{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 27 juillet 2010 — The African Union on Monday condemned the exeuction of a French hostage held by Al Qaeda in Mali.

BURUNDI :

Boycott Cedes Power To Burundi’s Ruling Party
Zack Baddorf/IPS/Jul 27

BUJUMBURA, Jul 26 (IPS) – The coalition of 11 major opposition parties which boycotted July 23 national assembly elections will also boycott elections to the senate on July 28. The Alliance of Democrats for Change, as the coalition is known, claims that two previous polls – to elect Burundi’s district administrators and the president – were characterised by “massive fraud”.

The Assembly of Democrats for Development of Burundi is one of the opposition parties boycotting the elections. The party’s president, Jean de Dieu Mutabazi, told IPS during the earlier ballots, the voting system did not allow opposition observers to verify the number of votes cast for each party. 

Mutabazi told IPS the opposition parties wanted to discuss improving the process, but Burundi’s Independent National Election Commission (known by its French acronym, CENI) refused. 

“Without CENI agreeing to sit down with us and change rules, we decided not to run because we basically expected to be humiliated. We didn’t want to take the chance to be humiliated by running in those elections,” said Mutabazi. 

A new verification process put in place to confirm the ballots cast for the national assembly, did not satisfy the opposition coalition. 

No fraud – electoral commission 

Gabriel Sungura, the vice president of CENI who supervised the voting in Bujumbura, rejected the allegations of fraud – as have international observers of the polls. 

“There hasn’t been any fraud that people could prove one way or the other. Sure, there have been some small irregularities, which is normal in any election whether you’re in the developed world or not,” he told IPS outside of a polling station in the capital Burundi on election day. “No fraud whatsoever.” 

Sungara said political parties have an obligation to take part in the elections. “We are now a democratic country and we expect those political parties to actually come and participate in the electoral process.” 

Ezéchiel Nibigira, the chair of the ruling party’s youth league, said the opposition parties know they can’t win. “For them to quit, you know, it’s normal. They know that they have been beaten.” 

“In order to campaign, you need a lot of means, you need a lot of money, you spend a lot of strength,” Nibigira continued. “So they expired themselves in using a lot of strength and spending so much money.” 

Some voters told IPS they didn’t vote because they don’t trust the political system. 

Elias Vyamongo, a 35-year-old accountant, didn’t go to the polls Friday. “If you see the way the elections have been conducted, the results are known in advance. So it’s not necessary for me to go vote.” 

Claver Karakura, a 42-year-old engineer in Bujumbura, did cast his ballot. 

“I think (the opposition parties) have their reasons to boycott the vote, but for me as a citizen, I have accomplished my job. I know it’s my right to vote and I want[ed] to express my opinion,” said Karakura. 

Yet Karakura said he already knew the results for the Friday vote. “I know that the ruling party will win, for sure,” he told IPS in downtown Bujumbura. 

Opposition calls for dialogue 

Despite boycotting the elections, the opposition parties hope to have a place in the government eventually announced by the leader of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy party (known by its French acronym, CNDD-FDD). 

“I would expect the government to actually give to the opposition some representation with administrative responsibilities,” Mutabazi explained. “We won’t be getting any type of seats in the parliament, but it would make sense for us to have responsibility in the government.” 

Mutabazi added that he expects the CNDD-FDD to guarantee the safety and freedom of speech of all political actors. He claimed the ruling party has been persecuting opposition politicians, further undermining the credibility of elections. 

Mutabazi told IPS that the coalition spokesperson, Leonard Nyangoma, went into hiding before the July 23 vote after a warrant was issued for his arrest. 

According to the official website of Nyangoma’s party, the opposition CNDD, he is being sought after signing a press release accusing the army of perpetrating a “massacre” of opposition supporters on July 10 in the Rubiza area just north of the capital Bujumbura, resulting in “several” deaths. The statement also alleges “mass” arrests and called for an independent international inquiry. 

“Instead of voicing its disagreement, our Ministry of Defense decided to press charges,” Mutabazi told IPS. 

“We would have expected [the government] to actually use proper channels and make a statement to the press. Instead they decided to use legal means to basically shut us up. And we have every reason to be afraid since they actually control the military, the police and the entire legal system.” 

The army has called the allegations slanderous. 

Nyangoma has been in hiding since Jul. 20; that one leading opposition candidate for president, Agathon Rwasa of the National Liberation Forces party, also went underground in June, indicates the extent of opposition fears for their safety. 

The series of elections now under way are considered an important test of the country’s stability following a 13-year civil war which ended in 2006. The war killed as many as 300,000 people, and the last armed group only formally laid down its weapons in April 2009. 

Security remains tight in Burundi. The Somali militant group al-Shabaab – which claimed responsibility for the Jul. 11 bombings that killed 76 people in Uganda – also threatened to attack Burundi because the country has several thousand troops in Somalia as part of the African Union mission there. 

“The population will never, will never, allow anybody to destroy this peace we are having today,” said Nibigira. “We need peace. We know the past period of war. We know how people have suffered so much. As far as we are concerned we don’t want to go back in that war.” 

On Jul. 28, Burundi will vote candidates into the Senate; the series of elections will end with voting for village-level representatives on Sep. 7. 

(END/2010)

RWANDA

Uganda Deports Rwandan Refugees
Natasha G./www.care2.com/27072010

On July 14 and 15, Ugandan police rounded up 1,700 Rwandan refugees and deported them back to Rwanda. 

The police reportedly tricked the refugees, telling them they would distribute food and give them notice about their asylum appeals. Instead, they held them at gunpoint and forced them into trucks. Twenty-five people were injured from gunshots, and two people died after jumping off the trucks. In addition, some children were separated from their parents. 

These outrageous acts are in violation of a number of accords and laws. The government is in violation of its own Citizenship and Immigration Act, which “outlines the due processes by which failed asylum seekers who have exhausted their right of appeal should be deported.” By separating children from their families, the government is also in violation of the Children’s Statute and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Many Rwandans fled to neighboring Uganda during the 1994 genocide, while others have fled in the last couple of years due to persecution. While some Rwandans have legal refugee status, the Ugandan government has rejected about 98 percent of asylum applications this year. Still, an estimated 15,000 Rwandans reside in Uganda. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports both that the Ugandan and Rwandan governments coordinated the mass deportations. Human Rights Watch claims that this is not the first time that the Rwandan government has pressured another country to deport refugees. Besides Uganda, the Tanzanian and Burundian governments have also deported refugees.

UGANDA

Uganda: How Police Recovered Kidnapped Boy
Andrew Bagala/The Monitor/27 July 2010

Kampala — The ordeal of four-year-old King Lubowa, son to Engineer Patrick and Beatrice Kirumira Lubowa lasted at least 30 hours. King Lubowa on Saturday became the second child in less than two months to be stealthily taken from his parents’ home by an unsuspicious lookind maid only to turn into a kidnap for ransom case. The price tag on his head, communicated vide a note left in a microwave was a high Shs200 million.

A similar case involving one-and-a-half-year-old Kham Kakama, son to Sven and Naome Karekaho in June ended tragically after the kidnappers killed the baby and also took the Shs30 million the parents reportedly paid as a ransom for his release.

Lubowa was lucky and survived after police with the help of information from parents acted fast drawing rings around the suspects and arresting them in a dramatic swoop executed between 3pm on Saturday and about 10:30pm on Sunday. Details of the arrest executed by the police anti-Terrorism squad read like a script of a Hollywood movie.

Phone traffic

Tracking of telephone conversations of the suspects, who tried to elude the police by giving wrong information about their actual location, picking print outs from the telephone service providers to narrow down on the actual locations and sms messages possibly naively sent demanding that the money be dropped at given locations, helped narrow the search.

While the principle suspect at one time claimed to be in Bukoto and a police squad was dispatched there, her phone was tracked to Makindye. The search at one time sent the police to the Daily Monitor offices in Namuwongo to question someone they thought was a suspect only to realise they had misdialed a number. They later ended in Makidye’s Lukuli-Nanganda zone where the suspects were hiding in a one-roomed tenement commonly known as a Muzigo.

The arrest

The area was ringed off by plain cloth and uniformed police late Sunday evening after police said it had established with certainty that much of the telephone traffic of the suspects was moving to that direction, confirming that the object of principle interest–the baby was there.

“We did badly in the case of the other child and lost him, we don’t want to repeat the same, we want at least to save this one,” a senior police officer, key to the rescue effort, told Daily Monitor on Sunday night. “We are closing in,” the officer who declined to be named said at about 7pm. About 10:50pm, another officer told this newspaper the search had ended successfully and the baby was safe.

The grandson to Kampala tycoon Godfrey Kirumira, Lubowa, was taken from the family home in Muyenga on Saturday afternoon. None of the parents was home at the time save for a granny who did not suspect anything would go wrong since the maid and the kid went along well.

But on returning home, the father asked about his son only to be told he had been taken by the maid. Shortly after leaving home content that the maid would return, Lubowa received a phone call from his grandmother that said a man had called to say the baby had been kidnapped and details were in a note in the microwave.

Relief

It is then that reality struck: the child was not just on a stroll with the maid but had been taken and a price tag put on his head. Frantic calls to the father in law, Mr Kirumira who in turn called Police chief Kale Kayihura, jerked Mr Abbas Byakagaba, the head of the police anti terror unit, into action. A visibly healthy looking Lubowa was handed back to his smiling parents at a press conference addressed by Maj. Gen. Kayihura yesterday morning.

Uganda: Police Arrest Woman Over Twin Bombings
Andrew Bagala/The Monitor/27 July 2010

Kampala — Police have arrested another suspect in connection to the July 11 bombings in Lugogo and Kabalagala. An Eritrean woman is suspected to be a fiancée to one of the alleged suicide bombers of Kyadondo Rugby Club is in police custody.

However, Police yesterday said they had zeroed in on 21 suspects in the bombing that left over 76 people dead.

Security sources said they are holding 30 suspects on terrorism charges but 21 suspects are directly linked to July 11 bombings and al Shabaab terrorists who carried out the attacks.

The police chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, said the woman would help with investigations. The arrest of the woman comes after the public gave leads to the two males whose bodies weren’t claimed after the bombs. Police say the arrest will also help them dig deeper in the underground works of the terrorist groups. The new development means that suspects under custody have reduced from 50 to 30.

Gen. Kayihura also said the remaining suspects in custody are linked to other terrorist groups and they have been under the scrutiny of different intelligence organs. Most of the 21 suspects were arrested in the eastern part of the country and intelligence reports indicate that they have been communicating using different electronic media.

Police say the suspects have provided “very useful” information that links them to al Shabaab, a Somali militant group. Intelligence agencies also suspect the group brought into the country more than six bombs.

“Ali Issa Ssenkumba told us that he brought six bombs. So far three went off, one was found and the other two are yet to be found,” Gen. Kayihura said. He said all international intelligence organisations that have talked to Ssenkumba say his information about what he found in the terrorist camps in Somalia correlates with what they had gathered before.

However Mr Jamil Kiyemba, who was earlier linked to the Al-Qaeda, was released. Police said he wasn’t connected to any terrorist attacks and was only summoned after false press reports that he was linked to the recent attacks.

Uganda: MPs Want Libyan Leader to Pay Shs2.6 Billion
Ismail Musa Ladu/The Monitor/27 July 2010

Kampala — Members on the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee want the Libyan Leader to fulfil his promise to pay about Shs2.6 billion used in feeding and accommodating Afro-Arab youth conference delegates in Kampala in 2008. Col. Muammar Gadaffi is currently attending the 15th AU Summit in Kampala.

This became apparent yesterday after the accounting officer in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social development, Ms Christine Guwatudde, disclosed to the committee that despite her repeated letters on the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nothing has since come to fruition.

The letters were supposed to remind the Libyan leader about his obligation to pay the money that the government used to clear bills at the Commonwealth Speke Resort, Munyonyo after he personally asked that the conference be extended so he could address it.

Gadaffi’s request

“Our Brother Gadaffi is here and it’s important that he is reminded to fulfil his commitment-to pay the outstanding bills that government incurred on his behalf,” the Chairman of the committee, Mr Nandala Mafabi said.

Ms Gawatudde told the committee that the money was accrued after the conference was extended by four more days on the request of the Libyan leader who committed to foot any extra costs for the additional days.

