Egypt's military says it is committed to democracy, foreign treaties

As thousands of Egyptians reveled in their improbable revolution, the nation's newly appointed military caretakers laid out priorities Saturday geared at establishing stability, though they revealed little to elucidate the future.
The Armed Forces Supreme Council, in charge after Friday's resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, said it was committed to a democratic process resulting in civilian rule, but urged respect for the reviled police forces that had brutally clashed with protesters in the early days of the uprising.
"The armed forces council calls on the people to cooperate with the policemen," Lt. Gen. Sami Anan said on state television. "We ask our policemen to adhere to their slogan: Police is at the people's service."
It was unclear whether the statement signaled a return of the police security apparatus, noticeably absent from the streets after the violent clashes and the deployment of the army.
Anan, the armed forces chief of staff, also announced other measures geared toward establishing stability after the abrupt death of a 30-year dictatorship in the Arab world's most populous nation.
He said Egypt would still honor international treaties and commitments, a statement perhaps aimed at calming a jittery Israel that has quietly watched dramatic change unfold in its Arab ally.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979. The Israelis on Saturday welcomed the Egyptian statement and Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke on the phone with his Egyptian counterpart Hussein Tantawi, who heads the supreme council, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.
"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is confident in Egypt's potential, institutions and people to successfully go through these difficult times," Anan said.
But as thousands of people still celebrated on the streets, the army's first statement since Mubarak's departure did little to spell out how long Egypt would remain under military rule.
"They want to see structural change," Parag Khanna of the Global Governance Initiative told CNN Saturday. "They want to see a change in the Constitution. They want to see democracy. That speech did not tell them any of those things."
Thousands of Egyptians were in a still electric Tahrir Square Saturday, vowing to stay there until, as one protester put it, "Egypt is ruled by a civil government, not a military one."
In Tahrir Square, crews collected garbage and towed away burned cars that had been used as barricades as clean-up efforts began in the area in and around the square.
A marble memorial was going up to remember those who died in the 18-day uprising. Human Rights Watch has documented 302 deaths, a number the monitoring group called conservative.
Protester Yehya Kheireldin said an "unspoken plan" had been reached between the military and a group of protest organizers to take down barricades and tents in Tahrir Square, even though some people wanted to hold out longer.
"It's time to start rebuilding the country," Kheireldin said, pointing to the hundreds of volunteers armed with brooms who are sweeping away the debris left by the sit-in.
Volunteers were repainting black and white striped street curbs around a monument by the Egyptian museum, which had been on the front line in street battles between Mubarak's foes and supporters.
When a brief scuffle broke out after the army rushed to tear down makeshift barricades, soldiers in riot gear asserted control within minutes. Three people were detained for allegedly harassing others but were expected to be released later.
Kheireldin said some protesters did not want to leave Tahrir Square because they had found "free food and a place to sleep." Others did not trust the new military government, but Khereldin said they were a minority.
When asked if Egypt had succeeded in fomenting change, Kheiredin replied: "The revolution has just begun."
Many protesters had been calling for Egypt's well-respected army to take over as interim caretaker. Friday night, they voiced optimism that the military would pave the way for free and fair elections.
Barak Barfi, a research fellow at the New America Foundation, said a clear leader needed to emerge from the military council.
"We really don't know who's running the show behind the scenes," he told CNN from Cairo.
Tantawi, the head of the military's supreme council, has a controversial reputation among the armed forces and had been derided by midlevel officers as "Mubarak's poodle" for his fawning over the now-ousted president, according to U.S. diplomatic cables sent from the Cairo embassy in 2008 and published by WikiLeaks.
The Constitution allows for only two scenarios for a head of state to relinquish power. The first stipulates that if the president has to step aside temporarily, the vice president steps into the top role. That is what the regime briefly orchestrated Thursday.
If the office of the president is vacated or the president becomes permanently disabled, the Constitution states that the parliamentary speaker is to assume the role until new elections can be held. Those elections, in turn, must occur within 60 days.
In opting for a third way, which put all power in the hands of the military, the Mubarak regime in effect rendered the Constitution inoperable.
Shawee El-Sayed, an independent member of Egypt's parliament and an expert on the country's Constitution, said Mubarak's move to transfer power to the military left Suleiman without an official role.
"The next step the council must (decide) is whether or not to validate the Constitution -- otherwise there will be a constitutional vacuum," he said.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said if the military wants to protect its self-interests, it has to help in a transition process to civilian rule.
"Otherwise," said Hayden, "they're going to see what's happened in the past 18 days repeated again and very likely not as peacefully."
A high-ranking Egyptian military official said the army's command has been discussing how to deal with Mubarak's government and when the next election would be held.
Saturday, Anan, the supreme council's spokesman, said the current government would remain in place until a new one could be formed. State television reported, citing a judiciary source, that several high-ranking government officials, including the former prime minister and interior minister, were facing lawsuits and were barred from traveling out of the country.
U.S. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, praised the Egyptian military for acting responsibly and said it now needs to help ensure a credible transition as it attempted to better gauge the unfolding situation.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, plans to visit key U.S. allies Israel and Jordan this weekend, a Pentagon official told CNN Saturday. Under Secretary of State Bill Burns was already in Jordan meeting with King Abdullah, the State Department said.
And U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke with Tantawi on Saturday, the sixth phone conversation with the minister since the start of the Egypt uprising, a Defense Department spokesman said. It was the first call since Mubarak stepped down.
Among other things, Egyptian authorities need to set about "protecting the rights of Egypt's citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the Constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free," Obama said.
But some analysts were sounding the alarm over the takeover by the military, which has suddenly become accountable for the nation. Analysts with Stratfor, a global intelligence company, said Egypt had essentially experienced a coup.
"Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of ruling the state via a council of army officers," the Stratfor statement said. "The question now is to what extent the military elite will share power with its civilian counterparts."
And Amnesty International warned that Mubarak's departure did not necessarily mean an end to the police state. Egypt's emergency laws, said the monitoring group, remain intact.
But even as officials hash out the details of Egypt's murky political future, its people power rippled throughout the region.
In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, protesters chanted: "Yesterday Tunisia, today Egypt, tomorrow Yemen will open the prison."
Saturday, men wielding knives attacked the anti-government demonstrators, said Human Rights Watch.
And in restive Algeria, anti-government protesters chanted "Change the power." Security forces clashed with the crowds

Saturday in Algiers and detained roughly 100 protesters, according to the opposition Algerian League for Human Rights. 

