Almost 60 Royal Mummies Discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings

Egyptian southern city of Luxor under restoration.

Nevine El-Aref, Monday 28 Apr 2014

Swiss archaeological mission finds cache of 18th dynasty royal mummies on Luxor's West Bank

A cache of royal mummies has been unearthed inside a rock-hewn tomb in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's West Bank, Egypt's antiquities ministry announced on Monday.

The tomb contains almost 60 ancient Egyptian royal mummies from the 18th dynasty along with the remains of wooden sarcophagi and cartonnage mummy masks depicting the facial features of the deceased, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Ahram Online.

Ibrahim explained that the excavation work was carried out in collaboration with Basel University in Switzerland.

Early studies reveal that the Heratic texts engraved on some of the clay pots found inside the tomb identify the names and titles of 30 deceased, among them the names of princesses mentioned for the first time – Ta-Im-Wag-Is and Neferonebo.

Anthropological studies and scientific examination of the found clay fragments will be carried out to identify all the mummies and determine the tomb's owner and his respective mummy, said Ali El-Asfar, head of the ministry's ancient Egyptian antiquities section.

The head of the Swiss archaeological mission – Swiss Egyptologist Helena Ballin – said that among the finds were well-preserved mummies of infant children as well as a large collection of funerary objects.

She said that remains of wooden sarcophagi were also unearthed, proving that the tomb was reused by priests as a cemetery.

Early examinations of the tomb reveal that it has been subjected to theft several times since antiquity, said Ballin.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/100031.aspx

Local and Global Outrage at Minya Court's Verdicts In Egypt on Monday 

Egyptian women respond to court death sentences for 683 activists.

Zeinab El-Gundy , Monday 28 Apr 2014
Ahram Online

Mass death sentence of 683 people, the second in a month, draws pointed condemnation both in Egypt and globally

Many Political figures both inside and outside of Egypt condemned of Monday's ruling by a Minya court to sentence 683 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to death.

The defendants were convicted of attacking a police station in Adawa, near the southern city of Minya, and killing a police officer. The Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie was among those convicted.

By Egyptian law, their sentences can't be carried out until they are reviewed by the Grand Mufti. Even then, an appeal by both the prosecution and the defendants' lawyers is expected.

It is the second mass death sentence in about a month – both have set records for being the biggest in Egyptian legal history. In March, the same Minya court sentenced 529 Morsi supporters to death for a separate attack on a police station which also left a police officer dead.

On Monday, the same court ruled on its March verdict after it was reviewed by the Grand Mufti. It upheld the death penalty for 37 of the defendants and lowered the sentence for the remaining 492 to life in prison.

After Monday's first ruling – the mass death sentence for 683 people – Osama Mohamed Morsi, son of the ousted president and also a lawyer, wrote on his Facebook page that he had visited Badie during the trial and found that he remained undeterred by the death sentences.

"If they execute a thousand people," Badie allegedly told Morsi, "I won't turn from the righteous path that we've chosen. Because we're not kidding when we said that dying for the sake of God was our most precious wish. May God accept our sacrifices."

Most of the comments under the Facebook post slammed Egypt's judiciary and some offered support to Badie, whose Brotherhood group was designated a terrorist organisation last December by the interim authorities.

In a statement issued from London, the Brotherhood described the ruling as chilling and said it would "continue to use all peaceful means to end military rule," Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, the Strong Egypt party – founded by former Brotherhood member and 2012 presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh – was one of the first Egyptian political parties to slam the criminal court in Minya and its three verdicts.

In a statement issued after Monday's rulings, the party said that all three verdicts – given "without evidence or eye witnesses or hearings or interrogation" – are meant to "bring down the state."

The party warned that such sentences would make the people lose confidence in judicial authority as well other authorities in the country. It called on Egyptians to find peaceful ways to reject the current regime's attempts to "bring down the state" so that Egypt would be protected from "chaos".

The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party, which parted ways with the Muslim Brotherhood by supporting the ouster of Morsi last July, also denounced the verdict, describing it as "shocking," Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported.

Nour Party leading member Talaat Marzouk said interim President Adly Mansour should adjust the verdict to avoid its negative domestic and international consequences.

Marzouk added that not respecting international treaties and agreements ratified by Egypt would lead the country into "a dark tunnel", in reference to the United Nation's safeguards against imposing the death penalty without clear and convincing evidence.

On the other hand, Nour Party general secretary Galal Morra refused to comment on the judicial verdicts, according to Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Human rights lawyer Hafez Abu Seada slammed the court's verdict, insisting that it would be appealed "because there was no opportunity for the defendants to defend themselves legally," he wrote on Twitter.

According to the defendants' lawyers, the court verdict was issued after only two sessions without the introduction of evidence or allowing the defence to present its case.

The international reaction mirrored that from last month, which also pointedly condemned the mass death sentences.

The United States said that it was "deeply troubled" by the verdict, Reuters reported.

"Today's verdict, like the one last month, defies even the most basic standards of international justice. The Egyptian government has the responsibility to ensure that every citizen is afforded due process, including the right to a fair trial in which evidence is clearly presented, and access to an attorney," the White House said in a statement.

"We urge the Egyptian government to end the use of mass trials, reverse this and previous mass sentences, and ensure that every citizen is afforded due process."

The United Nations also released a statement condemning the verdict, Reuters reported.

"The [UN] Secretary-General is alarmed by the news that another preliminary mass death sentence has been handed down today in Egypt, the first of which was on 24 March," said a statement from the UN press office.

"Verdicts that clearly appear not to meet basic fair trial standards, particularly those which impose the death penalty, are likely to undermine prospects for long-term stability," the UN statement added.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was the first foreign official to comment on the ruling.

"The world must and will react," Bildt tweeted minutes after the news first began to spread online.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said that France was very "worried" about the death sentences on Monday, AFP reported.

He added that France was repeating its calls for the Egyptian authorities to guarantee a fair trial for the defendants, based on an independent investigation that respects the rights of the defendants and adheres to international standards and the Egyptian constitution.

In Turkey, a country at political odds with Egypt over the ouster of Morsi, President Abdullah Gul slammed the court sentences Monday afternoon in a joint press conference with German President Joachim Gauck in the capital Ankara.

"Such decisions are unacceptable in the 21st century. This harms Egypt’s own future. However, Egypt needs peace and economic development," Gul said at the press conference.

"We hope these people will be released" and that a period of free and democratic elections will be reopened in Egypt, he added.

German President Joachim Gauck also criticised the court's verdict at the same conference.

"We cannot understand such a domineering judgment by a temporary government to a society in transition," Gauck said. "Especially in transition periods, a superior jurisdiction system should be established rather than taking revenge."

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/100037.aspx


Egypt court sentences 683 Morsi supporters to death

El-Sayed Gamal El-Deen , Monday 28 Apr 2014

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie among 683 people sentenced to death by a court in Upper Egypt; court commutes 492 of 529 death sentences passed in an earlier trial

A court in Minya has passed death sentences on 683 supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, including leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamist group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie was among the defendants found guilty of attacking Adawa police station and killing a police officer, Mamdouh Kotb Mohamed Kotb, on 14 August 2013 -- following the dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins at Rabaa and Nahda squares.

