BURUNDI :
RWANDA
UGANDA
Ugandan social workers back anti-gay bill; Exodus opposed ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–The National Association of Social Workers of Uganda recently endorsed anti-homosexuality legislation under consideration in that country’s parliament, prompting a response from Exodus International. In a lengthy statement on the matter, the social workers association, which was established in 1973 to promote the social work profession in Uganda, said homosexuality has been discouraged in most societies as abnormal and harmful behavior with potential to spread in the population once tolerated. “In all societies throughout history, it has been self-evident that the normal pattern for human beings as well as for all living organisms in general is for males to unite sexually with females, whether reproduction was a goal for such union or not,” the social workers said. The statement went on to note that until 1973 the American Psychological Association listed homosexuality among abnormal conditions requiring the clinical intervention of psychologists. The political debate stirred by biologist Alfred Kinsey, who invented the term “sexual orientation,” forced the removal of the APA listing, the NASWU said. “In spite of this stand by the American Psychological Association, scientific studies over millennia have consistently showed that there is no genetic basis for homosexual behavior,” the statement said. “… Homosexuality belongs to the category of other disapproved behaviors that humans in most societies recognize as self-evidently abnormal and harmful and require everybody to learn the discipline of avoiding. “These norms and values are also often codified into laws that all members of society are expected to observe.” When behavior achieves social acceptance and legal approval, the social workers association said, it easily spreads through the process of social learning, experimentation and modeling. “This most likely explains why homosexual practice is more prevalent in societies where legal approval and social acceptance are higher,” the statement said. “This also explains why throughout history, nations have used the law to prevent or curtail the spread of undesirable behavior.” Uganda’s proposed legislation, the organization said, is needed because of increasing incidents of homosexual abuse of children and youth, the promotion of homosexuality by some groups including UNICEF, and government-led campaigns at the United Nations to normalize homosexuality on an international level. “NASWU rejects the view that same-sex attraction is an innate ‘orientation,’ rather it is part of a range of feelings individuals ought to learn to bring under control as they mature,” the social workers said. “There is justification for Uganda to put in place appropriate legislation to comprehensively prohibit homosexuality.” But the group said the bill contains drafting errors that should be corrected before its passage. Specifically, the clause requiring mandatory reporting of all known homosexual offenses should be amended to exempt disclosure made in counseling situations, the social workers advised. Counselors, though, would have to be licensed to dispense same-sex counseling services and must pledge not to give pro-homosexual advice to their clients, the NASWU said in its recommendations. In response, Exodus International, a Christian ministry that seeks to assist homosexuals in overcoming unwanted same-sex attractions, released a statement reiterating that the legislation being considered in Uganda is not the best way to address the issue. “Although the NASWU seems genuinely concerned in helping those struggling with same-sex attraction, the organization fails to see that Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 — as any legislation that criminalizes homosexuality — does more to hurt than help homosexuals,” Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, said. “Exodus continues to urge Uganda’s parliament to reject this hurtful legislation; we also ask the country’s evangelical churches to take the lead in offering hope and healing to all people, regardless of their particular struggles.” In addition to prosecuting homosexual behavior, the proposed legislation would require pastors, missionaries, health care providers and counselors to report people suspected of such behavior. Last fall, Exodus wrote a letter to Uganda’s president expressing disapproval of the legislation. In the statement issued March 22, Chambers wrote, “Exodus International believes that every human life, regardless of an individual’s sexual behavior, is of inestimable worth to God and that defending this principle is foundational in offering a Christian response to any issue. “As such, Exodus International has not and will not support any legislation that deprives others of life and dignity including, but not limited to, Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009,” Chambers wrote. “We stand with all who are defending this basic, biblical tenet and remain committed to sharing the compassion, hope and life-giving truth and grace of Jesus Christ.” The statement, signed by several Exodus International North American leaders, said former homosexuals have found a new identity in Jesus Christ, and “such transformation cannot be achieved in an environment of government coercion where the vital support, care and compassion of the Christian community is discouraged and prosecuted.” In related news, Philadelphia Biblical University is distancing itself from Martin Ssempa, one of the major supporters of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill. Ssempa, a Ugandan pastor, received a master’s degree in counseling and an honorary doctorate from the conservative, evangelistic school in Pennsylvania. “PBU categorically condemns any position that calls for violence against human beings created in the image and likeness of God, or violent solutions to socially controversial issues,” university administrators said in a statement on the school’s website. “While PBU holds to a biblically defined position regarding human sexuality, to call for such action clearly violates the teaching of the Bible, and the principles and practices taught at PBU. Ssempa did earn a graduate degree from PBU in 1994. Ssempa also received an honorary degree from PBU in 2006 for his ministry of compassion to HIV/AIDS victims in his native land. “The University was not aware at that time of Ssempa’s recently expressed views,” the administrators said. “His present publicly stated position in no way represents or reflects the views of the University, its administration, or its faculty. It is our sincere hope that Christians would hold their convictions regarding homosexuality with a spirit of grace and compassion toward all human beings.” TANZANIA:
www.easybourse.com/31 mars 2010 CONGO RDC :
UPDATE 1-First Quantum shares fall as legal woes mount Stocks | Regulatory News | Global Markets | Basic Materials * Gecamines/CAMI sue First Quantum subsidiaries for $12 bln * First Quantum close down 7.1 pct at C$86 on TSX By Euan Rocha TORONTO, March 30 (Reuters) – Shares of Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FM.TO) fell more than 7 percent on Tuesday as legal problems tied to its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo continued to mount. In September, First Quantum stopped construction of its Kolwezi copper-cobalt project in the DRC after authorities in the African country withdrew the company’s license for the project after the government initiated a review of more than 60 mining contracts. [ID:nN16127717] Kolwezi, a tailings recovery operation, was expected to eventually produce 70,000 tonnes of copper and 14,000 tonnes of cobalt per year. At the time, construction of the project was about two-thirds complete. The company and its subsidiaries have now been summoned by DRC’s Supreme Court because state entity Societe de Developpement Industriel et Minier du Congo (Sodimico) has filed a case challenging First Quantum’s right to operate the Lonshi and Frontier copper mines that are located on the border of Zambia and the DRC. Sodimico alleges that the DRC’s Ministry of Mines in 2000 wrongfully withdrew mining titles belonging to Sodimico and subsequently granted the titles to Comisa and Frontier — two of First Quantum’s subsidiaries. In addition, a commercial court in the DRC has ruled that Comisa owes Sodimico $57 million for the improper use of certain proprietary information related to the Lonshi mine. First Quantum argues that there is no legal basis to any of Sodimico’s claims. However, the announcement prompted TD Newcrest to cut its price target on First Quantum shares to C$95, from C$102. “We suspect that investors are likely to treat any asset held by First Quantum in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a significantly increased level of risk,” said TD analyst Greg Barnes, in a note to clients. KOLWEZI PROJECT Last year, First Quantum sued the government of the DRC, state miner Gecamines and the mining regulatory agency CAMI, following the cancellation of the Kolwezi project. However, the country’s highest civil court upheld the government’s cancellation of the project and ordered First Quantum subsidiaries Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings (KMT) and Congo Minerals Development (CMD) to pay Gecamines and CAMI $6 million in damages for filing the cases. First Quantum said its subsidiaries KMT and CMD on Feb. 22 received notification that Gecamines and CAMI had sued for an additional $12 billion, as compensation for the losses suffered by each of them. The hearing was held two days later on Feb. 24. First Quantum alleges that its subsidiaries were not given proper notice of the hearing, but appeared before the appeals court in the DRC to object to the proceedings. The company said it believes that the appeals court has ruled in favor of the DRC, Gecamines and CAMI, although it has yet to receive official notification of the decision. However, First Quantum said any judgment rendered against KMT and CMD will not legally affect First Quantum itself, or any of its other operations. The company said it regrets the escalation of legal actions by DRC entities against First Quantum, but it remains open to seeking a negotiated solution to the Kolwezi project dispute. First Quantum said it is considering all available means of recourse to tackle the issues it is facing in the DRC and it would provide updates, as required. Shares of First Quantum closed down 7.1 percent at C$86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; editing by Peter Galloway) KENYA :