Source:Cnn

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Scare tactics feared in Sudan vote on split

  Under a tree by a dusty street in Khartoum, university graduates are preparing to head home.
They have a long journey ahead of them as these former students will travel from the north of Sudan to their homeland in the south.

Africa's biggest nation however could soon be a lot smaller, and this is no ordinary home-coming for the graduates. They are preparing to register to vote in the referendum for Southern Independence in January.
Next month's referendum will allow people from the Southern half of Sudan to choose their own path: stay with the government or go it alone as an independent nation.
Since independence in 1956, there have been lengthy periods of civil war between North Sudan, where most of the political power lies, and South Sudan, where oil fields have since been found.
The predominately Muslim North has wanted to unify the country with Islamic ground rules despite deep-seated cultural and religious differences in the South.
This North-South conflict is separate from the Darfur violence, which is undergoing its own tentative peace process.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/17/sudan.vote.fears/index.html

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Mugabe, Tsvangirai: We'll work together

 Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai are not at war.
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai say that despite being "at each other's throats," they will continue working together in Zimbabwe's coalition government until elections are held.

In a rare joint briefing to the media Monday, both Mugabe and Tsvangirai said they were happy with the way Zimbabwe's economy has improved since the two erstwhile enemies formed a coalition government last year.
"We are different parties; we go at each other at party level. Yes. But let it not be said that we are dysfunctional, (that) we are at war. No," said Mugabe, 86, defending an attack he made on Tsvangirai at a party conference over the weekend.
The former guerilla leader was flanked by Tsvangirai and deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara with whom he formed a unity government last year. That followed African regional leaders' refusal to recognize a presidential run off which Mugabe had declared himself the winner in 2008.
Tsvangirai, who had won the first round, pulled out citing violence targeting his supporters.
The coalition government has been marred by serious disagreements between Mugabe and Tsvangirai leading to many pointing an election as the only panacea.
But critics have urged Harare to create conditions ideal for free and fair elections.
"This inclusive government will not collapse. We will make sure that it does not collapse," said Tsvangirai, adding that there was a "camaraderie" with his former political enemy.
Over the weekend, Mugabe told his supporters that he was tired of working with Tsvangirai and wanted elections next year.
But after meeting with Tsvangirai and Mutambara, Mugabe said that the coalition had given Zimbabweans "a sense of togetherness."
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans would go to elections once a referendum for a new constitution has been held.
But they refused to give a date for the voting.

"The inclusive government is a transitional mechanism... that will lead to an election," Tsvangirai said. "I am sure the country has benefitted from this inclusive government."

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/21/zimbabwe.unity.government/index.html

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Halliburton settles Nigeria bribery claims for $35 million

Halliburton Company's building is shown March 27, 2003 in Houston.

Oilfield contractor Halliburton has agreed to pay Nigeria $35 million to settle bribery allegations that led to charges against former Vice President Dick Cheney and other executives, the company announced Tuesday.
Cheney, who was Halliburton's CEO in the 1990s, and nine others were charged with conspiracy and "distribution of gratification to public officials" in a long-running case involving the company and its Kellogg, Brown and Root subsidiary. Nigerian officials accused the company of paying bribes to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for a liquefied natural gas project in the Niger Delta.
"Pursuant to this agreement, all lawsuits and charges against KBR and Halliburton corporate entities and associated persons have been withdrawn," the company announced in a statement Tuesday evening. Nigerian officials agreed "not to bring any further criminal charges or civil claims against those entities or persons" in return, the company said.
The $35 million includes $2.5 million to pay legal fees and other expenses for the Nigerian government, Halliburton said.
There was no immediate comment from Nigerian officials to the news.
Halliburton also agreed tp help Nigeria recover money from a Swiss bank account set up by a former agent for its Nigerian joint venture TSKJ, the company said. Nigerian officials said as much as $130 million had been stashed in Switzerland.
The bribes are said to have amounted to $180 million between 1994 and 2004. The settlement announced Tuesday is far smaller than the $120 million a spokesman for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cited as a possible fine last week.
An attorney for Cheney, who left office in 2009, said there was no reason to suspect the former vice president was guilty of any wrongdoing.
"The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton," Terrence O'Connell said.
Halliburton pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges in the United States last year and paid a $402 million criminal fine, the U.S. Justice Department said. KBR and Halliburton also paid $177 million to settle civil complaints related to the bribery, the Justice Department said.
Many observers in Nigeria regarded the charges as a publicity stunt by the financial crimes commission ahead of national elections in April and as a symbolic effort to display resolve against government corruption. The agency has had limited success in getting successful prosecutions and hasn't charged any high-profile people since its top commissioner was removed from the body in 2007

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/21/nigeria.halliburton/index.html

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Police: Kenya bus blast suspect may be tied to Somali insurgents

Kenya policemen stand at the scene on December 21 where one person was killed and at least 40 wounded in a bus blast.

