{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 18 mars 2010 – AFP- March 18, 2010–At least 11 civilians and eight troops have died in attacks by Ugandan LRA rebels in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a local association said.

RWANDA

Land That Outlawed Hate On Edge as Key Vote Nears
By SARAH CHILDRESS /online.wsj.com/MARCH 18, 2010

KIGALI, Rwanda—The man who outlawed ethnic hatred in this tiny African nation is running for re-election, just as a delicate peace is showing signs of strain.

In recent weeks, politicians lining up against President Paul Kagame have complained of threats and physical attack. According to the 2009 U.S. Human Rights Report, journalists who criticize the government have been arrested—a pattern that has escalated recently, journalists say. Grenades have exploded here in the capital, Kigali. And ethnic violence is creeping back.

The incidents reflect a growing tension in the country, a byproduct of the government’s determination to prevent a reprise of the genocide here 16 years ago. In 1994, some 800,000 people—one-tenth of the population, most of them ethnic Tutsi—were killed by machetes and farm tools in violence that ended when Mr. Kagame and his guerrilla army captured Kigali.

Today, Rwanda is a rarity among African nations: an economic success. Under Mr. Kagame, growth reached 11% in 2008, making it one of the world’s fastest growing nations before the global economic slump kicked in.

Kigali’s streets bustle with orderly commerce and are swept by cleaners in blue smocks. No beggars or prostitutes clog the sidewalks as in other African cities; the police round them up. The final Saturday of the month, Rwandans must join in a national clean-up day, tidying the area in which they live.

And in a remarkable attempt at social engineering, Rwandans are forbidden to say anything that might reignite hatred. Mr. Kagame’s 2008 “genocide ideology” law is the heart of his nation-rebuilding strategy. It outlaws any dehumanizing behavior, including murder and hate speech, but also hard-to-define offenses such as “marginalizing,” “boasting,” “despising” or “stirring up ill feelings.” Violators face up to 25 years in prison.

But memories are hard to erase. Some younger Rwandans point to next month, April—the month the genocide began, a period of national remembrance—as a time when the question of ethnicity again rises. Genocide is discussed in school, stirring questions about who is Hutu and who is Tutsi.

“We want to know,” said one 28-year-old student, a minority Tutsi, who said he hopes to become a pastor. “In your heart, you are always thinking that all Hutu are bad.”

At the same time, Mr. Kagame, who is widely expected to win re-election in August, faces allegations that he’s using the broad language of the genocide-ideology law—as well as intimidation—to rein in opponents.

Bernard Ntaganda, who registered an opposition party last year, the PS-Imberakuri, was summoned in December to a senate committee hearing because the government said it had received a tip that the party was “ethnically divisive” and may have violated the genocide-ideology law. Mr. Ntaganda has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated. The matter is pending before the senate.

Last month, another politician said she was attacked in front of a government office where she and a colleague had gone to collect documents to register her party. The politician, Victoire Ingabire, said in an interview she believes the government was behind the attack, in which she says her passport was stolen and her colleague beaten.

She has been interrogated by police about alleged ties to genocide perpetrators, and denies any link. Days after last month’s attack, her colleague was arrested and accused of participating in the genocide. He has said he wasn’t in the country then.

The government denies the harassment allegations. Spokeswoman Louise Mushikiwabo said she believes Ms. Ingabire and her colleague used divisive language, and the government has a responsibility to maintain unity. “These politicians, failing on substance, are looking for trouble. They are trying to bring this language that is banned, language that even by law in this country is not allowed, and see how far they can get with it,” she said.

Through an aide, Mr. Kagame declined to be interviewed.

By outlawing hateful speech, Rwanda hopes to create generational change. “Give it 10 to 20 years and you will have a new crop of Rwandans” who don’t consider themselves Hutu or Tutsi, said Tharcisse Karugarama, the justice minister. “Today if you see somebody and say, ‘What’s your tribe?’ people look at you suspiciously. Today you could … take them to court for inciting racial ideology,” he said. The minister added: “It’s an experiment in positive living.”

Many Rwandans say the genocide-ideology law casts a chilling effect on daily life. “You’re always afraid,” said one middle-class woman and member of the majority Hutu ethnic group. She agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity at a quiet hotel. As is common among Rwandans when speaking about politics in public, she fell silent whenever a waiter came within earshot, underscoring widespread belief that restaurant staff are paid to report people’s conversations to Rwandan intelligence officials.

In another interview, a businessman gestured toward a portrait of Mr. Kagame in the café where he sat, rather than speak the president’s name aloud.

Ms. Mushikiwabo said it’s “just ridiculous” to suggest that Rwandans are afraid of speaking out in public. “There’s a fear that comes from nowhere that this law is here to curtail people’s views,” she said. “There is no question that hate speech is difficult to regulate,” she said, adding that she knows of no instances of the law’s misuse.

The struggle with the past takes many forms. Murders of Tutsi genocide survivors have risen the past few years after a mid-decade decline, according to Ibuka, the genocide survivors’ association. Reports of Hutu harassment of Tutsi more than doubled since last year, Ibuka said, to 99 incidents from 44 the year before. In 2008 and 2009, grenades were thrown at the genocide museum in Kigali, which is also a grave for victims.

And this month, French prosecutors arrested Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of the former president whose death triggered 1994’s genocide, on a Rwandan international warrant. Mrs. Habyarimana is one of the top officials the Rwandan government would like to see tried in Kigali. Rwandan officials say she bears some responsibility for the genocide. She denies the charges.

Mrs. Habyarimana appeared before a French magistrate on March 2. She’ll be summoned in the next few months to learn whether she will be extradited to Rwanda, according to her lawyer.

Mr. Kagame, 52 years old, is widely credited for rescuing a ruined country. He led the forces that ended Rwanda’s genocide and has served as president for a decade. In that time, Rwanda became the envy of its struggling African neighbors.

The U.S., a major donor, extended $150 million in aid in 2009. Foreign investment, a trickle in 2003, soared to $120 million in 2008, the government says. Rwandan officials have estimated they will have signed more than $500 million in investment deals for 2009. “Our leadership is visionary and will do anything and everything to ensure that growth is not lost,” said Clare Akamanzi of the Rwanda Development Bank.

Mr. Kagame, a member of the Tutsi minority, is himself shaped by Rwanda’s ethnic conflicts. As a boy in 1960, he escaped with his family to neighboring Uganda when Hutus angry with the Tutsi aristocracy stormed from hill to hill, burning homes.

In Uganda, he secretly built a militia, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. In 1990, his militia attacked Rwanda, fueling civil war. Then, in April 1994, a plane carrying Rwanda’s president was shot down by assailants whose identities have never been confirmed—and the slaughter of Tutsi began. Within 100 days, hundreds of thousands died.

In July 1994, Mr. Kagame’s forces took the capital.
He rose to the presidency in 2000. Challengers soon found themselves pushed aside.

As the election in 2003 approached, Mr. Kagame’s main rival was accused of “divisionism,” or advocating one ethnicity over another. He was later arrested and convicted on corruption charges and attempting to incite violence, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has denied the charges; Mr. Kagame pardoned and released him in 2007.

The divisionism ban marked the start of the government’s bid to eliminate hate speech.

Hutu and Tutsi share language and customs. And while Tutsi are stereotypically taller, the two have intermarried for so long that physical distinctions are often blurred. Their distrust has roots in colonial times a century or so ago, when Belgian colonizers favored the Tutsi and distributed ethnic-identity cards.

Despite the shared culture and Rwanda’s effort to stamp out prejudice, deep sensitivity to differences remains. According to the young Tutsi student hoping to become a pastor, in one of his classes the teacher asked members of the genocide survivors’ association (whose members are Tutsi) to raise their hands. Once students do so and identify their ethnicity, “There is now segregation,” he said.

Another Tutsi student said he encourages younger Tutsi children orphaned in the genocide to be wary of Hutu. “I say, ‘Beware, he might try to destroy you,'” the young man said.

In September 2008, Mr. Kagame’s party won a parliamentary election with 79% of the vote, further cementing his leadership. A few smaller parties contested, with only minor support.

“We have many political parties, but we have no opposition,” said Pascal Nyilibakwe of the League of Human Rights for the Great Lakes Region, a Kigali group focused on political issues. “Why vote?” he said. “We know the result beforehand.”

As this August’s vote approaches, myriad issues are becoming politicized. For instance, in 2008, the government decided to switch its official language to English from French.

It was partly a geopolitical move. Relations with France soured after the genocide because France had been an ally of the Hutu government at the time, and a probe by Rwanda’s government found that the French government armed and helped train Hutu militias who were preparing for the genocide.

