{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 18 avril 2010 – www.digitaljournal.com- April 18, 2010–Flower sellers in Kenya are losing an estimated USD 2 million a day as a result of the blanket cancellation of flights to Europe.
RWANDA
UGANDA
Govt opens Uganda as 108th labor destination
PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE /www.myrepublica.com/2010-04-18
KATHMANDU, April 18: The government has decided to add African nation Uganda as the 108th labor destination after Nepali manpower agencies sought permission to send more than three dozen highly skilled workers there.
Purna Chandra Bhattarai, joint secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) told myrepublica.com that the MoLTM took the decision to enlist Uganda as the latest labor destination considering the high prospect of employment opportunity in tourism and service sectors of Uganda which has been limping back to peace after years of civil war.
“We have also given permission to a manpower agency to send skilled workers to Uganda,” said Bhattarai.
The government has already listed 107 countries across the world as labor destinations to send workers. Major players of Ugandan´s 15 billion-dollar economy are service, industry and agriculture that have been contributing 52 percent, 25 percent and 23 percent respectively in total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Subas Vijay Associates, a Nepali manpower agency has brought in an offer for 40 high skilled workers from Ugandan capital Kampala-based Crane Bank and got prior-approval to recruit workers from Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) following MoLTM´s decision.
According to DoFE´s data, no Nepali workers have reached the East African nation through government channel since about one-and-a-half decade.
The manpower company is recruiting five Sous chefs, three accountants, five executive chefs, seven front office managers, three charter accountants, seven duty managers, five food and beverage managers, five housekeeping executives with the offers ranging from US 1200 to US $ 2000 per month under two-year contract.
“We have initiated process of selecting the workers for the jobs and hopefully, we will complete the process within a month. We are also inviting employers from Uganda to have direct contact between employers and the job seekers,” said BN Parajuli, proprietor of Subas Vijay Associates.
Parajuli said prospect of job opportunity in service sector — mainly banking and tourism –is very high as the once war-torn nation has achieved rapid economic growth after peace was restored in the country.
“Mostly, Indian and Chinese multinational companies in Uganda are recruiting large number of migrant workers to fulfill the increasing demands for highly skilled workers in the service sector which is mainly dominated by banking and tourism,” said Parajuli.
Kumud Khanal, general secretary of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, said amid high dependency of Nepalis on blue-collar jobs abroad, demands for highly skilled workers facilitate further exploration of such white collar jobs.
“Not only from Uganda, some other countries have also placed demands for highly skilled workers. However, we are lacking such white collar workers to fulfill the demand,” said Khanal. According to manpower agencies, more than 90 percent Nepali workers employed in overseas jobs are unskilled.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
TANZANIA:
Tanzania gives citizenship to 162,000 refugees from Burundi
By Sharon Davis./www.digitaljournal.com/18042010
In a move described as the largest naturalisation anywhere Tanzania had granted citizenship to 162,000 refugees from Burundi most of whom fled to Tanzania in 1972.
The majority of the affected refugees were Hutus who fled ethnic violence from the Tutsi-dominated army in Burundi, and almost all were already integrated into Tanzania’s economy and society.
Reuters reports that in 2000 Tanzania had more than 680,000 refugees, the largest number in Africa. Most hailed from Burundi and the DRC.
A large number of Burundi nationals, who fled during the civil war in the 1990s, returned home after peace returned to the country in 2002.
The latest move follows an offer by the Tanzanian government in 2008 to send the refugees home or alternatively allow them to apply for citizenship.
The United Nations, which praised Tanzania for the generous naturalisation move, said that there were now only 97,000 refugees in Tanzania.
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Kenya’s flower sellers lose $2 million a day to flight crisis
By Sharon Davis/ www.digitaljournal.com/18042010
Flower sellers in Kenya are losing an estimated USD 2 million a day as a result of the blanket cancellation of flights to Europe.
Kenya Airways and other airlines flying from Nairobi are not able to fly to the main flower markets in London and Amsterdam due to the closure of European airspace.
Volcanic dust from an eruption in Iceland has drifted towards Europe. The dust is known to damage aircraft engines so flights have been grounded. This has hit the aviation industry hard – but is also affecting the suppliers of perishable items.
All Europe-bound passenger and cargo planes at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport have been grounded until further notice, and it is not clear how long the flight ban will continue.
By Saturday, March 17, Kenyan flower sellers, already struggling with reduced sales following the global financial crisis, had lost an estimated USD 4 billion and will continue to lose USD 2 million a day until flights resume.
“We have lost over USD 4 billion by yesterday (Saturday) morning and we are still counting,” Jane Ngige, Kenya Flower council chief executive said in an interview with The Standard on Sunday.
Kenyan President tips local universities
BY PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/www.capitalfm.co.ke/Apr 18
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 18 – Local universities have been urged to strategically position themselves to become the country’s backbone of attaining the forecasted economic growth through innovations and research.
President Mwai Kibaki said knowledge is the only engine to globalization through a prosperous economy.
He urged universities to play a more fundamental role in promoting national development as outlined in the country’s development blueprint, Vision 2030.
“The driving force in the upgrading of institutions of science and technology is the realization that in today’s increasingly globalized and knowledge-based economies, universities need to be at the forefront in promoting development in innovation, science and technology,” he said on Saturday when he officiated the launch of the Meru University College of Science and Agriculture at Nchiru Township, Tigania West Constituency .
The Head of State declared that the government’s desire is “to position universities at the centre of innovation, science and technology to enable the country attain both meaningful socio-economic development and qualified manpower.”
“It is against this background that Vision Twenty Thirty has accorded high priority to the development of high quality human capital with special emphasis on science and technology,” he acknowledged and stated that it is “fundamentally important to ensure that Kenyans were equipped with knowledge and skills that would enable them compete successfully at the international arena.”
Indeed, he said, lifelong learning and expanded opportunities for higher education have become necessary ingredients in modern times.
The Head of State challenged institutions of higher learning to adequately respond to societal needs through research and application of the findings.
President Kibaki noted that individual universities were located in different geographical and climatic zones which experienced unique challenges that could be tackled by the institutions.
He particularly noted that Meru University College which is located in one of the most agricultural rich regions, could lead the way by devising methods of reversing the trend of exporting the huge agricultural produce generated in the area in its raw form and instead strive to add value on the products.
“It is envisaged that science and technology will play a leading role in creation of skills and appropriate technologies to enable us to process and add value to our raw products before export,” he said.