They were also found guilty of committing violence, rioting, destroying public and private property, attacking police officers, and inciting violence.

The verdicts must be ratified by the grand mufti before they can be carried out.

The court has set 21 June for the final verdict to be passed, after the grand mufti has made his assessment.

The law allows the verdicts to be appealed.

March verdict

The same judge sentenced 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in March causing a public outcry locally and internationally.

On Monday, he confirmed 37 of the death sentences and commuted 492 others to life imprisonment upon the instructions of the grand mufti.

The defendants were accused of killing a police officer and storming Matay police station on 14 August 2013.

Khaled El-Koumi, lawyer for one of the defendants sentenced to death, told Ahram Online that he would appeal against the verdict as soon the court has issued its reasoning within the next 60 days.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/99979.aspx


Egypt's prosecutor-general to appeal 37 death sentences

Ahram Online, Monday 28 Apr 2014

Prosecutor-general cites worries over a lack of justice and law in Monday's verdict, which sentenced 37 to death and 492 others to life in jail

Egypt's prosecutor-general has started routine procedures to arrange an appeal for Monday's verdict upholding the death penalty for 37 people and sentencing 492 others to life in prison, a statement from the prosecutor's office said.

The 529 defendants were initially given a mass death sentence on 24 March, the biggest in Egyptian legal history, before it was reduced for most of them on Monday.

The prosecutor's appeal will include the sentences granted on 24 March, including the acquittal of 17 defendants, and the latest sentences of death and life imprisonment given on Monday.

The appeal is a routine procedure after any final death sentences.

The prosecutor's statement cited its concern for the "the proper administration of justice and application of the correct law" and stressed that it was utilising a routine procedure of appeals for death sentences in Egypt.

The 529 people were accused of attacking a Matay police station in south Egypt and killing a police officer on 14 August 2014, as part of the eruption of nationwide violence following the dispersal of two Cairo sit-ins for ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

They were also accused of destroying public and private property, joining a banned group, rioting and inciting violence.

Monday's verdict was announced after Egypt's Grand Mufti finished reviewing the original 529 death sentences.

The Grand Mufti's view is not binding but must be sought before death sentences are carried out.

Lawyers of the 37 people sentenced to death said they would also appeal the verdicts.

In a separate trial, the same court on Monday sentenced 683 people to death for attacking an Adawa police station and killing an officer, also after the violent dispersals in August.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/100047.aspx

South Africa Now a Better Place, Says Zuma

Republic of South Africa President Jacob Zuma stands for re-election on May 7, 2014.

April 28, 2014

PRETORIA. — South Africa had vastly improved over the past 20 years, building a buoyant economy, deepening democracy and combating crime and corruption, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday. “We have done well on all of these pillars in the past 20 years. We have moved closer to our cherished dream of a united non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa,” he said at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“President Mandela introduced free health care for pregnant women to ensure that South African children are born healthy, as one of the benefits of freedom.

“We are continuing with his legacy by continuing to invest in children.”

President Zuma said government now spent billions of rands on early childhood development centres and subsidising fees for poor households.

Millions of children received meals at school and also social grants from government, said President Zuma.

“More than 11 million orphans and vulnerable children benefit from social grants to ensure that poverty in their homes does not disadvantage them and destroy their future,” said Zuma.

“Our plan is that by 2030, South Africa should have a comprehensive system of social protection that includes social security grants, mandatory retirement savings, risk benefits such as unemployment, death and disability and vulnerable retirement savings.”

He said the matric examination pass rate had been steadily increasing, coupled with “phenomenal expansion” of enrolment of students into institutions of higher learning.

President Zuma was addressing South Africa’s annual Freedom Day celebrations at the Union Buildings.

His arrival was followed by a 20-gun salute and aerial displays by the Silver Falcons of the SA Air Force.

This year’s celebrations are being held under the theme “South Africa — a better place to live in”.

President Zuma also called on South Africans to vote peacefully during the upcoming May 7 national elections.

“The precious right to vote was gained through relentless struggles and sacrifices. On the 7th of May, let us go out in our millions to vote and celebrate our hard won freedom and democracy,” he said at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“Let us vote to consolidate democracy and all the achievements of our young nation. As we did in 1994 and in subsequent elections, let us deliver peaceful, free and fair elections.”

He said the country had made significant strides in alleviating poverty, reducing crime and fostering racial unity, since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

“South Africans have a good story to tell regarding the fight against crime, thanks to hard work by our police service assisted by communities.

“Since 1994, the levels of serious crime and property crime have declined. But we are not complacent. Work continues to build even safer communities,” said Zuma.

His administration was still concerned that crime levels, particularly offences against vulnerable groups such as women and children, were still rampant.

On the education front, Zuma said significant goals had been scored since 1994.

“Government spends R1.3 billion on early childhood development centres, subsidising these centres and also subsidising fees of children from poor households.

“Government pays R15 per day per child from poor households to prepare them for primary education and for the rest of the schooling years.”

Such an investment in education, Zuma said, was aimed at ensuring that children would not be disadvantaged by poverty from accessing education.

The matric examination pass rate had been steadily increasing, coupled with “phenomenal expansion” of enrolment of students into institutions of higher learning.

President Zuma said the fall of apartheid had ushered in a new era, characterised by “hope for a better country” by all South Africans.

— Sapa.

Namibian President Pohamba Hails Pretoria’s Role in Maintaining Global Peace

Republic of Namibia President Hifikepunye Pohamba.

April 28, 2014

PRETORIA. — South Africa is playing a pivotal role in the attainment and maintenance of peace across the world, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba said. “We recognise the leading role that this great country continues to play in the SADC region, continental and the international community,”he said at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“South Africa is making immense contribution to international peace and security, suitable economic development and the creation of fair global trade.”

Pohamba, who is also chair of the Southern Africa Development Community’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, was addressing South Africa’s annual Freedom Day celebrations at the Union Buildings.

He said the regional bloc was confident that Pretoria would preside over fair and credible national elections on May 7. President Jacob Zuma was warmly greeted with ululations and cheering by a jubilant crowd when he arrived at the ceremony earlier.

The president was ushered onto the lawns of the Union Buildings after 10am amidst loud cheers from supporters waving small replicas of the South African flag.

Several giant tents and a stage had been erected, and adorned with balloons. A large public address system was used to address the crowd.

Top government officials including Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Arts Minister Paul Mashatile were present at the event.

Zuma’s arrival was followed by a 20-gun salute and aerial displays by the Silver Falcons of the SA Air Force.

This year’s celebrations are being held under the theme “South Africa -a better place to live in”. — Sapa.

Veteran Zimbabwe Photo Journalist Zvomuya Dies

Veteran Zimbabwe photojournalist Fidelis Zvomuya has died.

April 29, 2014
Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

Award-winning veteran photo journalist, trainer and former Herald chief photographer Fidelis Zvomuya has died. He was 63. Zvomuya died yesterday morning at his farm in Marondera. He is survived by his wife Gladys and eight children. The deceased’s brother Wellington yesterday said Fidelis’ death came as a major blow to the family and they were still trying to come to terms with reality.

