11,600 PIGS SLAUGHTERED IN EGYPT, FARMERS IN BITTER FIGHT

The General Authority for Veterinary Services has executed and slaughtered 11,591 pigs out of 156,000 pigs nationwide.
 
The Ministry of Agriculture’s veterinary bodies are making investigation, in coordination with Alexandria Veterinary Medicine Directorate and security services, on the reasons for the presence of skins and heads of pigs in kilo 50 district on Alexandria-Cairo Desert Road amid speculation that the pigs were smuggled to many restaurants and shops in Alexandria or the surrounding areas.
 
The General Authority for Veterinary Services has intensified its campaigns on restaurants and kebab shops nationwide to investigate whether they deceive people and sell pork as another kind of meat.

Amin Abaza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, said it was decided to assign veterinarians to supervise the transport of pigs from the farms to slaughterhouses.

In a press statement yesterday, Abaza said it was decided to intensify security ambushes between provinces to prevent the smuggling of pigs.

In a related development, official sources with the Ministry of Agriculture have accused the Ministry of Environment of lack of cooperation to safely get rid of the slaughtered pigs.

Abaza has approved disbursing the funds needed to provide al-Kulj and Munib slaughterhouses at Qalyubia and Giza governorates with the necessary equipment for the slaughter of pigs.
 
The Principal Bank for Development and Agriculture Credit has approved to finance the compensation pigs farms’ owners from the LE30-million budget allocated by the state for the General Authority for Veterinary Services to slaughter pigs.
 
Hamid Samaha, Chairman of the General Authority for Veterinary Services, stressed that 145,962 pigs have not been slaughtered yet, adding that the process of slaughtering pigs will be quickest next week, especially after the Cabinet assigned the agencies concerned with closing the file of the random breeding of pigs to fight swine flu.

Animal care associations have criticized the government’s decision to slaughter and execute pigs. They stressed that they are not against slaughter, but against the so-called “random slaughter” of pigs.
 
The associations have called on the government to search for other alternative places having all health and veterinary requirements to protect public health and environment on the one hand, and to provide suitable life for pig in accordance with the international standards on the other hand.

In another context, the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare has criticized a society of animal welfare for exploiting religion and linking it to the policies of States to control epidemics, including

SOURCED FROM ASMAN AMRYAN

 

UN PEACEKEEPER SHOT DEAD IN DARFUR

An international peacekeeper has been shot dead in Sudan’s Darfur region, in an apparent bid to steal his car, the joint UN-African Union mission said.

He was shot outside his home on Thursday night in the south Darfur town of Nyala as he was parking his car, Unamid officials said.

Details of the dead man’s nationality and rank were not given.

Sudan announced earlier that it was inviting new aid groups to work in Darfur in a move welcomed by the UN.

It expelled 13 foreign aid groups in March after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

But on Thursday, the Minister for Humanitarian Assistance, Haroun Lual Ruun, said Khartoum would invite new non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to Darfur and allow UN agencies and NGOs currently operating there to “expand their existing operations”.

A number of gunmen attacked the peacekeeper, Unamid spokesman Kemal Saiki said.

His car was later found abandoned 7km from Nyala.

Rudolph Adada, the Unamid special representative, condemned the attack

“Attacks against peacekeepers are considered war crimes,” he said.

Before the latest killing, Unamid had suffered 34 deaths since it began operating in Darfur on 31 July 2007, its website records

As of 31 March, it had a total of 15,351 uniformed personnel on the ground plus 919 international civilian personnel.

SOURCED FROM BBC

CHARTING A NEW TREND IN CHRISTIANITY

Months and weeks of waiting have finally come down to a few hours, to coin a Latin phrase; time does indeed pass quickly. All around several Christ Embassy churches, announcements, publicity campaigns had inundated members on the upcoming event-Pastor Chris Online, weeks ahead of D-day.

However different from previous campaigns, there were neither large brightly lit banners nor posters for invited guests; everyone attending this landmark program will be attending electronically- an online guest. This revolutionary event intends to break the barriers of time, space and culture. In two hours, the President of Believers LoveWorld Inc. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome is expected to attend to the needs of an online audience that he’d not be seeing; it will be his first. He’d teach, preach, take questions and pray for the sick. He’d also most likely pray for the unconverted. Perhaps it wouldn’t be improbable if you concluded this to be the next phase of the charismatic movement – an internet evangelistic outreach.

The man at the center of this all isn’t new to ground breaking: in the 90’s his teaching and healing programs broadcast in his home country Nigeria attracted millions of viewers. Praying for the sick reading testimonies of the sick soon turned to be a prime time event on several local TV stations. Another first was the launch of the first Satellite TV Network to broadcast from Africa to the rest of the world; LoveWorld Christian NetWork [LCN] continues to record million of viewers worldwide. What about the use of chairs in outdoor crusades that over the years have had thousands and more recently millions in attendance?

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has never hidden his desire to capture an ever burgeoning internet audience. ‘The internet is the future of world evangelism’ he had pronounced years ago. Today Christ Embassy is deeply rooted and spinning its influence in the World Wide Web. Its website is hugely resourceful – Internet paraphernalia; DVD’s, newsletters, podcasts, e-books, etc inundates its site and ensures that first time visitors are hooked and can’t wait for a second look-in.

