{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 12 avril 2010 – AFP- April 12, 2010–US President Barack Obama Sunday heaped praise on South Africa for taking the decision to become the first country to abandon a nuclear weapons program, as he met President Jacob Zuma.

RWANDA

French President Sarkozy’s visit to Rwanda
By Anthony Torres/ www.wsws.org/12 April 2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid a brief visit on February 25 to the Rwanda capital Kigali, to meet Rwandan president Paul Kagamé. This visit took place 15 years after the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis by Hutu tribal forces, supported by France, which claimed 800,000 victims.

Rwanda broke off diplomatic relations with France three years ago. The French government was then trying to implicate the Kagamé regime in the genocide by investigating accusations that Kagamé’s forces had played a role in triggering the genocide, by having the then-Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane shot down.

The aim of Sarkozy’s visit—in fact, a stopover that only lasted a few hours—was to renew diplomatic contacts, on condition that France’s role in the genocide be overlooked.

Sarkozy repeated the lies disseminated up to now by French government spokesmen, according to which Paris was not aware of what was happening in Rwanda. He deplored “a serious error of judgment, a sort of blindness when we did not see the genocidal dimension of the government of the president who was assassinated, errors in that the ‘Operation Turquoise’ was launched too late and probably with not enough forces”. In 2007, Sarkozy had spoken of the “weaknesses and errors” of the international community, “France included”.

Sarkozy did not want to go so far as the comments of his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who in 2008 had spoken of “a French political error”—provoking the anger of French leaders such as Edouard Balladur (prime minister from 1993 to 1995) and Alain Juppé, his foreign affairs minister. Balladur had sent a letter to Kouchner and Sarkozy, insisting that “Kouchner does not honour France…. Nicolas Sarkozy does not need him in government”.

These leaders are fearful of legal prosecution by the International Court of Justice, which is charged with the inquiry into the crimes in Rwanda, and do not want to make confessions.

As for Kagamé, he spoke of a “difficult past” between France and Rwanda. He envisaged participating in the France-Africa conference that will take place in Nice at the end of May.

In a gesture to Kigali, French authorities detained Agathe Habyarimana, Juvénal’s widow, on March 3 before releasing her. She has lived in France since escaping from Rwanda through the Congo in 1994 under French protection. She is widely thought to have been a leading member of the Akazu, a small circle of Hutu-extremist Habyarimana associates, who planned and encouraged the genocide.

Though Mrs. Habyarimana has lived in France for some time, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Expatriates (Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides, OFPRA) has repeatedly refused to grant her political asylum. It justified its refusal by noting that there are “serious reasons” to believe she “is guilty of crimes against humanity”.

Kigali had issued an extradition order for her last November. It is not yet clear what legal proceedings she might face. Jeune Afrique raised the possibility of an investigation in France, noting that for the time being an extradition to Rwanda is unlikely—“the French justice system is not convinced of the impartiality of the Rwandan justice system”, it noted.

The French role in Rwanda

On August 5, 2008, the Rwandan government in Kigali had published a 500-page document detailing the role of France in the anti-Tutsi genocide conducted by the Hutu government, France’s ally in 1994. The massacres took place while Rwanda was confronted with a crushing economic recession due to the collapse of coffee prices, its principal export crop, and a massive devaluation of its currency, the CFA franc (franc de la communauté française d’Afrique, franc of the French community in Africa), demanded by the International Monetary Fund. This currency, linked to the French franc, allowed France to exercise a strong monetary and economic influence on many former francophone African colonies.

The Rwandan government also had to confront an invasion led by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (FPR) linked to American interests, the majority of whom were Tutsis and supported by the US.

In a Le Monde article (“In Rwanda, Nicolas Sarkozy must find the right words”), Alain Destexh—the senator who had instigated the commission of enquiry for the Belgian Senate on the genocide in Rwanda, of which he is also secretary—explains the role of France. After the withdrawal of Belgian support for the government of Habyarimana in 1990, France took over the reins: the Rwandan army’s troop strength was increased fivefold and arms supplies increased. French troops trained Rwandan forces and even participated in direct fighting against the FPR.

At that time, France was governed by a coalition between the bourgeois left and the right. The French President François Mitterrand was a member of the Socialist Party (PS), and the government was composed of the right-wing Gaullist RPR party. Mitterrand had always refused to speak of the genocide and France’s role.

In April 1994, after the death of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, when his plane had been shot down over Kigali, the government started to broadcast on the radio, calls for the Interahamwe militia, recruited mainly from among young unemployed Hutus, to carry out the massacre of Tutsis. It has been estimated that between April and June the Interahamwe and other allied militia killed 800,000 people, the majority of them Tutsis, but also including Hutus opposed to the government.

France mounted Operation Turquoise, sending thousands of troops to occupy the south-western region of the country. Operation Turquoise aimed to shelter as many Hutus as possible—including those responsible for genocide, who were more solidly attached to French imperialism. Many of these elements had been able to flee to the Congo and continue to fight. The Radio Mille Collines station whose broadcasts orchestrated the massacres, was broadcasting under French protection in the Congo frontier region, controlled by the French Foreign Legion.

According to the Kigali New Times, the Rwandan report also exposes French collaboration at the time of the murders and ethnic cleansing: “The French troops adopted a scorched earth policy. They gave the order to three local government authorities, at the Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gikongoro prefectures (administrative regions), to incite the Hutu population to flee en masse to Zaire. They also demanded that the Tutsis who had infiltrated into the refugee camps be presented to them, and that the Interahamwe kill at least a few. In several places in these three prefectures, they let the Interahamwe kill Tutsis under their eyes”.

The French operation had moved the conflict towards the west, to the Congo Democratic Republic, the centre of a regional war that had raged between 1998 and 2003.

Sarkozy’s February trip took place as a withdrawal from the east of the Congo of the Monuc, the United Nations intervention force, was being negotiated.

The cynicism of the French media

In its February 26, 2010, editorial (“The right words”), Le Monde gave an example of the French media’s cynical treatment of the Rwanda tragedy. It described Sarkozy’s speech at Kigali as “the right words”, that is, “a partial but exact diagnosis” of the Rwandan events.

In fact, Sarkozy neither presented an accounting of the massacre encouraged and supported by France, nor apologies for any French leaders’ complicity. Le Monde described these omissions as an “unspoken element”, about which nobody should apologize: “Rather than contrition, what is left unsaid about the Franco-Rwandan issue calls for reflect
ion and a historical examination”.

Le Monde next attempted to whitewash Sarkozy’s Rwandan policy by obscure references that it does not explain. In order to intimate to the informed reader that Sarkozy wanted to improve relations with Anglo-American imperialism—allied to Kagamé, and that Paris supports its criminal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—the newspaper said Sarkozy’s visit broke, “in a salutary way, with the ‘Fashoda complex.’”

The Fashoda crisis, named after a geo-strategic town in Sudan, took place between France and Britain in 1898. The French sent an expedition to Fashoda, which had been evacuated by the British, but the expedition provoked a reaction by Britain, which was determined to guarantee its interests in nearby Egypt. Under the threat of possible conflicts with Britain, French imperialism finally abandoned Fashoda, whilst maintaining a poisonous anti-British atmosphere in France.

In a cynical amalgam, designed to hide French imperialism’s role in Rwanda, Le Monde criticizes “those who claim, against all evidence, that the French military was an accomplice of the massacres”, a “protagonist” of a “new Dreyfus Affair”.

That is to say, that according to Le Monde, the French Army is the target of a campaign similar to the anti-Semitic accusations of espionage brought by the French Army against Alfred Dreyfus in 1894. The difference between the two cases, it must be recalled, is that Dreyfus was innocent, while the French command and government are truly responsible for their role in the genocide. In fact, the common denominator between the Rwandan genocide and the Dreyfus Affair is that, in both cases, the French Army brazenly lied to protect itself.

Le Monde concluded that Sarkozy’s speech in Rwanda, “far from bringing prejudice to the country’s honour, relieves it of a great weight”. In fact, by excusing the French role in the Rwandan genocide, Sarkozy and Le Monde are preparing to subject masses across the globe to the next crimes of French imperialism.

Low response to Rwanda, Uganda 24-hour border services
www.busiweek.com/BOSCO HITIMANA/Monday, 12 April 2010

KIGALI, RWANDA – Uganda and Rwanda are not getting value for their money on their recently commissioned 24-hour border services at Katuna border post.

Commissioner General for the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) Ms. Mary Baine says that available statistics show that there are no people to serve.

“In line with trying to remove trade barriers, we have started 24 operations at Gatuna and from the statistics that I’m getting, I don’t think we are really getting the value for our money,” Baine told the Rwandan Business Community mid last week.

“Half of the time, our officers are basically dozing, and trying to battle the mosquitoes in that swampy area because there are really no people to serve,” Baine added.

She explained that apart from a few buses, which she believes are only two that come about 3:00 am, the rest of the time officers are seated.

“And we have been having serious discussions with our Ugandan counterparts if it is really cost effective to open for 24 hours and if we should not go back to our principles and say that maybe it was more prudent to work 16 hours because the current volume does not warrant to work 24 hours.”

Baine said it was considerable to have discussions with the private sector to solve the issue.

“I think it is something that, together with our partners of the private sector, we need to think about that seriously and see how to sort it out.

She called on the private sector to utilise the services available at the border.

“It is also important that people take advantage of that and try to raise the levels of doing business,” she urged the business community.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF) Ms. Molly Rwigamba says that in order to make border services and the benefits of the East African Community(EAC) common market protocol known, a countrywide sensitisation is being conducted.

“This is a process that has just begun and the businessmen have not grasped that opportunity. We are still doing sensitization and we hope like in five to six months they can take advantage of that,” Rwigamba told East African Business Week in Kigali. Rwanda and Uganda commissioned the 24-hour border service at Gatuna on March 19, upgrading from previous 16-hour operations.

UGANDA

Oil displaces coffee in Uganda value items
www.busiweek.com/JOSEPH OLANYO/Monday, 12 April 2010

KAMPALA, UGANDA – The coffee berry receives little attention these days. All the talk in Uganda is of oil.

In the last half of this year (2010) – if US$8 billion plans to develop Uganda’s downstream industry, which will include a refinery, an export pipeline and a railway and road network to the remote oil region keep on schedule-Uganda will begin pumping 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil.

Revenues from the string of off shore discoveries will quickly surpass the foreign exchange earnings harvested by hundreds of thousands of small holding coffee farmers.

In the second phase of intensive on-going exploration campaign and development plan, production is set to double.

