Hirondelle News Agency
23 May 2008
The Court of Appeal of Toulouse deferred Thursday to 9 September the examination of extradition request of Rwanda for a former Rwandan soldier, Marcel Bivugabagabo, wanted for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide, reports Hirondelle Agency.
The French legal authorities requested from Rwandan counterparts to forward them constitutional and legislative documents on the legality of the offences and the sentences, the non-retroactivity of criminal law and to indicate to them the various acts having stopped the statutory limitations of prosecution against Mr. Bivugabagabo. The defendant is currently in custody in France.
The defendant was arrested at the beginning of January in Toulouse by virtue of an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda.
Marcel Bivugabagabo, 53, is on the list of the 93 people most wanted by Rwanda for their alleged participation in the genocide.
24 May, 2008
Morocco "winning Sahara propaganda war."
Afrol News
23 May 2008
International media are increasingly siding with the 1975 Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, despite human rights violations that has left thousands Sahrawi population destitute in Algerian refugee camps. Pro-Sahrawi pressure groups demonstrate how Morocco slowly is winning the propaganda war.
Sahara activists, publishing news and analysis on the 'Western Sahara Info' blog, have tried to analyse why their part of the conflict seemingly is getting less attention in global media. In an analysis, they point to the "propaganda war" that has been going on between Moroccan authorities and the exiled government of Western Sahara, organised around the independence fighters Polisario Front.
Currently, reporting on the Western Sahara conflict is more and more based on Moroccan government propaganda, which links the Sahrawi government to terrorism, the activists note. Moroccan pressure groups had managed to plant rumours in Washington, indirectly linking the Sahrawi government to al Qaeda despite total absence of Islamic extremism among the Sahrawi population, they add.
"It should be noted that the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States," the article read.
Three main sources of propaganda material are mentioned. These include materials from the Moroccan-America Centre for Policy (MACP) – a pressure group based in the US and financed by the Rabat regime - Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP), which is a Moroccan press agency controlled by persons close to the royal family; and finally Sahara Press service (SPS), a news agency controlled by Polisario and based in the Algerian refugee camps. Lately, MACP and MAP materials are widely quoted in the international press, while SPS materials are rarely used.
"Now, I am not saying the SPS is a much more reliable source than MAP or MACP. All three are propaganda outfits, spewing out press statements and communiqués in the hope of being picked up by some reputable broadcaster or furthered as an Internet newsblast," the analyst at 'Western Sahara Info' holds.
He further holds that journalism on Western Sahara often is based on picking press statement that fill up the foreign news section without balancing the information. In particular MACP markets its communiqués professionally, paying large amounts to have them distributed to journalists around the world through PR companies such as PRNewswire.
As an example, the renowned news agency Associated Press (AP) published an article a story of a man allegedly terrorised by Polisario, who flee the refugee camps. The man, who was sponsored by Moroccan authorities to go to the US, said there was no hope for Western Sahara under Polisario. In other stories, Sahrawis recounted their miseries about what happened if they were caught by Polisario trying to escape the refugees camps. Morocco for decades has tried to present the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria as concentration camps, where Polisario is holding the population detained, preventing them from leaving.
According to the analysis, the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, "spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States" ensuring that wealthy states turn their back on Western Sahara.
In January this year, also this media was manipulated by an MACP release distributed through PRNewswirer. afrol News soon thereafter apologised for having published an article about the Western Sahara conflict that was based on propaganda material planted by the Moroccan government, which linked the Sahrawi people to terrorism acts.
"Looking at how other mainstream media treat the Sahara issue, maybe we had no reason to apologise in January, but we were of course hurt in our pride having fallen victim for Moroccan propaganda for the first time,” comments afrol News chief editor Rainer Chr Hennig. "It is a petty that it is close to impossible to find non-propaganda sources to this conflict," he added, "and both sides are seriously lacking credibility in their statements and information."
Journalist Tsepiso Mncina, now covering the region for this media, notes that "efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict would be futile if the media continue to pay their attention on one side of the story." However, she adds, "reporting on Western Sahara requires knowledge and understanding of the region to maintain objectivity while at the same time giving out information."
Meanwhile, the 'Western Sahara Info' analysis has already triggered a wealth of comments by bloggers. Some hold that Spain – the ex-colonial power - is an exception, as media here remain well-informed about who is who in the conflict. Others blame Algeria for not aiding the Sahrawis sufficiently with funds and propaganda incentives. Algeria, contrary to Morocco, spends no significant resources on international propaganda.
23 May 2008
International media are increasingly siding with the 1975 Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, despite human rights violations that has left thousands Sahrawi population destitute in Algerian refugee camps. Pro-Sahrawi pressure groups demonstrate how Morocco slowly is winning the propaganda war.
Sahara activists, publishing news and analysis on the 'Western Sahara Info' blog, have tried to analyse why their part of the conflict seemingly is getting less attention in global media. In an analysis, they point to the "propaganda war" that has been going on between Moroccan authorities and the exiled government of Western Sahara, organised around the independence fighters Polisario Front.
Currently, reporting on the Western Sahara conflict is more and more based on Moroccan government propaganda, which links the Sahrawi government to terrorism, the activists note. Moroccan pressure groups had managed to plant rumours in Washington, indirectly linking the Sahrawi government to al Qaeda despite total absence of Islamic extremism among the Sahrawi population, they add.
"It should be noted that the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States," the article read.
Three main sources of propaganda material are mentioned. These include materials from the Moroccan-America Centre for Policy (MACP) – a pressure group based in the US and financed by the Rabat regime - Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP), which is a Moroccan press agency controlled by persons close to the royal family; and finally Sahara Press service (SPS), a news agency controlled by Polisario and based in the Algerian refugee camps. Lately, MACP and MAP materials are widely quoted in the international press, while SPS materials are rarely used.
"Now, I am not saying the SPS is a much more reliable source than MAP or MACP. All three are propaganda outfits, spewing out press statements and communiqués in the hope of being picked up by some reputable broadcaster or furthered as an Internet newsblast," the analyst at 'Western Sahara Info' holds.
He further holds that journalism on Western Sahara often is based on picking press statement that fill up the foreign news section without balancing the information. In particular MACP markets its communiqués professionally, paying large amounts to have them distributed to journalists around the world through PR companies such as PRNewswire.
As an example, the renowned news agency Associated Press (AP) published an article a story of a man allegedly terrorised by Polisario, who flee the refugee camps. The man, who was sponsored by Moroccan authorities to go to the US, said there was no hope for Western Sahara under Polisario. In other stories, Sahrawis recounted their miseries about what happened if they were caught by Polisario trying to escape the refugees camps. Morocco for decades has tried to present the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria as concentration camps, where Polisario is holding the population detained, preventing them from leaving.
According to the analysis, the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, "spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States" ensuring that wealthy states turn their back on Western Sahara.
In January this year, also this media was manipulated by an MACP release distributed through PRNewswirer. afrol News soon thereafter apologised for having published an article about the Western Sahara conflict that was based on propaganda material planted by the Moroccan government, which linked the Sahrawi people to terrorism acts.
"Looking at how other mainstream media treat the Sahara issue, maybe we had no reason to apologise in January, but we were of course hurt in our pride having fallen victim for Moroccan propaganda for the first time,” comments afrol News chief editor Rainer Chr Hennig. "It is a petty that it is close to impossible to find non-propaganda sources to this conflict," he added, "and both sides are seriously lacking credibility in their statements and information."
Journalist Tsepiso Mncina, now covering the region for this media, notes that "efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict would be futile if the media continue to pay their attention on one side of the story." However, she adds, "reporting on Western Sahara requires knowledge and understanding of the region to maintain objectivity while at the same time giving out information."
Meanwhile, the 'Western Sahara Info' analysis has already triggered a wealth of comments by bloggers. Some hold that Spain – the ex-colonial power - is an exception, as media here remain well-informed about who is who in the conflict. Others blame Algeria for not aiding the Sahrawis sufficiently with funds and propaganda incentives. Algeria, contrary to Morocco, spends no significant resources on international propaganda.
Morocco "winning Sahara propaganda war."
Afrol News
23 May 2008
International media are increasingly siding with the 1975 Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, despite human rights violations that has left thousands Sahrawi population destitute in Algerian refugee camps. Pro-Sahrawi pressure groups demonstrate how Morocco slowly is winning the propaganda war.
Sahara activists, publishing news and analysis on the 'Western Sahara Info' blog, have tried to analyse why their part of the conflict seemingly is getting less attention in global media. In an analysis, they point to the "propaganda war" that has been going on between Moroccan authorities and the exiled government of Western Sahara, organised around the independence fighters Polisario Front.
Currently, reporting on the Western Sahara conflict is more and more based on Moroccan government propaganda, which links the Sahrawi government to terrorism, the activists note. Moroccan pressure groups had managed to plant rumours in Washington, indirectly linking the Sahrawi government to al Qaeda despite total absence of Islamic extremism among the Sahrawi population, they add.
"It should be noted that the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States," the article read.
Three main sources of propaganda material are mentioned. These include materials from the Moroccan-America Centre for Policy (MACP) – a pressure group based in the US and financed by the Rabat regime - Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP), which is a Moroccan press agency controlled by persons close to the royal family; and finally Sahara Press service (SPS), a news agency controlled by Polisario and based in the Algerian refugee camps. Lately, MACP and MAP materials are widely quoted in the international press, while SPS materials are rarely used.
"Now, I am not saying the SPS is a much more reliable source than MAP or MACP. All three are propaganda outfits, spewing out press statements and communiqués in the hope of being picked up by some reputable broadcaster or furthered as an Internet newsblast," the analyst at 'Western Sahara Info' holds.
He further holds that journalism on Western Sahara often is based on picking press statement that fill up the foreign news section without balancing the information. In particular MACP markets its communiqués professionally, paying large amounts to have them distributed to journalists around the world through PR companies such as PRNewswire.
As an example, the renowned news agency Associated Press (AP) published an article a story of a man allegedly terrorised by Polisario, who flee the refugee camps. The man, who was sponsored by Moroccan authorities to go to the US, said there was no hope for Western Sahara under Polisario. In other stories, Sahrawis recounted their miseries about what happened if they were caught by Polisario trying to escape the refugees camps. Morocco for decades has tried to present the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria as concentration camps, where Polisario is holding the population detained, preventing them from leaving.
According to the analysis, the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, "spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States" ensuring that wealthy states turn their back on Western Sahara.
In January this year, also this media was manipulated by an MACP release distributed through PRNewswirer. afrol News soon thereafter apologised for having published an article about the Western Sahara conflict that was based on propaganda material planted by the Moroccan government, which linked the Sahrawi people to terrorism acts.
"Looking at how other mainstream media treat the Sahara issue, maybe we had no reason to apologise in January, but we were of course hurt in our pride having fallen victim for Moroccan propaganda for the first time,” comments afrol News chief editor Rainer Chr Hennig. "It is a petty that it is close to impossible to find non-propaganda sources to this conflict," he added, "and both sides are seriously lacking credibility in their statements and information."
Journalist Tsepiso Mncina, now covering the region for this media, notes that "efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict would be futile if the media continue to pay their attention on one side of the story." However, she adds, "reporting on Western Sahara requires knowledge and understanding of the region to maintain objectivity while at the same time giving out information."
Meanwhile, the 'Western Sahara Info' analysis has already triggered a wealth of comments by bloggers. Some hold that Spain – the ex-colonial power - is an exception, as media here remain well-informed about who is who in the conflict. Others blame Algeria for not aiding the Sahrawis sufficiently with funds and propaganda incentives. Algeria, contrary to Morocco, spends no significant resources on international propaganda.
23 May 2008
International media are increasingly siding with the 1975 Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, despite human rights violations that has left thousands Sahrawi population destitute in Algerian refugee camps. Pro-Sahrawi pressure groups demonstrate how Morocco slowly is winning the propaganda war.
Sahara activists, publishing news and analysis on the 'Western Sahara Info' blog, have tried to analyse why their part of the conflict seemingly is getting less attention in global media. In an analysis, they point to the "propaganda war" that has been going on between Moroccan authorities and the exiled government of Western Sahara, organised around the independence fighters Polisario Front.
Currently, reporting on the Western Sahara conflict is more and more based on Moroccan government propaganda, which links the Sahrawi government to terrorism, the activists note. Moroccan pressure groups had managed to plant rumours in Washington, indirectly linking the Sahrawi government to al Qaeda despite total absence of Islamic extremism among the Sahrawi population, they add.
"It should be noted that the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States," the article read.
Three main sources of propaganda material are mentioned. These include materials from the Moroccan-America Centre for Policy (MACP) – a pressure group based in the US and financed by the Rabat regime - Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP), which is a Moroccan press agency controlled by persons close to the royal family; and finally Sahara Press service (SPS), a news agency controlled by Polisario and based in the Algerian refugee camps. Lately, MACP and MAP materials are widely quoted in the international press, while SPS materials are rarely used.
"Now, I am not saying the SPS is a much more reliable source than MAP or MACP. All three are propaganda outfits, spewing out press statements and communiqués in the hope of being picked up by some reputable broadcaster or furthered as an Internet newsblast," the analyst at 'Western Sahara Info' holds.
He further holds that journalism on Western Sahara often is based on picking press statement that fill up the foreign news section without balancing the information. In particular MACP markets its communiqués professionally, paying large amounts to have them distributed to journalists around the world through PR companies such as PRNewswire.
As an example, the renowned news agency Associated Press (AP) published an article a story of a man allegedly terrorised by Polisario, who flee the refugee camps. The man, who was sponsored by Moroccan authorities to go to the US, said there was no hope for Western Sahara under Polisario. In other stories, Sahrawis recounted their miseries about what happened if they were caught by Polisario trying to escape the refugees camps. Morocco for decades has tried to present the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria as concentration camps, where Polisario is holding the population detained, preventing them from leaving.
According to the analysis, the Moroccan government during the last years has stepped up its propaganda war against the Sahrawis, "spending large sums on lobbying particularly in the United States" ensuring that wealthy states turn their back on Western Sahara.
In January this year, also this media was manipulated by an MACP release distributed through PRNewswirer. afrol News soon thereafter apologised for having published an article about the Western Sahara conflict that was based on propaganda material planted by the Moroccan government, which linked the Sahrawi people to terrorism acts.
"Looking at how other mainstream media treat the Sahara issue, maybe we had no reason to apologise in January, but we were of course hurt in our pride having fallen victim for Moroccan propaganda for the first time,” comments afrol News chief editor Rainer Chr Hennig. "It is a petty that it is close to impossible to find non-propaganda sources to this conflict," he added, "and both sides are seriously lacking credibility in their statements and information."
Journalist Tsepiso Mncina, now covering the region for this media, notes that "efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict would be futile if the media continue to pay their attention on one side of the story." However, she adds, "reporting on Western Sahara requires knowledge and understanding of the region to maintain objectivity while at the same time giving out information."
Meanwhile, the 'Western Sahara Info' analysis has already triggered a wealth of comments by bloggers. Some hold that Spain – the ex-colonial power - is an exception, as media here remain well-informed about who is who in the conflict. Others blame Algeria for not aiding the Sahrawis sufficiently with funds and propaganda incentives. Algeria, contrary to Morocco, spends no significant resources on international propaganda.
WERE CRIMES INVESTIGATED?
Sense Tribunal
22 May 2008
Jan Elleby, former chief of the UN civilian police, claims that he regularly reported the crimes in the Knin area to the Croatian authorities but neither the army nor the police did anything to investigate them. Ivan Cermak’s defense counsel noted that crimes were investigated, but the witness ’was not informed’ about the efforts
In the statements he gave to the OTP investigators Jan Elleby, chief inspector in the Danish police, stated that the UN civilian police told the Croatian authorities about the crimes committed in Knin after Operation Storm, but neither the army nor the police did anything to investigate them. During Operation Storm, Elleby was stationed in Knin working first as the deputy chief and then as the chief of the UN civilian police.
Dozens of reports drafted by the UN civilian police about what they had seen in the field were tendered into evidence at the trial of Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac. Elleby confirmed the authenticity of the documents that speak of the burning of houses and killings in Knin and its surroundings. In his statement to the OTP investigators Elleby described the shelling of Knin, his meetings with the Croatian police, the restriction of movement for the UN staff and sealing off of the territory during clean-up operations.
In his cross-examination, the defense counsel of Ivan Cermak, former commander of the Knin Garrison, noted that Elleby was not familiar with the way the Croatian police worked and didn’t know the jurisdiction of the Knin police. Defense counsel Kay contends that the Knin police administration did not have a criminal investigation department at all; it had a ‘general’ jurisdiction. According to Kay, the police dealt with traffic violations and breaches of law and order.
Elleby confirmed that after some time it ’became clear’ that the Knin police administration was subordinate to the Zadar police administration, which had more resources and greater jurisdiction. The witness also confirmed that the investigation into the murder of Sava Babic was handed over to the Zadar police administration. According to the defense counsel, this is where all the information about the course of investigation can be found. Elleby was not informed about the investigation at all, he said.
The defense counsel showed the witness a series of documents from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior that explain in detail how the clean-up operations were conducted. He also showed the witness the minutes from the meetings where the police administrations were told about the tasks related to the disposal of dead bodies. According to the instructions distributed to all police administrations, the police and the army were involved in the effort to ‘remove the bodies’. The bodies had to be located, identified and then buried. Elleby replied that he had never seen these documents before.
The Danish police officer will continue his evidence tomorrow; he will be cross-examined by General Gotovina’s defense counsel.
22 May 2008
Jan Elleby, former chief of the UN civilian police, claims that he regularly reported the crimes in the Knin area to the Croatian authorities but neither the army nor the police did anything to investigate them. Ivan Cermak’s defense counsel noted that crimes were investigated, but the witness ’was not informed’ about the efforts
In the statements he gave to the OTP investigators Jan Elleby, chief inspector in the Danish police, stated that the UN civilian police told the Croatian authorities about the crimes committed in Knin after Operation Storm, but neither the army nor the police did anything to investigate them. During Operation Storm, Elleby was stationed in Knin working first as the deputy chief and then as the chief of the UN civilian police.
Dozens of reports drafted by the UN civilian police about what they had seen in the field were tendered into evidence at the trial of Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac. Elleby confirmed the authenticity of the documents that speak of the burning of houses and killings in Knin and its surroundings. In his statement to the OTP investigators Elleby described the shelling of Knin, his meetings with the Croatian police, the restriction of movement for the UN staff and sealing off of the territory during clean-up operations.
In his cross-examination, the defense counsel of Ivan Cermak, former commander of the Knin Garrison, noted that Elleby was not familiar with the way the Croatian police worked and didn’t know the jurisdiction of the Knin police. Defense counsel Kay contends that the Knin police administration did not have a criminal investigation department at all; it had a ‘general’ jurisdiction. According to Kay, the police dealt with traffic violations and breaches of law and order.
Elleby confirmed that after some time it ’became clear’ that the Knin police administration was subordinate to the Zadar police administration, which had more resources and greater jurisdiction. The witness also confirmed that the investigation into the murder of Sava Babic was handed over to the Zadar police administration. According to the defense counsel, this is where all the information about the course of investigation can be found. Elleby was not informed about the investigation at all, he said.
The defense counsel showed the witness a series of documents from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior that explain in detail how the clean-up operations were conducted. He also showed the witness the minutes from the meetings where the police administrations were told about the tasks related to the disposal of dead bodies. According to the instructions distributed to all police administrations, the police and the army were involved in the effort to ‘remove the bodies’. The bodies had to be located, identified and then buried. Elleby replied that he had never seen these documents before.
The Danish police officer will continue his evidence tomorrow; he will be cross-examined by General Gotovina’s defense counsel.
Arms pour into Africa.
New African
January 1999
Arms are pouring into Africa from every source - arms dealers, mercenaries, security firms, even governments trying to pursue their individual agendas. As the guerrilla wars spread across frontiers and the Congo becomes a bloody battle ground, the opportunities for the dogs of war and the traders in death continue to expand adding to the bloodbath. Al Venter takes a detailed look at what is happening.