The youth conference had been planned for only seven days but on Col.Gadaffi’s request it was pushed to 11 days. “We have a commitment (from Col. Gadaffi) that he will pay and have also written several letters about this matter but nothing has been forthcoming,” Ms Gawatudde said. The Libyan Ambassador, Mr Abdalla Bujeldain, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Uganda: African leaders tasked on declining HIV-AIDS funds
Pana /27/07/2010

African leaders tasked on declining HIV-AIDS funds – African leaders should make a declaration calling for increased funding for HIV/AIDS fight in Africa, following the decline of global funds to fight the disease, heads of UN organizations tasked with the global war against the disease said here Monday.

‘We expect at least a two-paragraph declaration calling for the replenishment of funds for the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis,’ said Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund.

Speaking on the sidelines of an African Union heads of state summit in Kampala, to discuss the prevention of the deaths of mothers and their children at birth, the Global Fund chief and the Head of the Joint UN Programme for HIV/AIDS, Michel Sidibe, expressed fears over the funding cuts.

‘It is the first time we are experiencing the decline in HIV/AIDS. The gap is huge, from US$26 billion to US$16 billion mobilized this year. We need an extra US$10 billion every year to finance the care,’ Sidibe told jou rnalists.

The two officials warned that failure to tackle the declining funding for the HIV/AIDS financing could lead to disastrous consequences, especially for African countries which have made progress in the fight.

‘It could be changed. We are moving from the financial crisis into the post-austerity. The European Union are facing budget issues, but if the donors fix the issues, they will come back,’ Sidibe said.

Jeffrey Sachs, a respected sustainable development expert and a senior Adviser to the UN chief on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), singled out the US for lacking the drive and enthusiasm to fight HIV.

‘It strikes me as hard to understand that they cannot increase their funding to HIV/AIDS through the Global Fund when bankers walk away with US$30 billion bonuses untaxed,’ he said.

‘It is even harder when they spend US$100 billion to fund the war in Afghanistan, when they say they find no money for HIV/AIDS funding,’ Sachs added.

The UNAIDS chief said with the decline in the funding of HIV/AIDS, Africa was at risk of an increment in the number of HIV/AIDS infections.

Kampala

TANZANIA:

Allow rice exports to tame glut and enrich farmers
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 /thecitizen.co.tz 

There is good news emanating from one of the areas that are famous for growing paddy. Farmers in Moshi District, have produced so much rice that they cannot find a market for the surplus!
Production of rice in the area has doubled, from an average of three tons per hectares a few years back to six. Over the same period, there has also been an increase in area of land under cultivation at the Lower Moshi Rice Project, from 300ha to l,600ha presently.

Besides Moshi, there is Mbeya, where production of rice at the Kapunga Rice Irrigation Farms Project has increased from 284 tons in the 2005/06 harvesting season to 2,115 tons in 2008/09. That is an increase by a whopping 644.72 per cent. Indicators show that production will increase four-fold to reach 8,500 tons this harvesting season.

The success stories of the two rice projects is in keeping with the emphasis placed on irrigation farming in the government’s Kilimo Kwanza (Agriculture First) drive.
But then, there is a paradox in this scenario. Why, while farmers in the Moshi are now lamenting over the lack of a market for their rice, there are times when this country has had to import foodstuff, including rice, to plug shortage facing various areas. 

The success of the two projects is a clear indication that the government’s emphasis on irrigation farming is sure to bring about bountiful food production. 
We suggest that in situations such as that obtaining in Moshi, the government should allow – and facilitate – the export of surplus food as requested by the rice farmers.

Rice, Tanzania’s most important staple after ugali, is certain to find a ready market in Kenya where it is also a popular food, as well as other East African countries. This would, in any case, augur well with the spirit of EA Common Market that is meant to allow free movement of goods within the regional bloc, not to mention of increase in Tanzanian farmers’ incomes.

Atomic sees Tanzania starting coal exports in 2012
By: Esmarie Swanepoel/Edited by: Mariaan Webb/miningweekly.com/27th July 2010 

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Tanzania-focused Atomic Resources expects to produce its first thermal coal at the Ngaka project by the end of August, the Australian company reported on Tuesday.

MD Clinton Cain told Mining Weekly Online in Perth that bulk sampling at the project was currently under way, which would allow first 1 000 t product sales by the end of August.

The Ngaka mine would be developed in three stages, with the first stage production expected to supply local demand. Cain noted that current demand in Tanzania leveled at around 250 000 t/y, however, this was estimated to rise to around 500 000 t/y within the short-term.

Currently, Tanzania imports its entire coal supply, but Atomic Resources has estimated that the Ngaka project would make the country self sufficient by 2011, and turn it into an export market by 2012.

The second phase of the project would see the development of a mouth-of-mine power station, within three years of operational start. Once this was complete, Atomic would look to exporting thermal coal with the introduction of a washplant at the Ngaka operation.

Cain further noted that the bankable feasibility study for the project would be completed within the next two weeks, setting project parameters, including the estimated cost for developing a full-scale operation at Ngaka.

The bankable feasibility study would be accompanied by a resource update, which Cain said was likely to take the current Joint Ore Reserves Committee (Jorc) resource from 210-million tons, to over 400-million tons.

Atomic Resources would then turn to the market to raise funds for the development of Ngaka.

POWERING UP

Cain said that an initial 400 MW power station would be built at the mouth of the mine, at a cost of around A$600-million. Atomic has recently also received approval to increase this output to 1 000 MW, which would cost A$1,1-billion to construct.

The initial 400 MW would represent more than 40% of Tanzania’s current energy capacity. The power would be fed to the Tanzanian grid in 150 MW a year interims, with excess generation capacity likely to be exported to the surrounding economies of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.

Cain added that while Atomic Resources would not operate or fund the power station, the company was hoping to retain a 15% interest in the project and would supply the power station with low calorific value feedstock.

“We will negotiate the power station, supply the coal and even provide the land to build on, because they will be one of our prime customers.”

Cain said that the lower calorific value product from Ngaka would be supplied to the power station, blended with reject products, while the higher calorific value coal would be earmarked for the export market.

“So, we will have virtually no rejects,” he added

Atomic Energy has received several expressions of interest from parties interested in developing the power project, including participants from India, Cain noted. “Power stations in an environment like that are hugely profitable,” said Cain.

Chadema, CUF face poll ban
Tuesday, 27 July 2010/By Beatus Kagashe and Christopher Majaliwa /thecitizen.co.tz

Chadema and CUF will be barred from the General Election if they fail to sign the Election Code of Conduct before August 20, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

They are among five opposition parties that did not sign the document at a meeting organised by the NEC in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Others parties at risk of being locked out of the October 31 elections are the Democratic Party (DP), United Democratic Party (UDP) and PPT-Maendeleo.

Contacted for comment, UDP chairman John Cheyo told The Citizen that he had not been informed of the meeting.

“I’m hearing this for the first time from you… no one bothered to inform me or any other UDP leader of this important meeting…the party doesn’t have any information whatsoever,” he said.

But NEC director of elections Rajabu Kiravu dismissed the claims, saying it sent invitations to all political parties last Thursday.

“NEC has no reason to discriminate against some parties…we treat them equally…we sent out invitation letters, which were all received by the parties they were addressed to,” he said, adding that parties and candidates that would not sign the Code of Conduct would be barred from the elections.

CUF representatives attended yesterday’s meeting, but refused to sign the document on the grounds that they needed more time to go through it before the party agreed to the guidelines.

The party’s director of human rights, Mr Mtatiro Julius, said they were not ready to sign as they were provided with the document a few hours earlier.

“We received the document this morning. We haven’t even gone through it, and it will be ridiculous to sign something you haven’t read thoroughly and understood,” he said, and asked the NEC to give the party adequate time to peruse and digest the code.

Chadema and DP could not sign the document because they were not represented at the meeting.

Contacted later, Chadema’s director of foreign affairs, Mr John Mnyika, said party officials had received the document from NEC and were perusing it.

“We have noted that some sections which we suggested should be changed have not been amended…we are still consulting with our lawyers to establish the effects of such sections,” he said, adding that Chadema would issue a statement later.

A PPT-Maendeleo representative, Ms Elizabeth Swaganya refused to sign the Code of Conduct, saying there was no point doing so as the authorities had already failed to enforce what was contained in the document.

She said while the NEC was insisting that the document be signed, some parties were blatantly ignoring the guidelines.

“I’m not going to sign this Election Code of Conduct on the behalf of my party for the simple reason that the rules it contains are already being violated, and the NEC is taking no action,” Ms Swaganya said.

The Code of Conduct will come into force at the start of the official campaign period on August 20 to the announcing of results.

The code will also be in force in the run-up to and during by-elections to be held after the General Election, and any candidate who would not sign it would be barred from the elections.

There are 18 registered political parties, of which 15 attended the meeting. Thirteen parties signed the document, with one signing under protest. Three parties were absent, while two refused to sign the code.

Parties that signed the document included CCM, which was represented by vice-chairman (Mainland) Pius Msekwa, NCCR-Mageuzi, SAU, Tadea, Chausta, AFP, TLP, Jahazi Asilia, NLD, NRA and Demokrasia Makini.

The signing ceremony was marred by arguments, with some politicians claiming that the document violated Tanzanians’ constitutional right to elect or be elected.

NLD chairman Emmanuel Makaidi, who agreed to signed under protest, said the document effectively barred Tanzanian from freely participating
in the electoral process.

“The ethics are unconstitutional…we are not blaming the NEC, but Parliament which passed the bad election law,” Dr Makaidi said.

The absence of a government representative also sparked controversy, with Demokrasia Makini chairman Jimmy Mshana questioning the government’s seriousness on the matter.

“It seems we are not serious with what we are doing. If the government, which I’m sure has participated in preparing this document, is not here, then what are we doing here?” he asked.

Opening the meeting earlier, NEC chairman Lewis Makame commended parties that participated in formulating the code of ethics which will govern the October 31 elections and subsequent by-elections.

“It’s unfortunate that some political parties did not forward their recommendations as promised,” he said.

Mr Justice Makame said the new code was strict and was backed by the electoral law, which require all parties and candidates to sign the document as a prerequisite for participating in elections.

Among other things, the code prohibits political parties, candidates and their followers from participating in violence, using foul language and carrying weapons of any kind.

It also says political parties should criticise one another based on policies and programmes they wish to implement and not otherwise.

Candidates who will violate any section code will face fines of Sh50,000, Sh100,000 and Sh200,000 for civic, parliamentary and presidential aspirants.

Six in court on Sh339m fraud charge
Tuesday, 27 July 2010/By Sophia Mtiiye and Bernard James/thecitizen.co.tz

Six people were yesterday charged with ten counts including forgery, money laundering and defrauding Barclays Bank of Sh339 million.

The arraignment brings to three the number of high profile cases involving corporate theft in financial institutions and public institutions filed in court within a week.

Four of the accused, who appeared in court yesterday, are also charged with similar offences in two other cases filed at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court last week.

The six, Messrs Justice Katiti, a former Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) accountant, city businessmen Fortunatus Muganzi, Robert Mbetwa, Gidion Otullo, Godwin Paulla and Kenyan Joseph Ruto, have all denied the charges.

Last Friday, Mr Katiti was charged along with two former employees of the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) of stealing Sh3.8 billion from TRA.

The arraignment came a day after six other suspects, including cashiers with the Tanzania Telecommunications Limited (TTCL) and the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (Tucta), were charged with defrauding the public corporation a whooping Sh4 billion.

Principal state attorney Fredrick Manyanda told the court that between September 29 and October 6, 2008 they conspired to defraud Barclays Bank of Sh339 million.

He alleged that Messrs Paulla and Rutto forged a bank document called Request for Swift Customer Transfer Form, purporting to show that Tourism Promotion Services (Tanzania) Limited requested Barclays Bank to pay East Africa Procurement Services Limited Sh339 million for supplying camp tents and hotel equipment.

The two are further charged with fraudulently uttering false documents to effect the payment, falsely obtaining the money and using a forged document to mislead officials to transfer proceeds of corruption.

A prosecutor from the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Mr Ben Lincoln, alleged that the first accused (Mr Katiti), prepared and presented to his superior a false revenue collection report to show that the tourism promotion company had paid Sh339 million
to TRA contrary to section 22 of the PCCB Act.

All the accused are facing money laundering charges. It was alleged that between October 6 and 30, 2008, at the CRDB Bank, Holland Branch, the accused transferred Sh339 million from an account belonging to Africa Procurement Services Limited to other two accounts belonging to Barclays and Kenya Commercial Bank. 

They did so while knowing that the money was the proceeds of forgery for the purpose of concealing its origin, it was further alleged. 