A bus explosion that killed one and injured dozens in Kenya was caused by a man believed to have ties to a militant group, authorities said Wednesday. The grenade attack Monday injured at least 40 people in a Uganda-bound bus, Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.
It left blood stains and luggage scattered at the site of the attack in Nairobi's central business district.
Most of the injured were Ugandans headed home for the holidays, the spokesman said.
He said the suspect, a 35-year-old Tanzanian, was the only fatality in the attack. It was unclear whether he had accomplices.
"Police suspected him because he was quite nervous and resisted attempts to have his luggage examined," Kiraithe said.
After an altercation with the police, the suspect dropped his bag, which exploded.
"We have strong reasons to believe there's a link between him and Al-Shabaab," Kiraithe said.
He declined to comment on any evidence linking the suspect to the militant group that has been battling Somalia's transitional government for years. The group, considered the al Qaeda proxy in Somalia, has previously threatened attacks on Uganda and Burundi. The two countries contribute troops to the peacekeeping effort in Somalia.
Kiraithe said it is "logical to believe he targeted the bus because it would have Ugandans."
The bus was bound for Uganda's capital, Kampala. The nation's authorities had warned of holiday terror attacks by the Islamist group hours before the blast.
Kenya and Uganda have boosted security along their borders.
"We are investigating the crime together with Ugandan authorities," the spokesman said. "This is a busy travel period so we're also adding more security and taking all measures to make sure it's safe."

Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for July twin bombings in the Ugandan capital that killed more than 70 people watching the World Cup.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/22/kenya.explosion/index.html

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U.N. chief says Ivory Coast risks a return to civil war

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon speaks to reporters during a press conference on November 20, 2010 in Lisbon, Portugal
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday the situation in the Ivory Coast is increasingly volatile and the country risks a return to civil war.
The West African nation has fallen into chaos since a presidential runoff election there last month. The country's Independent Electoral Commission said opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara won the election, but its Constitutional Council invalidated those results and declared incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo the winner.
The United Nations, the African Union and other international bodies recognize Ouattara as the victor, but Gbagbo is refusing to step down.
"In the past week, there has been an alarming increase in the use of intimidation by elements of the national security forces loyal to Mr. Gbagbo against the civilian population, and in particular against supporters of President-elect Ouattara," Ban said in New York.
"The tactics include abductions and killings and the propagation of hate speech through the state broadcasting corporation," he continued. "There is a real risk of a return to civil war."
Meanwhile, in the Ivory Coast, Gbagbo dug in his heels, declaring "I am president," in a defiant speech.
He stressed he is the legitimate winner of the election, but said he would be willing to welcome an international committee to review the results to avoid any further violence.
"I don't want any more bloodshed. I don't want any more war," he said.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy referred to Gbagbo's remarks when he spoke to reporters in New York.
"Mr. Gbagbo has been very clear. He wants no violence, no more blood," Le Roy said. "So all the forces loyal to him should stop immediately provocation, instigating violence, violation of human rights and provoking the UNOCI mission. We have a mandate to fulfill, and we will fulfill that mandate."
Le Roy said Gbagbo's allies have been handing out rifles to members of a "Young Patriots" group, and mercenaries from Liberia and Angola have been hired "to provoke the civilian population and UNOCI personnel."
He said the United Nations appreciated Gbagbo's call for restraint, but said it should be accompanied by a halt to incitement and attacks on Ouattara's supporters.
His and Ban's comments echoed those made by Amnesty International earlier in the day.
Citing eyewitnesses, the rights group said it has heard an increasing number of stories of people arrested or otherwise taken by gunman, often with the cooperation of security forces in the Ivory Coast.
Amnesty said police are accused of attacking a mosque in Grand-Bassam, opening fire on crowds and groping female protesters.
"It is clear that more and more people are being illegally detained by security forces or armed militiamen and we fear that many of them may have been killed or have disappeared," Salvatore Sagues, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher, said in a written statement.
Two U.N. military observers were hurt Saturday in an attack by what Ban called "Young Patriots," according to a statement from the secretary-general.
On Friday, six armed men wearing military uniforms and traveling in a civilian vehicle opened fire on U.N. peacekeepers in Sebroko, the peacekeeping operation reported. The U.N. troops returned fire.
The U.N. Security Council has extended its peacekeepers' mission in Ivory Coast through June 30, despite an expulsion order by Gbagbo.
The Gbagbo government accuses the United Nations of providing military and logistical support to former rebels who are backers of Ouattara -- a charge Ban denied.
"The United Nations has stood on the side of Africa against this attempt to overturn the democratic process and the will of the Ivorian people," he said.
Ban also accused forces loyal to Gbagbo of obstructing the movement of United Nations' personnel and operations in the Ivory Coast, blocking the delivery of key supplies.

"The international community must act ... and act decisively," he said.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/21/ivory.coast.violence/index.html

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From Ivory Coast, military action urged to remove incumbent