Kenya Will Have a Brand New Constitution, Says Legislator Peter Clottey/www1.voanews.com/ 31 March 2010 A legislator says final debate on proposed amendments of Kenya’s draft constitution will begin in parliament Wednesday ahead of a scheduled vote that paves the way for a new constitution. Gitobu Imanyara said if adopted the new constitution will ensure balance and provide real change and hope for all Kenyans. “From 9 O’clock we will start debate on the proposed amendment and the mood in the House (parliament) and in the country is that we should pass the constitution as crafted by the Committee of Experts. So, I am confident… we shall have a new constitution that provides real change for Kenya after almost half a century of independence from the colonial constitution,” he said. Local media reported that ministers in the coalition government and lawmakers have been unable to fully agree on suggested changes or amendments to the proposed law. The reports said both the Party of National Unity (PNU) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in the coalition government are suggesting different amendments to the draft constitution. But legislator Imanyara expressed confidence that Kenya will have a new constitution. “After fighting for more than 20 years and with less than 24 hours to go, we shall have a brand new constitution for Kenya that marks a significant departure from the one party institutional framework that has been responsible for so much harm in this country,” Imanyara said. After Kenya’s parliament nominated its members comprising nine experts and two ex-officio members, President Mwai Kibaki appointed the Committee of Experts which is the main technical organ in the constitutional review process. Expectations are reportedly high among Kenyans ahead of the prospects of a new constitution. Legislator Imanyara said the new constitution will meet the high expectations of Kenyans. “Yes…but by and large, this is the best constitution under the circumstances because it had gone through a select committee of parliament; it has gone through a committee of experts that listened and analyzed submissions of more than one million Kenyans… and we are happy that for the first time in Kenya’s history we are likely to have a people constitution,” Imanyara said. The parliament is scheduled to conduct a referendum on the new constitution after approving it. Kenya vows to step up war against terrorism Source: Xinhua/ world.globaltimes.cn/ March 31 2010 The Kenyan government vowed Tuesday it would step up its counter terrorism measures in the country. ANGOLA :
Sinopec buys stake in Angolan oilfield Acquisitions – China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia’s biggest refiner, announced its first acquisition of a foreign oilfield stake and said it faced “challenges” in the oil-processing business as competitors expand capacity. Sinopec, as the Beijing-based company is known, said Sunday it will pay $2.5 billion US to buy a stake in an Angolan oilfield from its parent to boost crude oil production. “Refining capacity is being added both inside and outside China,” Sinopec said in a statement as it reported 2009 profit more than doubled to 61.8 billion yuan ($9.1 billion US). PetroChina Co. and CNOOC Ltd., Sinopec’s biggest rivals, are acquiring and building refineries in China and overseas to meet demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. EU releases new blacklist of banned airlines English.news.cn/news.xinhuanet.com/2010-03-31 BRUSSELS, March 30 (Xinhua) — The European Commission on Tuesday released a new blacklist of airlines which are banned from flying into the European Union (EU). The list included all air carriers of two additional countries, namely Sudan and the Philippines, due to safety concerns. All carriers from 17 countries, with 278 companies in total, are now banned. Most of the airlines targeted operate out of Africa. “We are ready to support countries that need to build up technical and administrative capacity to guarantee the necessary standards in civil aviation. But we cannot accept that airlines fly into the EU if they do not fully comply with international safety standards.” said commission vice president Siim Kallas, responsible for transport. The commission also changed an operating ban into restriction on airlines from Angola and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Angolan flag carrier, TAAG Angola, would be allowed to operate within the EU under certain strict conditions with specific aircrafts. Air Koryo of DPRK, which had been banned since March 2006, is allowed to operate into the EU with two aircrafts, which have already complied with standards. The commission warned Albania’s air carriers to improve safety urgently, and said it was following closely the performance of Egyptian air carriers. The EU blacklist of banned airlines, first released four years ago, is verified at least every three months. Editor: Li Xianzhi SOUTH AFRICA:
South Africa: ANC to Fight Ruling Against Struggle Songs Johannesburg — THERE can be no moral equivalence between a just war against apartheid and those who sought to protect it, the African National Congress (ANC) said yesterday. The party was defending its decision to “protect and defend” its struggle heritage following a high court decision last week that ruled that some of the struggle songs were unconstitutional. Addressing a media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, following a meeting of its top six officials, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party would appeal against the judgment and seek to get a “more correct” constitutional interpretation of the many liberation struggle songs which the ANC believed formed part of SA’s history. “We are dealing with a society that wants to wish its own history away by picking up on any petty issue that triggers disagreement and conflict. Irritation resulting from pronouncements made by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president is elevated to defining how our society should be shaped. The debate about one of the many liberation songs is dealing with symptoms rather than the real issues that need our attention,” Mantashe said. The ANC said a high court judgment banning the use of the words “shoot the boer” was “incompetent” and “unimplementable”. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said there was “no correlation between the singing of the song and any attacks on farmers. He said no one had produced such a correlation, including the South Gauteng High Court. Mantashe told journalists the initial misinterpretation of the song as saying “kill the farmer” was intended to incite “certain” communities. He said an artificial contestation was created to arrive at a predetermined outcome. The ANC is also filing an application to the Equality Court to test whether the publicly announced “prosecute Malema” campaign by the Freedom Front Plus constitutes “real hate speech” or not. Mantashe said: “We also remind ourselves that part of our ugly history is that when the right-wing groups started an aggressive propaganda about individual members of our movement in the past, such members ended up being assassinated.” The assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani was one such case, he said. “We are hoping that there is no attempt to create such an environment around the young man, Malema, irrespective of the irritation we may be having with him.” While Mantashe conceded Malema’s insistence that the ANC, and not its sister liberation movement the Pan Africanist Congress, had organised the historic 1960 Sharpeville antipass march was factually incorrect, he expressed concern about the Pan Africanist Youth Congress saying Malema would be found either in a hospital or a mortuary. “The reality is the 21st of March 1960 was a PAC campaign. It is a fact of history … there is no need to dilly- dally about that.” Mantashe said law enforcement agencies needed to probe the threat against Malema. The PAC youth wing’s comments against Malema were not just hate speech but a “public declaration of the intention to kill”. But he also said Malema was not the victim of a “witch-hunt”. Some statements irritated many people, “but how do you deal with them in a normal society?” South Africa: Seizure of Zimbabwean Property ‘Drop in the Ocean’ Johannesburg — A Zimbabwean property valued at R2,5m in Cape Town was seized yesterday to cover the legal costs of obtaining an order against President Robert Mugabe for illegally confiscating property from 79 Zimbabwe farmers. The attachment of the property comes after two years of Mugabe thumbing his nose at rulings of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Tribunal that the land grab was both racist and unlawful. The process has been driven by local civil rights group AfriForum, which succeeded in getting an order of the North Gauteng High Court to attach Zimbabwean property. The saga began in 2008 when 79 of Zimbabwe’s farmers took the Zimbabwean government to the Sadc tribunal where they won a ruling that the land grab was unlawful. This was described by Mugabe as nonsense, and of no consequence. He continued with the confiscation of the remaining farms . The tribunal followed its earlier ruling with a ruling that Mugabe was in contempt – this he also ignored. AfriForum then persuaded the High Court in Pretoria to register the tribunal’s rulings and allow the attachment of properties in SA owned by the Zimbabwe government. Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa also thumbed his nose at this ruling, calling it “political grandstanding”. He said the properties were protected by diplomatic immunity. AfriForum attorney Willie Spies said they had been asked by Zimbabwean farmers to help in the case. “What happened today is the attachment of a property situated in Kenilworth. It is being leased to a third-party tenant. The fact that it is being leased makes it a commercial property, which makes it liable for attachment as a result of the court order,” he said. Ben Freeth, of the Sadc Tribunal Rights Watch, said: “The attachment of these properties is something that is hugely symbolic. After 10 years of the annihilation of property rights in Zimbabwe where no one has been compensated, the long arm of the law is finally reaching out to make itself felt. “Of course the attachment of four Zimbabwe government properties is a drop in the ocean compared to the attachment of the thousands of once-productive agricultural properties in Zimbabwe that were the homes and livelihoods of more than 2-million people. But this is a huge symbolic step in the quest for global justice through the international courts.” Collen Makumbirofa, of the Zimbabwean Foundation for Reason and Justice, said: “The attachment of properties belonging to the Zimbabwe government by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria is an act of last resort by AfriForum, acting on behalf of Zimbabwe farmers, who have exhausted all available channels of engaging the Zimbabwe government to reach a mutually amicable solution to the land saga. “It is an indictment on a government that has lost its constitutional place in the progressive family of nations. That the Mugabe regime regards the Sadc ruling as ‘nonsense and of no consequence’ demonstrates the extent to which the Zanu (PF) government pays scant regard to the rule of law.”