A report by an American watchdog group, the National Security News Service has warned that with the unchecked flow of arms into Africa continuing, the continent is likely to see more revolutionary or guerrilla wars in addition to the Congo conflict which has plunged African nations into warfare against each other.
Today's conflicts come on top of those that have dogged Angola and the Sudan, for more than two decades and are still being fought in the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone and recently in Liberia, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. Much of today's activity is centred across the Congo and around the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. Now the danger is that the menace could spread to states that have so far been stable.
A recent report out of northern Tanzania, states that poachers armed with AK-47s have been so active in the northern half of the Serengeti (adjoining the Kenyan border) that 2,500 square miles have been declared a no-go tourist area by the Dar es Salaam government. An American concern, the Omega Group of Boulder, Colorado, is to build a fort to protect Tanzanian game guards who have been shot on sight by the better-armed insurgents.
According to Aldo Ajello, European Union Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, "Africa, over the past four years, has been transformed into a volcano on the brink of eruption."
In the Congo today, for the first time in Africa's history, eight African governments are in a direct, pan-African confrontation with each other and buying arms from whatever source they can. Angola, Chad, Namibia, Sudan and Zimbabwe have intervened on the side of Kabila and Rwanda and Uganda have backed the rebels.
Apart from the direct clash of the giants, there are subsidiary conflicts. Brussels' Le Soir, in an article strongly critical of the Belgian government's mercenary role in pumping arms into an already unstable continent stated: "Several vanquished military groups are at large in these vast areas (of Central Africa) over which their governments have very little control." The paper went on to say that this posed a threat to several regimes and an even greater one to the local people who are sometimes taken hostage, or obliged to provide rebel groups with supplies, or forced to follow them and participate in their operations.
The Pan-African conflict appears to be encouraged rather than discouraged by the world powers who are following their own agendas, viz:
Weapons are coming into the region from just about everywhere. For instance, there were 47 contracts from dozens of countries to supply arms or equipment, expertise and/or training etc either to the Burundi government or to armed Hutu rebels attached to organisations such as the CNDD, Palipehutu, Frolina or FDD.
- The United States has emerged as a major player in the region, and for several reasons. One is to protect its own interests in keeping supply routes open to organisations such as the Sudan People's Liberation Army which opposes what Washington has referred to as the 'pro-terrorist' Khartoum government. The other is to foster more durable ties with 'friendly' states that might be involved in a potentially-destabilising insurgency problems such as the Uganda government.
- Unofficially, Uganda has "tactically" replaced Kenya as Washington's "most favoured nation" in the region. Uganda's relative success in countering its own insurgency, along with its proximity to Sudan, Rwanda, Congo-Brazzaville and Kenya had contributed to Yoweri Museveni's government's new status as an "American preferred partner". A French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur suggested "Uganda is the ideal aircraft carrier for anyone who wants to control all of central and eastern Africa." With the USSR now history, Washington, it says, has the field to itself.
- The United States is involved in training the armed forces of a number of African states, and on an unprecedented scale. Under what is known as Joint/Combined Exchange Training (JCET) programmes, US special forces, between 1995 and 1997 alone, conducted training sessions in 34 out of 53 African countries. These included many nations that were themselves caught up in one conflict or another. In one instance, the Ugandan 3rd Battalion, after being trained by American Green Berets, was sent directly into action in the west of the country around Fort Portal. It was deployed to quell a revolt launched by rebel Allied Democratic Forces.
- France, in clear violation of EU laws, has continued to ship arms to some unstable African states. This action has intensifed guerrilla/revolutionary struggles. For instance, Parisian dealers sold arms to the pre-genocide Hutu Rwandan regime and also to the Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko long after other Western powers had cut off aid to both countries. It was also reported to have armed Abacha's Nigeria.
Some African governments are making payments for weapons or military services in kind, such as in mining concessions (in Angola and Sierra Leone) or deals, such as the one that took place between South Africa and Uganda in 1997 where arms were exchanged for gold bullion.
There have been numerous instances cited of some countries supplying weapons to both sides in the same war. For instance, South African APCs, mine-detection and mine-protected vehicles are to be seen with both the Khartoum government forces and the southern SPLA rebels in the Sudan. The same occurred in Burundi with Pretoria supplying both the government and the rebels.
At least one oil company is reported to have recently financed an African revolution. The French oil giant Elf-Aquitaine (in concert with the French government) was reported in the New York Times and New African (May 98, p12-13) to have funded arms purchases necessary for Sassou-Nguesso's successful overthrow of the 'legal' Lissouba government in Congo-Brazzaville in 1997.
Britain was responsible, until mid-1994, for at least six deliveries of arms to the Rwandan Hutu regime, at a time when it was evident in Kigali (where Britain maintained an embassy) that tensions were building towards a genocidal war. The contract was worth $6m and included GPMGs, MAG 58s, grenades, rockets mortars, rifles, ammunition etc.
In the United States these matters are viewed in a serious light. In testimony before the House sub-committee on International Operations and Human Rights, Kathi Austin, a consultant to Human Rights Watch (Arms Division) testified in early May 1998 that "War in Africa is again in the wind." Her forecast has since proved only too right in the Congo.
She asserted that it would be civilians that would again become primary targets. Massive violations of human rights and the arms trade were inextricably linked. She pointed out that more than 25% of all the countries on the globe were connected in one way or another to arms entering this volatile central African region.
Another American military training programme that has resulted in criticism, largely because of the training methods it uses (in Uganda it has been teaching special forces procedures and marksmanship) is the African Crisis Response Initiative(ACRI). It was described by US army spokesmen as providing a unique opportunity to improve the operations capabilities of African armies and make them better prepared to conduct limited humanitarian operations.
During 1997, the US conducted three 60-day ACRIs in Malawi, Senegal and Uganda where there are ongoing guerrilla wars. It is interesting that it is the same US Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) that participates in training programmes that directs ACRI missions.
Europe has been sceptical about what ACRI is doing in Africa. Le Soir, the Belgian daily, in an article headed The United States Trains African Battalions declared that there is suspicion in certain European military circles that America is "creating, at low cost, military contact networks throughout Africa." Washington denies this assertion.
There are also numerous private individuals involved in this lucrative trade. Among those highlighted by the Johannesburg Mail and Guardian is the Seychelles-based conglomerate Founder, with Craig Williamson, as its chief executive. He sometimes operates in conjunction with Willem Ters Ehlers, a former navy commander and the last private secretary of erstwhile foreign minister Pik Botha.
Also from South Africa, are Krish Naidoo and Seelan Moodley of Panama Technologies who run their company under the Miltech banner, a multinational. They have landed Armscor contracts estimated to be worth about $15m.
Geza Mezozo, an independent Belgian arms broker was arrested in South Africa last March for selling 8,000 American M16 rifles from Vietnam War arsenals to Kabila's forces in the Congo. He is still in custody. Over the years, this man has been a familiar figure in the market. He has sold weapons to numerous countries including Burundi, Congo (Brazzaville), Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria. He is thought to have had a hand in Sudanese and Sierra Leonian arms purchases.
Another middleman is a Lebanese who, for years, operated on behalf of the US Defense Intelligence Agency. He travels under a special US passport and helped Elf-Aquitaine to assist Sassou-Nguesso's forces. While having enjoyed a long relationship with US intelligence agencies, he has, more recently, tended to concentrate on French government and commercial interests such as GIAT.
Human Rights Watch lists eight organisations, including the South African para-statal Armscor as responsible for weapons sales to Rwanda. Among them is a black-owned arms company, Kunene Brothers Holdings, owned by Zoli Kunene who is also president of Defense Industry Interest Group, a lobbying organisation for black arms corporations.
Human Rights Watch in a report on arms trafficking in Rwanda, says the South African company, Alpha 5, has "alleged or confirmed connections to the military advising, training and fighting". Others companies mentioned are Frontier Risks, a new Cape Town firm as well as Executive Outcomes which, it states, "has connections with Canadian and British mineral interests in Africa including Heritage Oil & Gas, Ranger Oil, Branch International, Strategic Resources, Saracen (a security organisation), Stuart Mills International, Shibata Security and Falconer, a logistical supplies company". It states that the Ibis Air cargo company (with two Boeing 737s) falls within the EO orbit.
A new development is the emergence of African arms producers. There are three weapons manufacturers in Uganda; the largest, Nakasongola Arms Factory, is owned by Chinese (government and private sector) interests.
The other two are Saracen (owned by Strategic Resources Corporation) which the Kampala paper New Vision said, was responsible for arms deliveries to the Uganda security forces and Ottoman Engineering Ltd, a private firm licensed to sell firearms in Uganda.
A Zimbabwe company, Zimbabwe Defence Industries, is cited as having sent military hardware to the Angolan government, to Kabila's forces in the Congo and to rebel forces in the Sudan. Government controlled, its chief executive is Colonel Rshinga Dube. The company manufactures ammunition and landmines. One of the main reasons why Mugabe was so quick to intervene in the Congo was the huge investment in arms that his country had already made on Kabila's behalf. The Congo also provided a market for further arms sales.
By far the largest number of companies or individuals involved in the transport of weapons to Angola's rebel Unita movement are based in South Africa. There are nine altogether, including a company owned by Captain Peter Bietzke who has admitted to over 300 flights to Savimbi's rebels after his Belgian-registered DC-4 was forced down over Menogue by Angolan Air Force MiGs while en route to the Unita headquarters north of Huambo last February. While no weapons were found, there were eight South Africans on board. All were arrested by the Angolans.
Other companies include Wonder Air whose registered owners are former defense minister Magnus Malan and Gert de Klerk, a one-time associate of Pik Botha. There is also Southern Air Transport, which, says Human Rights Watch, is also used by US military and intelligence organisations.
Yurand Air, operating out of South Africa and responsible for Unita weapons deliveries is owned by a Russian, Iouri Sidirov and is linked to Willem Ters Ehlers. It flies Antonov 32s and Antonov 12s, some of which were grounded in Namibia after its owners had been accused of running guns to Savimbi.
Curiously, Spoornet, the South African state railway network was involved in shipping weapons northwards to Burundian and Rwandan Hutu rebels. This was done through rail links in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. Human Rights Watch confirms that Spoornet officials were aware that weapons were being moved.