France has denied the allegations. Relations between Rwanda and France have since improved. On a recent visit to Kigali, French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged “errors” by France during the genocide, while stopping short of apology.

Officially, the switch to English was pragmatic. Rwanda hopes to market itself as a business hub in East Africa, a mainly Anglophone region.

But the switch to English has a side effect of blocking many Hutu—who grew up in a Francophone Rwanda—from good jobs. Many postings now require fluent English, including teaching and government positions. Most English speakers in Rwanda are Tutsi who grew up in exile or studied abroad.

Many Hutu are frustrated by a lack of opportunity. Despite economic growth, Rwanda remains poor. An estimated 80% of Rwandans are subsistence farmers, most of them Hutu.

In an echo of the past, the Hutu unease is fueling support among some for the brutal rebel group across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That group, known by its French initials, FDLR, was founded by Hutus involved in the genocide.

“Some support the FDLR,” said the woman being interviewed in the Kigali hotel. As a Hutu, she says, she condemns the group’s abhorrent violence. But other people say, ‘We’ve had enough,'” she said. “They say, ‘If the RPF got the country by the gun, why not us?'”

—David Gauthier-Villars contributed to this report.

UGANDA

Deaths in riot after Uganda fire
Thursday, March 18, 2010 /Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Three people have been killed during clashes between Ugandan security forces and rioters after a fire gutted the site of five royal tombs outside the capital, Kampala.

The country’s presidential guard opened fire at members of the Baganda ethnic group on Wednesday, after rioters tried to stop Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, from visiting the destroyed tombs, officials said.

“Those killed were among a crowd, which was stopping the guards to enter where the tombs are located,” Lubega Segona, the minister of information for the Buganda kingdom, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

“The guards responded by opening fire and killing three people and injuring several,” he said.

Kale Kaihura, the police inspector-general, condemned the shootings and said officials would investigate the incident.

“I have instructed the criminal investigation department director to investigate all those who shot at people,” he said.

“All those involved will be arrested and punished.”

Arson suspected

Security forces had earlier used tear gas to disperse members of the Baganda ethnic group angry at the destruction of the tombs of the country’s largest historic kingdom.

Malcolm Webb, a Kampala-based journalist, told Al Jazeera that the burial site of the traditional kings represented 200 years of the group’s cultural heritage.

He said members of the group suspect the fire was caused by arsonists.

Buganda is one of Uganda’s four historic kingdoms and the Baganda are the biggest ethnic group in the country.

The burial site of Kasubi, designated as a world heritage site by Unesco, the UN cultural agency, is an important tourist site housing the burial grounds of four former kings of Buganda. The last king was buried there in 1971.

Baganda have previously complained that the government has tried to expropriate the kingdom’s land and have been involved in disputes over the influence of Buganda’s traditional leaders.

A spokesman for the Buganda kingdom on Wednesday described the fire as “an attack on Buganda”, whose people are concentrated in the south of Uganda and Kampala.

“This fire is very strange given what we [the Baganda] have been going through,” Peter Mayiga said without giving further details.

‘Firefighters obstructed’

Kale Kaihura, the chief of the Uganda police, refused to confirm reports that the blaze was started deliberately and said his officers were still investigating the cause of the fire.

He said however that firefighters had been prevented from reaching the site in time to put out the blaze before it gutted the burial site late on Tuesday.

“When the fire broke out, police were called in and got there in time but the fire brigade was obstructed by a hostile crowd, three trucks were damaged and a fireman injured,” Kaihura told the AFP news agency.

Wednesday’s violence triggered fears of renewed tension between the government and ethnic Baganda, who accuse the government of undermining their kingdom.

Last September, riots in Kampala left at least 17 people dead after the government prevented Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, the current Buganda king, from visiting a district near the capital.

The government said the district had its own traditional ruler and it did not owe allegiance to the king.

The king holds a largely ceremonial position in Uganda, but wields considerable influence among his people.

Monarchies were restored in Uganda in 1993 after they were banned in the 1960s, but they are not allowed to participate in elective politics by campaigning or fielding candidates.

South Africa’s Zuma to visit Uganda with oil investors
Thu Mar 18, 2010 /By Elias Biryabarema/Reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) – South Africa President Jacob Zuma will visit Uganda on March 25 with a business delegation to scout for investment opportunities in the country’s budding oil sector, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Uganda has seen a sudden surge in foreign investor interest in the country’s economy, stoked by the discovery in 2006 of commercial hydrocarbon deposits in the Albertine Graben that straddles its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Maggie Kigozi, the executive director of the state-run Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), told a news conference that South Africa had an advanced mining and petroleum industry with immense potential as a source of investors for Uganda.

“Even before oil, South Africa has been an excellent source of investment for Uganda, MTN is the best example,” she said, refering to the South African mobile phone group.

“We think the great success we’ve had in sectors like telecommunications and retail with South African investors can now be extended to oil,” she said.

South Africa’s commercial footprint in Uganda includes the country’s leading telecommunications company MTN Uganda, retail firms Shoprite and Game Stores and Stanbic Bank Uganda, a subsidiary of Standard Bank.

Kigozi said Uganda was also keen on pitching business opportunities in the wider minerals sector to South Africa.

“Uganda recently mapped its mineral wealth and we now know we have substantial deposits of key minerals like phosphates, gold, tin, zinc and many others and we want to market this potential to investors,” she said.

UIA predicts Uganda will suck in investment worth $3 billion in 2010, fuelled by foreign interest in the nation’s oil sector.

During his visit Zuma will officiate at a business forum where presentations about Uganda’s oil sector will be made by experts from the government and petroleum companies in Uganda.

He is also expected to launch the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, a not-for-profit organization formed as a resource centre for potential investors and analysts.

ECU group sheds light on children forced to fight in Uganda
By Alexander Freedman | Reporter /www2.wnct.com/Published: March 18, 2010

While the US has been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for 8 years, in parts of Africa, fighting has been going on for decades. In places like Uganda, it is the children who are being made to fight.

At ECU tonight, they were trying to put the spotlight on the so called, Invisible Children. Children who, as young as 10, are taken from their homes and forced to fight against their own government in Uganda.

“You can just feel that this is not right and this is something that makes us uncomfortable, which means it’s something that needs to end, because no human being should have to go through something like this,“ said Amanda Mitchell.

19-year-old Amanda Mitchell is taking time from college to press other students about her experiences in Uganda. During the screening, she showed a documentary called: GO.

The US calls The Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda a terrorist group, 90% of its ranks are children who have been forced to fight.

“Fear, uncertainty, just not knowing whether or not they are going to be affected. If their children are going to be abducted,“ said Mitchell.

Invisible Children works to raise awareness among college students about what they can do to help in Uganda.

“I’ve decided, as a student, to take out time, to work for free, to go after and show people that they are not just a single person. They can actually make a difference in the world,“ said Lauren Bailey, Organizer for Invisible Children.

One ECU student says now is the time to act.

“It’s really frustrating because it makes you see you life in a whole new light and how easy you have it, and it really just makes you want to do something, immediately,“ said Tessa VonHilsheimer, Student Director of the ECU Invisible Children Group.

Students could also by shirts and bags made of cotton from Uganda. The money goes to support Invisible Children and the people of Uganda.

TANZANIA:

Tanzania Bulyanhulu Gold Mine Resumes Output Friday
By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires/ www.foxbusiness.com/Thursday, March 18, 2010

Dow Jones Newswires DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Tanzania’s largest gold mine by reserves, the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine, will resume mining operations on Friday after closing for more than two days after a fatal accident on Tuesday, a company official said Thursday.

The resumption in output follows a period of mourning for the three miners who were killed late Tuesday in a rock fall, Africa Barrick Gold spokesman Teweli Kyari Teweli said. Africa Barrick is a unit of the Canada-based Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX: 40.18, 0, 0%), which owns the mine.

Output was suspended immediately after the accident to allow rescue efforts, which were unsuccessful. At the time of the accident, at least 800 miners were working at the mine.

“Mining operations will be suspended for a period of mourning on March 18, 2010, as a sign of respect, and are expected to be fully restored thereafter,” he said.

Company data indicates that Bulyanhulu has up to 12 million ounces of gold reserves, making it the largest gold mine in the country.

Africa Barrick operates four gold mines in Tanzania and is the country’s largest gold producer.

FATE ON TANZANIA IVORY SALE NEXT WEEK
news.brunei.fm/NAM NEWS NETWORK /Mar 18th, 2010

DAR ES SALAAM, March 18 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — WILDLIFE Protection conference going on in Doha, Qatar, is expected to decide next Thursday whether Tanzania should sell its ivory, and officials were optimistic that the deal would sail through.

The Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Ezekiel Maige, told the ?Daily News? in Dar es Salaam Wednesday that discussions on the sale of the 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory were in progress in Doha.

?I have talked to the minister who led our delegation to the conference and she has said that the discussions were progressing well pending decision to be made on Thursday next week of which we are optimistic that we shall win,? he said.

In the two-week 15th session of the Conference of Parties (CoP15) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which started on Saturday, member countries will witness Tanzania and Zambia defending their decision to carry out trade of their ivory stockpiles.

Last week the Director of Wildlife Department, Mr Erasmus Tarimo, said the government was till working on its proposal to secure a permit to dispose of the trophies and that the case will be defended at the meeting.

He told this newspaper that the government was using its ambassadors to drum up support for offloading the stock.

According to the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mrs Shamsa Mwangunga, the government planned to use proceeds from the trade for anti-poaching activities.

According to an international team of 27 scientists and conservationists writing in the March 12 edition of Science, the sales could lead to increased slaughter of elephants for their ivory throughout Africa.

In the “Policy Forum” article, the scientists — including two from Princeton University of New Jersey, United States argue that the convention should reject requests to conduct the sales, which are supposed to be on ivory taken from dead animals or those culled under legal animal control efforts.

The scientists alleged that Zambia and Tanzania were major sources and trafficking corridors for Africa’s illegal ivory, demonstrated by tonnes of contraband ivory seized in 2002, 2006 and 2009.

DNA sampling on the 2002 and 2006 seizures traced the majority of that ivory back to the two nations. An international ban on ivory trade was enacted in 1989, and scientists argue that for nearly a decade, elephant poaching dropped dramatically and elephant population recovered.

Last month, a Kenyan scientist from the Kenya Wildlife Service travelled to US, soliciting support for its proposal to increase the current nine-year ivory trade moratorium to 20 years as a plea to CITES members to reject the proposals from Tanzania and Zambia.

However, Mrs Mwangunga said that they were aware of campaigns conducted by other countries against their proposal and that the government would defend its case in the Doha meeting.

CITES is an international agreement between the governments of 175 member countries. Its goals centre on ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants did not threaten their survival. In the last 30 years African elephants have declined to about 35 per cent of their original numbers, and their population today stands at less than 500,000. — NNN-DAILYNEWS

China not throwing its weight amid China-Africa cooperation: senior Tanzanian media official
English.news.cn/by Guo Chunju/ Xinhua/ 2010-03-18

DAR ES SALAAM, March 17 (Xinhua) — “China is not throwing its weight amid China-Africa cooperation, though China’s influence is getting stronger as an emerging power,” a senior Tanzanian media official said here on Wednesday.

Mkumbwa Ally, Deputy Managing Editor of Tanzania Standard Newspapers which published the official Daily News and Sunday News among others, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

“The cooperation between China and Africa including Tanzania is based on mutual-benefit, that’s not the ‘Power matters the most’ policy by some western countries but the way to cooperate with others,” Ally said.

China’s assistance to African countries has no strings-attached, which was preferred by African countries, the senior Tanzanian media official said, mentioning the assistance from China to build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway in the 1970s.

“The big project of Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) railway was implemented with China’s assistance, which helped the two African countries, especially the land-locked Zambia a lot in development and once was the main model of transportation in Tanzania,” Ally noted.

He added that China’s assistance to Africa was brotherly based and the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 8-9 and committed to enhance China-Africa cooperation with “people-centered” development, that is “development must look at people’s needs”.

Besides assistance, China-African cooperation is also growing in business sectors, for example, Chinese construction companies built many projects in African countries with the same quality but lower costs, which is good for Africa, meaning that the African government can spend less for the same quality, the senior Tanzanian media official noted.

“Economists saw China as an emerging power, which has a lot of room for growth. This is evident, and statistics showed that,” Ally said.

As developing countries, African countries sympathize with China because there are many similarities between the two sides faced with the problem of environment and pollution amid development, according to Ally.

“China presented proactive initiative at UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 and helped a lot to find common grounds among all sides to put forward practical measures,” he noted.

He stressed that climate change is an issue which needs every country to take measures to reduce pollution as “a very important step to start”.

He also reiterated that African countries respected China’s sovereignty with adherence to “no interference with internal affairs”.

The senior Tanzanian media official also suggested Chinese media provide more information about what China is doing and the real intention of China to correct the negative image imposed by some Western media
on China.

Editor: yan

CONGO RDC :

19 reported killed in DR Congo attacks
(AFP)/18032010

KINSHASA — At least 11 civilians and eight troops have died in attacks by Ugandan LRA rebels in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a local association said.

The attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels took place between March 11 and 14 in Bangadi, Duru and Dungu in Orientale province about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the border with the Central African Republic.

Aruna Sambia, chairman of a civil group in Dungu, told AFP that the dead included three members of one family.

Led by Joseph Kony, wanted along with two other leaders by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the LRA took up arms in 1988 in northern Uganda and has acquired a reputation for brutality.

Since 2005, under pressure from the Ugandan army, the fighters pulled back from their bases in Uganda to move into the remote northeast of the DRC, where they were said to number less than 100 late last year, according to the UN mission in the DRC.

KENYA :

Kenya’s Abortion Ban Fires Constitutional Debate
By Zoe Alsop/www.womensenews.org/WeNews correspondent/Thursday, March 18, 2010

Church leaders in Kenya are opposing a provision in a draft of a national constitution that includes emergency exceptions to the country’s abortion ban. A recent study links the ban to the deaths of at least hundreds of women a year.
NAIROBI, Kenya (WOMENSENEWS)–Earlier this month church leaders here threatened to mobilize their faithful against a draft of a national constitution if it included language allowing abortions under any circumstance.

“We insist that the constitution must protect all human life, which begins at conception and ends at natural death,” said Peter Karanja in a press statement. Karanja is secretary general of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, a powerful political player in this deeply religious country, which includes 24 Christian denominations.

Kenya currently outlaws abortion unless three doctors certify that the pregnancy puts a woman’s life in immediate danger.

In a sign of official acknowledgement of the widespread use of illegal abortions, however, post-abortion care is legal and available in hospitals.

In February, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, a Catholic, assured church leaders that Parliament would not pass the draft constitution, which is meant to be enacted within the next two years, if it includes any abortion exceptions.

“Most of us in Parliament have made up our minds and we are ready to persuade those who think otherwise,” Kibaki said during a bishop’s ordination ceremony. “Otherwise we will reject their attempts.”

A committee of experts charged with drafting the constitution had placed a provision allowing for abortions under certain emergencies in order to comply with international treaties on human rights that Kenya has signed. The provision would permit abortion if a pregnancy brought danger to life or health of the mother. Such phrasing could be interpreted to allow for the termination of pregnancies that pose both physical risks as well as psychological ones, such as when a woman has been raped.

Constitution to Curb Presidential Power
A new constitution is being drafted as part of a deal that brought an end to violence in the wake of the 2007 elections, which left more than 1,000 Kenyans dead. Political factions here agreed to enact a new constitution before the next round of elections in 2012 in the hopes that curbing presidential powers would decrease corruption and avert further bloodshed.

While the abortion-related language in the draft varies little from what is currently allowed under Kenya’s penal code, its inclusion in the constitution would make the imposition of a complete ban all but impossible and would open the door for more lenient legislation in the future, says a women’s advocacy lawyer closely following the matter.

Kenya’s Parliament is currently debating the draft of the constitution, including whether to leave the abortion-related provision, which is to be decided upon by the end of this year when Kenyans vote to accept or reject.

The criminalization of abortion in Kenya, combined with the stigma and shortage of legal post-abortion care, leads to the deaths of hundreds or possibly thousands of women each year due to complications of unsafe abortions, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights said in a report this month.

“These deaths are a direct consequence of Kenya’s abortion law, one of the most restrictive in the world,” the report’s authors wrote.

Kenyan women portrayed by the report described how they or their relatives or friends suffered illegal abortions from people who accepted small fees in exchange for procedures that used knitting needles, pipes, pens, bleach and malaria pills.

Unable or afraid to seek emergency care in public clinics, many women who undertake such illegal abortions die.

Hospital Mistreatment
Those who sought help in hospitals were often met by nurses and doctors who were corrupt, untrained, ill-equipped or even abusive, finishing incomplete abortions without analgesics or calling women names, according to the report.

The report includes the story of a 14-year-old in the slum of Kibera who had sex with men for less than $2 after her widowed mother was hospitalized for two years. When she became pregnant she underwent an illegal abortion that led to a serious infection. She was too afraid to go to the hospital fearing, erroneously, that she could be jailed. She and her mother tried to treat her infection with topical disinfectant to no avail. She died last July.

Many young women from Kibera are arrested for having abortions, according to the center’s report, and few understand that post-abortion care is legal and public hospitals are supposed to provide the service without cost if the patient is unable to pay.

Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health told Women’s eNews that it hopes to lower the death toll of illegal abortions by both improving and expanding family planning programs and ensuring that when women do suffer complications from illegal abortions, they have access to proper care.

Recently, the government has been training midwife nurse practitioners working outside of urban centers in post-abortion care.

“The country’s approach is to try to reduce the need for abortion in the first place and to mitigate the complications when they arise by giving services to the people, by offering comprehensive post-abortion care which is close to the people,” said Dr. Josephine Kibaru, who heads the country’s Department of Family Health, in an interview.

Focus on Saving Lives
“What we know is that health workers save lives,” Kibaru said. “When we talk about maternal mortality, we are trying to save a woman’s life. Whether she is bleeding from a post-postpartum hemorrhage or after an unsafe abortion, it is all part and parcel of our work.”

Henry Njagi, spokesperson for the National Council of Churches, does not care to acknowledge the problems of dangerous and often fatal abortions flagged by the Center for Reproductive Rights report.

“Our position is that the abortions shouldn’t be happening in the first place,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “Pregnancies should not be terminated. What is required is education for the women so that they don’t get pregnant if they are not interested in getting the baby.”

When pressed on the issue of pregnancies in difficult circumstances like rape, Njagi hung up the phone and did not respond to further questions sent via e-mail.

In a section of abortion-related questions on the Web site of the National Council of Churches, Secretary General Karanja responds to one about what happens to a girl who aborts a child. “She is guilty of murder,” he says.

A lawyer at Kenya’s Federation of Women Lawyers said such attitudes are by no means universal here and that it’s still possible to keep the clause protecting a woman’s right to an emergency abortion in the constitution.

“There are threats and half truths and falsehoods put out to create religious fear in the people,” said the lawyer, who asked not to be named in keeping with the group’s policy of only allowing its executive director to be quoted publicly. “But we find that whenever we go out to explain to people the real reasons for allowing abortion they immediately are sympathetic or would support abortion under difficult circumstances.”

Zoe Alsop is a freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

ANGOLA :

Cobalt International Energy, Inc. Releases Updated Investor Presentation and Reserve and Resource Appraisal Reports
March 18, 2010/www.marketwatch.com

HOUSTON, Mar 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (“Cobalt”) /quotes/comstock/13*!cie/quotes/nls/cie (CIE 13.99, -0.09, -0.64%) today released an updated Investor Presentation as well as Appraisal Reports prepared by DeGolyer and MacNaughton, an independent petroleum consulting firm. The Appraisal Reports cover Cobalt’s reserves, contingent resources and prospective resources in the deepwater of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and offshore Angola and Gabon.

Both the Investor Presentation, the Appraisal Reports, as well as a Cobalt prepared summary of those Appraisal Reports will be available on Cobalt’s website in the Investors-Presentation and Publications section.

About Cobalt

Cobalt is an independent oil exploration and production company focusing on the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico and offshore Angola and Gabon. Cobalt was formed in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 — that is, statements related to future, not past, events. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and include any statement that does not directly relate to a current or historical fact. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “will” or other similar words. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that ultimately may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. For further discussion of risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Cobalt’s SEC filings. Cobalt undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press release. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: Cobalt International Energy, Inc.

SOUTH AFRICA:

South Africa’s Zuma Missed Opportunity to Resolve Zimbabwe Crisis, Says an Analyst
A political analyst says South African President Jacob Zuma did not put enough pressure to ensure President Robert Mugabe resolves the ongoing stalemate in Zimbabwe’s coalition government.
Peter Clottey/www1.voanews.com/ 18 March 2010

A political analyst says South African President Jacob Zuma did not put enough pressure to ensure President Robert Mugabe resolves the ongoing stalemate in Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Rejoice Ngwenya said President Zuma missed a great opportunity to resolve the ongoing crisis as he ends a three-day official visit to Zimbabwe Thursday.

“Frankly speaking, President Zuma has been very disappointing because he has given too many excuses why Mr. Robert Mugabe should not be called upon to account on reneging on the agreement. And really we feel that he lacks the depth to be able to deal with Mugabe’s political chicanery… and I don’t think he is going to move Mugabe much,” He said.

Mr. Zuma is backed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis after years of sharp disagreements between President Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party recently boycotted cabinet meetings after accusing President Mugabe of refusing to fully implement the Global Political Agreement that led to the formation of the unity government.

Ngwenya said President Zuma should have been tougher on the partners in the coalition government.

“We want him to be firm with both parties. We know that the issue of sanctions even if it is a so-called contentious issue is beyond MDC’s control. Now, we also know that the aspect of the agreement to freedom in the media the violation of human rights and so forth are only associated with ZANU-PF and Mugabe. He (Zuma) hasn’t mentioned that (and) our feeling is that he hasn’t been firm enough with Robert Mugabe,” Ngwenya said.

Zimbabwe media reported both Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai were positive after meeting separately with President Zuma.

Ngwenya said there is need for reforms that would ensure credible elections in the future.

“The caveat is that unless the electoral playing field has been leveled; the freedom of association, criminal codification and all the other elements that had been impediments to the people of Zimbabwe expressing themselves in the ballot box, the talk of elections is just another myth,” Ngwenya said.

During his recent official visit to the United Kingdom, Mr. Zuma asked Britain and other international donors to lift the sanctions against Zimbabwe contending that the sanctions against President Mugabe’s regime are suffocating the unity government.

Altech, Cipla and Highveld Steel: South African Equity Preview
March 18, 2010/By Nicky Smith and Janice Kew/Bloomberg

March 18 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.

South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index gained for a second day, adding 278.35, or 1 percent, to 28,530.94 in Johannesburg.

Allied Technologies Ltd. (ALT SJ): The technology and security company will enter the Brazilian vehicle-recovery market “soon,” Chief Executive Officer Craig Venter said late yesterday. Altech, as the company is known, rose by 1.15 rand, or 1.5 percent, to 77.20 rand.

Cipla Medpro South Africa Ltd. (CMP SJ): The maker and distributor of drugs for India’s Cipla Ltd. said net income climbed to 159.9 million rand ($21.8 million) for the 12 months through December, from 128.7 million rand a year earlier. The stock rose 4 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 5.42 rand.

Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp. (HVL SJ): Africa’s second largest steelmaker reports annual earnings. Highveld rose 1.50 rand, or 2.2 percent, to 71 rand.

Masonite Africa Ltd. (MAS SJ) The maker of building materials said annual earnings per share fell to 4.85 rand from 11.45 rand a year earlier. Masonite was unchanged at 42.40 rand.

Purple Capital Ltd. (PPE SJ): The investment company said its first-half loss narrowed to 7.9 million rand from 89.8 million rand a year earlier. The stock rose 1 cent, or 5.9 percent, to 18 cents.

Woolworths Holdings Ltd. (WHL SJ): The South African clothing and food retailer was cut to “neutral” from “buy” at UBS AG. Woolworths rose 55 cents, or 2.4 percent, to 23.25 rand.

Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:

Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) rose 1 percent to $20.75. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) gained 0.8 percent to $38.70. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) added 1.1 percent to $67.76. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 0.4 percent to $4.99. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) rose 0.8 percent to $12.44. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) slipped 1.5 percent to $9.62. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) climbed 0.5 percent to $26.75. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) shed 1.8 percent to $4.36. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) rose 1 percent to $38.99.

–Editors: Alastair Reed, Paul Richardson.

Winfrey due in Philly for defamation trial
Posted on Thu, Mar. 18, 2010 /www.kansas.com

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is expected to spend two weeks defending herself at trial in a defamation case linked to the sex-abuse scandal at her girls school in South Africa.

A federal judge this week refused to dismiss the suit filed by Winfrey’s ex-headmistress, paving the way for a March 29 trial in Philadelphia.

The billionaire talk show host, as a named defendant, must be in court and has rearranged her TV production schedule to do so, her lawyers said in a recent court filing. She also appears likely to be called as a witness.

After the abuse complaints surfaced in 2007, Winfrey said she had “lost confidence” in headmistress Nomvuyo Mzamane and was “cleaning house from top to bottom.”

A dorm matron who worked under Mzamane was later charged in South Africa with abusing six students.

Bullock ‘blindsided’ by affair?

Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock abruptly pulled out of the London premiere of “The Blind Side” on Wednesday amid reports that her husband is cheating on her with a tattoo model.

Michelle “Bombshell” McGee tells In Touch magazine that Bullock’s husband, motorcycle dude Jesse James , told her the marriage was over before they started sleeping together.

“I would never have hooked up with him if I thought he was a married man,” McGee says.