03/31/2010 /By JUAN A. LOZANO / Associated Press Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, 23, of the northeast African nation of Eritrea, admitted during a court hearing Monday to helping smuggle illegal immigrants to the U.S. As part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, Fessahazion pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of encouraging and inducing illegal immigrants to come to the U.S. for financial gain. Eleven other counts against him were dropped. “By bringing this smuggler to justice, we have broken a chain that runs from Africa to South and Central America, directly into the United States,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said. Defense attorney Peter Bray said he plans to present evidence at Fessahazion’s sentencing hearing — scheduled for June 14 — to help explain his client’s actions. Fessahazion faces up to 10 years in prison. “We look forward to presenting Mr. Fessahazion’s life story at the time of sentencing,” Bray said. “There are a lot of mitigating factors.” Prosecutors say Fessahazion helped smuggle up to 24 illegal immigrants into the U.S. from June 2007 until January 2008. According to court documents, he was the Guatemalan link of the smuggling ring. The group would bring illegal immigrants, primarily from East Africa but also from South Africa and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and sneak them into the Western Hemisphere through Brazil. The immigrants would then be smuggled in a chainlike fashion through Venezuela and Colombia, then into Central America, through Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala, according to court documents. Once the illegal immigrants reached Guatemala, Fessahazion would have a driver pick them up and bring them to the capital, Guatemala City. In exchange for $700 to $800, Fessahazion would take them to the Guatemala-Mexico border and tell them how to cross into Mexico and make their way north to Reynosa, located across the Rio Grande from the Texas city of McAllen. Once there, guides working for an unidentified smuggler known only as “Matamoros” would bring them across the Rio Grande and into the U.S. on inner tubes. The immigrants would eventually be taken to stash houses in Houston, where they would pay additional smuggling fees of up to $1,800. Fessahazion illegally entered the U.S. in March 2008 and was granted asylum eight months later after he claimed he had traveled across Africa in 2007 and 2008 in an effort to flee persecution in Eritrea. But he was smuggling illegal immigrants during that time, authorities said. “Breaking this global alien smuggling network puts smugglers on notice that we are coming after them and we will shut them down,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton. Vodacom, Nedbank to Offer South Africa Mobile Banking, FT Say By John Simpson/Bloomberg/March 31 March 31 (Bloomberg) — Vodacom Group Pty Ltd. and Nedbank Group Ltd. plan to offer mobile phone banking in South Africa, the Financial Times reported. Vodacom, a South African subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, and Nedbank, majority-owned by Old Mutual Plc, will build on the M-Pesa mobile-phone money-transfer system introduced by Vodafone in Kenya three years ago and since extended to Tanzania and Afghanistan for a total of 10 million customers, the FT said. Renaissance nears African brokers deals Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank, is in “advanced negotiations” to buy brokerages in “five or six” African countries, according to its co-founder and chief executive. Stephen Jennings, known in Moscow as the Kiwi oligarch, expects the deals to be completed within the next few months and says they should reinforce the bank’s ambition to “dominate trading flows on the continent”. The bank, which is half owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire, has already built up a substantial African presence since it moved into the region three years ago, with offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana. In 2009 it was one of the most active dealmakers on the continent, executing 18 transactions in 10 countries. Last month it opened in South Africa and recruited Clifford Sacks, then a senior banker at Merrill Lynch, to head up the operation. “Call us crazy, but when we look at Africa we believe this will be the fastest growing part of the world,” said Mr Jennings. “We believe that the highest investment returns . . . will be from this part of the world over the next 20 years.” Renaissance has won a reputation as a strong player in emerging markets, especially in Russia, where it was founded in 1995. Mr Jennings, who co-headed Credit Suisse First Boston’s investment banking operations in Russia in the early 1990s, is particularly optimistic about the prospects of Nigeria, the region’s most populous economy, arguing that its markets could grow at a speed similar to those of Russia in recent years. “We see Nigeria as a new Russia or Brazil in terms of the size you can get to. We wouldn’t be shocked to see [trading volumes] at the rate they have done in Russia,” he said. Renaissance already has the largest share of the equity trading in Nigeria and Kenya. The bank’s optimism over Africa is underpinned as much by growth in consumer sectors such as telecommunications and financial services as by the region’s oil, gas and mineral wealth, all of which have made it hugely attractive to resource hungry China, India and Brazil. Emerging consumer markets are “incredibly important”, said Mr Jennings, arguing that the buoyancy of domestic demand – as well as resource exports – had helped ease the impact of the global financial crunch during 2008 and 2009. “The commodity thing is interesting, but we think this is a more Asian-style convergence play – a very organic, bottom-up modernisation process,” he said. Renaissance has sought to build its business in emerging markets by establishing a more thorough going local presence in smaller markets that are often ignored by the mainstream competitors. “In the bulge bracket banks there is more of a developed market mindset,” said Mr Sacks. “The big banks want to see these markets explode, they want to see activity levels very high. They want to see a huge revenue base before they’ll go in.” The decision to enter South Africa was heavily influenced by broader perspectives on Africa. Mr Sacks suggested that South Africa had become less insular in its relations with the rest of the continent. The operation is seen as a conduit for South African companies to invest in the region. Groups such as Standard Bank, South Africa’s biggest bank, MTN, the telecommunications company, Shoprite, the retailer, and SAB Miller, the brewer, have made huge investments in Africa, with South Africa last year accounting for about 30 per cent of all foreign direct investment into Africa, outside the mining sector. “There is a change in the landscape here,” said Mr Sacks. AFRICA / AU :
Bharti Airtel Acquires Zain Africa BV (RTTNews) – Bharti Airtel announced that it entered into a legally binding definitive agreement with Zain Group to acquire Zain Africa BV based on an enterprise valuation of $10.7 billion. As per the agreement, the Indian telecom major will acquire Zain’s African mobile services operations in 15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 million. Zain is the market leader in ten countries and ranks second in four countries. with this acquisition,Bharti will become the second largest among telecos to cover 1.8 billion people across Asia and Africa . The company will also be the fifth largest wireless company with operations across 18 countries across the globe. The group’s global telecom footprint will expand to 21 countries along with the operations in Seychelles, Jersey and Guernsey. Liberian teenager pleads guilty in rape case The Associated Press /March 31, 2010 PHOENIX — A teenage Liberian refugee charged in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old girl in Phoenix last summer pleaded guilty in the case Tuesday, authorities said. Maricopa County prosecutors said the 15-year-old boy, who was transferred from adult court to juvenile court last week, pleaded guilty to sexual assault, kidnapping, three counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of attempted sexual conduct with a minor. He will remain in detention until an April 27 hearing. The Associated Press is not naming the teen because of his age. He was 14 at the time of the July assault and had been the only one of four boys charged as an adult. All the children involved are refugees from the war-torn West African nation of Liberia. Prosecutors said the girl was lured July 16 to an empty storage shed at a west Phoenix apartment complex with the promise of chewing gum. The oldest boy admitted holding the victim down while he and three other boys – ages 9, 10 and 13 – sexually assaulted the girl, according to authorities. Defense attorneys for the 15-year-old said the boy most likely will be sent to a residential treatment center with 24-hour supervision for a year or more. Prosecutors said he could have faced more than 25 years in prison if convicted as an adult in the case. Authorities said juveniles are not given fixed prison sentences, and instead are constantly evaluated on whether they should be released, maintained in treatment facilities or sent to a juvenile corrections facility. When they turn 18, they age out of the system and must be released, although the boy still could be forced to register as a sex offender until he turns 25. The youngest of the boys accused in the case already has been deemed incompetent to stand trial. His charges were dropped, but he remains in foster care. The other two boys still are charged in juvenile court and are taking lessons designed to make them competent to stand trial. The case prompted an international outcry after police reported the girl’s father said she brought shame on the family and he didn’t want her back – comments a family pastor later said were misunderstood because of a language barrier. State child welfare officials have custody of the girl. Her 59-year-old father and 47-year-old mother were each charged in November with eight child abuse counts for abuse and neglect reports dating back to 2005. Liberians worldwide are watching the case, and many are concerned about how they will be perceived because of the attack. Rape was a common practice during the country’s 14 years of civil war, but Liberia now has some of the strictest laws against the crime in all of Africa. Increased Inter-Regional Cooperation Will Lessen Future Economic Shocks in Africa, Says Financial Expert Peter Clottey /www1.voanews.com/ 31 March 2010 The Director of the Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland Business School in the United States says enhanced inter-regional economic cooperation among African Countries could reduce the effects of future world financial meltdown. This comes as African finance officials concluded their meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi on ways to soften the effects of global economic shocks on Africa. Lemma Senbet, who is also professor of finance, said some African countries were in the process of adopting sound financial policies before the recent economic meltdown. “It is really useful to know that most African countries were growing in the same proportion as East Asian countries pre (economic)-crisis. Like an average growth of something like 6 %, which outpaced the population growth or per capita income has been very positive prior to the crisis. Then of course with the crisis, we had the decline in demand for exports, decline in remittances, trade flows so a lot of external shocks that ended up reducing GDP,” he said. The African Union also said in a statement that the global economic crisis pushed 27 million more people into poverty in Africa, putting the continent in what the continental body described as a “precarious situation”. Senbet said Africa has not fully recovered from the recent recession. “Have we gotten out of this? I don’t think so, but I would like to say that there are some kinds of rebound. The reason is that the effect came from global crisis, but the global economy is also rebounding although it is in early stages of recovery. So, that is actually helping… trade flows and export income. In fact the IMF is actually now predicting that growth will move up to something like above 4 %,” Senbet said. According to an African Union report “economic growth in the world’s poorest continent slumped to 1.6 percent last year from 4.5 percent in 2008, as the global recession slashed demand for platinum, copper and oil. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana were worst hit by job losses as mining companies scaled back output.” The report said. Senbet said the African economy lacks much needed diversity. “Part of the problem is that the continent is vulnerable to external shocks because the economy is not well diversified. Very heavy reliance on a few commodities and a few export items makes it very difficult. And then what happens is that most of the trade that originates from Africa is with the rest of the world and the intra-Africa trade is actually very small almost like 10%,” Senbet said. He also said Africa can reduce outside shocks by engaging in policies that can enhance regional cooperation so that there would be more trade among African countries. A bit of luck sees Aria Technologies in South Africa A fortuitous series of events has allowed boutique distributor, Aria Technologies, to take its first big step overseas and set-up a South African presence. The company, which is LG-Nortel’s exclusive distributor in Australia, was presented with an opportunity to expand the relationship after the IP phone vendor’s South African distributor, Ericsson, sold its PBX business to Aastra last year. Aria has leased an office building in Midrand, South Africa, which will initially house 15 staff, and is run by managing executive, Hannes Viljoen. The facility will have tech labs and full sales support. Beyond some minor business in the Pacific Islands (Fiji, New Caledonia), Aria has not previously operated outside of Australia, its general manager, Rob Pierce, said. The appointment in South Africa will open up additional sub-Saharan markets, such as Mozambique, Botswana and Nigeria, as those economies develop, he said. “For the first year, we’re looking at around $15 million in sales,” Pierce said. “After that, we’d be looking at 10 per cent growth per year.” Although a definite growth opportunity, Aria would be selective about future international expansion. “As opportunities present themselves, we will consider expansion if it makes logical sense,” Pierce said. “It would make no sense for us to set-up shop in Iceland, for instance, but from a cultural and technological point of view, South Africa and Australia are similar, so we can cross resource.” Aria’s growth strategy in 2009 saw the company expand off the east coast into Perth, and redouble efforts around its ShoreTel vendor partnership to complement its mature LG-Nortel presence. Haiti Readies Request for $11.5 Billion By JOSé DE CóRDOBA And DAVID LUHNOW /.online.wsj.com/MARCH 31, 2010 At a donors’ conference in New York on Wednesday, Haitian President René Préval will present an “action plan” hammered out over the past two months by his government and more than 200 experts. The audience at the United Nations-hosted meeting, the biggest gathering of potential donors since the Jan. 12 earthquake, will include representatives of 100 countries as well as multilateral lending institutions and charities. Mr. Préval, a soft-spoken agronomist who lost his own home when the presidential palace collapsed, is hoping his audience will respond with pledges of an initial $3.8 billion over the next 18 months. The plan says Haiti will need a total of $11.5 billion to repair the quake’s damage. The plan calls for helping the country face immediate problems, including providing shelter for more than one milllon quake victims ahead of the rain and hurricane season. It also requests help in tackling longer-term issues including rebuilding the damaged port, more than 100,000 homes, 1,300 schools and 50 hospitals. It seeks to develop the government’s capacity to efficiently collect taxes and provide services like security and education, and calls for decentralizing Haiti by investing in agriculture and infrastructure outside the clogged capital. Broadly, Haiti is hoping that a mobilized international community will provide the country with a second chance at nationhood after decades as a semi-failed state. “We share a dream,” says the statement to be presented Wednesday. “We see Haiti as an emergent country by 2030.” The disaster’s magnitude appears unequaled in modern times. The government estimates the quake left more than 300,000 dead, injured another 300,000 and left some 1.5 million homeless, most of them living in squalid camps. More than half a million people have returned to the impoverished countryside, reversing decades of migration to the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Even before the earthquake, Haiti was a disaster. Today, only slightly more than half the population can read and write. Four out of five Haitians—many of them young—live on less than $2 a day, making the country the hemisphere’s poorest. Nearly four-fifths of Haitians didn’t have formal jobs, even before the earthquake. The country’s economy depends largely on remittances from emigrants. A large chunk of the national budget is funded by foreign aid. Experts say the amount that governments will be willing to give, and the effectiveness of the aid, remains an open question. The U.S. government alone has already spent $934 million in emergency relief, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. “If the international community doesn’t step up, you’re talking failed state,” says Tatiana Wah, Head of the Haiti Policy Program at Columbia University. “It is going to cost a lot more if this turns in to Rwanda or Somalia. You don’t want that in your backyard.” Haiti’s government may have high hopes that a billion-dollar rebuilding push—which, in conversation, officials liken to the post World War II Marshall Plan—will lead to a new Haiti. But many economists are skeptical that can work without a radical rethinking of how aid is handed out. “To me, it’s a little naïve,” says Arvind Subramanian, a development economist at the Petersen Institute in Washington. “In Germany and Japan after the war, the physical infrastructure was devastated, but essentially the soft infrastructure—like institutions and people’s talents—was intact. In Haiti, you can reverse the devastation of the infrastructure, but you’re not going to have the support of institutions.” That means that in order for Haiti to develop, it needs to build not only a new port and new roads and homes, but lasting institutions like an honest police force and a public education system. Even then, economists say, all the money spent on government and infrastructure will ultimately mean little to the country’s development if Haiti can’t create jobs and become more business-friendly. “Prosperous countries developed their wealth through the growth of a domestic business sector. India and China are only the most recent examples,” says William Duggan, a Colombia Business School professor who spent 20 years overseeing aid projects in Africa. Traditional foreign aid for projects like highways and dams have failed to reduce poverty and create development globally, Mr. Duggan says. He would rather see the aid money channeled directly to the private sector, which he says was what the Marshall Plan did. Haitian businessmen are hopeful the quake demolished the Haitian government’s historical apathy and antagonism toward the private sector. They have identified five poles of development—garment assembly, farming of specialty products such as mangos and bananas, animal husbandry, tourism development and a pumped up construction industry–which they say could create up to a million jobs. In a conference with Haiti’s top businessmen earlier this month, Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive promised to push through legislation to make Haiti more competitive. Currently, Haiti ranks 151 out of 183 nations on the World Bank’s ranking of countries as a place to do business. In terms of starting a local business, Haiti ranks at 180, third from the bottom. “The government is listening,” Mr. Bellerive told the businessmen. Aid experts including Mr. Duggan say the donor aid for Haiti should be made conditional on the country passing the needed legal changes. “Here’s what I fear will happen: Donors will all meet. They will already start the money to rebuild, and Haiti won’t have an incentive to change because the money will already be flowing.” Haiti also wants to use the crisis to bolster the authority of its anemic central government, which for decades has been enfeebled by lack of funds. Because of worries about corruption, international donors disburse most of the money they give to Haiti through powerful NGOs. Haiti’s government estimates it typically receives one cent of every dollar in aid. To do so, Haiti’s plan calls for the creation of a government entity composed of Haitian government officials and representatives from its chief donors who would ensure the reconstruction would follow the guidelines of the national government while guaranteeing the donors that their money will be spent efficiently. UN /ONU :
