit meals. Behind him, workers carried out buckets of soil from a cathedral-like cave festooned with stalactites, 40 meters (130-feet) underground. The discovery of Homo floresiensis shocked and divided scientists. Here apparently was a band of distant relatives that exhibited features not seen for millions of years but were living at the same time as much more modern humans. Almost overnight, the find threatened to change our understanding of human evolution. It would mean contemplating the possibility that not all the answers to human evolution lie in Africa, and that our development was more complex than previously thought. Critics, however, dismissed the hobbit’s discovery as nothing extraordinary. They continue to argue that the hobbit, just 1 meter (3 feet) tall with a brain the size of a baby’s, was nothing more than a deformed human. Its strange appearance, they say, could be blamed on a range of genetic disorders that cause the body and brain to shrink. The feud has played out in top scientific journals. But a growing consensus has emerged among experts on human origin that this is indeed a separate and primitive species that lived in relatively modern times — 17,000 to 100,000 years ago. The November issue of the highly respected Journal of Human Evolution was dedicated to the Flores findings and included a dozen studies supporting the hobbit as a new species. Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said the critics are “very much in the minority now.” He said that he just returned from a meeting in Arizona of more than two dozen experts on human origins and found widespread support there for the new-species theory. No one, he said, “took the view that this was some weird, pathological freak.” William L. Jungers, a paleoanthropologist at Stony Brook University Medical Center who co-edited the Journal of Human Evolution issue, insisted the debate was over. He has published a study of the hobbit’s feet which found it had traits associated with both modern humans and apes. “This is a new species that cannot be explained by any known pathology,” Jungers said. The mounting evidence has prompted Australian archaeologist Mike Morwood and his team to expand their research to the Soa Basin on Flores and the nearby Indonesian island of Sulawesi to answer several questions: Who were the hobbit’s ancestors? Where did they come from? What were their interactions, if any, with the modern humans of the time? Why are they extinct? Africa is central to any narrative about human evolution because it is believed that Homo erectus was the first hominid to leave the continent 1.8 million years ago, and most hominid fossils have been found there. But the discovery of the hobbit, with its primitive traits, suggests that important stages in hominid evolution may have occurred in Asia, said Morwood, the coordinator of the hobbit dig. For example, he said, it may turn out that Homo erectus evolved in Asia. “For many people, this was totally unexpected and indicates how little we know about hominid evolution, particularly in Asia,” which may have “played a prominent role in some major developments in human evolution,” he said. Stringer, for one, believes the hobbit’s ancestors could have been a forerunner of Homo erectus. If fossils are found to prove that, he said it would upend the belief that erectus was the first of our ancestors to make it out of Africa and eventually migrate to China and the Indonesian island of Java. Instead, something more primitive may have left Africa, evolved into erectus and then returned to the continent. “We’d have to say something got out earlier than that and we don’t have any record of its evolution in the whole of Asia,” Stringer said. “That means there is a complete missing chapter of the story of human evolution in Asia if that is correct. That would be very interesting and important if true.” Still, no one who supports the new-species theory suggests the hobbit is a direct ancestor of modern humans. Rather, they believe it represents a previously unknown branch of a pre-modern, hominid lineage. Morwood, 59, a Willie Nelson lookalike with gray hair and grizzled beard, made his name studying Australian aboriginal rock art and originally came to central Flores in search of the Aborigines’ ancestors He first turned to the Soa Basin, a wind-swept savanna ringed by mountains, where Ngadha people still hunt pig and deer on horseback. Sites there produced stone tools dating back almost 1 million years which indicates Homo erectus or an earlier hominid species reached the island. In 1999, Morwood accompanied his Indonesian colleagues to Liang Bua cave, which is hidden in the mountainside and overlooks rice paddies. “Stepping into the cave for the first time, I was immediately struck by its size, and particularly impressed by its suitability for human occupation,” Morwood wrote in “A New Human,” his book about the hobbit discovery. The team found a hobbit arm bone in 2001. Two years later, a worker hit what turned out to be a skull, and soon an entire female skeleton was unearthed. The researchers at the site that day — Due Awe and fellow Indonesians Thomas Sutikna and Wahyu Saptomo — knew they had found something special. It appeared to be a child because of its size. But Due Awe determined it was an adult based on its worn molars. Even more perplexing, its brain was about one-third the size of a modern human one. Its short legs and potbelly appearance during its lifetime also closely resembled a famous, 3.2-million-year-old African fossil find nicknamed Lucy. Yet radiocarbon dating on charcoal found next to the skeleton showed it died in the cave only 18,000 years ago. The other hobbit specimens were found to have lived in the cave until at least 17,000 years ago. “Homo floresiensis is the only species out of Africa with those primitive body proportions,” Morwood said. “You