Yesterday, Mr Manyanda asked the court to adjourn the case to allow investigators wind up investigations which, he said, were in final stages.

Counsel for the defence, Mr John Mapinduzi, informed the court that they have noticed serious defects in the charge sheet. He therefore asked for more time to do a thorough research before submitting the defects and making their prayers accordingly.

Presiding magistrate Aloyce Katemana adjourned the case to August 9 when it will come up for first mention.

CONGO RDC :

Banro’s Twangiza gold mine plant starts to arrive on site
Author: Lawrence Williams/www.mineweb.co.za/ Tuesday , 27 Jul 2010

A further significant new gold mine development in the troubled DRC is making progress, with gold plant components now arriving on site and a mine due on stream by end 2011.

LONDON – 

Canadian junior gold developer, Banro, is starting to take delivery on site of the reconditioned gold plant which it is installing at its Twangiza gold property in the north-eastern DRC. The first fleet of trucks carrying the plant has arrived on site and assembly will begin in October when all the plant elements will have been received and preliminary construction work is complete.

The entire plant, which is being transported across the Continent by truck from Mombasa, Kenya in 140 – 40 foot containers, including the break bulk items, is scheduled to arrive on site over the next ten weeks.

The arrival on July 21, 2010 of the first fleet of trucks was greeted at Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, with a public ceremony hosted by the Governor and the Deputy Governor with the participation of the chiefs of the chefferies overlapping the Twangiza property and several other dignitaries. In his speech, the Governor of South Kivu promised his government’s full support to Banro for the building of the Twangiza gold mine.

Banro controls a major position on the Twangiza/Namoya gold belt and, if all goes well, could eventually have four mines operating there – at Twangiza, Lugushwa, Namoya and Kamituga. Financing for the projects in this part of the DRC has been far from easy which has necessitated Banro going it alone in developing the properties itself where the preference may well have been to bring in a major partner. Indeed rumour had it that negotiations were under way with Randgold Resources over this, but these broke down when Randgold and AngloGold Ashanti, between them, secured the even bigger, and higher grade, Kibali project further to the west, which they are currently developing – see Randgold builds up speed on one of the world’s great gold mines.
Twangiza is the most advanced of Banro’s four projects, with a growing deposit that currently comprises measured and indicated Resources of 5.60 million ounces of gold and inferred resources of 400,000 ounces. The property is located 45 kilometres south-southwest of Bukavu and consists of six Exploitation Permits covering 1,164 square kilometres.

As far as mineable reserves there are concerned, consultants SRK estimated that total proven and probable reserves in a feasible open pit design totalled 82.46 million tonnes at 1.71 g/tonne gold, thus containing 4.54 million ounces.

Of the other projects, drilling has intercepted wide zones of gold mineralization at Lugushwa, located 150 km southwest of Bukavu, where so far an inferred mineral resource of 2.7 million ounces of gold has been delineated. At Namoya, 225 km southwest of Bukavu, a feasibility study is due to be completed this year on the currently delineated 1.124 million gold ounces in the measured and indicated categories, with a further 407,700 ounces of inferred gold. Finally Kamituga, located 100 kilometres southwest of Bukavu is the most mature of Banro’s four properties, having previously been the site of major alluvial and underground mining operations.

Back at Twangiza Banro reports that construction is proceeding on chedule, with phase one earthworks having been completed at the end of last month. Civil works at the plant site are well advanced, with assembly of the reconditioned gold plant to begin in October this year. The final civil work is scheduled for completion in June 2011. The Company remains on schedule to complete construction of the Twangiza “Phase I” gold mine in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Release of former Congo rebel leader delayed
By Michael Steen in Amsterdam/www.ft.com/ July 27 2010 

Judges at the International Criminal Court have delayed the release of Thomas Lubanga, a former rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the near collapse of his trial for alleged war crimes.

The problems besetting the case against Mr Lubanga, the first person to stand trial at the ICC, have damaged the court’s reputation. Judges first ordered Mr Lubanga’s release in 2008, before the trial began, because the prosecution refused to share information with the defence. That issue was resolved and the trial opened in 2009.

But the court ordered the prosecution this month to identify to the defence a witness against Mr Lubanga known only as “intermediary 143”.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor, said this would endanger the witness, arguing that “the highest level” of protection had been ordered but not yet implemented. He refused to identify the person concerned.

The trial judges responded by ruling that Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s stance was an abuse of process, suspending the trial and ordering Mr Lubanga’s release. 

“An accused cannot be held in preventative custody on a speculative basis, namely that at some stage in the future the proceedings may be resurrected,” said the ruling.

But Mr Moreno-Ocampo appealed and judges agreed that Mr Lubanga should not be freed as long as proceedings were under way. 

The former leader of a militia group, known as the Union of Congolese Patriots, Mr Lubanga stands accused of using child soldiers during a 1998-2003 conflict that claimed some 60,000 lives in Congo’s Ituri region.

In a statement to the court, Mr Lubanga’s lawyers argued that he should be released since he had no travel documents, was subject to a travel ban and had undertaken to return to court after the prosecution’s appeal. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The difficulties in prosecuting Mr Lubanga appear to bode ill for the likelihood of trying the ICC’s more high-profile targets, notably Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan.

KENYA :

Kenya: Sameer Sees Slight Decline in Profits
Business Daily (Nairobi) /allafrica.com/Kevin Mwanza/27 July 2010

Sameer Africa recorded a decline in profits for the first half of the year as a rise in global rubber prices and a strong dollar pushed up the firm’s production costs.

The tire manufacturer recorded a total comprehensive income of Sh37.6 million in the first half of the year from revenues of Sh1.7 billion compared to a total comprehensive income of Sh35.3 million in the first six months of 2009 from revenues of Sh1.5 billion.

Profit margin

The resulting profit margin of 2.1 per cent down from 2.2 per cent in the first six months of last year means that for each Shilling of sales that Sameer Africa generated, it only contributed 2.1 cents to its total comprehensive income.

“The firm has had to increase the product prices by 10 per cent across the board to reflect this increase in cost of production,” said one of the firm’s managers, adding that about 80 per cent of its raw material is imported, exposing the firm to the vagaries of currency fluctuations.

In the first half of the year, natural rubber prices have escalated by 54 per cent weighing down on the Sameer Africa’s raw material cost base.

Sameer Africa’s operating costs were up 19 per cent to Sh1.4 billion, up from Sh1.2 billion in the first half of last year.

Remained competitive

However, the firm remained competitive to push products into other East African Community states despite an influx of Chinese imports.

“Similar trends in performance are forecast for the remainder of the year supported by marketing and sales promotional activities,” said a statement from the company, adding that it expects key raw material prices to remain relatively stable in the remaining half of the year.

Kenya: Piracy Eats Away Movie Rentals and Cinema Revenues
Business Daily (Nairobi)/Frankline Sunday/allafrica.com/27 July 2010 

Movie rental shops in Nairobi are grappling with imminent collapse as increased movie piracy drastically erodes their revenue and threatens to drive them out of business.

A spot-check round the city centre and adjacent residential areas shows that many movie libraries have already closed down over the last 18 months and the remaining ones are operating at less than 50 per cent of their former capacity.

In Nairobi’s CBD where the movie rental business once flourished, most libraries have closed up with proprietors unable to meet operating costs owing to dwindling revenues as clients turn to pirated movies.

Over the past few years, movie piracy in Nairobi has steadily gained momentum as more players move to cash-in on the lucrative underground industry.

Developments in technology have also led to the speedy growth of piracy as new and affordable duplication equipment enters the market.

One movie rental business owner who declined to be named said that increased downloading form the internet and mass production is posing a threat to the movie rental business.

“I rent out a single original movie at Sh100 yet hawkers are selling pirated copies for Sh50. Naturally many clients have fled from this place and opt to obtain bootlegs from street vendors and stalls.”

“Many of my clients have left and when I meet them out there they tell me that they can get their personal copy of the movie from the streets so they see no need of renting at twice the price,” he said.

Cinemas are also bearing the brunt of rampant piracy with many registering a significant downturn in revenues from ticket sales.

Liz Kinyanjui the manager at Nairobi Cinema says that many movie-goers have turned to purchasing bootlegged DVDs owing to their low cost.

“No one goes to the movies anymore because tickets go for about Sh350 and they can get the same movies at cyber café for Sh40 – 50,” she said. “We have seen an 80 per cent drop in ticket sales over the last two years owing to the proliferation of pirated movies.”

In the past audiences shied away from bootlegged movies commonly known as “camera copies” since they were of inferior quality.

To create a bootleg one had to wait for the movie screening at cinemas, sneak a camcorder into the theatre hall and record the whole movie.

The recorded movie would then be mass produced and sold through various outlets in the city and residential areas.

Though they were inferior in quality, movie makers made a killing as newly released movie titles would usually take a while before reaching the Kenyan movie market.

The infamous camera copies have now been replaced with clear movie downloads that are readily available in numerous websites.

Cyber café operators are constantly monitoring movie websites for the latest releases which are being shared online.

Increased broadband internet connection has also led to faster download speeds making it possible to preview, rate and download entire movies all in a matter of a few hours.

Charles Gacigua, the manager of Nu Metro cinemas confirms that piracy is eating into the cinema’s profits.

“It has a lot to do with the release date of a particular movie. When a movie has a world wide release date, our distributors can get it for us as soon as it hits the market … Some movies however have different release dates across the world and this means that it takes a little longer for cinemas in Kenya to get it … The same movie will however be available online in the meantime.”

Mr Gacigua states that they have witnessed a 40 per cent drop in ticket sales in the last 18 months owing to piracy.

The Copyright Board of Kenya has been conducting raids on stalls and exhibitions that sell pirated movies around the CBD but have so far not been successful in shutting down operations.

Last month the copyright board of Kenya launched an authentication device to be placed on all audiovisual material meant for sale.

According to the board’s director Mr. Edward Sigei, traders have been given a grace period to obtain the sticker.

“At the end of this time we shall embark on spontaneous raids across the city,” he said.

In the meantime, however, more movie libraries continue to close down and stalls mushroom around the city to supply the demand for movies at low costs.

Kenya’s New Anti-Graft Chief Pledges Revitalized Corruption Fight
Peter Clottey/www1.voanews.com/27 July 2010

The new director of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) has called on President Mwai Kibaki’s coalition government to demonstrate its desire and political will to help with efforts to root out “endemic” graft in the country.

Professor P.L.O Lumumba told VOA his first objective is to regenerate and re-energize the interest of Kenyans in the fight against corruption.

“There is a sense in which people think that corruption is now a way of life and that it is a task that can only be performed by one organization. My aim is to recruit Kenyans in the fight against corruption and to convince them that perpetrators of corruption can, and will, be punished,” he said.

Lumumba officially took office Monday as the new director of the anti-graft body after the re-appointment of the former head was rejected by parliament.

A constitutional law expert, Lumumba is also a former law lecturer at the University of Nairobi and is widely seen by Kenyans as a vocal anti–corruption crusader.

The new anti-graft director said some senior government officials have been complicit in corruption cases.

“We know individuals in government to collude with individuals outside of government to rip-off the government. We have the history of the Goldenberg; we have the issue of Anglo leasing (graft cases) and there has been a sense in which individuals, who are known, are not touched because it is politically expedient not to do so,” he said.

But, Lumumba said that he aims to ensure that there are no ‘sacred cows’ adding that individuals engaged in corrupt activities will be dealt with in accordance with Kenyan laws.

In its latest report, the Transparency International chapter in the country rated Kenya as the third most corrupt nation in the East Africa Bribery Index closely following Burundi and Uganda in that order.

Some Kenyans have often accused the judiciary of being slow in punishing perpetrators of graft.

Critics say there are many corruption cases in the courts that have been dragging on for years without adjudication which they said weaken efforts to fight graft and emboldens those who engage in corrupt practices.

But, Professor Lumumba said the scheduled 4th August referendum could help in the graft fight.

“It comes at a very good time when we are going to endorse a new constitution, which will give us the opportunity to clean up the judiciary which has stood in the way of the fight against corruption in many ways,” Professor Lumumba said.

He also assured Kenyans that his commission will do what is necessary to punish perpetrators of graft adding that there is a need to create an environment where corruption will not be possible, as well as educating the public to resent graft.

ANGOLA :

Brazilian firms overcome business volume in FILDA/2010
7/27/10/www.portalangop.co.ao

Luanda – At least 40 Brazilian companies, which participated in Luanda’s International Trade Fair (FILDA2010) held from 20 to 25 July, closed the event with a business volume estimated at USD 50 million compared to USD 30 million in 2009.