He observed, “I note, for example, that Meru University College of Science and Technology is located in one of the agriculturally richest regions of our country. The area is known for quality coffee, tea and horticultural products. However, as we are aware, these products are sold fresh, as raw materials, to the developed countries where they are processed, repackaged, branded and re-exported back to us and other developing countries at a premium.”
During the occasion the President urged the academic staff to take up opportunities created by the Government for research and innovation citing the Research and Innovation Fund set up by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology for researchers.
The Head of State further urged local researchers to build linkages and collaborate with the private sector as well as with international peers in order to compare with the best in the world.
With regard to expansion of physical facilities in universities, President Kibaki revealed that that institution had received from the Government a grant of Ksh 185 million for capital development.
The President hailed various projects lined up for implementation by the college’s management aimed at expanding the institution especially the proposal to establish a teaching and referral hospital which he said would benefit both the local community and the entire nation at large.
“I note with appreciation that these resources are being utilized in the of two tuition blocks, two hostels, three workshops, a kitchen and a multi-purpose hall. In addition to the above projects, I am informed that the University has embarked on construction of a Teaching and Referral Hospital,” said the Head of State.
President Kibaki confirmed that the Government fully recognizes the need for upgrading skills and diversifying academic programmes offered in local institutions of higher learning.
This, he said, would make sure that academic programmes remained relevant to the dynamic labour market and would continue to fulfill the needs of an advancing society.
He noted that the Government had opened up higher education to benefit more Kenyans but in a manner that would ensure that skills needed from middle level institutions are not compromised.
“In our endeavour to realize these goals, my Government has stepped up measures aimed at enhancing access to University education. A number of reforms have been implemented in this regard, foremost among them being the opening of doors of middle-level public institutions to offer degree programmes,” he said.
The launch on Saturday was also attended by Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and Higher Education Assistant Minister Kilemi Mwiria.
Cooperatives Minister Joseph Nyaga, several assistant ministers and members of parliament, the Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura as well as other senior Government officials also attended the ceremony.
Column – John Kanelis: Court-martial could end idiocy
Sunday, April 18, 2010/www.amarillo.com
It will surprise no one to disclose that some – perhaps many – Panhandle residents do not believe President Obama is constitutionally qualified to serve as commander in chief.
Some folks here believe the president wasn’t born in the United States, despite Obama’s assertion that, yep, he entered this world in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961.
I received an e-mail the other day from one such individual who wants the president to “prove” that he, indeed, is a “natural born citizen” as stated in the Constitution.
I’ve argued this point until I’m blue in the face with some of these so-called “birthers.” It stretches credulity to believe that two Honolulu newspapers would conspire to concoct a bogus announcement of Baby Barack’s birth in the 50th state way back in the summer of 1961. But they did announce the youngster’s birth at the time.
That’s not enough to satisfy the birthers. They want to see a birth certificate.
Well, a possible end to this idiocy could be on the horizon.
It could come in the form of a court-martial.
Army Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is a birther who believes that the president isn’t qualified to hold his office. He believes Obama was born in Kenya, his late father’s homeland. The Army ordered him to deploy to Afghanistan. Lakin, a doctor, refused to report to Fort Campbell, Ky. Instead, he went to the Pentagon and was confronted by his brigade commander, Col. Gordon Roberts – the military’s lone active-duty Medal of Honor winner.
Roberts reportedly has told Lakin he could face a court-martial for refusing a lawful order.
I say, court-martial the guy. And while we’re introducing evidence to prove the fallacy of Larkin’s assertion, we could put to rest once and forever more this nutty notion that the president of the United States was born somewhere other than the country he now leads.
It apparently hasn’t been good enough that Hawaii’s health director confirms Obama’s birth in that state. Nor does it matter that state officials have verified the existence of a birth record, and that they released copies of his birth certificate during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Oh no.
Birthers insist it’s all a sham, a conspiracy that rivals the coverups of President Kennedy’s assassination and the landing of spacemen at Roswell.
John Economidy is a San Antonio lawyer and a former Air Force lieutenant colonel with extensive experience litigating in military court. He chuckled the other day and said, “Even doctors can be sort of stupid.”
The burden falls on the accuser to prove what he says, not on the president to prove he has standing to issue a lawful order as commander in chief, Economidy said.
“He (Lakin) will be convicted if the case proceeds to a general court-martial as anticipated,” Economidy predicted.
“Unfortunately, ideologues will always find some sap like Lt. Col. Lakin to fall on their sword for their political cause. Ideologues always give incredibly bad legal advice,” he said, adding that “dermatologists should not do brain surgery and ideologues should not give legal advice that harms their clients.”
How might this play out in civilian court? Randall County Assistant District Attorney Richard Gore also believes the burden of proof falls on the defense.
Gore compared it to someone alleging that an arresting police officer isn’t duly certified by the state to slap handcuffs on a suspect. “It would be ridiculous to ask the officer to prove he is certified to do his job,” Gore said.
A court-martial could answer a lot of questions once and for all, even for the nut jobs who keep suggesting the ridiculous.
Take this guy to court – and hope we can bid farewell to this moronic birther cult.
John Kanelis is editorial page editor of the Globe-News. He can be reached via e-mail at john.kanelis@amarillo.com.
ANGOLA :
SOUTH AFRICA:
South Africa: Religious Uproar Over Jewish Judge Who Criticized Israel
18 April 2010/allafrica.com
Durban — South Africa’s Jewish community, the largest in Africa, is in an uproar over pressure brought to bear on one of its most eminent members by Zionists upset over his involvement in a United Nations investigation suggesting that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza.
In a report in this week’s issue of the South African Jewish Report, the experienced South African journalist Moira Schneider writes that Justice Richard Goldstone has been effectively barred from attending the celebration of his grandson’s bar mitzvah – the religious coming-of-age ceremony for Jewish boys in their early teens.
Although South Africa’s Zionist Federation (SAZF) and Jewish Board of Deputies both vigorously denied that Goldstone had been “barred” or “banned” from the ceremony, the judge was reported by the Associated Press on Saturday as saying in an e-mailed comment that “In the interests of my grandson I will not be attending the bar mitzvah ceremony.”
He added: “At this time I am not prepared to say more than that, after consultation with the rabbi and leaders of the congregation at the Sandton Synagogue, to which the South African Zionist Federation was a party.” The federation said in its statement that “agreement was reached between the parties that no comments would be made until after the celebration.”
Goldstone has been excoriated by pro-Israel activists since heading a UN Human Rights Council probe which reported last September that both the Israeli army and the Palestinian militants of Hamas committed war crimes during Israel’s assault on Gaza nine months earlier.