go to Africa and you are talking about hominids which are 2 million to 3 million years old. Here, you have a small-bodied, small-brain hominid that lived to a mere 17,000 years ago.” Recognizing the importance of his find, Morwood called in other experts to examine the remains from teeth to toes and determine whether the hobbit was a new species or a diseased, modern human. Findings suggested a new species: teeth showed similarities to ancestral species, the brain looked nothing like a diseased modern human’s, and a wrist looked like it came from an ape or early hominid – not a modern human. If it is a new species, then who were the hobbit One theory is that the hobbit actually evolved from the much taller and big-brained Homo erectus. Once Homo erectus reached Flores, according to this theory, it succumbed to what is called the island rule, where animals bigger than rabbits shrink in size because of limited food, and those smaller grow larger because of the absence of predators. There are plenty of examples of that on Flores, where elephants shrank to the size of cows, while rats grew as big as dogs. But Morwood, Jungers and others note that this evolutionary process has never been documented in a human population. They believe the hobbit is descended from a more primitive relative of Homo erectus such as Homo habilis, which lived as early as 2.3 million years ago — before hominids are believed to have left Africa. They maintain that the ancestor evolved over nearly a million years to become Homo floresiensis. To settle the debate, Morwood says, they need to find bones of the hobbit’s ancestors and see whether they resemble Homo erectus or a more primitive hominid. Already, the team has identified charred and chipped remains of Komodo dragons and pygmy elephants, proving the hobbits cooked over fires. Stone flakes found in the cave show these tiny people hunted and scavenged much larger animals. This year, the team plans to excavate a spot around a boulder at Liang Bua that is among the most promising untouched areas of the cave. On their wish list is another hobbit skull, more teeth and wrist bones. “It would be nice to have a whole complete male,” Morwood said. China defends growing links with Africa BEIJING — China rejected foreign concerns over its growing energy links with Africa on Sunday, saying it benefits African nations by bringing badly needed trade and infrastructure development. “I have noticed that in the international community there are some who do not want to see the development of Sino-African relations and always make an issue of China-Africa energy cooperation,” Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. “The fact is that China’s oil imports from Africa account for only 13 percent of Africa’s total exports, while Europe and the United States account for more than 30 percent,” he told reporters. Speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament session, Yang added Chinese investment in the African petroleum industry was just one-sixteenth of the world total, behind US and European investment. “We support other countries cooperating with Africa on the basis of equality and mutual benefit in the energy sector. There is no reason for them to oppose our equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with Africa,” he said. China has steadily built up trade and economic ties with Africa in recent years, prompting critics in the West to accuse it of taking a “neo-colonialist” attitude toward the continent. Beijing also has been criticised for befriending pariah regimes such as those in Sudan and Zimbabwe in a cynical bid to lock up supplies of resources needed to fuel expansion of its economy, the world’s third largest. In November, at a meeting of China-Africa leaders in Egypt, Beijing pledged 10 billion dollars in concessional loans to African countries. Yang, who travelled to Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria and Morocco in January is what has become an annual New Year trip, said the freedom of African countries to choose their friends should not be interfered with. “In our cooperation with the people of African countries, we jointly build railways, roads, bridges, and improve their infrastructure for the benefit of the people,” he said. Washington DC to distribute free female condoms Men in Washington are getting free condoms for nearly a decade. Now, it’s women’s turn. The city will distribute free female condoms in an attempt to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Within the next few weeks, Washington DC will be handing out 500,000 female condoms for free in parts of the city with high HIV, The Washington Post reports. The move will make the District of Columbia the first city in the United States to distribute condoms for females at no cost. Different approach to cut city’s steep rate of HIV infection The city officials say the distribution could begin within the next three weeks. A 2008 report showed at least 3 percent or about 15,100 adults in the nation’s capital are living with HIV or AIDS, making it a major epidemic. HIV/AIDS infection is the leading cause of death among black women between 25 and 34 nationwide. The condoms giveaway The city has distributed male condoms citywide for nearly a decade to stem the District’s epidemic of HIV and AIDS, but infection rates still remain high among Washington’s black residents. Now, the city officials say they want to provide women with an opportunity to protect themselves from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases when their partners refuse to use protection, the Post reports. “Anywhere male condoms are available, female condoms will be available,” Shannon Hader, director of the city’s HIV/AIDS administration, told the Washington Post. “We’re trying to make every effort count to build on what already exists… to expand options rather than limit