 Women holding slabs of meat protest against murders in the Abattoir neighborhood in Abidjan on Wednesday
The tug-of-war between the two men who claim the presidency of the Ivory Coast intensified Wednesday.
Soro Guillaume, who was picked by Alassane Ouattara to be prime minister in his government, said on Wednesday that the international community should use force to remove incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo from power.
The country's Independent Electoral Commission said Ouattara won a November 28 runoff election, but its Constitutional Council invalidated those results and declared Gbagbo the winner.
The United Nations, the African Union and other international and regional bodies recognize Ouattara as the victor, but Gbagbo has declined to step down.
A United Nations credentialing commission added pressure by approving on Wednesday a diplomatic maneuver that would further isolate the government of Gbagbo. The commission agreed to back a new ambassador to the body appointed by Ouattara.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on Wednesday said that the United States and other countries were discussing with African nations the possibility of augmenting the existing U.N. force in the Ivory Coast. However, he said it was unclear what a U.S. contribution could look like, whether it be forces of logistical support or something more indirect. Right now, these are just ideas, Crowley said.
The World Bank on Wednesday said it has halted lending and disbursing funds to the Ivory Coast and that the agency's office in the West African country has been closed.
The agency said it and the African Development Bank have backed the AU and the Economic Community of West African States "in sending the message to Gbagbo that he lost the elections and he needs to step down."
"A peaceful and rapid resolution is critical" for Ivorians and the region, the bank said.
Meanwhile, France has become the latest Western country to warn its citizens of danger in the Ivory Coast.
French citizens in the West African nation should leave if possible, a government spokesman, Francois Baroin, said Wednesday.
The United States and United Kingdom also have warned their citizens of possible violence in the Ivory Coast, where up to 50 people are said to have been killed amid a political stalemate after a disputed presidential election.
The U.S. State Department ordered nonemergency personnel and family members this week to leave the country. It also warned U.S. citizens against traveling to the Ivory Coast, a former French colony of about 19 million people.
The UK Foreign Office also had advised British citizens to avoid travel to the Ivory Coast and, for those already there, to leave the country unless they "have a pressing reason to remain."
On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the country risks a return to civil war
"In the past week, there has been an alarming increase in the use of intimidation by elements of the national security forces loyal to Mr. Gbagbo against the civilian population, and in particular against supporters of President-elect Ouattara," he said.
"The tactics include abductions and killings and the propagation of hate speech through the state broadcasting corporation," he continued. "There is a real risk of a return to civil war."
Gbagbo struck a defiant tone in a Tuesday speech, declaring, "I am the president." He stressed he is the legitimate winner of the election, but said he would be willing to welcome an international committee to review the results to avoid any further violence.
"I don't want any more bloodshed. I don't want any more war," he said.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy referred to Gbagbo's remarks when he spoke to reporters in New York.
"Mr. Gbagbo has been very clear. He wants no violence, no more blood," Le Roy said. "So all the forces loyal to him should stop immediately provocation, instigating violence, violation of human rights and provoking" U.N. peacekeepers in the country.
Le Roy said Gbagbo's allies have been handing out rifles to members of a "Young Patriots" group, and mercenaries from Liberia and Angola have been hired "to provoke" civilians and U.N. peacekeepers.
Amnesty International, citing eyewitnesses, has said that it has heard an increasing number of stories of people arrested or otherwise taken by gunmen, often with the cooperation of security forces.
"It is clear that more and more people are being illegally detained by security forces or armed militiamen, and we fear that many of them may have been killed or have disappeared," Salvatore Sagues, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher, said in a written statement.

The U.N. Security Council has extended its peacekeepers' mission in Ivory Coast through June 30, despite an expulsion order by Gbagbo. The Gbagbo government accuses the United Nations of providing military and logistical support to former rebels who are backers of Ouattara -- a charge Ban denied.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/22/ivory.coast.danger/index.html

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Cote d’Ivoire braces for trouble with new protest

African Union Commission Chairperson Jean Ping (L) shakes hands with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo at his private residence in Abidjan December 17, 2010

Allies of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara urged Ivoriens to join a new march through Abidjan to seize the state broadcaster’s building on Friday, raising fears of more violence in a dispute over last month’s election.

A failed attempt by Mr. Ouattara’s camp to occupy the building on Thursday left at least 10 protesters dead as they clashed with security forces armed with live rounds, while pro-Ouattara forces waged a brief gun battle with forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in central Abidjan. The United Nations, the US, African states and others have called on Mr. Gbagbo to stand down after the November 28 poll they say was won by Mr. Ouattara, but which Mr. Gbagbo insists was rigged by rebels who still hold the north after a 2002-2003 civil war.

“We will continue to march,” Mr. Ouattara’s spokesperson Patrick Achi said by telephone after Thursday’s violence in the West African nation’s economic capital heightened fears of a return to all-out conflict.

A Reuters eyewitness said there were few early signs of protesters gathering on the streets of Abidjan, which were much quieter than usual. Many shops remained shut and there was little traffic in the streets.

The success of Mr. Gbagbo’s forces in repelling the march on state TV and radio on Thursday suggests he retains a strong grip on key parts of the armed forces, including the presidential guard that witnesses said played a major role in Thursday’s incidents.

Mr. Gbagbo’s government spokesperson said at least 20 people were killed in Thursday’s anti-Gbagbo street protests in Abidjan, 10 of them demonstrators and 10 security forces. Mr. Ouattara’s rival government said security forces had killed 14 protesters when they opened fire on them. Mr. Gbagbo’s camp has alleged that some of the protesters were armed, while Mr. Ouattara’s allies have cited the presence of armed Liberian militias in Abidjan attacking demonstrators. Both sides deny the allegations of the other camp.

Violence flared elsewhere in the country on Thursday as pro-Ouattara rebels and government forces exchanged fire for hours in Tiebissou, the central town marking the line between the rebel-held north and government-held south after the war.

“Both the pro-Gbagbo FDS (security forces), and the pro-Ouattara former rebel New Forces (FN), appear battle-ready, and it would take very little to spark all-out confrontation,” said Rolake Akinola, Africa analyst for VoxFrontier Consulting.

Fear of a disruption to supplies in the world’s top cocoa grower pushed future prices close to four-month highs reached last week. The key March cocoa contract in New York rose $24 to end at $3,003 per tonne on Thursday.

All eyes will be on the actions of the local U.N. peacekeeping force if the situation deteriorates. The United Nations has about 10,000 soldiers and police in the country. The force has a mandate to protect civilians but said its job was not to protect the march. Separately, a top-level African Union delegation is due in Abidjan on Friday to attempt discussions with both sides on the crisis. However the continental body has said it does not think a power-sharing deal similar to that reached by Kenya after disputed 2007 elections would not be acceptable.

Source:http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5655161-146/story.csp

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Ivory Coast's Gbagbo going nowhere: spokesman

 A supporter of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo holds up a sign during a meeting between youths and Charles Ble Goude, recently named as the minister of youth and employment in Gbagbo's government, in Abidjan December 15, 2010. Gbagbo is locked in a power struggle with Alassane Ouattara, with both claiming victory in a November 28 presidential election that was meant to reunite the world's top cocoa grower after a 2002-3 civil war but which has instead deepened divisions.
 

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has no intention of stepping down following last month's disputed election, his spokesman said on Friday.

A senior U.S. official said African nations had promised Gbagbo a "soft landing" in exile, as he faces growing international pressure to step aside.