There is huge expectation and excitement amongst members who are unanimous that the online event will mirror the ministry’s previous successes. Social networking sites are already being bombarded with notices, invites, ads; groups and blogs are being formed, all for this historic event. Suddenly with millions of eyes on desktops, laptops and palmtops visual display screens and eager fingers caressing mouses and touchpads, a click away could guarantee a change of destiny for millions of lives.

GOING TO SCHOOL ON EMPTY STOMACHS

To coin a phrase, teach a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. ‘Please brother lap me (Carry me)’ a big eyed young boy appealed to me at the busy Oshodi bus stop this morning. Unfortunately I denied his request. I asked him to sit down next to me. ‘Pelumi’ that’s the boy’s name. A primary 5 student at St Francis primary school, Maryland in Lagos was on his way to school; sadly without the luxury of a school bus, worse still, no transport fare. He was on his way to school-hitch hiking.

Transport fares have more than doubled in Lagos following 3 weeks of fuel shortage. The time was 8.43 A.M, more than half an hour after the first school period had began. I asked Pelumi if this was usual. His response was disheartening. Every morning ‘uncle please lap me’ had become the bus ticket to school. The only difference today was his guardian had upset him, so without her usual hand to steer him through the traffic and her better accustomed pleading voice to ease accessing a ‘ticket’ on time, he had ‘vamoosed’ from home.

I offered Pelumi a counselling lesson on the consequences of vamoosing from his guardian. The sober lad looked at me nodding his clean shaven head. ‘But she hadn’t given me any money for food’. I look down at his lap, a withered black polythene bag held his breakfast and lunch for the day-two buns, alarmingly insufficient for pre-lunch snack. Pelumi’s is an orphan looked after by his grandmother; his surrogate parent’s income comes from petty trading, hardly enough to cater for the family. I sat still picturing living on hand-outs from childhood up-until adulthood- Rembrandt couldn’t have done a bleaker portrait. The young lad had waited at the bus stop for more than an hour before help came his way. The average Lagos resident is sadly and rapidly towing the frugal line of no charity-years of insecurity, neglect and debilitating economic conditions and superstition have dried many bowels of mercy-awoof (freebies) is sought after earnestly like the golden fleece. It’s suspicion first before consideration.

I paid for his lunch and watched him disembark from the bus; he waved over and over again, as he walked gingerly to school. I envied his enthusiasm and prayed for more blissful days for young head. Mathematics and dictation he said were his favourite subjects in school. But then I shuddered when I realised that it was indeed a thin line between juvenile delinquency and public school education in Nigeria. I don’t mean to sound pessimistic but think of the many children who flood bus-stops without transport fares, who go hungry to school. How many of us spoilt brats have cried all day long, sulking because someone forgot lunch box and water bottles were filled with water instead of coke. With no incentive and motivation, hunger and unending hitch hiking would buoy Nigeria’s 10 million children out of school population.

Lagos state is doing a momentous job in providing free Universal basic education. But it wouldn’t be too much in aping the philosophy of the Scandinavia that thrived in the 19^th century-for if you feed the hungry then 90% of the job’s been taken care of. Let’s start feeding the children again, let’s give them the dignity of a bus seat for it wouldn’t be wise to let these cookies crumble uneaten

Aghogho, CONNECTAFRICA

S. AFRICAN FOREIGN POLICY SHOULD FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHT: HRW

A leading rights watchdog urged South Africa’s new government on Friday to restore the country’s image by putting human rights at the centre of its foreign policy. South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy and a diplomatic heavyweight, has come under fire for taking a soft line on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and countries such as Sudan and Myanmar accused of widespread rights abuses.

President-elect Jacob Zuma has taken a hard line on Zimbabwe as leader of the ruling African National Congress in contrast to former President Thabo Mbeki. Georgette Gagnon, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), urged Zuma in a letter to seize on the opportunity to help introduce democratic reforms in Zimbabwe as the new unity government tries to rebuild the ruined country.

She said Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party was still carrying out abuses such as politically motivated prosecutions of opponents and had failed to investigate allegations of torture. “With new leadership in South Africa there is great expectation for a rebalancing of policy towards South Africa using its moral, political and economic authority and leadership in southern Africa to promote respect for human rights, good governance and democracy in Zimbabwe,” HRW said in the letter, released to the media.

In recent years, including a two-year stint as a U.N. Security Council member, South Africa sided with some of the world’s worst human rights abusers, Gagnon wrote. Critics say South Africa, which holds itself up as a model of democracy and human rights after decades of apartheid, has damaged its image with its foreign policy.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

DAM PLOT IN MOZAMBIQUE DENIED

One of four people held in Mozambique on suspicion of sabotaging the hydro-electric Cahora Bassa dam has said they did not intend to destroy it. The foreigners are accused of putting a corrosive chemical in the turbines. “We were throwing into the water what we believe could bring positive energy to the region,” Carlos da Silva said.