Congo: Massacre in the jungle A multinational force, with helicopters and special forces, is needed to hunt the LRA commanders down The soldiers who arrived in Makombo, a remote district in northern Congo on 14 December last year were practised at this sort of thing. Wearing Ugandan or Congolese army uniforms, they did everything at first to allay the suspicions of villagers, as they searched for areas where children would gather – markets, churches or water points. Once they had identified their prey, they tied them with rope or wire into human chains up to 15 people long, and forced them to carry off the goods they had looted. At regular intervals in the march, the strong and the weak were weeded out – the strong because they could prove too difficult to control. They were led off into the forest, tied to trees, and clubbed or macheted to death. A three-year-old girl was found to be the youngest victim. After four days of this, the Lord’s Resistance Army had killed more than 321 civilians, abducted 250 others, including at least 80 children. That massacres like these should occur after 23 years of attacks committed in northern Uganda, southern Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo is not surprising. The region the LRA has chosen to terrorise is remote. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, Monuc, has only 1,000 troops for an area the size of Belgium, and forewarned of an LRA attack, took steps to protect the main population centres. Besides, the focus of its mandate is another conflict in Eastern Congo. What is unacceptable is Monuc’s reaction after first reports of the massacre began to filter out. One human rights official arrived in Niangara on 20 January, and spent all of 90 minutes there. He recommended a special mission to investigate but none was approved. It took the witness statements gathered by three researchers of Human Rights Watch to convince Monuc that a massacre had taken place under the noses of its Morrocan troops, and only on 11 March, nearly 10 weeks later, did Monuc deploy a team to document the killings. But Monuc are not the only peacekeepers with slow reactions. The Uganda army, which had just conducted a US-backed operation to destroy LRA bases, continues to deny that anything significant had occurred at Makombo. The Congolese army has around 3,000 soldiers in the region, but it has few vehicles, no helicopters and is hard put to receive its rations and wages. There are four UN missions operating in this region, but they are hide-bound by their mandates which limit them to their country of operation. This is why the leaders of the LRA, already wanted on war crimes committed in Uganda, have been able to slip away. A multinational force, with helicopters and special forces, is now needed to hunt the LRA commanders down. USA :
Refugees from Asia, Africa, Mideast sworn in as US citizens WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday joined immigration officials and well-wishers in welcoming 27 refugees from the world’s trouble spots as they were sworn in as US citizens. “This is now officially your country,” Obama said in a televised message that was beamed into the black-glass headquarters building of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington. “In America, no dream is impossible. Like the millions of immigrants who have come before you, you have the opportunity to enrich this country through your contributions to civic society,” Obama said before a technical glitch cut short his address to the brand new US citizens. Moments earlier, the 27 men and women who years ago had fled wars, oppressive regimes and persecution in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had raised their right hands and pledged loyalty to the United States. The mass naturalization ceremony was held almost 30 years to the day that president Jimmy Carter signed the Refugee Act into law on March 17, 1980. “This ceremony speaks of our country as a refuge for people who are fleeing despair or circumstances that our country does not tolerate within its borders,” Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the USCIS, told AFP after the ceremony. The new citizens came from Bhutan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam. Around three quarters of all refugees resettled every year come to the United States, said Lori Scialabba, associate director of the refugee, asylum and international operations directorate at USCIS. Since the refugee act became law, the United States has offered protection to approximately 2.5 million refugees and 500,000 asylum seekers. Last year alone, USCIS processed 110,000 refugee applications from 109 countries and completed 33,867 asylum applications. In the past decade, some 5.6 million people have taken the oath to become become US citizens. Escalation in Central Africa: Will it be Resolved? There are times when Politics resembles both a Drama and a Comedy. Events will occur or even be manipulated to ensure an outcome for one group or faction so they can either gain or retain power. Sometimes some of these events will resemble a Punchline. Although it is difficult to determine whether or not it is a Drama, a comedy or both the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo falls into this unique situation. Events have been occurring at a rapid rate and some of them are not just in Africa. Some have occurred in other locations in the world. This situation started to form when the UN Security Council announced that it was reducing the number of personnel involved with MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Congo) by 2,000 by the End of June 2010. This is the initial step in the UN exiting the country amid a controversial mission that has seen little accomplished. The removal of the UN Mission is a plank in the reelection campaign of President Joseph Kabila. Another factor that influences this situation is the recent passage by the United States Senate of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Act. This bill has generated some controversy as it is seen by many people as giving the US Military a greater role in the Mission to rein in the LRA. The Acholi People of Uganda are concerned that this Legislation Places more Confidence in the abilities of President Museveni of Uganda. Another Piece of Legislation that could influence US Policy the Congo Conflict Minerals Act still is in Committee in the Senate. A similar version in the House of Representatives has had 4 new co-sponsors sign on recently. This Bill seeks to promote Peace within the DRC and to monitor the traffic of Gold, Coltan, cassiterite and wolframite. While these actions were taking place in Washington and in other locations reports of violence were sporadic. It seems that every couple of weeks that there were attacks along the DRC-Sudanese Border. Then there were raids in the Central African Republic. Then it would be Southern Sudan. While this was going on the UN backed Operation Amani Leo was releasing Body Counts in such a manner that one could have been reminded of the Five O’Clock Follies in Saigon and Riyadh in previous conflicts. Then came what some could be the game changer. Human Rights Watch released a report last week which stated that in December 2009 the LRA launched a campaign that killed over 321 people in the Congo. An effort to defeat the LRA Operation Lightning Thunder which was launched with some support from the United States was not successful. The release of the report has caused some interesting events to occur. It has been announced that the UN Security Council will soon travel to the DRC and assess the situation first hand. There now are calls for MONUC to stay in the country now. Some people have argued that the much maligned mission needs to remain in the Congo. But there is an interesting caveat that could occur as well. Currently there is a US Military and Private Security Mission in Kisangani working to train a FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) Battalion about how to respect Human Rights. There is also a liaison team with the Ugandan Military as well. So if the House passes the LRA Bill the US has Military Assets already in position to conduct Operations if the President deems them to be necessary. The LRA Bill has revealed a schism in some of the Grassroots movements here in the US. There are elements that do not want to see any American Troops in the Congo under any circumstance. There are also others who are demanding that the Obama Administration take a more decisive role in this rapidly changing climate. These groups have been able to motivate people to raise funds and contact their Members of Congress to demand some form of action. Adding the sum of this information together is not hard. The Problem is whether or not it’s a Drama or a very warped Black Comedy worthy of Dr. Strangelove. The Author Comments on US Policy towards Africa and publishes Confused Eagle on the Internet. Confused Eagle can be found at confusedeagle.livejournal.com CANADA :
Zerbisias: My Canada includes war, environmental degradation and lost causes Diplomat Robert Fowler makes it clear Canada has lost its way Published On Wed Mar 31 2010/www.thestar.com In 1999, when I packed for a month in the Middle East, I made a point of bringing my Huron-made, deerskin fringed jacket. Nothing, I thought, screamed “I am not one of you” like that jacket, which was mostly too hot and too heavy for a month-long trip clambering over the desert rocks and ruins. Although I am not much into jewellery, I also wore a red maple leaf stick pin. I was a proud Canadian, smug and self-confident that my country was all mountains, moose, maple syrup and peacemaker in the valley. Boy, was that ever wrong. And it’s even more wrong now. It took a distinguished diplomat such as Robert Fowler, who made news last year after his kidnapping by Al Qaeda in Niger, to slap not only the Liberal Party last weekend at its Canada 150 conference, but also the Conservative government and those Canadians who, still, cling to that Trudeau-era belief that we are the Dudley Do-Right of nations. He attacked Canada for all but abandoning Africa, where war, starvation, disease, overpopulation, Islamofascism and other plagues are mixing together to make a toxic soup of terrorism that will spill across the continent, while we waste blood and treasure on the lost cause of Afghanistan. Pointing to those who support the war, Fowler said: “Look, they say, at the number of little girls we have put in school — at a cost of 146 Canadian lives, thousands of Afghan lives, and, according to the Government website, an incremental cost, since 2001, of $11.3 billion, including $1.7 billion in development assistance from CIDA’s budget. “My ….. think of the number of girls we could put in school throughout the Third World — particularly in Africa — with that kind of money! And we could do so without having to kill and be killed to get that worthy job done.” It’s not just Afghanistan. Over the past few years, Canada has been shifting its foreign aid priorities away from Africa to Latin America, where new free trade deals will protect Canada’s business interests in, among other sectors, the mining industry. Canada’s hands are not clean there are either, as human rights activists insist. They’re documenting how workers and the environment are being exploited and devastated. It gets worse. Canada is also heavily into the weapons trade, an industry we hardly ever see covered in the business pages. According to the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, between 2003 and 2006, Canadian military exports totalled at least $7.4 billion, mostly to the U.S.