When the report went before the UN General Assembly, the South African Zionist Federation said it was “inherently flawed and biased.” It called on the South African government to “reject the Goldstone Report with the contempt it deserves.” South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, has written that “the Goldstone Mission is a disgrace to the most basic notions of justice, equality and the rule of law.”
Schneider reported Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag of Johannesburg as saying that “there was a very strong feeling in the shul, a lot of anger” over Goldstone’s attendance at his grandson’s bar mitzvah. “”I heard also that the SAZF wanted to organise a protest outside the shul – (there were) all kinds of plans. But I think reason prevailed.”
The rabbi reportedly said Goldstone had done “a tremendous disservice not only to Israel but to the Jewish world. His name is used by hostile elements in the world against Israel and this can increase anti-Semitic waves.”
Arthur Chaskalson, a former chief justice and member of the defence team which represented Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress leaders at their treason trial in 1973, was reported as saying it was “disgraceful” to put pressure on a grandfather not to attend his grandson’s barmitzvah. Another Jewish judge still serving, Dennis Davis, asked: “Have we now got to the point that because we don’t like what somebody says or does, we place a ‘cherem’ [equivalent to excommunication] on them? What right do we have to do that?”
Goldstone made South African legal history in the 1980s when he refused to implement a key apartheid law imposing residential segregation on the grounds that people living illegally in central Johannesburg had no alternative accommodation available in the overcrowded areas set aside for their race group.
He was subsequently appointed, with the joint consent of the African National Congress and the apartheid government, to probe the violence of the transition to democracy between the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and South Africa’s liberation in 1994.
He later served as the first chief prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and as a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
Opening statement by President of the Republic of South Africa, JG Zuma, to the fourth India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Summit
www.webnewswire.com/Submitted by editor on April 18, 2010
Your Excellency, President Lula da Silva
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Singh
Honourable ministers
Their excellencies, ambassadors
Distinguished representatives from the various civil society forums
Senior officials
Let me express my personal and sincere gratitude to our gracious host, President Lula da Silva, for the hospitality we have enjoyed since arriving in Brazil. We appreciate the warmth and remarkable friendliness of the Brazilian people.
Your excellencies,
The history of our three countries is one of liberating our societies from the shackles of colonialism and poverty. Our three countries share a passion for change, equitable development in the world and the improvement of the lives of the poorest of the poor.
We have just had very fruitful discussions in our heads of states and government session earlier. True to our mission, we continue to search for ways of taking the quest for a better quality of life further through the IBSA forum.
Already a lot of progress has been made by our governments and civil society forums in taking the IBSA objectives forward. The agreements we are to sign later today, on science and technology as well as on solar energy, are also taking us a step further towards achieving the better life we seek.
Your excellencies,
We are gradually building and strengthening our economic ties. We have achieved our interim intra-trade target for 2010, which is 10 billion United States dollars. We are now steadily working toward 25 billion United States dollars by 2015. In order to achieve this target, we should, amongst other things, develop the transport interconnectivity strategy that was agreed upon by leaders in previous summits.
The envisaged trilateral preferential trade agreement between Mercosur, India and South Africa will also further stimulate trilateral trade. The enthusiasm of our business sectors is most welcome and we want to see ever growing economic activities within the IBSA family.
Your excellencies,
The IBSA partnership enables us to take forward our domestic developmental goals. Our three countries have large income distortions and are still faced with having to deal with socio-economic inequalities on a large scale. The obvious challenge in post-apartheid South Africa is to address this legacy of skewed income patterns.
In this regard, I wish to acknowledge the Brazilian and Indian governments for the various social programmes that they have geared towards this type of challenge. I am pleased that we are working towards concluding our joint IBSA strategies on social development and agriculture at this Summit.
It is good that we are able to share expertise on our various national programmes, and soon we should be able to share them with our respective regions as appropriate.
As the South African government, we have prioritised five issues on the national agenda namely; education and skills development, health, rural development and land reform, combating crime and creating decent work.
We already have 17 working groups under the auspices of IBSA covering these priority areas. This is evidence of the contribution that our participation in IBSA is indeed making to our national agenda.
Your excellencies,
I would like to congratulate President Lula and Prime Minister Singh on the IBSA micro-satellites projects. This will illustrate to the world that IBSA is not only about developmental issues, but could also coordinate resources to achieve scientific cutting-edge joint initiatives.
Distinguished delegates,
The external environment is not always conducive to our efforts to improve the livelihoods of our peoples. This is more so during the worst recession that we have experienced in almost a century. While the financial loss is almost beyond measure, the impact on human lives, notably the 50 million people who lost their employment, is plainly speaking beyond description and devastating.
We have learned valuable lessons from the global economic recession we are emerging from. It is evident that there have to be collective global checks and balances in respect of the flow of capital, goods, labour, peoples and even the very values that underpin our collective international governance.
It is for this reason that we must add impetus to our efforts to reform the global political and financial architecture. It is thus imperative that IBSA, alongside like-minded political and economic formations, seize the moment for the reform and restructuring of global governance. This includes the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the international financial institutions, and the G20.
South Africa will put forward its candidature for election for a non-permanent seat to the UNSC for 2011 to 2012. We have the support of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union.
Brazil already serves on the United Nations Security Council for the period 2010 to 2011 and India will also put forward its candidature for 2011 to 2012. This places IBSA in a unique position to influence the current negotiations for reform.
Your excellencies,
Another key challenge the world faces is peace and security.
I would also like to express my condolences once more to Prime Minister Singh and the President of the Russian Federation, who is also present in Brasilia at the moment, for the horrific terrorist attacks in their countries. Together we must work hard to ensure peace and prosperity for all of humankind.
Your excellencies,
The issue of trade in generic medicines is crucial to provide access to cheaper and safer medicines for developing countries. It is important to reach agreement on these important principles relating to intellectual property rights, in order to protect developing nations.
Your excellencies,
As IBSA we share the determination to protect our environment for sustainable development. The three IBSA countries are cooperating very effectively together with China on climate change and were instrumental in crafting the Copenhagen accord. South Africa will host the next British American Security Information System (BASIC) ministerial meeting on 26 April 2010 in Cape Town to take matters forward.
Your excellencies,
It is quite remarkable that the three IBSA partners are so busy preparing for major upcoming sporting events. Let me congratulate President Da Silva and extend good wishes to the Brazilian national soccer team, ahead of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in June and July. Let me hasten to add though that the South African side, Bafana-Bafana is ready and waiting for you, we are determined to keep the trophy on African soil.