In a press note released to ANGOP, on Monday in Luanda, the Brazilian Agency for Promotion of Exports and Investments (Apex – Brazil) states that the pavilion of Brazil received at least 20,000 visitors and it was the second biggest one at FILDA2010, after Portugal.

According to the press release, Angola is the top commercial partner of Brazil in Africa, as the business chain for both countries has grown to 185% between 2005 and 2009, which is estimated at USD 1,5 million.

According to the document, Apex-Brasil will open a business centre until the end of 2010 in Luanda’s Talatona ward so as to boost business between Brazilian and Angolan entrepreneurs.

Portuguese language institute needs assistance
7/27/10/www.portalangop.co.ao

Luanda – The former counsellor of Angola to the Portuguese Speaking Community Countries (CPLP), Jovelina Imperial, said that the reformulation of the Statute of the Portuguese language will enable that the International Institute be more qualified.

In an interview to ANGOP, the official said the reformulation of the statute by the Council of Ministers of the organisation in Luanda will enable it to be better equipped with material, human and financial means to develop its work.

The institute is based in Cape Verde, but with many difficulties, due to lack of many means.

“If we empower the institute of the Portuguese language it will be a great vehicle and will help a lot in the internationalisation of the Portuguese language, as well as it will have a great work in the consolidation of the Portuguese language in our countries”, she explained.

He said that countries such as Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau have population that do not speak Portuguese and the institute has a great work within the member states, as it is important to make known what is the common vehicle.

The institute has as goal the promotion, defence, enrichment and the diffusion of the Portuguese language, as a vehicle of culture, education and information and access to scientific, technical knowledge and utilisation in international forums.

Portuguese business group to build three hydroelectric dams in Angola
[ 2010-07-27 ] / (macauhub)

Luanda, Angola, 27 July – Portuguese business group Escom plans soon to build three hydroelectric facilities in the Angolan province of Lunda Norte, the chairman of the group said Monday in Luanda.

On the sidelines of the signing of an investment contract to build the “Palanca Cimentos” cement factory, to be built in the municipality of Lobito, Benguela province, Hélder Bataglia said that construction of the three dams was expected to cost US$400 million.

The chairman of Escom also said that construction of the three facilities would make it possible to boost the energy supply in the east of Angola and allow for several industrial projects to be set up, such as cement factories.

Bataglia also said that the project had been approved by Angola’s Council of Ministers and was now in its initial phase of execution. (macauhub)

SOUTH AFRICA:

ArcelorMittal Low-Price Ore Deal Returns to Haunt South African Economy
By Carli Lourens and Mike Cohen/www.bloomberg.com/ Jul 27, 2010

Anglo American Plc’s threat to halt cheap iron ore sales to ArcelorMittal in South Africa may close a $1-billion steel mill, throw thousands out of work and undermine the country’s growing car industry. 

The dispute pits Lakshmi Mittal, a man Forbes Magazine says is worth $28.7 billion, against the government, which brokered the below-price deal nine years ago to bolster steel production and preserve jobs. Anglo’s Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. unit is seeking to get a price closer to $142 per metric ton, the market level, than to the $30 it says ArcelorMittal pays. An interim price and arbitration agreed to last week end in 2011. 

ArcelorMittal says a significant increase may force the shuttering of the plant in Saldanha, curb exports and limit supplies locally. Absent a resolution, such industries as car manufacturing may have to turn increasingly to steel imports, raising vulnerability to volatile exchange rates. 

“In one corner sits one of the world’s richest men, and for him to close Saldanha would be nothing,” said Hennie de Clercq, executive director of the Pretoria-based Southern African Institute of Steel Construction. “Where the elephants play the grass usually gets trampled.” 

Giles Read, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal in London, referred requests for a response from Mittal, company chairman and chief executive officer, to Vanderbijlpark-based ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. A spokesman there who declined to be identified said in an email: “Should there be a decision to close Saldanha, it would be made by the Board of Directors of ArcelorMittal South Africa.” 

No Jobs Growth 

“If there’s a shutdown, it’s probably going to have a significant impact on overall manufacturing,” said Arthur Kamp, an economist at Sanlam Investment Management in Cape Town. “It’s not helpful to get job losses in an environment where there is no real jobs growth.” 

South African industries ranging from construction to mining are dependent upon steel, much of it bought locally. The country’s 25.2 percent unemployment rate is the highest of 62 nations monitored by Bloomberg. 

Among the most affected industries may be the country’s car and car-part makers, the biggest manufacturing exporters. South African car exports rose 12-fold, to 174,947 units last year, from 15,764 in 1995. Companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. make vehicles for local sales as well as for shipment to Europe and elsewhere in Africa. 

“The dispute is a source of concern to all users and all buyers of South African produced steel and products,” Nico Vermeulen, director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said from Pretoria. 

The rand was the most volatile of 16 major currencies over the last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Government Deal 

The foundations for the clash between the world’s biggest steel company and Anglo, which in the 1960s controlled companies that accounted for more than half of the market value of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, were laid in a 2001 deal brokered by the government. 

ArcelorMittal South Africa’s predecessor company, founded by the state in 1928, was allowed to split its barely viable steel assets away from profitable mines as long as the mining company supplied iron ore at just above the cost of extraction. 

Mittal first agreed to invest in the company, through his own LNM Holdings NV company, in 2001. Later that investment was transferred to ArcelorMittal, which has now built its stake in the South African unit to 47 percent. 

“The government was the midwife of this dispute,” Peter Major, a fund manager at Cadiz Holdings Ltd., which oversees the equivalent of $7 billion in investments, said from Cape Town. “Only government can resolve it.” 

Overseas Markets 

Kumba, taken over by Anglo in 2003, used a loophole to cancel the contract starting March 1. About 80 percent of its iron ore is sold overseas and the company says it has alternative markets for the rest as well. 

At its peak ArcelorMittal South Africa’s forerunner, Iscor Ltd., employed 70,000 people, seven times more than it does today. The Saldanha mill is the largest business on South Africa’s barren west coast, and has the capacity to produce steel sheet as thin as 1.6 millimeters (0.06 of an inch). 

If it closes, thousands of families “will be without bread on their table,” said Frank Mbanze, deputy mayor of the town of Saldanha. 

Kumba says it can abrogate the contract because ArcelorMittal’s South African unit failed to renew mining rights for its 21.4 percent stake in its biggest mine, Sishen. ArcelorMittal says Kumba, as the controlling shareholder, should have renewed the rights on its behalf. 

Arbitration Period 

The companies agreed on July 22 to undergo arbitration and to maintain interim prices for a year, while ArcelorMittal holds off on its threat to close Saldanha. Trade Minister Rob Davies said the same day that he plans to be involved in the mediation and expects the steelmaker to cut prices. 

ArcelorMittal South Africa spokesman Themba Hlengani declined to comment on the dispute, citing the arbitration, while Kumba said it behaved “responsibly and reasonably.” 

The steelmaker was expanded to shield South Africa from sanctions during apartheid and to provide jobs, mainly to working-class Afrikaners whose votes kept the whites-only government in power. 

Today the ArcelorMittal unit has a market value of about $5 billion, compared with the $150 million analysts valued it at in 2001. 

ArcelorMittal hasn’t cut prices significantly below the cost of imports, prompting several antitrust investigations. One of them resulted in a record 692 million rand fine that was successfully appealed. Those disputes may now count against it. 

ArcelorMittal “never gave South Africa any break,” Major said. The government will “say we gave you guys a hell of a break and you just snubbed us.” 

South Africa to Decide on Sishen Mine Rights Dispute
July 27, 2010/Bloomberg

July 27 (Bloomberg) — South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu will make a decision on disputed prospecting rights at Sishen, Africa’s largest iron ore mine, “within the next week,” the Department of Mineral Resources said.

“The department received a request from Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. to reconsider the granting decision,” Sandile Nogxina, director general of the department, said in a text message today. The minister “will make her decision known within the next week.”

Kumba is challenging the decision to award 21.4 percent of the prospecting rights at Sishen to Imperial Crown Trading Ltd., a company whose only asset is that right. Kumba, a unit of Anglo American Plc, owns the rest of the mine’s rights. The government said on March 22 it would review the award.

The stake was owned by ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. until it reverted to the state after the steelmaker failed to renew the rights in time, according to the Department of Mineral Resources
. The government rejected Kumba’s application for the rights, instead awarding them to Imperial, the department said on March 18.

–Editors: Alastair Reed, Antony Sguazzin.

Advance on AIDS Raises Questions as Well as Joy
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr./www.nytimes.com/ July 27, 2010

VIENNA — The best AIDS-prevention news in years was released here last week at a world conference on the disease: a vaginal gel, called a microbicide, that can be used without a man knowing it, gave women a 39 percent chance of avoiding infection with the deadly virus. 

Thirty-nine percent is, obviously, not perfect, though the women in the South African trial who used the gel most faithfully did better, achieving 54 percent protection. 

After more than a dozen microbicide failures, it was a huge relief, and led to cheering and standing ovations for the researchers here. 

“This is a field that’s known a lot of pain,” said Catherine Hankins, chief scientific adviser for Unaids, the United Nations’ AIDS-fighting agency. 

There was general relief that the data was not as shaky as that of an AIDS vaccine trial released in September. 

“There’s a certain feeling of ease and pleasure for me as a scientist that any way you slice the data, it’s statistically significant,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a top AIDS expert in the United States government, which paid most of the trial’s costs. 

There was an unexpected bonus: the gel protected women even better against genital herpes. (The investigators were not sure why, but it contained tenofovir, an antiviral drug, and AIDS and herpes are both viral.) 

Now experts are pondering the many questions raised by the news. 

How much more testing will it need to win approval from drug regulators? 

Would more than 1 percent tenofovir in the gel, or a two-drug mix, work better? 

Can it be made cheaply enough for poor countries? (The gel costs 2 cents a dose, but the applicators are 40 cents because they are patented and were frequently redesigned to be more comfortable.) 

The women had sex an average of five times a month, and were instructed to insert gel before and afterward. Would one dose, which would be easier and cheaper, work just as well? 

Will it protect prostitutes, who have sex with many men in succession? Is it safe enough to use daily? 

Can pregnant women use it? (Some women got pregnant and gave birth, but were taken off the gel quickly to reduce any risk.) 

Would women who use it but got infected anyway develop hard-to-cure drug-resistant infections? 

And, although it was tested on poor African women, might it appeal to Western women, some of whom might worry more about herpes than AIDS? 

Might it also work for anal sex, and protect gay men? 

The investigators and other experts said they had only partial hints of answers, but most were encouraging. 

And, given that this is AIDS research, which inevitably creates controversy, some hard questions were raised. 

If it was known after the first year that the gel was working, why wasn’t the trial stopped? 

And what will happen to the 889 African women who, in the words of Mark Harrington, an AIDS activist, “put their bodies on the line for this study”? Would they be able to keep getting the product that might have saved their lives? 

Some questions were easy, said Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, a study leader and professor of epidemiology at both the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Columbia University. 

The price of a dose could fall below that of a condom because the applicators are just molded plastic and, without patents restrictions, “the Chinese could make them for half a penny,” he said. 

Others, like what drug and dose combinations are best and safest, must be tackled in future trials. A complex multination trial of several methods, including microbicide, is due to end in 2013, but a rapid new one may be designed as quickly as possible. 

Globally, more than a million women a year die of AIDS, so speed is important. 

The gel has never been tested in men, but has protected monkeys given anal doses of the simian version of the virus. Dr. Karim said samples he took found that tenofovir in the women’s vaginal linings had migrated to their rectal linings too, meaning they might also have been protected against anal sex. 

“The tissue between the two is very thin,” he said. 

Using a gel rather than a pill meant the drug infused the genital tracts but hardly reached the blood. That lowered the chances that a woman who got infected anyway would develop tenofovir-resistant virus, experts said. 

No woman developed it, but they were tested so often that the virus would have had little time to mutate. 

Dr. Kevin A. Fenton, director of the AIDS division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the one-two AIDS-and-herpes punch “could make it more attractive to American women.” 

It’s not clear whether men would like gels, and tenofovir pills are being tested in uninfected gay men, but the results “are a real shot in the arm to the field,” he said. 

The trial was not stopped early, Dr. Karim said, because the independent review board that could have done so wanted results so overwhelming that they would have equaled the results of two generally favorable trials, “and we didn’t achieve that level of efficacy.” 