them.” Original and second version of female condoms A second version, approved by the Federal Drug Administration last year, will be distributed in Washington DC and offered for sale in pharmacies alongside male condoms. The new and improved version of the female condom, FC2, now being used in countries including South Africa, Brazil, and Indonesia, consists of special polyurethane that conducts body heat to enhance sexual sensation for both men and women, claims Female Health Co., the manufacturer of the condom. “There are areas where the city is not doing a good job [with AIDS], but in some areas they are cutting edge. On this one, they’re cutting edge,” Walter Smith, executive director of D.C. Appleseed, told the Post. “The very fact that they’re doing this . . . says to women of the city that this is important to you. This is important to your families. Get with the program.” The grant and its usage Using the grant, the city will buy the female condoms at wholesale prices from its manufacturer and provide them for distribution by social service organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Community Education Group, and the Women’s Collective. Dictator’s son declared winner in Togo election By Umaro Djau CNN/March 7, 2010 (CNN) — The son of Togo’s late dictator has won re-election, extending the family’s four-decade rule in the west African nation. President Faure Gnassingbe had 1.2 million votes, according to preliminary results released by the country’s election commission Saturday. His main challenger, opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, got nearly 700,000 votes, the commission said. Gnassingbe succeeded his father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died five years ago after ruling since 1967. But the younger president was forced to briefly step down after international condemnation for what many perceived as the unconstitutional move to succeed his father. He later won popular elections for a five-year term in 2005. Under the Togolese constitution, there are no limits on the number of times one can run for president. A controversial constitutional amendment in 2002 removed the two-term limit on presidential office. Various organizations, including the African Union and the European Union, sent hundreds of observers to the country for the elections, but have not issued official statements on the validity of the preliminary results. But the EU mission to Togo said Saturday that the elections took place “in an atmosphere of calm and with no major incidents.” The results from Thursday’s election will go to Togo’s constitutional court within eight days, where they are open for appeal. The court is scheduled to announce final results later this month. UN /ONU :
Togo opposition says to contest Gnassingbe win By John Zodzi/Reuters /Sunday, March 7, 2010 LOME (Reuters) – Togo’s defeated opposition said on Sunday it would contest the election result which returned President Faure Gnassingbe as leader of the West African state. The election was seen as a test for democracy in a region that in recent weeks has seen a coup in Niger and street riots over delayed elections in Ivory Coast. Togo’s last presidential poll in 2005 sparked violence in which hundreds died. Gnassingbe — who took over from his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled as dictator for 38 years — won 1.24 million of 2.1 million cast votes in Thursday’s election. His closest rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, scored around 692,000 votes, the electoral commission said on Saturday. Both sides had claimed victory on Friday. “We will contest these figures constituency by constituency to show there has been … an electoral hijack,” Koffi Yamgnane, spokesman for Fabre’s UFC party, told French radio station RFI. International observers said the poll had gone smoothly, despite some procedural flaws. More than 3,000 local and nearly 500 European and West African observers monitored the election. The opposition has eight days to convince the constitutional court Gnassingbe’s victory was unlawful. Hours before the result was announced, police fired tear gas to break up a protest by supporters of Fabre. Ten people were arrested in the clash. “NO” TO VIOLENT PROTEST The protests that followed Gnassingbe’s first victory in 2005 triggered a security crackdown in which up to 500 were killed, according to U.N. estimates at the time. The UFC said there would be no violent protest this time. “We have no intention of protesting violently,” party spokesman Yamgnane said. And on Saturday the streets of Lome were calm and life was returning to normal, residents said. “We’ve opened for business this morning, though we’re keeping a eye on the street,” said market trader Da Mensah in the capital Lome. “We can’t stay at home because of politicians,” he said. Turnout was just under 65 percent, according to a statement on the Togolese government website. Half the 6.6 million population were registered to vote. “If people have voted then stay calmly at home, the army won’t get involved,” said motorcycle taxi driver Jean Anoumou, who said he had been working all night. “I don’t think there will be violence like there was in 2005.” Togo is a top five producer of phosphates, which are used in fertilizers, but remains poor and dependent on foreign aid. Togo faced international criticism after the 2005 violence and foreign aid was suspended but a parliamentary election two years later was judged fair enough for aid to be restored and ties made with bodies such as the International Monetary Fund. Togo is near the bottom of the U.N.’s human development index and saw several years of negative growth in the past decade. The state budget for 2010 is around 500 CFA francs or $1.09 billion. Togo’s phosphate industry has gone into decline due to a lack of investment, with annual output slipping to around 900,000 tonnes from 1.2 million in 2006. (Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Louise Ireland) USA :