The West African state has been in turmoil since the November 28 vote, in which Gbagbo claimed victory with backing from the nation's top legal body.

The Constitutional Council annulled hundreds of thousands of votes in pro-Ouattara areas and rejected the U.N.-certified provisional result, which gave Alassane Ouattara victory by a 10 percent margin.

"President Gbagbo is going nowhere. He was elected for five years and he will only leave power in 2015," spokesman Alain Toussaint told Reuters in London.

Toussaint condemned a European Union call for the army to defect and support Ouattara.

"The Ivory Coast army is republican, it is loyal to the institutions of the republic. The European Union call is totally irresponsible and scandalous," Toussaint said.

"That means that the European Union is calling for civil war in Ivory Coast."

France is Ivory Coast's former colonial power, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Gbagbo to go or face sanctions.

Toussaint said the two men had not been in contact in recent days: "I think President Gbagbo and Sarkozy have nothing to say to one another because this is an internal affair."

He accused France and its Western allies of trying to install their own man:

"France, the United States, the EU want to carry out a plot, a constitutional coup d'etat, and we say 'No' ... we can't allow foreign governments to interfere in our affairs."

Source:234next.com

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Egyptians head to the polls again

Egypt‘s ruling party said on Saturday that an opposition boycott of a second round of polling in a parliamentary election was nothing but a case of sour grapes on the part of losing candidates.

The National Democratic Party, which swept the first round on November 28, is tipped to win all but a handful of seats in the run-off on Sunday after the two largest opposition groups announced their boycott, Agence France Press reports.

“The NDP will treat the second round with the same resolve as the first round,” said Sami Abdul Aziz, a media committee member of President Hosni Mubarak‘s party.

The party, which has dominated parliament for three decades, won 209 of 221 seats in the first round. Four legal opposition groups won five seats and the rest went to independents, some affiliated with the NDP.

Opposition groups say the vote was marred by fraud and violence, a charge echoed by local and international rights groups.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt‘s top opposition movement, said it would boycott the second round - held in constituencies where no candidate won more than 50 percent of votes - after it failed to win a single seat.

The Islamists, who register their candidates as independents to circumvent a ban on religious parties, controlled a fifth of the outgoing parliament after the last election in 2005.

The liberal Wafd party, which has won two seats, also said it would boycott the vote on Sunday, in a rare show of resolve against the government.

The NDP, which analysts say would have preferred a manageable opposition minority in parliament, called on Wafd to reconsider.

”Wafd‘s withdrawal was started by those who thought they would win seats and ended up losing,” Abdul Aziz told AFP. ”There was pressure from the losers.”

Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza said Egypt‘s parliament would still have an opposition despite the boycott. ”In the last parliament, there was opposition from within the NDP,” he told the official MENA news agency.
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Nigeria congratulates Guinea Conakry

Nigeria has congratulated Guinea Conakry for conducting a successful election, describing its outcome as “the will of the people’’, the News Agency of Nigeria reports on Sunday in Conakry.

NAN reports that long-time opposition leader Prof. Alpha Conde was declared winner by Guinea’s Supreme Court in last month’s Presidential election.

Conde defeated his rival and former Prime Minister Cello Diallo with 52 per cent of the votes cast on November 7.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Odein Ajumogobia who was on a peace mission as special envoy of President GoodLuck Jonathan to Conakry told the Prime Minister of Guinea Mr Jean-Marie Dore that the outcome of the election reflected the will of the people.

“Nigeria has watched with interest the peaceful way the people of Guinea has accepted the election result.

“President Goodluck Jonathan congratulates the President-elect Prof. Alpha Conde, also at the Council of ECOWAS‘ Ministers, we all look forward to Guinea’s vital role on peace and stability in the region,’’ Ajumogobia said.

The minister also visited and commended Conde and Diallo for their roles in the democratic process of Guinea.

Speaking to Conde at his residence, Ajumogobia said that bilateral relations between Nigeria and Guinea dated back to independence in 1960.

“Both countries have long-standing relations politically through bilateral agreements, and at the regional level as members of ECOWAS; we hope our ties will grow from strength to strength,’’ he said.

Responding, Conde commended Nigeria for its support and cooperation to Guinea’s transition from military to democracy, saying that “Nigeria’s role as a Big Brother in the region had brought peace and stability in ECOWAS.”

He said that he would focus on strengthening ties with Africa on assumption of office.

Ajumogobia who also visited Diallo, described him as “an exceptional statesman,” saying that “unlike football, in politics there is no draw, the country is the winner, the fact that you lost to Conde does not diminish your person in any way, nearly 50 per cent of the people of Guinea are behind you’’.

He urged him to continue to play the role of a statesman, adding, “your action in accepting the result of the election has set examples for the rest of us’’.

Diallo, however, pointed out that the election was marred with irregularities.

According to him, his supporters “the Peuls, Guinea’s largest ethnic group, were dislocated following ethnic clashes before the election, some were killed, while others were tortured and arrested, all these planned just to distabilise me.”

He called for the release of his people adding that “even though I lost, the unity of Guineans must be protected.’’

NAN reports that the election represents the first democratic transfer of power since the country won independence from France in 1958.
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Thabo Mbeki mediates Ivoirien political crisis

South Africa‘s former President Thabo Mbeki is in Cote d’Ivoire on a mission to mediate between presidential rivals who both claim to have taken office, the British Broadcasting Corporation reports.

Laurent Gbagbo and opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara each declared victory in a run-off last Sunday.

Ouattara was initially declared the winner but the result was overturned in the incumbent‘s favour.

Mbeki was sent by the African Union which has warned the crisis could have ”incalculable consequences”.

In a statement, the organisation rejected ”any attempt to create a fait accompli to undermine the electoral process and the will of the people”.

It called on all parties to ”show the necessary restraint and to refrain from taking actions which will exacerbate an already fragile situation”.

