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  • ‘WWIII Queen’s speech’ script revealed

    {{The Queen was expected to urge Britons to pray and remain united and resolute in the event of the “madness” of nuclear war, papers from 1983 show.}}

    The script for a hypothetical broadcast has the monarch describing the threat to the “brave country” as “greater” than any other in history.

    It also mentions the Queen’s son Prince Andrew, then in the Royal Navy.

    The speech, devised by Whitehall officials at one of the most fraught Cold War periods, was never recorded.

    The document, released by the government under the 30-year rule, was drawn up as part of a war-gaming exercise in the spring of 1983, which worked through potential scenarios.

    {{‘Madness of war’}}

    Among the other pieces of history released from the archives on Thursday were:

    Margaret Thatcher blocked a 21-year-old William Hague from a potential job as a Treasury adviser, saying his appointment would be a “gimmick” and could prove “an embarrassment”

    The then British PM secretly wanted the Army to move coal around the UK in the event of a miners’ strike

    Government officials considered deliberately flooding Essex and Kent to prevent London being swamped by a tidal surge as it waited for the Thames Barrier to be completed

    The UK sent a laser weapon designed to “dazzle” Argentine pilots during the Falklands war

    A senior government official had urged Mrs Thatcher to seek out a fertile female panda for London Zoo before a visit to China in 1982.

    Although it was only a simulation, the text of the Queen’s address – written as if broadcast at midday on Friday 4 March 1983 – seeks to prepare the country for the ordeal of World War III.

    The script, which starts off by referring to the Queen’s traditional Christmas address, reads: “The horrors of war could not have seemed more remote as my family and I shared our Christmas joy with the growing family of the Commonwealth.

    “Now, this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds.

    “I have never forgotten the sorrow and the pride I felt as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set listening to my father’s [George VI’s] inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939 [at the start of the World War II].

    “Not for a single moment did I imagine that this solemn and awful duty would one day fall to me.

    “But whatever terrors lie in wait for us all, the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength.”

    Striking a personal note, the script continues: “My husband and I share with families up and down the land the fear we feel for sons and daughters, husbands and brothers who have left our side to serve their country.

    “My beloved son Andrew is at this moment in action with his unit and we pray continually for his safety and for the safety of all servicemen and women at home and overseas.

    “It is this close bond of family life that must be our greatest defence against the unknown.

    “If families remain united and resolute, giving shelter to those living alone and unprotected, our country’s will to survive cannot be broken.”

    The speech concludes by saying the Queen’s message to the nation was “simple”.

    {{‘New evil’}}

    It adds: “As we strive together to fight off the new evil, let us pray for our country and men of goodwill wherever they may be. God Bless you all.

    In the war-gaming exercise, Orange bloc forces – representing the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies – launch a chemical weapon attack on the UK.

    Blue forces – representing Nato – retaliate with a “limited-yield” nuclear strike, forcing Orange to initiate a peace process.

    The exercise came in the year that US President Ronald Reagan both enraged and alarmed Moscow with his denunciation of the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”, his plans for a “Star Wars” ballistic missile shield in space, and the deployment of US nuclear cruise missiles to Europe – including to RAF Greenham Common.

    Tensions increased when the Soviets shot down a South Korean airliner that strayed into their airspace, killing all 269 on board.

    A Nato military exercise, codenamed Able Archer, then nearly triggered an actual conflict with the Soviet leadership apparently convinced it was cover for a genuine attack.

    The Soviet Union and the US later negotiated a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons, as the Cold War came to an end.

    adapted from BBC

  • Gaddafi minister Ahmed Ibrahim sentenced to death

    {{A former minister in the government of Muammar Gaddafi has been sentenced to death for his role in repressing protests in the 2011 rebellion.}}

    A court in the Libyan city of Misrata found Ahmed Ibrahim guilty of undermining national security and plotting to kill civilians.

    A judge said Ibrahim urged residents in the town of Sirte to fight the rebels.

    He was condemned to execution by firing squad.

    It is the first known death sentence given to a member of the former government’s inner-circle.

    Ibrahim was captured in Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte and is a distant relative of the former leader, our correspondent says.

    He served as minister of education and information in the 1980s and Libyans know him as the man who banned the English language from school curricula for a decade, she adds.