“He was my brother, father and mentor,” he said. “He is a great loss to the family as he was a unifier who did not discriminate when helping family members.” Mourners are gathered at Zvomuya’s farm in Marondera and he will be buried in Seke on a date to be announced.

Zimpapers Editor-in-Chief Pikirayi Deketeke, who worked with Zvomuya at The Herald, described him as a rare photo-journalist.

“He was a seasoned photo-journalist who in his career at The Herald managed to capture the rarest pictures, including Nelson Mandela (former South African President) kissing Graca Machel when they came to Zimbabwe in 1996, breaking in picture the story of their relationship.

“His contribution to training of photo-journalists will always be cherished by the profession.”

Zimbabwe Union of Journalists president Michael Chideme said the union was greatly saddened by the death of the seasoned photo-journalist.

“Zvomuya was a cut above the rest,” he said. “Besides an illustrious career in the newsroom, Fidelis invested in the profession that was so dear to his heart. He became a trainer of photo-journalists. Today, newsrooms are full of his products. He travelled a good journey. The profession has lost a mentor, teacher and an inspiration.”

Herald chief photographer Regis Nyandima, who worked with Zvomuya for a long time, said the nation had been robbed of a trainer and photo-journalist par excellence.

Zvomuya joined Zimpapers in the 70’s and rose through the ranks to become The Herald’s first black chief photographer, taking over from Jack White. He held the position until 2003 when he retired on health grounds.


Editors challenge defamation laws

April 29, 2014
Herald Reporter

The Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum has resolved to engage lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of criminal defamation on the basis that it is not in tandem with the new Constitution. Editors who attended a ZINEF meeting yesterday, also said the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act should be struck off or be re-aligned with the new charter.

The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Professor Jonathan Moyo is on record having said criminal defamation laws breached the new Constitution.

Chapter 9:23 of Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act is due to be repealed as it has been found to be contrary to the Constitution.

Prof Moyo said his ministry reviewed the constitutionality of criminal defamation in terms the new Constitution and concluded there was no legal basis for retaining a law that was against progressive values rooted in the liberation struggle.

ZINEF said in a statement that self-regulation was the best practice for the profession. Lawyer Mr David Tandiri, who spoke at the editors’ meeting on criminal defamation, said the affluent in society were using the law to inhibit freedom of expression.

“The law seeks to protect the society’s best man,” he said. “The right to be informed is threatened by the law and public officials should be open to scrutiny,” he said.


Call to revive ZBC-TV

April 29, 2014
Munyaradzi Musiiwa
Midlands Correspondent

Gweru residents have called for the revitalisation of ZBC-TV so that it becomes a broadcaster of choice. Contributing to an Information and Media Panel of Inquiry consultative meeting in Mkoba last week, residents said Zimbabweans were shunning ZBC-TV due to substandard programmes and poor picture and sound quality.

“It is disheartening to learn that people have resorted to international broadcasters because our own broadcaster is failing to cope with the people’s expectations”, said one resident.

“We appeal to Government to save ZBC-TV so that it once again becomes the most popular television station in the country.

“If we are to compare the quality of programmes that we used to watch on ZBC-TV in the 1990s and the ones being aired today, it shows that the standards have dropped. Even the quality of advertisements has also deteriorated. We want our old ZBC-TV back.”

Chinese Army Donates to ZDF

Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine
Chiwenga exchanges grant documents with Chinese
People’s Liberation Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Qi
Jianguo in Harare on April 28, 2014.

April 29, 2014
Herald Reporter

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army yesterday donated US$4.2 million (30 million RMB) to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The donation will fund various army projects. Zimbabwe and China enjoy cordial relations. Commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo handed over the donation to Commander Defence Forces, General Constantine Chiwenga.

Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi thanked the Chinese Army for the donation.

“You saw the CDF and the General signing an agreement where the ZDF was given a grant gratis worthy 30 million RMB.

“We, as the ZDF, appreciate the assistance from the Chinese,” he said.

Minister Sekeramayi said they discussed various areas of cooperation with the Chinese.
“We were able to discuss cooperation between our two countries. Cooperation in the defence sector and the programmes for the future and it went very well,” he said.

“There are other various projects being studied and explored and as soon as we have concretised the various projects in the defence and other sectors, you will be advised.”

The Chinese army delegation first held a meeting with General Chiwenga at Army Headquarters before the signing ceremony at Defence House.
Meanwhile, General Qi has praised President Mugabe for his stance against Western powers bent on destabilising Africa.

He was speaking at a dinner hosted for him by Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga in Harare on Sunday.

“General officers and men of China admire ZDF, especially your Commander-in-Chief President Mugabe who has managed to stand against Western powers’ machinations to destabilise the African continent.

“Your President is one of the few leaders of the likes of Fidel Castrol, Vladimir Putin and others who have stood against Western powers.
“Few leaders have the courage to stand against United States of America and its allies.

“As you are aware on the issue of Crimea in Ukraine, President Putin managed to wrestle with Obama. I once told one USA General that they should not forget history where their attempts at Russia failed,” he said.

ZEC Unveils New Voting System 

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Rita
Makarau and her deputy Mrs Joyce Kazembe arrive for
the voters' registration stakeholders' conference in Harare
April 28, 2014.

April 29, 2014
Fellex Share
Herald Reporter

VOTERS will cast their ballots at a particular polling station within their wards instead of voting at any centre in the same area, while those in the Diaspora will be allowed to register under a new voting system proposed by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau said the proposed polling station-based voter registration system would curb double voting, voting by ineligible people and possible inflation of votes for participating candidates.

The new system means that there will be a localised voting system to be conducted using a polling station-based voters’ roll and a voter will only cast a ballot at the polling station at which his or her name appears on the voters’ roll.

The voter registration system being used now is ward-based and voters could vote at any polling station within their wards.

Apart from those in the Diaspora, prisoners and patients admitted in hospitals would also be registered as voters.

The two-day conference, which ends today, sought to get the input on the proposed processes and modalities from political parties, voter registration experts, civil society, churches, traditional leaders, people with disabilities and local authorities.

The stakeholders welcomed the new system, saying it would add credibility and transparency to the country’s voting system.

Section 239 of the new Constitution mandates ZEC to register voters, compile voters’ rolls and registers and to ensure proper custody and maintenance of the voters’ rolls and registers.

The task used to fall under the office of the Registrar-General of Voters.

Justice Makarau said amendments to Section 22A of the Electoral Act introduced the polling station voter registration system and as such, the electoral body would establish a voter registration department.

“The law has provided that at a later stage we should move from the ward-based voter registration system to the polling station-based system. It is a requirement imposed upon us by the law,” she said.

“The advantage is that a name of a person appears only once at a polling station and for us as managers it is easy because we will only print a person’s name once.

“In the current scenario a person’s name appears at both polling stations in a ward and if they are five your name is appearing five times at the polling stations and for us to manage that it becomes more difficult.”

According to the model, Zec will embark on a massive mapping of voting areas to determine the polling stations for the electorate.