Togo opposition vows to fight Gnassingbe victory Togo’s main opposition party on Sunday rejected the results of a presidential poll handing a second term to incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, as hundreds of activists rallied in the capital to demand justice. Gnassingbe was returned to office in Thursday’s election with 60.9 percent of votes cast, defeating his main rival Jean-Pierre Fabre who took 33.94 percent according to official results announced on Saturday. But Fabre’s opposition Union of Forces for Change (UFC) charged that the vote — seen as a test of emerging democracy in the tiny West African country ruled for four decades by Gnassingbe’s strongman father — was flawed. “We do not recognise these results and we shall fight,” the party’s secretary general Eric Dupuy told AFP. Togo factfile UFC officials — whose leader Fabre, an economist, had claimed victory in the wake of the poll — are to meet Sunday “to marshal the actions to take in the coming days,” Dupuy said. Hundreds of UFC supporters rallied Sunday in front of the party’s headquarters in Lome’s working-class Be district. Timeline: Togo since independence “If they think it is all over, they are mistaken,” warned 23-year-old activist Ayih Folly. “We shall mobilise ourselves and pour on the streets to show them this time round that our victory is dear to us.” In another part of town, a young pro-Gnassingbe supporter — decked out in a black tee-shirt emblazoned with the president’s picture — warned his camp was ready to fight back. “They (opposition members) accuse us each time that we stole their votes, threatening to pour on the streets,” said Evariste Adoul. “We shall show them that we also can take to the streets.” But elsewhere in Lome, crowds headed peacefully to Sunday church services or to play sports on the beach. Gnassingbe is the 43-year-old son of former leader Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled with an iron fist for 38 years over the poor country of 6.5 million. Bloody unrest had broken out in the city of 1.5 million people following his election in 2005, with between 400 and 500 people killed according to the United Nations. Fear of violence had kept many residents in their homes, and businesses closed early Saturday ahead of the announcement of official results. Police in anti-riot gear and gendarmes had fanned out across the seaside capital on Saturday, setting up barricades at strategic points, and the city’s usually crowded streets were deserted and businesses closed. Security forces tear-gassed several hundred UFC supporters on Saturday as they tried to march towards the city’s main Independence Square to protest the results of the vote, Dupuy said. Thursday’s election went ahead without violence, although observers from regional bloc ECOWAS reported problems with ballot papers and the UFC has complained about the manner results were compiled. Third place in the election went to former prime minister Yawovi Agboyibo on 2.96 percent of votes, with the rest split between four fringe candidates. Turnout was 64.68 percent. One of the defeated candidates, former prime minister Messan Agbeyome Kodjo of the OBUTS opposition movement, accused authorities of intimidating Gnassingbe’s rivals after two of his aides were arrested. Special forces commander Colonel Yark Damehane told AFP authorities had arrested Kodjo’s aides along with eight other people on Saturday, hours before the official results were announced. “They were distributing tracts and leaflets calling for a general uprising,” he said. Kodjo denied any attempt to foment unrest. “These were not tracts, it was a statement signed in my name. This is arbitrary, it is an act of intimidation,” he told AFP. A common assumption is that presidents should have exemplary private morals. For some people, that assumption represents the ideal; for others, it is a truth. For many people, private morals and public policy need not meet so long as the laws of a land have not been violated. Today, the actions of two of Africa’s most powerful leaders challenge this common assumption. Does it matter if a political candidate for President of one’s country is perfect in his or her private life? Should voters care if a Presidential candidate is a nymphomaniac or a financial incontinent? Recent events in Nigeria and South Africa have turned these esoteric questions into matters of burning national debate. Nigeria has been led by a person of personal integrity and unimpeachable private morals. The first Nigerian head of state to declare publicly his personal assets, President Yar’Adua does not stand accused of dishonesty or indecent private conduct. Rather, he has been derelict in his Presidential duties by failing to hand over the keys of his office to his deputy at the beginning of a 3-month hospital stay in a foreign land. By contrast, President Zuma of South Africa, a senior anti-apartheid freedom fighter, can be described as a philandering polygamist , a sort of Tiger Woods of African politics. Yet, there can be little doubt that South Africa’s commentators feel freer under President Zuma than they did under former President Mbeki, the South African president with the least amount of personal public drama since 1989. Let us turn to the United States to show that these paradoxes are not unique to Africa. Former President Bush did not endure one scandal about his personal life in 8 years. But, he left office as one of the most unpopular Presidents of US history. His predecessor, Bill Clinton, was embroiled in scandals during his first Presidential campaign and throughout his two terms of office, culminating in an impeachment trial over a sex scandal. Yet, it is an article of faith among Democratic Party members in