Preparations for the world cup are nearing completion and we are eagerly awaiting the flow of international sports fans and tourists. Most stadia are fully operational. Security arrangements and infrastructure are also in place to ensure that our visitors and participating soccer teams enjoy a world class soccer spectacle.
I also wish Brazil all the best when they take this baton over from us to host the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Congratulations also to Brazil as well on winning the bid to host the Olympic Games in 2016.
Prime Minister Singh, I would likewise wish to extend my best wishes to India which will host the Commonwealth games this year. In hosting these sporting events, we will celebrate the achievements of the human body and spirit that bring us together.
Ladies and gentlemen, the very existence of IBSA as a new formation, serves as inspiration to the developing world. The forum is recognised as an important and influential platform and a credible voice of the people of the South. We must continue to work for a ne
w, equitable and just world order. We dare not let the developing world down.
Let me once again; pay very special homage again to our host, President Lula da Silva for his leadership, firstly in the global context, but more specifically in the context of IBSA. Your sterling contribution on IBSA and the agenda of the South speaks for itself.
Let me wish all delegates a very successful Summit.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
15 April 2010
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/)
South Africa
South African dies queuing for World Cup tickets
April 18, 20/REUTERS
A pensioner died in the queue on Thursday as thousands of South Africans queued overnight to grab 500,000 World Cup soccer tickets being sold for cash for the first time.
Police said the 64-year-old man suffered an apparent seizure as he waited in a queue in central Cape Town. He was number 565 in the line.
The Cape Town queue, like others around the country, began on Wednesday afternoon as South Africans rushed to get World Cup tickets, some of them for the final on July 11. Thousands of excited fans waited patiently in line, some blowing vuvuzelas, the noisy trumpets which are a fixture of South African matches.
Around 120,000 of the tickets are available to South Africans for $20, the lowest price at a World Cup for many years.
Ticket sales in South Africa had been below expectations until recently and soccer’s governing body FIFA was criticised for selling them in a complex system over the Internet which was alien to poor black soccer fans accustomed to getting tickets for cash on match days.
Officials acknowledged mistakes had been made and launched a new system of sales through ticketing offices and supermarkets on Thursday, hoping to sell out the tournament after disappointing overseas sales and returned tickets.
“I’m going to kiss my ticket when I get it,” said one man called Godfrey at the Maponya Mall in South Africa’s biggest black township, Soweto. He did not want to give his name because he was skipping work to stand in line.
“Like Mandela vote”
“The last time I waited in a line like this was when I voted for Mandela,” he said, recalling the elections won by Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994.
FIFA had previously said the final was sold out, but on Wednesday announced 300 late tickets would be released for the biggest match in world football.
“I’m just waiting in anticipation,” said Marlin Fisher, training to be a church minister. “I would love for South Africa to go all the way and I will also put my money on the Brazilian team.” Tickets are still well above normal prices for top-level football in South Africa.
Even the special cheap tickets are more than five times the cost of normal top class games and costs escalate drastically in higher categories for better seats and after the first-round group phase. Tickets for premier seats at the final cost $900.
Demand in South Africa had initially been sluggish but the most recent phase saw locals snap up 85 percent of the 240,000 tickets sold between February and the beginning of this month.
FIFA said last week 2.2 million tickets had been sold for the tournament, which kicks off on June 11.
A few months ago FIFA officials complained there was not enough atmosphere in South Africa around the continent’s first World Cup but the over-the-counter sales seemed to have changed that with excitement building rapidly.
AFRICA / AU :
Zimbabwe celebrates 30 years of independence
Sunday, 18 April 2010/news.bbc.co.uk
Zimbabwe is marking 30 years since independence from the UK.
Celebrations include all-night song and dance performances in the capital, Harare, and a speech by President Robert Mugabe in the city’s stadium.
Mr Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980, leads a unity government with rival Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister.
On the eve of the anniversary, a civil rights group said four of its members had been denied bail after they were accused of staging an illegal protest.
The group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) deny wrongdoing. The four were part of a group of women demonstarting against regular power cuts and high electricity tariffs in Zimbabwe.
Economic woes
Zimbabwe declared independence on 18 April 1980, following a seven-year conflict against Rhodesia’s white minority rule. Mr Mugabe, a former guerrilla leader, was elected president.
Independence also brought crippling international sanctions to an end.
The new country was widely seen as a new model for Africa.
Zimbabwe experienced strong growth in its first decade but the economy began to decline in the 1990s.
In 2000 Mr Mugabe launched a controversial land reform programme, seizing white-owned farms and handing them to blacks.
In the following years, farm production and the currency went into free fall. The one-time food exporter became dependent on aid.
Meanwhile Mr Mugabe suppressed the opposition, saying it was in league with former colonial power Britain.
In 2008, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won a parliamentary majority. But MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the presidential run-off, citing violence against supporters.
However the two sides reached a power-sharing deal later in the year.
New elections are due to be held but no date has been set.
Ex-mentor: Sharpton is Obama’s link to the streets
By VERENA DOBNIK (AP) /18042010
NEW YORK — The Rev. Al Sharpton is a “lightning rod” for President Barack Obama on inner city streets, Obama’s former Harvard mentor and friend said Saturday at a forum in Harlem.
But Sharpton, who led the event, told The Associated Press that America’s first black president “has to work both for us and for others,” and that if Obama were to push a race-based agenda, “that would only organize the right against him.”
Sharpton spoke on the last day of an annual conference organized by his National Action Network. Speakers included three members of Obama’s Cabinet and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, as well as Charles Ogletree, the president’s Harvard Law School professor, now a friend.
“Al Sharpton has become the lightning rod in moving Obama’s agenda forward,” Ogletree told the AP, describing Sharpton as a conduit between the disadvantaged and powerful leaders. “And he has access to both the streets and the suites, to make sure that the people who are voiceless, faceless and powerless finally have some say.”
Standing at the back of a balcony overlooking Harlem’s ornate First Corinthian Baptist Church, the 57-year-old lawyer said that some black Americans may be disappointed the president they helped elect isn’t doing more for them.
“And President Obama expected to do a lot more,” said Ogletree, referring to the challenges Obama faces in two wars and the struggling economy. Still, he predicted, the new health care law would affect uninsured black Americans more than any other segment of the population.
Sharpton clearly was at the center of this forum. Saturday, the front page of The Washington Post featured a photo of him with a headline that read: “Activist Al Sharpton takes on new role as administration ally.”
He chuckled at the notion.