Air Excellence attracted the attention of the Washington Post and Donna Bryson of Associated Press, operating under a number of covers. It was also involved in arms shipments to Angola.
It is worth noting that while South Africa only banned the activity of mercenaries and arms suppliers last February, it took the government three years to do so, even though the ruling African National Congress enjoys a huge majority in parliament. In effect, they could have railroaded the legislation through in a week. The fact that the South African arms industry was selling millions worth of war materiel to countries all over Africa, must have had a lot to do with the hold up.
A Zimbabwean company, Affretair, with links that go back to the secessionist Ian Smith period, operates out of Harare Airport. As with Air Excellence, Affretair has transported weapons between Zimbabwe and the Congo.
Washington's National Security News Service (NSNS) lists most of the deals that have taken place recently that involve arms sales to the Central African region.
In supplying war materiel, specifically to Angola, the United States, Israel, France, the Czech Republic, North Korea, Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Spain and South Africa feature prominently. The NSNS lists $80m of "manufacturing and technical assistance agreements and equipment components" to Angola from America in 1996. It was covered by State Department commercial licences, the report states.
Uganda recently imported 90 tanks from the Ukraine to bolster its armed forces. The tanks were reported to be waiting for transport by rail to Uganda at Dar es Salaam port at the beginning of December.
The US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency says Israel shipped $100m worth of weapons to Angola until 1995. Portugal was responsible for a similar amount, including refurbished T-62 tanks and BMP-2s bought surplus in Eastern Europe in a deal made through Jose Antonio de Saraiva, the financial advisor to the Sultan of Brunei.
The Czechs also provided Angola with another $100m for tanks, ACVs, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition.
Historically, Russia (in the post-independence period) has always had the largest share of the Angolan arms market. While details are sparse because of tight security, the sales that are listed total only $300m. The inventory does not include 50 Russian fighters, squadrons of Mig-17s and Mig-24 helicopters, almost 250 APCs, dozens of T54/55s and many tons of ammunition, much of it brought into the country onboard the Russian cargo ship Modul.
North Korea's share of Luanda's market, in contrast, was $95m for SA-2 missiles, BMP-1s and BMP-2s as well as an item that is listed as "pilot training". Spain's role in Angola has been in supplying $32m worth of "military equipment". Its Seville Guard trained Angola's notorious Rapid Deployment Force (Ninjas). Sadly, this is all money that could have gone into reshaping society in a country where there are almost no hospitals, very few clinics and pitifully few schools or teachers.
Elsewhere, South Africa is quoted as having supplied Eland Mk7 armoured cars to Pascal Lissouba's forces before he was defeated in Congo-Brazzaville. There were also $12m worth of multiple rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons, though a spokesman for Mandela's government claimed that there was "nothing lethal in the deal".
In the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, a $26m French arms sale (as alleged by the UN) was made in a 1996 violation of the EU arms embargo. This was denied by the Elysee Palace.
Rwandan President Habyarimana's plane was shot down in April 1994 sparking the mass genocide in Rwanda. The New York Times, claims that Soviet-style SAM 7/14 missiles were used to down the aircraft. The SAMs had originally been confiscated from Iraq during the Gulf War, passed on to Uganda by the US. Uganda then passed the missiles on to the perpetrators.
It is instructive that much of the materiel which went northwards from South Africa by rail, would have reached Rwanda and Burundi after passing through Zimbabwe and Zambia. Certainly it would have needed government sanction from both countries.
January 1999
Arms are pouring into Africa from every source - arms dealers, mercenaries, security firms, even governments trying to pursue their individual agendas. As the guerrilla wars spread across frontiers and the Congo becomes a bloody battle ground, the opportunities for the dogs of war and the traders in death continue to expand adding to the bloodbath. Al Venter takes a detailed look at what is happening.
A report by an American watchdog group, the National Security News Service has warned that with the unchecked flow of arms into Africa continuing, the continent is likely to see more revolutionary or guerrilla wars in addition to the Congo conflict which has plunged African nations into warfare against each other.
Today's conflicts come on top of those that have dogged Angola and the Sudan, for more than two decades and are still being fought in the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone and recently in Liberia, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. Much of today's activity is centred across the Congo and around the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. Now the danger is that the menace could spread to states that have so far been stable.
A recent report out of northern Tanzania, states that poachers armed with AK-47s have been so active in the northern half of the Serengeti (adjoining the Kenyan border) that 2,500 square miles have been declared a no-go tourist area by the Dar es Salaam government. An American concern, the Omega Group of Boulder, Colorado, is to build a fort to protect Tanzanian game guards who have been shot on sight by the better-armed insurgents.
According to Aldo Ajello, European Union Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, "Africa, over the past four years, has been transformed into a volcano on the brink of eruption."
In the Congo today, for the first time in Africa's history, eight African governments are in a direct, pan-African confrontation with each other and buying arms from whatever source they can. Angola, Chad, Namibia, Sudan and Zimbabwe have intervened on the side of Kabila and Rwanda and Uganda have backed the rebels.
Apart from the direct clash of the giants, there are subsidiary conflicts. Brussels' Le Soir, in an article strongly critical of the Belgian government's mercenary role in pumping arms into an already unstable continent stated: "Several vanquished military groups are at large in these vast areas (of Central Africa) over which their governments have very little control." The paper went on to say that this posed a threat to several regimes and an even greater one to the local people who are sometimes taken hostage, or obliged to provide rebel groups with supplies, or forced to follow them and participate in their operations.
The Pan-African conflict appears to be encouraged rather than discouraged by the world powers who are following their own agendas, viz:
Weapons are coming into the region from just about everywhere. For instance, there were 47 contracts from dozens of countries to supply arms or equipment, expertise and/or training etc either to the Burundi government or to armed Hutu rebels attached to organisations such as the CNDD, Palipehutu, Frolina or FDD.
- The United States has emerged as a major player in the region, and for several reasons. One is to protect its own interests in keeping supply routes open to organisations such as the Sudan People's Liberation Army which opposes what Washington has referred to as the 'pro-terrorist' Khartoum government. The other is to foster more durable ties with 'friendly' states that might be involved in a potentially-destabilising insurgency problems such as the Uganda government.
- Unofficially, Uganda has "tactically" replaced Kenya as Washington's "most favoured nation" in the region. Uganda's relative success in countering its own insurgency, along with its proximity to Sudan, Rwanda, Congo-Brazzaville and Kenya had contributed to Yoweri Museveni's government's new status as an "American preferred partner". A French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur suggested "Uganda is the ideal aircraft carrier for anyone who wants to control all of central and eastern Africa." With the USSR now history, Washington, it says, has the field to itself.
- The United States is involved in training the armed forces of a number of African states, and on an unprecedented scale. Under what is known as Joint/Combined Exchange Training (JCET) programmes, US special forces, between 1995 and 1997 alone, conducted training sessions in 34 out of 53 African countries. These included many nations that were themselves caught up in one conflict or another. In one instance, the Ugandan 3rd Battalion, after being trained by American Green Berets, was sent directly into action in the west of the country around Fort Portal. It was deployed to quell a revolt launched by rebel Allied Democratic Forces.
- France, in clear violation of EU laws, has continued to ship arms to some unstable African states. This action has intensifed guerrilla/revolutionary struggles. For instance, Parisian dealers sold arms to the pre-genocide Hutu Rwandan regime and also to the Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko long after other Western powers had cut off aid to both countries. It was also reported to have armed Abacha's Nigeria.
Some African governments are making payments for weapons or military services in kind, such as in mining concessions (in Angola and Sierra Leone) or deals, such as the one that took place between South Africa and Uganda in 1997 where arms were exchanged for gold bullion.
There have been numerous instances cited of some countries supplying weapons to both sides in the same war. For instance, South African APCs, mine-detection and mine-protected vehicles are to be seen with both the Khartoum government forces and the southern SPLA rebels in the Sudan. The same occurred in Burundi with Pretoria supplying both the government and the rebels.
At least one oil company is reported to have recently financed an African revolution. The French oil giant Elf-Aquitaine (in concert with the French government) was reported in the New York Times and New African (May 98, p12-13) to have funded arms purchases necessary for Sassou-Nguesso's successful overthrow of the 'legal' Lissouba government in Congo-Brazzaville in 1997.
Britain was responsible, until mid-1994, for at least six deliveries of arms to the Rwandan Hutu regime, at a time when it was evident in Kigali (where Britain maintained an embassy) that tensions were building towards a genocidal war. The contract was worth $6m and included GPMGs, MAG 58s, grenades, rockets mortars, rifles, ammunition etc.
In the United States these matters are viewed in a serious light. In testimony before the House sub-committee on International Operations and Human Rights, Kathi Austin, a consultant to Human Rights Watch (Arms Division) testified in early May 1998 that "War in Africa is again in the wind." Her forecast has since proved only too right in the Congo.
She asserted that it would be civilians that would again become primary targets. Massive violations of human rights and the arms trade were inextricably linked. She pointed out that more than 25% of all the countries on the globe were connected in one way or another to arms entering this volatile central African region.
Another American military training programme that has resulted in criticism, largely because of the training methods it uses (in Uganda it has been teaching special forces procedures and marksmanship) is the African Crisis Response Initiative(ACRI). It was described by US army spokesmen as providing a unique opportunity to improve the operations capabilities of African armies and make them better prepared to conduct limited humanitarian operations.
During 1997, the US conducted three 60-day ACRIs in Malawi, Senegal and Uganda where there are ongoing guerrilla wars. It is interesting that it is the same US Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) that participates in training programmes that directs ACRI missions.
Europe has been sceptical about what ACRI is doing in Africa. Le Soir, the Belgian daily, in an article headed The United States Trains African Battalions declared that there is suspicion in certain European military circles that America is "creating, at low cost, military contact networks throughout Africa." Washington denies this assertion.
There are also numerous private individuals involved in this lucrative trade. Among those highlighted by the Johannesburg Mail and Guardian is the Seychelles-based conglomerate Founder, with Craig Williamson, as its chief executive. He sometimes operates in conjunction with Willem Ters Ehlers, a former navy commander and the last private secretary of erstwhile foreign minister Pik Botha.
Also from South Africa, are Krish Naidoo and Seelan Moodley of Panama Technologies who run their company under the Miltech banner, a multinational. They have landed Armscor contracts estimated to be worth about $15m.