    Ibrahim was also a high-ranking member of the much feared “revolutionary committees” – groups of regime loyalists who enforced Gaddafi’s power.

    During the 2011 uprising that toppled the government, he was head of a centre that studied the former leader’s Green Book, an ideological ruling manifesto loosely based on socialism.

    Reports say Wednesday’s ruling by a criminal court in Misrata must be confirmed by Libya’s supreme court.

    Libyan authorities are keen to see Gaddafi’s family and loyalists punished for their support of his 42-year rule, but human rights activists have raised concerns about whether legal proceedings meet international standards.

    The most senior regime member yet to face justice is Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who is due to go on trial in August.

  • ‘Oil threat’ to DR Congo’s Virunga National Park

    {{The conservation group WWF is calling on a UK-based company to abandon its plans to explore for oil in Africa’s oldest national park.}}

    The charity says Soco International’s proposals could put the Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at risk.

    The park is home to more than 3,000 different kinds of animals, including endangered mountain gorillas.

    Soco denied that its activities threatened the environment of the park.

    The company said it was currently only evaluating the resources there.

    ‘Gone for good’
    In a report, WWF says the exploitation of oil concessions in the park, which is a World Heritage Site, could cause widespread pollution and environmental damage, as well as create conflict.

    “Once you turn it into an oil field you sell it once and it’s gone for good. It’s going to get destroyed, polluted – the beauty of it will go to waste,” said Raymond Lumbuenamo, country director for WWF-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    Soco is the only company of its kind working in Virunga after France’s Total said it would not do so.

    WWF says instead of oil exploration, sustainable activities such as hydropower generation, fishing and ecotourism, should be developed.

    The Virunga National Park, which contains lakes, forests, savannah and volcanoes, was founded in 1925 by King Albert I of Belgium.

    It is home to some 200 endangered mountain gorillas, according to its website.

    The International Gorilla Conservation Programme says there are currently 880 mountain gorillas in the world.

    Tourism in Virunga is currently suspended due to insecurity in the region, with armed groups continuing to operate.

    BBC

  • Somali Suspects FOund Guilty of Piracy

    {{Kenyan court in the coastal city of Mombasa sentenced nine Somalis to five years in prison each for attempting to hijack the German merchant vessel MV Courier in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009.}}

    The men were arrested by international anti-piracy forces before being handed over to Kenya to be prosecuted, as Somalia was not considered able to try them properly.

    Although the number of attacks has fallen markedly since 2011 thanks to tougher security aboard ships and increased Western naval patrols, piracy emanating from the Horn of Africa nation may still cost the world economy about $18bn a year, the World Bank said in April.

    Prosecutors told the court on Tuesday the men attacked the ship armed with a rocket launcher, an AK-47 rifle, a pistol, a SAR80 carbine rifle, and other weapons.

    “The suspects used violence to hijack the vessel, and took control of it, putting in fear the lives of those aboard,” prosecutors said in the charge sheet.

    Kenyan officials said 18 crew on board survived the ordeal.The nine suspects were held in custody at one of Kenya’s maximum security prisons during the trial period. They all denied the accusations.

    While handing out the sentence, the court noted that the accused had already served a long term in jail while the trial was in progress, and therefore were given shorter jail terms.

    “I am satisfied with the evidence presented by the prosecution, which proves beyond reasonable doubt that an act of piracy was committed,” judge Stephen Riech said. Riech ordered the nine to be deported to Somalia after serving their sentences.

    Last month another nine Somalis were handed a similar sentence at the same court, after also being found guilty of hijacking a ship in the Gulf of Aden in 2010.

    Source: Agencies

  • US Spy Chiefs Admit Tapping Americans

    {{President Barack Obama’s national security has team acknowledged for the first time that it has the ability to read the phone records of millions of Americans while looking for just one terrorism suspect.}}

    Appearing before the Senate judiciary committee, John Inglis, the NSA’s deputy director, conceded that his agents can track the telephone activities of millions of Americans while searching for one terrorism suspect, but said that agents “try to be judicious” in their searches.

    The Obama administration has previously stated that such records are rarely searched and, when they are, officials target only suspected foreign terrorists.