Several countries and international organisations - including the United states, United Nations, France and the International Monetary fund - have backed Ouattara as the true winner of last Sunday‘s run-off.

Mr Mbeki arrived at Abidjan airport on Sunday morning, the first time that the country‘s borders had been opened since the crisis blew up on Thursday.

When he was president of South Africa, Mbeki helped to mediate a peace deal in Ivory Coast.

The fear is that if he fails to find a way out, rebel groups in the north who support Ouattara will take up arms in protest.

Ouattara was declared the winner on Thursday by Ivory Coast‘s Election Commission, but on Friday its ruling was overturned by the Constitutional Council, which is led by an ally of the incumbent, Gbagbo.

Mr Gbagbo, who has the backing of the head of the country‘s armed forces, was sworn in for a third term in office at the presidential palace on Friday afternoon.

He repeated the accusations of fraud that had led the council to discount large number of ballots in the north, where Mr Ouattara‘s support is strongest.

”You think that you can cheat, stuff ballot boxes and intimidate voters and that the other side won‘t see what is going on,” Mr Gbagbo said.

He also said he had noted ”serious cases of interference” in recent days, referring to international disapproval of his return to power.

”We didn‘t ask anyone to come and run our country. Our sovereignty is something I am going to defend,” he said.

But within hours, Mr Ouattara, a former prime minister from the predominantly Muslim north of the country, was himself sworn in, at an Abidjan hotel guarded by UN peacekeepers.

He said the election had been ”historic” and that he was proud of it, but that the last few days had been ”difficult”.

”But it‘s just a brief episode - I want to tell you that Ivory Coast is now in good hands,” he said.

Mr Ouattara immediately re-appointed Guillaume Soro as his prime minister. Mr Soro had tendered his resignation in Mr Gbagbo‘s administration just hours earlier.

Mr Soro - who is the head of the New Forces rebels in the north - has warned that overturning the results threatens to derail attempts to stabilise and reunify the country after the 2002 civil war.
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'Super telescope' waiting for technical fix

Africa's eye to the universe

When the Southern African Large Telescope -- or "Salt" -- opens its shutter it offers astronomers a view far beyond its location in the vastness of South Africa's semi desert, known as the Karoo. Distant galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters are all in the reach of a telescope large enough to see all the way to the edge of the observable universe, back in time to the aftermath of the big bang.
Astronomer Alexei Kniazev is one of the handful of scientists who run experiments for fellow researchers from 15 institutional partners around the world.
"It's the largest mirror in the southern hemisphere, which is 11 meters in diameter, which consists of 91 one-meter hexagonal segments," he told CNN.
The telescope is so powerful it can record distant objects a billion times too faint to be seen with the naked eye and detect the flame of a candle on the surface of the moon. And it is perfectly positioned to unlock the universe's secrets.
"We are using this telescope to study objects, not in our galaxy, but nearby galaxies, which is practically impossible to do with smaller telescopes," said Kniazev.
"From southern hemisphere, it's possible to study the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This is not possible to see from the northern hemisphere. And only from southern hemisphere is it possible to study Magellanic clouds, which are [the] nearest galaxies."
But instead of gazing at the heavens, at the moment Kniazev is forced to study images taken months ago.
Since its launch in 2005, Salt has been hampered by technical problems. Its main instrument, a multi-million dollar spectrograph, sits in a work room, waiting to be re-attached in mid January.
Lead engineer Martin Wilkinson says it's the specialized nature of the instrument that has hamstrung engineers, who must learn as they go in making repairs.
He told CNN: "It's quite a unique device. It's the only one in the world really that works in the spectrum we are looking at. The universe is just a mass of energy radiating at all different sorts of wavelengths.
"From that they [researchers] are able to determine, for example, how fast galaxies are moving away or towards us, the constituents of the galaxies, what they are made of, and it gives the astronomers a huge range of information.
"It's using a lot of different technologies that have never been put together in this way before."
While the team says they've been patient throughout the repair process, Kniazev is looking forward to resuming his research.
"In January we put both instruments on the telescope and the telescope becomes 100 percent functional," he said.
For now, Salt remains more a symbol of the promise of astronomy in Africa than a tool for research. But Kniazev and others say that promise is great.

"Helium was discovered by astronomers in the spectrum of the sun, nuclear reactions were discovered by astronomers studying stars, so it means we never know what we will discover in the future and how useful this knowledge will be," he said.

Source:edition.cnn.com

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Share this on: Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon LinkedIn Viadeo Rhino horns fitted with GPS trackers

Rhino GPS thwarts poachers

Across the South African bushveld a small white helicopter chased a rhino, one of Africa's most endangered animals. Eventually, over the din of the chopper blades, we heard a pop from the dart gun aimed at the rhino's rear.
The dart immobilized the animal and a small group of khaki-wearing game farmers, vets and others rushed in on small vehicles to blindfold the confused, stumbling animal.
They told us that covering the rhino's eyes and ears would lessen the trauma of what was to happen next.
The group of conservationists then began monitoring the rhino as someone drilled into the rhino's horn, using an electric drill powered by a generator sitting on the back of a pick-up truck.
They burrowed an eight centimeter hole, about an inch wide. Inside they embedded a silver canister and then plugged up the incision with putty and wrapped some masking tape over the rhino horn, like a make-shift bush bandage.
This radical surgery is an experiment that many in South Africa hope will help to curtail the massive surge in rhino poaching. More than 250 rhinos have been slaughtered for their horns this year, a huge increase compared to previous years.
The hope is that the technology inside the silver canister will deter and even help to catch rhino poachers red-handed.
Stephan Britz of ProTagTor, the company that developed the technology, says the unique aspect of its tags is that they do not rely on cell phone reception, which is intermittent in many remote areas. Instead the tracking device is based on a combination of GPS and radio frequency technology.
The radio antennae embedded in the rhino horn sends information on the animal's location and sensors monitor its average movement patterns. All this data is fed back a central control room, every 60 seconds.
Importantly, Britz says, "The system learns the movement pattern of a rhino and so if a rhino's movement suddenly changes or there is a lot of rapid, uncharacteristic movement, then an alarm SMS is triggered by the horn tag."
The control room then alerts people close to the rhino's location so they can check on the animal and, if they get there in time, apprehend any poachers.

The day we filmed, animal after animal was tagged and Britz confirmed that across the country more of this technology will be used by game farmers and national park authorities to monitor their precious rhino stocks.

Source:edition.cnn.com

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Explosion injures 2 police officers in Kenya

An explosion in the Kenyan capital left two police officers injured on Friday, authorities said.
The blast occurred after an object was hurled at a police vehicle in the Eastleigh suburb. One of the officers was critically injured, said Eric Kiraithe, the national police spokesman.
Kiraithe said he could not confirm whether it was a grenade explosion. There are no arrests and the motive is unknown.

Eastleigh -- about 20 kilometers from the city center -- is mostly inhabited by Somali refugees. 

Source:edition.cnn.com

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Officials: Charges possible in Nigeria probe of Halliburton

There are allegations the bribes went all the way to the top, possibly to then-President President Olusegun Obasanjo
Charges are possible in a Nigerian investigation into whether Halliburton, the American energy services company, paid bribes to secure a lucrative natural gas project in the 1990s, Nigerian investigators said Friday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has not charged anyone in the case, and a spokesman did not say whether former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney -- who ran Halliburton in the 1990s -- was under investigation.
"If the summary of our legal opinion favors a sustainable charge, we will go ahead according to plan," commission spokesman Femi Babafemi said. "It is on our plate to prosecute all those found liable in the Halliburton bribery case."
The investigation is part of a long-running case involving Halliburton and a subsidiary firm, Kellogg, Brown and Root, over alleged bribes paid to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for a liquefied natural gas project in the Niger Delta.
The bribes allegedly amounted to $180 million between 1994 and 2004.
Kellogg, Brown and Root was one of four large international construction firms that built the natural gas plant.
The firm pleaded guilty in the United States last year and, together with Halliburton, reportedly reached a settlement of $579 million.
Investigations in Nigeria, however, have been ongoing, and there are allegations the bribes went all the way to the top, to aides, officials, and possibly then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Despite reports by media outlets that Nigerian officials plan to charge Cheney specifically, an attorney for the former vice president said there is no reason to suspect his client is guilty.
"This matter involves the activities of an international four-company joint venture (which included KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton) well over a decade ago," said attorney Terrence O'Connell. "The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton.

"Any suggestion of misconduct on his part, made now, years later, is entirely baseless."

Source: edition.cnn.com

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Nigerian offensive targets militants

Security forces in Nigeria hope to apprehend a wanted militant soon, a military spokesman said Friday.
The military is searching parts of southern Nigeria for Jon Togo, who they have described as a criminal. The armed forces started an offensive targeting Togo on Wednesday in Delta State, said Timothy Antigha, a spokesman for the military's Joint Task Force, which was formed to combat rebels.
The military attacked three militant camps near the village of Ayakoromo, he said, dislodging some militants who had sought refuge in villager's homes.
Some soldiers were wounded, but Antigha declined to offer more specifics.
The oil-rich Niger Delta has been the site of frequent clashes between militant groups and the Nigerian military.

One of the most prominent rebel groups, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, and other militant groups say they're fighting for a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth. Analysts say they are often paid by politicians to support their own bid for power.

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Ivory Coast invalidates earlier results; declares win for incumbent

Disputes flare over Ivory Coast election
Two candidates. Two councils. Two winners. Add it up and it bodes for a mess in the already unstable West African nation of Ivory Coast. Tensions rose Friday as the Constitutional Council declared incumbent Laurent Gbagbo the winner of last Sunday's presidential runoff.
That conclusion contradicted results that had been reported Thursday by the Independent Electoral Commission. The electoral panel had named Gbagbo's rival, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, the winner. The United States and the United Nations had extended their congratulations to the opposition candidate.
But on Friday, Paul Yao N'Dre, the Constitutional Council president, told reporters that after tossing out votes in seven regions that were marred by irregularities, Gbagbo had won with slightly more than 51% of the vote to Ouattara's 48%.
Both candidates alleged fraud. Both claimed victory.
In a written statement, U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated Ouattara, saying "the United Nations have all confirmed this result and attested to its credibility."
He warned Gbagbo, "The international community will hold those who act to thwart the democratic process and the will of the electorate accountable for their actions."
The U.N. advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopion, called on the Security Council to "put Gbagbo on notice that he will be held personally accountable if he allows the kind of gross abuses that have characterized past crack-downs of his security forces against political opponents."
It was the job of Y.J. Choi, the special envoy in the Ivory Coast of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to review and sign off on the results.
Choi said that, even if Gbagbo's complaints were taken into consideration, Ouattara was the winner.
"Having evaluated all the tally sheets, 20,000 of them yesterday evening, we are in a position to know what happened really," Choi told CNN in a telephone interview from Abidjan. "With absolute certainty, we know that Ouattara won the election."
He added that the U.N. forces would ensure that the popular will will prevail and would also seek to minimize any violence that might occur. "That is our job," he said.
The specter of violence was a real one in a nation that has seen more than its fair share since 2002, when civil war erupted.
Prior to a final resolution, the army had closed off national borders as a security precaution.
"The air, land and sea border of the country are closed to all movement of people and goods starting this day, Thursday, December 2, 2010, from 8 p.m. local until further notice," Army Col. Maj. Babri Gohourou said on television.
Authorities also blocked all international media broadcasts in the Ivory Coast.
"In order to maintain social peace, the National Broadcasting Council has ordered the French cable provider Canal Plus Horizon to suspend, without a delay, all the foreign radio and TV channels which are broadcast in Ivory Coast," a National Broadcasting Council spokesman said.
Gbagbo finished slightly ahead of Ouattara in the initial election last month with 38% of the vote to the challenger's 32%.
Ouattara, a former economist for the International Monetary Fund, had been banned from previous races. Gbagbo's critics said the incumbent stoked tensions by accusing Ouattara of masterminding the civil war. Ouattara has denied the allegation.
Once a prosperous nation and a driving force in West Africa, the Ivory Coast plunged into instability after fighting erupted between the government-held south and discontented Muslim rebels living in the north. Thousands of people died in the conflict.
Now, the disputed election threatens to spill more blood.
Skirmishes at Ouattara's office Thursday left at least eight people dead and 15 wounded, officials said, and an army official said on national television that soldiers were attacked during a patrol.
Witnesses said they were attacked by government security forces, and others reported an exchange of gunfire between security forcse and snipers at Ouattara's office.
Amnesty International condemned what it called "an armed raid led by a paramilitary force" on Ouattara's offices in Abidjan Wednesday.
Gohourou, the army spokesman, issued a statement on state TV Friday warning that officials at the military headquarters have learned that some individuals "are planning to dress up in military uniforms to attack French interests in Ivory Coast. Their objective, without a doubt, is to bring the blame and responsibility of their actions on the defense and security forces of the Ivory Coast."
Military and security patrols have been warned to intercept any attack, Gohourou said. Those apprehended will be prosecuted and people should remain vigilant by alerting authorities, he said.
France, with thousands of its citizens living in the Ivory Coast, urged "calm and responsibility," in the tense situation.