Each polling station will be given a unique code incorporating the polling station number in the ward, ward number, local authority code and district code.

“The process will involve the establishment of the polling station areas that will be done by assigning households/grouping blocks to a particular polling station and giving it a number within a ward structure,” read the model.

“Polling stations within a ward will be arranged alphabetically for easy referencing within the ward structure. It also involves the allocation of unique codes to each polling station and considerations will also be given on distances, population density, infrastructure available in the voting area and community of interest.”

The polling station threshold will be between 500 and 1500 voters while voter population density will be dealt with so that there is a fair distribution of voters at each polling station.

Zec deputy chairperson Mrs Joyce Kazembe said the envisaged model seeks to come up with mechanisms that check if all data is up to date and process any amendments on time.

“It provides mechanism for the public to lodge administrative challenges to errors, omissions and inclusions in the voters roll,” she said.

“It also permits reasonable access to the voters roll by political parties, candidates and anyone else wishing to access the national, constituency or ward voters roll. It will also give clear reasons for rejecting an application for registration and all qualified persons will be registered including such groups like prisoners, those in hospitals and in the diaspora.”

Electoral Commission of Zambia deputy director of elections Mr Brown Kasaro and an independent consultant from Ghana Mr Hubert Akumiah who critiqued the model, described the new system as “good and ideal.”

Said Mr Akumiah: “This is a good system that should be ICT driven and it is in line with internationally accepted principles and practices of voter registration.

“There is need for sustainability. A good model that is not sustainable will eventually breakdown. And sustainability will depend on technical, political and economic factors.”

Added Mr Kasaro: “For it to be effective the mapping of polling stations should first be completed before anything else. People should also be patient with Zec and the Commission should also carry along with it stakeholders in every stage because there is nothing as important as stakeholder engagement.”

Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said he did not have enough information on the proposed model, but it sounded like it was in the right direction.

“It’s effectiveness will only be tested when they start implementing it.”
Mr Tawanda Chimhini from the Election Resource Centre and MDC-T’s Sessel Zvidzai said the model should address the challenges that marred the voter registration exercise ahead of last year’s harmonised election.

“There is a movement in terms of preparing for a comprehensive registration. There is the opening up of the voter registration to various stakeholders that will lead us into credible elections,” Mr Chimhini said.

TUESDAY 29 APRIL 2014

Juba Vows to Promote Stronger Ties With Khartoum

Presidents Bashir and Kiir of the Sudans at security summit on April 27, 2014.

April 28, 2014 (JUBA) - South Sudan government on Monday reiterated its commitment to maintain stronger ties with neighbouring Sudan, saying it would respect the cooperation agreement both countries signed in September 2012.

The new nation, according to its presidential affairs minister, was determined to promote mutual respect for each others’ territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“The president met with the Sudanese president on the sideline of the meeting in Bahr Dar, where he attended a function on peace and security. It was a function about illicit financial flows and the impact of the transfer of these illegally acquired funds, some of which are obtained through illegal means, including corrupt practices," Awan Guol Riak told reporters while briefing them on the purpose of the high-level visit.

Riak and his foreign affairs counterpart, Barnaba Marial Benjamin were among the senior government officials and military officers who accompanied President Salva Kiir to the forum hosted by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.

Former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, recently appointed to head the African Union Commission of inquiry on South Sudan, also attended the forum where presentations were made on security matters affecting the African continent.

GIVE AND TAKE

Marial emphasised the importance of good relations between the two Sudans, saying they both give and take, which was essential for regional development and stability.

“The prevalence of peace and stability between the two countries become the regional peace because the two countries are established islands. If there are good roads which links Khartoum and Juba, the ordinary people will use them to access goods and services. It will facilitate movement of our people and when this happens, when there is a free and secured movement between the two countries, the region is served is in one of way or other," the foreign affairs minister told reporters in the capital, Juba.

"The goods from Khartoum will go to Kampala and there they go to Kigali in Rwanda and Nairobi in Kenya. But there is a security issue, this movement is affected and it becomes a regional concern”, he added.

Minister Marial further said president Kiir had "substantive" discussions with his Sudanese counterpart, Omer al-Bashir, which focused on how to accelerate talks on border security matters, especially the deployment of the joint temporary force.

“It was frank and honest discussions. The president emphasized on the need to accelerate the ongoing bilateral discussions on security matters in the light of current security situation. He [Kiir] made it clear it is important that it is time the two leaders appreciate the importance of the cooperation agreement, especially the security arrangement. And I think that is the key", the minister stressed.

Marial said a formal high-level army-to-army exchange would be helpful because it would reduce the spread of "military rumour" and avoid conflict. He also expressed his government’s commitment to promote healthy relations with neighbouring Sudan.

"As the government of the republic of South Sudan under the president of Salva Kiir Mayardit, we are committed to ensuring that the terms of the cooperation agreement are respected and implemented. We are only committed to ensuring that the two countries work together to strengthen strategic mutual trust," he remarked.

South Sudan’s presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, confirmed that president Kiir and his Sudanese counterpart met on the sidelines of the two-day peace and security forum, but said discussions held were closed-door.

WEAKENING TIES

In recent months, however, analysts and observers claim the stronger ties which initially existed between the two countries were growing weak and far below the level of current relations between Juba and Kampala. There are also concerns regarding the deteriorating ties between Sudan and Chad as well as with Eritrea or Ethiopia.

Military officers from the two Sudans have often traded accusations over territorial disputes, sparking tensions along the undemarcated borders in recent weeks with Juba accusing Khartoum of allegedly training and hosting within its territory rebel fighters loyal to its former vice president, Riek Machar.

Sudanese government and military officials have, however, dismissed Juba’s claims.

(ST)

 MONDAY 28 APRIL 2014

Defecting Generals From W. Bahr el Ghazal’s Wau Town Speak Out

South Sudan former detainees connected with Dec. 15, 2013 incident.

April 27, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – Senior army officers who mutinied on Saturday in Western Bahr el Ghazal state capital Wau said their defection to opposition forces led by former vice-president, Riek Machar came after they were targeted based on their ethnicity in the aftermath of an alleged massacre in which 192 unarmed Nuer trainee soldiers were killed in Mapel, east of Wau town.

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Sunday, Brigadier General Gatwech Gach Makuach, one of the generals who defected, said government forces had attacked residents in Wau following the Mapel incident, prompting them to defend themselves, after which they marched out of town.

“We thought we were part of the army and the system fighting against the rebels. Some of the Nuer senior officers taken from Wau recently came back wounded as they fought for the government in Unity state, Upper Nile and Jonglei states. Yet our colleagues from the Dinka tribe wanted to kill us too,” Makuach told Sudan Tribune by phone from near Wau town.

“We didn’t want to cause harm to the civil population or destruction to their properties, so we had to march out,” he added.

He also condemned what he said was the massacre of unarmed Nuer soldiers at a Mapel training camp, describing the incident as premeditated mass murder based on ethnicity.

“The government lied that it was an internal mutiny within the army in Mapel. This is not true,” said the senior officer.

“Brig General Baak (a Dinka) separated the Dinka trainees and took them away from the training centre, and the next day hundreds of armed Dinka came back and attacked the training centre, shooting at everybody, including women and children who were families of the trainees,” he further explained.