Dr. Sheena McCormack, a British microbicide researcher, recalled penicillin tests of 70 years ago. Those researchers gave it to their sickest patients, not a random sample, and it still worked astonishingly well. This, she said, more resembled trials of circumcision as an AIDS preventive, which took three to be convincing. 

What happens to the 889 women is unclear. Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Dr. Karim’s wife and research partner, said more gel needed to be made and she hoped to enroll them quickly in a new trial so they could get it. 

Mr. Harrington said he thought they ought to have a choice of being in another trial or just getting the gel indefinitely, even though it is not legally approved by any drug-regulatory agency yet. 

S. Africa suspected of Taliban fundraising: memo
Afghan leaks endanger soldiers, Cannon says
July 27, 2010/www.cbc.ca

The United States asked Canada in 2007 to apply diplomatic pressure to Saudi Arabia and South Africa over alleged Taliban fundraising in the countries, according to a memo included among thousands of leaked U.S. military and intelligence documents.

Meanwhile on Monday, the Canadian government remained tight-lipped over the claims made in secret material released over the weekend by the website WikiLeaks, which has triggered a fierce debate over how truthful Western governments are being in their public accounts of the conflict.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon spoke out against the leaking of potentially sensitive operational information, saying the government is concerned that such acts “could endanger the lives of our men and women in Afghanistan.”

According to the 2007 cable, American diplomats spoke with two senior Canadian Foreign Affairs officials, including senior director Yves Beaulieu and policy adviser Georges Flanagan Whalen, in their appeal for the Harper government to join the Bush administration in issuing a joint diplomatic “demarche” — or rebuke — to Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

The memo also shows Canada was asked to rebuke the United Arab Emirates independently over alleg
ed militant fundraising on its soil.

Various organizations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long been suspected of financing the Afghan insurgency.

But the document suggests both Canadian and U.S. officials have harboured suspicions for several years of alleged militant fundraising activities in South Africa — a Commonwealth country and recent host of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

According to the cable, Beaulieu “reacted positively to the suggestion that the United States and Canada jointly demarche Pretoria and Riyadh.”

“Beaulieu said although he was not surprised to hear about Taliban fundraising in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, the government of Canada would need more information about specific (U.S. government) concerns before they could agree to jointly demarche other governments or independently demarche the UAE.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday after he announced fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrichment program, Cannon would not comment directly on the leaked documents, saying they had “nothing to do with Canada.”

“These are documents that are about leaked U.S. documents,” he said. “You’re not going to get an opinion from me on those documents.”

Cannon denied the government was misleading Canadians on the Afghanistan mission, saying it reports on a quarterly basis to a permanent parliamentary committee on all actions taken in the mission.

Heat-seeking missile may have downed chopper
The more than 91,000 documents, released Sunday, reveal new details about the war in Afghanistan, including the close relationship of the Pakistani military with Afghan insurgents.

When questioned by reporters, Cannon would not comment on the documents’ depictions of alleged ties between the ISI, Pakistan’s secret service, and the Taliban — a relationship long condemned by the Afghan government and vociferously denied by Pakistani authorities.

“You’re asking me whether or not I’m concerned with such and such a state,” Cannon said. “I can tell you we’re working in close co-operation on a number of initiatives with both the Pakistan and the Afghanistan governments.”

The leaked documents also describe numerous accounts of brutality, corruption, extortion and kidnapping committed by members of the Afghan police force.

Another revelation is that the Taliban used heat-seeking missiles to down a twin-rotor U.S. Chinook transport helicopter in 2007, possibly killing a Canadian soldier.

Cannon also would not confirm or deny whether a heat-seeking missile was used in the 2007 attack, saying only that any incidents involving Canadian soldiers are investigated by the military.

After the crash, the Canadian military said initial reports suggested rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the Chinook carrying Master Cpl. Darrell Priede and six other NATO personnel.

A spokesman for the Canadian Forces would not provide more detail on what may have brought down the helicopter, saying it was a “matter of operational security.”

“We don’t detail the means by which the enemy can take down a helicopter, just as we don’t discuss how much explosive goes into an (improvised explosive device),” Lt.-Col Chris Lemay told The Canadian Press.

With files from The Canadian Press

Rand Strengthens to Three-Month High on Bets Nedbank Sale to Boost Inflows
By Garth Theunissen /www.bloomberg.com/news/Tue Jul 27 

The rand strengthened, trading within 3 cents of a three-month high to the dollar, as speculation a foreign investor may purchase South Africa’s fourth-largest bank boosted sentiment toward the currency. 

The currency of Africa’s biggest economy appreciated as much as 0.5 percent to 7.3201 per dollar, the strongest level since April 30, before trading 0.1 percent higher at 7.3446 by 10:14 a.m. in Johannesburg from a previous close of 7.3537. 

HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc are in talks to buy Old Mutual’s 52 percent holding in South Africa’s Nedbank, the Financial Times reported at the weekend in Mark Kleinman’s “In the Loop” column. That may add to Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Dimension Data Plc of which half is expected to flow into South Africa when the deal concludes in October. 

“The bias is clearly for a stronger rand,” said John Cairns, head of foreign-exchange research at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg. “The NTT-Didata deal will bring in another 12 billion rand and now there is fresh speculation of an offshore bid for Nedbank.” 

Government bonds rose for a second day in South Africa, with the benchmark 13.5 percent security due September 2015 climbing 7 cents to 124.47 rand. The yield on the bond fell 2 basis points to 7.63 percent. 

Investors reduced bets that South Africa’s central bank may lower its 6.5 percent benchmark interest rate when it next meets on September 9, forward-rate agreements show. The cost of three- month contracts for cash in three months rose 6.5 basis points to 6.305 percent.

AFRICA / AU :

Seychelles convicts Somali pirates

By the CNN Wire Staff/July 27, 2010

(CNN) — The Seychelles Supreme Court has sentenced 11 Somalis to 10 years in prison on piracy-related charges, according to the Department of Legal Affairs

“Eight accused were convicted for the offence of committing an act of piracy and three others for aiding and abetting an act of piracy,” a statement said. Charges related to “acts of terrorism” were dropped by the court.

The accused were arrested in early December after they unsuccesfully tried to hijack a Seychelles coast guard boat.

The international piracy cases are the first to be prosecuted in the Seychelles.

“There are 29 other suspected and accused Somali pirates who are still awaiting trial in Seychelles or transfer from the Republic of Seychelles to Somalia,” the statement said.

The Seychelles are a group of more than 100 islands located off the east coast of Africa in the western Indian Ocean.

Sudanese Party Official Hails A.U. Stance on Arrest Warrant 
Peter Clottey /www1.voanews.com/27 July 2010

Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) official told VOA President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s inability to attend the African Union summit has nothing to do with the latest arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Rabie Abdullati Obeid also hailed the African Union after Jean Ping, A.U. commission chairman, said the ICC’s chief prosecutor does not care whether the latest arrest warrant interferes with peace efforts in Sudan.

“The stance that the African Union has already taken from the very beginning, from the very first warrant of arrest of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, that stance was positive and is still positive. And now, the African Union is still on this concrete stance that Omar Hassan Al-Bashir should not be (arrested after being) accused by (the) ICC, and the AU condemned that procedure taken by the ICC,” he said.

The African Union has often said that the indictments against the Sudanese leader could undermine the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), as well as imperil the resolution of the Darfur crisis.

The CPA signed between President Bashir’s government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) ended over two decades of war. The peace accord also stipulates that residents in the south should vote to decide whether to be part of the original Sudan or secede and become an independent nation. The referendum is schedule for 9th January.

Last week, President Bashir went on a state visit to neighboring Chad despite the latest arrest warrant against him. Several international rights groups demanded his arrest since Chad is a signatory to the Rome Statute which led to the formation of the ICC.

Last year, the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant against President Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The court recently added genocide charges to the previous arrest warrant accusing him of presiding over rape, torture and murder in western Darfur.

Critics say The Hague-based court has often targeted alleged crimes committed only in Africa, but not elsewhere around the world.

The African Union’s Ping was quoted as saying, “There seems to be some bullying against Africa.”

NCP official Obeid said the continental body understands the Sudan situation.

“Recently, the African Union rejected the request of opening an office in Addis Ababa by (the) ICC,” Obeid said.

Attended by over 30 heads of state and government, the 15th Ordinary session of the Assembly of African Union summit is scheduled to end in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, Tuesday.

Africa: AU Leaders Pledge to Reduce Child Deaths
Oliver Mathenge/Daily Nation/27 July 2010

Nairobi — African leaders have pledged to eliminate maternal and child mortality before 2015.

While debating on Monday on the theme of the African Union Summit in Kampala – Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa – the leaders committed to achieving this by the deadline of fulfilling Millennium Development Goals.

Leaders said they were concern that whereas the majority of those who contribute to socio-economic development are women, they still face a myriad of health challenges which can easily be tackled.

All leaders and participants agreed that there was more political will in Africa today to improve the welfare of women and children than at any other time in the history of the continent.

Participants – including leaders of civil society groups, media personalities and government officials – said women and children are the engines of development and therefore emphasised the need to allocate more resources to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

The Kenya Government has been at the forefront in implementing new strategies that have helped reduce the infant mortality rate from 77 per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 52 per 1,000 in 2009.

Through these new measures, mortality rates for those under five years have also reduced from 115 per 1,000 in 2003 to 74 per 1,000 live births in 2009.

On the sidelines of the AU Summit, President Kibaki attended a consultative meeting on Somalia.

The talks focused on the current security situation in Somalia.

Others who attended the meeting included the host, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

AU to deploy 2000 troops in Somalia
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 /www.presstv.ir

African Union leaders have pledged to beef up the AU mission in Somalia with 2,000 extra troops as part of strategies to counter the growing militancy in the country. 

African heads of states and delegates concluded their summit in Uganda’s capital Kampala on Tuesday, vowing to reinforce the 6,000 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers currently deployed in Somalia amid reprisal attacks between al-Shabab fighters and AU and government forces. 

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said that the AU has approved proposals by the International Authority on Development, which groups six east African nations and has called for 2,000 extra troops to rein in the skirmishes predominantly focused in the restive capital Mogadishu. 

“The summit has approved calls for reinforcing the budget of AMISOM (the AU mission in Somalia) and its equipment,” he added. 

Seyoum also acknowledged that the African Union can not prevail over the militancy by itself, therefore the priority must be “to reinforce the security forces, the police, and the civil and financial institutions of the transitional government.” 

African Union Commission Chief Jean Ping said earlier that Guinea has expressed readiness to deploy a battalion of forces in Somalia. 

He also predicted that the number of troops for the AU mission could reach to 10,000 soldiers over the long haul. 

The summit got underway on Sunday in the very town that on July 11 was rocked by two powerful bombings in which 76 people were killed. 

Al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for the attacks, which raised serious concerns over the efficiency of the AU mission. 

HA/MMA

Africa to end isolation of Cuba
By Angelo Izama/www.monitor.co.ug/Tuesday, July 27 2010 

Kampala

“I urge the AU to issue a strong statement to end the isolation of Cuba,” said Namibian leader Hifikepunye Pohamba shortly after African Union Chairman Bingu Wa Mutharika invited some leaders to speak at the AU Summit opening ceremony on Sunday. He was supported by South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma. “I stand up in support of Namibia,” President Zuma said to a round of clapping. 

Mr Mutharika then concluded that from the generous handclapping the proposal had been accepted in principle. Many countries including Nigeria, Angola and Libya had also expressed support for an end to Cuba’s status as a pariah in the West and asked that they get together to word a statement on Africa’s position.

Weeks to the c
onference, Libyan Leader Muammar Gadaffi invited 13 ‘African Diaspora’ states from the Caribbean region, among them Cuba, to the summit. Yesterday the group was represented by Makerere University-trained Prime Minister of St. Vincent, Ralph Gonsalves.

Citing the influence on him by Ghana’s iconic independence leader, Nkwame Nkrumah, and Nelson Mandela, Dr Gonsalves said Cuba had made heroic contributions to Africa’s liberation. He said Cuban armed forces fought selflessly in Angola and elsewhere. “When the soldiers left, then came doctors and nurses”. In a veiled attack of Africa’s experience with Europe and America, he then added that the Cubans did not leave with “gold or oil”.
“I am not making an ideological point. I simply speak the truth” he said. The decision to support diplomatic efforts to end Cuba’s isolation, including decades of US sanctions against the communist nation, is a coup for Cuba at the summit. Havana dispatched its foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez to Kampala.