Bullock won the best actress Oscar on March 7 for “The Blind Side,” which opens in London next week. She was supposed to appear on the red carpet there, but Warner Brothers told BBC News on Wednesday that she would be “unable to travel due to unforeseen circumstances.”

DMX ordered to jail

A judge has ordered rapper DMX to spend six months in a Phoenix jail for violating probation and to undergo a mental health evaluation.

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, admitted in court Tuesday to a violation of probation for failing a drug test last June. He was arrested March 9.

The 39-year-old rapper was released from jail in May after serving a 90-day sentence for felony convictions including cruelty to animals, theft and two drug counts.

Authorities have arrested Simmons five times, including an August 2007 raid on his north Phoenix home.

Another year older

Today’s birthdays: Country singer Charley Pride , 72… actor Kevin Dobson , 67 . . . singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams , 47… rapper-actress-talk show host Queen Latifah , 40… actor-comedian Dane Cook , 38… rock singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5), 31.

SABMiller Wants South African Case Scrapped, Bus. Report Says
By Paul Richardson/Bloomberg/March 18

March 18 (Bloomberg) — SABMiller Plc’s South African unit applied to the country’s Competition Tribunal to have a case of market abuse against the company dismissed, Business Report said, citing the brewer.

The company faces a fine of as much as $400 million if South African Breweries fails to defend itself against allegations of anti-competitive behavior, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said. South Africa’s Competition Commission alleges that the manner in which the company operates its distribution system stifles competition, it said.

The Competition Commission will oppose the company’s application to have the case dismissed, the newspaper said, citing Deputy Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele. The commission investigates antitrust complaints and makes recommendations to the tribunal, which rules on the findings.

The allegations are based on complaints filed by liquor retailers and wholesalers in November 2004, the newspaper said.

AFRICA / AU :

AU imposes sanction on Madagascan leader
English.news.cn /Xinhua/2010-03-18

ADDIS ABABA, March 17 (Xinhua) — The African Union (AU) on Wednesday slapped sanctions on Madagascar’s leader Andry Rajoelina and 108 of his supporters over the island’s prolonged political crisis, an AU official said.

“The sanctions consist of a refusal to grant visas, the freezing of assets, including their financial assets in foreign banks, and diplomatic isolation,” Ramtane Lamamra, the AU commissioner for Peace and Security, told the press.

The move came after AU met on the situation in the country early in the day.

Editor: yan

Mugabe and Tsvangirai: the struggle for Power (III)
by Boga Thura Manatsha/ sundaystandard.info/18.03.2010

Botswana has repeatedly called for the new elections in Zimbabwe.
I doubt if she will continue with such vim and verve after recent shocking revelations of corruption.
Mugabe must be rejoicing. Frankly, new elections are unavoidable in Zimbabwe. But African leaders have distorted views about elections.

They believe that holding elections, whether free and fair, or not, can automatically resolve their political differences. It is not so in Africa. In Africa, elections hardly produce credible governments. Frequently, ‘democratically’ elected governments notoriously pass ‘undemocratic’ policies. Those in power only reward their closest friends/relatives at the expense of the poor and weak, who voted them into power. Some leaders connive with multi-national corporations to arrest national development. In Africa, elections are meant to legitimize ‘illegitimate’ governments. Such elections are never fair. Ruling parties are clandestinely funded by public funds disguised as donations from ‘our friends’. There are allegations that some presidents bribe elections observers.

Elections observers report what their countries want to hear. They are not independent.
And will never be. The International Community is always biased towards one party/leader for selfish gain. For how long have we been told that Botswana’s elections are free and fair? Institutions in Africa are weak, personalized and corrupt to the core. Unless we have independent and accountable Independent Electoral Commissions (IECs), Africa must forget about credible elections. Why then do we expect Zimbabwe to hold credible elections? It is flimsy to demand free/fair elections from Zimbabwe while ‘elected’ governments continue passing ‘undemocratic’ policies. Mugabe is aware that his peers are in power through ‘undemocratic’ means. They froze when he threatened to pinpoint them. Botswana and Zambia were brave enough to shout. Ironically, Botswana is now nursing an acquired political cancer known as ‘Mugabeism’. In Zambia, there are gristly revelations of corruption under the late Levy Mwanawasa’s leadership. Chiluba must be rejoicing.

I cannot comprehend how new elections will resolve political tension in Zimbabwe. What mechanisms would be put in place this time? Why such mechanisms were not availed during the first round of elections held in March 2008? The March 2008 elections were said to be nearly free. Obviously not fair. In Africa, fair elections are impossible. During the March 2008 elections, there was less political intimidation. Tsvangirai too, endorsed this assertion. It was only after the results had shown that Mugabe terribly lost that political violence and accusations emerged. It then took over a month to release elections results. The bone of contention was not mainly about the voting process itself, but the way the counting was done. What are the lessons that SADC, African Union (AU) and elections observers learnt from that experience? Will the lessons be positively used to better the impending elections? It is only after the commitment to act on previous anomalies that we can loudly call for new elections. The second round of elections held in June 2008 did not produce a president in Zimbabwe. The chaotic political atmosphere was not conducive to hold elections. The same June 2008 conditions are latent in Zimbabwe. There is entrenched mistrust between political parties. Critically, this cannot be resolved by elections. What makes us think that Mugabe would accept the elections results if he loses? He previously refused to do so. If Mugabe refuses again, what will our leaders do? Nothing. Their hands are also dirty. SADC and AU failed Zimbabweans many times. African leaders connive with Mugabe to undermine the will of Zimbabweans. They do not have confidence in Tsvangirai. He, himself, does not have self-confidence. He has all the hallmarks of a political buffoon. He sometimes chastises those who call for new elections. But his spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, said that new elections are inevitable to resolve the political impasse.

I repeat that new elections cannot ease the tension between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. And it will not resolve Zimbabwe’s political woes. Zimbabwe’s political culture is profoundly different from that of many African countries. This is the reality that those who call for new elections must accept and accommodate. Free and fair elections are impossible in Zimbabwe. When Mugabe assumed power in 1980, he declared that he wanted to create a one-party-state. His views have not changed. In 2008, he declared that only God will remove him from power. ZANU-PF too, truly believes this. In Botswana too, our leaders were/are determined to establish a one-party-dominant-state. Using Machiavellianism, they managed to achieve their mission. Annoyingly, Batswana revere their leaders so much even if they confess to have corruptly amassed tainted wealth to remain in power. True to the spirit of the slogan: “Domi ya rona le bana ba rona”, Batswana are stubbornly passive.

In Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai is losing credibility and trust, at a fast rate, among Zimbabweans. This is ZANU-PF. They have politically crippled him. They did the same to Joshua Nkomo after signing a deal with him in the 1980s. Tsvangirai can only win the impending elections simply because Zimbabweans want to get rid of Mugabe. Tsvangirai’s sincerity and political vision are increasingly becoming distorted. He now purely resembles a trade unionist leader; the Chiluba type. Tragically, Tsvangirai is now suffering from an acquired political cancer known as ‘Mugabeism’. Today, he tells us that Mugabe is fully cooperating. Tomorrow, he comes with a politically incoherent speech lambasting Mugabe. In the same speech, he would be asking the world leaders to lift sanctions against Mugabe. Tsvangirai is only best as a workers’ union leader; advocating for pension funds for mine workers, not as Zimbabwe’s president. He is politically brave, but empty-headed. Zimbabwe needs a better leader. For ordinary Zimbabweans, the talk of new elections only brings sad memories. It reminds them of ‘Operation Red Ink’. Here, they were brutalized for positively abstaining from the chaotic June 2008 elections. This was preceded by another brutal campaign: ‘Operation Makavotera Papi?’ (Who did you vote for?). I doubt whether ordinary Zimbabweans want new elections. After all, their political choice is dwindling. Tsvangirai and Mugabe are now sworn ‘husband and wife’. Till death do us part! Pure African politics!

In the first place, Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal should not have been implemented. During the negotiations, Mugabe was accorded undue respect as the supreme leader of Zimbabwe despite having embarrassingly lost the elections. In peace negotiations, all parties should be accorded equal status so that their views are heard, analyzed and acted upon by impartial negotiators. But in Zimbabwe’s case, Thabo Mbeki was very biased. He doubted Tsvangirai’s capabilities, intellect and political intentions. Mbeki saw Tsvangirai as a politically incoherent buffoon and ‘a cry baby’. Now, I understand why Mbeki did not have confidence in Tsvangirai. After all, Mbeki, like Mugabe, is an intellectual. Tsvangirai is just a miner. Mugabe’s involvement in the Congo war in 1998 helped this miner to fully participate in Zimbabwe’s rough politics.

Tsvangirai used the opportunity to transform his trade union into a political party to oppose Mugabe’s political decisions. In 2000, when Mugabe grabbed white-owned farms, things ‘fell apart’. Tsvangirai suddenly became the darling of the West; a privilege indeed. Zimbabwe’s land question is too political to resolve. When calling for new
elections, we must put Zimbabwe’s politics into proper context.

In conclusion, I reiterate that the elite conflict in Zimbabwe has exacerbated the anxiety of ordinary Zimbabweans. There were hopes that the two men will resolve Zimbabwe’s pressing socio-economic and political problems. Over a year now, Mugabe and Tsvangirai are still quarreling over the appointment of the Central Bank Governor and Attorney General. And peasants are struggling to eke out a living. I commend Zimbabweans in Diaspora for feeding and educating their relatives back home. Otherwise, we would have witnessed a humanitarian catastrophe. Because of political bickering, Zimbabwe’s future is uncertain. I appeal to the International Community, AU, SADC and Zimbabwean leaders to be considerate to the suffering of the majority. I am angered by the biasness and self-serving attitude displayed by all these groups. We should not blindly believe that elections alone can resolve Zimbabwe’s complex problems.

Zimbabwe needs reconciliation. Its problems did not start in 2000; a distorted view held by our leaders. Since 1980, Zimbabwe state has been captured by an intolerant brutal regime. Thousands were murdered in Matabeleland and Midlands by Mugabe’s ruthless Fifth Brigade. Genocide is unpardonable.

Tsvangirai must know that his unholy actions are reversing democratic change. Why is he vigorously campaigning for the lifting of sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies? He should be talking of sanctions against Zimbabwe not individuals.

Zimbabwe’s land question is complex. It cannot be resolved by elections. Lastly, I implore our leaders in Botswana to put their house in order if they want to give Zimbabwe some holy lectures. I recommend these books to African leaders: Ayitteh (1993), Africa Betrayed; Bayart (1993), The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly; and Bayart et. al. (1999), Criminalization of the State in Africa.

*MANATSHA is a PhD Candidate (Asian Studies) Hiroshima University, Japan

UN /ONU :

Antonio Banderas appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador
March 18, 2010 /www.wlos.com

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Antonio Banderas says poverty prevents people from being all they can be. That’s why he’s becoming a global advocate for the poor.

The United Nations has named the actor a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for the fight against poverty.

Banderas will be working on the Millennium Development Goals. The set of eight globally agreed targets are aimed at cutting world poverty in half by 2015. The program will combat hunger, disease, illiteracy, environment degradation and discrimination against women.

Banderas says he’ll push for action at all levels of society with a particular focus on Africa and Latin America.

UN council demands Ivory Coast hold elections soon
Thu Mar 18, 2010 /By Patrick Worsnip/Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – An increasingly exasperated U.N. Security Council demanded on Wednesday that Ivory Coast hold much delayed elections as soon as possible but the country’s envoy remained vague on when that could be done.

Elections in the world’s top cocoa producer — seen as the only way to end a crisis that has persisted since a 2002-03 civil war split the West African country in two — have been repeatedly put off over the last five years.

The latest delay came when President Laurent Gbagbo disbanded the government and electoral commission on February 12 after accusing the commission chief of illegally adding names to the voter list to boost the opposition. That led to two weeks of violent protests.

In a statement, The Security Council expressed “concern at the continuing delays” and “stressed … that elections should be held as soon as possible.”

A diplomat present said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told the meeting that events in Ivory Coast had stripped credibility from the government’s claims that it wanted an election.

Rice said Gbagbo’s decision to dissolve the government and the electoral commission had sparked the protests, but the unrest was now being used as a pretext to delay the elections for a sixth time, the diplomat said.

U.N. special envoy to Ivory Coast Young-jin Choi said it was “quite regrettable” the vote had been again delayed. “Our disappointment is all the more acute as elections … appeared within our grasp at the time of the establishment of the provisional electoral list last November,” he said.

But Ivory Coast’s U.N. Ambassador Alcide Djedje told the council the priority was to draw up a reliable list, a process he said would take one to two months. “After this period, the final voters list will be set to go to elections,” he said.

Djedje told journalists he could not predict exactly when the poll would happen. “I can’t give you now a period for the elections,” he said, adding that authorities had important tasks of reunifying the country and restoring state authority.

Given what he called an “atmosphere of intimidation” in the rebel-held north of the country, “one cannot organize free elections in Ivory Coast today,” he said.

Ivory Coast’s opposition agreed on February 26 to join a new government and call off the protests that Choi said had killed 12 people and seriously injured about 20.

An opposition spokesman, Alphonse Djedje Mady, said at the time he thought elections would be possible by May 8 if a replacement electoral commission got to work immediately.

Some six million voters registered for the poll, but around a million were contested on grounds of nationality, a divisive issue that started the civil war in the first place.

USA :

Pentagon presence in Horn of Africa exposes U.S. lies
By Abayomi Azikiwe /Editor, Pan-African News Wire /www.workers.org/Published Mar 18, 2010

In a March 12 interview, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson attempted to place the current Obama administration policy toward Somalia and the Horn of Africa in a non-military context. Carson did admit that support from both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations was approximately $185 million over the last 19 months.

“We have provided limited military support to the Transitional Federal Government through the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM),” Carson noted. He continued, “We have supported the acquisition of nonlethal equipment to the governments of Burundi and to Uganda in particular as well as Djibouti, ranging from communications equipment and uniforms to transportation and support for Ugandan military training of TFG forces.” (U.S. Department of State)

Carson answered a March 5 New York Times report that quoted Pentagon sources saying the U.S. planned to launch aerial bombardments of Somalia in an effort to retake large sections of the capital of Mogadishu and the country as a whole from the control of the Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam resistance groups.

Carson said: “The United States does not plan, does not direct, and it does not coordinate the military operations of the TFG, and we have not and will not be providing direct support for any potential military offensives. Further, we are not providing nor paying for military advisers for the TFG. There is no desire to Americanize the conflict in Somalia.”

Nonetheless, Gen. William Ward, who heads the U.S. Africa Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that any effort by the TFG to retake Mogadishu would be “something that we would look to do in support, to the degree the transitional federal government can in fact re-exert control over Mogadishu, with the help of AMISOM and others.” (Xinhua News Agency, March 9)

Ward said that the current offensive by the “transition government to reclaim parts of Mogadishu, I think it’s something that we would look to do and support.” Along with Ward, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, identified other countries on the continent where so-called “counter-terrorism” operations are taking place.

According to journalist Rick Rozoff, “The U.S. military has already been involved in counterinsurgency operations in Mali and Niger against ethnic Tuareg rebels, who have no conceivable ties to al-Qaeda, not that one would know that from Levin’s comments.” Former U.S. diplomat Daniel Simpson was quoted recently in regard to the Pentagon’s involvement in Somalia as saying that the operation was designed to “test out AFRICOM ground and air forces in Djibouti for direct military action on the continent.” (Rozoff, scoop.co.nz, March 12)

Ward also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Africa Partnership Station, which is a U.S.-led effort designed to supposedly respond to requests by African states for assistance with security issues, was now conducting its fifth deployment on the continent. He continued by stating that the Africa Partnership Station “has expanded from its initial focus on the Gulf of Guinea to other African coastal nations.” (John Kruzel, Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs)

The articles written in the New York Times and other sources provide proof that the U.S. is escalating its military involvement in Africa. An attempt to dominate the global oil industry could be one of the strong motivating factors in the current U.S. policy.

Moreover, the U.S. imperialists do not want to see a government come to power in Somalia with the capacity to stabilize the political and military situation inside the country and also be independent of the foreign policy imperatives of the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon.

U.S. military intervention in Somalia during 1992-94 resulted in a tremendous defeat at the hands of the Somali resistance forces, who forced a withdrawal of the Marines and a political humiliation for the Bill Clinton administration.

The Bush administration’s engineered invasion by Ethiopia in December 2006 — as well as several aerial bombings — was also defeated by the Somali people, resulting in the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed forces in January 2009. The TFG and AMISOM hold out the only present hope for the imperialists to dominate this area of the Horn of Africa.

Few minorities working as top diplomats
Published: March. 18, 2010/UPI

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) — The U.S. State Department says it is renewing efforts to promote more African-Americans and other minorities to frontline diplomatic posts.

The department has high numbers of black employees overall, but few in senior positions despite two black secretaries of state in recent years and a black president now.

During the last 10 years, 36 black diplomats were named to embassies in Africa, but just three to embassies in Europe — Iceland, Albania and Slovenia.

Latinos, Asians and American Indians are also under-represented, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made diversity a priority and new assignments to be made this summer will increase the number of minorities in top positions, said Nancy Powell, director general of the Foreign Service.