According to Makuach, the incident occurred as the attackers beat to death an unarmed Nuer soldier found in the market near the training centre after which the “assailants quickly moved to the camp shouting at Nuer [tribesmen] and started shooting indiscriminately”.

“They only exchanged gunfire with [a] few bodyguards of Brig Gen. James Ochan Puot, who himself was on leave in Wau town. The few bodyguards were overwhelmed as the rest of the trainees had no guns,” he added.

Makuach said he and other five brigadier generals, including Puot, the officer previously in charge of the training centre, had defected with a sizeable number of troops and are in the proximity of Wau town.

Fighting erupted in South Sudan in mid-December last year when president Salva Kiir, who hails from the Dinka tribe, allegedly ordered the disarmament of soldiers from the Nuer ethnic group, sparking clashes among the presidential guards in the capital, Juba.

Kiir accused Machar, a Nuer, of allegedly plotting a military coup to remove him from power.

Machar dismissed the claims, saying the president fabricated the matter in order to get rid of his political opponents amid heated debate at the time over the future direction of the ruling party (SPLM).

Kiir’s newly recruited, armed loyalists, believed to have come from his home region of Bahr el Ghazal, were largely blamed for allegedly carrying out targeted killings of Nuer civilians in Juba in the days following the clashes.

Nuer generals began to defect in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states in response to alleged ethnic-based killings in the capital. However, several Nuer generals and troops have remained loyal to president Kiir and are in charge of military units in the South Sudanese army (SPLA), which is fighting against rebels.

(ST)

MONDAY 28 APRIL 2014

Lakes State Governor Rallies South SudanYouths to Join Military

South Sudan youth in Lakes state during military recruitment drive on April 27, 2014.

April 27, 14 (AWERIAL) – The governor of South Sudan’s Lakes state has urged local youths to join the military in order to protect the country from instability.

Matur Chut Dhuol made the remarks on Sunday while speaking to hundreds of youths who had gathered at the Awerial county headquarters in Mingkaman following a visit to internally displaced people and local residents.

Mingkaman currently hosts over 100,000 displaced people who fled intense fighting in Jonglei state, which borders Lakes state to the east.

“You must have known that we are under critical time, the country needs you, youth, for protection. Come and you will be taken to where our enemy enters,” Dhuol said.

“What we are doing today is eye for eye, you pinch me, I pinch you too, no forgiveness. If someone pin you time and again and you don’t do the same, you are creating a point of weakness to yourself. That was why Moses (in the Bible) introduced these rules to govern his people,” added the caretaker governor.

He encouraged youths to provide the manpower needed to end rebellion in the country, stressing that the South Sudanese government was fully prepared militarily to end the ongoing conflict.

The governor’s appeal comes months after the government announced it had embarked on mass recruitment of youth from 18 years onwards to join it army. Since then, more than 20,000 young men have reportedly been recruited and were undergoing training prior to their deployment.

Violence erupted in South Sudan in the capital, Juba, in mid-December before spreading to other key areas across the country. The fighting has pitted forces loyal to president Salva Kiir against rebels fighters aligned with his former deputy, Riek Machar.

The United Nations says over a million people have been displaced by the more than four-month-old conflict, while thousands have fled to neighbouring countries.

(ST)

TUESDAY 29 APRIL 2014

South Sudan President Warns Against Imported Solutions for African Problems

Republic of South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

April 28, 2014 (JUBA) - South Sudan president Salva Kiir, has said Africa should not look to elsewhere to solve African problems; warning that otherwise the continent will end up with solutions imposed on it.

"African problems are African problems and they should get solutions from African leaders. The problem is that some of us think solutions to our problems would come from somewhere else. This thinking must change otherwise we will have solutions which do not address our problems imposed on us”, president Salva Kiir said on Sunday.

Kiir made the remark in a speech broadcast by the state owned South Sudan television on Sunday, which showed him addressing a forum on peace and security held outside the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The function was attended by other regional leaders, including the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and the Ethiopian prime minister. Other important political figures on the African continent that attended the forum and made presentations on security matters included the former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The former Nigeria’s head of state is the current African Union’s appointed head of commission of inquiry on human right violations, allegedly committed during the fighting which erupted in South Sudan when the initially viewed as an internal rift within the leadership of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) slipped out and escalated into a military conflict.

This is the second time president Kiir appears opposed to solutions to African problems coming outside the continent. In 2013 he expressed his dissatisfaction with the involvement of the International Criminal Court in African affairs, describing the latter a tool to target African leaders.

Kiir said at the time his leadership would not support the taking of the current Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta to answer charges brought against him and his deputy, William Ruto, at the headquarters of the international criminal courts at The Hague.

It remains unclear why Kiir appears critical of the involvement of the outside world in Africa’s affairs. Some analysts interpreted his statements as reflecting frustrations with the failure by the western government to accept claims of his administration that there was a coup in the country.

However, the African Union has also not agreed that the fighting that triggered the conflict in South Sudan was a coup attempt.

Over one million people have been displaced and thousands killed in fighting between those loyal to president Kiir and those who have broken away from the ruling party and armed forces.

(ST)

MONDAY 28 APRIL 2014

US Demands Stoppage of South Sudan Military Offensive

SPLA soldiers have been warned to end their offensive by US imperialism.

April 27, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan admitted on Sunday that the United States had demanded it immediately halt a military offensive against armed opposition groups and accelerate talks to end the ongoing conflict.

Foreign affairs minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said president Salva Kiir received a telephone call from the US secretary of state John Kerry, who expressed grave concern about ongoing conflict in the country, with calls for both parties to fully respect the cessation of hostilities agreement signed on 23 January.

“Secretary Kerry called the president to welcome the decision of the government to release the four former detainees. He also recognised and appreciated the efforts of the government to end the conflict through peaceful dialogue and asked the both the parties to discourage military offensives and to adhere to the Cessation of Hostilities agreement,” Benjamin told Sudan Tribune on Sunday.

The minister said both Kerry and Kiir expressed their support for the IGAD-led peace process, as well as the important role played by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and denounced recent attacks on their bases and personnel.

US state department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Kerry had spoken with Kiir, expressing grave concern about the ongoing conflict in the new nation, including recent violence in Bentiu and Bor, as well as the “deliberate” targeting of civilians by armed groups on both sides of the conflict.

“Secretary Kerry welcomed the Government of South Sudan’s decision to release the four senior political officials who had been in detention since December,” Psaki said in a statement issued on Saturday.

“He urged president Kiir to stop military offensives and to adhere to the cessation of hostilities agreement, and noted US demands that anti-government forces do the same,” it added.

Kerry has also urged Kiir to ensure full and unfettered access throughout South Sudan for UNMISS, the African Union Commission of Inquiry and the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, tasked with overseeing ceasefire arrangements.

The UN said said last month that South Sudanese authorities had restricted its movements, contrary to the status of forces agreement (SOFA) signed by both parties.

In an earlier statement, the world body said it had become difficult to implement its mandate and that a dangerous working environment existed for its staff in the country.

