14 KILLED IN EASTERN CONGO’S ATTACK

Rwandan Hutu rebels killed at least 14 people in a raid on an isolated village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, United Nations radio and a local official said on Wednesday. Rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) attacked Congolese army positions in Myanga around 100 km (64 miles) west of the provincial capital, Goma, before dawn on April 12, they said.

“They fired on the soldiers but also on the civilians. Four (villagers) were killed, including women and children. The village chief was taken hostage, and his throat was cut in the bush,” local administrator Dieudonne Tshishiku, told Reuters. News of the incident did not reach authorities until days later due to Myanga’s isolated location and lack of communications, Tshishiku said.

U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi, quoting a local civil society coordinator, said at least 10 soldiers were killed in the attack. Congolese army officials said a team had been sent to Myanga to investigate but declined to give any death toll. Congolese soldiers and troops from neighbouring Rwanda launched a joint operation in January against the FDLR rebels, who are seen as a root cause of 15 years of festering conflict in eastern of Congo.

But following a Rwandan pullout a month later, the mainly Hutu rebels have stepped up reprisals against civilians and retaken ground they lost during the offensive. Witnesses said FDLR rebels

killed at least eight people and torched hundreds of homes in two villages about 180 km (110 miles) north of Goma last weekend.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

UN SEEKS100-DAY PLAN, FUNDS TO RESTORE PEACE TO SOMALIA

The United Nations hopes a 100-day plan will be agreed at a conference on Thursday to help Somalia build up security forces and restore stability after nearly two decades of anarchy. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. special representative for Somalia, said in an interview he hoped the international donors meeting in Brussels would provide a clear plan to combat the east African country’s problems as well as urgent funding.

Organisers say at least $165 million is needed to improve security in Somalia, which has functioned without a central government since 1991 and is mired in conflict. Piracy has also become a big threat to international shipping off its coast. “We have to start by being determined to help Somalia, to signal that it is no longer business as usual,” Ould-Abdallah told Reuters late on Tuesday.

He hoped for agreement on “what can we do in the next 100 days to help the new government … through concrete support in the area of security … in the development area, by giving young people a job and by providing assistance”. “This has to be done quickly and in a time frame which strengthens the new government,” he said. “We expect it to happen after this conference.”

The conference will be hosted by the European Commission and chaired by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairman Jean Ping. The EU promised on Wednesday to provide at least 60 million euros to help Somalia.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel leader, was elected in January at U.N.-brokered talks and is widely seen as the best hope for restoring stability.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

DON’T PAY RANSOM TO PIRATES: SOMALI PM

Somalia’s prime minister said on Wednesday that foreign navies patrolling off Somalia’s coast have failed to discourage piracy “an inch” and condemned firms paying ransoms to sea gangs hijacking ships. Somali buccaneers have made millions of dollars seizing vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and have driven up insurance rates for merchant ships passing through the waterways linking Europe to Asia.

“The only reason people (become pirates) is because the companies are deciding to pay ransoms,” Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told reporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. “That is what encouraged several young kids to go into the waters. Our policy has always been ‘don’t pay ransoms’,” said the Western-educated son of an assassinated former president.

Sharmarke’s government is trying to quell an Islamist-led insurgency onshore that has displaced one million people and killed thousands. But international attention has focused on pirates operating in the strategic sea routes. Organisers of a donors’ meeting in Brussels this week say the transitional government needs $165 million over the next year to build its security forces.

Sharmarke said foreign navies patrolling Somalia’s coastline have not been able to stem the sea gangs. There were 18 pirate attacks in March alone, the International Maritime Bureau says. “They (the navies) have not discouraged (the pirates) an inch. The only way out is to have a Somali security force on the ground that can prevent piracy before it happens,” he said.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

FBI TO HELP INVESTIGATE BURUNDI ACTIVIST MURDER

U.S. FBI agents will help investigate the murder of a Burundi anti-graft activist, a statement by the U.S. embassy in the central African state said. Ernest Manirumva, deputy chairman of a Burundi corruption watchdog known as OLUCOME, was killed two weeks ago by unidentified men who stabbed him in the head.

“The United States accepted to offer the government of Burundi the assistance of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in gathering evidence and identifying the persons responsible for this terrible crime,” the statement said.

FBI personnel based in Nairobi will travel to Bujumbura for the investigation, said the statement, seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The European Union has deplored the killing of Manirumva and urged Burundi’s government to launch an independent inquiry.