ANALYSIS – Raid shows resolve, trouble in fight vs Sahara’s Qaeda
Tue Jul 27, 2010/By David Lewis/Reuters

DAKAR (Reuters) – A joint French-Mauritanian raid may indicate a hardening of resolve against the Saharan band of al Qaeda’s North African wing, but it also underscores cracks in regional coordination and risks fuelling anti-Western rhetoric.

The operation failed to free a French hostage, whom Islamists say they have since executed. In the fallout, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to punish the killers and extended travel warnings for the region for fear of further attacks.

Andre LeSage, senior research fellow for Africa at the National Defense University in the United States, said the raid showed how seriously the Islamist threat was being taken. “Direct military support — not just training and the provision of equipment — is now being considered by some actors.”

A spike in Islamist activity in Mauritania, Mali and Niger, mostly kidnappings resulting in multi-million dollar ransom payments, has led to an increase in international support for countries fighting the al Qaeda-linked group, known as AQIM.

Led by France and the United States, which in May dispatched hundreds of Special Forces soldiers to train regional armies, the West has increased its own involvement and, in turn, called for better regional coordination from an often fractious group of countries.

“(But) despite international efforts to build military capacity, promote regional intelligence sharing and develop political will in the region, there has been little coordinated action by Sahelian countries against AQIM,” LeSage added.

Mali, on whose territory the raid took place, is widely perceived to be the weak link in the fight against al Qaeda due to reported connections between some authorities and the Islamists.

Officials there said they were not informed about the raid and one senior official in the defence ministry accused Mauritania of conducting war on its land. Mauritania’s defence minister has visited in an apparent attempt to smooth relations.

LACK OF COOPERATION

Algeria, which has claimed regional leadership in the fight against AQIM, has not made a statement but officials have privately expressed annoyance.

While happier a more robust approach is being taken after Mali earlier released Islamists in exchange for a previous French hostage, Algerians are likely to be bristling over an intervention by its former colonial power on its patch.

Algeria hosts a regional military headquarters for fighting AQIM. Richard Barrett, head of the U.N.’s al Qaeda monitoring team, said regional cooperation would take time, and a few successes to bolster confidence between the actors.

But Wolfram Lacher, head of the Middle East and North Africa desk at Control Risks, said the exclusion of Mali and Algeria pointed to problems in the process. “In sum, the operation does not suggest that the obstacles to regional cooperation to counter AQIM are being overcome – quite to the contrary.

“This is important, in that the threat posed by AQIM necessarily has to be tackled by a regional approach,” he added.

Spanish media said Madrid, which has two hostages held by an AQIM faction, was also angered at the lack of consultation.

Western nations are treading a fine line in their efforts to help mostly poor nations with weak armies try and stamp their authority on vast, desert zones, where smugglers, rebels and bandits often hold more sway than the central government.

France carries the burden of having ruled most nations as colonies while the U.S. has had to back away from setting up a permanent base on the continent.

“Western nations need to be very careful that their direct involvement in the Sahel does not bolster or give justifications to AQIM propaganda,” LeSage said.

Hardline Algerian Islamists, the group’s initial core, are already lambasting Mauritania for calling on France for help.

INCREASED RISK

Anneli Botha, senior terrorism researcher at the South African-based Institute for Security Studies, said France was probably eager to convince its domestic audience it was taking action, but also said dispatching its army to hunt terrorists in the desert risked playing into the hands of extremists.

“They should take a more criminal approach. It isn’t always the easiest but it is the most effective in the long term.”

Sarkozy dispatched his foreign minister to visit Mauritania, Mali and Niger on Monday.

“France is obviously already under a threat by AQIM,” said Claude Moniquet, CEO of European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC).

“Nevertheless, I think that the support of the French army to the attack by the Mauritanian forces against AQIM, last week increases the risk,” Moniquet added, saying the main risks were diplomats and other citizens in the Africa’s Sahel-Sahara region, although an attack in Europe could not be ruled out.

Analysts say AQIM’s push south is a result of its failure to take its campaign to Europe, as well as Algerian pressure.

France’s Areva has major mining interests in Niger, though much further to the east than most al Qaeda-linked activity.

(Additional reporting by William Maclean in London; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Egypt extends olive branch in Nile river row
Tue Jul 27, 2010/By Barry Malone/Reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Egypt sounded a conciliatory note on Monday in a dispute over how Nile waters should be shared by the countries it passes through at an African summit in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

After more than a decade of talks driven by anger over the perceived injustice of a previous Nile water treaty signed in 1929, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya signed a new deal in May without their northern neighbours.

The five signatories have given the other Nile Basin countries — Egypt, Sudan, Burundi and Democratic Republic of the Congo — one year to join the pact but the countries have been torn by behind-the-scenes debate since the signing.

“There are no strategic differences between us,” Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told reporters at the summit. “The issue is only on some technical points that need resolution. The purpose of the Nile Basin agreements is development.”

The words mark a softening of the Egyptian position since a meeting of water ministers from the nine countries last month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

“Ask the Egyptians to leave their culture and go and live in the desert because you need to take this water and to add it to other countries? No,” Egyptian Water Minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam told Reuters at that meeting.

The Nile, stretching more than 6,600 km (4,100 miles) from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean, is a vital water and energy source for the countries through which it flows.

Egyptian state news agency MENA reported that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Nazif agreed at the AU summit that a meeting of the nine states, to take place in Nairobi by November, should be attended by heads of state.

Burundi and Democratic Republic of the Congo have not signed the deal yet and have so far been tight-lipped about whether they plan to or not.

Under the original pact Egypt, which faces possible water shortages by 2017, is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic metres a year, the lion’s share of the Nile’s total flow of around 84 billion cubic metres.

Some 85 percent of the Nile’s waters originate in Ethiopia.

Somaliland preparing high ceremony to take presidency post in Hargeisa
Mareeg.com/27072010

HARGEISA ( Mareeg.com) – Somaliland administration are Tuesday preparing highly decorated ceremony that the newly elected president Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo is supposed to hand over the presidency post from the former president Somaliland Dahir Rayale Kahin in Hargeisa city.

More delegates from different countries in the world are due to attend the last ceremony of Somaliland’s officials which Mr. Silanyo would formally take over the post from Rayale from the coming hours.

Mr. Silanyo is supposed to be sworn at the ceremony which is supposed to be held at one of the best hotels of Hargeisa, the centre of Somaliland administration where more of the officials of the three political parties of the break away republic of Somaliland with the out going president Mr. Dahir Rayale kahin would arrive for the coming hours.

The countries supposed to attend the ceremony are member of the neighboring countries like: Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia whose delegates reached at Somaliland on Monday and the latest reports from Hargeise indicate that the security was highly tightened by the security forces on Tuesday.

AU condemns killing of French hostage by al Qaeda
Jean-Jacques Cornish/www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/27072010

The African Union on Monday condemned the exeuction of a French hostage held by Al Qaeda in Mali.
The terror group said 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, who was abducted in April, was slain in retaliation for the six operatives killed when French soldiers tried to free him at the weekend.
AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said nothing could justify Germaneau’s execution.
He had been working with an aid agency to improve health services and schools in Niger.
Speaking at the AU Summit in Kampala, Lamamra said Al Qaeda showed little respect for human life and behaved in a totally barbaric and unacceptable way.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Spanish Government also condemned what they called a brutal and cowardly act.

UN /ONU :

Bleak outlook for Sudan without Darfur peace: UN
Tue Jul 27, 2010/By Louis Charbonneau/Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – There is a risk of increased instability in Sudan due to a lack of a peace deal for Darfur and a looming referendum on whether South Sudan should secede from the North, the U.N. chief said in a report released on Monday.

In a bleak assessment of the situation facing the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan’s conflict-torn western Darfur region, known as UNAMID, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report said that violence rose in Darfur after nationwide elections in April.

“Violence flared between government forces and JEM (the rebel Justice and Equality Movement) troops in flagrant violation of their commitment to cease hostilities signed in February, and causing May to be the deadliest month since UNAMID’s establishment in 2007,” he said.

The 15-nation Security Council is scheduled to discuss Ban’s assessment on Tuesday. Council diplomats say the panel plans to pass a resolution later this week to extend the mandate of UNAMID for another year, as Ban recommends.

Ban said he was concerned that JEM’s withdrawal from peace talks in Doha could prevent a swift resolution of the Darfur conflict. This, he warned, could have nationwide implications.

“Without an inclusive and comprehensive peace agreement in Darfur, as South Sudan heads towards a referendum on its future status, there is a risk of increasing stability in Sudan,” Ban said, adding that he was urging JEM and Khartoum to return to the negotiating table immediately.

U.N. officials estimate that as many as 300,000 people have died in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the arid region. Khartoum puts the death toll at around 10,000.

DIRE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

The secretary-general also accused both Khartoum and rebel groups in Darfur of restricting UNAMID’s access to areas where there has been fighting.

“In May alone, UNAMID movement was restricted on 10 occasions, eight by the government of Sudan, reportedly for security reasons,” the report said.

Sudan’s outgoing U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem said that there had been “no restrictions whatsoever” placed on UNAMID by Khartoum.

“Indeed, the international civil servants writing such reports reduce the value and credibility of the U.N.,” he told Reuters.

Over the past year between July 2009 and July 2010, UNAMID peacekeepers were attacked on 28 occasions, resulting in 10 dead and 26 injured, the report said. There has also been the problem of kidnapping and banditry.

The humanitarian situation also remains dire, with some two million people — a quarter of Darfur’s population — displaced and reliant on aid agencies for survival. The U.N. World Food Program has difficulty reaching all the people in need of aid in Darfur.

It was unable to reach some 250,000 people in May due to insecurity.

“The scarcity of water in Darfur is growing, with reports of a significant number of wells drying up,” Ban said, adding that the quality of water delivery across Darfur had been hurt by Khartoum’s expulsion of specialized agencies last year.

UN says Somalia peacekeeping mandate adequate
July 27, 2010 /Source: Xinhua

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia Augustine Mahiga said there is no need to change the current mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) from peacekeeping to peace enforcement.

Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs quoted Mahiga as telling a closed door meeting on Monday also attended by three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, United States, France and Britain that the current mandate is adequate in addressing the situation in Somalia.

“It was his view that under the existing mandate, the forces on the ground could act in a more responsible but robust fashion,” Carson told reporters after the meeting attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Tanzania, prime minister of Ethiopia and other foreign ministers.

Uganda and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have been calling for the change of the mandate saying that the situation in Somalia warrants peace enforcement and not peacekeeping.

The meeting which was called to assess the situation in Somalia agreed that there is need for more troop deployment in Somalia.

“We came away even more united to work together to help strengthen the TFG, AMISOM, and the forces for stability in Somalia,” he said.

Okello Oryem, Uganda’s minister of state for international affairs told Xinhua in an interview that Uganda is negotiating with other African countries to send troops to Somalia.

He could not give details of which countries have pledged saying the talks are still at the infancy stage.

Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union Commission told reporters here on Friday on the sides of the ongoing AU summit here that Guinea and Djibouti are ready to deploy troops.

He said that he had also requested South Africa to send troops.

Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have deployed about 6,000 peacekeepers in Somalia.

Defense experts say that more than 20,000 troops are needed in order to stabilize the volatile country which has suffered prolonged war.

Speed up UN anti-terror plan,Migiro tells Africa
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 / By The Citizen Reporter 

The United Nations has urged African governments to speed up implementation of the UN Counter-Terrorism Strategy with a global response rooted in the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The UN deputy secretary-general, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, said the recent bombings in Uganda had shown yet again that terrorism could happen where it was not expected, and no country was immune from the threat.

Dr Migiro made the remarks when addressing the African Union (AU) Summit in Kampala yesterday.

“I know you share my sorrow and profound dismay that in recent days Kampala has claimed our attention for another reason – the ruthless terrorist attack against civilians who were justifiably celebrating South Africa ’s historic and successful hosting of the World Cup,” she said.

Somalia’s al Shabaab militant group has claimed responsibility for the twin bomb attacks that killed over 70 people watching the World Cup final on television in Kampala.

Dr Migiro spoke a day after al Shabaab warned African leaders meeting in Kampala against continuing with their “hostile” policy towards war-ravaged Somalia.

A militant leader allied to the group, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, said those who would ignore the warning would “cry like they did in Kampala”, in reference to the twin bomb attacks that killed over 70 people in the Ugandan capital earlier this month. 

Al Shabaab’s warning coincided with the start of the AU Heads of State Summit, which is expected to discuss the long-running conflict in Somalia and its potential to spilling over the country’s borders.

