Support Parole for US Political Prisoner Robert 'Seth' Hayes

Robert 'Seth' Hayes, US Political Prisoner, is up for parole during the month of May, 2008. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party held since 1974.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Support Parole for US Political Prisoner Robert 'Seth' Hayes! - Letters needed by May 30th 2008

Locked down for more than a lifetime: Soliciting letters of support for a U.S. political prisoner Robert Seth Hayes's Parole -

May 2008

A letter from the Robert Seth Hayes Support Committee -
http://www.sethhayes.org
info@sethhayes.org

Robert "Seth" Hayes is a U.S. political prisoner and former member of the Black Panther Party who has been imprisoned in New York state for more than three decades. When Seth was convicted in 1974, his sentence was 25 years to life. The implicit understanding at the time of his sentencing was that Seth would serve 25 years as a minimum, after which time he would be eligible for release based on his record and conduct in prison.

In June of 2008, Seth will be going before the parole board for the sixth time. At each of Seth's previous parole hearings, he was denied release due to the serious nature of the crime he was convicted for and given another two year hit. The refusal of parole for the serious nature of the crime is contrary to the spirit of the law, for it is something that a prisoner can never change, and the giving of parole is based upon the prisoner's behavior while behind bars.

Seth is not the only one being subjected to these unfair rules. This has become common practice for the New York state parole board, who, by denying parole based on the seriousness of the conviction, are de facto re-sentencing many prisoners to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Seth's prison record is exemplary, and if a decision about Seth's parole were to be based on his conduct and personal growth, he would have rejoined his family and his community years ago.

Please write a letter to the parole board to let them know that you think Seth deserves to be released. Write your own letter, or use the sample letter that has been included in this document.

If you have a personal relationship with Seth, please consider writing about this relationship in your letter. If you work with a community organization or union, have a professional job, or are a rock star, please consider mentioning this in your letter (or writing on letterhead, etc.).

If you decide to personalize your letter, you may choose to include information drawn from the short biography also included in this package, where some of Seth's accomplishments are highlighted.

More information about Seth can be found on a web page that has been put together by his supporters at www.sethhayes.org

All letters should be mailed or faxed to Seth's lawyer, Susan Tipograph, by no later than May 30th, 2008 as Seth's parole hearing is taking place in June of 2008. Please send all of your letters to:


Susan Tipograph
Attorney At Law
350 Broadway
New York, NY
10013
fax (212) 625-3939


Sample Letter

Re: Robert Seth Hayes #74A2280

Dear Senior Parole Officer of Wende Correctional Institute,

I am writing on behalf of Robert Hayes who is scheduled to appear before the parole board for the sixth time in July of 2006.

Robert Hayes' application for parole was denied when he last appeared before the board two years ago. At the time of that appearance, his record was excellent. However, since that time his record is outstanding.

Mr. Hayes has continued to work to help others and improve himself. While at Clinton Correctional Facility, he facilitated in the HIV Educators program to assist others as well as becoming a member of the Lifer's and Long Termers Organization whose primary goal is to educate and instruct newly ar riving inmates in adjustment to and preparation for final release from incarceration. Since his transfer to Wende Correctional Facility, he has coached basketball and participated in a local restorative justice project. These are but a few of his many accomplishments over his years of incarceration. I am confident that were he to be released, he would be a great asset to the community and to society at large.

There is no question that the crime for which Mr. Hayes was convicted was a serious crime. However, he has shown remorse and takes full responsibility for his acts. I am sure that you will agree that after serving almost 33 years Mr. Hayes' release at this time would not so deprecate the seriousness of the crime so as to undermine respect for the law.

Moreover, if you examine all of the factors that are used to predict whether a person is likely to recidivate, those factors indicate that Mr. Hayes will not engage in any criminal activity. His disciplinary history during his incarceration indicates that he obeys the rules in prison; he has a supportive network of family and friends on the outside available to assist him in his reintegration back into society and he had an extensive work history prior to being incarcerated in addition to obtaining marketable skills in prison that will help him to obtain employment. Nothing is gained by his continued incarceration, and much is lost, as he has much to offer the community upon his release.

By the time that Mr. Hayes appears before the parole board, he will be 58 years old, more than 30 years older and considerably wiser than the man who was charged with committing the crime. He is a compassionate, caring individual and deserves a second chance. Please grant Mr. Hayes parole and give him that second chance.

Sincerely,

________________________________________________
Biography

Robert Seth Hayes was born in Harlem, New York in October 1948. His father, John Franklin Hayes, w as the child of sharecroppers and came to New York City from South Carolina; his mother, Francine Washington Hayes, moved to New York from Pittsburgh. Both of Mr. Hayes' parents worked for the U.S. Postal Service, trying to provide a better life for Seth and his four brothers and sisters. They also instilled in their children the desire to work for the betterment of their community. Seth writes, "My mother taught me to visualize family universally, not individually." Seth's father was a World War II veteran and a member of the United Negro Improvement Association, the Black Nationalist organization founded by Marcus Garvey.

Growing up in New York City, first in Harlem, later in the Bronx and Queens, Mr. Hayes saw one Black neighborhood after another suffering from neglect, despair, anger and defeat. During 1950s and 1960s with the growing rise of the civil rights and Black power movements Seth recalls witnessing over the years a birth of hope and determination to overcome these conditions.

After his schooling in New York City, Mr. Hayes worked as a psychiatric aide at Creedmoor Hospital. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. He saw combat, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

In the armed forces, Seth underwent a change of consciousness. After the death of Martin Luther King Junior in 1968, Seth's troop was ordered to patrol the city streets with fixed bayonets to put down the rebellions resulting from Dr. King's assassination. "It was the saddest day of my life," Seth remembers, "and I could never identify again with the aims of the armed forces or the government."

Upon returning to the United States from Vietnam, Seth was swept up in the Black Liberation movement and joined the Black Panther Party. He worked in the free breakfast for children program and began dedicating his life to the bett erment of Black people. His knowledge of the effects of racism on the Black community convinced him that the Black Panthers' program of community service ad community self-defense was what was needed. His work, like that of so many others, was disrupted by COINTELPRO. Fearing further attacks, he went underground, believing it to be the only way to protect the work of the Black Panther Party and the Black movement in general.

Robert Seth Hayes had two children prior to his arrest and imprisonment, and he has remained closely involved their lives and upbringing, despite the difficulties presented by his long incarceration. His son, Chunga, lives and works in Atlanta. His daughter, Crystal, herself mother of 14-year-old Myaisha, is a student at the Smith College graduate school of social work in Western Massachusetts. Seth calls his family "the loves of my life."

He describes his relationship with Crystal this way, "She has had the most intense impact on my life, always questioning, full of joy and insight, grasping lessons and maintaining her own dreams. She has kept me striving always to expand my knowledge and illuminate my principles, as I struggle to stay abreast of her questioning mind."

Seth has been diagnosed with Type II diabetes and Hepatitis C. He has been extremely ill and had great difficulty procuring the necessary healthcare and has needed the help of his lawyers and some state political leaders in order to get adequate treatment.

While in prison, Seth continues to work for the betterment of the community in which he lives. He has participated in programs with the NAACP, the Jaycees and other organizations and has worked as a librarian, pre-release advisor and AIDS counselor. Whenever possible, he has taken college courses. He is also a longtime advisor and collaborator in the annual "Certain Days" Political Prisoner calendar project. He is dedicated to continuing to work for social justice when he gets out of prison. At Wende correctional facility where he is currently incarcerated, Seth is working to put together a "lifers program" to help rehabilitate prisoners and prepare them to reenter the community. Seth also coaches basketball and works on assisting a local restorative justice project taking place in Buffalo.

For more information about Seth, please check out http://www.sethhayes.org or
e-mail: info@sethhayes.org.

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
http://www.Freedomarchives.org

Police Brutality Update: Officers Involved in Sean Bell Murder Face Internal Charges; Cops Videotaped Beating African-Americans in Philadelphia Terminated

Nicole Paultre Bell, the fiancee of Sean Bell, who was gunned down in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day in Nov. 2006. The cops accused in his murder were acquitted of all charges by a judge.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

May 21, 2008

Officers Face Department Charges in Bell Killing

By AL BAKE
New York Times

Seven New York City police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell, including three detectives who were acquitted in a criminal trial, were formally accused on Tuesday of breaking Police Department rules in the case.

The department said that the officers violated the internal policy manual in a variety of ways, including improperly firing their guns and failing to process the crime scene after Mr. Bell was killed and his two friends injured in a storm of 50 bullets.

The three detectives who stood trial in the case — Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper — were charged with “discharging their firearms outside of department guidelines,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. Detective Isnora was also charged with taking enforcement action while working as an undercover officer instead of letting officers who were present, and not working undercover, take control.