“I’ve been as much in this White House as I was in George (W.) Bush’s — it’s only when Bush invited me to the White House, it was him reaching out; when Obama invites me, all of a sudden, we’re allies,” Sharpton joked during a break, sitting in a pew on the altar that served as a high-tech stage.
Amid a heated national debate over whether black leaders should align themselves with the president, Sharpton has defended Obama against criticism from television host Tavis Smiley that “black folk are catching hell” and Obama should do more to help them.
Black Americans, Sharpton said, “need to solve our own problems.”
Sharpton told the AP that he is working to expand his Harlem-based organization to 100 cities from the current 42, with about 200,000 members, “and to really deliver against unemployment that is disproportionate in the black community, and for health care and education reform.”
The four-day conference, focusing on a 12-month plan of action for black leadership, brought together prominent figures from dozens of fields, tackling topics as diverse as finding jobs for men leaving prison and federal subsidies for black farmers.
Sharpton’s plan to better life for black Americans measures its success by individual goal-setting — “every day, every week, every month,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
Nutter has a big goal: to reach and teach a half million adults in his city who are considered “low-literate,” which means they can read, technically, but have difficulty understanding a newspaper article or even a utility bill.
“It is impossible for parents to help their children if they can’t read,” said Nutter, who leads the largest American city with a black mayor. “It is almost impossible to lift yourself out of poverty if you can’t function at a high enough level.”
Volcano crisis strands Twin Cities group in West Africa
April 18, 2010 /www.startribune.com
Among the millions of would-be air travelers stranded worldwide by volcanic ash are 22 members of a Salvation Army mission team from the Twin Cities.
And they’re not even in Europe, ground zero of the chaos that has paralyzed airlines.
The group, which includes volunteers and Salvation Army employees, is stuck in Ghana, so far unable to get to Amsterdam to connect with their flight home.
For the past week, the team members had been working in the city of Woe, building a roof on a Salvation Army meeting hall and teaching local students.
After their flights were canceled Friday, they found themselves stuck in a hotel in the capital city of Accra.
According to the Salvation Army, although 19 of the 22 have confirmed tickets from Amsterdam to the Twin Cities on Tuesday, they’ve been unable to book tickets to Amsterdam.
Members of the group, ages 15 to 77, financed the trip themselves, the Salvation Army reported. Two have become ill, with one hospitalized after suffering dehydration.
BOB VON STERNBERG
INSIDE AFRICA: All for al-Bashir
By Olayinka Oyegbile/234next.com/April 18, 2010
Last week’s election in Sudan was the first in 26 years. It was expected to last for three days, but as of the time of writing this piece, it was still ongoing. This is not surprising. Sudan is the biggest country on the African continent and it has had a chequered life of military and civilian dictatorships, from the time of the religious Mahdis to Omar al-Bashir. Apart from its size, there are other challenges that led to the difficulties experienced during the voting process. The vast land and the fact that not many of the citizens have witnessed such a thing before. Those who are old enough have either never voted before or have forgotten what the experience was like.
Those who are under 26 are going through it for the very first time in their lives. The hiccups were therefore, not out of place.
I saw on the television a 76 year old man who said he was voting because he never remembered what it was like, and that he decided to participate because it could well be the last time he would have such an opportunity. Watching this on the television reminded me of the same experience and sentiments some old South Africans expressed during the first multi-racial election that brought Nelson Mandela to power. This is not to say the two are on the same scale.
The run up to the Sudanese election had been tough and deeply controversial because it was like a fight between the north and the south of the country. This was not in disguise at all. Most of the parties from the South decided to withdraw from taking part in the election, so as not to lend credence to the thoroughly discredited government in Khartoum headed by al-Bashir. On the other hand, al-Bashir needed the participation of all the parties to help shore up his own image at home and abroad. He needed it because it would give him at least another five years of moratorium from his indictment by the International Criminal Court, which is waiting for him in the wings to stand trial for crimes against humanity.
For all intents, last week’s election was more about al-Bashir, than about the future of Sudan. Although we may not be able to completely divorce the future of the country from it, but the one that needs that election more is the president. First, he needs it to send signals to the international community that he is still ‘popular’, despite the charges against him. He needs the endorsement to show that he is not the felon that the ICC has categorised him as. It is, therefore, very important for him to give the election a semblance of credibility. This was however, denied him by the mass withdrawal from the election by majority of the parties in South Sudan.
The parties were unwilling to give him any credit because they understood that participating in the charade was going to give him some points to hammer on, that he conducted an election in which his popularity was endorsed by all Sudanese. Now with the election over, and the counting on, it goes without saying that al-Bashir’s party is going to ‘‘sweep’’ the polls, ala elections, in Africa.
However, how the country moves from here is the important thing. In another year after the 2005 peace accord, there is going to be a referendum during which the South is going to vote whether to remain as part of the Sudan as it is today, or go its own separate way, as an independent country. It is almost certain that the South would vote for independence. It is therefore, more about al-Bashir than for the citizens. What he has just done is to tell the international community that ‘you demand for elections or democracy, I’ve organised elections and Sudan now has democracy, so what more do you want?’
We all know he is only hanging on a thin thread. If he thinks this would help him, he should ask Charles Taylor.
UN /ONU :
UN appoints 2 foreign members of Afghan election watch dog
April 18, 2010 /english.peopledaily.com.cn/Source: Xinhua
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan on Saturday announced the appointment of two foreign members of the country’s Election Complaints Commission (ECC).
The two nominated foreign commissioners are Judge Johann Kriegler, former Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, and Safwat Sdiqi, former member of the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, told a press conference here.
“Decisions by the ECC will be taken with the endorsement of one, at least, of these two international members,” said de Mistura.
Karzai in a legislative order issued February excluded three foreign members of the five-member ECC — the electoral monitoring body.
However, critics at home described the step as monopolizing the electoral body, while donor nations threatened to halt funding parliamentary election if international staff of ECC are excluded.
Afghan government on Thursday agreed to include two foreign nationals in the ECC, following a consultative meeting between Karzai and several high ranking officials and lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appointed Fazel Ahmed Manawi as chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.
Head of IEC Azizullah Ludin and his deputy Daud Ali Najafi resigned on April 7, in the wake of strong criticism over mismanagement and alleged fraud in last year’s presidential election.
President appoints electoral officials
By: WIRE EDITOR2010/www.phillyburbs.com/Burlington County Times/From The Associated Press/April 18, 2010
KABUL
President Hamid Karzai took key steps toward reforming the country’s electoral system Saturday, naming a respected former judge to head Afghanistan’s election-organizing body and backing down from a bid to keep international representatives off a separate team that monitors fraud.