Al Shabaab and its allies are fiercely opposed to plans to send more peacekeeping troops to Somalia, in a bid to end almost two decades of lawlessness and bloodletting in the Horn of Africa country.

Uganda tightened security ahead of the AU Summit after Al Shabaab urged people in Mogadishu to participate in a jihad (holy war) against the country’s “enemies”.

Dr Migiro offered her condolences to the Ugandan government and all countries that lost citizens in the attacks.

She said the attacks showed that the Somali crisis had a direct impact on regional and global security, adding: “We must strengthen our resolve to do more in our search for stability in that country. That means, first and foremost, supporting the Transitional Federal Government, both in its reconciliation efforts and in its fight against extremism.”

She paid special tribute to the AU mission in Somalia and countries providing support.

Turning to the theme of the summit – Maternal and Child Health – Dr Migiro urged African governments to meet the goal of allocating 15 per cent of national expenditures to health by mobilising their own resources.

“This is not the time to turn away from women and children. Quite the contrary: in delivering for women, we will deliver for all.

“Women and children are the engines that drive our families and our communities, our economies and our nations. Investing in women pays. It is one of the best investments we can make for this and future generations,” she said.

Dr Migiro said progress on maternal and child health in Africa has been lagging and achieving the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the agreed deadline of 2015 is going to be difficult, especially for those countries that also face malnutrition and the HIV-pandemic.

USA :

Obama Wants Global Mining Transparency Standard
Philip Burgert/www.resourceinvestor.com/ 7/27/2010 

CHICAGO – Disclosure requirements for mining and energy companies included in the newly enacted U.S. financial reform law should become a global standard for corporate transparency, the Obama administration said on Friday, but an Australian resources company focusing on Africa warned that it is likely to squeeze tantalum supplies and increase prices. 
“The United States is committed to working with other countries to ensure the implementation of similar disclosure requirements in other financial markets and will make this a priority in the year ahead,” the White House press secretary said in a statement.

Administration officials noted that the reform law signed into by President Barack Obama on Wednesday included what was described as “a landmark provision” requiring energy and mining companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose how much they pay to foreign countries and the U.S. government for oil, gas and minerals.

They called the provision “an essential tool” for promoting transparency in the oil and mineral sectors. “The legislation will immediately shed light on billons in payments between multinational corporations and governments, giving citizens the information they need to monitor companies and to hold governments accountable,” the press secretary’s statement said. 

“It will shine a sustained light on the relationship between corporations and governments in the oil and mineral sectors, and make impossible the kind of back-room dealings that cost taxpayers in lost royalties,” the statement continued.

Activists campaigning for restrictions on “conflict minerals” and “dirty deals” for resource extraction with other governments claimed victory following the signing and called the law a “major success” and an “incredible victory.”

The legislation requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to within nine months write regulations implementing public disclosure of payments to the U.S. or foreign governments for commercial development of oil, natural gas and minerals. 

Other provisions requiring that manufacturers using “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries will also be required to report to the SEC on their supply chains and be subjected to independent audits were cited by Globe Metals & Mining Ltd., West Perth, Western Australia, in warning Monday that the new law is likely to raise tantalum oxide prices.

“The ‘conflict minerals’ provisions have major implications for the tantalum industry and are likely to further constrain the already tight supply of raw material throughout the entire supply chain,” the company said in a six-page market update, noting that the law would require American companies to submit annual reports to the SEC on use of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold sourcing.

The restriction is aimed mainly at identifying metals sourced from conflict areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. The company said that it was likely that the safest and easiest course for major consumer electronics brands like Apple, Intel, Sony, Nokia and Research in Motion would be to not source tantalum from the Congo area.

Executives noted that in recent years the DRC has supplied about 15% of the world’s tantalum while approximately another 40% of the world’s raw material production has been closed by the world’s financial crisis in recent years. Wars in the eastern Congo over the past decade have been financed in part by the region’s easily-mined, rich artisanal deposits of coltan used for tantalum and niobium production, casserite producing tin, wolframite producing tungsten and gold.

Globe is currently developing a niobium, uranium, tantalum and zircon project outside the region with restrictions under the act. That project, in central Malawi, is scheduled to begin production in 2013 at a rate of 3,000 tonnes per year of niobium metal with output of tantalum as a by-product.

Executives noted that other emerging tantalum projects with primary or co-production of the metal outside of the Congo region include a Commerce Resources project in Blue River, British Columbia; a Crevier/MDN-Mines project in Anita, Quebec; and a Gippsland project in Abu Dabbab, Egypt.

VA Terror Suspect Wanted To Help FBI
July 27, 2010 / by: Mike Levine /liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com

Within hours of his arrest, the Virginia man who allegedly threatened the creators of the television show “South Park” and then tried to join an Al Qaeda-linked group in East Africa told U.S. agents he wanted to help the FBI in their fight against terrorism, according to federal prosecutors and the man’s own defense attorney.

Federal agents arrested 20-year-old Zachary Chesser on Wednesday, after a months-long investigation into at least two alleged attempts to join the Somalia-based group al-Shabaab, which has been fighting to establish a strict Muslim state in Somalia and has pledged its allegiance to Usama bin Laden. Chesser is now charged with providing material support to a terrorist group.

On the day of his arrest, Chesser told FBI agents he was “willing to assist the FBI with a few things,” but in exchange he wanted the FBI to send him overseas, possibly to East Africa, Justice Department lawyer John Gibbs told a federal judge during a hearing on Monday. Public defender Michael Nachmanoff acknowledged that Chesser talked about “potentially working for” or “working with” the FBI.

Only months earlier, in a message posted online, Chesser denounced FBI Director Robert Mueller as the U.S. government’s “chief spy,” saying it is “both ironic and promising” that many Americans had already joined al-Shabaab.

“Robert Mueller said he is ‘absolutely’ afraid that more heroes like [them] … will answer the call of Jihad,” Chesser wrote in an online message posted April 1, according to charging documents filed in the case. “This is a call to action and a call to fulfill your obligation as a Muslim to defend your brothers and sisters.”

Chesser’s other writings were even more threatening, prosecutors told the judge on Monday as they urged that Chesser be detained until trial.

During the FBI’s investigation, agents found a “hand-written document” titled “How to Destroy the West,” according to Gibbs. The document, allegedly written by Chesser, discussed ways of attacking the United States and other countries, including cyber-attacks, vehicles filled with explosives, and the bio-agent ricin, Gibbs said.

In addition, Chesser communicated several times with Anwar Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric tied to several recent terrorist plots inside the United States, prosecutors said. He also posted an array of “extremist” videos, “jihad propaganda” and other potentially dangerous materials online, including a leaked version of sensitive Transportation Security Administration guidelines and a message suggesting the creators of the show “South Park” could face death for their depiction of the prophet Mohammed, according to prosecutors.

“He represents a very real danger either here in the United States or overseas with the information he’s able to disseminate,” Gibbs told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis. “For the past year, this defendant’s job has been writing about, talking about and preparing for jihad overseas.”

During several interviews with the FBI over the past year, Chesser — also known as “Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee” — told agents he tried to go to Somalia at least twice to join al-Shabaab as a “foreign fighter,” according to prosecutors.

Most recently, on July 10, he and his infant son were prevented from boarding a flight from New York to Uganda because Chesser was on the “no fly” list. Chesser told FBI agents he hoped his son would act as a “cover” for his travels, prosecutors said.

Chesser “effectively confessed” to the charges against him, Gibbs told Davis on Monday.

Nachmanoff, Chesser’s court-appointed attorney, insisted Chesser is not as much a threat as prosecutors allege, and he should be released until trial.

“The government has made a big deal of the fact that he’s tried to go overseas,” but in reality Chesser has hardly traveled overseas, Nachmanoff told the judge.

In addition, Nachmanoff said, Chesser poses “no greater, no less” of a potential security threat or flight risk than he has over the past year, when for months federal agents watching Chesser declined to arrest him.

Davis, though, sided with prosecutors, saying that Chesser’s online postings and self-proclaimed willingness to “die for Islam” were concerning. But, Davis said, “the most significant” public safety concern Chesser’s willingness to bring his infant son to war-torn Somalia.

“If he’s not going to look out for his 7-month-old child, then the court is required to do so,” Davis said.

Chesser’s next court date was not set.

CANADA :

Canada minister promotes maternal and child health in Africa
Jul 27th, 2010 /By Bikya Masr Staff

KAMPALA, Uganda: Peter Kent, Canada’s Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), today concluded a three-day trip to Kampala, Uganda, where he participated in the 15th African Union (AU) Summit.

“Canada deeply values its relationship with the African continent,” said Minister of State Kent. “Growing more confident on the world stage, while improving living standards at home, Africa stands to play a transformational role in the 21st century.”

The theme of this year’s AU Summit, Maternal, Infant, and Child Health and Development in Africa, reflects an issue that was at the forefront of the recent G-8 Summit. In a speech reporting on the outcomes of the G-8 and G-20 summits to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee meeting, Minister of State Kent promoted the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, which has been adopted by the G-8 countries and endorsed by African child health leaders.

“This Canada-led initiative, first announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will allow us to make great strides toward our ultimate goal: saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children in developing countries,” said Minister of State Kent.

Through its comprehensive and integrated approach, the Muskoka Initiative will greatly reduce the number of maternal, newborn and under-five child deaths in developing countries. Canada’s commitment to this initiative will be $1.1 billion in new funding, of which 80 percent will go to sub-Saharan Africa.

The Minister of State, who was joined by Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a series of meetings with African leaders on issues of shared interest, including economic development, security and peacekeeping.

Canada revokes passport of 11th Russian ‘spy’
July 27 /(RIA Novosti)/en.rian.ru

Canada has cancelled the passport of a suspected Russian spy who fled after being released on bail in Cyprus, the Toronto Star has reported.

Christopher Metsos was detained on June 29, two days after the U.S.-Russian spy scandal broke out following the announcement by the U.S. authorities that they had detained 10 people on charges of espionage on behalf of Russia.

Metsos was put on a wanted list as an 11th alleged spy. A day after his detention, police on the island said they were looking for him after he apparently jumped a $33,000 bail.

Earlier in July, Cypriot officials confirmed that Metsos had assumed the identity of a dead five-year-old Canadian boy to obtain a passport. Other reports said Metsos had obtained the passport through the Canadian Embassy in South Africa’s Johannesburg, the Toronto Star said.

The spy scandal, which took place just days after Russian President Dmitry Mevedev visited the United States, sparked allegations that the reset in Russian-U.S. relations could come to an end.

However, Russia and the United States ended the scandal with a swap deal earlier in July. Russia pardoned and released on Friday four prisoners jailed for spying activities against Russia in exchange for the ten Russian “spies.”

Both countries pledged the espionage row would not affect bilateral ties.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)

AUSTRALIA :

EUROPE :

EU Urges Concerted Action To Fight Terror In Sahal-Saharan Africa
7/27/2010/RTTNews

(RTTNews) – The European Union (EU), Monday urged the international community to step up efforts to tackle terrorism in the Sahel-Saharan Africa in the wake of a French aid worker’s murder by Islamist insurgents in Mauritania.

“We condemn this foul assassination in the strongest possible terms. We express solidarity with the victim’s relatives and with the French authorities, and we lend them full support in these tragic circumstances,” a statement from EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said. 

The EU meeting also underscored the need for drumming up international and regional support to beef up security in the Sahel-Saharan strip.

The communique also stressed the region’s importance terming it as being “at the gateway to Europe.”

The Sahel desert region is a strip of barren land stretching across Africa from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea.

Germaneau,78, was kidnapped in April from Niger where he was helping to build schools for the nomadic Tuareg. The Mauritian army last week undertook a major offensive to secure the Frenchman’s release from captivity. 

Although troops stormed the hideout killing six members of the al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), it failed to locate the missing Frenchman.

Following the killing of Germaneau, AQIM issued a statement saying that it was done to avenge the deaths of militants killed in the army operation.

AQIM was also responsible for the death of British hostage Edwin Dyer last year.

Meanwhile, French President Nikolas Sarkozy has asked French citizens not to travel to the region following the killing of Germaneau. 

by RTT Staff Writer

Seychelles Jails Somali Pirates to 10 Years in Jail
2010-07-27/Xinhua/ Web Editor: Wang Wenwen 

Seychelles has sentenced 11 Somali pirates to a decade in prison for attempting to hijack a coast guard in December last year, a regional maritime official confirmed on Tuesday. 

Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said the ruling by the Supreme Court in Victoria, the first of its kind in the Indian Ocean archipelago, was delivered on Monday. 

Mwangura said the 11 pirates were arrested inside Seychelles’ territorial waters when they attacked a coast guard vessel with automatic weapons last December. 

“Eleven pirates were sentenced to serve a 10 (years) jail term in Seychelles on Monday. The pirates attacked a Seychellois coastguard patrol boat, Topaz in December last year,” Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone early Tuesday. 

According to a statement issued by Seychelles Department of Legal Affairs, eight of the pirates sentenced were convicted of piracy, and three others of aiding and abetting piracy, for trying to hijack the Topaz patrol boat. Four of them were less than 18 years old. 

“Their conviction is a historical milestone as it is the first time that a piracy trial is successfully prosecuted in the Seychelles,” said the statement. 

Pirate groups have ventured farther out into the Indian Ocean to avoid international warships patrolling Somalia’s coastal waters, bringing them into the domain of Seychelles. 

“These convictions will serve as a deterrent for prospective Somali pirates who would otherwise have thought they would have come into Seychelles waters with impunity,” the Department of Legal Affairs said. 

It is only Kenya and the Seychelles in the region that have agreed to take in suspects for prosecution, but both have recently complained about the burden of trying and jailing pirates in their countries. 

Early this year, Nairobi formally announced it wished to stop the prosecution of suspected Somali pirates and cancel the agreements it has to that effect with several countries from Asia and Europe. 

The foreign ministry had sent “cancellation notes” to at least two of those powers’ diplomatic representations in Nairobi, arguing it could no longer bear the burden on its prison and court systems. 

The minister accused the international community of failing to keep up its obligations in sharing the burden in prosecuting and imprisoning the detained pirates. 

The minister said due to limited capacity of Kenyan courts and prisons as well as financial costs and security concerns, the country can only accept pirates for trial on a case-by-case basis. 

However, the threat was later lifted following a meeting between Kenya and the European Union (EU). 

Kenya has memoranda of understanding with EU, United States, Canada, Denmark, China and Britain whereby it takes in suspects intercepted at sea and prosecutes them in courts in Mombasa. 

The agreements allowing foreign naval powers to hand over suspects to Kenya instead of taking them back home for prosecution. 

Kenya shares its southern border with Somalia, whose coastline has been infected with piracy in recent years. More than 160 pirate attacks were reported in the waters off Somalia from the beginning of last year. 

Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have continued despite the presence of warships deployed by navies of various countries and organizations including NATO, EU, Russia, China, South Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy.

SAAB to support AMISOM
Written by defenceWeb /Tuesday, 27 July 2010 

SAAB, the Swedish defence and security company with a significant South African presence, has won a two-year, US$5.5 million contract to support the the African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) with maintenance and technical services. The contract, awarded Friday bythe United Nations, has an option for an extension of a further two years. 

SAAB will begin its commitment to UNSOA (United Nations Support Office for AMISOM) in Mogadishu next month. “This means SAAB will deliver a maintenance solution that will support AMISOM, and that also includes technical training, preventive and corrective maintenance, maintenance planning, documentation, monitoring and analysis.” 

“We are delighted to have received this order, which is a real breakthrough deal for Saab regarding the UN. A fantastic effort from everyone involved has made this possible, and now it is time for us to begin this operation and fulfill the customer’s demands,” says Axel Cavalli-Bjorkman, Director of Business Development, Marketing & Sales within Saab’s Support and Services business area. 

AMISOM is mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid. It was created by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) in January 2007 with an initial six month mandate. In February 2007 the UN Security Council (UNSC) approved the mission’s mandate ad subsequent six-monthly renewals of AMISOM’s mandate by the African Union Peace and Security Council have been mirrored by the UNSC.

News reports indicate AU ministers last Thursday agreed to expand the mission’s mandate from a peacekeeping focus to a peace-enforcement focus that will engage al-Qaeda franchise al-Shabaab more directly following a deadly bomb attack in the Ugandan capital earlier in the month that killed over 70 people watching the soccer World Cup final. 

Reuters Friday reported the AU had also announced Guinea would send a battalion of troops to join AMISOM. “We have today a full commitment with Guinea for a battalion,” AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping told reporters. “Guinea is ready to immediately send troops.”

East African regional bloc IGAD last month pledged to send another 2000 troops to join more than 6000 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi in Mogadishu. IGAD has not yet announced which countries will contribute peacekeepers. The latest pledges would take the force, known as AMISOM, to more than 8000-strong – the maximum allowed under its current mandate.

A three-year insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation has killed at least 21 000 civilians and forced 1.5 million from their homes. Somalia’s Western-backed government now controls only a few streets of the capital Mogadishu.

Logistics, or the lack thereof, has long been the bane of African peacekeeping missions, including AMISOM. Former African Union (AU) Commission peace and security department director Geofrey Mugumya will tell next month’s defenceWeb Peacekeeping Africa 2010 conference that a haphazard approach to logistics as well as to financing and force generation has hamstrung numerous past and present AU peacekeeping missions, starting with the continent’s first mission in Chad in 1979. 

The defenceWeb’ Peacekeeping Africa 2010 conference will will take place at Gallagher Estate, Midrand, from August 26 to 27.

CHINA :

China’s “barefoot doctors” inspiration to Africa: WHO
English.news.cn/Editor: Zhang Xiang /Xinhua/by Gui Tao/2010-07-27

KAMPALA, July 27 (Xinhua) — China’s “barefoot doctors” who helped deliver the basic medical services to the country’s extensive and remote rural areas can be an inspiration to Africa’s slashing its high maternal and infant mortalities, a WHO senior official has said on the sidelines of the African Union summit being held here.

“One of the lessons that Africa can learn from the Chinese experiences is that the country’s medical services were closely delivered to its people by the barefoot doctors and experiences of providing services at the community level,” the World Health Organization (WHO) Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health director, Flavia Bustreo, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

“In fact, some of the countries making progress in Africa like Ethiopia for example, have really borrowed the lessons they have from China,” she said. “They have created a health extension with health extension workers that they have quickly trained and deployed in the rural areas. That is the major lessons they have really looked for and learnt from China. “

Chinese barefoot doctors are farmers who received minimal basic medical and paramedical training and worked in rural villages in the country. They brought health care to rural areas where urban- trained doctors would not settle, promoting basic hygiene, preventive health care, and family planning.

Bustreo said the other important lesson for Africa to learn from China is that China is able to provide access free and that is critical.

With five years to go to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, she said, a number of African countries have made significant progress in reducing maternal and infant mortalities, including countries with low income, for example, Malawi, the chair of this year’s African Union Summit.

“More than five countries in Africa are achieving already or on truck to reduce the child mortality,” she said.

Bustreo, a world-renowned physician, said the data this year had shown that it was very clear the association of HIV/AIDS and maternal death was really staggering, which she called a major challenge that is facing specific challenge for the continent.

She said the African leaders in 2001 in Abuja agreed and committed to what is called Abuja target. They are implementing 15 percent of their budget for health and several countries have made progress and even in fact some have surpassed 15 percent like Rwanda for example is already above 18 percent.”

“However, if you have a country which is of a low income and even if they arrive at 15 percent of their budget for health, then in absolute terms we are still talking about less than a dollar per capita per year,” she said.

“But from the World Health Organization we have estimated that the least you need is 40 dollars per capita per year to achieve the results we are discussing.”

“So there is a gap here that really needs to be filled not only by additional investments by the government itself but also by other partners, by private sector, by foundation and other stake holders that are commit to this agenda.”

Africa Joint Pavilion receives 10 millionth Expo visitor
English.news.cn/Xinhua/2010-07-27 

SHANGHAI, July 27 (Xinhua) — The Africa Joint Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 gave its 10 millionth visitor a royal reception on Tuesday.

Wu Jing, from central China’s Henan Province, received a “golden scepter” from Rose Ndayiragije, rotating director of the pavilion, and was “coronated” with a chieftain’s crown and cloak.

“I got up at 6 a.m. to line up for entry to the Expo Park, and I feel so lucky to be the 10 millionth visitor of Africa Joint Pavilion,” said Wu.

The 31-year-old college teacher also received a huge box containing gifts from all the 43 participants of the joint pavilion.

The presents included a Shanghai Expo passport with all the 43 participants’ stamps on it, as well as pins and souvenirs representing all 43 participants — including a wood carving from Guinea, a colorful bracelet from Cameroon and a candelholder from Benin.

Ndayiragije, also director of the Burundi Pavilion, said she and her colleagues were delighted to receive so many visitors. “We hope to bring happiness to all of them.”

The Africa Joint Pavilion had initially expected to get 10 million visitors during the entire duration of the six-month Expo, she said. “Now we expect the number to double.”

The Shanghai World Expo opened on May 1 and lasts until Oct. 31.

African pavilions have drawn large crowds of Expo visitors, particularly the South Africa Pavilion during the World Cup. 

BASIC meeting ends without consensus on climate change
English.news.cn/Xinhua/2010-07-27 

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (Xinhua) — A meeting of the BASIC group, formed by Brazil, South Africa, India and China, ended on Monday without consensus on a unified plan to deal with the global climate change.

The group, which met in Rio over the weekend, tried to reach a common ground on the maximum limit of carbon emissions for developing countries, to be presented to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, which will take place in Cancun, Mexico, in November.

As they failed to reach a common ground, the four countries decided to hold another meeting in Beijing in October. According to Brazilian Environment Minister Izabela Teixeira, the countries expect to achieve a convergent position at the Beijing meeting so they can work together in Cancun.

In Beijing, the BASIC countries will discuss the impacts of the carbon emission reduction on the economic development of developing countries.

Teixeira stressed that the Rio meeting is the first talks attended by technical personnel from the BASIC countries.

The minister also highlighted the transparency of the conversations and the presentation of concrete figures on each countries’ situation.

INDIA :

BRASIL:

UNESCO to establish new Regional Center for Heritage Management in Brazil
Source: Xinhua/July 27 2010

Brazil and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) formalized on Monday during the 34th Meeting of the World Heritage Committee, in Brasilia, the creation of a Regional Center for Heritage Management to be established in Rio de Janeiro.
The announcement was made by UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova and Brazil’s Minister of Culture Joao Luiz Silva Ferreira, who is the current president of the World Heritage Committee, among other authorities.
The center approved at the 35th General Conference of UNESCO, held last year in France, will be established at Gustavo Capanema Palace, in Rio de Janeiro, and will have the mission to train professionals and to improve tools to manage cultural and natural heritage.
After signing the agreement, Bokova stressed that the institution will not only provide regional training, but will contribute broadly to the preservation of world heritage. “The Center is being created at a very significant moment, since the ( World Heritage) Convention is entering an important phase of debate on developing criteria for registering (new sites) and on how to reconcile preservation and modernity,” she said.
Minister Joao Ferreira, for his part, said the “great challenge ” for preserving world heritage is the relation between preservation and development, not modernity.
“Brazilian economy is growing nearly 10 percent (a year) and we will become the fifth largest economy in the world. Economic development places the country in a level of increased responsibility (to preserve world heritage),” he explained.
For him, the conception of heritage needs to be modernized, and Brazil proposes an update on the concepts that govern the Convention.
With its commitment to create the Center in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian government expects to spread its experiences concerning world heritage, to meet the internal demands and to assist in the training of managers from South American and Portuguese-speaking African countries.
President of Iphan (Brazil’s Institute of Historic and Artistic National Heritage) Luiz Fernando de Almeida said that the Center will be a very important tool for the preservation of heritage in Brazil, Africa and South America.
“From 2011 on, it will offer a basic course for managers from 17 countries and will also play the role of an observatory of cultural heritage, which is part of a decentralization policy of the World Heritage Committee,” he said.
The Center will play a regional role, like other Centers located in China, Bahrain, Mexico, South Africa and Norway.
It will focus on the implementation of UNESCO’s Conventions for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005).
In December, a meeting will be held in Bahrain with the participation of representatives of the six existing Centers to share experiences and work criteria.
The 34th Meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee takes place up to Aug. 3 in the Brazilian capital to analyze requests to register new sites on World Heritage List and to review the status of listed sites considered to be in danger. Brasilia celebrates in 2010 the 50th anniversary of its foundation and is hosting UNESCO’ s Committee meeting for the second time. The first one took place in 1988, a year after the recognition of the city as a World Cultural Heritage.

EN BREF, CE 27 juillet 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,27/07/2010