Lt. Gary Napoli, the ranking officer at the scene, faces internal charges of failing to supervise the operation, Mr. Browne said. Sergeant Hugh McNeil and Detective Robert Knapp, of the Crime Scene Unit, were also charged: the detective with failing to thoroughly process the crime scene and the sergeant with failing to ensure a thorough processing was done.

Police Officer Michael Carey, was charged with discharging his firearm outside of department guidelines. Another officer involved in the shooting, Detective Paul Headley, was not charged because a review of the evidence currently available did not support charges, officials said.

If the charges, known as administrative charges, are upheld, the officers could face discipline ranging from loss of pay to retraining to firing. But the internal investigation has been suspended as federal prosecutors weigh civil rights charges in the case.

The department filed the internal charges Tuesday to beat a Sunday deadline. Under personnel rules, it had 18 months from the date of the shooting, Nov. 25, 2006, to charge the officers.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been a spokesman for the Bell family and has protested the acquittals, called the charges “a step in the right direction.” But he drew a parallel between the Bell shooting and the recent beatings of three suspects by the police in Philadelphia, which was caught on videotape.

He urged Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly “to follow the lead of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who fired four police yesterday, demoted one sergeant, and disciplined others, without going through a long internal procedure.”

Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, shot back that the “Rev. Al needs to be reminded that all of the detectives were found not guilty in a court of law.” He said the union would “vigorously represent our detectives in the department’s trial room.”

Lawyers for some of the officers also criticized the decision to lodge internal charges against the men.

Though neither Mr. Bell nor his friends had a firearm, defense lawyers argued at trial the three detectives believed someone in Mr. Bell’s car had a gun because of comments they overheard outside the nightclub. Additionally, the evidence suggested the shooting began only after Mr. Bell had twice rammed his car into an unmarked police van.

Detectives Isnora and Oliver were charged with manslaughter and Detective Cooper with reckless endangerment, but Justice Arthur J. Cooperman of State Supreme Court in Queens acquitted them, saying the prosecution had not proved that the shooting was unjustified.

But the judge seemed to criticize the operation when he wrote in his verdict, “Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums.”

The chaotic moments surrounding the shooting were examined in depth at trial, with testimony showing that no bubble lights were in place on the roofs of the police vehicles during the attempted arrest of Mr. Bell, and that while officers said they were wearing their shields, some were not wearing police raid jackets. Elements of the crime scene investigation were disorganized, with accusations of contamination of evidence and inaccurate markings of physical evidence, such as shell casings.

Shortly after Detectives Isnora, Oliver and Cooper were indicted, they were served with administrative charges in April 2007 that “basically mirrored the criminal charges they faced,” Mr. Browne said. The new internal charges accuse them specifically of breaking departmental rules — though both could result in their being fired.

The officers can contest the charges before a departmental judge, but it is ultimately up to the commissioner to accept or reject the judge’s recommendation.

The department does not always file internal charges in such cases. In 1999, after four officers in the Bronx fired 41 bullets at Amadou Diallo, killing him, the officers were indicted and acquitted, and no departmental charges were filed against them.

The internal charges were determined by what is already in the public record, Mr. Browne said. That includes court testimony in the criminal case and a preliminary departmental report on the shooting. The department did not specify the basis for the charges, that is, why it believed the detectives had violated the rules on shooting, and it did not elaborate on the lapses in handling the crime scene.

Philip E. Karasyk, a lawyer for Detective Isnora, said the department rushed to file charges that he said “are often dismissed or amended.” He added: “The charges that have been served today have been drawn up without the benefit of hearing what the officers have to say.”

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, defended Officer Carey, saying the department would find that he “acted fully within the scope of his duty and the guidelines of the department.”

Howard Tanner, a lawyer for Lieutenant Napoli, said he “has an excellent prior record.”

Paul P. Martin, the lawyer for Detective Cooper, said he was taking the departmental charges “very seriously,” but was more concerned about the possibility of federal charges.

James J. Culleton, the lawyer for Detective Oliver, did not respond to messages. Sergeant McNeil and Detective Knapp could not be reached for comment, and their lawyers were not known.

Kirk Semple contributed reporting.


May 20, 2008

4 Philadelphia Police Officers in Videotaped Beatings Will Be Fired

By JON HURDLE
New York Times

PHILADELPHIA — Four police officers who were caught on video beating three suspects in a drug-related triple shooting will be fired, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said Monday.

Three other officers have been suspended, Commissioner Ramsey said at a news conference, and one officer has been demoted.

The disciplinary action follows a two-week investigation of the May 5 beating, filmed by a television news helicopter, in which the three men were dragged from their car and then kicked and punched by as many as 15 officers in the Hunting Park section of North Philadelphia.

The men are in custody on attempted murder, assault and firearms charges.

Commissioner Ramsey said he did not know why the officers acted as they did but he added that emotions were running high because Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski had been killed two days earlier in a robbery in the Port Richmond area of the city.

The 67-second video, which has been broadcast repeatedly on local and national television, is now being examined by District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who will decide whether to file criminal charges against the officers. The F.B.I. is also reviewing the tape, Commissioner Ramsey said.

Some of the officers used “indiscriminate force” that went beyond what is justified to make an arrest, he said. The officers kicked one man in the head and hit another in the head with an object while they lay on the ground.

“There are a group of officers whose actions were outside of department policy,” Commissioner Ramsey said. “We have to be better than some of what we showed on the fifth of May.”

D. Scott Perrine, a lawyer for one of the men, Pete Hopkins, 19, said the disciplinary action “falls far short” of the appropriate response, which he said should be criminal charges of aggravated assault for the officers involved.

“The only reason these people are not in handcuffs is because they are police officers,” Mr. Perrine said. “They behaved like a pack of wild animals.”

Two of the four officers being fired were new recruits on probation; the other two were more experienced officers.

The most senior officer on the scene, Sgt. Joseph Schiavone, was demoted to the rank of police officer and transferred to another district for failing to stop the beating; he had no contact with the suspects. Three other officers were suspended for 15, 10 and 5 days, respectively, and were transferred to other districts.

The four officers being fired are Patrick Gallagher, Patrick Whalen, Robert Donnelly and Vincent Strain. The three who were suspended are Sean Bascom, Demetrios Pittaoulis and Jonathon Czapor.

Eight other officers were found to have had “physical contact” with the men, within the limits allowed by police procedure. They were not disciplined but will undergo additional training in arrest procedures. Two more officers among the 18 on the scene had no contact with the men, Commissioner Ramsey said.

The Philadelphia Police Department has hired the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent group, to determine whether it is following best practices.

Mayor Michael Nutter said at the news conference that he was satisfied by the department’s response to the beating, pointing out that 16 of the 18 officers at the scene had been fired, disciplined or subject to retraining.

“Today’s announcement represents, I believe, what is required in this matter: swift, direct action,” Mr. Nutter said.

Paula Peebles, the Philadelphia chairwoman of the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, said the disciplinary action was an insufficient reaction to the beating.

“The position of the citizens of Philadelphia is that the response by Ramsey and Nutter was not enough,” Ms. Peebles said. “We want all the officers prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

She said supporters would demonstrate outside the district attorney’s offices on Wednesday and were planning to file a complaint with the United States Department of Justice.

Sudan News Update: Heavy Fighting Erupts in Sudan Oil Town of Abyei

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has resisted US efforts to destabilize this oil-rich central African nation. Now the Americans want to tighten economic sanctions against the country.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Heavy fighting erupts in Sudan oil town

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Heavy fighting erupted between Sudan's army and southern Sudanese forces in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei on Tuesday, leaving at least 100 wounded and an unknown number dead, aid workers said.

A spokesman for Sudan's Armed Forces told state media a number of northern soldiers had died in the attack, and accused southern troops of starting the assault, using tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery.

Analysts said the fierce fighting in Abyei -- an area claimed by both Khartoum and the semi-autonomous south -- threatened a north-south peace deal and risked reigniting a two-decade civil war.

The United Nations said the fighting had practically destroyed the central Sudanese town and disrupted emergency efforts to supply food, water and medical care to up to 50,000 people who fled earlier fighting.

Abyei's status was left undecided in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan. Both sides have remained at loggerheads over the lucrative region's exact border and government.

Growing tensions in the region were underlined last week when a local dispute exploded into armed clashes between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

A spokeswoman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York that Ban was deeply concerned and warned the SAF and SPLA that the achievements of the 2005 accord could be at serious risk if fighting continued.

TROOPS ATTACK

Aid workers said a lull in the fighting ended at around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Tuesday when SPLA troops attacked the town. Sporadic shooting continued into the afternoon, an international source added.

"The fighting was heavy," said one aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It was between SAF and the SPLA. We think it was a counter-attack by the SPLA."

The worker said SAF had occupied Abyei at the weekend but SPLA forces had attacked to try to push government troops back.

Ashraf Qazi, special representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Sudan, said he had contacted northern and southern leaders, urging them to halt the clashes. He said the fighting had already caused "numerous casualties."