While the department has increased minority recruiting, the challenge is getting minorities into the higher-level positions from which ambassadors are chosen, said Kenton Keith, a retired black Foreign Service officer.

“There’s nobody in the pipeline in the policy ranks,” Keith told the Times.

PRECIOUS-Gold retreats on firmer dollar; off 1-week high
March 18 / By Lewa Pardomuan /Reuters

* Gold slips after rising to 1-week high on Wednesday
* PGMs soften but hold near highs
* Coming Up – U.S. CPI/Core CPI for February, 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) – Gold slipped on Thursday as
the U.S. dollar strengthened against other currencies, while
there were concerns that a failure to sustain recent highs
could prompt some investors to shift their money to stocks or
bonds. Other precious metals also tracked gold lower, with
platinum hovering below a two-month high hit on Wednesday after
supply concerns driven by a possible power shortage in main
producer South Africa subsided and speculators in Japan booked
profits. Spot gold XAU= was at $1,122.45 an ounce by 0240 GMT,
down $1.60 from New York’s notional close on Wednesday, when it
hit a 1-week high at $1,132.80 on early gains in the euro
before falling sharply after the release of U.S. producer
prices data. Gold was still trading above the 50 and 100-day moving
averages but it has lost about 2 percent in value since
rallying to a 6-½ week high near $1,150 in early March. “The equities markets have been a bit firmer. That’s
probably taken a little bit of interest away from gold. The PPI
data in the U.S. last night suggested that underlining
inflation is still relatively contained,” said David Moore,
commodities strategist at CBA in Sydney. “The broad picture is, for the moment there’s a little bit
of a lack of impetus to buying gold,” he added. U.S. gold futures for April delivery GCJ0 fell $2.2 an
ounce to $1,122. The contract shed early gains on Wednesday
after data showed U.S. producer prices fell more deeply than
expected in February as energy costs tumbled. [ID:nN17150095] The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust (GLD), said its holdings stood at 1,115.511 tonnes
as of March 17, unchanged from the previous business day.
[GOL/SPDR] The dollar firmed on Thursday, recovering some of its
losses against higher-yielding currencies made the previous
day, as investors trimmed short dollar positions ahead of U.S.
consumer inflation readings for February. [USD/] The euro dipped 0.1 percent from late New York trade to
$1.3720 EUR=, having come off a five-week high of $1.3819 on
trading platform EBS the previous day. U.S. stocks gained on Wednesday, pushing the Dow to a
17-month high, after a benign February inflation reading
supported the Federal Reserve’s renewed pledge of low interest
rates. [.N] Bullion dealers noted selling pressure from a weaker euro
against the dollar but there was also support from firmer
copper prices and oil prices above $80 a barrel. [MET/L] [O/R] “Speculators are selling gold on the back of a weakening
euro but it seems there’s no follow through,” said a dealer in
Hong Kong. “I don’t really see a particular interest in gold
but if you look at the PGMs, they are still pretty steady,” he
added. Platinum and palladium, mainly used in autocatalysts, have
risen strongly this year on expectations for rising car sales. South African state-run utility Eskom said on Tuesday power
supply is seen as a serious concern from 2011 onwards until new
power stations come onstream. [ID:nLDE62F0IS]

Precious metals prices at 0240 GMT
Metal                               Last           Change       Pct chg        YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold                         1122.45      -1.60          -0.14            2.44
Spot Silver                        17.43           -0.03        -0.17            3.57
Spot Platinum                    1625.25     -3.75          -0.23            10.79
Spot Palladium                   475.25       -0.75          -0.16           17.20
TOCOM Gold                   3269.00       -24.00       -0.73             0.31
30341
TOCOM Platinum             4704.00       -19.00       -0.40             7.37
10114
TOCOM Silver                  51.10          -0.30         -0.58            -1.16
311
TOCOM Palladium            1371.00       11.00        +0.81           17.68
554
Euro/Dollar                        1.3723
Dollar/Yen                         90.22
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)

CANADA :

Paladin Labs jumps to 52-week high on news of South African pharma deal
David Pett, Financial Post /Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010

Paladin Labs Inc. had its biggest day in weeks yesterday, jumping almost 6% to a new 52-week high of $21.58.

Late Tuesday night, the company announced that it has acquired a 34.99% ownership interest in Pharmaplan Ltd., a South African specialty pharma company. Paladin also committed to raising its ownership stake over time based on Pharmaplan’s overall performance.

“This is a significant transaction for the company towards expanding in an emerging market territory,” said Maher Yaghi, Desjardins Securities analyst.

“We are encouraged by this opportunity given that the South African market provides the potential for respectable profit margins similar to what Paladin attains in Canada, but with stronger growth prospects.”

Mr. Yaghi reiterated his “buy” recommendation on the stock and left his $21.30 price target unchanged.

“We have already included in our valuation for Paladin a $2.44/share component that reflects the potential from acquisitions worth $75-million,” he wrote.

“While we do not believe the 35% ownership interest to be worth more than $75-million, we will be reviewing our acquisition potential scenarios given the more aggressive stance by management demonstrated by this new venture.”

Khat nabbed; police in Calgary seize 31 kg of drug familiar in Africa
By: Bill Graveland, THE CANADIAN PRESS /www.winnipegfreepress.com/18/03/2010

CALGARY – A drug that has been popular in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula for hundreds of years is increasingly showing up in Canada, say police.

Canada Border Services officers arrested two residents of London, England at Calgary International Airport on the weekend. Inside their luggage were seven huge bags of khat, weighing 31 kilograms.

Police have charged Melinda Zsuzsanna Meszaros, 36 and Katalin Racsko, 53, both of London with importation of a controlled substance.

There have been 10 to 12 seizures of the drug in the past couple of years, said RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb, but nothing this big.

“The reason it’s coming to the Calgary area is simply because we’re getting a lot of African immigrants to this area who have used this in the past,” said Webb. “It’s the ones who come here and still want to use this as a drug.”

Khat is a plant common in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malwai, Uganda, Tanzania, Arabia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The leaves are normally chewed or if dried, brewed into a tea.

It contains cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. In 1980 the World Health Organization classified it as a drug that can be abused and can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence.

It is legal to have and use in Great Britain, but it is not in Canada. A piece about the size of a stalk of broccoli would sell on the street for about $40.

“This is not on the scale of chemical drugs and things like that. It is an organic just as marijuana is organic – you can grow it,” Webb said.

“Some people say it’s not much more than caffeine, which is not true. It actually has an addictive quality and it has an amphetamine-like euphoria that you can induce from taking this.”

Khat comes in an unprocessed state and has a short shelf life. It needs to be consumed within 10 days of being harvested.

It’s not the first unusual drug to make its way into Canada.

Earlier this year Calgary police seized 13 kilograms of doda, a powder made from crushed opium poppy pods.

The powder is brewed into an herbal tea and has similar, but milder, effects as other opiates such as morphine and heroin. The drug is popular in Afghanistan and India.

The fact that these drugs are making their way to Canada shouldn’t be a surprise, said Paul Stortz, a professor of Canadian studies and cultural theory a University of Calgary professor.

Canada takes great pride in its multicultural status, Stortz said.

“There are other cultures out there with different sensitivities and different value systems and the big question is when immigrants come and settle in Canada is what does it mean to be Canadian and how much of the original cultures should be maintained or protected.”

Birth control must be part of PM’s G8 initiative on maternal health: Opposition
By Joan Bryden (CP)/The Canadian Press/18032010

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to champion maternal and child health on the international stage has turned into a political fracas at home over the right of the world’s poorest women to use contraceptives and have safe abortions.

The Harper government has not directly said whether reproductive rights will be part of the prime minister’s initiative when he hosts the G8 summit in June.

And its ambiguous responses have opened the door to opposition charges that the government believes birth control has nothing to do with saving women’s lives.

“I ask the prime minister, is Canada’s signature initiative at the G8 going to be the ‘no condoms for Africa’ strategy?” NDP Leader Jack Layton taunted in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda repeated the government’s line that the initiative is “about saving the lives of mothers and children,” without offering detail.

A government official later said details are being developed in concert with Canada’s other G8 partners. He said it’s unlikely U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders would agree to anything that ignored or tried to roll back reproductive rights.

Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Harper, alluded to the same point, saying: “G8 leaders will discuss and aim to agree on the way forward to tackle child and maternal health.”

In the same vein, Oda told the Commons her G8 colleagues have “applauded” Harper’s initiative and pointedly referred to Canada’s G8 partners as “enlightened” countries.

Still, the government has avoided precision on the matter, perhaps unwilling to alienate ardent pro-lifers among its core supporters who are hoping the G8 initiative will refuse funding for programs that advocate access to safe abortions.

In the Commons, Oda dodged several direct questions on the issue.