Geza Mezozo, an independent Belgian arms broker was arrested in South Africa last March for selling 8,000 American M16 rifles from Vietnam War arsenals to Kabila's forces in the Congo. He is still in custody. Over the years, this man has been a familiar figure in the market. He has sold weapons to numerous countries including Burundi, Congo (Brazzaville), Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria. He is thought to have had a hand in Sudanese and Sierra Leonian arms purchases.
Another middleman is a Lebanese who, for years, operated on behalf of the US Defense Intelligence Agency. He travels under a special US passport and helped Elf-Aquitaine to assist Sassou-Nguesso's forces. While having enjoyed a long relationship with US intelligence agencies, he has, more recently, tended to concentrate on French government and commercial interests such as GIAT.
Human Rights Watch lists eight organisations, including the South African para-statal Armscor as responsible for weapons sales to Rwanda. Among them is a black-owned arms company, Kunene Brothers Holdings, owned by Zoli Kunene who is also president of Defense Industry Interest Group, a lobbying organisation for black arms corporations.
Human Rights Watch in a report on arms trafficking in Rwanda, says the South African company, Alpha 5, has "alleged or confirmed connections to the military advising, training and fighting". Others companies mentioned are Frontier Risks, a new Cape Town firm as well as Executive Outcomes which, it states, "has connections with Canadian and British mineral interests in Africa including Heritage Oil & Gas, Ranger Oil, Branch International, Strategic Resources, Saracen (a security organisation), Stuart Mills International, Shibata Security and Falconer, a logistical supplies company". It states that the Ibis Air cargo company (with two Boeing 737s) falls within the EO orbit.
A new development is the emergence of African arms producers. There are three weapons manufacturers in Uganda; the largest, Nakasongola Arms Factory, is owned by Chinese (government and private sector) interests.
The other two are Saracen (owned by Strategic Resources Corporation) which the Kampala paper New Vision said, was responsible for arms deliveries to the Uganda security forces and Ottoman Engineering Ltd, a private firm licensed to sell firearms in Uganda.
A Zimbabwe company, Zimbabwe Defence Industries, is cited as having sent military hardware to the Angolan government, to Kabila's forces in the Congo and to rebel forces in the Sudan. Government controlled, its chief executive is Colonel Rshinga Dube. The company manufactures ammunition and landmines. One of the main reasons why Mugabe was so quick to intervene in the Congo was the huge investment in arms that his country had already made on Kabila's behalf. The Congo also provided a market for further arms sales.
By far the largest number of companies or individuals involved in the transport of weapons to Angola's rebel Unita movement are based in South Africa. There are nine altogether, including a company owned by Captain Peter Bietzke who has admitted to over 300 flights to Savimbi's rebels after his Belgian-registered DC-4 was forced down over Menogue by Angolan Air Force MiGs while en route to the Unita headquarters north of Huambo last February. While no weapons were found, there were eight South Africans on board. All were arrested by the Angolans.
Other companies include Wonder Air whose registered owners are former defense minister Magnus Malan and Gert de Klerk, a one-time associate of Pik Botha. There is also Southern Air Transport, which, says Human Rights Watch, is also used by US military and intelligence organisations.
Yurand Air, operating out of South Africa and responsible for Unita weapons deliveries is owned by a Russian, Iouri Sidirov and is linked to Willem Ters Ehlers. It flies Antonov 32s and Antonov 12s, some of which were grounded in Namibia after its owners had been accused of running guns to Savimbi.
Curiously, Spoornet, the South African state railway network was involved in shipping weapons northwards to Burundian and Rwandan Hutu rebels. This was done through rail links in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. Human Rights Watch confirms that Spoornet officials were aware that weapons were being moved.
Air Excellence attracted the attention of the Washington Post and Donna Bryson of Associated Press, operating under a number of covers. It was also involved in arms shipments to Angola.
It is worth noting that while South Africa only banned the activity of mercenaries and arms suppliers last February, it took the government three years to do so, even though the ruling African National Congress enjoys a huge majority in parliament. In effect, they could have railroaded the legislation through in a week. The fact that the South African arms industry was selling millions worth of war materiel to countries all over Africa, must have had a lot to do with the hold up.
A Zimbabwean company, Affretair, with links that go back to the secessionist Ian Smith period, operates out of Harare Airport. As with Air Excellence, Affretair has transported weapons between Zimbabwe and the Congo.
Washington's National Security News Service (NSNS) lists most of the deals that have taken place recently that involve arms sales to the Central African region.
In supplying war materiel, specifically to Angola, the United States, Israel, France, the Czech Republic, North Korea, Brazil, Portugal, Russia, Spain and South Africa feature prominently. The NSNS lists $80m of "manufacturing and technical assistance agreements and equipment components" to Angola from America in 1996. It was covered by State Department commercial licences, the report states.
Uganda recently imported 90 tanks from the Ukraine to bolster its armed forces. The tanks were reported to be waiting for transport by rail to Uganda at Dar es Salaam port at the beginning of December.
The US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency says Israel shipped $100m worth of weapons to Angola until 1995. Portugal was responsible for a similar amount, including refurbished T-62 tanks and BMP-2s bought surplus in Eastern Europe in a deal made through Jose Antonio de Saraiva, the financial advisor to the Sultan of Brunei.
The Czechs also provided Angola with another $100m for tanks, ACVs, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition.
Historically, Russia (in the post-independence period) has always had the largest share of the Angolan arms market. While details are sparse because of tight security, the sales that are listed total only $300m. The inventory does not include 50 Russian fighters, squadrons of Mig-17s and Mig-24 helicopters, almost 250 APCs, dozens of T54/55s and many tons of ammunition, much of it brought into the country onboard the Russian cargo ship Modul.
North Korea's share of Luanda's market, in contrast, was $95m for SA-2 missiles, BMP-1s and BMP-2s as well as an item that is listed as "pilot training". Spain's role in Angola has been in supplying $32m worth of "military equipment". Its Seville Guard trained Angola's notorious Rapid Deployment Force (Ninjas). Sadly, this is all money that could have gone into reshaping society in a country where there are almost no hospitals, very few clinics and pitifully few schools or teachers.
Elsewhere, South Africa is quoted as having supplied Eland Mk7 armoured cars to Pascal Lissouba's forces before he was defeated in Congo-Brazzaville. There were also $12m worth of multiple rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons, though a spokesman for Mandela's government claimed that there was "nothing lethal in the deal".
In the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, a $26m French arms sale (as alleged by the UN) was made in a 1996 violation of the EU arms embargo. This was denied by the Elysee Palace.
Rwandan President Habyarimana's plane was shot down in April 1994 sparking the mass genocide in Rwanda. The New York Times, claims that Soviet-style SAM 7/14 missiles were used to down the aircraft. The SAMs had originally been confiscated from Iraq during the Gulf War, passed on to Uganda by the US. Uganda then passed the missiles on to the perpetrators.
It is instructive that much of the materiel which went northwards from South Africa by rail, would have reached Rwanda and Burundi after passing through Zimbabwe and Zambia. Certainly it would have needed government sanction from both countries.
Army Dares UPC to firing practice.
Army dares UPC to firing practice
By Alex B. Atuhaire
July 25, 2003
Daily Monitor
The Uganda People's Congress on Wednesday said that an inquiry into ghost soldiers was a cover up by the government.
Lt. Gen. Yoweri Museveni last month ordered an inquiry into ghost soldiers on the army payroll.
But the UPC's acting presidential commission chairman, Mr Henry Mayega, said that the inquiry only confirmed what Ugandans had known for a long time: "That the UPDF is a bastion of theft, greed and source of primitive accumulation by leaders."
But the army spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, could not take it lying down.
He said that the UPDF has held the state together for 17 years unlike the UPC government that was twice overthrown in a military coup.
"If they were such exemplary leaders, where were they when they were twice overthrown by their armies?" Bantariza said.
The UPC leaders had also accused the UPDF of producing fake ammunition at the Nakasongola arms factory.
But again Bantariza dared them.
"I am challenging the UPC leaders to line up at the Constitutional Square and we use that fake ammunition from Nakasongola to fire at them to see whether it is fake," the army spokesman said.
By Alex B. Atuhaire
July 25, 2003
Daily Monitor
The Uganda People's Congress on Wednesday said that an inquiry into ghost soldiers was a cover up by the government.
Lt. Gen. Yoweri Museveni last month ordered an inquiry into ghost soldiers on the army payroll.
But the UPC's acting presidential commission chairman, Mr Henry Mayega, said that the inquiry only confirmed what Ugandans had known for a long time: "That the UPDF is a bastion of theft, greed and source of primitive accumulation by leaders."
But the army spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, could not take it lying down.
He said that the UPDF has held the state together for 17 years unlike the UPC government that was twice overthrown in a military coup.
"If they were such exemplary leaders, where were they when they were twice overthrown by their armies?" Bantariza said.
The UPC leaders had also accused the UPDF of producing fake ammunition at the Nakasongola arms factory.
But again Bantariza dared them.
"I am challenging the UPC leaders to line up at the Constitutional Square and we use that fake ammunition from Nakasongola to fire at them to see whether it is fake," the army spokesman said.
23 May, 2008
DARFUR: UN-AU CONTINGENT AMBUSHED IN WEST.
MISNA
23 May 2008
Dozens of armed men yesterday afternoon ambushed a Nigerian battalion serving with the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). A mission statement indicates that some 60 armed men on horseback ambushed the battalion along the new airport road near El Geneina, in the west of the region, theatre to five years of internal conflict and a grave humanitarian crisis. The assailants stole rifles, ammunition, mobile phones and cash. It was the latest of a series of attacks against the mission staff, which in the past weeks have denounced continuing attacks on the staff and assets of aid agencies working in Darfur, threatening humanitarian access and worsening the already perilous conditions. “The hijacking of the North Darfur State Water Corporation's drilling rig by an armed group in March, for example, has meant that as many as 180,000 people may not have access to clean water this year”, warns the statement.