Humanitarian efforts were already being affected, he said, adding aid workers had seen Antonov aircraft bombing a position just 4 km away from one of their aid bases in the area.

The U.N. Mission in Sudan, which has evacuated many of its staff from the area, said it had started distributing food supplies to up to 50,000 people who had fled earlier fighting.

"People are still fleeing. This fighting could have a dire impact on the entire humanitarian operation," said Orla Clinton, spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"We have been told that there are at least 100 people injured on the ground," said one aid worker who had received updates from staff at an aid centre near Abyei.

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier Uthman al-Agbash told the Suna state news agency a number of army soldiers had been killed in the fighting. He said the SPLA had used heavy artillery in the attack, as well as tanks and rocket-propelled grenades.

Andrew Stroehlein, spokesman for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank, called on EU foreign ministers, due to meet in Brussels on Monday, to urge both sides to stop fighting and pull back to the ceasefire line.

"Otherwise this really could be the restarting of the civil war in Sudan," he told a news briefing. "The entire town has been torched to the ground basically."

Many senior members of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement were at a party conference in the southern capital of Juba on Tuesday and were unavailable for comment.


Sudan dominant party denounces SPLA attack in Abyei

May 20, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The National Congress Party (NCP) denounced attack by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army against the Sudan Armed Forces in the disputed Abyei today morning saying it was a clear violation of the security arrangements protocol included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Deadly fighting erupted on Tuesday when the SPLA troops attacked at dawn the positions of the SAF infantry Brigade 31 in Abyei in a bid to take the control of the town. The northern Sudanese army said it had soldiers killed and wounded in the assault but that it repulsed the attack.

Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, a leading member of the National Congress Party and one of Sudanese government negotiators in Naivasha talks said that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, by taking the control of the area, had transgressed the CPA.

"There are clear texts in the CPA about security measures that should be taken in this region during the transitional period, and imposing an administrator is not among them." he said.

Mohamed Ahmed further reiterated the NCP’s commitment to all the provisions of the 2005 signed peace deal and urged the southern Sudan ruling party to end its aggression and listen to the voice of reason.

"We in the NCP, as we confirm our full commitment to the CPA, warn that the current situation in the region caused by SPLM’s actions may be detrimental to all the efforts made towards bringing peace and stability to the area and towards the implementation of the CPA, especially the Abyei Protocol."

The oil-rich area of Abyei, which is near the border between north and south Sudan, has been one of the main stumbling blocks to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

In accordance with the CPA, a SAF-SPLA battalion has to be formed in the town of Abyei assigned to protect the area. But the SPLA redeployed 3000 force withdrawn from the Eastern Sudan in Akec and Majock around Abyei, this move pushed SAF to maintain the Infantry Brigade 31 in the area.

In a statement issued on May 18 the northern Sudanese army accused the SPLM representative in Abyei, Edward Lino of saying he would not implement a deal brokered by the UN last week end where it is agreed to redeploy SPLA force out of Abyei.

According to the UN sponsored deal, the SPLA troops should be pulled out to their previous position south of the river, while the SAF troops have to remain confined to their barracks inside Abyei and they should not be deployed outside the camps of the infantry Brigade 31.

SAF spokesman Brig Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash, who described today attack as” unprecedented development”, has said the residents of Abyei town had been evacuated as a result of the attack by the SPLA, Sudan People’s Liberation Army, on 18 May.

Al-Aghbash said that "the 31 Infantry Brigade of the armed forces was deployed north of the 1956 border line, and SPLA’s presence in the area, instead of consigning themselves to the assembly areas defined in the agreement, was a blatant violation".

He added that Sudan People’s Liberation Movement had "unilaterally set up an administration and a police force in Abyei, which was also in clear breach of the peace Agreement which had led to the friction which resulted in the recent problems".

Abyei lies just north of the disputed boundary line between north and south Sudan and remains contested despite a 2005 peace accord that ended a 21-year civil war, which left an estimated 2 million people dead.

The U.N. says between 30,000 and 50,000 people have been displaced by the recent fighting. The casualty count is difficult to determine because of the ongoing violence.


Egypt calls for self-restraint in Abyei, end of violence in Sudan

CAIRO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Tuesday urged the two peace partners in Sudan to exercise self-restraint and bring an end to the violence in Abyei area in southern Sudan.

In a press release by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit noted that his country has expressed apprehension over recent armed confrontations between Sudanese government forces and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) operatives in Abyei.

"The only way out of the current crisis is resorting to dialogue in a bid to reach compromise solutions," Abul Gheit was quoted as saying in the statement.

The UN announced Sunday that it was gearing up efforts to meet the pressing humanitarian needs of thousands of Sudanese who were forced to flee their homes in Abyei area in southern Sudan after fighting flared up there over the past few days.

The exact number of those displaced from Abyei, an enclave claimed by both of northern and southern Sudan, is not yet determined but is estimated at between 30,000 to 50,000 people.


Sudan ruling, opposition parties sign reconciliatory deal

KHARTOUM, May 20 (KUNA) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, leader of the ruling National Congress, and opposition Ummah Party leader al-Sadeq al-Mahdi reached a reconciliation agreement here Tuesday.

The deal will pave the way for holding a mass conference involving all Sudanese political forces in a bid to create an all-out national reconciliation.

Under the deal, both leaders vowed to work together to reach an agreement with all political forces and to create a national front involving all rivals.

Following the signing at al-Mahdi's residence in Omdurman, al-Bashir affirmed his party commitment to the provisions of the deal, which he hailed as a springboard for unifying Sudanese ranks.

For his part, al-Mahdi said, "With open hearts, we want to press for building national reconciliation with our brothers in the National Congress and other political forces." He hailed the deal as a tool to resolve disagreements by peaceful means.

It is the ever-second agreement between both parties. The first was inked in Djibouti on November 25, 1999, which put an end to al-Mahdi-led party's armed opposition to al-Bashir-led government.


UN 'Gravely Concerned' At Renewed Fighting in Disputed Town

UN News Service (New York)
20 May 2008

The top United Nations envoy in Sudan today expressed grave concern over renewed hostilities which have forced up to 50,000 people to flee fighting in the disputed town of Abyei, which lies in an oil-rich area near the boundary between north and south Sudan.

Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Sudan, expressed "his deep regret" that fighting had resumed early this morning so soon after Government and the former southern rebels had struck an agreement to end the clashes in Abyei, under the auspices of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

An impasse over the boundaries and status of Abyei has been one of the major stumbling blocks preventing the full implementation of the January 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that ended the long-running north-south civil war in Sudan.

Fighting in Abyei has displaced between 30,000 to 50,000 people southwards, leaving the town almost deserted.

The UN has set up five humanitarian hubs to help the displaced population, but operations are being endangered by continuing insecurity. Aid workers reported aerial bombing of a position to the north of one of the hubs.

Mr. Qazi has appealed to both sides to exercise the utmost restraint and to take immediate steps towards disengaging their forces. The UN envoy said this would enable UNMIS to revive ceasefire monitoring mechanisms and pave the way for full implementation of the CPA with respect to Abyei.


Khartoum reiterates refusal of Chad's interference in Sudan's affairs

KHARTOUM, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government reiterated on Monday its refusal of interference by the neighboring Chad in Sudan's internal affairs.

This came after Chairperson of the African Union (AU)Commission Jean Ping and AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramadan Al Amamrah concluded a three-day visit to Sudan, which was the first for the two persons since they assumed their officeslast April.

Ping and Al Amamrah arrived in Khartoum coming from N'Djamena where they presented to the Chadian side an initiative from the AU to mediate for solving differences between Sudan and Chad.

In a statement, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the visit came in the context of the efforts being exerted by the AU for solving the Darfur problem and bridging the rift between Sudan and Chad, especially after an aborted attack by Darfurrebels on the Sudanese capital.

The statement said the AU officials held meetings with Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs al-Samani al-Wasila as wellas other officials.

They also visited Juba, southern Sudan, where they held talks with Sudanese First Vice President and President of the southern Sudanese government Salva Kiir Mayardit.

The AU officials also visited El Fashir, the capital of North Darfur State, where the met the governor of the state, Osman Mohamed Yousif Kibir and members of the state government. During the meetings, the Sudanese officials expressed their appreciation to the great role being assumed by the AU in solving the issues of Sudan, the Sudanese foreign ministry said in the statement, adding that the government would continuously support the AU's role in terms that all African issues should be solved by the Africans themselves.

"Concerning Chad, it was affirmed that Sudan had been the keenest on good relations with Chad and responded to the mechanisms established to improve the relations between the two countries, while the Chadian regime failed to implement them," the statement noted.

"Sudan will remain keen on good neighborliness relations will all its neighbors, but it will not allow intervention in its internal affairs and repetition of any threat and that Sudan will work to abort any attempt for committing aggression against any part of its territories," the statement added.