She recounted statistics – that 500,000 women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth, with about 75 per cent of maternal deaths occurring within 48 hours of delivery.

“This hard fact is something we can do something about and that is what we intend to do at our G8 (summit), along with our colleagues,” she said.

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, a physician who has delivered thousands of babies, interpreted Oda’s remarks as meaning the initiative is aimed at helping only those women who die within two days of bearing a child.

She accused the minister of “wilfully ignoring” research which shows 215 million women are denied access to contraceptive services and that 1.5 million of them die each year as a result.

She predicted Harper’s G8 initiative is “doomed for failure because Conservative party ideology does not think that birth control has anything to do with saving lives of women and their children.”

Outside the Commons, Bennett was joined by other female Liberal MPs in excoriating the government for its purported failure to understand that women often die in child birth or shortly thereafter precisely because they’ve had no access to contraceptives to help them space their pregnancies and curb the size of their families.

AUSTRALIA :

Branson in Australia to promote new V Australia Johannesburg services
Thursday, 18 March 2010/www.etravelblackboard.com

V Australia this week launched its inaugural services between South Africa and Australia, and to celebrate Sir Richard Branson travelled amongst the passengers on a flight which landed Wednesday night.

Connecting Melbourne and Johannesburg, Sir Branson also announced the inclusion of a third service between the two cities come December, following the arrival of V Australia’s fifth Boeing B777-300ER.

“We are very pleased to announce a third weekly service will start from December this year and are excited by the challenge to bring the V Australia style of flying to this new route and opening up a new world of opportunities to stimulate Australian tourism and business relationships,” said Mr Branson.

Despite holding air rights to operate non-stop Johannesburg–Sydney services, the airline has opted at this time to not announce a launch date for the implementation of the route into its network.

Currently V Australia flies its Johannesburg–Melbourne services on Tuesdays and Saturdays every week.

EUROPE :

Anti-pirate actions off Somalia net results
news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/18

Two anti-pirate actions off Somalia have thinned the ranks of the would-be marauders, a European Union project reported Wednesday.

The latest incident occurred early Wednesday, when would-be pirates in two skiffs approached a vessel off Somalia at high speed, the European Union Naval Force (EU-NAVFOR) reported on its Web site.

But they appear to have picked the wrong target: the vessel turned out to be a Royal Netherlands Navy warship, the HNLMS Tromp, which was patrolling the region, EU-NAVFOR said.

The warship fired warning shots as the skiffs approached and deployed its helicopter to track down the suspects, who had turned tail, it said. An EU NAVFOR maritime patrol aircraft from Sweden tracked a third boat, the suspected pirates’ mother ship.

Authorities found ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades in the skiffs, EU NAVFOR said.

Ten suspects were held aboard the warship, then released to one of their boats, it said.

The warship then destroyed the skiffs. Wednesday’s incident marks the 11th pirate attack group that has been disrupted in the last two weeks, EU NAVFOR said.

In an incident that began March 4, pirate activity some 350 nautical miles off Somalia led the EU NAVFOR French warship Nivose and maritime patrol aircraft to respond, EU NAVFOR reported.

The next day, Nivose intercepted a pirate group, and sailors boarded two of their skiffs and a whaler, which it identified as the mother ship.

The whaler was destroyed and 11 suspected pirates were detained and flown Wednesday from Djibouti to the Seychelles, where they were handed over to authorities for prosecution, an EU NAVFOR spokesman said in a telephone interview.

Wednesday’s incident came a day after pirates released a Virgin Islands-owned, Kiribati-flagged chemical tanker that was hijacked six months ago with a crew of 28 in the Somali Basin 180 miles northwest of the Seychelles, EU NAVFOR said. The MV Theresa VIII, had been held in the pirate stronghold of Haradera, on the Somali coast, it said.

“An unknown ransom was exchanged on the morning of 16 March and the ship is now underway and heading out to sea,” it said.

EU NAVFOR’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid and to protect ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

The coast off lawless Somalia has become a hotbed of piracy in recent years. The pirates normally seek payment to release the ships.

CHINA :

Abducted Chinese fishermen freed in Cameroon
18 March 2010/news.bbc.co.uk

Seven Chinese fishermen kidnapped off Cameroon’s disputed Bakassi peninsula have been released.

The seven men were abducted from two fishing boats on 12 March by a previously unknown group called the Africa Marine Commando.

They are due to arrive by boat in the coastal town of Limbe, sources told China’s Xinhua news agency.

It is unclear if any ransom was paid. AFP news agency says the kidnappers were demanding up to $25,000 (£16,000).

The release was secured after negotiations with Chinese and Cameroonian officials, said China’s ambassador to Cameroon, Xue Jinwei.

The BBC’s Randy Joe Sa’ah in Yaounde says the Africa Marine Commando is a previously unheard-of group, alleged to be Nigerian.

The disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula has been relatively stable in recent months after a series of kidnappings of foreign nationals in 2008 and 2009, our correspondent adds.

The Cameroon government has since deployed a rapid intervention battalion to control the area.

Bakassi juts into the Gulf of Guinea, an area which may contain up to 10% of the world’s oil and gas reserves.

INDIA :

UPDATE 1-Aspen sells 50 pct in oncology JVS for $117 mln
Thu Mar 18, 2010 /Reuters

*To sell stake to India’s Strides

Healthcare

*Strides to licence existing, future oncology drugs to Aspen

*Aspen share up 0.89 pct, Strides up 5.69 pct

(Adds details, shares)

JOHANNESBURG, March 18 (Reuters) – Aspen Pharmacare, Africa’s biggest generic drugs maker, will sell its 50 percent stake in global oncology joint ventures to joint owner India’s Strides Arcolab (STAR.BO) for $117 million.

As part of the deal, Strides would license the existing and future oncology products to Aspen (APNJ.J) for distribution in certain territories, Aspen said on Thursday.

The deal forms part of Aspen’s plans to source certain products for supply through its international distribution network, which reaches 100 countries.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, would boost Strides manufacturing and development capacity in its Specialities business, Aspen said in a statement.

“Through these agreements we continue to build on the strong partnership we enjoy with Strides. Each party now does what they do best,” Stephen Saad, Aspen Group chief executive, said.

Arun Kumar, Strides vice chairman and group CEO, said the deal provided the Bangalore-based drug maker with greater focus and ownership of a key domain in its specialist division.

Shares in Aspen rose 0.89 percent to 78.49 rand by 0728 GMT, in line with the Johannesburg JSE’s blue chip Top-40 index .JTOPI, while Strides rallied 5.69 percent to 346.90 rupees. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)

Oil India Plans to Raise Debt
online.wsj.com/By SUNIL RAGHU /MARCH 18, 2010

NEW DELHI — State-run Oil India Ltd. plans to raise $280 million to $300 million in debt to fund its participation in Venezuela’s Carabobo 1 block, a company official said Thursday.

On Feb. 11, Oil India and other state-run companies ONGC Videsh Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., in a consortium with Spain’s Repsol YPF SA and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd., were awarded development rights to the Carabobo 1 heavy oil block.

The consortium holds 40%, with Repsol, Petroliam Nasional Bhd and OVL each having 11%, and Indian Oil and Oil India each holding a 3.5% stake. Venezuela’s state-run oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA has the majority 60% stake in the block.

The consortium will need to invest $9 billion to $10 billion over the next four to five years to develop the reserves, including building an upgrader that can refine the tar-like crude into a more marketable, lighter oil.

“Our commitment is for about $425 million for the block and we would be raising the money from a foreign bank abroad to maintain debt equity ratio of 2:1,” a senior company official at Oil India, who didn’t want to be identified, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The official didn’t say when it may raise the debt.

India’s federal government has been encouraging state-run oil and gas explorers to buy assets overseas to secure energy sources to feed the country’s growing economy.

The Indian consortium may bring the crude oil produced at Carabobo block to India or sell it overseas, the Oil India official said.

Oil India is also in talks to acquire two companies in the coming months, one in Africa and another in the Middle East, the official said.

“We are looking to acquire mid-sized companies with developed and oil-producing fields with production of anywhere between 15,000 barrels a day to 20,000 barrels a day,” he said.

The official declined to name the companies Oil India was in talks with. “The investment would be in millions,” he added.

Oil India–which was listed on the Indian stock exchanges in September 2009–focuses mainly on the country’s northeast region. It has interests in oil and gas blocks in Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Egypt, Iran and Yemen.

Oil India plans to invest 24.51 billion rupees ($541 million) in the three years to March 31, 2012 on acquisitions and diversification, according to the company’s Web site.

Write to Sunil Raghu at Sunil.Raghu@dowjones.com

BRASIL:

EN BREF, CE 18 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,18/03/2010