Ö, where it went into the weapons used everywhere from Iraq to Gaza. Fowler, who kicked open a can of foreign policy worms that, I hope, will crawl into Canadian’s consciousness and consciences, made it very clear that this country has lost its way. To simplify his message, there’s too much politicking, not enough policy. But there’s no business like the war business, as the U.S. has demonstrated time after bloody time. According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, in 2008, world “defence spending” hit $1.55 trillion (U.S.) — and that doesn’t count countries where the bombs are homemade. Imagine how much misery that kind of money could eliminate. Imagine how many terrorists would not be created as a result. Fowler’s can of worms must not be put back under the rock where too many people in Canada would prefer to hide it. But, if some initial reactions on Twitter and elsewhere are any indication, it’s only a matter of time before he gets slimed. P.S. This will be my last column for The Star’s Living section. Thanks for reading, and for writing. Stay tuned for news of my next assignment for The Star. Contact Antonia Zerbisias at azerbisias@thestar.ca. She blogs at thestar.blogs.com. Standing guard for the world By John Kirton, Citizen Special /www.ottawacitizen.com/ March 31, 2010 The Group of Eight, whose foreign ministers are gathered in Gatineau, has served as an effective global security governor since its start. It was created to cope not only with economic shocks but also with a rising Soviet Union, communism sweeping southern Europe, the Indian nuclear explosion of May 1974 and America’s final defeat in the war in Vietnam in April 1975. The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Italy came together at Rambouillet, France, in November 1975 to create a club they directly controlled, devoted to promoting open democracy, individual liberty and social advancement around the world. Initially focused on stopping Soviet expansion, when Canada joined in 1976, the now G7 added nuclear proliferation. At Canadian and German initiative in 1978, it added terrorism in the form of international skyjacking. When Canada first hosted at Montebello and Ottawa in 1981, the G7 issued a separate political declaration, showing it had arrived as a premier peace and security club. The G8 has produced several striking successes in the political-security sphere. It led in destroying the Soviet Union, bloc, empire and ideology, and in pioneering the democratic revolution still advancing around the world. As a Canadian initiative since 1986, the G7 led in helping end apartheid in South Africa, and also in inhibiting China from repeating its murder of unarmed students in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Immediately after a now-democratic Russia was admitted as the eighth member, the G8 in 1999 authorized a war to prevent genocide in Kosovo, using NATO to fight and inducing a reluctant United Nations to endorse the G8’s move. The G8 has ended skyjacking in its 1970s form. And it helped stop both nuclear proliferation for almost a quarter century after 1974 and several states from seeking their own bomb. Libya ended its state-sponsored terrorism and nuclear program, too. And, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at his first summit in 2006, the G8 and then the UN acted immediately against the terrorists who were causing a new conflict in the Middle East. However, promoting dem-ocracy and security is a constant struggle and the G8 has suffered several setbacks along the way. The international responsibility to protect remains unrealized in Burma, Zimbabwe and the Congo. Terrorists have found new ways to strike, as in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, London on July 7, 2005, and Moscow many times, including yesterday’s deadly subway attack. India and then Pakistan detonated nuclear bombs in 1998, and North Korea and prospectively Iran have joined the nuclear club. During the past 36 years, the G8 has made a vast number and range of political-security commitments — more than 1,000 since 1975, with those on counter-terrorism and non-proliferation leading the list. G8 members have kept these commitments at the same substantial level as the G8 overall: 75 per cent for political security as a whole, led by 85 per cent for conflict prevention, 82 per cent for non-proliferation, and 81 per cent for counter-terrorism, according to the most recent compliance report by the G8 Research Group. Most recently, a mere six months after the G8 last met in Italy in July 2009, compliance stands at about 95 per cent on regional security in Afghanistan and on piracy, 86 per cent on corruption and 78 per cent on counter-terrorism. Since 2003, the G8 has invited the latest tier of rising powers to its annual summit. The leaders of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa have always come, even if China’s Hu Jintao had to return suddenly to China to deal with domestic difficulties on the eve of the L’Aquila Summit last summer. While these new leaders have come to discuss such issues as development, food security and climate change, they have also added value on the security side. They stood shoulder to shoulder with Britain’s Tony Blair and his G8 partners to condemn the terrorists who killed civilians on July 7, 2005, in London, just as the G8 summit was starting in Gleneagles to the north. The leaders of rising powers, such as India’s Manmohan Singh, know firsthand from home how terrorists can strike anyone, anywhere, and how valuable the G8 is in reducing this evil in the world. These rising global leaders have now joined their G8 colleagues as equals in a new club — the Group of Twenty summit that arose in November 2008. Faced with a severe financial crisis, the G20 leaders have stuck to their economic agenda. But the G20 still acted against terrorist finance from money laundering, provided the stage for U.S. president Barack Obama and his key allies to warn Iran about its nuclear proliferation and lately supported the human security of those in earthquake-devastated Haiti, where Canadian security forces have long been involved. When the G20 leaders hold their fourth summit in Toronto next June 26-27, they will want to act on their ambitious economic agenda in ways that support their larger political-security goals. They may also be tempted to take up security subjects more directly in the years ahead. But for now, the G8 is the security club that counts. When the G8 leaders gather in Huntsville, Muskoka, on June 25-26, they will take up several tough tasks, following their foreign ministers meeting in Gatineau this week. They will seek to control nuclear proliferation and produce real disarmament, to develop a conflict-ridden Afghanistan and secure its borders with a fragile Pakistan, and to stop terrorism, crime, drug trafficking and human smuggling in many other states, including those in Canada’s hemispheric home. Their power and talents are equal to such formidable challenges — if they can find a way, as did their predecessors, to act together in response. John Kirton is director of the G8 Research Group and co-director of the G20 Research Group based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at Trinity College in the University of Toronto. The 2009 L’Aquila G8 Summit Interim Compliance Report is available at www.g8.utoronto.ca. We can make real contribution in Congo mission March 31, 2010 /www.ottawacitizen.com/The Ottawa Citizen Re: Forces angle to lead Congo mission, March 29. Such a deployment of a significant number of Canadian Forces to the UN Mission in the Congo would have the resounding support of many Canadians. Our own research, and recent polls, reflects a continuing commitment to peacekeeping — even while it is our understanding — and the public’s understanding — that peacekeeping is much more complex than when we “invented” the concept in 1956. As this article notes, one of Canada’s and NATO’s priorities in Afghanistan has been to reform and train security services. These are exactly the priorities — and expertise needed — by the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). Peacekeeping today is likely to include the management of conflicts within states, conflict prevention; peace enforcement and the broader challenges of peace-building. Certainly, Canada has the credentials, enhanced through the commitment of blood and treasure in Afghanistan, to make a real contribution in the Congo, and through the United Nations. In 2009, the UN deployed more forces than at any other time in its history (97,569) — in 15 UN-led missions — 72,000 in Africa. At this time of unprecedented demand, meanwhile, Canada has fallen from being the single largest contributor of troops to 56th position today, with 57 UN peacekeepers deployed. Right now we have more police deployed than blue helmets. The United Nations Association in Canada, with members from coast to coast to coast, would encourage Canadians and the Canadian government to look very positively on this opportunity, as a new post-Afghanistan focus and priorities for our Canadian Forces are being determined. Kathryn White, Ottawa Executive director, United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) AUSTRALIA :
S. Africa builds its case for mega-telescope contract March 31/ (AFP) THE KAROO, South Africa,
Driving the dirt road to the Karoo Array Telescope site, the FM radio searches in vain for a frequency it can catch, scanning the dial bottom to top and back again. This very quiet corner of South Africa’s sparsely populated Northern Cape province seems an unlikely place to build such an instrument, but its silence is precisely what makes the Karoo an attractive site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project. Scientists hope the SKA, a massive new radio telescope linking 3,000 antenna dishes, will shed new light on fundamental questions about the universe, including how it began, why it’s expanding and whether it contains life beyond our planet. To do that, the SKA will need a quiet radio spectrum, clear skies, high altitude and low seismic activity, according to Albert van Jaarsveld, president of the South African National Research Foundation, which is helping mount the country’s bid to build the ultra-powerful new telescope. “The remoteness of this location is its strength and not its weakness,” Van Jaarsveld told journalists Tuesday on a visit to the proposed site. South Africa is competing with Australia to win the contract for the SKA, a multi-billion dollar instrument that will be 50 times more sensitive than today’s most powerful radio telescopes. The countries are the last two candidates in a five-year competition that has seen an international steering committee narrow the field from five proposals to two. South Africa, which plans to spend 234 million rands (31.6 million dollars/23.4 million euros) on the project by 2015, has built seven antenna dishes and recently linked two of them together, the first time a multi-receptor radio telescope has been tested, officials said Tuesday. Van Jaarsveld said the test puts South Africa ahead of Australia in the race for the SKA. If South Africa wins the bidding, engineers will connect antennas in the arid Karoo region by remote link to a network of dishes stretching across southern and eastern Africa and as far away as Ghana. Australia’s bid puts the core site at Mileura station, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Meekathara in western Australia. Other antennas would be distributed across Australia and New Zealand. The SKA steering committee, which represents a consortium of 17 countries involved in the project, is expected to make its final decision in 2012. Scientists hope when the SKA is complete — sometime around 2021 — it will pick up radio waves emitted by the first stars and galaxies to emerge from the “Big Bang” that created the universe. It will also trace the effects of the so-called dark energy that is driving the universe apart and hunt for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. South African officials hope the project will help make the country a hub of scientific activity and reverse the “brain drain” that has seen Africa lose much of its top scientific talent to the rest of the world. “If we succeed in bringing the SKA to Africa, it will be a major catalyst for the development of science and technology on our continent,” said Science Minister Naledi Pandor. “I can tell you from speaking to scientists and academics regularly that unless we have the facilities that make the study of science attractive, we will not keep scientists in our country,” she said. “Through this project, what we’ve begun to do is reverse the brain drain.” EUROPE :