An escalation of tension has been witnessed in the relations between the two African countries since the Sudanese government thwarted an assault by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement on the capital Khartoum on May 10.

Sudanese President al-Bashir accused the Chadian government of involving in the attack, announcing a severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Chadian government has denied any involvement in the attack.


SUDAN: Fighting could hamper Abyei aid operation – UN

The latest fighting appeared to have been a counter-attack by the SPLM, according to independent observers

NAIROBI, 21 May 2008 (IRIN) - Renewed hostilities between the Sudanese army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Abyei are likely to worsen the humanitarian needs in the region and could affect aid operations, the UN warned.

"Aid workers have reported aerial [Antonov] bombing of a position 4km north of one of the [humanitarian operation] hubs," Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sudan, said. "Continued insecurity is a concern, as are weather conditions and muddy roads."

Clashes resumed in Abyei on 20 May, barely a week after fighting had displaced thousands of people from their homes. About 100 people were injured, according to aid workers in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan.

The fighting, which broke out despite a joint military committee meeting attended by the UN, the Sudanese army and the SPLM agreeing to ease tensions, appeared to have been a counter-attack by the SPLM, according to independent observers.

The Sudanese army in a statement said a number of its soldiers died in the attack. The SPLM, on the other hand, blamed the army for targeting civilians.

"The escalation of fighting and reported bombings will further exacerbate the humanitarian needs of the already affected population, including the displaced, and could hamper the continuation of the humanitarian operation, which is being established in Agok," Qazi warned.

Hubs

Five humanitarian hubs were set up by the UN after last week’s clashes to assist an estimated 30,000-50,000 displaced people living in 18 host villages in Agok area, 25km south of Abyei town.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the fighting sent the largely Dinka Malual and Dinka Ngok residents of Abyei town fleeing southwards, with the majority arriving in Twic County in Warrab State and Agok.

Further displacement into Aweil East in Northern Bahr el Ghazal was reported on 19 May, while movement into Mayom and Abiemnom in Unity State was expected, OCHA said on 20 May.

After the hubs were set up, various aid organisations started distributing food to the displaced and set up water facilities. They were also delivering shelter materials and establishing health facilities.

"UNMIS [the UN Mission in Sudan] has been in contact with both parties in an effort to arrest further deterioration of the situation, which if not checked could undermine the entire peace process," Qazi said in his statement.

"The recent round of armed hostilities underscores the urgent need for the political leadership of both sides to intensify their joint efforts to address the issues that underlie the current crisis."

The earlier fighting, which started on 13 May, destroyed much of Abyei town, sources said. "The town, most of whose houses are [made of] straw, was burnt," Bishop Antonio Menegazzo of El Obeid told the Catholic news service.

"According to a witness, about 90 percent of the huts have been destroyed. All the inhabitants ran away from the town, taking refuge in the nearby forest."

Impasse

An impasse over the status of oil-rich Abyei - whether it will be administered by the national unity government or that of Southern Sudan (GoSS) - is one of the major stumbling blocks to the implementation of the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the long-running north-south civil war in Sudan.

Clashes broke out in Abyei in December 2007 after the GoSS appointed an administrator for the region - a move rejected by local, pro-Northern Masseriya tribesmen, who in reaction formed a group called the Abyei Liberation Front.

In recent months, clashes between armed groups in the region have left scores dead. Analysts worry that such clashes could lead to a full resumption of conflict between Southern Sudan and the North.

"Abyei is the 'line in the sand' on which neither Khartoum nor Juba is willing to compromise," the Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment research project said in a paper on 11 May.

The project, which is administered by the Small Arms Survey, warned: "Proxy fighting was the hallmark of the civil war, and its recent escalation in the post-CPA period is a bad omen, not only for the long-term implementation of the CPA but also for the security of communities across Sudan."

The report noted that the SPLM had won over many of the Misseriya tribesmen, prompting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to remobilise paramilitary forces that had fought alongside the North during the civil war.

Report can be found online at:
http://www.irnnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78320

Zimbabwe News Bulletin: President Says Opposition on 'Evil Crusade'; ZANU-PF Starts Campaign Sunday; Official Appointed to COMESA; China Denies Arms Allegations

President Robert Mugabe of the Republic of Zimbabwe. The southern African nation has been under siege by the imperialist nations of the UK, US and EU.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Mugabe: Zim opposition on 'evil crusade'

Harare, Zimbabwe
21 May 2008 01:01

President Robert Mugabe accused Zimbabwe's opposition of embarking on "an evil crusade" as he stepped up claims on Wednesday that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is to blame for mounting violence.

"The MDC opposition, formed at the behest of Britain, is on an evil crusade of dividing our people along political lines as they continue to fan and sponsor heinous acts of political violence targeting innocent citizens," Mugabe said at a graduation ceremony for police recruits.

"It is unfortunate that they have decided on violent means to instil fear into our peace-loving people."

Zimbabwe has seen mounting levels of violence since disputed elections in March when the MDC won control of Parliament and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, beat Mugabe into second place in a simultaneous presidential poll.

With Tsvangirai falling just short of winning an outright majority in the first round, according to official results, the pair are now due to square up in a run-off poll on June 27.

Although the United Nations chief representative in Zimbabwe has said Mugabe's supporters are to blame for the bulk of the violence, the president laid responsibility firmly at the feet of the MDC.

"MDC activists have furtively torched houses belonging to Zanu-PF supporters, destroying property worth trillions of dollars in the process," he said.

"Let me warn all perpetrators of violence that the police force is here to preserve life, protect property, maintain law and order and apprehend criminals.

"It is the duty of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to ensure that all forms of civil commotion are nipped in the bud."

In his speech, Mugabe also accused the opposition of rigging its way to victory in the election on March 29.

"Regrettably, underneath the peace that prevailed [before the election], there was a disturbing phenomena of massive electoral fraud that reared its ugly monstrous head," he said.

"As investigations and court cases have shown, this emanated largely from unashamed efforts of opposition supporters aided by their international partners to achieve long-sought after goal of regime change."

The MDC has claimed that Tsvangirai was only deprived of outright victory in the first round as a result of rigging by Mugabe, who is subject to Western sanctions after he allegedly fixed his re-election in 2002. -- AFP


Zanu-PF gears for run-off poll

Herald Reporter

PRESIDENT Mugabe will on Sunday officially kick off his presidential election run-off campaign at Zanu-PF’s national headquarters in Harare.

Cde Patrick Chinamasa, who chairs Zanu-PF’s sub-committee on information and publicity, said the main official launch would be at the party’s headquarters at 2pm.

"We are inviting around 2 000 people from all over the country to the launch.

"While the main launch will be at our headquarters, we are also going to be carrying out simultaneous launches across the country at ward level since as you know our campaign is ward-based," he said.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission set June 27 for the run-off that pits President Mugabe and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who both failed to get over 50 percent of the vote in the first round on March 29 as required by the Electoral Act to be declared winner.

ZEC has announced that voters will cast their ballots at ward level just as they did during the harmonised elections and Zanu-PF has since been campaigning at this level.

Tsvangirai, on the other hand, has largely conducted his campaign outside Zimbabwe having left the country shortly after the March 29 polls, thereby drawing criticism from some of his staunchest allies who have labelled his strategy as indicative of poor leadership qualities.

President Mugabe’s campaign launch will come a day after a solidarity and anti-imperialism march by party youths and students from the University of Zimbabwe from the National Heroes’ Acre to the Zanu-PF headquarters in the city.

In an interview yesterday, Zanu-PF secretary for youth Cde Absolom Sikhosana urged youths to cast their ballots wisely in the run-off and use their democratic right to secure the future of the country.

"This election is not about Cde Mugabe or Tsvangirai. It is about choosing between 100 percent sovereignty and total independence on the one hand, and a return to colonialism on the other. The choices are clear-cut and the youth should take this opportunity to secure their future and that of their country.

"What we have noticed is that on March 29 people voted with their stomachs. They were told that if they voted for Tsvangirai the country’s economic fortunes would turn around immediately, but this can never be the case.

"Besides, what should be realised is that the same foreign interests who are promising an overnight turnaround in the event of a Tsvangirai presidency are the same who have destroyed the economy.

"When the youths vote they should ask themselves this: how is it that Britain and the US, who are backing Tsvangirai, claim they have our interests at heart when they have imposed sanctions that are harming ordinary folk?

"The youth should vote for their empowerment as delivered by Cde Mugabe and not be hoodwinked," he said.

Cde Sikhosana said it was imperative for the youth to understand that true liberation lay in the control of national resources and only Zanu-PF could guarantee this at a time when Western attempts to stop the indigenisation of the economy are gathering momentum.

"Tsvangirai is promising them employment and maybe one or two of them will get jobs if by some accident he wins. But on the other hand, Cde Mugabe is not offering just employment; he is giving the youth the opportunity to own the means of production.