    The searches described to the judiciary committee hinge on the “chain” analysis of information gathered on telephone communications. When the NSA identifies a suspect, it can look not just at their phone records, but also the records of everyone they call, everyone who calls those people and everyone who calls those people.

    If the average person called 40 people, the analysis would allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million Americans when investigating one suspect. The NSA conducted 300 such searches last year.

    The Democratic senator, Dick Durbin, said: “So what has been described as a discrete programme, to go after people who would cause us harm, when you look at the reach of this programme, it envelopes a substantial number of Americans.”

    “We are open to re-evaluating this programme in ways that can perhaps provide greater confidence and public trust that this is in fact a programme that achieves both privacy protections and national security,” Robert Litt, counsel to the director of National Intelligence, told the judiciary committee.

    wirestory

  • Mugabe Beats Tsvangirai

    A senior source in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party claimed a resounding victory in Wednesday’s parliamentary and presidential election against Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

    “We’ve taken this election. We’ve buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win,” the source, who could not be named, told Reuters by phone on Thursday.

    Releasing results early in Zimbabwe is illegal, and police have said they will arrest anybody who makes premature claims about the result.

    reuters

  • Rwandan Killed in London

    ANNOUNCEMENT

    Dear Rwandese Community in London and Friends of the community,

    It is with great regret and sadness that I inform you of the passing away of our Sister, Friend and an active member of the community, Ms. Linah Keza.

    Further information and updates will be communicated to you through various mediums such as emails, facebook and text messages as we receive it.

    Best regards

    Patrice Gateja Shema

    Chairman

    Rwandese Community-London

    Linah Keza

  • Juba Releases Ugandan Journalists

    Two Ugandan journalists who were arrested and detained in South Sudan at the weekend have been released but banned from entering the country.

    Mr Justin Dralaze and Mr Hilary Ayesiga were arrested and detained at the National Security headquarters in Juba on grounds that they were filming key government and security facilities without authorisation.

    According Mr Asan Kasingye, the Director of Interpol, the duo is scheduled to fly to Kampala Wednesday evening.

    The government Tuesday ordered its embassy in South Sudan to secure the release of the two journalists.

    The journalists who are attached to the China-based CCTV were reportedly working on a project in South Sudan.

    South Sudan has remained under curfew after President Salva Kiir sacked his Vice President Riek Machar and the entire Cabinet.

    NMG

  • Nigeria Withdraws Peacekeeping Troops from Mali

    {{Nigeria has prefered not to comment on the ongoing speculation that it is withdrawing its peacekeeping troops from Mali because it lost command of the Peacekeeping Forces to Rwanda.}}

    Rwanda’s Gen Kazura Jean Bosco trounced other contenders to assume command of the new Peacekeeping force established in Mali.

    Meanwhile Allasane Ouattara, President of Cote d’Ivoire, Authority of Heads of State and Government and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) confirmed this move in Abuja where he refuted the speculations that Nigeria was withdrawing some of its troops because it had lost command of its peacekeeping forces to Rwanda.

    Nigeria is now ready to remove some of its troops from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), a part of the group that were transformed from AFISMA.

    President Ouattara confirmed the receipt of a letter from President Jonathan declaring that the reason for the withdrawal of the Nigerian troops from Mali was precipitated by a domestic need. According to the letter from President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria needs some of its people, and the country wasn’t withdrawing all its troops, just a small part.

  • Governor Bosenibamwe Hails Ex-FDLR Fighters For Denouncing Rebellion

    {{The Governor of Northern Province Bosenibamwe Aime has hailed former FDLR rebels for denouncing Genocide ideology and armed rebellion and choosing to return to their home country Rwanda.}}

    Mr. Bosenibamwe was speaking to the Ex-combatants at Mutobo Transit center in Musanze district. The ex-combatants are undergoing rehabilitation before they get reintegrated into Rwandan communities.

    The Governor was presenting to the Ex-combatants the current situation in the country and government policies saying the country had tremendously transformed in the past 19years since the members of FDLR committed Genocide in Rwanda.

    The Ex-combatants numbering over 117 at the Center are part of the 47th group that has denounced rebellion and genocide ideology and therefore returning to Rwanda to participate in nation building.

    FDLR rebel group is currently listed as a terrorist organisation with its leader being sought for various charges.

    RBA