France caught between rock and hard surface over Mugabe invitation 31 March, 2010/ www.thezimbabwemail.com HARARE – PARIS has found itself in a quandary over its hosting of the France-Africa Summit because it does not want to offend fellow EU members by inviting ZImbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe. This publication has it on good authority that Britain, Holland and Germany are pressuring France not to invite Mugabe they accuse of gross human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Elysee Palace — the seat of the French government — has already succumbed to pressure not to invite Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir. The summit had to be moved from Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak said he would not host it if his Sudanese counterpart was not present. Yesterday, Charge d’Affaires at the French Embassy in Harare Mr Dietmar Peprausch said he could not yet comment on President Mugabe’s participation at the summit. “It is unfortunately too soon to answer to these questions. The invitations for the summit have not yet been sent out.” However, Reuters has reported that invitations have started being sent out with Sudan already receiving such a letter for the May 31 to June 1 meeting in Nice. President Nicolas Sarkozy recently invited President al-Bashir to send a representative in his stead. Mr Petrausch responded: “To be more exact, it is not an invitation that President Sarkozy sent to President al-Bashir, but a mere letter to ask him to designate a representative. “Once we have the name of this representative, we will formally invite him. “As you know, President al-Bashir is a particular case as he is indicted before the ICC, which is not the case with President Mugabe. “There are still many other countries for which we did not send the invitations.” Yesterday, diplomatic sources said: “France is still considering what position to take on Zimbabwe. “They want to go by the African Union position as much as possible and this means inviting President Mugabe. “That is why they have decided not to invite Niger and Madagascar because the AU does not recognise the governments in those countries. “They have been targeting certain countries to find a way of assuaging them in the event that Zimbabwe is not invited. “They have offered President (Hifikepunye) Pohamba and President (Jacob) Zuma State visits in exchange for their silence on the matter.” Another diplomatic source said: “On the last France-Africa Summit, the French position was determined by the majority EU position. “This time around the rules, so to speak, have changed and they are proceeding by way of consensus. “So this means if Britain and company can present a compelling case then Zimbabwe will not be invited and vice versa if they can’t. “But if the case against Zimbabwe was weak for the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal, it is even weaker now. In 2007, Zimbabwe rejected a conditional invite to the France-Africa Summit in Cannes. The French at that time sent former Mozambique president Joachim Chissano with an invitation for President Mugabe. They wanted him to persuade President Mugabe to decline the invite and instead delegate a representative. Zimbabwe attended France-Africa summits in 2003 and 2005 as a courtesy. In 2003, France invited President Mugabe despite Britain’s insistence not to. In 2007, Portugal invited President Mugabe to the EU-Africa Summit, prompting British Premier Gordon Brown to boycott that meeting. CHINA :
Experts: academic exchanges conducive to China-Africa co-op English.news.cn/ 2010-03-31 BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) — Experts said Tuesday that cultural and academic exchanges between China and Africa are conducive to the development of cooperation. Joao Manuel Bernardo, Angola’s ambassador to China and acting dean of the African diplomatic corps, said Africa and China were on the right track for better understanding between their peoples and the sharing of development experience with the launch of the China-Africa joint research and exchange program. The launch ceremony of the program was held in Beijing Tuesday, with about 100 diplomats and scholars from China and African countries present. As part of the eight new measures announced by the Chinese government at the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Egypt in November last year, the program, aimed at expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges, will enable scholars and think tanks to increase exchanges and cooperation, share development experience, and provide intellectual support for improving cooperation policies. It would cover domestic and international seminars on China-Africa cooperation, joint monographic studies and research, and the publication of works on China-Africa relations. A board of government officials and scholars is expected to head the implementation of the program. China’s ambassador on FOCAC affairs, Qiu Bohua, said Chinese and African scholars could work together for detailed planning and suggestions on sustainable development of cooperation under the program. Executive vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Wang Weiguang said China-Africa cultural and academic exchanges, which could eliminate misunderstandings caused by cultural and language differences, were essential to the healthy and comprehensive development of China-Africa relations. Wang raised a proposal on cooperation between Chinese and African think tanks and scholars, which included facilitating visits, convening seminars and publishing joint studies, to recruit more African students and invite African scholars to teach at the CASS. Lesotho’s Ambassador to China, Anthony Rachobokoane Thibeli, said, the implementation of the program would allow the African and Chinese people to communicate more openly and pave the way for cooperation. “I really appreciate it and believe the program will bear fruitful results,” he said. Editor: Li Xianzhi China, S Africa agree to boost ties, co-op against climate change March 31/english.peopledaily.com.cn China and South Africa have agreed to boost bilateral relations and cement their cooperation against climate change. This unswerving stance was reached during Tuesday’s talks between top Chinese political advisor Jia Qinglin and South African President Jacob Zuma. Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top advisory body, was making an official visit to South Africa at the invitation of the National Council of Provinces of South Africa. South Africa was the last leg of Jia’s ten-day African tour which already took him to Cameroon and Namibia. During the talks, Jia reviewed the growth of China-South Africa relationship since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1998, highlighting frequent visits, stronger political trust and enhanced economic cooperation. China has become South Africa’s biggest trade partner and exporter as bilateral trade volume hit a historic high of more than 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 despite the international financial crisis, according to the Chinese Customs. Of African nations, South Africa draws the biggest number of Chinese tourists and students who pursued higher education in the country at the southern tip of Africa. As developing nations, China and South Africa shared the same task of developing economy and improving livelihood, said Jia. He proposed the two countries work more closely in increasing strategic trust, deepening economic cooperation and expanding people-to-people exchanges. On climate change, he said China and Africa should step up their cooperation to tackle the challenge in a bid to ensure the common interests of developing countries. For his part, Zuma said Jia’s visit was of great significance to boost bilateral relationship and called on both sides to take the opportunity of the visit to expand substantial cooperation and bring bilateral strategic partnership to a new high. Zuma spoke highly of China’s efforts to deal with climate change, saying that China played an important role in producing the positive outcome from the Copenhagen climate change conference last December. The South African president expected his country, China and other developing countries to increase communication and coordination so as to make the upcoming international climate change conference in Mexico yield results in favor of developing countries. Zuma appreciated China’s selfless help and generous support to African people in their pursuit of national justice and country development. Jia started his visit to South Africa from the country’s resort city of Cape Town on Sunday. In Cape Town, Jia held talks with Mninwa Mahlangu, chairman of the National Council of Provinces of South Africa. The two leaders agreed on furthering the exchanges between the CPPCC and the National Council of Provinces of South Africa. Source: Xinhua INDIA :
Zain African Sale Profit Is $3.3 Billion After Debt Payments March 31 (Bloomberg) — Zain, Kuwait’s biggest mobile phone company, expects a profit of $3.3 billion from the sale of its African assets after settling debt and provisions. The gain expected to be reflected in Zain’s second-quarter financial statement, according to a company statement to the Kuwait bourse today. Bharti Airtel Ltd. of India yesterday agreed to buy the African assets of Zain, also known as Mobile Telecommunications Co., for $9 billion in cash. Bharti will also assume $1.7 billion of Zain’s debt as part of the deal. Sensex consolidates; RIL, Hindalco, HUL dip At 10:18 hours IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was consolidating at current levels. Buying in technology, power, realty, auto, capital goods, pharma and select cement stocks was supporting the markets. Bharti Airtel, ONGC, HDFC Bank, HDFC, SBI and Reliance Communications were the other gainers. Bharti Airtel gained further; was up 1.8%, it has inked a definitive agreement to buy Zain Africa. The Indian telecom major will become the world’s 5th largest wireless company post the Zain buy. The enterprise value of Zain Africa BV is USD 10.7 billion. Technology stocks were seeing buying interest. Infosys and Wipro went up 0.8% each. TCS rose 0.3%. However, selling in Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel, Hindalco, HUL, Axis Bank, PNB, BPCL, Tata Steel, ITC, Idea and Grasim wiped out some of the early gains. The Sensex was trading at 17630, up 40 points and the Nifty was at 5270, up 7.7 points. The Nifty April future was trading with 8 points premium. On the global front, Asian markets were marginally weak. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Jakarta, Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan fell 0.1-0.6% while Nikkei gained 0.3%. The broader indices were outperforming the benchmark indices; the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.4% and the Smallcap was up 0.8%. About 1749 shares advanced while 1087 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 392 shares were unchanged. In the midcap space, Sun Pharma Advanced, LIC Housing Finance, Havells India, J&K Bank and Essar Shipping were up 3-5% while MVL, Gujarat NRE Coke, Polaris, Financial Tech and Dishman Pharma fell 1.7-8.5%. In the smallcap space, Rollatainers was locked at 10% upper circuit. Mukand, Smartlink Network, Finolex Industries and Shrenuj went up 6.7-9%. However, Subhkam Capital, Swaraj Mazda, Ruchinfra, Heritage Foods and Prraneta Industries lost 2.5-5%. Nifty bounces back; Infy, Bharti, ICICI Bank gain At 9:02 hours IST, the Nifty was trading at 5278, up 16 points and the Sensex was at 17649, up 59 points. The CNX Midcap went up 38 points to 7707. About 550 shares advanced while 150 shares declined on the NSE. Among the frontliners, DLF, Hero Honda, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, TCS, M&M, Jaiprakash Associates, Unitech, Jindal Steel & Power and SBI were the gainers. Bharti Airtel has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Zain Africa. The enterprise value of Zain Africa BV is USD 10.7 billion, Bharti said in a press release. The Indian telecom major will become the world’s 5th largest wireless company post the Zain buy. The stock rose over 1%. However, HDFC, ONGC, Tata Power, ITC and HDFC Bank were the losers in the early trade. Midcap & Smallcap Space: NMDC gained 1.5% and was near to Rs 300 level, after seeing sell-off in the last few days. 3i Infotech gained 2.5%, as its QIP book opened. The deal size is Rs 120-180 crore and floor price fixed Rs 78.60/share. Valecha Engineering rallied 5%. SREI Infra gained 1%. Chola DBS was up 4%, as Murugappa group will buy over 37.48% stake in company at Rs 91/share. However, recently listed ITNL lost 0.5% on profit booking. Global cues: Asian markets were mixed in trade. Shanghai, Jakarta and Straits Times fell 0.3-0.5% while Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 0.2-0.3%. Kospi and Taiwan were flat. The US markets ended flat amid better-than-expected consumer confidence report. The US dollar made a move up from negative territory to finish with a 0.3% gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 11.5 points at 10907. The Nasdaq was up 6 points at 2411 and S&P 500 closed flat at 1173. Commodities CRB Commodities Index gained 0.3%. May Crude oil was up 0.2% at USD 82.37/bbl. April gold was down 0.5% at USD 1104.5/ounce. May silver fell 0.3% at USD 17.33/ounce. May natural gas was up 1.5% at USD 3.98 per MMBtu, has been recovering from 6-month low at USD 3.85. Natural gas fell 36% since early January. Market cues: FIIs were net buyers of USD 229 million in equities on March 29 Total F&O Open Int was up by Rs 2100 crore to Rs 91934 crore As per provisional data of March 30, FIIs were net buyers of Rs 580 crore; DIIs were net buyers of Rs 100 crore in cash markets. FIIs were net sellers of Rs 69 crore in F&O. F&O cues: -Total Futures Open Int was down by Rs 453 crore Reliance to tighten grip on world fuel markets NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – India’s top privately run refiner Reliance is expected to raise crude oil imports by about 22 percent this year as it ramps up production at its giant complex, further stamping its mark on world markets. To maximise profit margins with its sophisticated refining capability, Reliance Industries is also set to limit African crude imports this year in favour of Middle East grades, if light crude prices continue to strengthen against heavy-sour grades, traders and analysts said. “I expect Reliance refineries to run at full steam, even if in between there is a small shutdown, they can easily run at about 65 million tonnes,” said a trader familiar with refining operations. Reliance declined comment on traders’ estimates. This means that the company’s two refineries — the largest facility in the world — will run above their full combined capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd), higher than last year when its second plant began operating at full rate in the second half. After the world first saw increasing flows from Reliance in the summer of 2008, with the start of its new 580,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) plant, this year will see the full blast of exports of high-value diesel and gasoline made from a diverse slate of the cheapest available crudes. This will put pressure on weak Western refineries and arbitrage traders at a time oil demand is just starting to pick up, but is still in defensive mode, analysts said. “It’s a powerful refinery, and if they get the right logistics, they can probably penetrate Western markets, gain market share and push some out of the market entirely,” said John Vautrain, senior vice president of Purvin & Gertz Inc. DIVERSITY OF CRUDE The refiner’s 2009 crude shipments from Africa including Egypt and Sudan rose more than fivefold to over 200,000 bpd, making the continent its No. 2 supplier, overtaking Latin America. This is in line with a 74 percent jump in total imports. It bought crudes as varied as Cameroon’s Lokele, Chad’s Doba, Venezuela’s Corocoro, and China’s Penglai, while resuming Iraqi crude imports that it shunned in 2006. Reliance for the first time imported Gimboa crude from Angola, which positioned itself as the fourth-biggest supplier, surpassing Venezuela. It also took crude from Gabon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Colombia, Ecuador, Syria and Yemen into its roaster. Though Middle East crude remains Reliance’s main staple, OPEC supply cuts in end-2008 — around the time the refiner started its new plant — prompted it to turn to African crude to make up for the gap when Gulf grades became costlier last year. This was made possible after the Brent-Dubai price spread, an approximation of the premium at which Atlantic basin light-sweet crude trades to Gulf heavy-sour grades, reversed into steep discounts three times last year, making some West African crudes cheaper, traders said. The structure has returned to normal this year. The front-month Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for May rose to $2.50 a barrel on March 18, the highest since OPEC producers began record supply curbs. Though the EFS has since eased to about $1.68, its premium continues to make Middle East crude attractive to Indian refiners, traders said. “I believe they will definitely try to process more Middle East heavy crude because we do not expect light-heavy differentials to maintain at these levels,” said Sushant Gupta, a senior analyst with energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “They are expected to widen from current levels and Reliance will go back to its old strategy of processing heavier crudes and discounted crude so that they can get the advantage of complexity of their refineries,” he said, adding that Reliance might also be buying some of the lighter grades to blend with heavy crudes. MIDEAST CRUDE REGAINS LOST GROUND Last year the share of Middle East crude in relation to Reliance’s overall imports declined to 63.3 percent from 75.3 percent in 2008, though overall shipments from the Gulf rose almost 46 percent. “If everything remains as it is, Reliance’s imports from the Middle East will be slightly higher than last year, and its dependence on tough Latin Amrican crude is also likely to grow, limiting the African imports to about 15 percent of total crude intake,” the trading source said. At a time of slow global demand during the deepest recession of the postwar era, Reliance still managed to obtain refining margins of $5.90 a barrel in the December quarter of fiscal 2009, as it diversified its crude sources and markets for its products. Though these almost halved the year-earlier levels, they exceeded market estimates and outperformed average Asian complex refining margins of $3.50 over the past year, and Reliance’s chief financial officer said the firm expected better refining margins in 2010. Analysts also forecast margins to improve this year on the rebounding global economy, which is expected to stir moribund fuel demand, and on Reliance’s ability to capitalise on its crude processing flexibility. Traders and analysts estimate Reliance’s margins to range between $7 and $10 a barrel, as its new export-focused plant can produce premium fuels to meet tighter Western standards. Reliance has already stepped up fuel exports to Africa, the Middle East and Asia, while venturing further into the United States. The focus on developing countries is crucial as the International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised forecasts for global oil demand based on growth in emerging markets, even as demand in Europe will weaken. “What benefits the refinery the most is when it runs heavy, sour, cheap low-quality crude and produces almost nothing but gasoline, jet fuel and diesel,” Vautrain said. “This is a year when Reliance will make good progress because the market is not in freefall anymore, now it is somewhat easier. Having low freight rates is favourable to them.” (Editing by Ramthan Hussain) Ericsson Gets US$1.3 Bln Network Contract From Bharti Airtel – Update 3/31/2010 /(RTTNews) The contract will enable Airtel, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, to put in place a converged network and expanded coverage in rural India, and gives enhanced voice quality and faster data access to its customers. Ericsson said that it will supply its industry-leading portfolio of energy efficient 2G/2.5G radio base stations, circuit and packet core, microwave transmission and Intelligent Network. The company will also ensure that Bharti Airtel’s core and transport network is 3G-ready in order to reduce time to market and enable the fast rollout of 3G services at a later date. According to the company, the expansion covers introduction of some of the latest technologies within the wireless world which will bring better quality voice to end users, support more users in using one base station, enhanced data rates using Evolved EDGE technology and other new services. Ericsson is the largest telecom network supplier supplying mobile, wire line, DTH, device management and variety of services such as prepaid to Airtel. Sanjay Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer- India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, said, “The extension of our fifteen years association with Ericsson is testimony to the strength of the relationship as well as the success of the model. We continue to be delighted with Ericsson’s expertise in network expansion and transformation, helping us to reduce operating expenditures and enhance network quality.” Bharti Airtel on Tuesday had said that it has entered into a legally binding definitive agreement with Zain Group to acquire Zain Africa BV based on an enterprise valuation of US$10.7 billion. Under the deal, Bharti will acquire Zain’s African mobile services operations in 15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 million. The acquisition will increase Bharti’s total customer base to around 179 million in 18 countries. Bharti launched mobile services in India in 1995, Sri Lanka in 2009 and acquired Warid in Bangladesh in January 2010. ERIC closed Tuesday’s regular trading session at $10.23, down $0.12 or 1.16%. BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 31 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,31/03/2010 |
BURUNDI – AFRICA / INTERNATIONAL : 31 MARS 2010 [France caught between rock and hard surface over Mugabe invitation]