"It is virtually impossible the world over to be rich and successful through being an employee. Successful people are those who have full charge of their environment and control their resources and this is what Zanu-PF giving Zimbabweans," Cde Sikhosana said.


British support of MDC-T stifles democracy: ZPDP

THE Zimbabwe People’s Democratic Party president Ms Isabel Madangure says the British support of the opposition MDC-T in Zimbabwe is stifling democracy in the country.

In an interview with the ZBC in Harare, Ms Madangure said the imposition of sanctions which are negatively affecting all age groups in Zimbabwe including children has created an unfair playing field for the ruling party and the holding of democratic elections in Zimbabwe.

She explained that the current economic hardships in the country are a result of the sanctions that were called for by the MDC-T leader who is currently enjoying a luxurious life in Western capitals.

Ms Madangure called on all patriotic and peace-loving Zimbabweans to turnout in their thousands on June 27 and vote for Zanu-PF saying it is the party that has the interests of the people at heart.

She said the MDC-T which was created out of the Westminster foundation to effect regime change in Zimbabwe is a foreign driven organisation which seeks to restore white supremacy in Zimbabwe as evidenced by the huge support given to the opposition party by white farmers.

The post election period this year also saw a huge influx of former white farmers who had returned to newly settled areas saying they had come back to their farms following the self-proclaimed claimed MDC victory.

Ms Madangure said the June 27 run-off should serve to defend and protect the Zimbabwean revolution in which many sons and daughters of the country paid the supreme sacrifice. — Newsnet.


Zimbabwean gets top Comesa post

Bulawayo Bureau

A ZIMBABWEAN, Mr Sindiso Ndema Ngwenya, has been appointed interim secretary-general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

He will hold the post until the next summit of the Comesa Authority sits.

Mr Ngwenya takes over from Mr Erastus Mwencha, who is now the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission.

Before his appointment, Mr Ngwenya was one of the two assistant secretaries-general.

He was the assistant secretary-general responsible for programmes, a post he had held since 1998.

Cde Obert Mpofu, the vice-chairperson of the Comesa Council of Ministers, confirmed Mr Ngwenya’s appointment.

Cde Mpofu, who is also the Minister of Industry and International Trade, congratulated Mr Ngwenya on his elevation.

"In order to ensure continuity in the operations of Comesa, especially with regard to its programmes, such as the launch of the Customs Union and the EPA Negotiation, the council appointed Mr Sindiso Ngwenya as interim secretary-general until the next summit of the Comesa Authority when the substantive secretary-general will be appointed," said Cde Mpofu.


President promotes two soldiers to rank of colonel

Herald Reporter

COMMANDER-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces President Mugabe has promoted two Zimbabwe National Army Lieutenant Colonels to the rank of Colonel.

The two are Colonel Stanford Kufa, who was the Zimbabwe Armoured Car Regiment Commander at Inkomo, and Colonel Michael Chaminuka, who is the personal staff officer to Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga.

Col Kufa will, with immediate effect, be the Commandant of the Zimbabwe Military Academy in Gweru while Col Chaminuka will remain in his present post.

Conferring the two with their new ranks, ZNA Chief of Staff Major General Martin Chedondo said the promotions came with a price and the price was added responsibilities.

"This is also the trust that has been shown by the Commander-in-Chief (President Mugabe) and I would like to urge you to discharge your duties in a loyal and professional manner," he said.

Maj-Gen Chedondo said officers should also understand the political environment in Zimbabwe and the world at large.

"We expect you to understand the Government, the party and you also need to understand that the country is at a crossroads. We are under an onslaught of the Western countries, imperialists with the help of their puppets, the MDC," he said.

He said the country’s independence was brought about by Zanu-PF through the formation of Zanu and Zapu. He said that legacy must be protected at all costs.

"Ensure that the legacy of Chimurenga lives on. Some of us might retire in the near future and you (all army officers) should ensure that Zimbabwe would never be a colony again.

"It is you senior officers who should ensure that the legacy is protected," he said.

Maj-Gen Chedondo said to all those who were not promoted, their time would come as the system recognised their value.

Col Chaminuka applauded President Mugabe, Gen Chiwenga and all senior army officials.

He said they would carry out their duties diligently and would remain loyal.

"We also understand the challenges facing the nation of which we are the custodians of its security.

"We will, however, carry out our duties diligently," he said.


China denies weapons shipped to Zimbabwe

May 21, 2008, 15:30

China today denied that a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe had managed to get its cargo to the landlocked African nation, saying the ship and the weapons were on their way back to China.

Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga would not comment at the weekend on reports that his government had finally taken delivery of a consignment of arms at the centre of controversy since April.

South African port workers refused to offload the Chinese-owned ship carrying them, the An Yue Jiang, saying the weapons could deepen Zimbabwe's political crisis.

"It's a defence issue that I would not want to comment on, except to say that we are not under any arms embargo. We will continue to source our arms requirements in a regular and official manner," Matonga said.

But China's Foreign Ministry said the An Yue Jiang was on its way back to China, and denied reports the weapons had arrived in Zimbabwe. "These reports are baseless and purely fictitious," spokesperson Qin Gang said in a statement on the ministry's website.

"The Chinese side has already said many times that the weapons sold to Zimbabwe will return on the An Yue Jiang. The ship is currently on its way back to China," Qin said.

Zimbabwe has been locked in a political crisis after the government initially refused to release results of presidential elections on March 29. A run-off between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's Morgan Tsvangirai is scheduled for June 27. - Reuters


Mbeki rejects claims of refuelling Chinese ship

May 19, 2008, 06:00

President Thabo Mbeki has rejected media reports suggesting that he gave an order through deputy defence minister, Mluleki George, for the refuelling of a Chinese ship loaded with armaments en route to Zimbabwe.

A Mozambican online newspaper reported on Saturday that Mbeki had ordered the SAS Drakensberg out to sea to refuel the ship. According to the report, the arms were then offloaded in the DRC and taken to Zimbabwe.

Mbeki says there is a deliberate campaign to spread lies about the presidency and government.


South Africa denies aiding Chinese arms ship

May 17, 2008, 15:45

The defence department has denied reports that President Thabo Mbeki ordered the SAS Drakensberg to refuel a Chinese ship bearing arms for Zimbabwe.

Deputy Defence minister Mluleki George says the allegations have no substance whatsoever. This followed reports in Mozambican online newspaper, Canal de Mozambique, which reported that the ship had been refuelled by the Drakensberg off the coast of South Africa before sailing north to offload its deadly cargo. The Zimbabwe government has confirmed that the weapons have arrived in Harare. George says he had no instruction from Mbeki to dispatch the Drakensberg.

Reports says the weapons - meant for the Zimbabwe army - have arrived in Harare after being offloaded in the DRC and then flown to Zimbabwe with a charter flight. The report quotes a Mozambican online newspaper. It says the Chinese ship - which was earlier turned away from several Southern African ports - was refuelled en route to the DRC by the South African Navy ship Drakensberg. Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga has dismissed the reports, saying it seems that 'the season of propaganda is upon us'.

South African News Bulletin: Xenophobic Violence Slammed by Leaders

Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma at the ANC Conference in Polokwane. Zuma won the elections to become the new president of the ruling party in South Africa.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Mbeki slams xenophobia

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:36
AFP

President Thabo Mbeki vowed on Monday that police would get "to the root of the anarchy" in the Johannesburg area that has seen 22 killed in a wave of violence directed at immigrants.

"Citizens from other countries on the African continent and beyond are as human as we are and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity," the president said in a statement released late on Monday.

Mbeki called upon those behind the "shameful and criminal acts" to stop.

"The law-enforcement agencies must and will respond with the requisite measures against anyone found to be involved in these attacks," he said.

"Already, more than 200 alleged perpetrators have been arrested ... and I am confident that the police will soon make significant breakthroughs in getting to the root of this anarchy," he added.

Mbeki also thanked the public, police and community members who had "lent a helping hand to the victims by, amongst others, offering shelter, clothes and food."

Since the beginning of last week, mobs in poor townships around South Africa's economic capital have killed and beaten up immigrants, with Zimbabweans and other Africans reporting purges by armed locals looking for foreigners.


ANC PRESS STATEMENT

20 May 2008

ANC President, Mr Jacob Zuma, is currently in London, where he is attending a Graduation Ceremony of his daughter, Msholozi Zuma.

Prior to his departure, Mr Zuma addressed a meeting in Mamelodi, Pretoria, where he sent a clear message on the issue of xenophobia:

"There is no room for xenophobia in South Africa. The violence perpetrated against foreign nationals is nothing but thuggery and criminality. The police must deal with this matter speedily to identify and arrest the perpetrators."

The ANC President will return on Friday 23 May 2008, where he will attend the National Executive Committee meeting that ends on Sunday 25 May 2008. Mr Zuma is expected to have a short meeting with French President Sarkozy on Thursday 22 May 2008.