23 May 2008
Dozens of armed men yesterday afternoon ambushed a Nigerian battalion serving with the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). A mission statement indicates that some 60 armed men on horseback ambushed the battalion along the new airport road near El Geneina, in the west of the region, theatre to five years of internal conflict and a grave humanitarian crisis. The assailants stole rifles, ammunition, mobile phones and cash. It was the latest of a series of attacks against the mission staff, which in the past weeks have denounced continuing attacks on the staff and assets of aid agencies working in Darfur, threatening humanitarian access and worsening the already perilous conditions. “The hijacking of the North Darfur State Water Corporation's drilling rig by an armed group in March, for example, has meant that as many as 180,000 people may not have access to clean water this year”, warns the statement.
Heavy gunfire breaks out along border between Georgia, Abkhazia.
Associated Press
May 21, 2008
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party is being challenged in Wednesday's election by opposition forces embittered by a violent crackdown on protesters last year and a presidential ballot earlier this year they claim was fraudulent.
Heavy gunfire broke out Wednesday along the administrative border separating Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia, wounding several people who were trying to vote in parliamentary elections, Georgian officials said.
Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said that Abkhazian forces fired on two buses carrying Georgian residents from Abkhazia's Gali district across the border to a village in Georgia's Zugdidi district.
The group was planning to cast ballots in Georgia's parliamentary election, he said, but gave no other details.
Ruslan Kishmariya, a representative of Abkhazia's unrecognized government, said that Abkhazian border guards reported the shooting not far from the Inguri river, which runs along much of the administrative border, but he did not give details of what happened.
Georgia's Rustavi-2 showed footage of a burned-out bus and another with blown-out windows, along with several people it said had gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
Tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia — which broke away from Georgian government control in the 1990s — have escalated in recent weeks amid mutual accusations that each side is preparing military action. Russia, which has long supported Abkhazia, has bolstered peacekeeping forces in the region and also accused Georgia of preparing for war.
In Moscow, Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for some of the Russian infantry forces serving as peacekeepers, said automatic weapons fire and grenade explosions had been reported at the site of the violence.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party is being challenged in Wednesday's election by opposition forces embittered by a violent crackdown on protesters last year and a presidential ballot earlier this year they claim was fraudulent.
The United States and the European Union are watching the election closely because of Georgia's frayed ties with Moscow and because of its location on an export route for Caspian Sea oil and gas.
Saakashvili is a staunch U.S. ally who has angered Russia by his drive to gain NATO membership for Georgia.
Associated Press Writer Ruslan Khashig contributed to the report from Sukhumi, Georgia.
May 21, 2008
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party is being challenged in Wednesday's election by opposition forces embittered by a violent crackdown on protesters last year and a presidential ballot earlier this year they claim was fraudulent.
Heavy gunfire broke out Wednesday along the administrative border separating Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia, wounding several people who were trying to vote in parliamentary elections, Georgian officials said.
Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said that Abkhazian forces fired on two buses carrying Georgian residents from Abkhazia's Gali district across the border to a village in Georgia's Zugdidi district.
The group was planning to cast ballots in Georgia's parliamentary election, he said, but gave no other details.
Ruslan Kishmariya, a representative of Abkhazia's unrecognized government, said that Abkhazian border guards reported the shooting not far from the Inguri river, which runs along much of the administrative border, but he did not give details of what happened.
Georgia's Rustavi-2 showed footage of a burned-out bus and another with blown-out windows, along with several people it said had gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
Tensions between Georgia and Abkhazia — which broke away from Georgian government control in the 1990s — have escalated in recent weeks amid mutual accusations that each side is preparing military action. Russia, which has long supported Abkhazia, has bolstered peacekeeping forces in the region and also accused Georgia of preparing for war.
In Moscow, Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for some of the Russian infantry forces serving as peacekeepers, said automatic weapons fire and grenade explosions had been reported at the site of the violence.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's ruling party is being challenged in Wednesday's election by opposition forces embittered by a violent crackdown on protesters last year and a presidential ballot earlier this year they claim was fraudulent.
The United States and the European Union are watching the election closely because of Georgia's frayed ties with Moscow and because of its location on an export route for Caspian Sea oil and gas.
Saakashvili is a staunch U.S. ally who has angered Russia by his drive to gain NATO membership for Georgia.
Associated Press Writer Ruslan Khashig contributed to the report from Sukhumi, Georgia.
Petrobras and Cuban Minister of Industry Meet about GOM Exploration.
Rigzone
22 May 2008
The Minister of Basic Industry of Cuba, Yadira García, was welcomed at Petrobras' main office building, in Rio de Janeiro, where she participated in a work meeting with Company executives. During the meeting, issues regarding the cooperation agreement signed between Petrobras and the National Cuban Oil Company (Cupet), signed on January 15 2008, were discussed. The document calls for initiatives in the exploration & production, lubricant, refining, maintenance, research & development, and human resource areas.
Petrobras and Cupet also examined the possibility of beginning seismic surveys in an offshore area in the Cuban sector of the Gulf of Mexico in the near future. Since the late 1990s, foreign companies have been authorized to operate in that region.
There were negotiations aimed at building a lubricant plant in Havana. Specifically for this purpose, the terms of the association agreement between Petrobras and Cupet to incorporate a mixed company are currently being negotiated.
22 May 2008
The Minister of Basic Industry of Cuba, Yadira García, was welcomed at Petrobras' main office building, in Rio de Janeiro, where she participated in a work meeting with Company executives. During the meeting, issues regarding the cooperation agreement signed between Petrobras and the National Cuban Oil Company (Cupet), signed on January 15 2008, were discussed. The document calls for initiatives in the exploration & production, lubricant, refining, maintenance, research & development, and human resource areas.
Petrobras and Cupet also examined the possibility of beginning seismic surveys in an offshore area in the Cuban sector of the Gulf of Mexico in the near future. Since the late 1990s, foreign companies have been authorized to operate in that region.
There were negotiations aimed at building a lubricant plant in Havana. Specifically for this purpose, the terms of the association agreement between Petrobras and Cupet to incorporate a mixed company are currently being negotiated.
Russia, China close to deal on ESPO oil pipeline branch.
RIA Novosti
22 May 2008
State-owned Russian oil firm Rosneft and China's CNPC are in the final stages of talks to build an oil pipeline branch from Russia's Far East to China, Russia's president said Thursday.
"We have a basic agreement on this [branch]... We hope that all the main provisions, the main parameters for future cooperation will be agreed," Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Chinese journalists ahead of his visit to China, set for May 23-24.
Under an agreement signed between China National Petroleum Corporation and Transneft, the oil pipeline operator, the construction of the pipeline branch will be funded by China.
The ESPO pipeline is slated to pump up to 1.6 million barrels of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region.
The pipeline's first leg, estimated at $11 billion, was expected to be commissioned in December 2008. However, Transneft said in February that the commissioning of the project would be delayed from late 2008 to late 2009.
The second leg will stretch for 2,100 kilometers (1,304 miles) from Skovorodino to the Pacific. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually. The capacity of the Taishet-Skovorodino pipeline, being built as part of the project's first leg, is also expected to increase to 588 million barrels from the initial 220.5 million bbl.
22 May 2008
State-owned Russian oil firm Rosneft and China's CNPC are in the final stages of talks to build an oil pipeline branch from Russia's Far East to China, Russia's president said Thursday.
"We have a basic agreement on this [branch]... We hope that all the main provisions, the main parameters for future cooperation will be agreed," Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Chinese journalists ahead of his visit to China, set for May 23-24.
Under an agreement signed between China National Petroleum Corporation and Transneft, the oil pipeline operator, the construction of the pipeline branch will be funded by China.
The ESPO pipeline is slated to pump up to 1.6 million barrels of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region.
The pipeline's first leg, estimated at $11 billion, was expected to be commissioned in December 2008. However, Transneft said in February that the commissioning of the project would be delayed from late 2008 to late 2009.
The second leg will stretch for 2,100 kilometers (1,304 miles) from Skovorodino to the Pacific. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually. The capacity of the Taishet-Skovorodino pipeline, being built as part of the project's first leg, is also expected to increase to 588 million barrels from the initial 220.5 million bbl.
ABDUCTION OF AID WORKERS: NEW DEVELOPMENTS ATTENDED.
MISNA
22 May 2008
No significant additional information has emerged on the three aid workers of the Italian non-governmental organisation called Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS - North-South Italian Cooperation) – the Somali Abderahman Yusuf Arale and Italians Iolanda Occhipinti and Giuliano Paganini – abducted yesterday in Awdhegle, 70km south of the capital Mogadishu.
Italy’s Foreign minister Franco Frattini, who yesterday urged the press to use caution, this morning said that the three aid workers “are well”, however maintaining strict reserve on the contacts. MISNA sources confirm that nothing new has emerged in the past hours and that the voices currently in circulation mainly regard the location where the kidnappers took the hostages; also in this regard, at least two names are circulating. No confirmation has arrived on the motive of the abduction and mainly whether there are any links to an episode that took place on May 2 near the CINS headquarter in Awdhegle. Also the Somali press didn’t report any particular news on the abduction, aside from the strong condemnation of the United Nations that demanded the immediate release of the three workers. "The presence of humanitarian workers in Somalia is more important than ever”, said UN spokesperson Marie Okabe, referring to the grave humanitarian crisis underway in Somalia, where an estimated 2.6-million people are in need of aid to survive.
22 May 2008
No significant additional information has emerged on the three aid workers of the Italian non-governmental organisation called Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS - North-South Italian Cooperation) – the Somali Abderahman Yusuf Arale and Italians Iolanda Occhipinti and Giuliano Paganini – abducted yesterday in Awdhegle, 70km south of the capital Mogadishu.
Italy’s Foreign minister Franco Frattini, who yesterday urged the press to use caution, this morning said that the three aid workers “are well”, however maintaining strict reserve on the contacts. MISNA sources confirm that nothing new has emerged in the past hours and that the voices currently in circulation mainly regard the location where the kidnappers took the hostages; also in this regard, at least two names are circulating. No confirmation has arrived on the motive of the abduction and mainly whether there are any links to an episode that took place on May 2 near the CINS headquarter in Awdhegle. Also the Somali press didn’t report any particular news on the abduction, aside from the strong condemnation of the United Nations that demanded the immediate release of the three workers. "The presence of humanitarian workers in Somalia is more important than ever”, said UN spokesperson Marie Okabe, referring to the grave humanitarian crisis underway in Somalia, where an estimated 2.6-million people are in need of aid to survive.