Uganda’s crude reserves in its Lake Albert region, is increasingly drawing the attention of global oil players. Tullow Oil Plc from UK, whose pioneering work in Uganda led to these recent finds, Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have committed themselves to extend full cooperation with Uganda as it embarks on this path.

Tullow Oil Plc, the Irish Company, plans to drill at least 10 wells in Uganda this year and invest around $150-$200 million in exploration and production as interest in the country’s oil sector heats up.

The President CNOOC, Mr Fu Chengyu, believes that Uganda has undoubtedly become a crucial new frontier in the African oil industry and could eventually be among Africa’s seven producers. Seismic data and the success rate of recent drilling pointing to potential of 2 billion barrels in recoverable reserves.

While briefing journalists on a recent field trip to the southern part of the eastern Rift Valley, where huge oil and gas reserves have been found, Uganda’s Ministry of Energy officials said that petroleum resources in the Lake Albertine Graben is about two billion barrels of oil.

Dozith Abeinomugisha, a senior geologist in the petroleum exploration and production department, said that 34 wells had been drilled of which only two were dry. This amount is expected to increase with continued exploration and appraisal of discovered wells. Up to now, only 30 percent of exploration activities in the oil-potential area of western Uganda, stretching from Kanungu to Nebbi, have been completed.

Ministry officials contend that the total proved oil reserves might reach six billion barrels or more. This, the officials said, would put Uganda in the category of Sudan (6.4 billion barrels), above Gabon (2 billion), Chad (1.8 billion) and Equatorial Guinea (1.1 billion).

Oil experts say the discoveries can support production of over 100,000 barrels of oil per day for 20years and are sufficient to implement large-scale refining in the country. The resources are also sufficient for commercial development, the official said.

Uganda is not alone. Even Ghana’s humble cocoa pods are receiving scant attention as the country famed for its democracy and emerging markets prepare to pump about 120,000 barrels a day of oil. Ugandans and Ghanaians may not have to look far for countries ruined by oil.

Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills told the Financial Times late last year that: “We can not afford to repeat the same mistakes that other countries have unfortunately made. We must make sure that oil and gas become a blessing”.

South African President Jacob Zuma told a business forum organised by Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in Kampala recently that discoveries of commercial oil reserves in Uganda present new investment opportunities for South African companies.

According to Uganda’s energy Ministry, the production and refining of oil has to be taken forward along two parallel developments. In the short term, the ministry says it is considering a modified early production scheme as it awaits the full-scale refinery, expected by 2015.

The long-term plan, the Ministry officials said, is the development of a medium-to-large refinery with a daily capacity of 150,000 barrels. Such a refinery costs about $2b. Oil experts contend that to afford it, the Government, which wants a 50/50 partnership, would need $1billion.

At the peak of Uganda’s mineral sector performance in early 1960’s to 1975, mineral exports contributed one third of foreign exchange earnings. Even with the country’s economic recovery in late 1980’s to late 1990’s, the sector failed to attract investments.

Reports from Uganda’s US$40 million aerial magnetic mineral survey revealed that Uganda has a huge mineral potential that has not been exploited.

Uganda’s Commissioner , Department of Geological Survey and Mines, Mr Joshua Tuhumwire, says Uganda’s geological setting is favourable for a wide variety of minerals due to long geological history.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, has always reiterated that oil revenues will be property invested in infrastructure including renewable energy, roads, railways, science and innovations.

The finds have put Ugandans on a roller coaster of expectations. But as Uganda gears up for oil production, a cloud of uncertainty still looms as a number of issues remain unresolved.

The issue of sharing oil revenues is yet to be sorted out. Under the mining law, the Government takes 80 percent of the revenues, the local government 17 percent, while the land owner takes 3 percent.

Since Uganda, apparently has no law on how to share petroleum revenues, it may now be time for Parliament to come up with a proposal on how to share revenues of the finds. The law will also decide whether to make oil agreements public.

Tullow is in the process of acquiring Heritage Oil’s 50% equity in two jointly owned exploration blocs, but the government has been giving partial deadlines for concluding the deal.

TANZANIA:

CONGO RDC :

KENYA :

ANGOLA :

Angolan Crude Output Set to Jump On Back of Deepwater Projects
12 April 2010/www.oilvoice.com

Angolan oil output stands to rise by 16% by the end of 2010 according to the African nation’s deputy petroleum minister. The dramatic spike in production is expected as a result to a number of new deepwater projects coming on stream.

The projection, which was made by the minister at an energy conference in South Africa, highlights how Angola is pushing forward with its promise to increase output levels. Furthermore, the most recent forecasts tell how well the West African nation has performed against its promise thus far, having already produced in excess of its 1.571 million barrels per day (bpd) Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota.

For some time now, Angola has upon a number of occasions attempted to have its OPEC production quota reviewed by the oil producer group, or even lifted altogether. The Angolan government is fighting its corner as it has argued that it needs the revenues that proceed increased production to rebuild its war-torn domestic infrastructure. The minister’s recent public comments only serve to further underline this sentiment.

Anibal Octavio da Silva, The deputy petroleum minister, has forecast that crude output will rise by 16% to around 2.2 million bpd by 2011, north of its current level at 1.9 million bpd. In addition to the batch of projects which have recently come onstream, da Silva added that as many as 30 more oil discoveries were presently under development.

Angola is predicting its oil industry to attract $50.6 billion in investment between 2009 and 2013. And it has its expansive upstream and downstream activities to thank for this. Around 40% of the expected investment has been budgeted to go towards the construction of a new oil refinery at the port of Lobito.

The 40% of investment ring-fenced to be put towards the delayed refinery is reported to be equivalent to around $20bn. The Lobito facility was initially scheduled to be completed by 2012, but owing to the impact of the financial crisis, that finish date has since been pushed back to 2014.

When looking at where the uptick in production is set to stem from, two large offshore projects in particular appear to be taking up the slack. French major Total’s Pazflor project and BP’s PSVM development, which are both set to come onstream next year, look to be the catalysts.

SOUTH AFRICA:

South Africa. Terre’Blanche was rapist, accused say
Canwest News Service/ www.ottawacitizen.com/ April 12, 2010

Police are investigating the possibility that the murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terre’Blanche came after he attempted to rape the men accused of killing him. Lieut.-Gen. Jan Mabula said investigators were examining claims that Terre’Blanche had attempted to sodomize one or both of the two workers charged with bludgeoning him to death. The line of inquiry follows a report the two farm labourers charged with the murder will argue in their defence that they were protecting themselves from the advances of Terre’Blanche, leader of the paramilitary Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB).

Murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche destabilises South Africa
By Brian Smith/ www.wsws.org/12 April 2010

Eugene Terreblanche, a white supremacist leader in South Africa, was murdered in his sleep on his farm outside Ventersdorp, 100 miles west of Johannesburg, following a dispute over wages with a young man and a youth in his employ.

The event sparked outrage from his supporters and condemnation from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government, who fear it becoming a focus for social tensions amongst South Africa’s farm labourers and broader sections of workers.

The alleged attackers, aged 28 and 15, have been arrested and charged with murder, after a machete and a knobkerrie (wooden club) were found next to Terreblanche’s bed. The trial preliminaries got underway on Wednesday, just days after the murder, with the youth’s mother claiming that her son had not been paid for months.

Terreblanche was leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, or Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), a neo-Nazi organisation which arose in the 1970s in opposition to President P.W. Botha’s plan to allow Asian and “coloured” (mixed-race) people a vote in proposed racially-segregated parliamentary chambers. Terreblanche was jailed in 1997 for the attempted murder of a black security guard, and for setting his dogs on a petrol-station attendant, and was jailed again in 2001 for the attempted murder of a farm worker whom he beat so badly in 1996 that the man was left brain-damaged.

The AWB was, and remains, a marginal group given to grandstanding and occasional acts of terrorism. Terreblanche lived in comparative obscurity and was considered an embarrassment and a buffoon by the majority of right-wingers, who ultimately recognised the need to share power with the black elite.

After the murder the AWB initially threatened retaliation against the country’s black majority. This was hastily withdrawn by a senior member following President Jacob Zuma’s condemnation of the murder and appeal for “South Africans not to allow agents provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fuelling racial hatred.”

Zuma’s comments appear to be targeted at elements of his own party, particularly ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema, as well as at the AWB.

Last month Malema quoted lyrics from an Apartheid era song called “Kill the Boer,” (or white farmer). AWB members have blamed Malema for inciting the actions that led to this murder, though the events appear unconnected. South Africa’s high court has ruled that the song is unconstitutional, though the ANC has challenged this—claiming that it is a valuable part of their cultural heritage and that the lyrics are not intended literally.

Malema represents a wing of the ANC which seeks to whip up racial conflict as a means of diverting attention from the shortcomings of the ANC government and the vast wealth made by the tiny black elite at the expense of the majority of the population.

He took the opportunity, at a rally organized by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, to praise Zimbabwe’s programme of taking over thousands of white-owned farms, saying that South Africa will follow their example.

Malema seeks for the ANC to appear more populist and to gain more support by exploiting the growing discontentment in the country. But he knows full well that the government is beholden to South Africa’s western backers who do not want Zimbabwean-style land redistribution, which could undermine the stability and profitability of the country.

In fact, the ANC government has so far managed to achieve only a fraction of the land it promised to redistribute. According to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), “since 1994 only 4 percent of land, or four million hectares, has been transferred to black South Africans… At this rate the target of having 30 percent of agricultural land in black hands by 2014 is a pipedream”.

The ISS believes that the ANC leadership, is “keen not to frighten investors planned intervention in the land market”, but also points to the “purchase of food-producing land for golf courses and game farms” as a major issue.

The murder of Terreblanche has to be seen in the context of the widespread maltreatment of employees and the widening of social inequalities. In some provinces assaults against farm workers are so common that they appear to be the norm. Even when incidents manage to get to court, judges frequently reduce charges and impose lenient sentences on the farmers.

The ANC government has done little to ameliorate the brutal conditions that exist in the South African countryside. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has highlighted the appalling conditions faced by farm workers which include poor living and working conditions, extremely low wages, long hours, dangerous working conditions, victimisation of trade-union members, child labour practices, frequent evictions, physical assaults and threats, and use of the tot system (whereby workers are given alcohol as a component of their wages).

Unscrupulous farmers also resort to brutal methods to force black workers off land which the farmer desires, including victimisation, cutting off electricity and water supplies, demolition of farm worker dwellings, and compelling workers to sign agreements stating that they will leave the farm.

Approximately half of South Africans are living below the official poverty line and 42.9 percent earn under $2 per day. This is largely due to the very low wages received by farm workers, who receive the lowest wages of any sector in the country. Rural wages vary from R800 ($110) per month to below R100 ($14) a month, and a minimum wage has been strenuously opposed by farm owner organisations.

A study by the University of Stellenbosch’s Department of Economics highlights the appalling conditions of South Africa’s poor, with a large proportion of the poorest households continuing to live in informal and traditional dwellings, with one third having no electricity, and less than half of all poor households having piped water. The status quo for many, particularly in the countryside, is indistinguishable from that under Apartheid.

Brain drain, low investment hamper African science
Kate Kelland/Reuters/Mon Apr 12, 2010

LONDON
LONDON (Reuters) – Africa’s contribution to the global body of scientific research is very small and does little to benefit its own populations, according to a report from Thomson Reuters released on Monday.

Science

Like India and China, Africa suffers from a “hemorrhage of talent,” the report said, with many of its best brains leaving to study abroad and failing to return.

“The African diaspora provides powerful intellectual input to the research achievements of other countries, but returns less benefit to the countries of birth,” Jonathan Adams, director of research evaluation at Thomson Reuters, said in a statement as the report was published.

Adams and colleagues, who use a Thomson Reuters database to track scientific publications, found that three nations dominate Africa’s research output — with South Africa leading by a long way, ahead of Egypt in second place and then Nigeria.

“Africa’s overall volume of activity remains small, much smaller than is desirable if the potential contribution of its researchers is to be realized for the benefit of its populations,” said Adams.

The report found that part of the problem was down to a “chronic lack of investment in facilities for research and teaching” — a deficit the authors said must be remedied.

Adams said the reason behind this was not simply money: “The resources available in some African countries are substantial, but they are not being invested in the research base.”

In fields of research relevant to natural resources, however, the study found a relatively high representation of African research as a share of world publications.

South Africa’s 1.55 percent share of research in plant and animal science is the continent’s biggest share in any field, it said, with this output surpassing Russia’s 1.17 percent but well behind China’s 5.42 percent share in the same field.

The report pointed to a few examples of countries which, despite low output, produced much higher quality research than larger neighbors.

Malawi, for example, with one-tenth the annual research output of Nigeria, produces research of a quality that exceeds the world average benchmark while Nigeria hovers at around half that impact level, the report said.

“The challenges that the continent faces are enormous and indigenous research could help provide both effective and focused responses,” it added.

The study is part of a series showing the changing landscape and dynamics of scientific research around the world.

Previous studies found that China had more than doubled its output of scientific papers to rank second only to the United States in terms of volume, while Russia’s influence in science and scientific industries was rapidly shrinking.
(Editing by Michael Roddy)

Obama lauds South Africa for dismantling nuclear program
(AFP) /12042010

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama Sunday heaped praise on South Africa for taking the decision to become the first country to abandon a nuclear weapons program, as he met President Jacob Zuma.

Obama met Zuma amid a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders on the eve of a 47-nation nuclear security summit, designed to draw commitments from key powers to keep loose nuclear material out of the hands of extremist groups.

“South Africa is singular in having had a nuclear weapon program, had moved forward on it, and then decided this was not the right path,” Obama said, noting how South African had since been a leader on non-proliferation.

“South Africa has special standing in being a moral leader on this issue. And I wanted to publicly compliment President Zuma and his administration for the leadership they?ve shown,” Obama said.

“And we are looking forward toward the possibility of them helping to guide other countries down a similar direction of non-proliferation.”

South Africa abandoned its nuclear weapons program in the 1990s and the International Atomic Energy Agency certified in 1994 that the program had been fully dismantled.

Anglo American, BHP, Illovo, Oando: South Africa Equity Preview
April 12, 2010/By Nasreen Seria/Bloomberg

April 12 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.

South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 327.12, or 1.1 percent, to 29,357.50 in Johannesburg on April 9, taking its gain for the week to 1.2 percent.

Anglo American Plc (AGL SJ): Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd. has bid to buy Anglo American’s zinc assets, the London- based Independent reported, without saying where it got the information. The company also holds a site visit in South Africa. Shares in Anglo rose 8.51 rand, or 2.6 percent, to 332.28 rand.

Anglo Platinum Ltd. (AMS SJ): Platinum for immediate delivery increased 0.7 percent to $1,735.50 an ounce, the highest level since Aug. 1, 2008. Shares in Anglo Platinum, the world’s largest producer of the precious metal, climbed 3.2 percent to 803.50 rand.

BHP Billiton (BIL SJ): The world’s largest mining company suspended its Nickel West Leinster operations in Western Australia after a worker was killed. The shares rose 4.89 rand, or 2 percent, to 255.21 rand.

Illovo Sugar Ltd. (ILV SJ): UBS AG cut its recommendation on the stock to “sell” from “neutral.” Illovo’s shares rose 45 cents, or 1.5 percent, to 30 rand.

Oando Plc (OAO SJ): Nigeria’s biggest independent energy company said it isn’t promoting a new share sale and hasn’t formally approached potential investors about backing an offer. The shares were unchanged at 4.41 rand.

Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP SJ): Africa’s biggest retailer may be the best acquisition target for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. if the world’s largest retailer wants to enter the South African market, Business Day reported, citing Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Group Ltd. Shares in Shoprite rose 1.5 percent to 80 rand.

Stefanutti Stocks Holdings Ltd. (SSK SJ): The construction and engineering company agreed to buy the 20 percent remaining stake in S&B Mozambique for $1.4 million. The shares fell 40 cents, or 3.5 percent, to 11 rand.

The following stocks will begin trading without the right to the latest dividends:

Advtech Ltd. (ADH SJ), AECI Ltd. (AFE SJ), Bowler Metcalf Ltd. (BCF SJ), Cashbuild Ltd. (CSB SJ), Ceramic Industries Ltd. (CRM SJ), Exxaro Resources Ltd. (EXX SJ), Metair Investments Ltd. (MTA SJ), Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd. (MUR SJ), Universal Industries Corp. Ltd. (UNI SJ), Wilson Bayly Holmes- Ovcon Ltd. (WBO SJ).

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

Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) increased 2.2 percent to $22.85. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) advanced 1.2 percent to $41.20. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL US) rose 1 percent to $70.40. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) rose 1.1 percent to $5.42. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) added 1.3 percent to $13.27. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) gained 1.4 percent to $10.19. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) climbed 0.3 percent to $30.50. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) fell 0.7 percent to $4.40. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) dropped 2.3 percent to $42.55.

–Editors: Alastair Reed, Antony Sguazzin.

AFRICA / AU :

Micro-insurance plans extend health care in Africa
By KATHARINE HOURELD (AP)/12042010

KISAJU, Kenya — Kenyan student Shadrack Silipo had a heart operation five years ago, the sort of surgery that often bankrupts families in Africa.

Silipo’s parents normally would have paid by selling off land — the same green acres that form the inheritance for their eight children. But Silipo’s father, a retired principal, had enrolled the family eight years ago in a micro-insurance plan that covered the $5,000 operation in full.

Even as the U.S. debates how best to insure its people against sickness, a type of health care financing is growing more popular in Africa: Micro-insurance. Activists say it can help pay for health care for some of the billions of people in the developing world who cannot afford it.

“Poor people need health insurance, they deserve it and it can be done,” Nobel-prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus told The Associated Press this week. His Grameen bank already provides health insurance to around half a million poor Bangladeshis, and Yunus wants to expand further by using the Internet to connect doctors to patients in remote areas.

Micro-insurance is defined as a product accessible to those earning less than $2 a day, who pay tiny weekly premiums of sometimes less than a cent. The policies usually cover all conditions — including pre-existing illnesses like HIV/AIDS and maternity costs — and are written in language that is easy to understand.

Some 14 million Africans use micro-insurance, and the number of African policy holders has increased by 80 percent in the last five years, according to a recent study by the International Labor Organization. The numbers are still a fraction of the potential market but are growing rapidly as more organizations offer insurance products to the poor.

Melanne Verveer, the head of women’s issues in the U.S. State Department, said the U.S. government has increased its global commitment to micro-enterprise development — which includes micro-finance — from $193 million in the 2007 fiscal year to $265 million in 2010.

“We’re looking at ways to build on the existing U.S. commitment to micro-finance, expanding it to include things like savings and insurance,” she said. “It’s a highly effective tool to alleviate poverty.”

About half of Kenya’s 40 million people survive on less than $2 a day. When children get sick from the raw sewage that trickles through fetid slums, families must choose between medicine or food. A hospital stay is usually out of the question. Hospitals sometimes detain patients, including new mothers, when they can’t pay their bills.

Dr. Andrew Otieno, who runs a clinic in Nairobi’s biggest slum, said many poor families put off seeking help until it’s too late.

“Sometimes we see them conducting deliveries in the house and there are complications. Both the mother and the fetus can lose their life,” he said. Other patients, he said, “only go to hospitals when they are gasping or in a coma.”

Those are the tragedies that the continent’s insurance schemes are trying to avoid. Ghana’s government-run health insurance — introduced in 2003 — now covers about half the population. About 90 percent of Rwandans also have access to basic health care thanks to a government-run plan.

In Kenya, the government offers a plan that covers an adult and all their children for just under $20 a year. It covers up to 180 days of hospital care a year, although there is no provision for outpatient care. But patients may still be required to pay fees for some surgeries, such as a heart operation.

Medical insurance in Africa is generally much cheaper than in the U.S. because doctors earn far less money, medical malpractice lawsuits are almost absent and hospitals often receive some government support.

But still, insurance can be a hard sell. It’s difficult to persuade those struggling to survive to part with precious cash to pay for care that they may never need. For that reason, said World Health Organization expert Varatharajan Durairaj, micro insurance could help the middle classes and some of the poor, but not the most desperate.

The WHO, which has studied the micro insurance model as a way of expanding health coverage, warns that challenges remain. Durairaj said that schemes had to be big enough to effectively pool risk. Those that just covered a high-risk community could fail, he said.

Silipo got his money from a Nairobi-based nonprofit micro-lending organization, Jamii Bora.

The group began offering insurance after realizing that many of the poor that took its tiny loans defaulted because they or a family member fell sick and needed money for treatment.

After they introduced an insurance scheme in 2001, defaults fell by 93 percent. The health insurance is just over $15 a year and mandatory for members with loans. The insurance covers an adult and up to four children for all inpatient care. Around 80,000 members are insured.

Jamii Bora lowers its costs by partnering with mission hospitals, not disputing claims and only offering a single insurance product. The organization began by asking members the premiums they could afford and then limiting its coverage to inpatient care.

“People should join the scheme because they cannot know the future for them and their children. Only God can know the future,” said Joseph Kepiro, smiling at his 25-year-old son.

Hospitals benefit too: The infusion of small but regular payments has kept open some health care facilities that might have otherwise closed, said Ingrid Munro of Jamii Bora, which has about 60 partner hospitals in Kenya. The scheme is completely self-sufficient and covers all preexisting conditions, including HIV/AIDS, and maternity care.

“We didn’t want external funding because maybe then we could offer help one year and not the next,” said Munro. “This way we have no expensive consultants, and it’s been running fine for nine years.”

Richard Kerich, the head of Kenya’s government-run National Hospital Insurance Fund, said in some cases the insurance also helped drive down costs for patients. Once three hospitals in western Kenya offered services at government-approved rates under the program, five other area hospitals followed suit and dropped prices to remain competitive, he said.

It worked so well for Silipo that his relatives also bought insurance. And it paid off — it covered the costs of care when one of his cousins was speared in the stomach while snake hunting.

Even after death, abuse against gays continues
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI/The Associated Press/Monday, April 12, 2010

THIES, Senegal — Even death cannot stop the violence against gays in this corner of the world any more.

Madieye Diallo’s body had only been in the ground for a few hours when the mob descended on the weedy cemetery with shovels. They yanked out the corpse, spit on its torso, dragged it away and dumped it in front of the home of his elderly parents.

The scene of May 2, 2009 was filmed on a cell phone and the video sold at the market. It passed from phone to phone, sowing panic among gay men who say they now feel like hunted animals.

“I locked myself inside my room and didn’t come out for days,” says a 31-year-old gay friend of Diallo’s who is ill with HIV. “I’m afraid of what will happen to me after I die. Will my parents be able to bury me?”

A wave of intense homophobia is washing across Africa, where homosexuality is already illegal in at least 37 countries.

In the last year alone, gay men have been arrested in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In Uganda, lawmakers are considering a bill that would sentence homosexuals to life in prison and include capital punishment for ‘repeat offenders.’ And in South Africa, the only country that recognizes gay rights, gangs have carried out so-called “corrective” rapes on lesbians.

“Across many parts of Africa, we’ve seen a rise in homophobic violence,” says London-based gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell, whose organization tracks abuse against gays and lesbians in Africa. “It’s been steadily building for the last 10 years but has got markedly worse in the last year.”

To the long list of abuse meted out to suspected homosexuals in Africa, Senegal has added a new form of degradation – the desecration of their bodies.

In the past two years, at least four men suspected of being gay have been exhumed by angry mobs in cemeteries in Senegal. The violence is especially shocking because Senegal, unlike other countries in the region, is considered a model of tolerance.

“It’s jarring to see this happen in Senegal,” says Ryan Thoreson, a fellow at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission who has been researching the rise of homophobia here. “When something like this happens in an established democracy, it’s alarming.”

Even though homosexuality is illegal in Senegal, colonial documents indicate the country has long had a clandestine gay community. In many towns, they were tacitly accepted, says Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, a professor of social anthropology at Senegal’s largest university. In fact, the visibility of gays in Senegal may have helped to prompt the backlash against them.

The backlash dates back to at least February 2008, when a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar, the capital. The wedding was held inside a rented banquet hall and was attended by dozens of gay men, some of whom snapped pictures that included the gay couple exchanging rings and sharing slices of cake.

The day after the tabloid published the photographs, police began rounding up men suspected of being homosexual. Some were beaten in captivity and forced to turn over the names of other gay men, according to research by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Gays immediately went into hiding and those who could fled to neighboring countries, including Gambia to the south, according to the New York-based commission. Gambia’s erratic president declared that gays who had entered his country had 24 hours to leave or face decapitation. Many returned to Senegal, where they lived on the run, moving from safehouse to safehouse.

In March 2008, Senegal hosted an international summit of Muslim nations, which prompted a nationwide crackdown on behaviors deemed un-Islamic, including homosexuality.

The crackdown also coincided with spiraling food prices. Niang says political and religious leaders saw an easy way to reach constituents through the inflammatory topic of homosexuality.

“They found a way to explain the difficulties people are facing as a deviation from religious life,” says Niang. “So if people are poor – it’s because there are prostitutes in the street. If they don’t have enough to eat, it’s because there are homosexuals.”

Imams began using Friday sermons to preach against homosexuality.

“During the time of the Prophet, anytime two men were found together, they were taken to the top of a mountain and thrown off,” says Massamba Diop, the imam of a mosque in Pikine and the head of Jamra, an Islamic lobby linked to a political party in Senegal’s parliament.

“If they didn’t die when they hit the ground, then rocks would be thrown on them until they were killed,” says Diop, whose mosque is so packed during Friday prayer that people bring their own carpets and line up outside on the asphalt.

Sermons like Diop’s were carried on the mosque’s loudspeakers as well as in Senegal’s more than 30 newspapers and magazines.

Around this time, in May 2008, a middle-aged man called Serigne Mbaye fell ill and died in a suburb of Dakar.

His children tried to bury him in his village but were turned back from the cemetery because of widespread rumors that he was gay. His sons drove his body around trying to find a cemetery that would accept him. They were finally forced to bury him on the side of a road, using their own hands to dig a hole, according to media reports.

The grave was too shallow and the wind blew away the dirt. When the decomposing body was later discovered, Mbaye’s children were arrested and charged with improperly burying their father.
In the town of Kaolack three months later, residents exhumed the grave of another man believed to be gay. In November 2008, residents in Pikine removed a corpse from a mosque of another suspected homosexual and left it on the side of the road.

The grave-robbing has shocked even hardened gay activists, such as Nigerian Davis Mac-Iyalla.

“People have done horrible things (in Nigeria). I have seen people spit on coffins and people spit on graves,” he said. “But it stopped there.”

Among the people who appeared in the photograph published from the gay wedding was a young man in his 30s from Thies. He was an activist and a leader of a gay organization called And Ligay, meaning ‘Working together,’ which he ran out of his parents’ house.

He was HIV-positive and on medication.

When the tabloid published the photograph, Diallo went into hiding, according to a close friend who asked not to be named because he too is gay. Unable to go to the doctor, Diallo stopped taking his anti-retrovirals. By the spring of 2009, he was so ill that his family checked him into St. Jean de Dieu, a Catholic hospital in downtown Thies, says the friend.

He was in a coma when he died at 5:50 a.m. on May 2, 2009, according to the hospital’s records. Although the hospital has a unit dedicated to treating HIV patients, the young man’s family never disclosed his illness, according to the doctor in charge.

Several gay friends tried to see Diallo in the hospital but were told to stay away by his family, says the friend.

When the AP tried to speak to Diallo’s elderly father at his shop on the main thoroughfare in Thies, his other children demanded the reporter leave. One sister covered her face and sobbed. Another said, “There are no homosexuals here.”

Hours after he died, his family took Diallo’s body to a nearby mosque, where custom holds the corpse should be bathed and wrapped in a white cloth. Before the family could bathe him, news reached the mosque that Diallo was gay and they w
ere chased out, says the dead man’s friend. His relatives hastily wrapped him in a sheet and headed to the cemetery, where they carried him past the home of Babacar Sene.

“A man that’s known as being a homosexual can’t be buried in a cemetery. His body needs to be thrown away like trash,” says Sene. “His parents knew that he was gay and they did nothing about it. So when he died we wanted to make sure he was punished.”

The video footage captured on a cell phone shows what happened next. His thin body was placed inside a narrow trough in the middle of the bald cemetery dotted with clumps of weeds. Then you hear shouting.

The shaky image shows a group of men jerking around the edges of the grave. One of them straddles the pit and shovels away the fine gray dirt until you can see the shrouded body. It’s still inside the trough when they tie a rope around its feet.

They yank it out, cheering as the body bends over the lip of the grave. The shroud catches on the ground and tears off, revealing the dead man’s torso.

Rassul Djitte, 48, watched from behind the wall of a nearby school. He had not known Diallo personally, but says he felt a stab. “People were rejoicing,” he says. “They dragged him past me and his body left tracks in the sand. Like a car passing through snow.”

Pirate ship destroyed after firing at U.S. Navy
By KATU News and KATU.com Staff /Published: Apr 12, 2010

SOMALIA – Six suspected pirates are in custody tonight, after they fired on a U.S. navy warship off the horn of Africa.

The U.S. Navy said the suspected pirates began shooting at the U.S.S. Ashland Saturday near the coast of Djibouti, Africa. The Ashland returned fire, and the suspected pirates’ skiff was destroyed.

Sailors and marines rescued the six pirate suspects from the ocean. They then took the suspected pirates into custody.

Saturday’s incident was the third U.S. Navy encounter with pirates in the past 11 days in these violence-plagued waters off Somalia.

ChemGenex Receives a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for OMAPRO(TM)
April 12, 2010/www.marketwatch.com

MELBOURNE, Australia & MENLO PARK, Calif., Apr 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Oncology Drug Products has issued a complete response letter regarding the new drug application (NDA) for OMAPRO(TM) (omacetaxine mepesuccinate) for the treatment of adults with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who have failed prior therapy with imatinib and have the Bcr-Abl T315I mutation.

The complete response letter does not contain a request for a new study, nor is there a request for enrollment of additional patients into the pivotal study on OMAPRO.

Commenting on the correspondence from the FDA, Greg Collier, PhD, CEO for ChemGenex said, “The complete response letter from the FDA provides the initial guidance towards our endeavor to bring a new therapy to CML patients who harbour the T315I mutation and currently have very limited or unsatisfactory treatment options. Because the principal issues raised by the FDA were similar to those discussed during the 22 March meeting of the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC), and based upon our interpretation of the scientific requirements underpinning the complete response letter, we are confident that we can work in a positive manner with the FDA to address the outstanding matters. We appreciate the constructive comments made by the agency in the response letter and ChemGenex will seek a meeting with the FDA to discuss and find agreeable solutions for each of the FDA’s requests.”

ChemGenex also met on April 9th with the US FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) to discuss a path forward for the development of a well defined diagnostic test for the T315I mutation. Both parties agreed to work together toward the validation of the T315I assay that meets the FDA’s requirements.

About ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited

ChemGenex is an oncology focused biopharmaceutical company developing small molecules with new mechanisms of action to treat malignancies with significant unmet medical needs. A New Drug Application has been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a Marketing Authorisation Application has been validated by the European Medicines Agency for CML patients who have failed imatinib therapy and have the Bcr-Abl T315I mutation. ChemGenex has established a corporate alliance with Hospira to develop and commercialize omacetaxine in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa, and is seeking to establish commercial partnerships in the rest of the world. ChemGenex plans to commercialize omacetaxine itself in North America. ChemGenex trades on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol “CXS” For additional information on ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals, please visit the company’s website at http://www.chemgenex.com.