The wife of another detainee told the BBC the substance was “orgonite”. Proponents of orgone energy say it is a life force with healing properties. In an e-mail to the BBC, Friederike Ritschl said her husband Georg, who is German, and his three companions – from Portugal, South Africa and Botswana – had been held for more than two weeks.

She said they were part of project called Orgonise Africa, which, according to its website, has undertaken “countless orgone healing expeditions” in Africa since 2002. Portuguese detainee Carlos da Silva told journalists in north-west Songo district that tests so far had revealed nothing “toxic”. “We came here with good intentions. ”
Detainee Carlos da Silva

“We were arrested by the police on suspicion of terrorism, something we find incredible,” he said. “We came here with good intentions. Maybe we should have contacted the local authorities before,” he conceded. But Deputy Interior Minister Jose Mandra says the four suspects will remain in custody until the investigations have been completed.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

SUDAN HARON WANTED BY ICC, TO HEAD KEY REGION

Sudan has chosen Ahmed Haroun, wanted by the International Criminal Court on Darfur war crimes charges, as governor of a sensitive north-south border province that contains key oil fields, state media said on Friday. State news agency SUNA said President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had named Haroun to lead the province of South Kordofan, which includes the contested border town of Abyei, site of clashes between northern and southern armies last year.

A spokesman for the former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement had no immediate comment on the move, saying the appointment was Khartoum’s to make. North and south Sudan, whose conflict is separate from the ongoing violence in Darfur in Sudan’s west, have had a troubled relationship since signing a peace deal in 2005 to end two decades of civil war.

The International Crisis Group think tank said in October the peace deal was at risk in South Kordofan, which had “many of the same ingredients” that sparked the conflict in Darfur. Scores of people were killed and more than 50,000 displaced last year when northern and southern armies clashed in Abyei. Both north Sudan and the country’s semi-autonomous south claim the town. At stake is control over nearby oilfields and a pipeline funnelling crude to Sudan’s Red Sea coast.

Sudan says it produces 500,000 barrels of oil a day, a figure which it hopes to raise to 600,000 in 2009.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

13 DIE IN GUINEA’S GOLD MINE ACCIDENT

At least 13 people in Guinea have died and five are badly injured after a gold mine they were working in caved in. Guinea’s information minister said 10 people remained unaccounted for. The BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says the area around Siguiri town, some 600km (372 miles) north of the capital, Conakry, is rich in gold deposits.

They are mined by giant multi-national firms and by members of the local population, who often take big risks in their search for gold, he says. In some cases, people descend as deep as 70m without protection or protective gear, our correspondent adds.

Information minister Justin Morel Junior made the announcement on state television on Thursday night, but did not give further details about the incident. He said a joint defence and security team had been sent to the scene by the village of Marella, near Siguiri, to investigate.

SOURCED FROM BBC

CHADIAN TROOPS KILLED 125 REBELS, ADVANCE HALTED

Chadian troops halted an attempted rebel advance on the capital N’Djamena on Thursday after a fierce battle in the east of the country in which 125 rebel forces were killed, the government said. Chad accused neighbouring Sudan earlier this week of sending armed groups into the east, close to the shared border of the two oil-producing countries, an accusation Khartoum denies.

“We’ve managed to put a stop to the wanderings of the mercenaries,” interim Defence Minister Adoum Younousmi told a news conference about an hour-long battle in which 21 government troops were also killed. The battle took place in the town of Am-Dam, around 100 km (65 miles) inside Chad’s eastern border with Sudan, Chadian officials told the news conference in the capital N’Djamena.

The tensions come days after the two neighbours on Monday struck a deal to halt violence and refrain from using force to resolve their conflicts. Both have long accused each other of supporting insurgent groups inside their territories. Chad and Sudan resumed shaky diplomatic ties in November after cutting them in May. Khartoum had accused Chadian President Idriss Deby of involvement in an attack on the Sudanese capital by Darfur rebels on May 11, 2008.

Asked to comment on implications of the latest clash with rebels for Chad’s ties with Sudan, Interior and Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told the same news conference only: “The government will draw all the consequences of it.”

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

PRESIDENT KAGAME: RWANDA NEEDS TRADES NOT AID

Rwanda can beat poverty by exporting more and boosting tourism, and poor nations should not rely on aid to improve their economies, President Paul Kagame wrote in an article in the Financial Times on Friday. Entrepreneurship and trade were the ways to achieve greater prosperity, he wrote.

Aid has often failed to meet its objectives, he said, rarely dealing with the underlying issues of poverty and weak societies. “Often aid has left recipient populations unstable, distracted and more dependent,” Kagame wrote. “Do not get me wrong. We appreciate support from the outside, but it should be support for what we intend to achieve ourselves.

“Unfortunately, it seems that many still believe they can solve the problems of the poor with sentimentality and promises of massive infusions of aid, which often do not materialise,” he wrote. “We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.”

Entrepreneurship will best help Rwanda attempt to increase its gross domestic product by seven times over a generation, he added. He said Rwanda had grounds to be optimistic despite its geography, recent conflict, lack of natural resources, little specialised infrastructure and low historical investment in education.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS