A N C D A I L Y N E W S B R I E F I N G
TUESDAY 15 JANUARY 2008
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@ KENYA-VOTE-UNREST
NAIROBI, Kenya January 14 Sapa-AP
RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSES KENYAN POLICE OF UNOFFICIAL 'SHOOT TO KILL' POLICY
Police are behind dozens of deaths in Kenya's post-election turmoil,
opening fire on both looters and opposition protesters under an
unofficial "shoot to kill" policy, a leading human rights group says.
Human Rights Watch called on Kenya's government Sunday to lift its
ban on demonstrations and order police not to shoot at protesters. The
appeal came three days before the opposition planned nationwide
protests that police have warned will be stopped.
"Kenyan police in several cities have used live ammunition to
disperse protesters and disperse looters, killing and wounding dozens,"
the New York-based group said.
Some 575 people have died since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential
election, the Kenya Red Cross Society said. The latest count - up from
485 - was reached in collaboration with the government, and was based
on bodies found at mortuaries, homes and other places previously too
dangerous to reach, said spokesman Anthony Mwangi.
The violence has taken an ethnic turn - pitting other tribes against
President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu people - and shaking Kenya's image as a
stable democracy in a region that includes war-ravaged Somalia and
Sudan.
Some worried the real death toll was higher.
"My greatest fear is that when the authorities and rescuers have
combed every village, they will discover that many, many people have
been massacred," Mutuma Mathiu, managing editor of The Sunday Nation,
wrote in an editorial.
Intense international pressure has failed to push Kibaki and his
rival, Raila Odinga, into talks. U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer said
Saturday that Kibaki and Odinga should acknowledge that "serious
irregularities" in the vote count made it impossible to determine who
won. She said the U.S. would not step back from a crisis in a country
that has been crucial to the war on terrorism by turning over dozens of
suspects.
Odinga's party won 99 legislative seats while Kibaki's party
has 43 plus 16 from an ally, so neither has a majority in the
210-seat house.
"They are on a shopping expedition to buy as many MPs as they can
and Kenya's MPs are extremely buyable," Gladwell Wathoni Otieno,
executive director of the African Center for Open Government, said with
a reference to the country's pervasive corruption.
As the crisis dragged on, thousands of tourists canceled vacations.
State-funded Kenya Television reported Monday that some hotels in the
Indian Ocean coastal city of Malindi have closed down and others are
running at just 15 percent occupancy though January is the beginning of
the high season.
The International Cricket Council moved Kenya's Intercontinental Cup
match against Namibia from Nairobi to Sharjah in the United Arab
Emirates. "The safety of all participants is always our number one
priority," Richard Done, of the world governing body, said Sunday.
Human Rights Watch said even people who did not attend rallies have
been shot. Witnesses described police gunfire hitting people on the
fringes of demonstrations in the slums of the capital, Nairobi, the
group said. One woman was hit by stray bullets that penetrated the wall
of her home; another unarmed man was shot in the leg; a boy watching a
protest from his doorway was shot in the chest.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe denied the accusations, saying
officers have "acted strictly within the laws of this country."
"In fact, some of the complaints we are receiving are from property
owners that police failed to use all the powers under the laws to
protect their property."
Human Rights Watch said a police source who was unwilling to be
identified told monitors: "Many of us are unhappy with what we are
being asked to do. This 'shoot to kill' policy is illegal, and it is
not right. We have brothers and sisters, sons and daughters out there."
In a Nairobi slum on Sunday, the Red Cross handed out food to some
of the 255,000 people forced from their homes in ethnic clashes.
"They have lost everything, there is nowhere they can go," Red Cross
volunteer Jane Olago told AP Television News. "Some of them talk like
they wish they were dead, they have lost hope in life."
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected Tuesday to
take over mediation efforts. The British Foreign Office has said Annan
will work with Graca Machel, the wife of Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Nelson Mandela, and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa.
@ KENYA-VOTE-UNREST
NAIROBI 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
KENYAN PARTIES JOSTLE FOR SUPPORT AS PARLIAMENT REOPENS
Rival Kenyan factions jostled for support Monday ahead of what
promised to be an electric parliament re-opening, with no end in sight
to the political deadlock and looming threat of fresh unrest.
Some Kenyan children returned to school Monday amid a tight police
deployment despite the prospect of a showdown between security forces
and opposition supporters who are planning three days of protests later
this week.
President Mwai Kibaki is due to inaugurate the country's 10th
parliament on Tuesday, almost three weeks after he clinched a contested
second term but saw most of his close allies lose their parliament
seats to the opposition.
Neither his Party of National Unity (PNU) nor Raila Odinga's
opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) managed to secure a
majority, prompting both sides to woo smaller parties ahead of the
chamber's re-opening.
Odinga claims that Kibaki stole the presidential vote through fraud
and has vowed to sit on the government's side in parliament Tuesday.
"We expect rough times and a major showdown in parliament, dominated
by patronage, vendettas and unproductiveness if the situation remains
as it is," Kenyan political analyst Evans Manduku said.
"We are convinced that we are going to get enough numbers to elect a
neutral speaker who will serve the house without favour. We are
appealing to all political parties and individual MPs who love peace to
support us," said Mutula Kilonzo, a spokesman for the government side.
"We are going for a retreat to seek ways that would enable ODM's
candidate to win. We have the numbers but we will not take chances,"
ODM member William Ruto told the Daily Nation newspaper.
Ruto rejected the widely-held view that by attending the opening of
parliament, convened by Kibaki, the opposition will de-facto be
recognising the legitimacy of his presidency.
"We are not going to sit back and allow them install a speaker who
will pave the way for the illegitimacy to continue," he said.
The state and the opposition were expected to go head-to-head again
on Wednesday, on the first of three days of planned demonstrations
against Kibaki's re-election.
Police banned the rallies, scheduled to be held in 30 towns
nationwide, fueling fears of fresh violence in the east African nation,
which witnessed its worst civil strife in 25 years following the
disputed December 27 polls.
According to police, at least 700 people were killed in fiercely
repressed riots and tit-for-tat tribal killings following the
announcement of Kibaki's re-election despite international concerns
over flaws in the vote tallying.
The violence brought the region's largest economy to a standstill
and some schoolchildren made a delayed return to the classrooms Monday.
"Police are manning security well across the country and parents can
rest assured that police are in place, nothing will happen to their
children who are going to school," national police spokesman Eric
Kiraithe told AFP.
But in many of the areas worst affected by the post-election unrest,
children remained unable to attend classes for security reasons and
fear of tribal reprisals or because they have been displaced during the
violence.
Some 260,000 people have had to flee their homes since the violence
erupted, prompting an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in a country
more accustomed to sheltering refugees from neighbouring states.
International mediation efforts have so far yielded few results,
despite an unusually long mission by Washington's top Africa diplomat,
Jendayi Frazer.
African Union chairman John Kufuor left Nairobi last week stating
that Kibaki and Odinga had agreed to work with a panel - led by former
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan - "towards resolving their
differences."
It remained unclear however when Annan was expected in Kenya.
Public Works Minister John Michuki, a key Kibaki ally, warned that
Kenya may cut off ties with foreign governments pushing too hard for
mediation.
"We are just turning a blind eye, but we can one day wake up and
tell them to leave the country... we do not need any foreigners to tell
us what to do," Michuki was quoted as saying in the Daily Nation.
@ UGANDA-ECONOMY-KENYA-UNREST
KAMPALA 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
UGANDA HOPES TO LURE INVESTORS AWAY FROM TROUBLED KENYA
Kenya's post-election crisis has rattled the entire region's
economy, but Uganda hopes to bounce back by luring investors away from
its troubled neighbour.
Some 250,000 people are estimated to have been displaced and more
than 700 killed after the disputed December 27 re-election of President
Mwai Kibaki, in which opposition candidate Raila Odinga claimed to have
been robbed of victory.
Trade routes to the Kenyan port of Mombasa have been blocked by
rioting mobs.
Landlocked neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi - members of the
East African Trade Community trade union - all rely almost exclusively
on Mombasa for fuel and other commodities and have been particularly
hard-hit.
Long lines snake around petrol stations in Uganda, as frustrated
drivers queue for limited fuel. Ugandans living in the countryside are
forced to pay up to triple the amount that is paid in the capital
Kampala.
"We are paying more for fuel, we are paying more for food, we are
paying more for everything," said Tamale Mirundi, Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni's secretary.
A quarter of the gross domestic product of Uganda passes through
Kenya, according to the World Bank.
But analysts say that Uganda - always seen as second best to its
larger neighbour - could take advantage of the situation to attract
investors across the border and give a shot in the arm to its already
fast-growing economy.
"Investors may quickly shift to Uganda," said Patrick Butatire,
chairman of the Uganda Investment Authority. "It's only natural that
Uganda will benefit from this."
Although there are fears that investors might be scared out of the
region altogether, Butatire said that continued violence in Kenya would
likely push investment over to Uganda and Tanzania.
"We have already received inquiries from foreign companies, though
no money transfers yet," Butatire added.
Uganda saw a record 30 percent growth in investment in 2007 due to
relative stability and economic liberalisation after a two-decade civil
war ceased in July 2006.
Emmanuel Mutebile, governor of the Central Bank of Uganda, agreed
there was a "strong possibility" that short-term investment would shift
from Kenya to Uganda.
"If the uncertainty (in Kenya) continues, this will happen,"
Mutebile said.
Foreign exchange markets would be the first to be affected by the
investment shift.
But Mutebile cautioned that the investment move may be a "mixed
blessing." The viability of Uganda's exports could be hurt as the
shilling rises against the dollar.
In the meantime, Mirundi said that the government was investing more
in the Kampala-Dar es Salaam route to obtain fuel.
He complained that although fuel was coming steadily in small
quantities from Mombasa, fuel operators were "hoarding the fuel" and
"taking advantage of the situation" until the resource becomes more
readily available.
The long-term effects of Kenya's crisis remain to be seen, however.
"If the crisis is prolonged, with destruction on trade routes, we
can expect economic activity to slow down more noticeably," said Abebe
Selassie, the International Monetary Fund's Uganda representative.
"Investors planning to invest in East Africa may see Uganda as a
more stable place in the long-term."
For now, imports have begun to slowly move through Mombasa as the
violence in Kenya has abated, but many fear further clashes during
planned opposition demonstrations this week.
"As long as trade continues, the situation should not become
serious," Selassie said.
In future, finance officials say they will be better prepared for
regional unrest by depending on more than one route for imports and
exports and maintaining fuel storage capacity.
"The lesson learned is that we - Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi
-are all interconnected," Butatire said.
@ ZIMBABWE-AIDS
HARARE 14 January 2008 Sapa-dpa
REPORT: ZIM DRAWS UP REGISTER OF HIV/AIDS "CURERS"
Battling to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Zimbabwe has started a
register of traditional healers who claim to cure the condition,
reports said Monday.
The crisis-riddled country recently registered an astounding drop in
HIV/AIDS rates, down to 1 in 7 from 1 in 4 at the beginning of the
century.
But efforts to contain the pandemic may be threatened by Zimbabwe's
economic meltdown, which has seen many patients unable to afford
doctors and drug fees.
Scores of traditional healers began gathering Friday at the Zimbabwe
National Traditional Healers' Association (ZINATHA) headquarters in
Harare to have themselves registered as genuine practitioners.
The healers will be monitored by conventional doctors to see if the
traditional remedies they prescribe really do improve CD4 counts - a
measure of white blood cells in HIV-infected people - as mainstream
anti-retroviral medicines do.
"We want to settle the issue once and for all," said ZINATHA
secretary for information and publicity Tapera Dzviti.
"Many traditional healers are claiming that they can cure the
infection and are taking money from people," he said in quotes carried
by the official Herald daily.
People living with HIV and AIDS are invited to come forward to take
part in the trial.
@ SELEBI-DA
CAPE TOWN 14 January 2008 Sapa
DA CALLS FOR MBEKI TO BRIEF PARLY ON SELEBI
President Thabo Mbeki should brief MPs on matters relating to
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, Democratic Alliance
parliamentary leader Sandra Botha said on Monday.
An urgent request had been sent to National Assembly Speaker Baleka
Mbete for Mbeki to brief Parliament - at a special January 17 sitting
- about "pertinent outstanding issues surrounding his granting...
[Selebi] extended leave of absence", she said in a statement.
Parliament is set to sit on Thursday to finalise the much-delayed
Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, carried over from last year.
Botha said Mbeki needed to explain why he had denied knowledge of
alleged wrongdoing by Selebi, when it was apparent he (Mbeki) was
already "informed of the possibility that the National Prosecuting
Authority would proceed against... [Selebi] in May of 2007".
Further, Mbeki also needed to say why he was "refusing a review of
[former NPA head Vusi] Pikoli's suspension and the appointment of the
Ginwala Commission into Pikoli's conduct, and give assurance that these
actions were not politically inspired".
Mbeki owed it to South Africans to explain his handling of the
Selebi issue, especially in light of the impact it was having on key
government institutions.
"Parliament is constitutionally obliged to hold the president to
account. The DA trusts that Speaker Mbete will recognise the urgent
need for this briefing to take place, and that she will immediately
inform the president of our request," Botha said.
@ ZIMBABWE-VOTE
HARARE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
ZIMBABWE TO KEEP OUT BIASED ELECTION OBSERVERS: MINISTER
Zimbabwe will prohibit foreign observers deemed to be biased from
overseeing its upcoming presidential and legislative elections, Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Monday.
"Our stance on foreign observers is that they are not a legal
requirement," Chinamasa was quoted as saying by the state-controlled
Herald newspaper, as Zimbabwe prepares for the polls which are expected
before the end of March.
"We do not have to allow people to come here to legitimise or
delegitimise our electoral processes and outcomes as a means of
furthering their interests," he said.
"Hence we will not entertain anyone or any institution that does not
have an open mind."
Both the European Union and the Commonwealth denounced as flawed the
last presidential election in 2002 that saw Robert Mugabe win a new
term in office, while an African Union observer mission gave the vote a
clean bill of health.
EU monitors were meanwhile barred from the last parliamentary
elections in 2005, although teams from so-called "friendly countries"
- mainly from Africa but also including Russia - were allowed in.
Chinamasa said that the idea of Westerners monitoring elections in
Africa was in part a means of defending their interests in their former
colonies.
"The western world largely came up with this (monitoring) as a
reaction to the decolonisation process ... as a means of safeguarding
their own interests," he said.
He cited Kenya as an example, saying that some foreign observers had
backtracked on their earlier declarations that elections there in
December had been free and fair.
Some observers only served to "sow the seeds of confusion, disunity
and ultimately bloodshed," Chinamasa added.
The 2002 elections led the European Union and the United States to
impose a series of sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle, while
criticism of its democratic record prompted Zimbabwe to pull out of the
Commonwealth.
Mugabe has yet to name the date of the election which should take
place before the end of March.
@ SELEBI-NPA
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
SELEBI'S LAWYERS WAITING FOR COURT DATE
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi's legal team were on
Monday waiting for a date for the hearing for his application to stop
the investigation against him, after last week's attempt to have it
heard urgently failed.
"The judge president must provide a date for a full bench," said
Jaap Cilliers, advocate for Selebi, who has gone on leave and has
resigned as head of Interpol.
On Friday the Pretoria High Court did not grant Selebi's application
to have the matter heard urgently and it was struck off the roll, but
the parties will arrange a date for the actual argument.
In Selebi's notice of motion, he had wanted to ask for an interdict
prohibiting the Directorate of Special Operations (the Scorpions) and
the Justice Ministry from instituting any criminal prosecution against
him, or taking any further steps in any envisaged criminal prosecution.
He also wanted a copy of the allegations against him and an
opportunity to answer them, to see copies of information justifying
warrants of arrest issued against him, and copies of affidavits
relating to him.
In court papers, the acting National Director of Public Prosecutions
Mokotedi Mpshe said the NPA was ready to charge Selebi with corruption
and defeating the course of justice.
Alleged corrupt relations with murder accused Glen Agliotti,
payments to the amount of R1.2 million and turning a blind eye to drug
smuggling were some of the reasons why they wanted to charge him, the
court heard.
"The charges against him are based on a strong prima facie case
supported by the testimony of a range of witnesses and corroborated by
real evidence," Mpshe said.
The National Prosecuting Authority said it would meet this week to
discuss how to proceed with the case.
On Monday NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali said the options were either to
go ahead with the Selebi matter regardless of Selebi's outstanding
application, or to wait for the court to pronounce on Selebi's pending
application.
The NPA has said it would let Selebi know when it planned to make a
move.
"He will not be cuffed," said Tlali.
Cilliers said on Monday morning that as far as he knew, Selebi had
not yet received notice that he would be wanted in court.
Meanwhile, Gerrie Nel, the lead investigator in the Selebi case,
will return to the Pretoria High Court on Monday after his arrest last
Tuesday night on charges including corruption and defeating the ends of
justice.
He led the investigations into the shooting of mining magnate Brett
Kebble and Selebi.
On Wednesday his legal team brought an urgent application to the
court to secure his release.
It was postponed indefinitely, giving his team a chance to bring a
late afternoon bail application. He was released on R10,000 bail and
the case against him was postponed to Monday.
As to how this would affect the Selebi investigation, Tlali said:
"His position and his status in the team has not changed."
As finality on whether Selebi will be arrested or not drags on,
Jacob Zuma used his first press conference as president of the African
National Congress to criticise the NPA for making public announcements
and naming people in cases which were yet to go to court.
@ CHINA-KENYA-DEMOCRACY
BEIJING 14 January 2008 Sapa-AP
CHINESE STATE NEWSPAPER SAYS KENYA VIOLENCE PROOF THAT WESTERN
DEMOCRACY UNSUITABLE
Election violence that has killed hundreds in Kenya proves that
Western-style democracy isn't right for Africa, China said Monday, at a
time when Beijing is under fire for maintaining friendly relations with
authoritarian African leaders.
Pre-colonial Africa had its own ways of resolving problems through
consensus, those traditional systems were ignored when former European
rulers "tyrannically" imposed Western democratic systems upon
independence, the People's Daily newspaper said in a commentary.
"Western-style democratic theory simply isn't suited to African
conditions, but rather carries with it the root of disaster," said the
paper, the official mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party.
Fighting has raged in Kenya since its disputed Dec. 27 presidential
election, killing 575 people, according to the Kenya Red Cross Society.
The violence has pitted other tribes against President Mwai Kibaki's
Kikuyu people and has shaken Kenya's image as a stable democracy in a
region that includes war-ravaged Somalia and Sudan.
Human rights groups and some overseas politicians have accused
Beijing of helping prop up despotic regimes in Sudan, Zimbabwe and
other African states.
China says it maintains a strict policy of not interfering in other
country's internal affairs and claims Chinese investment in Africa is
helping to improve human rights by bringing economic development and
alleviating poverty.
Beijing has seizable infrastructure projects in Kenya that include
mining and road-building.
Chinese President Hu Jintao also signed an oil exploration contract
with Kenya during a visit to the country in 2006, part of a series of
deals aimed at keeping Africa's natural resources flowing to China's
resource-hungry economy.
In its commentary Monday, the People's Daily also said that
colonialism was to blame for ongoing tribal and ethnic strife in Africa
because European rulers turned native societies against each other to
facilitate their rule.
"Colonialism is the chief culprit, the fuse that sparks ethnic
conflict," the paper said.
@ PAC-PRESIDENT
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
KZN PAYCO WANTS PAC HEAD TO STEP DOWN
The Pan Africanist Youth Congress of KwaZulu-Natal on Monday
supported a recent call by the national youth body for Pan Africanist
Congress president Letlapa Mphahlele to step down.
"We call upon party structures, branches and regions to support this
revolutionary call by the NEC [National Executive Committee] of [Payco]
for the president to go," said KwaZulu-Natal Payco chairman Batho
Makhubu.
He said Mphahlele could not motivate party members and could not be
expected to inspire people to vote for the PAC.
Last week Payco president Hulisani Mmbara said Mphahlele must
withdraw a decree that he rule by himself, and resign.
Last year Mphahlele invoked a decree in terms of section 14.2 of the
PAC's constitution that allowed him to rule alone if there was a party
crisis.
During 2007, the PAC lost key members, including its deputy Themba
Godi,-during the floor crossing period and expelled its previous leader
Motsoko Pheko.
Mphahlele also disbanded the NEC and was ruling the party alone,
accounting to conferences only.
PAC spokesman Mudini Maivha said Mphahlele would not step down and
that in terms of the constitution, Payco could not make that call, but
could only lobby for it.
@ FFPLUS-NAMECHANGE
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
FF CONSIDERS COURT ACTION ON NAME CHANGE
The Freedom Front Plus is considering legal action against the
Tshwane municipality following the announcement of a business plan that
would eradicate the Pretoria name before 2010.
Spokesman Willie Spies said on Monday the party was considering
bringing a court application against the City of Tshwane Metropolitan
Municipality.
"Beeld newspaper reported this morning that the ANC is planning to
get rid of the name Pretoria in order to be able to use only the name
Tshwane in the 2010 Soccer World Cup locally and internationally," said
Spies.
"Today, a notice will be sent to their [Tshwane's] attorneys
requesting them to suspend the execution of the business plan, pending
the finalisation of the court application on the status of the city's
name.
"If needs be the FF Plus will once again approach the courts to stop
these plans," Spies said.
The municipality could not be reached for comment.
@ ZIM-SHOPPING
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
MORE ZIMBABWEANS GO SHOPPING ACROSS BORDERS: REPORT
South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique have reported an upsurge in
the number of Zimbabweans crossing the borders for Christmas shopping,
as basic commodities remain in short supply in most shops, the
state-controlled Zimbabwe Herald reported on Monday.
Immigration officials said although statistics were still being
compiled at the border posts, estimates are that between 2800 and 3500
people were outward-bound daily in the run-up to the Christmas holiday,
the Herald reported.
"Subsequently, prices of commodities in neighbouring countries have
increased owing to the demand from Zimbabweans. Most shops in
Francistown reported stockouts on most goods," said the report.
Although the shopping trips have meant that border towns such as
Musina, Chimoio and Francistown are booming, most shoppers prefer the
bigger cities such as Beira, Johannesburg, and Gaborone, where goods
are cheaper and the choice broader, the newspaper said.
"This has boosted manufacturing and retail sales in those countries,
encouraging businesses to be set up to support these shoppers."
Cross-border shoppers were largely responsible for the growth in
retail sales in South Africa last year, the Herald said. (South African
retail sales rose to 18 percent from 8.7 percent over the previous
year).
In 2006, Zimbabweans spent R2.2 billion in the South African
economy, making them the biggest spenders in that economy.
In a recent research paper, South African-based independent
development economist Norman Reynolds said that Zimbabwean shoppers
were pumping between R20 billion and R30 billion into the South African
economy yearly through these shopping trips.
Reports on Botswana Television recently quoted several supermarket
owners as saying they had been stocked out, as a result of big
purchases mostly by Zimbabweans and Zambians, the Herald said.
A visit by the Herald newspaper to Mozambique in December revealed
that trade between the two countries had grown sharply since the
scrapping of visa requirements a month before.
Zimbabwe's retailers hit by price rollbacks and subsequent price
controls have not been adequately stocked, as sourcing goods from
manufacturers has been difficult owing to the National Incomes Pricing
Commission price negotiations, the report said.
@ TAIWAN-MALAWI
TAIPEI, Taiwan 14 January 2008 Sapa-AP
DIPLOMATS: TAIWAN TO BREAK TIES WITH MALAWI
Taiwan will break diplomatic ties with the African nation of Malawi,
three Taiwanese diplomats said Monday.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the
announcement of the break had not yet been made, did not specify a
reason for the action.
However, Taiwanese rival China is believed to be close to cementing
ties with Malawi, after two senior Malawian diplomats visited Beijing
last month.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Since then they have
engaged in a no-holds-barred race to win diplomatic allegiance from
countries around the world.
@ MALAWI-TAIWAN-CHINA
BLANTYRE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
MALAWI FORGES TIES WITH BEIJING, DUMPS TAIWAN
Malawi has decided to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan
to the Chinese government in Beijing, the southern African country's
foreign minister said Monday.
"The two governments in conformity with the desires of the two
peoples have decided to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial
level from December 28, 2007," Foreign Minister Joyce Banda said,
reading a joint statement between Malawi and the Beijing government.
"The two countries have agreed to develop friendly relationships and
cooperation and the People's Republic of China will support Malawi in
its efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and develop its economy."
@ SOMALIA-TOLL
MOGADISHU 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
13 DIE IN SOMALIA CLASHES
At least 12 people died and more than 25 were wounded in overnight
clashes on the border between Somalia's breakaway northern regions of
Puntland and Somaliland, officials and witnesses said Monday.
One person also died in clashes between Somali forces and Islamist
insurgents Monday in the volatile Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses
said.
An official in the northern Puntland town of Bosasso accused
Somaliland forces of attacking Puntland forces in the disputed northern
region of Sool.
"The Somaliland forces attacked a village around the disputed border
and at least 12 people died," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, an
information ministry official.
"We have been told that civilians are also included among the
casualties but we don't have the figure," added Muhidin Awnure Jama, an
elder in the city of Las Anod.
Tension remains high in the area with sporadic clashes reported
regularly.
In Mogadishu, one civilian was killed and another injured in clashes
between Somali forces and insurgents in the flashpoint Bakara area
early Monday, witnesses said. They also reported sporadic gunfire.
"They fought each other with machine guns near Howladag junction and
one civilian died," said witness Hasan Ali Anteno. "He was trying to
cross the road when he got caught in crossfire."
Bashir Adan, another witness, said he saw a woman wounded by a stray
bullet in the same area.
Civilians have borne the brunt of almost-daily fighting in Mogadishu
between Ethiopia-backed government forces and the remnants of an
Islamist militia that briefly controlled large parts of the country at
the end of 2006.
Hundreds of civilians have since been killed and thousands driven
from their homes.
The troubled Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by civil unrest
since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and defied
numerous peace initiatives.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, while Puntland declared
semi-autonomous status in 1998.
@ KENYA-ANNAN
NAIROBI 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
KENYA GOVERNMENT REJECTS ANNAN MEDIATION IN CRISIS
The Kenyan government on Monday rejected a mediation mission by
former UN chief Kofi Annan to try to end political unrest and sent a
stern warning to the opposition ahead of nationwide protests.
Two weeks after President Mwai Kibaki's contested re-election
sparked violence that has left more than 700 dead, Annan was due in
Nairobi on Tuesday, his office said.
But Kibaki's government again rejected international mediation of
the crisis, which has also left a million displaced.
"If Kofi Annan is coming, he is not coming at our invitation," Roads
and Public Works Minister John Michuki, a hardline member of Kibaki's
new cabinet, told reporters.
"We won the elections so we do not see the point for anyone coming
to mediate power-sharing," he added.
International mediation efforts have so far failed to bring Kibaki
to the negotiating table with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says
the December 27 election was rigged to rob him of the presidency.
African Union chief John Kufuor left the country last week with
little to show for two days of talks with both camps.
Top US Africa envoy Jendayi Frazer, who spent a week in Kenya, said
afterwards she was "deeply disappointed" that the two rivals had been
unable to reach agreement on how to hold direct discussions.
She also warned that the United States could not "conduct business
as usual in Kenya."
International observers have voiced concern over irregularities in
December 27 polls' vote tallying but no foreign power has come out
strongly against Kibaki, who took the oath an hour after the results
were announced.
The 76-year-old was due to inaugurate Kenya's 10th parliament on
Tuesday.
Neither his Party of National Unity (PNU) nor Odinga's opposition
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) managed to secure a majority,
prompting a fight between both sides to woo smaller parties ahead of
the chamber's re-opening.
Odinga has vowed his party will sit down on the government's side on
the parliament benches.
"We expect rough times and a major showdown in parliament, dominated
by patronage, vendettas and unproductiveness if the situation remains
as it is," Kenyan political analyst Evans Manduku said Monday.
Senior ODM official William Ruto denied that by attending the
opening of parliament convened by Kibaki, the opposition would be
recognising the legitimacy of his presidency.
"We are not going to sit back and allow them install a speaker who
will pave the way for the illegitimacy to continue," he said.
Meanwhile, police and opposition supporters braced for further
clashes Wednesday, the first day of three days of nationwide rallies to
protest Kibaki's re-election.
A police ban on the rallies has fueled fears of fresh violence in
the east African nation, after a police crackdown with tear gas and
water cannons on previous opposition demonstrations.
"Kenyans should be warned that anyone participating or organising
will be held personally responsible and will have to face the law,"
Interior Minister George Saitoti said at a press conference Monday.
At least 700 people were killed in rioting and tit-for-tat tribal
killings following the announcement of Kibaki's re-election on December
30.
Meanwhile, some Kenyan children returned to school Monday amid a
major police deployment.
"Police are manning security well across the country and parents can
rest assured that police are in place, nothing will happen to their
children who are going to school," national police spokesman Eric
Kiraithe told AFP.
But in many of the areas worst affected by the unrest, children
remained unable to attend classes for security reasons, fear of tribal
reprisals or because they had been displaced and had no schools to go
to.
Some 260,000 people have had to flee their homes since the violence
erupted, prompting a humanitarian crisis in a country accustomed to
sheltering refugees from neighbouring states.
@ SA-IRELAND
CAPE TOWN 14 January 2008 Sapa
IRELAND'S AHERN GIVES BOOST TO TOWNSHIP HOUSING
The Irish government has approved a five million Euro grant (about
R50 million) for building township houses in SA.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced details of the grant -
made to the Niall Mellon Township Trust - in Cape Town on Monday,
during an official visit aimed, among other things, at monitoring
projects funded by Irish Aid, a government development agency.
The Niall Mellon Township Trust is the largest provider of charity
housing in SA, and has built more than 5,000 houses for shack-dwellers
over the past six years.
The trust is well known for its recruitment of hundreds of Irish
volunteer builders, who give of their time and expertise to visit SA
each year to build houses for the poor.
Ahern is also set to visit Tanzania. He is accompanied by
representatives from 50 Irish and Northern Ireland companies.
@ COURT-NEL
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
CHARGES AGAINST NEL WITHDRAWN
Charges against Gerrie Nel, the head of the Scorpions in Gauteng,
were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court on Monday.
"After careful consideration of the evidence in the docket, the
decision was made to withdraw the charges," chief prosecutor Matric
Lupondo said during Nel's brief appearance.
Nel, who was dressed in a grey suit, managed to avoid the media who
were waiting outside court to get his reaction to the decision.
"We are relieved with the outcome and Mr Nel just wants to go back
to work and carry out his duties at the DSO (Directorate of Special
Operations)," his legal counsel Ian Small Smith said.
Police arrested Nel at his Pretoria home last Tuesday for alleged
corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Although the charges were withdrawn, they could be reinstated at
some stage, but Small Smith said he doubted this would happen.
"They (the police) were widely criticised after the arrest, after
(which) the senior prosecutor felt there wasn't a case, which means he
should not have been arrested in the first instance, as there was not a
case - so I will be very surprise if there is another arrest," he
said.
He said should the police decide to recharge Nel, they could just
ask him to hand himself over instead of arresting him again.
Small Smith believes that Nel should sue the state for wrongful
arrest, but says this is for Nel to decide.
"You have to understand that because of his position, there are
other role-players here as well...he is a responsible person and he
will act responsibly," Small Smith said.
Outside court, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali
said: "In this particular case an investigation was carried out by the
SAPS -as a result of a lack of evidence in this matter, no case has to
be answered by Mr Gerhard Nel."
@ SOMALIA-MEDIA
MOGADISHU 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
SOMALI AUTHORITIES ARREST TWO JOURNALISTS
Somali security forces raided the offices of a private radio and
arrested two of its journalists on charges of airing pro-opposition
propaganda, the station told AFP Monday.
Abdurrahman Mohamed Hassan, the director of Mogadishu-based
Somaliweyn Radio and producer Bashir Mohamed Abdukadir were detained
late Sunday, editor in chief Nuradin Ahmed Diniyare said.
"Somali government forces armed with heavy machine guns raided the
station while we were on duty and they asked for Bashir Mohamed who was
not in the station at the time," he said.
"He arrived later and they arrested him. Hours later they called the
director and arrested him too," Diniyare said.
The editor said negotiations were under way for their release and
added that the authorities accused the journalists of supporting the
Eritrea-based opposition to the transitional government.
"We denounce this move and demand the immediate and unconditional
release of the two journalists," said Omar Faruk Osman, secretary
general of the National Union of Somali Journalists, in a statement.
The transitional Somali government, which is battling an Islamist
insurgency, has cracked down on journalists in recent months, closing
down several radio stations and arresting journalists.
While Islamist fighters have concentrated their attacks in the
capital, their political leaders and other opposition figures have
formed an alliance based in the Eritrean capital Asmara.
Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous countries for
journalists.
@ EMPOWER-MPUMA
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
MPUMA SKILLS DEVELOPMENT GETS A BOOST
In a bid to alleviate shortages of scarce skills in Mpumalanga, R3
million will be spent on 25 matriculants this year, the province's
agricultural department said on Monday.
MEC Dina Pule said the matriculants would study agriculture-related
subjects at various universities in the country.
They would study veterinary science, veterinary technology,
veterinary nursing, agricultural engineering, environmental management,
land surveying and town planning.
Pule said as part of the department’s human resource development
strategy, 108 students were enrolled at various institutions by the end
of last year; 44 officials were also enrolled part time.
She called on learners in lower grades to study mathematics and
science as these subjects opened doors to further learning and a wide
range of careers.
She said she was encouraged by the level of interest shown by young
people in the agricultural field.
"Those who cannot further their studies should identify other
opportunities in departmental programmes such as land care and
masibuyel’ imasimini."
She said the youth in their respective municipalities and wards
should play a leading role in environmental management and recycling.
@ MALAWI-TAIWAN
TAIPEI 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
TAIWAN CONDEMNS CHINA OVER MALAWI TIES
Taiwan on Monday strongly denounced its rival China for using money
to lure away Malawi after the African country had earlier said it was
setting up diplomatic ties with Beijing.
"The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name)
severely condemned China for using a lot of money to lure away our
ally, as part of its efforts to squeeze Taiwan's international space,"
Taiwan's Vice Foreign Minister Tzu-pao Yang told reporters.
The remarks came shortly after Malawi said it had decided to switch
its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the Chinese government in
Beijing, the southern African country's foreign minister said.
Yang did not specify how much Beijing may have handed over but said
China late last year had offered up to 6 billion dollars for Malawi to
switch allegiance.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and Beijing regards
Taiwan as a renegade province that will eventually be reunited with the
mainland, by force if necessary.
Latin America, the South Pacific and Africa have been the main
diplomatic battlegrounds for the two nations, which have accused each
other in the past of luring allies with "chequebook diplomacy".
@ COURT-NEL-DA
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
DA WANTS ICD TO PROBE NEL'S ARREST
The Democratic Alliance on Monday asked the Independent Complaints
Directorate (ICD) to investigate the arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss
Gerrie Nel.
This comes after charges, of corruption and defeating the
administration of justice, against Nel were withdrawn in the Pretoria
Regional Court.
In a letter sent by the DA's spokeswoman for Safety and Security
Dianne Kohler Barnard to the acting executive director of the ICD,
Patrick Mongwe, she said it was of "national significance" that the
incident be thoroughly investigated.
In a media statement, Kohler Barnard said it appeared as if the
police wanted to show the Scorpions who was in control.
"Sending in 20 armed SAPS members could serve no other purpose, as
Nel's appearance in court could have been secured through a simple
phone call, thus treating him with the respect he was due," she said,
referring to the manner in which Nel was arrested.
The DA said the ICD should establish who ordered the warrant to be
served and why.
It also wanted the allegation that Nel's cellphone was taken away
and switched off to prevent him from making contact with his lawyer, to
be investigated.
@ NURSES-DENOSA
CAPE TOWN 14 January 2008 Sapa
ANGER OVER NURSES' SALARIES
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) is angry about
employers failing to implement new salary structures for nurses, agreed
to last year.
"Denosa is angry and astonished at the failure by the employer to
implement the Occupational Specific Dispensation [OSD} salary
structure, as agreed on PSCBC [Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining
Council] resolution one of 2007," it said in a statement on Monday.
Nurses were promised salary increases of between 20 and 80 percent,
and it was disturbing to learn some had received no, or very low,
increases.
According to a spokesman, Denosa represents 65,000 nurses and
nursing staff in both the public and private sector.
The organisation called for urgent implementation of the OSD
agreement by health sector administrators.
"Denosa demands health administrators... locate and address the
problem behind this incorrect implementation of the OSD, as we do not
believe that such a crucial move to attract and retain nurses should be
compromised," it said.
@ CENTRAFRICA-MEDIA-ARREST
BANGUI 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
CENTRAL AFRICAN POLICE ARREST NEWSPAPER BOSS
Police in he Central African Republic have arrested the managing
editor of a newsweekly, Faustin Bambou, over an article where he
accused government members of taking bribes, his lawyer said Monday.
Bambou, who runs Les Collines de l'Oubangui (The Oubangui Hills),
was picked up Friday and placed in custody in Bangui's central
gendamerie on the orders of the capital's chief prosecutor, lawyer
Jean-Hilaire Zoumalde told AFP.
"The ministers named in the article complained to the High Council
of Commununications," Zoumalde said. "They didn't file any suit against
the journalist to have him arrested and detained."
In the contentious article, Les Collines reported that two
government ministers were paid several billion CFA francs by the French
nuclear power group Areva, which in July bought into a uranium deposit
at Bakouma in the northeast of the poverty-stricken country.
The prosecutor at the Bangui court, Firmin Feindiro, told AFP that
no case had yet been presented against Bambou and that he "hasn't been
charged, at least not for now".
"The enquiry is still under way, but the complaints levelled against
him are serious enough," Feindiro added. "This is about inciting public
disorder and an uprising against the country's institutions."
A legal source who asked not to be named said that the publication
of the article had encouraged the landlocked nation's civil servants to
extend until January 17 a pay strike they began at the start of the
year.
The government workers have been demanding the payment of several
months of salary arrears - a frequent occurrence in the Central
African Republic where successive governments have faced civil unrest
and military uprisings triggered in part by their inability to pay
wages on time.
@ POLICE-SELEBI
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
CRIME FIGHTING TO CONTINUE WITHOUT SELEBI
Acting Commissioner of Police Tim Williams and the rest of the
police top management on Monday sought to assure the public that crime
fighting would continue in the absence of National Police Commissioner
Jackie Selebi.
"The Management Forum would like to assure the communities of South
Africa that the SA Police Service (SAPS) will continue to meet the
obligations and responsibilities entrusted to us in terms of the
Constitution and the SA Police Service Act," the forum said in a
statement issued by the Office of the National Police Commissioner.
"Policing will continue and members of the SAPS at all levels are
encouraged to focus on delivering service to the communities to ensure
public safety," it said.
Williams was appointed acting national police commissioner on
Saturday following the revelation on Friday that the National
Prosecuting Authority was ready to charge Selebi with corruption and
defeating the course of justice.
President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday confirmed that Selebi had been
given an extended leave of absence.
The police said Williams had acted in the post of national
commissioner in the past, as had the four other deputy national police
commissioners.
"(He) intends to ensure that policing duties continue normally and
that we remain focused on our priorities," the forum said.
@ MOZAMBIQUE-FLOODS
MAPUTO 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
SEVERAL DIE, 70,000 DISPLACED IN MOZAMBIQUE FLOODS
Several people have died while 70,000 others were displaced by
floods in central Mozambique and the situation is expected to worsen
till mid-February, the National Institute of Natural Disaster
Management (INGC) said Monday.
"The floods have for now claimed several lives, according to an
official toll," INGC's deputy director Joao Ribeiro told AFP.
On Sunday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA) gave a death toll of 50, a figure which Ribeiro said
was overestimated.
Mozambique had as far back as November envisaged a heavy downpour
during this raining season and had warned its population, a step which
has helped to reduce the number of victims.
More than 70,000 people have been resettled, particularly in schools
and other public buildings.
Overall, the southern African country which declared a red alert
last January 3, is gearing up to evacuate more than 200,000 people.
In Geneva,the Red Cross and Red Crescent warned Monday that much of
southern Africa faces potentially disastrous flooding, while the
situation in Mozambique was particularly worrying.
Heavy rains that started last month in parts of Zimbabwe had
provoked flooding there, said a statement from the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
That was now spreading to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and
Zambia, while the large Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, off the
Mozambican coast, was also affected.
"The weather forecast for the next seven days is not good with more
rain expected, which could last until April," said Peter Rees, head of
the IFRC's operations support department.
"If this happens, southern Africa will certainly face major flooding
with potentially catastrophic consequences," he added.
Rees called for immediate action to head off the crisis.
The IFRC statement pointed out that Mozambique was still recovering
from flooding and then a cyclone in February 2007.
Since late November when the raining season started, the heavy
downpour has led to a sharp rise in the levels of rivers Zambezi,
Pongue, Buzi and Save.
"Currently the River Zambezi is almost two metres (six feet) high
above the warning level," Ribeiro said.
"The forecasts we have indicate that the rains would intensify in
the coming weeks, to attain a peak in the second half of February."
Thirty people died, while 80,000 others were rendered homeless as a
result of flooding last year.
In 2001 and 2002, torrential rains swept through the former
Portuguese colony still undergoing reconstruction after a long period
of civil war (1976-1992). More than 700 people were lost to flooding.
More than 3,000 people have been rendered homeless in Zambia, while
three people died in Zimbabwe.
The local Red Cross had already sent emergency supplies to to
affected regions and in Geneva and the IFRC on Friday released one
million Swiss francs (980,000 dollars, 660,000 euros).
The federation will shortly be launching an appeal for funding to
help fund operations in the region.
@ NIGERIA-BRITAIN-COURT-TOBACCO
ABUJA, 14 jan 2008 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
NIGERIA'S TOBACCO FIRM LAWSUIT ADJOURNED: LAWYER
A Nigerian federal high court judge Monday adjourned until March 17
Nigeria's 40-billion-dollar lawsuit against three leading tobacco
companies as one of the defendants had not been served a summons.
"The case has been adjourned because one of the defendants, Philip
Morris has not been served," said Babatunde Irukera, one of the lawyers
representing Nigeria's attorney general.
Another defendant, British American Tobacco (BAT) Plc has also asked
for time to file preliminary objections to the case, Irukera said.
Nigeria filed a lawsuit against BAT, Philip Morris and a Nigerian
company International Tobacco Limited in July 2007, accusing them of
having conspired to target young people and of having concealed the
harmful nature of smoking for several years.
Nigeria is demanding 44 billion dollars (30 billion euros) in
compensation for the cost of treating smoking-related diseases.
The government is also seeking an injunction compelling the
companies to stop the marketing and sale of cigarettes.
"That's a typical product liability theory, if your product creates
injury you're responsible for the injury," Irukera said.
"Secondly the government thinks that tobacco companies are
inappropriately targeting minors, and on account of that the federal
government is in court to restrict the distribution of tobacco products
to young people," Irukera said.
The Nigerian government is also trying to get an injunction obliging
the companies to stop marketing and selling cigarettes.
Irukera also represents Nigeria in its 6.5-billion-dollar suit
against US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer Inc. for an alleged illegal
drug trial.
Still according to Irukera, between 22 and 27 per cent of Nigerians
smoke, essentially young people with little purchasing power.
"The case is in court, we would rather not discuss the court
proceedings before the matter is tried in court," Fumi Ajomale, lawyer
for BAT Nigeria said.
Four states of the federation have also filed similar suits.
@ ECONOMY-BREAD
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
BREAD PRICE INCREASES BY 40 CENTS
Tiger Brands began charging 40 cents more for a loaf of Albany bread
on Monday, with Pioneer Foods and Premier Foods in the process of
considering their increases.
In response, the Congress of SA Trade Unions suggested the increases
were linked to last year's bread price fixing scandal.
"Tiger claims that this decision was made independently of other
bread producers and had nothing to do with the R99 million fine imposed
on them last year for price-fixing. Yet the other two big companies,
Pioneer, which produces Sasko, and Premier, which makes Blue Ribbon,
are expected to announce similar increases almost immediately," said
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven.
But Tiger Brands group executive for corporate affairs, Jimmy Manyi,
denied this saying: "No, not at all. It's not that."
"It is because of an increase in input costs, like wheat prices,
escalating the whole of last year."
Fuel and energy costs had rocketed and the group had been absorbing
these for the whole of 2007.
"The price of wheat didn't go up yesterday, it's been doing so
throughout (2007)," said Manyi.
He denied that it was to recoup the fine imposed by the Competition
Commission on the company.
Pioneer Foods managing director Andre Hanekom said the company
expected increases of between 35 and 40 cents depending on the loaf and
the region it was sold in, while Premier Foods' corporate affairs
manager Steven Mallach said the company would finalise its increase
within the next 10 to 14 days.
Hanekom said the increases for Pioneer Foods and Tiger Brands
appeared similar because they procured their wheat and fuel on the same
markets.
Condemning the increase, Cosatu said it would add to the hardship
faced by millions of poor families struggling with the prices of food,
fuel, school uniforms and other essential items.
"Food price increases are the biggest single driver of inflation,
yet the Reserve Bank, which claims its mandate is to target inflation,
says nothing to condemn these increases," said Craven.
Cosatu renewed its call for an investigation into the food price
chain and would ask its research arm NALEDI to conduct its own research
into the matter.
In December 2006, Western Cape bread distributors complained about
alleged bread and milling cartels.
After an investigation by the Competition Commission, Tiger Brands
admitted to being involved in illegal price-fixing in the bread
industry, along with, among others, Premier Foods and Pioneer Foods.
Manyi said that although this had been done by employees without the
knowledge of the executive, the company had taken responsibility for it
and was granted conditional leniency.
Premier Foods was also granted conditional leniency from prosecution
in exchange for assisting the Commission in its investigations.
Pick n Pay said a price of Albany brown bread cost R5.50 on Monday.
@ AFRIFORUM-LANGUAGE
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
AFRIFORUM TO MEET LANGUAGE BOARD
AfriForum and the Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb) are to
meet to discuss issues relating to Pretoria University's language
policy, AfriForum said on Monday.
AfriForum's chief executive officer Kallie Kriel said AfriForum - a
civil rights initiative founded by Solidarity - had accepted Pansalb
invitation to hold discussions .
This related to a dispute between itself and the university over the
position of the Afrikaans language at the university.
"The sooner the disregarding of Afrikaans as medium of instruction
at the university is addressed the better, as Afrikaans is continuously
losing ground at this university," Kriel said in a statement.
This comes after AfriForum lodged a complaint against the university
last year.
In its complaint AfriForum alleges that the rights of an Afrikaans
speaking group of industrial engineering students had been infringed
because the university "misled" them into believing that they would
receive instruction in Afrikaans, which was not the case.
According to Kriel the students had already called on the university
to reinstitute the language medium but that their requests had fallen
on deaf ears.
Pansalb's Sibusiso Nkosi confirmed that Pansalb had requested a
meeting with both parties.
"We suggested that we meet with both parties. The meeting is
supposed to take place between now and 18 January," said Nkosi.
Nkosi said Pansalb had sent out letters, requesting the meeting, to
both the university and AfriForum last Friday.
"A complaint was lodged and therefore all complaints must be
investigated. We are trying to mediate between the two," said Nkosi.
University spokesman Gilbert Mokwatedi confirmed that the university
had received word from Pansalb.
"The university's registrar Niek Grove confirms that the university
has received correspondence from the Language Board and is in
consultation with it. The university will release a full statement
later," said Mokwatedi.
@ ZIMBABWE-JUSTICE
HARARE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
ZIMBABWE JUDGE BEMOANS STAFF EXODUS, SLOW TRIALS
Zimbabwe's most senior judge on Monday bemoaned a mounting backlog
of untried cases because of a staff exodus, saying the high court in
Harare now only had one stenographer to keep records of proceedings.
"I mentioned the backlog in the criminal division at the opening of
the legal year last year," Judge President Rita Makarau told guests at
a ceremony to start the 2008 court year.
"Then the average age of a murder set down for hearing in the high
court was four years. It is now six years," she warned.
"The backlog in criminal cases is set to be further exacerbated by
the exodus of staff from the office of the director of public
prosecutions who left a number of criminal cases partly heard
uncompleted and have gone on to assume duties elsewhere from whence
they cannot come to complete the cases."
The justice ministry has not been spared by the massive exodus which
has hit many government departments in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe with
prosecutors leaving to join private law firms while others have left
the country.
Makarau said the delivery of justice was further hampered by a
shortage of court transcribers with only one serving the high court in
Harare and a second in the main southern city of Bulawayo.
"This has proved most difficult to accomplish, with the result that
most trials will not be completed in the near future, or at all unless
we put in place radical and urgent interventions," she said.
She cited a case where a judge was at a loss what to do with a man
accused of killing his brother after a drunken brawl.
During the the lengthy time the man was on bail awaiting trial, he
assumed responsibility for his deceased's brother's family and fathered
two additional children with the widow.
"How does society expect us to respond in such circumstances where
the delay is in the system and no particular officer or office is to
blame?" Makarau asked.
Magistrates and prosecutors across Zimbabwe went on strike in
October, pressing for better working conditions and a higher salary.
They returned to work after government them a 600 percent pay rise.
Makarau said the high court in Harare would in the coming legal year
hear 25 murder cases all of which were committed more than a year ago.
@ COURT-NEL-REAX
PRETORIA 14 January 2008 Sapa
POLITICAL PARTIES WANT ANSWERS ON NEL'S ARREST
The Democratic Alliance on Monday asked the Independent Complaints
Directorate (ICD) to investigate the arrest of Gauteng Scorpions boss
Gerrie Nel.
This came after charges of corruption and defeating the
administration of justice against Nel were withdrawn in the Pretoria
Regional Court.
The withdrawal of the charges crowned a string of very disturbing
developments in the criminal justice system, the SA Communist Party
said.
The Freedom Front Plus - in its reaction - said the case was proof
that police commissioner Jackie Selebi used the police for a witch-hunt
and intimidation of the National Prosecuting Authority.
"This was an unwarranted waste of police manpower which could have
been used to fight crime in general and specifically on the streets
rather than trying to promote Selebi's interests," the FF Plus' Pieter
Groenewald said.
In a letter sent by the DA's spokeswoman for Safety and Security
Dianne Kohler Barnard to the acting executive director of the ICD,
Patrick Mongwe, she said it was of "national significance" that the
incident be thoroughly investigated.
In a media statement, Kohler Barnard said it appeared as if the
police wanted to show the Scorpions who was in control.
"Sending in 20 armed SAPS members could serve no other purpose, as
Nel's appearance in court could have been secured through a simple
phone call, thus treating him with the respect he was due," she said,
referring to the manner in which Nel was arrested.
The DA said the ICD should establish who ordered the warrant to be
served and why.
It also wanted the allegation that Nel's cellphone was taken away
and switched off to prevent him from making contact with his lawyer, to
be investigated.
The SACP said the government bore some responsibility - adding that
Nel's case was only one of many disturbing developments in the criminal
justice system
"It is now clear to us as the SACP that our government bears
enormous responsibility for such a state of affairs, and that it
therefore requires urgent attention," the party said.
The SACP said it would call on the African National Congress's
National Executive Committee - scheduled to meet over the weekend -
to look at the state of the country's criminal justice system and
discuss possible interventions.
It also believed that Parliament should intervene.
"The highly unsatisfactory state of our criminal justice system
poses one of the most serious threats to our democracy, threatening to
erode the confidence of our people in these institutions, making them
even more liable to abuse by those in powerful positions and
susceptible to infiltration by all kinds of elements with different
agendas, including political agendas," the party said.
"More seriously this may undermine the capacity of this system to
fight the scourge of crime plaguing our country."
There was clearly a "very disturbing, if not dirty" turf war between
the Scorpions and the police, the party said.
"This underlines the correctness of the Alliance stance that one
police force must be created and that the Scorpions must be urgently
incorporated into the SAPS," it added.
@ ZIMBABWE-EDUCATION
HARARE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AP
SCHOOLS IN ZIM FACE BLEAK START TO NEW YEAR
Rowdy crowds formed at clothing stores Monday as anxious parents
searched for uniforms for a new school year in Zimbabwe overshadowed by
rocketing fees, shortages of most basic supplies and lack of
electricity.
Beleaguered businesses and residents in the rain-lashed capital were
without water after power outages shut the main treatment plant. Even
luxury hotels were forced to ask guests to wash in swimming pool water.
Parents at one store in downtown Harare were told school shoes were
out of stock. But black market dealers were offering them for 80
million Zimbabwe dollars - about US$40 - at the dominant illegal
exchange rate -at a street market in the western township of Mbare.
Margaret Boora, a single mother, said she couldn't raise the 400
million Zimbabwe dollars (US$200) for fees, exercise books and a
uniform for her daughter's first term at high school. She earns 30
million Zimbabwe dollars (US$15) a month as an office janitor, the
average wage of unskilled workers.
"I don't know what to do. It is not possible for me to find the
money," she said. A blazer and a hat with a school badge alone were
priced at 145 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$72), nearly five times her
monthly take-home pay. There are no cheaper schools within walking
distance in her area and bus fares cost more than US$1 a day.
She said her daughter would stay away from school unless dress
regulations were relaxed. School authorities said they were awaiting
instructions from the Education Ministry.
In recent months, teachers have reported growing absenteeism, which
is expected to worsen when schools reopen Tuesday.
"A great many children won't get back this term. Earnings have not
kept up with prices," said independent Harare economist John Robertson.
"The futures' of countless numbers of young people are being
destroyed."
Official inflation is estimated at around 24,000 percent but
independent financial institutions put real inflation closer to 150,000
percent.
The nation is facing acute shortages of food, hard currency and
gasoline in the economic meltdown that began in 2000 with the often
violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms in the
former regional breadbasket.
A price freeze ordered by the government in June left store shelves
bare of most basic goods but the freeze was eased in phases to restore
the viability of producers and businesses. But supplies of goods have
remained erratic.
In the past month, Zimbabweans also faced chronic shortages of local
cash. Lines outside banks and cash machines are a daily occurrence,
along with power and water outages.
The state water utility said Sunday power outages shut down its main
water treatment plant outside Harare, cutting off water supplies to
large swathes of the capital and the dormitory town of Chitungwiza, 25
kilometers (15 miles) to the south, that could last a week.
Offices, shops, hair salons and hotels in the central business
district were without water Monday - and this after weeks of torrential
rains described as the worst since records started.
Hotel staff said they were having to turn guests away for lack of
water. One luxury downtown hotel drew its water from the swimming pool
for washing and cleaning to conserve its tanks of drinking water.
@ SA-IRELAND-ZIM
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa-dpa
IRISH LEADER EXPRESSES 'GREAT CONCERN' OVER ZIMBABWE
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern expressed "great concern" over the
economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe at the outset of a visit to
South Africa Monday.
"I would like to thank President (Thabo) Mbeki for his work as the
SADC (Southern African Development Community) mediator in Zimbabwe, an
issue of great concern to us in Ireland," Ahern told a reception in
Cape Town hosted by the Irish ambassador.
Up to 3,000 Irish people are estimated to live in Zimbabwe, where
the government's ruinous economic policies have resulted in inflation
of more than 24,000 per cent and grinding poverty.
At the European Union-African Union summit in Lisbon in December,
Ahern derided authoritarian Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
constant blaming of colonialism for his country's economic collapse,
saying, "Any country that halves the life expectancy of its people
speaks for itself."
Earlier Monday Ahern visited the Niall Mellon Township Trust named
after a wealthy Irish property developer who has built hundreds of
homes for shack-dwellers in the Cape Town area.
On Tuesday, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy visit on Mbeki, who is
mediating in talks between the Zimbabwean government and opposition.
Ahern will also hold talks with Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo
Ngcuka on matters that would "most likely" include Zimbabwe, according
to his spokeswoman.
The Irish leader arrived in South Africa Sunday at the head of a
trade delegation of over 50 companies, including companies from
Northern Ireland.
The delegation's African tour also includes a visit to Tanzania, one
of the biggest recipients of Irish overseas aid, which this year is set
to reach over 0.5 per cent of gross national product.
@ PIKOLI-INQUIRY
CAPE TOWN 14 January 2008 Sapa
NO GOVT SUBMISSION YET ON PIKOLI
With 24 hours to go before deadline, the Ginwala Commission of
Inquiry into suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi
Pikoli, has yet to receive government's submission on the matter.
Asked whether a submission had been received, commission deputy
secretary Lawson Naidoo told Sapa shortly after 4pm on Monday: "Not as
yet."
Asked about the looming January 15 deadline - set by commission
chair Frene Ginwala - he said normal practice meant the document
should be delivered to the commission by the "end of the working day"
on Tuesday at the latest.
Asked if has heard from government, he said he had not had any
indication from it on the matter.
According to the rules and timeframes set by Ginwala, Pikoli himself
has a further two weeks, until January 31, to make his submission.
Third parties - people asked by Ginwala to make submissions, or those
with special interest or knowledge - have until the same date.
President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli on September 24 last year,
and four days later, appointed Ginwala - the former Speaker of the
National Assembly - to head the inquiry.
Its terms of reference cover two broad areas: Pikoli's fitness to
hold office, and the breakdown of the working relationship between him
and Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla.
Asked on Monday afternoon whether a submission had been made or was
about to be made, Mabandla's spokesman, Zolile Nqayi, told Sapa: "I
don't know."
The submission, he said, was government's, not his ministry's,
responsibility. He referred Sapa to government spokesman Themba Maseko.
Maseko, who is on leave, undertook to find out what was happening
with the submission on Tuesday.
It is understood the matter is being handled by the State Attorney's
office in Johannesburg.
After Pikoli's January 31 submissions, Mabandla has until February
12 to file her reply submissions. Public hearings, if any, are
scheduled to take place from February 25 to March 7.
The commission will sit in Pretoria.
In terms of the rules establishing the commission, Ginwala will
decide whether to call for a hearing after receiving all the
submissions, and also whether this will be held in public or private.
@ MOROCCO-JORDAN-TRADE
MARRAKECH 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
ECONOMIC TALKS DOMINATE JORDANIAN KING'S VISIT TO MOROCCO
Talks between Jordan's King Abdullah II and Morocco's King Mohammed
VI focused on revitalising trade between Amman and Rabat as the
Jordanian monarch paid a three-day visit to Morocco.
Trade between the two counties has remained modest despite a free
trade agreement that came into effect in March 2007.
Delegations from the two countries also underscored "excellent
political relations" between the two parties and their mutual support
for a Palestinian state.
"The two countries have always reiterated their support for the
Palestinian people in their fight for the establishment of a national
independent state with Al Qods Asharif (east Jerusalem) as capital,"
Jordanian Foreign Minister Salaheddin Al-Bashir said in Marrakech
Sunday.
King Mohammed VI greeted the Jordanian monarch and his spouse Queen
Rania at Marrakesh airport Sunday, ahead of an official welcome
ceremony at the royal palace.
The two leaders held "face-to-face meetings" Sunday evening in
Marrakech, said an official source who did not specify the content of
these talks.
However, Abdullah II's visit "comes in the wake of efforts aimed at
drawing up bilateral relations in the economic domain on a par with the
excellent political ties uniting the two kingdoms", said Al-Bashir.
With this in mind, the two countries signed three economic
cooperation accords. Commercial trade between the two countries in 2006
amounted to only 24 million dollars (about 16 million euros).
One of the accords established a partnership between the Moroccan
bank, Groupe CDG, and Jordanian company Mawarid. The two businesses
announced they would carry out investments worth over two billion
dollars (approximately 1.3 billion euros) in property, tourism and
services in the two countries.
Two other accords between Rabat and Amman deal with reviving trade
specifically between 2008-2012 and with the targeting practices that
break the economic laws of both countries.
There is a "solid legislative foundation for commercial exchange
between Morocco and Jordan because the two countries are signatories -
with Egypt and Tunisia - of the Agadir accord, an free-trade agreement
signed in 2004," said Jordanian Minister for Industry and Commerce Amer
Al-Hadidi.
@ WARCRIMES-SIERRALEONE-LIBERIA-TAYLOR
THE HAGUE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
PROSECUTION WITNESS QUERIED AT TAYLOR WAR CRIMES TRIAL
A defence lawyer for war crimes suspect and Liberian former
president Charles Taylor attempted Monday to destroy the credibility of
a key prosecution witness at his war crimes trial in the Hague,
accusing him of "always hating" the accused.
Completing three days of cross-questioning of Varmuyan Sherif, a
former member of his travelling security squad, lawyer Courtenay
Griffiths said the witness had a "personal history" of plotting against
Taylor.
Taylor - the first former African head of state to face a warcrimes
trial - is accused of arming, training and controlling the
Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for
diamonds.
The conflict left 120,000 dead and thousands more injured.
"Because of your personal history ... always deep in your heart you
have hated Charles Taylor," Griffiths told the Special Tribunal for
Sierra Leone.
"I suggest that, even when you were working in the government of
president Taylor, you were plotting against him," Griffiths, before
enumerating a lengthy list of suggestions aimed at showing that the
witness has a history of mental problems.
"You inflated your role in order to lend false credibility to your
evidence," concluded Griffiths.
"It's not true," Sherif replied repeatedly.
During the cross-examination, Griffiths pointed out that before
working for Taylor, Sherif was formerly a commander of the United
Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) fighting against
Taylor's National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL).
Taylor is the first former African head of state to appear before an
international tribunal. He faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity including terrorising the civilian population, murder,
rape and the use of child soldiers. The former president has pleaded
not guilty.
According to the prosecution of the Special Court for Sierra Leone,
Taylor controlled RUF rebel forces in neighbouring Sierra Leone who
went on a blood diamond-funded rampage of killing, mutilation and rape
during the 1991-2001 civil war.
@ KENYA-UGANDA
KAMPALA 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
UGANDA DENIES DEPLOYING TROOPS TO KENYA
Kampala on Monday denied deploying troops to western Kenya,
following accusations by Kenya's opposition that President Mwai
Kibaki's government had requested security assistance from neighbouring
Uganda.
"There is absolutely no truth in that allegation," Ugandan Foreign
Minister Sam Kutesa told AFP. "We have not deployed any member of the
UPDF or the security forces in Kenya at all."
Ugandan army spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda also dismissed the
allegations.
"We don't have soldiers in Kenya, and we don't plan to send any
troops," he said. "We cannot help Kenya militarily, and we are not
planning anything at the moment."
On Sunday, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Kenya opposition
leader Raila Odinga alleged that Uganda had sent troops across the
border ahead of mass rallies planned for later this week.
"There is evidence that the Ugandan troops are in Kenya with the
consent and collusion of Kibaki's government," ODM said in a statement.
"In the last week there has been a heavy build-up of Ugandan troops
along the border. In the absence of a similar build-up of Kenyan
troops, our people have justification to worry."
The Kenyan opposition party has called three days of rallies
starting Wednesday to protest Kibaki's re-election, charging that the
incumbent rigged his way to a second five-year term.
A Ugandan opposition MP on Monday supported ODM's claims, charging
that Ugandan troops had been flown to the western opposition
strongholds of Eldoret or Kisumu, the two towns hardest hit by
post-electoral violence.
"Ugandan anti-riot police were training last week in Masindi," in
eastern Uganda, MP Morris Latigo said.
"There has been a mysterious influx of troops into the north," said
James Otto, director of Human Rights Focus, a Ugandan NGO based in
Gulu, near the border.
Ugandan Presidenty Yoweri Museveni was among the first heads of
state to congratulate Kibaki on his re-election, despite international
concern over flaws in the tallying process.
@ KENYA-PARLIAMENT
NAIROBI 14 January 2008 Sapa-dpa
KENYAN PARLIAMENT TO OPEN AMID CONTINUED POLITICAL STALEMATE
Kenya's parliament is set to open Tuesday for the first time since
flawed presidential elections last month touched off a wave of violence
in the usually peaceful country that has killed at least 575 people,
according to the Kenyan Red Cross Society.
The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is set to take its
seats alongside President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU),
as well as a myriad of smaller parties that are expected to form key
alliances with each party that will see one or the other control the
house.
Neither party has the majority. Defeated presidential candidate
Raila Odinga's ODM has 99 seats in the 210-seat parliament, while PNU
has 43 seats.
The lawmakers are set to choose a parliamentary speakers and each
major party will depend on the smaller ones for support of their
preferred candidate.
The members of parliament are set to be sworn in as well, but
analysts predicted mayhem in the house with ODM members threatening to
sit in seats belonging to government legislators, which may anger
Kibaki's supporters and possibly have the ODM members evicted from the
house.
"There might be a standoff and it might lead to a fracas within
parliament," said Macharia Gaitho, a political commentator with the
independent Daily Nation newspaper. That, in turn he said, could set
off anger amongst Odinga backers and possibly more violence.
In its editorial pages Monday, the Daily Nation urged politicians to
remain calm in the house and not turn violent, but rather use political
means to solve the impasse.
"The opposition has the rare opportunity to make use of its
majority, both to paralyze the normal functioning of government, and
also to push through its own legislative agenda, that could go a long
way towards redressing its grievances," it wrote.
While the presidential polls were largely seen as flawed by both
local and international observers, the parliamentary vote, held on the
same day, were deemed credible and saw a vote of no confidence in
Kibaki's government as more than half of his cabinet was ousted.
The reopening of parliament coincides with the arrival of another
international mediation team, part of a string of reconciliation
efforts attempting to bring some political resolution to the quagmire
which all but brought to a halt East Africa's largest economy.
Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is set to meet
with both leaders, although senior PNU members have rejected the
encounter, saying Annan was not invited by the government.
The violence in Kenya has displaced nearly 300,000 people and
Kenyans braced themselves for more unrest this week as the opposition
called for continued rallies in some 25 cities across the country from
Wednesday to Friday. The government has banned the protests.
@ KENYA-ANALYSIS
NAIROBI, Kenya 14 January 2008 Sapa-AP
KENYA'S ELECTION DISPUTE IGNITES DECADES-OLD RESENTMENTS AND FEARS
Kenya's bloody election dispute was a time bomb decades in the
making; its main components poverty, frustration and neglect.
And although the explosion of anger and bloodletting in one of
Africa's most stable countries has eased, opposition calls for more
rallies this week and the government's resistance to mediation are
keeping tensions high.
Almost since independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya's leaders have
favored their own tribes at the expense of others among the 42 that
make up the East African nation's 38 million people.
The deep-seated resentment this creates springs to life at election
time - though never with the fury seen since President Mwai Kibaki was
declared winner of Dec. 27 presidential elections. Foreign observers
say the vote count was rigged.
More than 600 people were killed as neighbor attacked neighbor with
machetes, burned homes, and even a church.
Hoping to break a deadlock since international mediation efforts
failed, opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for three days of
protest in hopes of paralyzing the nation. Police who have fired live
bullets at protesters say they won't allow the demonstrations, setting
the stage for more violent clashes.
The rallies are to start Wednesday, the day after former U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was due to arrive for further mediation -
a mission criticized Monday by Kibaki's government.
For more than 40 years most Kenyans have felt shortchanged and
neglected by politicians whose priority was lining their own pockets.
Among the most deprived are the slumdwellers for whom survival is a
daily challenge in dangerous, sprawling shantytowns that house 65
percent of the estimated 3 million people in the capital, Nairobi.
Overall, more than half the population struggles to get by on less than
US$2 a day.
Marginalized Kenyans voted in huge numbers for Odinga's party,
pinning their hopes on its promises of a more equitable distribution of
resources.
"It's our turn to eat" was the campaign rallying cry of many
opposition politicians.
For Kibaki's Kikuyus, whose dominance of business and politics was
entrenched after independence under 15 years of government by Jomo
Kenyatta, being in power means government jobs that provide space for
corrupt enrichment, lucrative government contracts and other business
opportunities.
When land settled by British colonizers in the lush central Rift
Valley was returned to Kenyans at independence, Kenyatta swamped the
area native to Kalenjin and Luo ethnic groups with his Kikuyu people -
planting the seeds for some of the worst attacks in the recent
violence.
Half the 255,000 people forced from their homes in the violence that
followed this month's elections are Kikuyus in the Rift Valley.
"We never thought this could happen to us," is the bewildered
refrain of many Kenyans appalled by the ugly ethnic twist to the
bloodletting. Kenya was considered a beacon for democracy and stability
in a region ravaged by civil war and tribal conflict. Somalia, Sudan,
Ethiopia and Uganda are on Kenya's doorstep, and not far away is
Rwanda, a fearsome lesson as politicians here trade charges of "ethnic
cleansing."
In addition, Kenya serves as a stable base for hundreds of U.N. and
foreign relief agencies, businesses that account for 20 percent of
foreign exchange receipts.
In the war on terror, Kenya has been considered a vital partner
since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Kenya allows the
United States and Britain to conduct military exercises and has handed
over dozens of suspected terrorists in a region where Islamic extremism
is rife.
Politicians long have played the tribal card. And in a political
arena bereft of ideologies and strong democratic institutions, Kenyans
are left to vote largely on tribal lines.
Twice in recent history the two groups at the heart of Kenya's
current woes - Kibaki's Kikuyus and Odinga's Luo - have united to fight
for a political ideal. The Kikuyus are the biggest group with an
estimated 22 million people, while the Luo are the second or third
largest.
Odinga's father, Oginga Odinga, teamed up with Kenyatta in an
alliance that forced an end to colonialism. The British tried to entice
Oginga Odinga with promises he would become prime minister if he
abandoned Kenyatta, an imperial tactic of divide and rule. But the
elder Odinga refused to succumb and the British freed Kenyatta from
detention.
At independence, Odinga became Kenyatta's deputy. The alliance was
short-lived. In 1966 the two fell out over ideology - Kenyatta favored
capitalism and Odinga was a socialist - but the rift that formed became
an ethnic divide that has widened and deepened.
Kenyatta made Kenya a one-party state and detained Odinga for 15
months after he formed an opposition party.
The Kikuyus lost some influence with Kenyatta's death in 1978.
Daniel arap Moi, from the minority Kalenjin, assumed power and hung on
to it for more than two decades. Moi's corrupt and dictatorial rule
came to repel Kenyans and he finally was forced to hold multiparty
elections in 1992.
Moi won then and again in 1997, mainly because the elder Odinga's
efforts to reconcile the two main opposition parties failed. Odinga
died shortly afterward.
It took another Kikuyu-Luo alliance to get rid of Moi. In the run-up
to 2002 elections, Raila Odinga joined forces with Kibaki, who owed his
victory largely to Odinga's vigorous campaigning.
The united opposition promised a fair distribution of wealth, a
power-sharing, inclusive government and a tough fight to weed out
corrupt politicians.
Kibaki threw away that chance to resolve old hurts. He reneged on
the agreement, giving Odinga some minor Cabinet posts and quickly
entrenching his Kikuyu cronies. Initial efforts to rout corruption
faltered as Kibaki became embroiled in old-style tribal patronage
politics.
That betrayal accounts for the suspicion and distrust that pervades
the current deadlock, with Odinga refusing to deal directly with Kibaki
and demanding a mediator who can deliver an internationally guaranteed
agreement.
It also explains why the opposition is cautious of calls from
Britain, the United States and the European Union for a coalition
government -they already have gone that route.
Results from legislative elections held the same day as the
presidential ballot would favor Odinga's claim that he won. Odinga's
party won 99 of the 210 elected seats to 43 for Kibaki's. Half Kibaki's
Cabinet was thrown out of Parliament.
That's why the opposition wants a re-count of the votes or, if
tampering has left it impossible to tell who won, a new election.
In the meantime, Kibaki appears to have won the first round of the
standoff. He had himself sworn in hastily and named a coterie of old
cronies to the most powerful Cabinet positions even while mediators
were in town. Kibaki has dug in his heels and appears ready to wait it
out.
Odinga's party has little recourse but to try to make the country
ungovernable - in Parliament and, a much riskier move, by calling
people out onto the streets.
@ LEKOTA
JOHANNESBURG 14 January 2008 Sapa
LEKOTA 'ON BAIL OF R1000 FOR SPEEDING'
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has reportedly been arrested for
speeding.
The SABC reported that Lekota was charged, at the Mondeor police
station just before midnight on Sunday, with reckless and negligent
driving.
The public broadcaster quoted an unnamed source at the police
station as having confirmed that Lekota was granted bail of R1000 on
Monday and that he would appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court
on Friday.
It was not known how fast Lekota was travelling at the time.
Lekota's office would not comment on the matter, nor would the
police or the Johannesburg metro police.
Voicing concern at the arrest, the Democratic Alliance asked why
Lekota was arrested.
"Did the [Johannesburg metro police department] arrest him because
of excessive speeding, or because he in some way obstructed them in the
execution of their duties?" asked DA defence spokesman Rafeek Shah.
"Or was there any malice in their decision to arrest Minister
Lekota, who was apparently the driver of the vehicle in question?
"These questions need to be answered as a matter of urgency," he
said in a statement.
It is understood Lekota was arrested for speeding near the Grasmere
toll plaza.
@ ZIM-OPPOSITION
HARARE 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION VOWS TO AVOID ELECTION VIOLENCE
Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Monday urged its supporters to
refrain from violence in presidential and legislative polls expected to
take place in March.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman, Nelson Chamisa,
warned at a weekend public rally that a rigged poll could lead to a
repeat of the election-related violence in Kenya which has left at
least 700 dead and displaced more than a quarter of a million people.
But he made it clear in a statement on Monday that the party would
not endorse violence.
"The MDC has never and will never believe in violence," Chamisa said
in the statement.
"The people of Zimbabwe have seen enough bloodshed over the years
and would not want to walk through another bloody electoral route.
Zimbabwe's last presidential elections were marred by violence which
left several people dead and thousands of others displaced.
"Ours is a word of advice to the regime on the catastrophic
consequences of having a disputed election. The people want an election
that guarantees the safety and security of their vote.
"The real lesson from Kenya is that violence neither rewards a
nation nor its citizens," Chamisa said.
Mugabe, 83, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was
accused by the MDC and Western governments of rigging the last
elections in 2002.
@ US-AFRICA-ART
NEW YORK 14 January 2008 Sapa-AP
NEW YORK'S MET MUSEUM GETS FIRST MAJOR CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SCULPTURE
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired its first major
contemporary African sculpture, a tapestry sculpted mostly from
discarded liquor-bottle caps and stitched with aluminum and copper
wire.
"Between Earth and Heaven," created by the Ghanaian artist El
Anatsui in 2006, evokes traditional West African kente cloth but
transforms it into a glowing, crumpled wall sculpture.
"El Anatsui is the most important contemporary African sculptor
working today," said Alisa LaGamma, a curator in the New York museum's
department of arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
The tiny pieces of metal from thousands of discarded bottle caps are
painstakingly sewn together with bits of wire, forming a mostly red,
black and gold fabric that could easily be mistaken for satin at a
distance. The 7-foot (2-meter) by 10-foot (3-meter) installation fills
most of a wall in the museum's African art galleries.
Anatsui, 64, who lives and teaches in Nigeria, said his piece
represents contemporary life, which is lived both in earthly reality
and in a high-tech version of heaven, or cyberspace.
"The idea of cyberspace is the nearest thing to heaven, where you
have something ethereal as against something physical," he said. "And
you find that, most of the time, we are between those two worlds, so we
are kind of in limbo."
His majestic, colorful wall installations have drawn a growing
audience since his work first appeared at the Venice Biennale in 1990.
The Met's collection of African art is mostly traditional, ranging
from ritual sculpture and monuments of wood and stone to gold and
silver ornaments, masks, costumes and other textiles.
"Between Heaven and Earth" is "a great bridge between the historical
works in the collection and one of its major contemporary masters,"
LaGamma said.
--
On the Net:
http://www.metmuseum.org
@ SUDAN-UNREST
KHARTOUM 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
SUDAN WARPLANES BOMB REBEL POSITIONS IN DARFUR
Sudanese warplanes have been bombing rebel positions around the town
of Geneina for the past three days in a bid to break the siege on the
West Darfur state capital, a rebel chief said on Monday.
"Antonov aircraft bombed positions near Salie, north of Geneina, on
Monday," the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, Khalil
Ibrahim, told AFP by telephone.
"Yesterday and the day before, aircraft of the same type bombed
positions northwest of Geneina in the Abu Soruj and Sirf Jaj areas," he
added.
There was no immediate confirmation of the air strikes from the
Sudanese military or from the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force
for Darfur, which did however acknowledge that tensions in the area
were threatening relief operations.
Ibrahim said that rebel fighters had escaped the raids unharmed but
added that there had been "several civilian casualties as well as
damage and loss of livestock".
"Residents have been seeking cover from the air strikes under trees
and in dry river beds," he said.
Ibrahim said his men had refrained from launching reprisal attacks
against the army bases around Geneina for fear of hitting residential
areas.
United Nations African Mission in Darfur spokesman Noureddine Mezni
said that the tensions in West Darfur threatened not only relief
operations but also the full deployment of the new peacekeeping force
and the resumption of peace talks.
UNAMID chief Rodolphe Adada held lengthy talks in Khartoum on Monday
with UN envoy Jan Eliasson and his AU counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim to
discuss the crisis, Mezni added.
When fully deployed, UNAMID is to become the UN's largest
peacekeeping operation with 20,000 troops and 6,000 police and civilian
personnel. Only around 9,000 troops and police are currently in place.
At least 200,000 people have died from the combined effects of war,
famine and diseases and more than two million have fled their homes
since the ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Sudan's
Arab-dominated regime in February 2003.
@ KENYA-OPPOSITION-RALLY
NAIROBI 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
KENYAN OPPOSITION CHIEF SAYS BAN WILL NOT STOP RALLIES
Kenyan opposition chief Raila Odinga on Monday vowed to press ahead
with political rallies planned for this week despite a police ban that
has raised fears of bloody confrontation.
More than 700 people died in clashes sparked by last month's
re-election of President Mwai Kibaki, which Odinga says was rigged, and
Kenyans were bracing for more possible violence during three days of
national protests starting Wednesday.
"What law is the police commissioner implementing or enforcing by
saying that he has banned rallies? Quote any act of parliament or
section of the constitution that gives him the right that bars people
from meeting or holding public rallies if there is no state of
emergency," Odinga told reporters.
Another opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party official,
William Ruto, accused the police of siding with Kibaki's Party of
National Unity in the stand-off.
"The police should take up responsibilities and make sure we don't
lose lives and we don't lose properties in our country" during the
rallies, Ruto told reporters.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) renewed a call on Nairobi to
lift the ban on the rallies as well as on live outside media
broadcasts, warning that it was fueling tension in east Africa's
largest economy.
"We are calling on the government to lift the ban on political
rallies and lift the ban on live media broadcasts because we think that
increases tension," said HRW official Ben Lawrence.
"We think that increases clashes between police and demonstrators
when they try to prevent protestors," he added.
The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) chief Maina
Kiai urged both sides to adopt a moderate stance in a bid to diffuse
the crisis.
"If we want this country to survive, it's time to moderate our views
and feelings," he said.
Police, who have in the past broken up ODM protests, announced a
cash reward for anybody who discloses information leading to the arrest
of perpetrators of violence during the street demonstrations.
Ex-United Nations chief Kofi Annan is expected in Kenya on Tuesday
to try to defuse the political crisis, after African Union mediation
attempts failed.
@ ICOAST-VOTE
OUAGADOUGOU 14 January 2008 Sapa-AFP
IVORIAN ELECTION PLANNING 'DELICATE', SAYS PM SORO
Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said Monday that
preparations for elections by June 2008 are at a "delicate" stage.
The former rebel leader, who joined a unity government with Ivorian
President Laurent Gbagbo, was speaking after meeting Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore, who chairs the body formed to manage the
peace transition.
A deal signed in March 2007 formally ended five years of conflict in
cocoa-rich Ivory Coast, but key elements including dismantling rebels
and militias and registering hundreds of thousands of people without
identity cards have faced delays.
"We acknowledge that much progress has been made (but) now we enter
a delicate and important phase with the elections," Soro said.
French telecoms company Sagem will lead efforts at producing a new
electoral census for a "democratic and transparent" presidential poll,
he added.
Compaore's committee has asked the United Nations to lower the Ivory
Coast's security rating.
Meanwhile, representatives overseeing the peace transition have
asked the Ivorian government to produce "rigorous" budgets for each of
the elements agreed in the Ouagadougou deal.
The international consulting body includes France, the United
States, the African Union, the European Union, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.
The UN's Ivory Coast coordinator Georg Charpentier said the budget
for the transition process is 400 million dollars (270 million euros).
Compaore said the difficult question of how to integrate Soro's New
Forces (FN) soldiers into the Ivorian army - how many, and the
sensitive issue of rank - would be addressed at the next management
meeting on January 24.
"I've communicated (my thoughts). President Gbagbo will be there and
he will give me his definitive position," he said.
@ UN-IVORY-COAST
UNITED NATIONS 15 January 2008 Sapa-AP
SECURITY COUNCIL AGREES ON RESOLUTION CALLING FOR REDOUBLED ELECTION
EFFORTS IN IVORY COAST
The U.N. Security Council agreed on a resolution that would call on
all parties in Ivory Coast to redouble efforts to hold elections and
extend the mandate of U.N. and French peacekeepers in Ivory Coast to
help organize the ballot.
The council scheduled a vote Tuesday on the French draft resolution.
The U.N. envoy in Ivory Coast, Choi Young-jin, briefed a closed
council meeting on Monday, and Libya's U.N. Ambassador Giadalla
Ettalhi, the current council president, said afterwards that "everyone
was favorable for the French draft resolution."
The once-stable West African nation suffered its first coup in 1999,
and tension about the rights of immigrants and minority ethnic groups
fueled a 2002 coup attempt that sparked civil war and left the world's
leading cocoa producer split in half.
A peace deal in March reunited the country and made a former rebel
leader premier.
Elections were to be held by Oct. 31, but voting has been delayed
because of what Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, whose
country helped facilitate the peace deal, said was the complexity of
the operation and the magnitude of resources needed.
The draft resolution would extend the mandate of the 9,200-strong
U.N. peacekeeping force and the 3,500 French soldiers that support it
until July 30 "in order to support the organization in Ivory Coast of
free, open, fair and transparent elections" under a timetable agreed to
on Nov. 28. It calls for presidential elections by June.
Britain's deputy U.N. ambassador Karen Pierce said that during
Monday's meeting "everybody noted that the elections were obviously
going to be the big issue and needed careful preparation."
The draft endorses the March accord and the Nov. 28 agreements and
calls on all Ivorian parties to implement them "in good faith" within
the new timetable. This "will require the Ivorian parties to redouble
their efforts," it says.
The French draft also "encourages the Ivorian parties to make
further concrete progress, in particular in the identification of the
Ivorian population and registration of voters, the disarmament and
dismantling of militias ... the unification and restructuring of
defense and security forces and the restoration of state authority
throughout the country."
In a statement adopted in October, the council stressed that the
U.N. special envoy in Ivory Coast is to certify "that all stages of the
electoral process provide all the necessary guarantees for the holding
of open, free, fair and transparent presidential elections in
accordance with international standards."
@ SLEONE-JUSTICE-TAYLOR
THE HAGUE 15 January 2008 Sapa-dpa
EXPERTS, HUMAN RIGHT WORKERS TESTIFY IN CHARLES TAYLOR TRIAL
Testimony in the Charles Taylor trial before the Special Court for
Sierra Leone continued on Tuesday with historian Stephen Ellis to take
the stand as an expert witness.
Last Monday the prosecution began calling 144 witnesses in the trial
against the former Liberian president.
In July Taylor was charged with orchestrating war crimes and crimes
against humanity during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war before the
United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The
Hague.
Taylor has pleaded not guilty.
In the court, located in The Hague in the Netherlands, Stephen
Ellis, a renowned scholar on the history of West Africa, is due to
comment on a report he was commissioned to write by the Special Court
in Sierra Leone, where Taylor is standing trial.
Speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Ellis said he will "assess
the background of why and how Taylor became involved in Sierra Leone,
and the degree, if at all, to which he became involved in violations of
human rights."
Although the civil wars are over, the situation in West Africa is
still very tense and the peace fragile.
"Mr Taylor still has substantial support in Liberia. It would be
true to say that some Liberians would be happy to see him punished, but
not all," Ellis said.
Ellis, a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre in Leiden,
the Netherlands, and the author of many articles and books on West
Africa, will also be questioned by the court about the 1999 book The
Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension
of an African Civil War.
Ellis has never met Taylor, but spoke extensively with whom he calls
"people who were part of Taylor's inner circle. Some of the evidence I
collected for my book originates from them."
He emphasizes, however, that his more "extensive discussions with
members of Taylor's inner circle originate from the years following the
publication of my book."
Asked how he explains Taylor's involvement in the war in Sierra
Leone, Ellis says Taylor "wanted to 'punish' Sierra Leone for
participating in the international intervention force that was
stationed in Libera in 1990.
Taylor's involvement in Sierra Leone served a clear strategic
purpose."
Apart from Ellis, members of the rebel Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) in Sierra Leone will appear in court to testify about their
knowledge of the military structure of the RUF and war crimes committed
by the rebel forces which they personally witnessed.
A human rights worker has also been called to the witness stand, to
talk about the abduction of children and their use as child soldiers
between 1991 and 2002 in Sierra Leone.
_____________________________________________________________
Prepared by: Unwembi Communications on behalf of the ANC
Dept Information & Publicity
PO Box 23469 Tel: (+27 21) 683 4515
Claremont 7735 Fax: (+27 21) 683 4104
Cape Town E-mail: info@anc.org.za
South Africa
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