The moves come after months of demands by the U.S. and its allies to clean up the electoral process following massive fraud in last year’s presidential balloting. Without meeting those demands, the Afghan government risked losing both funds for an upcoming parliamentary vote and broader international support.
Disagreements about how to handle last year’s fraud-marred presidential vote nearly derailed the U.S.-Afghan partnership, even as President Barack Obama was ordering thousands more U.S. troops to try to turn back the Taliban. Many international diplomats and officials have been worried that parliamentary elections scheduled for September could prove similarly disastrous.
KHARTOUM, Sudan
International monitors said Saturday that Sudan’s first multiparty elections in more than two decades failed to meet international standards, an assessment that diminishes hopes the voting would set the nation on the road to peace and democracy.
The conclusions also boosted fears that a flawed vote could fuel violence in the conflict-strewn country, where some opposition parties challenging the fairness of the process boycotted all or some of the local and national races.
However, the observers did not call for a revote, and instead recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year’s crucial referendum on southern independence.
Another setback for the vote came Saturday from a prominent opposition party, which said it would not recognize the election results, citing allegations of vote rigging by President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.
JOHANNESBURG
The internationally respected South African jurist who wrote a U.N. report on Israel-Palestinian clashes won’t be attending an important Jewish rite of passage for his grandson, but did not confirm reports he was put off by possible protests by Jews angered by conclusions he drew about Israel.
All Richard Goldstone would say Saturday was that after discussions with a South African Jewish group that has sharply criticized his findings that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza in 2009, he decided not to attend the bar mitzvah.
“In the interests of my grandson I will not be attending the bar mitzvah ceremony,” the retired member of South Africa’s highest court said in an e-mail to The Associated Press Saturday. “At this time I am not prepared to say more than that after consultation with the rabbi and leaders of the congregation at the Sandton Synagogue, to which the South African Zionist Federation was a party,” he said.
BAGHDAD
The U.S. Army has dismissed a soldier who threatened fellow troops and sent the Pentagon a violent rap song he wrote to protest his Iraq redeployment orders, officials said Saturday.
The dismissal for misconduct means Spc. Marc A. Hall will avoid criminal charges but lose all military benefits earned over at least four years of service, including an earlier tour in Iraq.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom said Saturday that top brass decided to discharge Hall instead of taking him to trial in part because he admitted his guilt.
“He understood the threats he made to his fellow soldiers,” Bloom said. “With the loss of his benefits, the time he’s already done in jail and his reduction in rank, that’s justice served.”
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran’s supreme leader told a nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran on Saturday that the United States’ atomic weapons are a tool of terror and intimidation.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said America deceptively calls for non-proliferation while holding on to its own weapons and failing to confront Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear bombs.
The two-day conference appeared timed as a counterweight to President Barack Obama’s 47-nation summit in Washington last week to discuss nuclear security. Obama did not invite Iran, which the U.S. fears is using a civilian nuclear program as cover to develop a weapons capability. Iran denies that and says its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes such as power generation.
“The deceptive policy by the sole nuclear offender, which falsely claims to be advocating the non-proliferation of nuclear arms while doing nothing substantive for this cause, will never succeed,” Khamenei said.
NEW DELHI
Two small bombs exploded Saturday outside a cricket stadium in southern India shortly before a match was about to start, police said, injuring 10 people and setting off panic among fans.
The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is hosting a game between the home team, Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the Mumbai Indians, as part of the popular Indian Premier League tournament.
The city police commissioner told reporters that four officers and a security guard were among the wounded.
The guard’s injuries were serious.
“It appears that some explosives may have been hidden in the wall” next to a gate leading to the stadium, said Shankar Bidari, whose comments were broadcast on several news channels. “The explosives weren’t powerful.”
USA :
Zimbabwe’s 30th birthday: how did Robert Mugabe turn hope into misery?
It is exactly 30 years since Robert Mugabe became newly-created Zimbabwe’s first prime minister. What went wrong, asks Peta Thornycroft?
www.telegraph.co.uk/By Peta Thornycroft in Harare / 18 Apr 2010
“If yesterday I fought as an enemy, today you have become a friend. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me, and me to you.”
With these words, Robert Mugabe sought to reassure white and black alike on the eve of his swearing-in as prime minister of the newly independent and internationally recognised state of Zimbabwe, exactly 30 years ago today.
He broadcast his address to the nation, then drove to a packed and carefully orchestrated ceremony in a football stadium in the capital, Harare.
On a chilly autumn night a choir of mostly white schoolchildren sang of the Rhodesia they loved – to the obvious embarrassment of whites in the VIP box, who were hearing their country praised like this for the last time. Then, with voices rising, the youngsters eulogised the new Zimbabwe in the second verse, sending 25,000 blacks into prolonged and ecstatic applause.
Many feared Mr Mugabe, particularly whites, and with the benefit of three decades’ hindsight – after murders, expropriations, starvation and economic ruin of both blacks and whites – they appear to have been right.
Yet many also fell for his considerable charm that night. Were they duped, or did Mr Mugabe change? This is the question that, as Mr Mugabe’s cronies prepare to celebrate his 30 years of unineterrupted power today, Zimbabweans with long enough memories still ask. How could a man who offered so much hope have presided over so much chaos, repression and political murder?
In the days after the new prime minister’s conciliatory words, the anti-bomb blast tape was taken down from windows and refugees and exiles came home. There was a new mood of optimism after 15 bloody years of bush war.
Mr Mugabe made great efforts to reassure white farmers – even appointing a British-born farmer as his first agriculture minister.
Many whites left, but others stayed and some went willingly to work for his new government. Among them was Costa Pafitis, now 72, press secretary to the ousted white leader, Ian Smith, who was asked by Mr Mugabe to stay on.
“I agreed, hoping it would help confidence,” Mr Pafitis said at his home in a suburb of Harare.
Mr Mugabe mostly wrote his own speeches at that time, said Mr Pafitis, recalling the former guerrilla fighter’s promise to “turn guns into ploughshares”.
Other assurances now seem even more bitterly ironic. “Our majority rule could easily turn into inhuman rule if we oppressed, persecuted or harassed those who do not look or think like the majority of us,” Mr Mugabe said then. “Democracy is never mob rule.”
Today it seems astonishing to a generation of young Zimbabweans that the aged and vindictive tyrant who rules them now could have ever talked in such a way.
“He said that?” exclaimed an astonished 37-year-old, shown Mr Mugabe’s first speech to the nation. The man, who was too fearful of repercussions to be named, lost his job as a post office technician 10 years ago when he was discovered to be an activist for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party. Fascinated, he wanted to read every word.