OLUCOME, often critical of Burundi authorities, targets allegations of bribery in government and business. Its latest report said 24 billion francs was lost in 2008 through corruption and unfair tendering process, in which state officials were involved.

The body says 236 billion francs were lost in the past five years through thousands of corruption and embezzlement cases.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

KENYA WELCOMES SUDAN’S BASHIR DESPITE WARRANT

Ethiopia greeted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with a full state reception on Tuesday at the start of his latest trip abroad in defiance of an international arrest warrant. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the warrant for the Sudanese leader last month, charging him with masterminding war crimes in Darfur in western Sudan.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi met Bashir at the airport, where a band played as he left his plane and Sudanese living in Ethiopia cheered his arrival. “Sudan is our immediate neighbour,” Meles told reporters after talks with Bashir in Addis Ababa. “Our relationship is not affected by the indictment.”

Bashir has visited Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia since the ICC issued the arrest warrant. “(The warrant) will not affect the movement or activities of the president or any other Sudanese official,” Bashir told reporters, adding that the indictment was positive for Sudan because of support from the African Union and the Arab League.

The African Union, whose base is in Addis Ababa, says the warrant is likely to compromise peace efforts in Darfur and the 53-member organisation wants the indictment deferred. Western diplomats in the Ethiopian capital are boycotting a state dinner in Bashir’s honour but the majority of African ambassadors will attend.

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OBASANJO URGES PEACEFUL SA POLLS

The head of the AU’s observer team to the South African elections former Nigerian President Obasanjo has urged voters to cast their ballots in a peaceful manner and desist from any acts of violence. He hoped this year’s elections will be a beacon of democracy, not only for SA, but the continent as a whole.

“We would like to see the elections conducted in a democratic manner, where every registered voter will have a chance to cast his/her ballot,” said Obasanjo.

South Africans head to the polls today, to elect their leader in the forth democratic elections since the fall of the apartheid regime.

Observers have termed this year’s elections as a hotly contested exercise since the fall of apartheid in 1994 in which the ruling party, the African National Congress headed by Jacob Zuma faces a tough opposition from the Democratic Alliance and its break-away COPE.

The elections also come at a time when South Africa faces dire challenges of an economic meltdown, sky rocketing poverty, political violence and the infamous HIV/Aids epidemic. The southern African country witnessed acts of xenophobic violence meted out at African foreign nations a year ago.

Obasanjo has also called for a huge voter turnout, saying that he would like to see an 80 percent voter turnout in this year’s elections.

“It is a pity that in some countries, less than 50% of voters cast their ballots. We hope that South African youth, particularly will see the need to vote for a new leader.

On his perceptions towards Jacob Zuma, who the opinion polls have predicted as the next South African leader, Obasanjo steered clear from expressing his views on Zuma’s personality. He instead hailed Zuma as a popular leader and a Pan-African.

“We know Zuma as a popular leader who is also down to earth. Such attributes are important for any African leader. We all know that there are many things that people say about their leaders, both in their favour and against; but what is important is the leader’s focus.”

Obasanjo, also a former AU chairman said that the million dollar question that every South African should be asking now is, ‘Is the leader we are electing a man of vision? Can he/she be trusted to further improve our living standards? Can he dream realistic dreams and actualise those dreams?’

SOURCED FROM AFRICAN NEWS

FINANCE MINISTER: SOUTH AFRICA WON’T FAIL UNDER ZUMA

South Africa will not fail and the economy will stay rational under the leadership of Jacob Zuma, likely to become president after Wednesday’s general election, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday.

Manuel, respected by investors for his pro-business policies, also reiterated in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, published on Wednesday that he was willing to serve in a new government after the vote, which should return the ruling ANC to power.

Investors fear Zuma could steer the economy towards the Left to please powerful labour unions and the Communist party which helped him secure victory against former President Thabo Mbeki in a bruising battle for leadership of the ANC in December 2007.

“I know he is a man of great capacity, who loves to succeed and won’t push himself and South Africa into failure,” Il Sole 24 Ore quoted Manuel, who was an ally of Mbeki, as saying. Commenting on fears that Zuma could change South Africa’s economic policy with or without Manuel in government, the finance minister added:

“It is an open question. It is very important for South Africa not to isolate itself. Our economy won’t become ideological, it will stay rational.”