PORT-AU-PRINCE: CANADIAN VOLUNTEER ABDUCTED.
MISNA
22 May 2008
Nadia Lefebvre, a Canadian student working as a volunteer for the ‘Médecins du Monde’ Canada aid organisation, was kidnapped on Tuesday night in Port-au-Prince, reports Montreal’s La Presse newspaper. Lefebvre, 32, was abducted by unknown persons in the eastern Pétionville area of the Haitian capital. “She was onboard a car with the ‘Médecins du Monde’ logo”, the Haitian police officer Joean-Bénédict Libéral told La Presse. The young volunteer, a student at the Sherbrooke University, was in Port-au-Prince for a three months experience. “Her family has been contacted. We hope for a prompt and positive outcome”, said André Bertrand, head of the Canadian sector of the organisation. Abductions resumed in the past weeks, particularly in some residential areas of Port-au-Prince, mostly for ransom.
22 May 2008
Nadia Lefebvre, a Canadian student working as a volunteer for the ‘Médecins du Monde’ Canada aid organisation, was kidnapped on Tuesday night in Port-au-Prince, reports Montreal’s La Presse newspaper. Lefebvre, 32, was abducted by unknown persons in the eastern Pétionville area of the Haitian capital. “She was onboard a car with the ‘Médecins du Monde’ logo”, the Haitian police officer Joean-Bénédict Libéral told La Presse. The young volunteer, a student at the Sherbrooke University, was in Port-au-Prince for a three months experience. “Her family has been contacted. We hope for a prompt and positive outcome”, said André Bertrand, head of the Canadian sector of the organisation. Abductions resumed in the past weeks, particularly in some residential areas of Port-au-Prince, mostly for ransom.
NORTH: ATTACK ON ARMY POST, MANY VICTIMS.
MISNA
22 May 2008
Twenty-seven people were killed in a rebel attack in Abeibara, in the extreme north of Mali, around 150km north of Kidal, according to the Defence ministry. “The minister informs the population that in the night between 20 and 21 May, the Abeibara army post was target of an attack by armed bandits that left 10 government soldiers dead and six wounded, while there were 17 deaths and 25 wounded on the assailants’ side”, indicates an official statement. Earlier reports referred that army posts in Abeibara were attacked by insurgents, including some men of the Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, protagonist of a new insurrection in northern Mali.
22 May 2008
Twenty-seven people were killed in a rebel attack in Abeibara, in the extreme north of Mali, around 150km north of Kidal, according to the Defence ministry. “The minister informs the population that in the night between 20 and 21 May, the Abeibara army post was target of an attack by armed bandits that left 10 government soldiers dead and six wounded, while there were 17 deaths and 25 wounded on the assailants’ side”, indicates an official statement. Earlier reports referred that army posts in Abeibara were attacked by insurgents, including some men of the Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, protagonist of a new insurrection in northern Mali.
SWAT VALLEY: GOVERNMENT AND TALIBAN REACH DEAL.
MISNA
22 May 2008
Government troops will gradually be withdrawn from the Valley of Swat, under a peace accord signed yesterday between the administration of the North West Frontier Province and the Taliban militants active in the area. The deal establishes that the Muslim militants can enforce the Sharia, Islamic law, in the region in exchange for assurances that they will cease attacks, allow girls to go to school and stop carrying weapons in public. It is the first accord for the cessation of hostilities in the north-western tribal areas reached by the new government.
22 May 2008
Government troops will gradually be withdrawn from the Valley of Swat, under a peace accord signed yesterday between the administration of the North West Frontier Province and the Taliban militants active in the area. The deal establishes that the Muslim militants can enforce the Sharia, Islamic law, in the region in exchange for assurances that they will cease attacks, allow girls to go to school and stop carrying weapons in public. It is the first accord for the cessation of hostilities in the north-western tribal areas reached by the new government.
21 May, 2008
CASAMANCE: REBELS AND ARMY CLASH.
MISNA
21 May 2008
At least two soldiers were killed after yesterday’s clashes between the Senegalese army and a group of armed men in Casamance, near the border with Gambia. Military sources said that the soldiers were involved in a routine operation in the Djibidione community to destroy some hemp fields, which are said to finance the rebel movements in the area. Armed men ambushed the soldiers in the village of Niassaran. Local newspapers said that the rebels then fled to the forest after the regular army sent reinforcements and inflicted heavy casualties. The armed men have been identified as the Movement of Democratic forces of Casamanche (MFDC). The region has witnessed a low intensity civil war that began in 1982 ending in 2004 after the signing of a peace accord between Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade and the chief of the MFDC Augustin Diamacoune Senghor. While, most of the MFDC has respected the accords, some dissidents become involved in sporadic attacks against the Senegalese army.
21 May 2008
At least two soldiers were killed after yesterday’s clashes between the Senegalese army and a group of armed men in Casamance, near the border with Gambia. Military sources said that the soldiers were involved in a routine operation in the Djibidione community to destroy some hemp fields, which are said to finance the rebel movements in the area. Armed men ambushed the soldiers in the village of Niassaran. Local newspapers said that the rebels then fled to the forest after the regular army sent reinforcements and inflicted heavy casualties. The armed men have been identified as the Movement of Democratic forces of Casamanche (MFDC). The region has witnessed a low intensity civil war that began in 1982 ending in 2004 after the signing of a peace accord between Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade and the chief of the MFDC Augustin Diamacoune Senghor. While, most of the MFDC has respected the accords, some dissidents become involved in sporadic attacks against the Senegalese army.
GOVERNMENT SEEKS DIALOGUE, PRIEST CONTRARY TO SANTA CRUZ AUTONOMY ATTACKED.
MISNA
21 May 2008
A “political reconciliation” to enable “the harmonisation of the new draft Constitution with the autonomist statutes of the departments”: this, in the intent of the government, is the objective of the dialogue convoked today in La Paz between the main political forces of the Parliament (ruling MAS, PODEMOS, UN and MNR in the opposition) by Vice President Álvaro García Linera. The conservative opposition however already announced that it would not participate to resume talks, but to pose its conditions for negotiations.
In an atmosphere of growing tension in Bolivia, after the victory of the ‘yes’ front in the May 4 referendum for the autonomy of the rich eastern department of Santa Cruz – declared illegal by the government – and ahead of a recall vote on the rule of the President and ‘prefectos’ (governors) of nine departments, Radio Erbol reports a violent episode denounced Sunday by Monsignor Carlos Stetter, Bishop of San Ignacio de Velasco, in the Santa Cruz region. According to the radio, the president of the ‘civic committee’ of San Ignacio, Carmelo Gómez, along with three collaborators and the ‘cacique’ (indigenous chief) Justo Mercado, on Saturday attacked and brutally beat a priest of the San Martín parish, in San Ignacio, Father Adalid Vega Veizaga. The priest was stopped on the street, violently beaten and left on the ground in a semi-conscious state, because contrary to the autonomy referendum and accused of campaigning for abstention from the vote. A formal report will be filed in the next hours against the attack, defined “abominable” by the‘defensor del pueblo’ Waldo Albarracín: “No one can commit this type of violent and illegal actions unpunished”, said Albarracín.
21 May 2008
A “political reconciliation” to enable “the harmonisation of the new draft Constitution with the autonomist statutes of the departments”: this, in the intent of the government, is the objective of the dialogue convoked today in La Paz between the main political forces of the Parliament (ruling MAS, PODEMOS, UN and MNR in the opposition) by Vice President Álvaro García Linera. The conservative opposition however already announced that it would not participate to resume talks, but to pose its conditions for negotiations.
In an atmosphere of growing tension in Bolivia, after the victory of the ‘yes’ front in the May 4 referendum for the autonomy of the rich eastern department of Santa Cruz – declared illegal by the government – and ahead of a recall vote on the rule of the President and ‘prefectos’ (governors) of nine departments, Radio Erbol reports a violent episode denounced Sunday by Monsignor Carlos Stetter, Bishop of San Ignacio de Velasco, in the Santa Cruz region. According to the radio, the president of the ‘civic committee’ of San Ignacio, Carmelo Gómez, along with three collaborators and the ‘cacique’ (indigenous chief) Justo Mercado, on Saturday attacked and brutally beat a priest of the San Martín parish, in San Ignacio, Father Adalid Vega Veizaga. The priest was stopped on the street, violently beaten and left on the ground in a semi-conscious state, because contrary to the autonomy referendum and accused of campaigning for abstention from the vote. A formal report will be filed in the next hours against the attack, defined “abominable” by the‘defensor del pueblo’ Waldo Albarracín: “No one can commit this type of violent and illegal actions unpunished”, said Albarracín.
THREE AID WORKERS ABDUCTED (4) “THEY ARE WELL”, FIRST CONTACT WITH KIDNAPPERS.
MISNA
21 May 2008
“The CINS (North-South Italian Cooperation) established a first contact with the three aid workers, who said they are well and have not suffered any type of violence. The director, Filippo Statuti, is on a flight to Nairobi, where he will land in the afternoon to follow the developments more closely”, reads a statement published on the internet site of the Italian non-governmental organisation, Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS). The statement, which expresses solidarity to the families of the three hostages, also confirms the reports that indicated a ‘traditional’ Somali kidnapping, i.e. for extortion purposes, excluding the involvement of any ‘politicised’ armed groups. Somali and Italian officials contacted by MISNA for the moment are not able to confirm the contact established with the kidnappers.
21 May 2008
“The CINS (North-South Italian Cooperation) established a first contact with the three aid workers, who said they are well and have not suffered any type of violence. The director, Filippo Statuti, is on a flight to Nairobi, where he will land in the afternoon to follow the developments more closely”, reads a statement published on the internet site of the Italian non-governmental organisation, Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS). The statement, which expresses solidarity to the families of the three hostages, also confirms the reports that indicated a ‘traditional’ Somali kidnapping, i.e. for extortion purposes, excluding the involvement of any ‘politicised’ armed groups. Somali and Italian officials contacted by MISNA for the moment are not able to confirm the contact established with the kidnappers.
Aziz Pahad: Zim stories fabricated.