ANC General Secretary Mr Gwede Mantashe visited Tembisa this morning to acquaint himself with the conditions faced by the foreign nationals, following attacks by armed gangs. Leadership from the ANC Gauteng Province and members of the National Executive Committee have been deployed to Reiger Park on the East Rand.

Issued by African National Congress
Chief Albert Luthuli House
54 Sauer Street
Johannesburg


Xenophobia hits Boksburg

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:38

One person died and two were critically injured in fresh xenophobic attacks in the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Boksburg on Tuesday, the Ekurhuleni metro police said.

Spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the violence began on Monday night when foreigners were kicked out of their shacks and attacked.

The shacks were then set alight.

"Hundreds of foreigners are now housed at the local community centre. The number is rapidly escalating and we might have to look for another shelter."

They have been provided with food, blankets, healthcare and security.

Dlamini said another area hit by attacks was the Gugulethu Everest informal settlement in Springs.

"People were assaulted there — yet it was not as bad as the other areas. They ran away to the Springs police station."

Police were now monitoring the situation in both areas.


Hiring foreigners = death

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:40

An Actonville businessman has been killed after being accused of hiring foreign workers, the Sowetan reported on Tuesday.

The man, the owner of a construction company in Benoni, had his house set ablaze by a mob who accused him of not hiring local people.

He was killed in the early hours of Monday.

Actonville Police Constable Godin Nyathi said the man died inside his burning house.

He said the group that attacked the man came from the local hostel and from the Emlotheni and Emandleni informal settlements.


Cops to call in army?

SA Human Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen on Monday warned that police may be "stretched" in dealing with xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, which have left 22 people dead and up to 10 000 seeking refuge in shelters.

Kollapen, speaking in Durban at a pre-launch event of the Durban Press Club at the International Convention Centre, said the government might have to seriously consider bringing in the army.

"My understanding is that the police are stretched," he said, but warned that "calling in the army has all kinds of implications".

Without some kind of resolution of the conflict, South Africans could take scant comfort from the images being presented in the media.

"We need to be careful. These things spread so easily to other communities."

Kollapen expressed concern that while police focused resources on the affected communities, those that had as of yet not been affected could find themselves without protection.

Asked if the attacks were being orchestrated, he said that he was not aware that there was intelligence pointing to that fact.

He believed the attacks were more "copy cat" in nature and had been brought about because "the level of resentment towards foreigners is quite high".

Kollapen said that South Africans viewed that which came from outside the continent in a positive light, while Africa was viewed in a negative light.

"You haven't seen any attacks on Bulgarians, have you?"

He questioned the role of the media prior to the events that brought Gauteng into the international spotlight.

"By and large the media has portrayed immigration in a negative light," he said, citing various headlines.

"What effect does this have on the psyche?" he asked.

He was of the opinion that the media had not analysed the "social context" in which the attacks had taken place.

The media "must take a hard look at xenophobia". It should consider the role it had played leading up to the attacks.

Kollapen added that he did not believe the creation of a media tribunal, as was recommended by the ANC's Polokwane congress last year, would address concerns about the media.

He said he was in favour of the retaining the current system of a Press Ombudsman, but with expanded powers.

At the moment the Ombudsman, Joe Thloloe, could only react to complaints.

"It should have powers that make it more proactive," Kollapen said.


2010 safe from xenophobia

Tue, 20 May 2008 07:20

The international football fraternity understands that the xenophobic attacks in South Africa are as a result of the conduct of some "disgruntled" individuals, the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) said on Monday.

Chief executive Danny Jordaan said the attacks would not deter people from coming to the world cup as they understood the context in which the attacks were happening.

"Most people understand that the attacks arise from the conduct of disgruntled people, many people around the world condemn this behaviour," he said.

Jordaan said that it was evident to the international community that the attacks were not nationally endorsed.

"The South African leaders have condemned the attacks and the whole world will see that South Africa does not endorse this behaviour," Jordaan said.

Jordaan said the LOC condemned the attacks "unreservedly".

Asked for FIFA comment, 2010 FIFA media delegate Emmanuel Maradas said he did not have a mandate to talk on behalf of FIFA, nor on behalf of FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

He referred enquiries to the FIFA communications division in Zurich, Switzerland, but attempts to get comment on Monday were not successful.

Sapa


Xenophobia violence spirals

"We will burn the Shangaans if they don't go back," were the chilling words of a 25-year-old man arrested for public violence in Ramaphosa on the East Rand on Monday as police deployed specialists to stop the xenophobic attacks that have left at least 22 people dead in the last week.

"We will fight for this country. We will keep on going, they can't stop us," said the man, speaking to Sapa reporters through the bars of holding cell at the Reiger Park police station.

By Monday morning 217 people have been arrested for the attacks, which police director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo attributed to criminality.

He said this could be seen by the types of crimes being committed: rape, robbery and housebreaking among them.

However, the man, who cannot be identified until he appears in court, said: "We just want them to give up and leave us alone in our country. That will be enough.

"We don't want to fight, but we will burn the Shangaans if they don't go back." He was referring to the Tsonga-speaking group of people, mostly hailing from Limpopo and Mozambique.

Taking jobs, wives

He said he was proud of destroying a few shacks in the area.

"I will be proud to meet the man who started this," he said.

The man, who is unemployed, said: "Foreigners are taking our jobs and our wives," and blamed government for letting them into South Africa.

"A lot them don't have a passport but I am the one in jail," he said, pointing at the group of adults and children who sat among piles of suitcases and furniture outside the police station.

He said his "brother" was arrested for burning foreigners in Ramaphosa township.

Also speaking from his cell, this man claimed foreigners were the cause of the crime situation in Africa.

"No more. They must go. The Shangaans must go."

Earlier, police recovered the hacked body parts of a Malawian national on a sandy road in Ramaphosa township and, near Primrose, one person with Mozambican identify papers in his pocket was found dead and two other Mozambicans were seriously beaten.

Shacks targetted

In Zamimpilo, outside Riverlea on the West Rand, at least 50 shacks were burned and foreign nationals in the area taken to safety in a community centre.

In Kya Sands, an industrial area close to informal settlements, groups of people began throwing stones at each other after a community meeting, but the situation was brought under control, said spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

In the Jerusalem informal settlement, near Boksburg, police came under fire as they tried to stop a group of about 500 people from looting shops there.

As evening approached in Reiger Park, local residents served tea and coffee to people seeking refuge and offered them accommodation for the night in their homes.

The engines of bakkies loaded with furniture belonging to people of Zimbabwean and Mozambican origin idled outside, preparing to leave the area.

Entire families camped outside - women with babies on their backs, and young children who had been forced to skip school.

The Red Cross and the St Vincent's Anglican church next door helped provide shelter and aid.

Thousands seeking shelter

At least 10 000 foreigners are taking shelter at community centres on the East Rand, said Ekurhuleni Metro spokesman Zweli Dlamini.

"The figures are escalating as people run for their dear lives," said Dlamini.

Ambulances are "driving up and down," he said, and clinics are on alert to deal with violence, as well as the medical needs of the displaced.

A joint operations centre has been set up in Bedfordview to co-ordinate humanitarian needs.

Responding to the Democratic Alliance's criticism that the government's disaster response has been slow and basic requirements like toilets were not adequate, Dlamini said they would order more toilets and other necessities.

A consortium of NGOs also criticised government's response, saying it was inadequate and the situation needed to be treated as a state of emergency.

The Treatment Action Campaign, saying that antiretroviral programmes should not be disrupted, "reluctantly" joined the call for the army to intervene.

A statement from acting National Police Commissioner Tim Williams' office said that after a meeting of top police officials on Monday, it was decided to deploy additional members with "experience and training in reacting to medium to high risk situations" in Gauteng.

Willliams also thanked the police who had been working to try to control the situation under "extremely stressful conditions" and called on community leaders to help by talking within the communities they serve.

Mbeki concerned

President Thabo Mbeki's spokesperson Mukhoni Ratshitanga said the president was "very concerned" by developments and reiterated a call for the violence to stop.

"We are taking these things very seriously," he said.

Meanwhile, Rose Molape, a resident and a South African citizen, expressed anger over what had happened to her Zimbabwean neighbours in Ramaphosa, where she has lived for the last 13 years.

"They were nice people and they had to leave. They have been living here for so long and now all of a sudden things are happening," said Molape.

She said the Zimbabwean family's home was burnt down after they left.

"We as Africans need to help each other, we can't do this," she said.


Tutu urges end to violence

"Please, please stop." This was the message on Monday from Nobel peace laureate and struggle icon Desmond Tutu in the wake of the outburst of xenophobic violence of the past few days.

"Please stop. Please stop the violence now," the churchman said in an impassioned statement.

"This is not how we behave. These are our sisters and brothers. Please, please stop."