White Zimbabweans liked Mr Mugabe at first. He scrupulously complied with the 1979 constitution, agreed in lengthy negotiations at Lancaster House, and urged them to expand production. They did so happily, until their exports were bringing in 40 per cent of the nation’s foreign currency.
Grateful foreign-owned companies and many farmers gave generous donations towards a new headquarters for Zanu-PF, the party against which they had fought for 15 bitter years.
I myself fell for Mr Mugabe’s charm, for a while. In 1981 I returned from South Africa, where I had been working as a journalist, after he appealed for skilled expatriates to come and build the new nation. I was born in Britain but my mother emigrated to Rhodesia when I was 18 months old, and it where I considered to be home.
Yet within months Zanu-PF began taking control, telling newspaper editors how to write stories, for example. A year later came a grim turning point: Mr Mugabe ordered the mass murder of his black countrymen in Matabeleland, the stronghold of the opposition party Zapu. His killers left 20,000 dead and wrecked the most significant potential challenge to his power.
Yet even this did not set the alarm bells ringing elsewhere. Prospering white farmers turned a blind eye and it was not until Zimabwe’s 20th anniversary approached that its descent into real chaos began.
With the economy in decline, Mr Mugabe – by now president – faced a serious challenge from the new MDC, which many white farmers backed. The killing began again, and this time it was the turn of the farmers.
The MDC still very nearly beat Zanu-PF in the 2000 general election, and two years later Morgan Tsvangirai, a trades union leader turned politician, challenged Mr Mugabe in a presidential poll but was denied his victory by a combination of violence, threats and electoral trickery.
By then Zimbabwe was going badly wrong. The economy was in deep trouble. Incompetence and corruption were on glaring display. Yet Mr Mugabe’s rhetoric had persuaded many Zimbabweans that he was personally honest, lived on a modest salary and was uninterested in wealth.
In August 2003, suspicions that he had in fact been enriching himself were confirmed when my story in The Daily Telegraph revealed that builders were putting the finishing touches to his new £6 million residence, the largest ever built in either Rhodesia or Zimbabwe. With 25 bedrooms, spas and a swimming pool, its roof clad with blue glazed tiles from Shanghai, it was as luxurious as any to be built in the post-colonial Africa of corrupt “big men” – and was three times the size of the president’s official residence.
Its cost far exceeded his earnings since he came to power.
In fact, Mr Mugabe had quietly taken control of four of Zimbabwe’s most profitable white-owned farms. They were secretly managed by state employees with all the profits going to him, his second wife, Grace, and their close relatives. Many believe that Mrs Mugabe’s shopping addiction has contributed to his increasingly greedy rule.
His charm could work its spell at first because Mr Mugabe was unknown to most Zimbabweans in 1980, thanks to Rhodesia’s press censorship. They hadn’t heard of the vicious fights within the ranks of his Zanu-PF party during its exile in Mozambique. The antagonism between Mr Mugabe and his former wartime allies in the late Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu was also little understood. Few realised that during the liberation war Mr Mugabe had jailed scores of youthful militants in horrendous conditions in Mozambique.
And he could put on a good show of being a moderate. While still in Marxist Mozambique, Mr Mugabe met a visiting US Congressman who had come to get his measure to brief the then secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. The evaluation, made public only recently after a freedom of information request, is revealing.
“Ten years of detention (in Rhodesia) have not dulled Mugabe,” wrote the Congressman, Stephen Solarz. “He is an impressive, articulate and extremely confident individual. His philosophical approach to problems and his well reasoned arguments remind one of Julius Nyerere, a man Mugabe obviously admires.”
That comparison was reassuring. Mr Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, was a socialist but also a democrat, and one of the few post-colonial leaders to step
down peacefully from power without looting his nation’s wealth.
Mr Mugabe reassured in other respects. “Mozambique is a military state and we do not want military rule, we want a civilian government democratically elected,” he assured the US politician. “We will follow English common law.”
Yet there was also a glimpse of ruthlessness. Asked what he would do if he met Ian Smith, Rhodesia’s white leader, Mr Mugabe grinned and said: “Shoot him.”
To those close to Mr Mugabe’s government in the 1980s – but not to others – it was quickly obvious that his rule was going wrong. Mr Pafitis worked loyally as his press secretary for three years, and then quit.
“There was an Africanisation programme in the civil service and people wanted my job,” he said. “At the end of the day I couldn’t separate the party (Zanu-PF) from the government. It was clear we were moving towards a one-party state, and unless I became Zanu-PF I had to move on.”
Many white farmers came to regret their public support for the MDC because of the trouble that brought them. “We were naive, we should have done what we did underground,” said one ex-farmer, who has lived in Harare since being violently evicted from his property in 2001.
The early farm invasions were a hard story to cover and extremely dangerous. Every day there was violence somewhere. Since 2000 around 1,000 people, mostly MDC supporters, have been killed, thousands injured and tens of thousands arrested.
So were Mr Mugabe’s words at Zimbabwe’s creation merely a cover for his personal ambition?
To many Zimbabweans it now seems like that. Zanu-PF now controls nine out of 10 once white-owned farms, and wants to take controlling stakes in white-controlled foreign and local companies. Zimbabwe’s mine owners are worried. And still waiting to be seized are the prizes of white-owned homes in the cities.
To rule like this Mr Mugabe needs a subservient population, dependant on him for favours. He needs land and resources to dispense to supporters. And he must respond with violence to anyone brave enough to stand up to him.
Yet a majority rejected him in the 2008 presidential election, when former Zanu-PF supporters took real risks to vote for Mr Tsvangirai. Many were desperate at the state of the economy: hyperinflation had soared so high that prices doubled and redoubled over a single day. Life expectancy for women had fallen to 34 – half that of 1980 – and of men to 37.
Four thousand white farmers had been pushed off their land, and many times that number of black farmworkers were reduced to living in dreadful poverty.
But Mr Mugabe again refused to cede power and Mr Tsvangerai was forced to join a tenuous unity government – knowing that the president is plotting to oust him again entirely at the next election.
And so there will be no hopeful ceremony uniting Zimbabweans today, no echoes of that uplifting moment 30 years ago. The official “celebration” will be dominated by Mr Mugabe’s henchmen, with a sprinkling of MDC figures who feel obliged to attend.
The nation remains all but bankrupt and isolated internationally, and life for most Zimbabweans remains paralysed.
