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  • Fears over UN intervention in East DRC

    {{Aid agencies have voiced fears that a possible military offensive by the United Nations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo could make the humanitarian situation worse and lead to attacks on their workers.}}

    A special 3,000-strong UN “Intervention Brigade” has been mandated to mount offensive operations against rebel groups in DR Congo.

    It has already begun some patrols.

    The UN says a robust response to the unrest is necessary

    US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to chair a UN Security Council debate on DR Congo later on Thursday.

    {{UN dilemma}}

    US-based aid advocacy group Refugees International urged Mr Kerry to recognise that: “Unless certain safeguards are imposed, military action by the Intervention Brigade could further exacerbate DR Congo’s humanitarian crisis.”

    The UN says more than 2.5 million people have been made homeless by the conflicts in the DR Congo – most of them in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

    Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres earlier said it was very concerned about a blurring of the distinction between the UN’s humanitarian and military work.

    Because of the potential confusion between those roles, MSF said it no longer wanted any military – including UN soldiers – deployed near its health facilities.

    There was a real danger, MSF said, that heightened tension could lead to a targeting of medical activities.

    The criticisms by aid agencies illustrate a classic dilemma for the UN.

    It is damned if it does not act firmly enough, as when rebels of the ethnic Tutsi-dominated M23 movement took the eastern DR Congo city of Goma last year.

    But it is also damned when it takes tougher action that has humanitarian fallout.

    The UN operation in DR Congo is already the largest UN military mission in the world. Its main mandate is the protection of civilians.

    But the huge number of people made homeless by the many conflicts in DR Congo – mainly in the east but also in Katanga Province in the south and Orientale Province in the north – clearly show that the UN has not always succeeded in shielding people from the worst of the war.

    So in March the UN Security Council tried a new tactic and passed a resolution creating the Intervention Brigade.

    According to the official UN News Service the Brigade is mandated “to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without the Congolese national army, against armed groups that threaten peace in eastern DR Congo”.

    The Brigade is tasked with “neutralising” armed groups, the UN said.

    It is commanded by Tanzanian Brigadier General James Mwakibolwa.

    “The Intervention Brigade is very positive”, he said.

    “It should be understood that our first concern should be the protection of civilians as we take on the armed groups.”

    BBC

  • Italy police swoop on Mafia near Rome

    {{Italian police have arrested at least 50 people in a big anti-Mafia operation in the coastal region near Rome.}}

    About 500 police officers, backed by dog units, a helicopter and coastal patrol boats are involved.

    A police operation was also launched in the southern Calabria region, a hotbed of ‘Ndrangheta Mafia crime.

    The Rome crackdown, focused on the coastal suburb of Ostia, is said to be the largest yet in or near the capital. Three crime clans are being targeted.

    Italy’s Corriere della Sera says a “mortal blow” has been delivered to the Fasciani, Triassi and D’Agati clans, who have dominated organised crime for years in that region.

    The Triassi clan is reported to have close ties to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra crime network.

    Police had been able to monitor the mafiosi not only as they met to settle disputes and divide up territory, but also as they planned murders, Italian media report.

    The operation in the south led to 65 arrests, including doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs, Italy’s Ansa news agency reports.

    Last October Italy’s central government sacked the entire council of Reggio Calabria, the biggest city in Calabria province.

    The tightly-knit ‘Ndrangheta operates across Europe and has connections with Colombian drug cartels. It is seen as more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia.

    BBC

  • Serial Rapist Found Dead in South Africa Prison Cell

    {{A man suspected of being South Africa’s most prolific serial rapist has been found dead in his prison cell hours before he was to go on trial for crimes that included sexually assaulting 34 children, prosecutors said.}}

    Sifiso Makhubo, 42, was facing a total of 122 charges for murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery, and attempted murder by infecting his victims with HIV, prosecutors said on Thursday.

    He was thought to have hanged himself with a blanket in his prison cell and authorities were investigating the circumstances of his death.

    The horrific nature and breadth of the alleged crimes shocked South Africa, a country inured to some of the world’s highest levels of sexual violence.

    In the year to April 2012, more than 64,000 sexual offences, including rape, were reported among South Africa’s 50 million people. Of these, more than 25,000 were assaults on children.

    In 2010, South Africa recorded 132.4 cases of reported rape per 100,000 population, by far the highest among countries that reported statistics to the UN, compared to 27.3 in the US or 2.1 in Uganda.

    Reporting rates, and definitions of rape, do, however, vary sharply from country to country.

    Source: Agencies

  • US Hails Uganda’s Efforts in Fight Against LRA

    {{The United States deputy defence secretary, Ashton B. Carter, has hailed Uganda, describing the East African country as a key security partner.}}

    “Uganda is an important partner for the United States and has emerged as a regional leader in addressing conflicts across Africa”, said a press statement from the US embassy in Kampala on Carter’s visit.

    Carter met with Ugandan government officials in Kampala on Tuesday during a visit to the country that also took him to Ethiopia and Israel.

    The US deputy defence secretary said the United States is offering continued support to Uganda in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group that has increasingly become a source of security problem in the Great Lakes region.

    “As part of a comprehensive approach to countering the LRA, the US military is advising and assisting the UPDF (Uganda Peoples Defence Force) and other regional partner forces in an effort to bring [LRA leader] Joseph Kony and his top lieutenants to justice”, the US embassy statement said.

    The US official also thanked the Ugandan government for its contributions towards improving security in the Great Lakes region, particularly threats posed by the LRA and terrorism.

    During his visit to Uganda, Carter also met American personnel deployed by his government to help regional forces in the fight against LRA rebels.

    In October 2011, US president Barrack Obama sent 100 special forces to Uganda to provide support to regional forces in the hunt for the elusive LRA leader.

    According to its mandate, US special forces are tasked with offering advice to local forces and are not permitted to engage in fighting unless in self-defence.

  • UN Condemns Australia Asylum Deal with PNG

    {Australia’s government has issued images of refugees set for transfer to PNG where they are due to be processed}

    {{The UN refugee agency has said it is troubled by Australia’s agreement with Papua New Guinea(PNG) in which any asylum-seekers attempting to reach Australia will have their claims processed in PNG and be resettled there if approved.}}

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a written statement issued on Friday that there were significant shortcomings in the legal framework for receiving and processing asylum-seekers from Australia.

    “With regard to the new measures, UNHCR is troubled by the current absence of adequate protection standards and safeguards for asylum seekers and refugees in Papua New Guinea,” the statement said.

    “Australia’s Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) with the Government of PNG raises serious, and so far unanswered, protection questions.”

    The UNHCR’s concerns follow claims by a former senior official at one of Australia’s detention camps in Papua New Guinea that asylum seekers had been raped and tortured.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, Graeme McGregor, a refugee campaign coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, said that the allegations by Rod St George, the former head of occupational health and safety at the at the Manus Island processing centre should be fully investigated.

    {aljazeera}

  • Dispute Over Next Vice-President Delays new Government in Juba

    {{Deep disagreements over who should be the next Vice President of South Sudan has delayed the formation of the next cabinet and left a power vacuum since the dissolution of the whole government on Tuesday.}}

    South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, on Tuesday issued a rare decree removing his long time Vice President, Riek Machar Teny, and dissolving the whole cabinet.

    Government ministries were closed since Wednesday as staff feared to report to work in anticipation of violence.

    President Kiir had directed the under-secretaries to take charge in their respective ministries under the secretary general of the government, Abdoun Agau, who will run the government until the next cabinet is formed.

    There have been rumours that the president had left the capital since Tuesday evening, but a former official dismissed it saying the president had been in his resident in Juba making consultations on the formation of the next government.

    Sources close to the presidency however said there have been deep internal disagreements since Tuesday between the close aides of the president over the choice of the next Vice President if the former Vice President, Riek Machar, was not to be reinstated.

    He said President Kiir had promised or approached a number of his colleagues to appoint them as the vice president.

    “Now that it is time to implement the promises to different colleagues, things have become difficult particularly that others have now turned down the offer”, the source disclosed.

    Among the possible candidates is the current speaker of the parliament, James Wani Igga, former head of the National Congress Party (NCP) in South Sudan, Riek Gai Kok, former minister of Justice, John Luk Jok and the current chief of general staff, James Hoth Mai.

    While Igga is reportedly willing to the take over the seat of the vice president, Jok and Mai were said to have turned down the offer.

    Kok is also rumoured to have changed his mind in the last 48 hours by also turning down the offer to take over the position.

    Many in the consultative meetings also rejected Igga as the next vice-president, accusing him of weakness and lack of seriousness as a leader.

    In normal circumstances, the president should first appoint his deputy who will in turn consult with him on the formation of the cabinet.

    It is reported that many people have been waiting for the appointment of the vice-president or formation of the government before they could express their reactions.

    {{INTERNATIONAL CALLS}}

    Meanwhile, the African Union Commission, Canada, the intergovernmental Authority on Development, along with Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint statement, calling on all parties to maintain calm and prevent violence, as well as urging leaders in the country to expedite the formation of a new cabinet.

    “We encourage South Sudan to do so in a manner that reflects the diversity of the South Sudanese people, and in conformity with its Transitional Constitution and the democratic ideals the new country has espoused,” the statement said.

    Since the 24 July, the State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, issued a statement calling on all the parties to maintain calm and prevent violence.

    He also urged that the new cabinet be formed “quickly and transparently”.

    “We encourage South Sudan do so in a manner that reflects the diversity of the South Sudanese people, and that respects its Transitional Constitution and the democratic ideals the new country has espoused”, Psaki stressed.

    ST

  • Contenders in Race for Mali’s Presidency

    {{Mali holds a presidential election on Sunday after more than a year of turmoil including a coup and a French-led military intervention to free the north from al Qaeda-allied Islamist rebels.}}

    Here are some details on the main candidates out of a field of 27 running in the election.

    {{- Ibrahim Boubacar Keita}}

    Universally known as IBK, Keita is the political heavyweight in the election race. He has held several portfolios in previous governments and served as prime minister from 1994-2000.

    Keita, who heads the RPM party, was also president of Mali’s National Assembly before launching failed bids for the national presidency in the 2002 and 2007 elections.

    IBK has campaigned on pledges to restore Mali’s ‘honor’ and, having stood up to trade unions when he was prime minister, has a reputation for firmness that many Malians believe is needed to restore the rule of law across the divided nation.

    {{- Soumaila Cisse}}

    A native of Timbuktu region and a software engineer by training, Cisse was a top presidency official and served as a minister for much of the 1990s, including a stint in charge of the finance portfolio.

    Having failed to secure the ADEMA party candidacy in a 2002 election, he set up his own party, the URD. But he subsequently spent seven years in charge of the West African monetary union, based in neighboring Burkina Faso.

    Cisse has earned respect as an economist although he has not escaped accusations of mismanagement and was accused of corruption by the military junta that seized power in the March 2012 coup.

    {{- Modibo Sidibe}}

    A former senior policeman and ex-minister for health and foreign affairs, Sidibe was also a long-serving prime minister under President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was ousted in the coup.

    Sidibe’s experience in government could be as much of a burden as a bonus as members of the elite surrounding the ousted president have been accused of widespread corruption.

    {{- Dramane Dembele}}

    ADEMA, historically Mali’s best established party, has picked Dembele, a geologist with little political experience, as its candidate for the vote.

    The choice of the 46-year-old is likely aimed at appealing to the youth vote.