“All over the world, we are all fighting for rationality. In Brazil, for example, President (Luiz Inacio) Lula (da Silva) continues to make the economy grow and at the same time is tackling poverty. Taking the bull by the horns is exactly what we want to do too in South Africa.”

The ANC’s leftist allies have criticised fiscal and monetary policy under Manuel and central bank Governor Tito Mboweni, saying they have done little to improve the lives of millions of South Africans still grappling with poverty and unemployment 15 years after the end of apartheid.

Manuel is fourth on the ANC’s list of candidates for parliament, a strong indication that he is likely to be included in government, and he reiterated his willingness to serve in the new administration during the newspaper interview.

“You cannot do this job forever. The new president will decide but I would not have put myself forward if I wasn’t ready to continue serving,” said Manuel, who has been South Africa’s finance minister since 1996.

SOURCED FRO REUTERS

SOUTH AFRICANS VOTE IN HARD ORDEAL FOR ANC

South Africans voted on Wednesday in an election that poses the toughest test for the ruling African National Congress since apartheid ended 15 years ago. The ruling party is virtually assured a fourth straight win since defeating white minority rule under Nelson Mandela in 1994, and parliament is expected to vote ANC leader Jacob Zuma president after the ballot.

But the ANC faces an unprecedented challenge from opposition parties hoping to capitalise on voter frustration over corruption, poverty and rampant crime, and could lose the two-thirds majority that gives it the right to change the constitution and entrench its power further.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) with just over 23 million people eligible to vote in national and provincial elections in Africa’s biggest economy. Voters began queuing before dawn.

Many analysts believe the ANC, whose anti-apartheid credentials make it the choice for millions of black voters, will win between 60 and 66 percent of the vote, a result that would cheer investors keen to see the ANC’s grip on power loosened.

One key challenge to the ANC comes from a new party formed by those loyal to former President Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted by the ANC amid allegations he meddled in a corruption case against Zuma. The charges were dropped on a technicality.

The first credible black opposition to the ANC, the Congress of the People party (COPE) appears to have some support among South Africa’s growing black middle class, but has faltered as it struggles to win over the poor majority.

Polls close at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) and first results are expected to start trickling in late on Wednesday night.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

CAPTURED SOMALI TEENAGE PIRATE APPEARS IN COURT

A Somali teenager captured by the US during the rescue of an American sea captain from pirates has appeared in a federal court in New York. The judge briefly closed the trial to the public until he had clarified whether Abde Wale Abdul Kadhir Muse was a juvenile as his mother claimed.

The judge re-opened the trial, saying the suspect would be tried as an adult. The teenager will be the first person to face piracy charges in the US in over a century, US media reports say. He cried at the hearing on Tuesday, Associated Press news agency reported.

Earlier, his mother appealed to US President Barack Obama to free him. Adar Abdurahman Hassan told the BBC her son was innocent and just 16 years old. The teenager is accused of being a member of the pirate gang which boarded the Maersk Alabama container ship on 8 April and took Capt Richard Phillips hostage in a lifeboat.

SOURCED FROM BBC

NELSON MANDELA SET TO VOTE IN SA POLLS

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela is set to cast his vote in South Africa’s democratic polls. The nonagenarian foremost ANC leader will be casting his vote in Houghton , Johannesburg

Mandela will be joining millions of South Africa’s in exercising their voting rights in South Africa’s fourth democratic elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. ANC leader and standard bearer, Jacob Zuma will be casting his vote in the Kwazulu Natal province. elections are expected to be the most competitive in South Africa’s political history.

The ruling ANC – led by Jacob Zuma – is expected to win, but it could lose its two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the constitution.

Its rivals include a party which split from the ANC last year and the official opposition Democratic Alliance.

The Independent Electoral Commission says it expects a high turnout.

Some 20,000 polling stations are being used for the more than 23 million registered voters.

Many voters arrived hours before polling stations opened – some wrapped in blankets, others in coats, scarves and hats.

While she was queuing to vote, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille told the BBC that South Africans needed to “stop Zuma to save the constitution”.

“He’s a one-man constitutional wrecking machine and what he says and what he does are two different things,” she said.

The alliance has repeatedly suggested Mr Zuma wants to change the constitution to protect officials from prosecution – claims he has denied.

Before the vote, Mr Zuma said the emergence of the opposition Congress of the People (Cope) had “re-energised” the ANC.

SOURCED FROM BBC