What does Mr Mugabe want now, in his 87th year, as he celebrates three decades in power? He is convinced that he has righted a historic wrong by taking back land for blacks. Extraordinary though it may sound, he desperately wants a more favourable legacy by which to be remembered.
And, in the hope of achieving this, he will hang on. Most Zimbabweans are sure of this: we will be stuck with Robert Mugabe until he dies in office.
CANADA :
Flights to and from Europe disrupted into the weekend
By Andrea Woo, Vancouver Sun/April 18, 2010
Passengers planning on flying into or out of northern Europe are being urged to leave contact information with their travel providers as airlines scramble to maintain order during the worst aviation disruption since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The volcano under Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier began erupting for the second time in one month Wednesday, spewing a massive plume of ash up to 11 kilometres in the sky and prompting aviation authorities to close airspace as a safety precaution.
All four flights scheduled to depart YVR for London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Amsterdam Friday were cancelled.
Four scheduled incoming flights from the same destinations were also cancelled.
“Customers need to ensure that their personal contact information is available with their travel agent so we can contact them with any sort of a revised flight itinerary,” said Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah.
Air Canada cancelled flights between Canada and London’s Heathrow Airport, Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Geneva Friday in response to European airports closing airspace. Air Canada only has one flight a day from Vancouver to Europe — to London Heathrow — but the airline is seeing more significant disruptions at eastern Canadian airports, Mah said.
The national carrier has revised its ticketing policy so affected customers will be able to rebook without penalty, depending on availability. It will also add additional flights on larger aircraft to help move passengers once airspace restrictions lift.
German carrier Lufthansa, which cancelled all outgoing North American flights Friday due to closed German airspace, will rebook free of charge up to May 31. “The cities where we have planes sitting on the ground are in a better situation than those cities where we don’t,” said Lufthansa spokeswoman Jennifer Janzen. “As the airspace opens, we would be in a position to get those flights out fairly quickly.”
There is one Lufthansa plane grounded in Vancouver now.
Local travel agencies are reporting a number of cancellations and reschedulings as well as some often costly and cumbersome reroutings.
Most reroutings at Flight Centre have been for corporate clients who must travel for work and were scheduled to connect in northern Europe, according to company spokeswoman Allison Wallace.
“The only option for them is to route through a southern destination that’s not being affected by the volcanic ash,” Wallace said. “We’ve had some clients routed through Rome. We had another person who was supposed to be in South Africa this weekend and instead of going via London, we’re sending him via Asia. There are some options, but they’re limited and generally more expensive.”
Fees associated with cancellations, rebookings and reroutings vary depending on the airline.
All Europe-bound passengers are urged to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport, either with their airlines or at www.yvr.ca.
awoo@vancouversun.com
AUSTRALIA :
EUROPE :
CHINA :
Moroccan prime minister meets Communist Party of China delegation
news.xinhuanet.com/English.news.cn /Editor: yan /2010-04-18
RABAT, April 17 (Xinhua) — Abbas El Fassi, the Moroccan prime minister and general secretary of the Istiqlal Party, says his country appreciates its mutual cooperation and close ties with China.
Morocco and China have witnessed frequent exchanges after Morocco achieved independence and the two countries understand and support each other in the international arena, Fassi said during Thursday’s meeting with a delegation of the Communist Party of China.
Morocco once supported China to restore its lawful seat in the United Nations, he said.
The CPC has attached importance to developing relations with the Istiqlal Party and sends delegations to Morocco every year, which is appreciated by his party, Fassi said.
The prime minister also expressed condolences to the CPC, the Chinese government and people for the loss of lives and property caused by the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Yushu County in northwest China’s Qinghai Province.
Chen Jianguo, head of the Chinese delegation and member of the Central Committee of the CPC, said that in recent years the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Morocco has yielded fruitful results in various fields.
The cooperation not only benefits the two peoples but also helps to promote the development of China-Africa and China-Arab relations, said Chen, who is also secretary of the CPC’s regional committee of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China.
The CPC wishes to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with Morocco’s political parties, including the Istiqlal Party, based on the four principles on the relations among political parties, and continuously promote the development of relations between the two countries, he said.
INDIA :
BRIC, IBSA boost India’s drive for UN seat
April 18th, 2010/by IANS/www.thaindian.com
Manish Chand
New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) The stalled drive for expansion of the UN Security Council has gathered momentum with the IBSA and BRIC summits and South Africa backing the G4 initiative, say Indian officials who feel that it will be “a matter of time before it’s taken to its logical conclusion”.
“The initiative to expand the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories has gathered momentum. It’s a matter of time before it’s taken to its logical conclusion,” said senior officials at the end of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) summits held in Brasilia Thursday.
Officials cited the endorsement of South Africa for a non-permanent seat for 2011-2012 in the UN Security Council by the 53-nation African Union at its February summit in Addis Ababa as a major step forward in the evolution of the AU consensus on UN reforms.
They also cited South Africa’s support to a letter to the UN chair for inter-governmental negotiations for expanding the Security Council, backed by 140 nations, as an indication that the long-stalled drive for the UN reforms is finally moving.
There is no conflict between the AU and G4 nations – of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan – on UN reforms, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told journalists aboard the prime minister’s special aircraft Saturday while returning from Brasilia.
The G4 has now been joined by South Africa, albeit not formally as a group, said Sharma.
According to India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri, “there is clear and discernible momentum but it has to be progressed.”
“Things are likely to come to fruition in 2011-2012,” he said.
Five years ago, the G4 drive for the expansion of the council petered out after the AU failed to evolve a consensus on nominating its candidates for the UN seat from Africa. There were also some differences over the quantum of new additions to the UN Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories. “That’s why South Africa’s backing is so significant,” an official said.
Putting their collective economic weight behind the BRIC initiative, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joined in at the BRIC summit to back a greater role for India and Brazil in having a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
“We reiterate the importance we attach to the status of India and Brazil in international affairs, and understand and support their aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations,” said the joint statement.
Similarly, the IBSA summit held on the same day in Brasilia backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s call for democratization of international decision-making bodies, including the UN. “There is an urgent need for reform of the UN, including the Security Council, by making it more democratic and representative,” Manmohan Singh had told Brazilian President Lula da Silva and South African President Jacob Zuma.
During bilateral talks with Manmohan Singh, President Lula reiterated the support of Brazil to India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the UNSC for 2011-12.
Manmohan Singh underlined this new mood of optimism about expansion of the Security Council and India’s place in a restructured world order when he told journalists at the end of his eight-day trip to the US and Brazil that “the world has taken a benign view of India and wants it to succeed.”
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 18 avril 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,18/04/2010