Tutu, who once intervened in the apartheid years to prevent a mob necklacing a man, said that when South Africans were fighting against apartheid they had been supported by people around the world and particularly in Africa.

Although they were poor, other Africans welcomed South Africans as refugees, and allowed liberation movements to have bases in their territory even if it meant those countries were going to be attacked by the South African Defence force.

"We can't repay them by killing their children. We can't disgrace our struggle by these acts of violence," he said.

"It is as if we were back in the days of the necklace.

"The world is shocked and is going to laugh at us and mock us.

"We are disgracing our struggle heroes. Our children will condemn us in the future."

PANW Editor Abayomi Azikiwe Speaks on Sudan History and the Crisis in Race Relations in the United States

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, speaking to a large crowd at the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit during the MLK Conference, April 5, 2008. (Photo: Cheryl LaBash).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory
May 19, 2008

Events:
Pan-African News Wire Editor Abayomi Azikiwe Speaks on the Political History of Sudan and Race Relations in the United States

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 1:00-2:30 p.m.--"United States Foreign Policy Towards Sudan: A Political History." This lecture will examine the dynamics surrounding the crisis in state-to-state interactions between Africa's largest geographic nation and successive American administrations since Ronald Reagan. The event will take place at the Adult Learning Institute of Oakland Community College, Orchard Ridge Campus, located at 27055 Orchard Lake Road, Building J-Room 303, Farmington Hills, MI.

Thursday, May 22, 7:30-9:30 p.m.--"Clearing Out the Toxic: Healing Racial and Ethnic Divisions." This panel will feature several academics and activists who will discuss the current crisis in race relations in the United States and its manifestation in the 2008 electoral arena. The panelists will be:

Rev. Dr. Carlyle Stewart, Hope United Methodist Church
Professor Jose Cuello, Wayne State University
Professor Shea Howell, Oakland University
Angelita Espino, New Detroit, Inc.
Facilitator: Abayomi Azikiwe, Chair of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR) and editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

This event will be held at Barth Hall, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral located on Woodward Avenue and Warren in the University Cultural District, Detroit.

MCHR Web Site: http://www.mchr.org

Africa Liberation Day and the Legacy of Global Anti-Imperialist Struggles

Kwame Nkrumah after leaving prison in February of 1951 in the Gold Coast. He then became 'Leader of Government Business' in the transition to national independence on March 6, 1957.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Africa Liberation Day and the Legacy of Global Anti-Imperialist Movements

45 years since the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the struggle continues

by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire

Commentary

May 25, 2008 marks the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which was formed by over 30 newly-independent states on the continent in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That day was proclaimed Africa Liberation Day, a holiday that has since been commemorated all over the world including various countries in Africa as well as in the former Soviet Union, the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.

Prior to 1963 and the founding of the OAU, the African independence movement caught fire resulting in the anti-colonial struggle becoming the major engine for historical transformation on the continent after the conclusion of World War II, the revolutions in Korea, China, Vietnam and Cuba.

On April 15, 1958 there was the First Conference of Independent African States in Accra, Ghana, convened by eight nations that had been successful in throwing off the yolk of direct colonialism. That day was proclaimed African Freedom Day and this year represents its 50th anniversary.

It was the burgeoning indepenence movement and the convening of the first conference of independent African states that created the conditions for the All-African Peoples Conference that was also held in Accra, Ghana in December of 1958. Ghana at that time being the vanguard of the national independence movement on the continent under the leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

The first All-African People's Conference introduced the continent and world to the young and determined revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba. It was Lumumba and his Congolese National Movement (MNC) that led the mineral-rich former Belgian colony to national independence. His short-lived government immediately came under attack by the United States administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lumumba was overthrown and later kidnapped and murdered at the hands of United States-backed operatives under the management of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The 1950s and 1960s ushered in a new phase of the anti-colonial struggle. This spirit of independence paralleled the civil rights movement in the United States where the masses of African-Americans sought to overturn centuries of superexploitation and national oppression. The Pan-African revolutionary leader and socialist Kwame Nkrumah sought to link the struggles against racism, colonialism and imperialism throughout the continent and the world.

Kwame Nkrumah stated in his address to the Ghana National Assembly in response to the ratification efforts of the first annual conference of the OAU that: "The Afro-American has been taught to appreciate the dignity of the individual, living as he (she) does in one of the most techinically advanced countries of our time; and yet at the same time he (she) is being denied what is his (her) essential and inalienable right. The Afro-American did not choose to go to the New World. He (she) was dragged into America to help establish the economy of that country. This he (she) has done with great credit, distinguishing himself (herself) in all fields of human endeavour. In Music, Law, Diplomacy, Art, Science, Education, he (she) has achieved great distinction for America. The United States has therefore a moral duty to accept the essential humanity of the Afro-American."

Historical advances in the African liberation struggle

Several African nations sought to go beyond the acquisition of national independence and to build an anti-capitalist state and economy. Countries such as Ghana, Guinea, Egypt, Algeria, Tanzania, Zambia and later Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, developed revolutionary liberation movements and political parties that sought to break with the tentacles of world capitalism and imperialism.

As a result of these efforts, the imperialist struck back and launched destabilization campaigns, counterinsurgency operations and outright interventions through the manipulations of intelligence agencies and direct and indirect military occupations. The Nkrumah government in Ghana, which held power between 1951 and 1966, was overthrown by a clique of military and police operatives financed and coordinated by US imperialism.

Other nations such as Guinea-Bissau suffered targeted assassinations with the murder of revolutionary and socialist theorist Amilcar Cabral on the eve of that nation's independence in 1973. When the US and British-financed apartheid regime in South Africa attempted to reverse the independence of Angola under the leadership of the Popular Movement for Liberation (MPLA), the Cuban internationalists intervened in defense of the revolution and played a decisive role in the defeat of the racist South African Defense Forces (SADF) in both 1975-76 as well as the final victory against their attempted occupation of Angola in 1987-88.

This gallant period in African history has been documented in a recent BBC produced film entitled: "Cuba, Africa, Revolution." This historical account illustrates how a socialist internationalist government made tremendous sacrifices to destroy apartheid in southern Africa. This important episode in African history brought about the consolidation of Angolan independence after 1988, the liberation of Namibia in 1990, which suffered under South African colonialism for decades, and eventually the destruction of the racist apartheid system in 1994.

All during this period the United States and its allies sought to maintain colonial regimes and to halt the social advances of the national liberation movements which sought to embark upon a socialist path. US-controlled financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank WB) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) sought to strangle the African revolution through imperialist control of the economic development within these states. The overall underdevelopment of African societies can be directly traced to the historic legacy of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

In the United States, the passage of civil rights laws during the 1950s and 1960s did not totally liberate the African-Americans and other nationally oppressed groups. The most dedicated elements within the civil rights and black power movements were subjected to the counterintelligence program where leaders and their organizations suffered mass arrests, torture, targeted assassinations, chemical warfare through the proliferation of narcotics in their communities and the attempted criminalization of successive generations of African-American, Latino and working classs youth.

Challenges of the Contemporary Situation in the African World

In the 21st century the machinations of imperialism have not subsided but these schemes aimed at the continued exploitaion of the natural resources and labor of the continent and its people have accelerated. Looking at the crisis in Zimbabwe, where the ruling African National Union, Patriot-Front Party (ZANU-PF) has been the target of a systematic campaign of destablization and regime change, any genuinely independent observer will see that only the tactics have changed but the objective of the western imperialist countries remains the same: to prevent Africa from becoming genuinely independent of imperialist domination and exploitation.

In Somalia, the United States has backed an invasion and occupation by the neigboring Ethiopian regime in order prevent the masses from seeking a political dispensation independent of imperialist influence and control. The Ethiopian regime that is in power today are the same forces which overturned the revolutionary gains of the 1970s and 1980s with the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam who was supported by the former Soviet Union as well as Cuba.

Sudan, with its millions of barrels of oil reserves, is a focal point of US and British intrigue designed to reclaim the ground lost by the growing independent character of the government and peoples of this central African country. The overwhelming majority of African people are calling for the cancellation of the foreign debt obligations, the establishment of fairer terms of international trade and the halt to US, British and French military interventions on the continent. Consequently, this has resulted in the rejection of the United States military plans to establish an African Command (AFRICOM) on the continent.

The popular struggles within the labor movement, among youth, women and the increasing vocal land reform efforts in various regions of the continent, reflects the increasing awareness of the potential power of the people to take control of their social destinies and to forge an independent path towards economic and social developement.

In the United States and Canada, the rapidly burgeoning repressive character of national oppression has led to mass demonstrations against the persecution of the Jena 6, the police terrorism exemplified by the murders of Sean Bell and countless others as well as the systematic removal of hundreds of thousands of African and other working class and poor people from the Gulf region results directly from the failure of the state to protect people in the face of disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

What is becoming obvious to growing numbers of people inside the United States is that these problems of economic exploitation, national oppression and racist violence and mass incarceration cannot be solved under the current system of capitalism. Only the advances made under socialism in various geo-political regions throughout the world during the course of the people's history of the last century provide a model for genuine social transformation.