    But the clout of Mali’s biggest party could be weakened by internal divisions over his candidacy and frustrations among many Malians that ADEMA was central to years of misrule that led to the crisis.

    {compiled by reuters}

  • Body Falls From Air France Jet over Niger

    {{The body of a suspected stowaway fell from an Air France plane over Niger on Thursday and was discovered lifeless in a western suburb of the capital, Niamey, officials said.}}

    A resident of the suburb was standing just a few meters from where the body fell at around 5 a.m. on Thursday, said Niger Interior Minister Abdou Labo.

    “The police discovered the lifeless body of a black person lying in blood,” Labo said, adding that blood had also been spotted on the left wing of the plane.

    Initial information indicated the body was that of a stowaway who fell from the landing gear, said an Air France spokesman, Christophe Paumier, in Paris.

    Paumier said the investigation was in the hands of authorities in Niamey.

    The plane was coming from Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, and was
    scheduled to continue to Paris, Labo said.

    Officials were holding the plane in Niamey so crew members and passengers could be interviewed, and investigators in Ouagadougou were also looking into “the conditions in which the passengers boarded,” Labo said.

    “At the moment, the plane is grounded on the tarmac at the airport and the flight to Paris is canceled until the end of the investigation,” he said.

    Passengers were being rerouted to Paris on two flights due to land in Paris Friday morning, Paumier said.

    france24

  • Ethiopia & Huawei Sign $700 mln Mobile Network Deal

    {{Ethiopia on Thursday signed a $700 million agreement with China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to expand mobile phone infrastructure and introduce high-speed 4G broadband network in the capital Addis Ababa and 3G service throughout the country.}}

    Huawei, the world’s second largest telecom equipment maker, has been involved in developing phone and internet services in the Horn of Africa country for several years.

    Africa’s rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totalling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

    Andualem Admassie, acting chief executive officer of state-run Ethio Telecom, and Jony Duon, his counterpart at the Chinese firm, signed the agreement that will double subscribers to 56 million.

    “Although our target is 40 million, now including 3G it will 56 million by 2015. That would be the capacity,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and minister of communications and technology.

    The agreement is half of a $1.6 billion project split between Huawei and ZTE, China’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker. Both firms will finance the amount. Ethiopia will sign the other half of the agreement next week, Debretsion said.

    Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, one of the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

    Although lacking much of a telecoms industry, the government last year gave approval for private companies to provide value-added services – all services other than standard voice calls.

    Ethiopia’s ministry of communications and information technology says it has received applications from 218 firms to provide such services. South Africa’s MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, has already been granted a licence.

    The government has ruled out liberalising its telecom sector saying the six billion birr ($321 million) it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km of railway lines by 2020.

    {agencies}

  • Tunisian union Calls for Strike After MP Assassinated

    Tunisia was facing a possible general strike Friday following the assassination of leading leftist opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi on Thursday, the second political assassination this year of a politician opposed to the country’s Islamist government.

    The country’s leading union called for action after this latest death sparked protests in Tunisia.

    Mohamed Brahmi, 58, of the leftist Popular Movement, was gunned down outside his home in Ariana, near Tunis.

    “He was riddled with bullets in front of his wife and children,” Mohsen Nabti, a fellow member of the small leftist movement, said in an emotional account aired on Tunisian radio.

    The radio station said Brahmi had been struck by 11 bullets fired at point-blank range.

    The assassination bore all the hallmarks of the February 6 killing of Chokri Belaid, another leftist opposition figure, which sparked a political crisis in Tunisia and charges of government connivance.

    It was not clear who carried out Thursday’s killing, but the ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist group, was forced to deny accusations from his family that it had been involved.

    “I accuse Ennahda. It was them who killed him,” Brahmi’s sister Chhiba Brahmi told reporters at the family home in Sidi Bouzid, without providing any evidence.

    “Our family had the feeling that Mohamed would suffer the same fate as Chokri Belaid,” whose family also blamed the authorities, she said.

    france24