(ST)

Moammar Gadhafi’s Son and Others Attend Show Trial in Libya by Video

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, the heir apparent to the modern Libyan state, remains
detained by the US-backed counterrevolutionaries.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libya's late former Pan-Africanist leader Moammar Gadhafi, appeared Sunday by video conferencing for his trial in Libya's capital, Tripoli.

By: Esam Mohamed The Associated Press
Published on Sun Apr 27 2014

TRIPOLI, LIBYA—The son of the late former Revolutionary Pan-Africanist leader Moammar Gadhafi and others appeared Sunday by video conferencing for a trial in the capital, Tripoli, Libya’s official news agency said.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi appeared at the second session of his trial via a video screen from the city of Zintan, where he has been held by a militia since November 2011. When the judge asked him if he had a lawyer, al-Islam responded that he did not, saying, “I have God.” Meanwhile, former spy chief Abdullah al-Senoussi asked to be defended by a lawyer from outside Libya.

Eight other defendants also appeared by video link from the city of Misurata. It is unclear why the government has been unable to transfer the detainees not present to the capital to attend the trial.

The last prime minister under Gadhafi, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, was also tried Sunday.

The 37 defendants face a variety of charges mainly relating to the killing of imperialist-backed rebels during the 2011 CIA-Pentagon-NATO war of regime-change that led to Gadhafi’s ouster and brutal assassination.

Charges include recruiting mercenaries, who were given Libyan nationality, planning and carrying out attacks on civilian targets from the air, forming armed groups, and shooting into crowds of demonstrators, among others.

Al-Senoussi is accused of using poisonous gas in the city of Brega, bombing a gas station, and a number of defendants are charged with cutting off the water supply to several Western cities.

Journalists were prevented from entering the courtroom but watched the proceedings on a screen in a room next door. Women who attended were required to wear head scarves.
The session was adjourned to May 11.

Bomb Blast Kills 20 in Iraq's Diyala

Iraq bomb blast on Dec. 25, 2013.

English.news.cn  
2014-04-29 03:01:01

BAQUBA, Iraq, April 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed and some 30 others wounded in Iraq's Diyala province on Monday when a suicide bomb attacked the Kurdish civilians celebrating sick Iraqi President Jalal Talabani casting his vote, a provincial police source said.

The attack occurred in the city of Khanaqin, some 165 km northeast of the capital Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a group of Kurdish people who gathered in front of the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party led by Talabani. The death toll could rise.

The Kurdish people were celebrating while watching a video showing the Kurdish Iraqi president, who has been in Germany recovering from a stroke since the end of 2012, was casting his vote in early polls of Wednesday's nationwide parliamentary election.

It's the second day of a two-day voting for Iraqi expatriates in 19 countries in the Middle East, Europe and North America to cast their ballots for a new parliament.

The ethnically mixed city of Khanaqin is part of the areas in dispute between the Kurds, who want to annex it to their autonomous region, and the authorities in Baghdad.

More than 9,000 candidates from nearly 280 political entities are vying for Iraq's 328 parliamentary seats in Wednesday's general election, the first since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country at the end of 2011.

Three Aid Workers Killed in Central African Republic

Central African Republic interim President Catherine Sama-Panza.

The Associated Press
BANGUI, Central African Republic

A spokesman for the global aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres says three of its workers have been killed in Central African Republic.

Press officer Tim Shenk said Sunday that the colleagues had been killed Saturday in Nanga Boguila. The town is in the northwestern part of the country, near the border with Chad.

Shenk says the aid group, also known as Doctors Without Borders, will release more details Monday.

Central African Republic has been ripped apart by months of unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims. The United Nations has described the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Muslims as "ethnic cleansing."


Central African Republic clash left seven dead: UN

French soldiers were on patrol in Bangui when they were shot at on Thursday

April 27, 2014
Gulf News

Bangui: Clashes between French peacekeepers deployed in the restive Central African Republic and unidentified gunmen earlier this week have left seven people dead, the UN mission in the country said Saturday.

The French soldiers were on patrol in the capital’s mainly Muslim PK5 district when they were shot at late Thursday, triggering a riposte, an official in the African peacekeeping force MISCA had said earlier.

The UN mission did not say whether anybody was wounded in the shooting but added that three houses were nearly completely destroyed in the incident.

The district’s Muslim population is “very angry with the French” after their riposte, which included helicopter support, it added.

The French army was not immediately available for comment.

A source close to the French forces had on Friday confirmed the incident but did not give a death or injury toll.

However the spokesman for the Muslim community in PK5, Abakar Moustapha, said five residents had been killed and several other people wounded.

“French soldiers were searching a house suspected to be an arms cache in the Cameroonian district (of the PK5) when they were attacked by angry youths because the Senegalese owner of the house is not in Bangui,” he said.

A spokesman for the Central African Red Cross said three people with gunshot wounds were taken to a PK5 hospital overnight Thursday.

1,200 Muslims Leave Central African Republic Capital

Muslims fleeing attacks in the Central African Republic.

AP Krista Larson  9:41 AM ET    

(BANGUI, Central African Republic) — Heavily armed African and French peacekeepers escorted some of the last remaining Muslims out of Central African Republic’s volatile capital on Sunday, trucking more than 1,200 people who for months had been trapped in their neighborhood by violent Christian militants.

Within minutes of the convoy’s departure, an angry swarm of neighbors descended upon the mosque in a scene of total anarchy. Tools in hand, they swiftly dismantled and stole the loudspeaker once used for the call to prayer and soon stripped the house of worship of even its ceiling fan blades.

One man quickly scrawled “Youth Center” in black marker across the front of the mosque. Others mockingly swept the dirt from the ground in front of the building with brooms and shouted “We have cleaned Central African Republic of the Muslims!”

Armed Congolese peacekeepers stood watch but did not fire into the air or attempt to stop the looting.

Sunday’s exodus of the Muslims from the PK12 neighborhood on the northern side of Bangui further enforces a partitioning of the country that has been under way since January, when a Muslim rebel government gave up power nearly a year after overthrowing the president of a decade.

The United Nations has described the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Muslims as “ethnic cleansing.” The crisis has prompted fears of genocide since it intensified in December when Christian militants stormed the capital. They soon began attacking Muslim civilians accused of having collaborated with the much despised rebel government.

Earlier this year, mob killings and mutilation of bodies took place on a near-daily basis in Bangui. Tens of thousands of Muslims were escorted to safety in neighboring Chad, though earlier convoys were fraught with violence. Militants lined the streets and attacked departing trucks, at one point beating a man to death after he fell from his vehicle.

Central African Republic's Seleka Rebels Call for Secession Amid Sectarian War

Muslims being evacuated from the Central African Republic.

Muslims fleeing Christian mobs say new state needed as UN warns of 'ethnic-religious cleansing' but analysts dismiss idea

David Smith, Africa correspondent
theguardian.com, Friday 25 April 2014 13.25 EDT

Rebels in the Central African Republic are calling for the establishment of a new country as a radical solution to the worsening sectarian conflict.