Therefore, it is the struggle for socialism, where economic development will be based on the material needs of the working people within society that national and gender oppression will be eradicated. This struggle will set the stage for the true liberation of the immense majority of humanity.

Sudan Remains Defiant Amid Western Destabilization Efforts

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in military uniform. The leader of this oil-rich African state has declared a ceasefire with Darfur rebel groups.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Sudan Maintains Defiance Amid Western Destabilization Campaigns

Attacks by Darfur rebels sparks crisis in relations with Chad

by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
Commentary

A political and military accord signed between the Sudanese government of Omar al-Beshir and Chadian President Idriss Deby in January was dissolved in the aftermath of an attack by a Darfur rebel group on May 10. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) carried out an assault in Omdurman resulting in the deaths of approximately 200 people.

Although this attack against one of the major cities in Sudan
has focused attention on whether the neighboring western-backed and oil-rich Chadian regime of Idriss Deby was behind the act of aggression, the role of the international oil industry with its major players based in the United States have formidable reasons for wanting to see the government in Sudan overthrown.

American-based multi-national firms have not been allowed to exploit the rapidly emerging oil industry in Sudan. For over a decade now, US corporations have been barred from extracting oil in Sudan. 80% of the oil concessions in the country are granted to partnerships between the Sudanese government and the People's Republic of China. Other concessions are held by local interests in parternship with Arab and middle-eastern naitons.

This economic decision on the part of Sudan results from a foreign policy orientation that is independent of the American military efforts in Africa and the Middle-East. In 1990-91, the Sudanese government refused to support the American war against Iraq over the issue of former President Saddam Hussein's intervention in Kuwait. The current occupation of Iraq beginning in 2003 has not been supported by Sudan.

Chad Under Pressure From Western Influence

Consequently, when looking at the hostile US State Department posture toward Sudan, the oil factor must be taken into consideration. Chad, which is a former French colony, is also a large producer of oil. However, the government of Idriss Deby has much closer ties both politically and economically to France, particularly under the pro-American President Nicolas Sarkozy. A recent attempt to unseat Deby by the United Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) would have been victorious if the French military, which has a permanent presence in the country, had not stepped in to shore up the government.

In response to the effort on the part of France to salvage the Deby government, a group of Europeans posing as a charitable organization calling itself Zoe's Ark, who had been convicted of attempting to kidnap dozens of Chadian children in order to sell them to people in their home countries, were released by the authorities and allowed to return to France.

The European nationals from France and other countries were questioned after their arrest prior to a public trial and conviction. They stated that their motivation was to transport children from the Darfur region of Sudan, which is currently undergoing civil conflict, to adoption agencies in France so they could permanently be placed in homes in Europe. Yet, according to news reports emanating from Chad, most of the children were not from Darfur and they had been taken without abiding by the laws of Chad governing adoption.

The uncovering of this plot to kidnap African children in Chad sparked outrage inside the country and lead to the mobilization of thousands of peole who protested the actions of the Zoe's Ark charitable agency. Nonetheless, the government in Chad was beholden to France because of its precarious political position and the relative strength of the UFDD opposition forces.

The Sudanese region of Darfur is located in the west of the country bordering Chad. The government of Omar al-Bashir has accused Chadian President Deby of supporting the rebel movements in Darfur. The Darfur rebels have gained the sympathy and support of various right-wing political interests in the United States and Europe. Some of these groups have sponsored documentary films, photographic displays, rallies and even legislation which encourage the intervention of the United States and other imperialist countries in the internal affairs of Sudan.

Behind the political campaign against Sudan

Just last year a new documentary film entitled: "The Devil on Horseback" premiered throughout the United States. The film was based on photographs taken by a US Marine captain who had visited the country as a military consultant to the African Union, which has had an observer mission in the country for several years.

This film portrays the civil conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan as a systematic campaign by the el-Bashir government to carry out genocide against the inhabitants of this region. The film does not mention the historical legacy of British colonialism which systematically divided Sudan so that the country could be subjagated for over a half-century. The origins of both the civil wars in the south of the country and Darfur in the west, are rooted in the legacy of the divide-rule policy imposed by the British when it defeated the early resistance movements during the late 19th century.

The documentary highlights the suffering of the people in Darfur in an effort to provoke a public outcry in the United States demanding immediate military intervention to weaken the authority of the central government in Sudan and to establish a permanent western presence in the country in the Darfur region bordering Chad.

Another manifestation of the so-called "Save Darfur movement" is the drafting and promotion of legislation on a local and state level which seeks to divest pension funds from corporations that engage in commerce with Sudan. Since there is limited trade between the United States and Sudan, such legislation is clearly promoted for its propaganda value which advances the notion that the government should be changed based upon allegations of genocide against the people of Darfur.

In addition, these right-wing elements falsely characterize the civil conflict in Darfur as a racial one between what they describe as Arabs in the North and Blacks in the Darfur region in the West. This attempt to racialize the conflict is deliberately aimed at discouraging African-Americans and anti-racist constituencies in the United States from organizing any effort to defend the Sudanese people from western military intervention.

Most historians of Sudan say that there are no fundamental racial divisions between the peoples of this vast central African country. The majority of people in both the northern region, where the capital is located and Darfur, in the west, are Muslims. For centuries the various ethnic groups have intermarried and shared cultural and relgious traits.

In the state of Michigan legislation was introduced during 2007 that would mandate the immediate withdrawal of public pensions funds from businesses that conduct trade with both Sudan and Iran as well as impose sanctions against any company that had Sudanese investors or stakeholders.

The twin bills entitled the "Public Retirement Systems: Divestiture of Investments Related to Sudan and Iran (House Bill 4903 and 4854) were sponsored by Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith a Democrat and Marty Knollenberg, a Republican. The bill introduced by Smith is against Sudan and the one sponsored by Knollenberg is directed toward Iran.

A legislative analysis issued by the Michigan House Fiscal Agency describes the bills as "amending the Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act (MCL 38.1133c and 1133d) to require a retirement system to engage in a number of activities related to assests invested in companies with certain kinds of business relationships with Sudan and Iran. The bill ultimately could, under certain condition, require a retirement system to sell, redeem, divest, or withdraw all publicly traded securities of a company actively involved with the Sudan or Iran over a 15-month period."

This same document points out the bill "would apply to retirement systems under the Michigan Legislative Retirement Act, the State Police Retirement Act, the Judges Retirement Act, the State Employees Retirement Act, and the Public School Employees Retirement Act." These public pension systems hold billions of dollars in employee contributions which are heavily invested in private corporations.

Although these bills have not been passed by the Michigan State Senate and signed by the Governor and therefore are not law, they still represent a hostile act against the peoples of Sudan and Iran. They seek to create an atmosphere where people in the United States could be influenced and convinced to support a military interventionist policy toward both Sudan and Iran, two oil producing nations targeted by the Bush administration for regime change.

The Sudanese people must decide their own future

It is important that anti-imperialist forces in the United States and internationally understand what is at stake in Sudan. The Bush administration as well as other previous American leaders have coveted the oil, agricultural and other mineral wealth of this African country. It is this imperative that drives the propaganda and other acts of military aggression against not only Sudan but many other geo-political regions throughout Africa and the so-called developing world.

The people of Sudan must be allowed to resolve their own internal struggles aimed at forging unity and national development. It should not be up to the United States or the former colonial power of Britain to set the moral tone for what is acceptable in Sudan.

Sudan has a tremendous history of maintaining independence through both political and military efforts. They heroically fought the British during the 19th century before eventually falling under the yoke of colonialism for many decades.

Today the Sudanese people are resisting imperialist efforts to topple their government, seize and exploit the natural resources of the country and to place western military forces in the Darfur region which would serve as buffer zone between French imperialist influence in Chad and an encroaching American and British destabilization campaign in the rest of the country. People who oppose imperialism in all its shapes and forms must support of the Sudanese in their struggle against political domination and economic exploitation.

Somali News Bulletin: Resistance Fighters Take Town; Security Council Wants UN Force Deployed; etc.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the Consultative Council of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File

Somali News Bulletin: Resistance Fighters Seize Town; Security Council Wants UN Forces Deployed; etc.

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Islamic fighters in Somalia seized a major agricultural centre overnight, sending hundreds of people fleeing, a human rights leader said yesterday.The attack underscored the government's vulnerabilities, as UN-sponsored peace talks stalled in neighbouring Djibouti.

Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights group, said the Islamic Courts Union ousted fighters loyal to Somalia's fragile government from Jilib overnight and were patrolling the southern town yesterday.

Two fighters were killed