OMAPRO(TM) is a trademark of ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited.

SOURCE: ChemGenex

UN /ONU :

UN climate talks wrap up after new rows
JEROME CARTILLIER /AFP /news.smh.com.au/April 12, 2010

Three days of talks aimed at putting a new gloss on UN climate talks ended late on Sunday after new textual trench warfare less than four months after a stormy summit in Copenhagen.

Countries wrangled for hours beyond the scheduled close over the work schedule under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and what blueprint to adopt for further negotiations.

“The negotiations were very tense. There is a lot of mistrust,” said French chief negotiator Paul Watkinson.

“Some delegates don’t seem to have taken onboard what happened in Copenhagen and the need to gain quick, concrete results.”

As the 194-nation forum struggled with a sour mood, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer warned that the process would be dealt a crippling blow if it failed to deliver a breakthrough at a November 29-December 10 meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

Cancun had to yield a “functioning architecture” on big questions, including curbs on carbon emissions and aid for poor countries, de Boer said in an interview with AFP.

“We reached an agreement in Bali (in 2007) that we would conclude negotiations two years later in Copenhagen, and we didn’t,” he said.

“The finishing line has now been moved to Cancun, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the final finishing line in terms of a legally binding treaty ends up being moved to South Africa,” at the end of 2011.

“Copenhagen was the last get-out-of-jail-free card and we cannot afford another failure in Cancun,” de Boer said. “(…) If we see another failure in Cancun, that will cause a serious loss of confidence in the ability of this process to deliver.”

The Bonn talks exposed a rift between developed and developing countries over whether to pursue or quietly bury Copenhagen’s main outcome.

This is the so-called Copenhagen Accord, brokered by a couple of dozen countries in frenzied late-night haggling as the summit faced collapse.

It sets a general goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), earmarks some $US30 billion ($A32.05 billion) in fast-track aid from 2010 to 2012 and sketches a target of mustering $US100 billion ($A106.84 billion) annually by 2020.

But the agreement came under fire from countries excluded from the small drafting group and failed to gain the endorsement of a 194-nation plenary. Around two-thirds of UNFCCC members have now signed up to it, though.

Some of the faultlines opened up again in Bonn.

The United States and the European Union (EU) said the Copenhagen Accord, despite its flaws, should be included in draft text for negotiations.

“We need a different paradigm and that’s what emerges from Copenhagen,” said top US delegate Jonathan Pershing to journalists.

Other countries were not keen about incorporating the Copenhagen Accord in the negotiating blueprint, reflecting concern about the document’s purely voluntary emissions pledges and the way the deal was brokered.

Left-led nations in the Caribbean and Latin America attacked the Accord as undemocratic and a betrayal of UN principles. They called for negotiations to resume on the basis of a draft that was put on hold halfway through the Copenhagen meeting, delegates said.

After hours of debate, delegates agreed to give the chairwoman of the main working group, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe, latitude to draw up a negotiating text.

The Copenhagen Accord was not specifically mentioned in this mandate, but Mukahanana-Sangarwe said orally it would be taken into account, along with other documents.

Two extra rounds of talks will take place before Cancun, the conference agreed.

Underpinning the UN talks is mounting evidence that manmade greenhouse gases – mainly carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels – are trapping solar heat in the atmosphere.

Within decades, changes to Earth’s weather system could spell misery for many millions, hit by worsening drought, flood, rising sea levels and storms, say experts.

© 2010 AFP

A Historic Landmark Elections Begins on All Levels Nationwide
Posted on Monday, April 12/ www.sudanvisiondaily.com/ by admin

Observers View the Process as Calm and Smooth on the First Day
Khartoum – Mona Al-Bashir

Early this morning ballots casting begin inside Sudan and abroad. The polls across the states of Sudan saw a high turnout by men and women coming to elect their representatives at presidential, legislative and parliamentary levels.

There are 10750 polls, 16.5 million voters in the general elections slated for 11-12-13 of April, to elect president of the Republic, governors, states’ councils in the north, while southerners elect president of the Government of South Sudan, legislative council and governors and legislative council for the provinces.

There are 170 million ballots papers which were reviewed by the National Election Commission (NEC). The ballot papers were printed in Britain, South Africa and Sudan. The polls account for 120,000 designed in China and Denmark. They were delivered at Juba and Khartoum Airports to be distributed in the south and north; besides 20,000 boxes containing materials used in electoral process. Curtains specially designed for this purpose reached 53,000. Personnel of 16758 individuals will be deployed besides high committees at the centers.

The elections will be held via 13,000 centers inside and outside Sudan, where 12 candidates will contest for presidency, two of them are independents. An estimated 13.000 and 850 candidates are expected to run for executive and legislative post, 323 for women constituencies, and 237 women on parties ‘tickets.

Leaders vote

Early yesterday morning President Omar Al-Bashir cast his vote at Saint Francis center amid massive presence of the media and warm reception by citizens. He went to center accompanied by his wife, Widad Babikir, who also cast her vote.

The vice president also cast his vote. The leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Salva kiir, candidate for south Sudan government presidency, cast his vote in the heart of Juba Town yesterday morning as first multi-party elections kicked off in 24 years nationwide. Kiir was the first to cast his vote at the polls near his office in capital town Juba in the presence of European Union elections observers. The casting of vote process lasted for some time as southerners voters have to tick 12 ballots papers to elect president of Sudan, members of the parliament, president of south Sudan, governors of south Sudan states, states’ councils and south Sudan legislative council. The chairman of Sudan People Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) Dr. Lam Akol is running against Kiir for south Sudan presidency.

Close monitoring, UN welcomes the first day

Within the framework of international monitoring of the elections, former US president Jimmy Carter made his field tour as voting started yesterday morning to get acquainted with the progress of electoral process by visiting the polls at the Unity School accompanied a team of observers affiliated with his own center. Following his tour, Carter said in press statements he met with officials at the polls and they told him that all preparations were finalized, apologizing for delay in voting, which began an hour later due delay in delivering ballots papers on time. Officials at the centers promised to submit a report to the Election Commission on the delay to make up for lost time.

Carter said a US team also summated a report on the voting kick-off, adding that the center will issue a statement on monitoring at the end of the mission April 17. Carter said he met with Umma Party leader, Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, who notified him of his reasons for boycotting the elections. The former U.S. president also met with SPLM’s candidate, who also pulled out, Yassir Arman. Carter expressed his hope that the elections will satisfy international standards regarding transparency, fairness and security provision.

Besides Carter Center, 250,000 observers inside Sudan and abroad will be monitoring the electoral process already underway.

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon welcomed holding of elections in Sudan, describing them as landmark in process of Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005. Ki-moon’s spokesperson said in press statements issued yesterday that Ki-Moon urged Sudanese people to exercise their right to voting in the elections, adding that holding honorable peaceful elections is of great importance for the international community, and will open up political spectrum in Sudan ahead of the referendum scheduled for 2010 stipulated in CPA. Ki-moon said his mission will continue to provide technical and logistic support to the National Elections Commission and others authorities concerned with making the elections a success, in accordance with its mandate.

Progress of voting on day-one

The Police deployed a squad made up of 54,000 men to secure the elections. Hashim Osman Hussein, general Director of Police forces, reiterated the police readiness for the event, adding that framework and administrative plans were set in this connection. Hussein pointed out that the police had taken necessary measures to face any threats to the elections.

A special informative plan was set to educate citizens on elections’ procedures, fighting rumors, health information, police spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulmajid said.

Field visits & views

The Minister of Social Welfare, Samia Ahmed Mohammed said – after casting her vote – the turnout was high on the first day. She hoped that the Commission would increase the personnel due to crowd at the polls. Responding to a questions about possibility of extending set date, she said “What’s important to us is that every gets his/her right to vote. We will call for that if we feel necessary.

Officers at the polls in Omdurman and Khartoum North, told the paper that they opened the polls according to set time. They affirmed their commitment to directives by the National Elections Commission, affirming that no difficulties facing them at the moment.

Citizens, who were able to cast their votes, expressed their happiness to exercise their democratic right. They said that they were afraid to face difficulties but things went all right.

USA :

Al-Qaeda would use nuclear bomb on US: Obama
STEPHEN COLLINSON / news.smh.com.au/April 12, 2010

President Barack Obama has warned that Al-Qaeda would not hesitate to use a nuclear weapon against the United States, before hosting a global summit aimed at thwarting such a nightmare scenario.

Obama will seek support from fellow leaders for his effort to safeguard all unsecured nuclear material around the world within four years when he opens on Monday the largest summit chaired by a US president in 65 years.

He conjured up the horrific possibility of a nuclear detonation in New York City, London or Johannesburg, and the serious global economic, political and security trauma that would result, to characterize the gravity of the threat.

“The single biggest threat to US security, both short-term, medium-term and long-term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organisation obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama said on the eve of the two-day summit.

“This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come.

“We know that organisations like Al-Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using.”

Despite the focus on extremist groups, two states — Iran and North Korea, which already has the bomb — will cast a shadow over the global meet.

Washington is leading an effort to toughen sanctions within weeks on Iran over its nuclear program, which the United States and its allies say is aimed at producing weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Security blankets Washington as nuclear summit looms

The White House will seek concrete commitments from world leaders on securing stockpiles of separated plutonium and uranium, to ensure that they cannot be stolen, smuggled or sold to extremists.

“The threat of nuclear war… has diminished. The threat of nuclear terrorism has increased,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News.

To kick off his counter-proliferation drive, Obama met Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazerbayev and South African President Jacob Zuma.

Kazakhstan handed over Soviet-era nuclear weapons after the end of the Cold War, but is a key player in Washington as it bills itself as the world’s top exporter of uranium.

South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, and US officials praised its example, saying its security was enhanced by the move.

He also held talks with prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani of nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

Obama, who last week signed a landmark disarmament treaty with Russia and laid out a new US nuclear strategy limiting how Washington could use atomic weapons, said he was confident that the summit would garner important progress.

“I feel very good at this stage in the degree of commitment and sense of urgency that I’ve seen from the world leaders so far on this issue,” Obama said.

“We think we can make enormous progress on this.”

The summit itself will focus primarily on separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium stocks, rather than radiological “dirty” bombs, which the United States sees as a less catastrophic threat than nuclear devices.

US officials hope nations participating in the summit will agree on a series of security steps for their own nuclear material, and help pay to put the stocks of less well-off countries under lock and key.

They also expect some leaders to unveil specific actions, similar to Chile’s decision to ship a stock of highly enriched uranium to the United States.

The conference is a precursor to the United Nations Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference next month, seen as another important moment in heading off a future nuclear arms race.

In addition to presiding over the summit, Obama will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday in talks likely to focus partly on US hopes that China will let its yuan currency find a market level.

Obama is also scheduled to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, just over a week after Turkey decided to return its ambassador to Washington after a row over moves in Congress to brand the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide.

Turkey is also seeking to revive stalled reconciliation efforts with Armenia. Obama may play a part in that effort, when he meets Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian in a separate bilateral meeting on Monday.

© 2010 AFP

Top officials stress country’s nuclear strength
By Eli Saslow/ www.washingtonpost.com/Monday, April 12, 2010

Even as President Obama met Sunday with a succession of global leaders to discuss better control of nuclear materials, his administration highlighted a seemingly dissimilar message: The U.S. nuclear arsenal remains as strong as ever.

While Obama entertained foreign leaders at Blair House — shaking hands, bowing politely and posing for pictures — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave interviews meant to reassert the nation’s military strength. They indicated that the United States would spend $5 billion this year to modernize its existing nuclear weapons, which they said could be used if the country’s security is in danger or in response to the threat of a biological attack.

“We’ll be, you know, stronger than anybody in the world, as we always have been, with more nuclear weapons than are needed many times over,” Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week.”

It was a somewhat surprising launch into the historic two-day nuclear summit, which will begin in Washington on Monday. Forty-six world leaders or their representatives are to meet to discuss the threat posed by the world’s unsecured stocks of nuclear materials. The event will test Obama’s diplomacy and his ability to strike a delicate balance. Progress in securing nuclear materials will enable him to gain international momentum toward the reduction in nuclear weapons he seeks, but at the same time he must reassure defense hawks that U.S. security will not be compromised.

On Sunday, that two-pronged strategy meant that Obama spent four hours in intensive meetings at Blair House, talking with heads of state from India, Kazakhstan, South Africa and Pakistan. On Monday, he is to meet individually with heads of government from Armenia, China, Jordan, Malaysia and Ukraine before holding a working dinner with the leaders of the 46 delegations.

“The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security — both short term, medium term and long term — would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama said Sunday afternoon. “If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a security perspective would be devastating. And we know that organizations like al-Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using.”

Obama tried to reinforce his resolve during each of his meetings Sunday at Blair House, which lasted for about an hour. He touched on such topics as food security with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India and economic policy with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, but the conversations circled back to nuclear terrorism. Obama shared his fears and sought ideas from his visiting counterparts, aides said.

“I feel very good at this stage in the degree of commitment and sense of urgency that I’ve seen from the world leaders so far on this issue,” Obama said after a meeting
with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa. “We think we can make enormous progress on this.”

In each meeting, Obama sat in the front row of the room, with advisers behind him. He was accompanied by Clinton, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and national security adviser James L. Jones.

Earlier in the day, Clinton had served in a different role, appearing with Gates on three major morning news shows to talk about U.S. nuclear strategy. Rather than being conciliatory or consensus-building in preparation for the summit, the two defended Obama against Republican attacks that the U.S. nuclear approach is too soft — a criticism that has increased since the president signed a treaty with Russia last week to reduce their deployed long-range warheads.

Gates said the United States is “stronger, not weaker,” in large part because of an increased focus on missile defense that includes more than $1 billion to be spent on the development of ground-based interceptors in Alaska. Also, he credited Obama for helping build worldwide pressure against Iran and North Korea, long perceived as nuclear threats. Iran, Gates said, is “not nuclear capable,” but he added, “They are continuing to make progress on these programs.”

“What has to happen is the Iranian government has to decide that its own security is better served by not having nuclear weapons than by having them,” Gates said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s a combination of more missile defense in the Gulf to show them that any attack we can defend against and react against.”

Clinton echoed this on ABC’s “This Week.” Then, during an interview that aired only hours before she joined Obama at Blair House to meet visiting dignitaries, she issued what sounded like a warning.

“Let no one be mistaken,” she said. “The United States will defend ourselves and defend our partners and allies.”

Bashir Headed for Win in Sudan Vote Marked by Irregularities
April 12 /By Maram Mazen and Alan Boswell/Bloomberg

April 12 (Bloomberg) — Sudanese vote today for a second day in the first multiparty elections in 24 years, with initial balloting beset by logistical problems including the late arrival of voting forms and missing names on voter registries.

Voting in Africa’s biggest country by landmass, which is scheduled to last three days, is likely to result in victory for President Umar al-Bashir, because of a boycott by his main opposition challengers. Major opposition parties quit the race, alleging government fraud and intimidation.

“It’s not going to be a perfect election,” former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, whose Atlanta-based Carter Center has been monitoring the electoral process in Sudan, told reporters yesterday in Khartoum. “But if we feel that in the elections that the will of the voters has been expressed adequately, then that would be the primary judge for this particular event.”

The vote is part of the U.S.-brokered 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 21-year war between north and south Sudan. For many voters in Southern Sudan, the election is less important than a referendum the region is scheduled to hold in January to decide whether to become an independent nation.

The semi-autonomous government of Southern Sudan is dominated by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM, the group that led the rebellion against the north. Salva Kiir, head of the SPLM, said in Nairobi on March 9 that southerners “attach more importance to the referendum than the elections.”

The SPLM yesterday called for the vote to be extended by three to seven days, citing multiple irregularities, including names moved to polling stations kilometers away and ballot boxes sent to the wrong stations or disappearing. Sunday “was a wasted day,” Samson Kwaje, campaign manager for the SPLM secretariat, told a news conference in Juba.

‘Things Are Chaotic’

In the northern White Nile State, voting hadn’t begun at 12:30 GMT, independent candidate for governor, Ibrahim Youssef Habbani, said yesterday by telephone from Rabak, the state’s capital.

“The elections commission officers told us there was something wrong in the printing of the ballots, but the commission is not telling us what is happening,” he said. “Things are chaotic here.”

Officials at the National Elections Commission couldn’t be reached for comment.

Carter, 85, found delays at a polling station at the Unity School for Boys in Khartoum.

“Here at this center there’s a problem, because they don’t have the ballots for the parliament,” he told reporters. “Everything has been orderly so far. We’ve been to 10 voting stations this morning.”

Among Bashir’s challengers who pulled out of the race are Sudan’s last elected leader, former Prime Minister Sadig al- Mahdi, and the SPLM’s Yasser Arman.

War Crimes

About 16 million people are registered to vote in elections for the presidency, parliament and state governors’ seats. Among those competing are the Democratic Unionist Party, which came second behind al-Mahdi’s Umma party in Sudan’s last multiparty vote in 1986, and the Popular Congress Party, led by Hassan al- Turabi, who helped Bashir seize power in a 1989 coup.

The International Criminal Court charged Bashir, 66, last year with responsibility for war crimes in the western Darfur region. Bashir heads the ruling National Congress Party.

Some analysts fear the elections could lead to violence, both in Southern Sudan, whose oil fields account for most of Sudan’s daily production of 480,000 barrels, and in the north.

Ethnic clashes in the south have killed about 400 people and forced 60,000 to flee their homes this year, while as many as 2,500 died and 350,000 were displaced last year, according to the United Nations.

Oil Revenue

The SPLM and the government in Khartoum must still negotiate issues such as setting final borders and what to do with oil revenue if the south secedes. Under the peace agreement, the two sides equally share proceeds from oil produced in Southern Sudan.

Sudan is sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil producer, with most of the crude pumped by companies such as Beijing-based China National Petroleum Corp., Petroliam Nasional Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi-based Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

U.S. companies are barred from doing business in Sudan because it is on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Violence may erupt in the north if opposition parties that boycotted the election start demonstrations to protest the vote, Fouad Hikmat, the crisis group’s Sudan adviser, said by phone from Nairobi, Kenya.

“They cannot boycott the elections and then stay indoors doing nothing, and taking to the streets will put them in confrontation with the government,” he said.

The vote has also been undermined by the conflict in Darfur, which is under a state of emergency. As many as 300,000 people have died, mainly through illness and starvation, and more than 2 million have fled their homes in the past seven years, according to UN estimates. The government puts the death toll at 10,000.

–With assistance from Alaa Shahine in Cairo. Editors: Peter Hirschberg, Paul Tighe

CANADA :

Giving back through Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program
Vancouver Sun/April 12, 2010

As chief financial officer of Xstrata Nickel (formerly Falconbridge), Shaun Usmar travels constantly and is able to accumulate a large number of airline loyalty points.

“When we took over this business, I was on a plane 150 days the first year,” he says. “Although we are headquartered in Toronto, we have operations in New Caledonia in the South Pacific, Perth, Australia, the Dominican Republic and Norway. And China is always a large market for us, so we spend a lot of time there. I visit a lot of sites and meet with customers around the world, so it does entail a lot of flying.

“As I am from South Africa originally, I use a lot of miles for visiting family or flying family around to visit us,” he adds.

On one such trip, Usmar, his wife and three children flew to celebrate his grandfather’s 90th birthday in South Africa.

Shortly before the family embarked on their journey using Aeroplan points for the flights, Usmar donated 100,000 of the points he had accumulated to Schools Without Borders.

Usmar says he selected Schools Without Borders as his charity of choice because “the concept of that charity just resonated with me.”

“That’s the ideal situation and what we want to encourage,” says Aeroplan’s manager of community investment Alden Hadwen. “We don’t want people to donate their miles and not do anything for themselves. But, if there is something they care about, they can use the currency [ points] to support it as well.”

Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program invites members to support eight Canadian charitable organizations by donating points to help volunteers reach their destinations. The charities are: Earth Day Canada, Engineers Without Borders Canada, Medecins San Frontieres Canada, Schools Without Borders, The Stephen Lewis Foundation, Veterinarians Without Borders Canada and War Child Canada. Beyond Miles also supports Air Canada’s Kids’ Horizons.

Since Aeroplan launched the Beyond Miles program in 2006, members have donated more than 155 million miles. This year, Aeroplan introduced Match Days, which allow each of the eight charitable organizations to promote one day when Aeroplan matches all donations.

AUSTRALIA :

Australian scientists to go offshore for foot and mouth study
Monday, 12/04/2010/www.abc.net.au

The livestock industry and the Federal Government are spending $5 million to research foot and mouth disease overseas, rather than import the live virus.

The research will be carried out by CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory scientists in countries like South Africa, Argentina and Vietnam.

Scientists will research foot and mouth vaccines for use in Australian livestock, better preparing the industry in case there’s a domestic outbreak.

Australian-based foot and mouth research is controversial, with many livestock groups opposing any importation of the virus.

It comes as South Korea reportedly battles a food and mouth disease outbreak, with the country announcing a mass cull of farm animals as the virus spreads to more farms.

EUROPE :

Somali Pirates Hijack Ship Near Seychelles
4/12/2010/RTTNews

(RTTNews) – The European Union naval force says Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship flying St. Vincent and Grenadines flag, approximately 280 nautical miles west of the Indian Ocean island-nation of the Seychelles.

E.U. NAVFOR commander John Harbour said the 7,561-ton ship appeared to have had engine problems when it was hijacked early Sunday. E.U. ships were sent to investigate the incident.

However, Andrew Mwangura, the East African coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP), told China’s news agency Xinhua over telephone from Mombasa that the 23 crew-members aboard the vessel, the Rak Afrikana, were Chinese.

International naval forces have stepped up their patrolling on the high seas to thwart the piracy off the coast of the Horn of Africa, especially in the coastal waters of Somalia.

Experts say piracy will continue to be a problem till an effective government is established on Somalia, which has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords, and has not had a functioning government since the then president Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

by RTT Staff Writer

U.S., E.U. intervention poses problems
By Abayomi Azikiwe /Editor, Pan-African News Wire /www.workers.org/Published Apr 12, 2010

Despite widely publicized claims that the opposition parties in Sudan will boycott the elections scheduled for April 11-13, President Omar al-Bashir has reiterated that the national poll will not be derailed.

Moktar Al-Ahsan, a member of Sudan’s National Election Commission, says, “We are confident that the elections will be completed on time and they will be supported by the people to vote.” The official maintains that the people are “keen to participate in the process.” (Christian Science Monitor, April 5)

Election Commission officials pointed out that 84 percent of the people in Sudan of voting age have registered to participate. One opposition party, The Democratic Unionists, which had withdrawn, is now back in the race.

The presidential candidate for the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement, Yasir Arman, withdrew from the elections, saying that the process has not been fair. However, Al-Ahsan of the National Election Commission says in the same article that “There is nothing new in what the opposition is saying. We have reviewed their complaints, and accepted some of their objections and others; the opposition went to court and we were obliged to make changes. But now, we are bound by the timetable as it is.”

A spokesman for the ruling National Congress Party of President al-Bashir noted that there is no basis for the withdrawal of the SPLM from the elections. Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid, a NCP official, indicated in the same article that “Until this time there was no information that the opposition parties will withdraw. I think the political parties are not justified to withdraw. They feel that if they enter these competitions, they will lose. So instead of losing, they start to make chaos.”

Even though both the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Sudan over the conflict with rebel secessionist groups in the western Darfur region, efforts have been made under the Obama administration to open up dialogue with the government in Khartoum. The U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration visited the country in early April to assess the political situation leading up to the national elections.

Gration stated on April 4 that “They (National Election Commission) have given me confidence that the elections will start on time and they would be as free and as fair as possible. These people have gone to great lengths to ensure that the people of Sudan will have access to polling places and that the procedures and processes will ensure transparency.” (Sudan Tribune, April 5)

Gration’s statements have angered various political elements in the country who saw the upcoming elections as a means to weaken and destabilize the NCP government. The northern-based Umma Party met with the government on April 2 and later said that their participation was contingent upon the fulfillment of eight conditions which included access to the media and electoral funding.

Nonetheless, the U.S. State Department pointed out that the U.S. wanted the Sudan National Election Commission to make changes in the way the upcoming vote is organized. Philip Crowley, a State Department spokesman, said that Washington was still “concerned with troubling developments including serious restrictions on political freedom.” (AFP, April 5)

Crowley also said that it was “important for the government of Sudan to immediately lift restrictions on political parties and the civil society.”

Sudan presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie expressed his belief that the major opposition parties will agree to participation in the elections. In the April 5 article in the Sudan Tribune, Nafie was quoted from an interview held at the NCP headquarters as saying that “opposition parties will have no choice but to take part in the elections after losing external support.”

The April 11-13 elections are crucial in the success of the 2005 peace deal signed between Khartoum and the southern-based SPLM and other parties in the region. The success of a projected 2011 referendum on the future of the southern region will probably be determined by the outcome of the April poll.

Sanctions remain in force by the U.S. and E.U.

President al-Bashir’s government is hoping that with the advent of national elections existing sanctions imposed by the imperialist countries against this central African state will be lifted. These sanctions were recently highlighted when the European Commission reiterated its ban on Sudanese carriers landing at airports controlled by the E.U.’s 27-country bloc.

A March 30 Reuters article says that the European Commission will continue to place restrictions on aircraft that do not meet certain safety standards. “We cannot accept that airlines fly into the EU if they do not fully comply with international safety standards,” said European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas. Reuters reported that “In many airports in Sudan, travelers are greeted by the sight of a crashed plane lying beside the runway. Sudan blames U.S. sanctions, imposed in 1997, for difficulties in obtaining spare parts.”

Sudan has been at odds with the U.S. since the first military invasion of Iraq in 1991. The Sudan government refused to support the coalition led by the U.S. and Britain whose military actions resulted in the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait and the imposition of more than a decade of draconian United Nations sanctions against the previous government of the late President Saddam Hussein.

With Sudan emerging as a major oil-producing state during the previous decade, the country has moved closer to the People’s Republic of China. Consequently, Britain, the European Union and the U.S. have given political support to the Darfur rebel groups fighting the Sudan government in the western region near the border with Chad, a state which is backed by the conservative government in France.

Sudan is often accused by Israel of supplying arms to the Hamas government in Gaza. During 2009, reports indicated that the Israeli Air Force bombed a number of convoys in Sudan alleging that they were smuggling arms from Iran into Egypt and across the border into the Gaza region of occupied Palestine. The government in Khartoum has denied allegations of arms smuggling, although it does openly support the struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation and statehood.

President al-Bashir earlier this year signed a peace agreement with one of the leading rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement. However, leading up to the elections, the JEM has charged the NCP government with violating the agreements.

On April 5 the JEM accused the Sudan Air Force of bombing areas inside the Darfur region. “The bombing started at midnight and continued this morning. … These people [in the government] are not interested in finding a political solution to the problem,” said JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Qatar. (April 5)

In the same article, the NCP government denied the allegations by the JEM: “The Sudan Army is committed to the ceasefire it has signed with JEM. It has not bombed any JEM positions,” a military spokesman said.

Ghazi Salaheddin, the government’s negotiator for Darfur, said that the JEM rebels are really the party violating the peace agreement by moving into territories prohibited in the truce. “They (JEM) have been fanning out in the area and trying to establish themselves in Kulbus and Jabel Moun which is a violation of the ceasefire declaration.”

The International Criminal Court based in The Hague has issued several indictments calling for the arrest of President al-Bashir and other leading officials of the government. The ICC indictments have been rejected by the government in Khartoum, and their position is supported by both
the African Union and the Arab League.

Both of these regional organizations representing Africa and the Arab world oppose the ICC actions, saying the ICC has complicated the ongoing peace process that is making progress in curbing the fighting within the Darfur region as well as in the border areas with neighboring Chad.

African Airlines reject blacklisting by the European Union
By Okechukwu Nnodim/234next.com/April 12, 2010

Airlines in Africa have complained against the blacklisting of carriers in the continent by the European Union (EU).

The carriers, under the African Airlines Association, an umbrella body based in Nairobi, Kenya, argued that the latest list of airlines banned from the European airspace due to safety concerns will dent the confidence placed on African carriers, as 13 of the 17 countries affected by the ban are from Africa, with a total of 111 African airlines ‘blacklisted.’

“While the EU list may be well-intended its main achievement has been to undermine international confidence in the African airline industry,” said Nick Fadugba, Secretary General AFRAA in a statement.

Admitting that Africa needs to improve on its air safety record, Mr. Fadugba disclosed that air safety is the “number one priority” of the association, adding that the ultimate beneficiaries of the ban are European airlines which dominate the African skies to the disadvantage of African carriers.

“If any list is to be published, it should be done by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the global regulator of aviation safety, which has a known track record of impartiality,” he said.

The association further argued that last week’s list has the effect of damaging the reputation of many scheduled African airlines whose safety records and adherence to ICAO safety standards are comparable to the best airlines anywhere in the world.

Outlining some of the contradictions in the blacklist, the association’s secretary disclosed that majority of the airlines in Africa on the list have never operated scheduled flights to Europe, do not plan to do so, and have no aircraft with a range to fly to any EU state.

Mr. Fadugba disclosed that the list includes many airlines that only exist on paper and are not operational, stressing that neither the operating license nor the ICAO registration numbers of most of the banned airlines are known.

The association, however, called on the EU to emulate the United States of America, which introduced the “Safer Skies for Africa” initiative aimed at upgrading capacity, developing skills and providing infrastructure to improve safety in the African continent, adding that the US did all this when only a few of its carriers operate into Africa.

Also calling on the International Civil Aviation Organization to venture into the matter, the association in the statement disclosed that it is willing to have talks with the European Union on the issue.

“We are ready to engage the EU and other stakeholders in constructive dialogue to find an amicable solution to the air safety challenges in Africa,” it said.

Is Europe vulnerable to blackmail? Russia and natural gas
Dr. Christian Wipperfürth /globalpolitician.com/4/12/2010

Without Russia, millions of Germans would be out in the cold. There are also other European countries that intensively use Russian gas to generate electricity. Gas is relatively climate-friendly, and less expensive per unit of energy than oil. If a disruption in the supply of gas forced Germany or other countries to substantially reduce their production of electric power, this would also have a significant negative impact on neighboring states.

Russia supplies 70% of Europe’s gas imports, and the production of natural gas west of Russia is declining because deposits in the North Sea have been intensively exploited since extraction began 25 years ago. Demand for natural gas will rise, however, by at least 50% by 2030. In fact, demand is increasing so rapidly that Gazprom, despite growing exports to the EU, will not be able to completely meet Europe’s needs. Suppliers from Africa and Central Asia will consequently gain in importance, and the Russian share of gas imports will drop to around 50% by 2030. Gazprom’s deliveries can, must and will in the future be complemented by non-European suppliers. This will do nothing to change the fact that imports from Russia will remain indispensable in the foreseeable future.

Russia is also dependent on Europe. It needs the exports that currently – and in the future – primarily go to European countries in the EU. The energy sector generates 50% of the country’s state revenues and 20% of its economic performance. We need the gas, Russia needs the money. There also exist long-term contracts that offer security.

But would this stop Russia from cutting off the supply to achieve its political objectives? The country has considerable financial reserves that could compensate for lost export revenues for up to two years. By contrast, Germany’s reserves could only replace Russian gas for a few months. Other countries are even more vulnerable, as millions of shivering people in the Balkans experienced in January 2009, when the gas transit via Ukraine was interrupted for two weeks. In contrast to the Gulf States, Russia cannot be pressured militarily. Doesn’t this lead to a latent indulgence towards the Kremlin, without it even having to hint at its potential for coercion? – This notion simply doesn’t hold water:

– Most of Russia’s financial assets are in the West, and access to them could be blocked.

– All Russian energy companies are listed on European and North American stock exchanges. In order to pursue the development of new gas fields, they have to raise considerable financial capital, which they usually generate in cooperation with Western banks, and a large number of their stockholders come from the OECD territory. Russia’s energy companies have opened themselves far more to Western influences than companies from the Gulf region. It has always been in their best interest to do so. Any indication that they were striving to use energy exports to achieve political goals could jeopardize revenues, causing shares in Russian energy companies to plummet and threatening their creditworthiness, profitability and even their very existence.

– No buyers assume that Russia has even a theoretical potential to blackmail its customers. Otherwise they would insist on a significant price reduction for Russian gas to compensate for the costly measures that would be necessary to forestall any possible interruption in supply. Importers would also work round-the-clock to develop other reliable sources of energy. Potential new customers, like China or Israel, which Russia would like to supply, would never even have expressed an interest in doing business in the first place. None of this is the case, however. Even the Baltic States, which have repeatedly warned against Russia’s influence, have made no effort to reduce their 100% dependency because this would be absurd from an economic point of view, and it is not an essential element of their security policies.

What can we deduce from this? There are good reasons to diversify our supply sources, and in view of the rapidly rising demand for imports, such a move is necessary. In addition, German and European interests with regard to supply routes and access to natural resources are by no means identical. Heated warnings against Russia’s control of energy are inappropriate, however, and even detrimental to German and European interests. It makes good sense, for instance, to complete the Nabucco pipeline, which will circumvent Russia to carry gas from the Caspian region to Europe, if backers manage to conclude a sufficient number of supply contracts with producers. But this has not been possible, despite years of efforts – and even if it did succeed, Nabucco would only cover roughly 10% of European import demand. This has not stopped some of its supporters from creating the impression that the pipeline could replace Russia’s deliveries, which is by no means the case. These individuals seek to create an atmosphere that primarily favors their own economic and political interests, and they are invoking threats that have no substance.

Russia views all this with a skeptical eye. The country is dependent on reliable customers and growing exports. Gazprom will be able to continue to meet its delivery obligations in the future, but it may find itself increasingly in a position where it has to reluctantly turn towards East Asian customers and offer them discount prices. There are currently significant signs of such a development.

Meeting the common interests of suppliers and customers provides the most secure guarantee of long-term dependable energy relations. This means that Russia should increasingly open its market to Western energy companies, and Germany and the EU should take a similar approach with Russian companies.

CHINA :

INDIA :

Obama: Nuclear terrorism is ‘the single biggest threat’ to U.S.
content.usatoday.com/Apr 12, 2010

President Obama issued a grim warning Sunday about the threat of nuclear terrorism, as he kicked off three days of summitry by holding a string of meetings with five world leaders.

“If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a security perspective would be devastating,” Obama said before meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Obama’s meetings with Zuma and four other leaders came on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C.

The prospect of nuclear terrorism is “the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short-term, medium-term and long-term,” Obama said. “This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come.”

Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are seeking a nuclear device, Obama said, “a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using.”

Terrorism is the focus of the Nuclear Security Summit, which features leaders from nearly 50 nations. Obama is seeking global cooperation on isolating non-secure nuclear materials that could be used to make a weapon.

His five meetings Sunday included one with India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They discussed the civil nuclear energy agreement India signed with the United States in 2006, as well as the nuclear weapons program of India’s neighbor and rival, Pakistan — another country on Obama’s agenda for today.

Obama also met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, which is one of the world’s largest producers of uranium; enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons.

In addition to Zuma of South Africa, the president also met with Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan; and acting President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

All the meetings were at Blair House, the guest residence across the street from the White House.

Before Singh left India, he said: “I expect the summit to focus on nuclear terrorism and proliferation of sensitive nuclear materials and technologies. … India has a well developed indigenous nuclear energy program, which dates back six decades. We have an impeccable record of security, safety and non-proliferation which reflects our conduct as a responsible nuclear power.”

Meanwhile, President Nazarbayev said before leaving Kazakhstan: “I have come to share with President Obama and other heads of state the bold plan Kazakhstan implemented to reduce and prevent the threat of nuclear terrorism through nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful civilian power use. It has worked well for Kazakhstan and it can work for the rest of the world.”

South Africa is another example of a country that has given up the ability to make nuclear weapons.

Before the meeting with Zuma, Obama said he hopes South Africa can “guide other countries down a similar direction of non-proliferation.”

(Posted by David Jackson)

Manmohan-Obama bilateral focused on nuclear security, Afghanistan
Narayan Lakshman/beta.thehindu.com/ avril 12, 2010

Washington DC,
Nuclear security and non-proliferation, Afghanistan, food security, and poverty reduction featured prominently in the bilateral discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama on Sunday, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, told media during a teleconference.

Mr. Obama had, in particular, thanked Dr. Singh for the humanitarian and development work that India has been undertaking in Afghanistan, Mr. Rhodes added. At the meeting both leaders emphasised the strategic importance of the India-United States relationship to the entire world, he said.

The Singh-Obama meeting was the first in series of bilateral talks that President Obama is holding prior to the kickoff of the Nuclear Security Summit of April 12-13.

During the media interaction Mr. Rhodes however declined to comment on whether or not Mr. Obama had assured Dr. Singh that India would have access to Mumbai attacks suspect David Coleman Headley, currently in custody in the U.S. The case is the responsibility of the U.S. Justice Department and the Attorney General, he said.

No binding communiqué likely

Regarding the question of whether a binding communiqué would emerge as a result of the summit discussions Mr. Rhodes said that the main outcome of the meetings in Washington would be to move towards the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials world over within the next four years.

“Specific national actions… and concrete steps towards such an effort will be required,” Mr. Rhodes said in this regard, and countries such as Chile have already demonstrated the role of national commitments to global nuclear security by transferring their stocks of enriched uranium to the U.S..

Laura Holgate, Senior Director, WMD Terrorism and Threat Reduction, further added that no legally binding communiqué would emerge from this summit; however there will be a political agreement. This would be consistent with the overall aim of the summit, which was to raise awareness of the threat of nuclear terrorism and the actions needed to tackle that threat, she said.

Other bilateral discussions

On other key bilateral discussions held by President Obama, Mr. Rhodes said that the U.S. had established a new agreement on the Northern Distribution Network during discussions with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Under this agreement the U.S. would be able to utilise polar air routes that then channelled both troops and equipment supplies via Kazakhstan into countries such as Afghanistan. This would save the U.S. significant amounts of time and money, Mr. Rhodes explained.

On President’s Obama’s bilateral discussions with the President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and President Nazarbayev, Mr. Rhodes commented that both countries had given up plans for nuclear weapons development that they might have had in the past, and yet were on the route to nuclear security and economic prosperity.

Jet Airways launches three JetEscapes packages to South Africa for Indian travellers
Monday, April 12, 2010/www.travelbizmonitor.com

To also provide connectivity from Johannesburg to other destinations in Africa through partner airlines
By Dheera Majumder | Mumbai

Extending its holiday package offering to the African continent, Jet Airways has launched three JetEscapes packages to South Africa namely South African Escapes, SunCity Getaway and Kruger Getaway. These packages are targeted to Indian leisure travellers visiting South Africa. The launch of these packages is followed with the launch of direct flights to Johannesburg from Mumbai with effect from April 14, 2010.

Speaking about JetEscapes packages, Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways said, “South Africa is becoming a popular destination among Indians for its diverse offering for wildlife, luxury and adventure tourists. We have priced our packages competitively and expect our packages to become popular among travellers. Also our connectivity to Johannesburg will help to cater to their travel requirements.”

Besides catering to the leisure traveller, the airline is expecting its new connection to cater to Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) and business travellers from India. “There is a substantial amount of leisure traffic from China, as well as demand driven from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to connect these destinations to Johannesburg via Mumbai for one stop flights,” added Raghavan.

Furthermore, the airline will provide seamless connectivity from Johannesburg to other destinations in Africa including Harare, Victoria Falls, Windhoek, Livingstone, Mauritius, Lilongwe, Blantyre, Bulawayo, Gaborone, Maputo, Kinshasa, Lagos, Luanda and Lusaka, through its partner airlines in Africa. The company is also planning to add direct connections to other African destinations; however, it is presently looking at consolidating its international operations.

BRASIL:

African Biscuit & Pasta factory to be setup in Ghana
gbcghana.com/ Source: GBC NEWS /Posted on: Monday, 12, April, 2010

A leading biscuit and pasta manufacturing company in Brazil, Dias Branco Group of Companies, is to set up a three hundred million dollar biscuit and pasta factory in Ghana that will create about one thousand jobs for Ghanaians. The management of Dias Branco is expected in Ghana in May this year to conclude agreements on the modalities in establishing their only company in Africa in Ghana.

Vice President John Dramani Mahama secured the deal for Ghana on his recent visit to Brazil. Vice President Mahama, who is on a four-day official visit to Brazil, was able to convince the management of Dias Branco to invest in Ghana as against their original plan to invest in Angola, a Portuguese speaking sister nation in Africa.

He was accompanied by some Ministers of State and government officials. Conducting the Vice President and his entourage around the facilities, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Francisco Ivens de Sa Dias Branco, said the company is currently the leading company in the manufacture, sale and distribution of crackers, cookies and pasta products in Brazil. In addition, it offers wheat flour and wholegrain wheat, margarine and vegetable shortening and also produces the majority of two of the principal raw materials for its crackers, cookies and pasta products.

According to him, the decision to invest in Ghana was based on Ghana’s credentials as a stable political country coupled with the good leadership style of President John Evans Atta Mills.

Mr. Branco admitted that the statesmanship and astuteness of Vice-President Mahama further gave them the courage to change their original plan to invest in Angola.

The Vice President, John Mahama assured Mr. Branco and his group of Ghana’s readiness to welcome the company as it invests in the country. He described Ghana as the gateway to Africa and that with the rest of West African sub-region’s total population of more than 240 million people, there is a guaranteed market for its products.

Mr. Mahama noted that the government of President Mills is to ensure that companies investing in Ghana would derive the maximum benefit in return for their investment. He said this investment would eventually help in solving the employment needs of Ghana as majority of the workforce would be Ghanaians, particularly the youth.

EN BREF, CE 12 avril 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,12/04/2010