the US that the Clinton era was one of great presidential rule. Tiger Woods’s woes illustrate the need to separate private conduct from job performance. It is fair to say that Tiger has no standing today as a moral icon. However, no one doubts that he is one of the greatest golfers of all time. His behavior at night has no bearing on his ball-hitting prowess in daylight. Similarly, President Zuma’s nocturnal practices do not reveal his calibre as a president. In the case of President Yar’Adua, his failure to relinquish office temporarily is akin to Mr. Woods refusing to withdraw from golf tournaments while a hospital patient. A golfer or president is off duty while in hospital. Pretty simple! The golf analogy, though, begs a question: what exactly is the job of a president? If the job description of a president includes serving as a moral example for his voters and embodying the dignity of the country he governs, as well as running that country’s government, then President Zuma’s nocturnal activities are a cause of some concern to South Africans. After all, he has provided lots of fodder to cartoonists throughout the world in the last three months. But, there is scant evidence that his ability to govern South Africa has been impaired by his colorful personal life. The case of President Yar’Adua is puzzling. Why did power have to be wrested from his palsied hands instead of him handing over with dignity to Acting President Jonathan? His conduct was inconsistent with the spirit behind Nigeria’s constitution which envisaged the occasional indisposition of a president and provided that the deputy stand in for the president during such period. Leaving Nigeria leaderless for 90 days can in no way be considered the action of a responsible president. Distressing though it may be to those of us who believe that leaders in all walks of life should be moral examples for their numerous followers, the regrettable conclusion from this brief tour of African and American politics is that high moral standards of conduct in private life are neither necessary nor sufficient for good presidential leadership. Consequently, the answers to my two questions are: (a) the private life of a presidential candidate should be private; and (b) voters should not care whether their rulers are financial incontinents or nymphomaniacs. Who is preferable as a president? A Yar’Adua or a Zuma? CANADA :
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AIDS rise may force India to spend more: World Bank Sun Mar 7, 2010/Reuters (Reuters) – India will have to scale up prevention of HIV to avoid having to spend an increasing share of its health budget on treatment of AIDS patients, the World Bank and other agencies said Sunday. World | Health New Delhi spends about 5 percent of its $5.4 billion healthcare budget on treating AIDS patients. India with 2.5 million patients is among the top three countries with the highest number of HIV cases, alongside South Africa and Nigeria. But with HIV cases showing signs of rising in the capital New Delhi, in the financial hub of Mumbai, in the north and the northeast, the cost of treatment in India could rise to $1.8 billion by 2020, about 7 percent of the total health expenditure, the World Bank says. This would pose an enormous burden on the health care services and the budget in a country where malaria still kills hundreds of people every year and other health-sector challenges like non-communicable diseases are as sharp as AIDS, experts say. More than 15 percent of the 200,000 plus injectible drug users (IDUs) are HIV positive in the country against a global average of 10 percent, AIDS experts say. In some areas, HIV positive cases among IDUs have been found to be as high as 50 percent, health ministry officials quoting an ongoing survey said. This rise could fuel the spread of AIDS unless checked, aid agencies say in their reports. “What we are worried about, are the concentrated epidemics in the country, among vulnerable groups in districts,” said Mariam Claeson, World Bank Program Coordinator (HIV/AIDS). “Those concentrated epidemics can act as wildfires, and therefore need to be targeted with effective prevention efforts,” Claeson, an expert on AIDs in South Asia, told Reuters. Injecting drug users are infected by the virus by sharing needles with an HIV-infected person, and passing it on by having unprotected sex. The World Bank says the poor risk getting poorer in India as AIDS patients get marginalized and face income loss due to their HIV status. The World Bank quoting a recent study says in its report that about 36 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in India reported an income loss and increased expenditure on treatment. “HIV is not a major threat to the current economic growth of India, but the welfare impact is significant and HIV disproportionately affects the poor,” Claeson said. (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) S African teacher missing for a month found in India STAFF WRITER /PTI/ Mar 7 Shaun Gounden, 34, set out from his Johannesburg home on February 5 to spend three weeks at a Tibetan monastery in Delhi before volunteering to teach English at an orphanage in Afghanistan, Time TV reported. Family and friends of Shaun Gounden began a frantic search for Gounden after they had failed to hear from him since February 9. They contacted the South African embassy in Delhi police, airlines and even the India Tourism Office in desperate attempts to locate him. Earlier this week, the family received an e-mail from someone in Delhi to say that Gounden had been found disoriented by a local named only as Tenzin, who was attending him. BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 07 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,07/03/2010 |
BURUNDI – AFRICA / INTERNATIONAL : 07 MARS 2010 [Dictator's son declared winner in Togo election]