The name – the Republic of Northern Central Africa – and a design for a national flag, are circulating by mobile phone in the dusty town of Bambari, which divides the CAR's largely Christian south from a northern region now controlled by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels, according to Reuters. But the United Nations, the African Union, the former colonial power, France, and many analysts insist that this is neither likely nor desirable.

The call for partition echoes numerous secessionist movements across Africa, where arbitrary borders drawn by colonial mapmakers disregarded and cut across ethnic boundaries. South Sudan, the CAR's neighbour, gained independence from Sudan in 2011 – but is now embroiled in a civil war of its own.

Bambari has become a sanctuary for Muslims fleeing lynch mobs in the south; a convoy of French peacekeepers escorted 100 Muslims there last Monday from the capital, Bangui.

Such evacuations, which are continuing, are tantamount to accepting partition, the minister for reconciliation and communications, Antoinette Montaigne has conceded.

Abdel Nasser Mahamat Youssouf, member of a youth group in Bambari lobbying for the secession of the north, was quoted as saying: "The partition itself has already been done. Now there only remains the declaration of independence."

A colleague, Oumar Tidiane, said of the south: "They don't want any Muslims. Rather than calling their country the Central African Republic, they can call it the Central African Catholic Republic."

Militias known as the "anti-balaka" have driven tens of thousands of Muslims from the south, destroying mosques and virtually wiping out the Muslim population of Bangui. The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has said the country faces "massive ethnic-religious cleansing", while Amnesty International has warned of a "Muslim exodus of historic proportions".

But there is no simple split. Before the crisis it was estimated that half the CAR's population was Christian and just 15% Muslim. David Smith, a director of Okapi Consulting, who spent several years in the country, said: "The number of Muslims in the CAR was small and now it is dramatically smaller. The number calling for secession is so small that it's hardly worth listening to them.

"There are some people who want to compare it with Sudan and South Sudan but that is completely off the mark.

"There are lot of independence movements all over this continent and most have more steam behind them than a group of young men in the CAR. It's coming predominantly from Chadians and Sudanese who want to have free rein in the region," he added.

Indeed, an independent north would play into the hands of neighbouring Chad and Sudan, whose mercenaries played a major part in a coup in March last year, sparking a backlash along religious lines that forced the Seleka to cede power in January. This is just one reason why partition is implacably opposed by the CAR's interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, has also warned of its dangers and the French president, François Hollande, has vowed to prevent it.

It is also unlikely to win much sympathy in the rest of Africa, where governments are resisting separatist movements everywhere from Angola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from Nigeria to Kenya, from Somalia to Zimbabwe. At independence half a century ago, the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) declared the borders immutable to prevent wars erupting.

It made a special case for South Sudan but is hardly like to do the same for the CAR. Koffi Kouakou, a foreign-policy expert at Wits University in Johannesburg, said: "The partition of the CAR is not likely to happen and is not desirable at political and economic levels.

"The social evidence on the ground shows that while the strife of ethnic cleansing is increasingly becoming a grave concern in many parts of Africa, mainly in central Africa, the partition of the CAR is a mirage at this stage.

"The international community will not allow it as a matter of course. A divided CAR is not feasible on international jurisdiction and on paper."

Kouakou added: "There may be an urgent need for a solution to isolate the warring populations for a while to help subside the violence. But it will not be in the interest of all parties to seek a secession of the mainly Muslim north away from the Catholic south.

"The partition of Sudan, a bordering country, is the evidence that the partition of a country is in fact not the solution to deep ethnic rivalries in Africa."

Smith said: "It's undesirable because the CAR as it stands is not a functioning state and has never been a functioning state. Cutting the CAR – which was the weakest part of French Equatorial Africa – in half will mean one half has virtually no infrastructure of any kind. If you don't have Bangui, you don't really have anything."

"It serves nobody's interest to create another basket-case state that requires aid from the international community."

Not all Muslims favour the move either. Ibrahim Alawad, one of a small band clinging to their homes in Bangui, said on Friday: "It cannot be just like that. You grow up in one country and you live in one place. We want to know what is in the minds of our fellow Christians.

"I don't want to see the country divided. Why not dialogue?"

Somalia Names Acting Central Bank Chief as Governor

Bank Governor of Somalia Bashir Issa Ali.

Fri, Apr 25 2014

* Central bank dogged by graft allegations
* Somali PM says "trustworthy" central bank is vital

By Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU, April 25 (Reuters) - Somalia's acting central bank governor Bashir Issa Ali has been confirmed in the role, the country's prime minister said on Friday, tasking Ali with turning around an institution at the heart of graft allegations against the government.

Western donors who are funding Somalia's recovery after 23 years of conflict, including a seven-year Islamist insurgency, say fixing the bank is a core condition for receiving aid.

Two governors had left their posts in quick succession last year amid graft claims.

The first governor was accused by U.N. investigators of corruption, which he denied. The second quit and fled Somalia, telling diplomats that top government officials had put pressure on her to sign shady deals.

"The Central Bank is essential to managing government revenue in a transparent manner, and I expect the government's plan to create trustworthy and effective economic institutions will boost Somalia's efforts to regain its status," Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said in a statement.

Maryam Abdullahi Yusuf has been appointed Ali's deputy.

Ali, a veteran banker who held a top job in Somalia's commercial banking sector before the 1991 civil war and was central bank governor under an earlier transitional government, was asked to take up the post on an interim basis in November.

Widely seen as a safe pair of hands, Ali's appointment came at a low point in relations between Somalia's president and Western donors concerned about graft within his inner circle. (Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Somaliland Declares War on Somali Unionists in the North

Map of a fractured Somalia in the Horn of Africa.

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Warsame in English
Mareeg.com
OPINION

Personally I am not surprised at the bellicose behavior of the current leaders of Somaliland, a secessionist enclave ruled..

and controlled by former members of one of the rebel movements that destroyed Somalia by using divisive clan sentiments. Some worked as intelligence officers until the last day of the meltdown but managed to fool the Somaliland public by portraying themselves born-again defenders of Somaliland statehood.

The leaders of this xenophobic enclave have brainwashed their youth to shun their Somali heritage and hate Somalis outside their enclave. Some of these leaders have publicly claimed as being closer to Ethiopians than to other Somalis with which they share a common language, religion, culture and eve n looks. One of their eldest leaders declared on more than occasion that the unionist clans in former British Somaliland have no choice but to either join them as second-class citizens or vacate the land and move South with the other Somalis, “Dhulku ma guure, Dadkaa Guura”.  Another Nazi-sounding leader called publicly for the ethnic cleansing of unionist clans that are opposed to the dismemberment of Somalia.

Given this dark history, the recent press-release by the Foreign Minister of Somaliland comes as no surprise. He threatened to disrupt any conferences held by unionist clans and declared the intent of the Somaliland Administration to seal-off and harden the long defunct colonial borders between former British and Italian Somaliland.

These borders were administrative in nature and never stood for independent states inhabited by different ethnic groups as was the case in most African countries. Somali nomads never recognized these borders and freely grazed their livestock where the grass was greener on both sides of the imaginary border. Before the British arrived, the whole of Somalia could have been characterized as one state inhabited by the same ethnic group, the Somali. The freedom fighter, Sayid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan, had forts on both sides of the border and used them to stage his numerous battles against the colonial armies. For example, the Taleh Fort was in British  Somaliland and the Daawad Fort was in Italian Somaliland.

The Foreign Minister, a former UN employee and with a Canadian passport, was emboldened by several illegal actions taken by Somaliland without any response from the International Community or the Federal Government of Somalia:

1. Somaliland got away with the invasion and occupation of Las Anod, the capital of the Sool, Eastern Sanaag and Ayn regions, SSC, where the residents are staunch supporters of Somali Unity and Integrity. It used millions of dollars received as development aid to  woo some of the clans in the area to support their expansionist and secessionist agenda.  International donors may have inadvertently bankrolled these expansionist and dangerous actions.

2. It also got away with causing the death of hundreds of innocent civilians after its failed attempt to invade and occupy the town of Buhodle in the Ayn Region where the inhabitants are again staunch supporters of Somali Unity and Integrity. This time however, they withdrew after tasting the first credible resistance by determined unionists who although outnumbered and out-gunned put on a strong fight.

3. It also got away with the invasion and occupation of Hudun, a town near an area known to the world as Block 19 which is rich in minerals and oil deposits. The only exploratory well drilled in Somalia by Conoco and gave promising results is located in this area. It even signed illegal deals with small oil companies in return for millions of dollars that will undoubtedly fund other expansionist policies.

4. Its latest expansionist policy took it to Taleh, the provisional capital of Khatumo State which was created to unite all the SSC regions to resist the expansionist and exploitative policies of Somaliland, and to shake-off the unfair designation as disputed territories shunned by aid agencies. This resulted in these regions becoming the least developed in Somalia when it comes to health, education, social and economic matters.

As a Canadian Citizen and a former UN employee, the Somaliland Foreign Minister  was expected to uphold international law and support democratic principles. Instead of advising his administration against its illegal expansionist policies, he has sadly  become a mouthpiece for such ill-fated policies that are doomed to fail because of their unjust nature.  If Somalia were to disintegrate into clan-based enclaves, then each clan has the right to form its own enclave or voluntarily join enclaves of its choice. Clan-based enclaves can only lead to chaos and regional instability. Even if the matter were to be resolved through internationally monitored referendum, the scope of such a referendum would be a matter open to dispute.

The ultimate goal of Somaliland is to control by force all the territories of the former British Protectorate that became independent in 1960 and immediately united with Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic. However, it ignores the fact that unlike all the other regions in former British Somaliland, the SSC regions are known for their refusal to sign any protectorate agreements with the British. They opted instead for resisting foreign occupation which technically puts them outside the territories being claimed by Somaliland on the basis of a common colonial heritage that gives them the right to claim these regions as being part of their clan-based enclave.

When Hassan Sheikh was elected as the President of Somalia, he swore on the Quran to defend Somalia, its  people and its religion. It seems that the country he swore to defend is former Italian Somaliland, and the people he swore to defend are the inhabitants of former Italian Somaliland. He has repeatedly failed to denounce the expansionist policies of Somaliland even though such expansion threatens the unity and integrity of the country he swore to defend.

Since the Somali government has failed  to protect its people in the SSC regions, we appeal to the world community to come out strongly against the unwarranted aggression of Somaliland against the peace-loving and unity-loving inhabitants of  these regions which are in the process of holding their third Conference in Taleh to create a credible Federal Administration that will cater to the security and development needs of its people.

We hope that the International community will dissuade Somaliland from acting upon the words of its Foreign Minister who threatened to disrupt the conference by using military force. Such action can only thwart the efforts of the International Community to pacify Somalia and extricate it from its failed state status.

Any military operations in the area can easily expand into a prolonged struggle that may involve other clans. Any insecurity may also invite the forces of darkness that already operate in the South. It is in the interest of the International community to preserve peace and stability in this strategic area that can play an important role in rebuilding the Somali State.

Ali H Abdulla

Email: aliegeh@gmail.com

Somalia: Forces Take Over Oil-Rich Area in Sool Region

Fractured Somalia showing Puntland and Somaliland in the Horn of Africa.

25 APRIL 2014

Garowe — Somaliland's separatist administration on Friday deployed hundreds of its soldiers in the disputed region of Sool amidst looming threats of instability in northern Somalia, Garowe Online reports.

Speaking on Puntland-based independent station, Radio Garowe a local reporter who asked to remain anonymous said that heavily armed Somaliland troops arrived in Holhol village, with units within the forces seizing strategic oil-rich targets.

"Soldiers in fighting vehicles captured Holhol, the armed men were in military fatigues decorated with Somaliland army and they immediately stood guard at oil rich vicinities in the outskirts of the village," he noted.

According to independent sources, Somaliland is planning to dismantle a forthcoming clan convention in Sool regional district of Taleh which lies less than 100 km from Puntland capital of Garowe.

Despite surprise withdrawal from the historic town of Taleh by Somaliland forces on April 17, the sources further disclosed that local clan militias who come from the same clan as the self-declared administration of Khaatumo leaders are coordinating the offensives with Somaliland government forces.

Among the key organizers of Khaatumo conference is Federal Member of Parliament Ali Khalif Galaydh. Galaydh and his entourage last week arrived to warm welcome in Taleh.

In Septemper 2013, Anglo-Turkish Oil Exploration Company, Genel Energy withdrew its expatriates from Somaliland due to political pressure with the possibility that Federal Government of Somalia threatened license revokation, Somaliland officials initially disclosed.

A spokesman for the company told that security issues forced them to vacate the oil exploration fields in the separatist region.

Somaliland government awarded an exploration license for onshore blocks SL-10-B and SL-13 with a 75% working interest in August 2012 but Garowe Online has learned that Somaliland renewed the previous license by signing Oodweyne Production Sharing Agreement which covers blocks SL-6, SL-7 and SL-10-A in November 2012 with Genel Energy Company.

On August 6, Somali Federal Government signed an oil and gas exploration deal with newly established UK-based Company Soma Oil and Gas, but according to the agreement, Soma Oil and Gas would carry out seismic surveys in territorial waters while the onshore regions are likely to witness limited operations.

UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea warned in 2013 confidential report that Western commercial oil exploration may spark new conflict in Somalia: "These inconsistencies, unless resolved, may lead to increased political conflict between federal and regional governments that risk exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security," the UN report noted.

Somaliland's neighbor to east, Puntland warmed of "consequences" in Somaliland's pursuit of oil exploration in Sool and Sanaag regions.

"Somaliland is creating conflict in the region. Somaliland cannot give land to foreign companies to explore oil when the land does not belong to Somaliland," former Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said while he was delivering a keynote address at Puntland State House in Garowe on 1 August, a date on which Puntland people celebrated 15 years of statehood.

The newly elected Puntland leader Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas pledged the restoration of Sool regional capital of Lasanod back in the hands of native residents at the height Puntland elections campaign.

Puntland and Somaliland have fought sporadic battles since 2002 over the control of territories mainly in Sool region.

Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia unilaterally declared its independence from the rest of the country as a de facto sovereign state in 1991 but it hasn't been recognized internationally yet.