The French Foreign Ministry said it hopes "that the main Ivorian political actors respect the political will expressed by the Ivorian people and, in doing so, respect the process of democracy in this country." 

Source:edition.cnn.com

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Nigerian militants threaten new raids to seize more hostages

Oil workers taken hostage by Niger Delta militants sit during a press presentation after being released on November 18.

Rebels in the oil-rich Niger Delta region said Friday they will launch new raids on oil installations to seize more hostages after Nigerian authorities freed 19 who had been seized. "Our fighters have been instructed to carry out more raids on oil installations from where fresh hostages will be taken," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement.
The 12 Nigerians and two Americans, two Frenchmen, one Canadian and two Indonesians were released Wednesday.
Nigeria has launched an ongoing offensive targeting Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states, the largest military campaign in the Niger Delta since the government offered an amnesty program in 2007.
MEND is one of several militant groups in the Niger Delta that has been battling the government for years over the distribution of the country's oil wealth.
In its statement, the group offered its own version of the rescue operation, saying the fighters guarding the hostages retreated in order to prevent a gun battle that would have "endangered the lives of these hostages."
The group said the Nigerian military were tipped off to the location of the hostages by "certain persons from this community," but did not elaborate.

The statement ended with a threat: "As earlier promised, we will soon commence with a all-out attack on oil installations across the Niger Delta."

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/11/19/nigeria.hostages.released/index.html

 

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Police: Suspicious bag found in Namibian airport was a 'test device'

Germany raised its threat level on Wednesday, saying concrete evidence had emerged of a possible attack
A suspicious piece of luggage that was about to be loaded onto a flight in Namibia was a "test device" from a U.S. company that sells products designed to test security, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a news conference Friday in Hamburg, Germany.
Namibian police on Friday warned that whoever is responsible for planting the device among the luggage of an Air Berlin flight Wednesday would be severely dealt with, warning that Namibia was not to be used as an unauthorized testing ground for aviation security.
"The preliminary investigations have revealed that the suspicious parcel does not contain any explosive substances; however, it is an explosive simulation training device, manufactured by an American-based company, 'Larry Copello Incorporated,' " Lt. Gen. Sebastian Ndeitunga, Namibia's top policeman, told reporters Friday at a news conference in Windhoek, the capital.
The device is a training aid to help screeners identify explosive devices, Larry Copello, founder and CEO of Larry Copello, Inc., told CNN Friday. Copello described the device as "non-hazardous ...not a threat to anyone."
Copello said his company sells such devices to law enforcement agencies, governments and corporate clients, but did not know to whom this particular device was sold. He learned of the Namibia incident on Thursday when the FBI called him. He said he is cooperating with the investigation.
An official with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said Friday that they are working with German and Namibian authorities to determine the origin of the device and the reason it was to be transported on the plane.
"We applaud the vigilance of the aviation security authorities who discovered the device and took quick action to ensure that it did not pose a threat to the aircraft and passengers," the TSA official told CNN.
A U.S. official said Friday that there doesn't seem to be any connection with any U.S. government entity.
The discovery of the bag at Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia delayed flight 7377 to Munich, Germany, on Wednesday and raised security concerns, a spokeswoman for the airline, Air Berlin, said Thursday.
De Maiziere said he believed the device was from a U.S.-based company, but did not know which company. He said no one was warned in advance about the test device. The bag contained a functioning electronic clock with wiring attached, but no explosives.
"Air Berlin has confirmed that there was no explosive material in the laptop bag found in Namibia," Sabina Teller, a spokeswoman for Air Berlin, told CNN. "The luggage was found in the airport, at no point was on the plane. It had no luggage label, so it was impossible to know where it was going, which company it was supposed to fly with or who it belonged to," she said
De Maiziere said authorities are investigating the bag's origin and its intended destination.
After the bag was discovered, the flight's 296 passengers and all bags were given additional security checks. The plane later landed safely in Munich after a six- or seven-hour delay, Air Berlin spokeswoman Silke Manitz said.
Germany raised its threat level Wednesday, saying concrete evidence had emerged of a possible attack planned in Germany later this month. It said there was evidence of persistent efforts by Islamists to launch an attack. A senior German counterterrorism source told CNN on Thursday that the German Interior Ministry warning was linked to recent threats to the country from al Qaeda in Pakistan.

Interior Minister de Maiziere addressed the threat level Friday by reiterating that people should go about their lives as usual.

 Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/11/19/germany.suspicious.bag/index.html

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