News 24
20 May 2008
There was much fabricated information about the situation in Zimbabwe, deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday.
"I wish to express our concern that international media and the SA media is still dealing with Zimbabwe with information...(that) we don't know where it comes from, it's never checked with us.
"There is a lot of fabricated reports that are circulating both in the international media and in the SA media," he told reporters at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
An example of the latest reports circulated around the Chinese arms ship which was allegedly destined to drop off arms in Zimbabwe.
"All of these are fabrications, and yet nobody is indicating what is the source of this information. There may be other such fabrications and we believe at this very difficult time for Zimbabweans... there's enough to write about, without putting out absolutely fabricated events in Zimbabwe," he said.
What is the source?
Pahad said reports on the ship, and on relations between President Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe had "no basis in fact".
"Our concern is that if this is emerging from international reports, why is the SA media not following up as you must do in any situation, to check what is the source?," he asked.
He said that when he returned from China a while ago he had indicated that the ship was returning to China.
He said the reports were not "constructively critical".
SA had not received information about possible threats to Zimbabwean presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai's life.
"As you know Mr Tsvangirai was supposed to return to Zimbwabwe on 17 May, but did not return because of what is being reported in the media that there's security concerns and threats to assassinate him.
"We have not been given this information."
Find a political solution
Pahad said the SADC, of which SA was a member, would continue to enhance its presence in the presidential run-off.
"We as SADC heads determined at the extraordinary summit that our presence will be enhanced to ensure that the conditions for the presidential run-off are as good as it was at the March 29 elections and we will make our contribution to the SADC observer mission.
"We are concerned that the cycle of violence and counter violence (in Zimbabwe) could upset the substantial progress made prior to the 29 March elections."
It was important to find a political solution in Zimbabwe. Judging by reports education and other basic services had deteriorated sharply and inflation was a problem, Pahad said.
20 May 2008
There was much fabricated information about the situation in Zimbabwe, deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday.
"I wish to express our concern that international media and the SA media is still dealing with Zimbabwe with information...(that) we don't know where it comes from, it's never checked with us.
"There is a lot of fabricated reports that are circulating both in the international media and in the SA media," he told reporters at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
An example of the latest reports circulated around the Chinese arms ship which was allegedly destined to drop off arms in Zimbabwe.
"All of these are fabrications, and yet nobody is indicating what is the source of this information. There may be other such fabrications and we believe at this very difficult time for Zimbabweans... there's enough to write about, without putting out absolutely fabricated events in Zimbabwe," he said.
What is the source?
Pahad said reports on the ship, and on relations between President Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe had "no basis in fact".
"Our concern is that if this is emerging from international reports, why is the SA media not following up as you must do in any situation, to check what is the source?," he asked.
He said that when he returned from China a while ago he had indicated that the ship was returning to China.
He said the reports were not "constructively critical".
SA had not received information about possible threats to Zimbabwean presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai's life.
"As you know Mr Tsvangirai was supposed to return to Zimbwabwe on 17 May, but did not return because of what is being reported in the media that there's security concerns and threats to assassinate him.
"We have not been given this information."
Find a political solution
Pahad said the SADC, of which SA was a member, would continue to enhance its presence in the presidential run-off.
"We as SADC heads determined at the extraordinary summit that our presence will be enhanced to ensure that the conditions for the presidential run-off are as good as it was at the March 29 elections and we will make our contribution to the SADC observer mission.
"We are concerned that the cycle of violence and counter violence (in Zimbabwe) could upset the substantial progress made prior to the 29 March elections."
It was important to find a political solution in Zimbabwe. Judging by reports education and other basic services had deteriorated sharply and inflation was a problem, Pahad said.
20 May, 2008
Rwanda: Acquitted WFP Employee Still Held in Prison.
Hirondelle News Agency
19 May 2008
An employee of the World Food Programme (WFP), Jean Nepomuscene Munyagambe, acquitted of genocide charges at the beginning of April by the semi-traditional Gacaca court in Rwanda, is still being detained despite an order for his release, reports Hirondelle Agency.
Munyagambe, who was employed by WFP office in Chad, returned voluntarily to his country after having learned that he had been convicted in absentia to 18 years in prison for the murder of two women at a road block during of the 1994 genocide.
Imprisoned since his arrival on 3 January, the WFP employee appeared at the beginning of April before the gacaca court of Mbuye, Nyanza district, southern province. During the trial, to which representatives of several organizations for the defence of the human rights assisted, the charges against Munyagambe were rejected.
According to Hirondelle sources in Rwanda and outside especially, Munyagambe's colleagues who are anxious to see his return to Chad, the UN staff member was whisked back to the Mpanga prison despite his acquittal.
However, it has been learnt that a counter order was sent to the prison officials before the formalities could be accomplished.
The interception, according to a Rwandan source, is attributed to a person by the name of Beatrice Mukazi, who claims to be a victim of Munyagambe.
Differences within the gacaca judges in connection with Munyagambe's acquittal have surfaced and some judges wish that the accused appear before another appellate court, in Nyanza, to ensure that he was convicted.
19 May 2008
An employee of the World Food Programme (WFP), Jean Nepomuscene Munyagambe, acquitted of genocide charges at the beginning of April by the semi-traditional Gacaca court in Rwanda, is still being detained despite an order for his release, reports Hirondelle Agency.
Munyagambe, who was employed by WFP office in Chad, returned voluntarily to his country after having learned that he had been convicted in absentia to 18 years in prison for the murder of two women at a road block during of the 1994 genocide.
Imprisoned since his arrival on 3 January, the WFP employee appeared at the beginning of April before the gacaca court of Mbuye, Nyanza district, southern province. During the trial, to which representatives of several organizations for the defence of the human rights assisted, the charges against Munyagambe were rejected.
According to Hirondelle sources in Rwanda and outside especially, Munyagambe's colleagues who are anxious to see his return to Chad, the UN staff member was whisked back to the Mpanga prison despite his acquittal.
However, it has been learnt that a counter order was sent to the prison officials before the formalities could be accomplished.
The interception, according to a Rwandan source, is attributed to a person by the name of Beatrice Mukazi, who claims to be a victim of Munyagambe.
Differences within the gacaca judges in connection with Munyagambe's acquittal have surfaced and some judges wish that the accused appear before another appellate court, in Nyanza, to ensure that he was convicted.
19 May, 2008
AID AGENCY HEAD KILLED IN KISMAYO, CLASHES IN OTHER AREAS.
MISNA
19 May 2008
Unidentified masked gunmen shot and killed the director of Somalia’s top Horn Relief aid agency, Ahmed Bariyow, in Kismayo, third largest city of the nation. According to local sources, the aid worker was attacked on Saturday night outside his home; the motive and identity of the killers remain unclear for the moment. Kismayo, controlled by clan militias, was recently theatre to a string of murders of aid workers, including an attack in January that killed two aid workers from France and Kenya, and their Somali driver. Horn Relief works mainly with rural pastoral communities in the management of natural resources, health assistance and the promotion of peace and reconciliation. Meanwhile, another ambush against an Ethiopian military convoy, after one in Mogadishu that left seven dead, took place in the Lower Shabelle region. A civilian, three insurgents and four Ethiopian soldiers were killed in a gunbattle that erupted after the attack. The location of Harardhere in the central Mudug region was reportedly occupied by the ‘Shebab’ (youths), a militia linked to the ousted Islamic Courts.
19 May 2008
Unidentified masked gunmen shot and killed the director of Somalia’s top Horn Relief aid agency, Ahmed Bariyow, in Kismayo, third largest city of the nation. According to local sources, the aid worker was attacked on Saturday night outside his home; the motive and identity of the killers remain unclear for the moment. Kismayo, controlled by clan militias, was recently theatre to a string of murders of aid workers, including an attack in January that killed two aid workers from France and Kenya, and their Somali driver. Horn Relief works mainly with rural pastoral communities in the management of natural resources, health assistance and the promotion of peace and reconciliation. Meanwhile, another ambush against an Ethiopian military convoy, after one in Mogadishu that left seven dead, took place in the Lower Shabelle region. A civilian, three insurgents and four Ethiopian soldiers were killed in a gunbattle that erupted after the attack. The location of Harardhere in the central Mudug region was reportedly occupied by the ‘Shebab’ (youths), a militia linked to the ousted Islamic Courts.
US DRONE OPERATION CONFIRMED.
MISNA
May 16 2008
A Pakistani army investigation has confirmed that a US unmanned aircraft, a drone, did actually attack a home in the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border. The spokesman for the Pakistani army, general Athar Abbas, noted that US forces neither asked for permission to fly the drone, nor informed their allies before launching the attack. The Pakistani army has protested the attack “in the harshest possible terms”. The drone fired two missiles into a house were there was a meeting of so-called Taliban, killing 14 people; it is unclear whether or not there were civilians or even foreign militiamen, because the inhabitants did not allow journalists to enter. There was a similar attack in 2006, also in Damadola, to try to hit the then no.2 of “al-Qaida” Ayman al-Zawāhirī, which left 13 dead, including five militiamen according to military sources. The new Pakistani prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, described, on Pakistani television last night, as “wrong and improper”, while the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province said the action was a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. So far no formal protest has been sent by Pakistan to Washington, unlike president Pervez Musharraf, who did so, in 2006.
May 16 2008
A Pakistani army investigation has confirmed that a US unmanned aircraft, a drone, did actually attack a home in the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border. The spokesman for the Pakistani army, general Athar Abbas, noted that US forces neither asked for permission to fly the drone, nor informed their allies before launching the attack. The Pakistani army has protested the attack “in the harshest possible terms”. The drone fired two missiles into a house were there was a meeting of so-called Taliban, killing 14 people; it is unclear whether or not there were civilians or even foreign militiamen, because the inhabitants did not allow journalists to enter. There was a similar attack in 2006, also in Damadola, to try to hit the then no.2 of “al-Qaida” Ayman al-Zawāhirī, which left 13 dead, including five militiamen according to military sources. The new Pakistani prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, described, on Pakistani television last night, as “wrong and improper”, while the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province said the action was a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. So far no formal protest has been sent by Pakistan to Washington, unlike president Pervez Musharraf, who did so, in 2006.
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