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  • Africans bid to avert oil Shutdown over Sudan rebel row

    {{African goverments stepped up their efforts to prevent a shutdown of oil production in South Sudan on Monday, agreeing to send three generals to investigate Sudanese allegations that Juba is supporting anti-Khartoum rebels.}}

    Sudan, the sole conduit for South Sudan’s oil exports, said last month it would close two cross-border oil pipelines within 60 days and insisted output be shut by August 7 unless Juba gave up its support for the rebels. Juba denies backing them.

    The two sides fought one of Africa’s longest civil wars before the south won independence in 2011.

    Analysts say South Sudan might collapse without oil, the main source for the budget apart from foreign grants. They point to recent looting of aid agencies by soldiers as a sign that Juba is struggling to pay salaries.

    Closing the wells is also bad news for Sudan, which has been struggling with turmoil since losing most oil reserves with South Sudan’s secession. Oil fees from Juba are essential to bringing down soaring inflation.

    A team of three generals from the African Union and East African bloc IGAD will travel on Tuesday to Khartoum before heading to Juba on a six-week mission, said Ramtane Lamamra, Commissioner of the AU’s Peace and Security Council.

    “The decision by Sudan to shut down oil exports until and unless this issue is properly handled…has brought President Mbeki to propose to the two countries the formation of this investigation team,” Lamamra Told a news conference.

    Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is the bloc’s chief mediator for Sudan and South Sudan.

    “We hope this mechanism will resolve that longstanding problem, the allegation by both parties of hosting rebels against the other,” said Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, current chair of the Horn of Africa grouping IGAD.

    Khartoum accuses Juba of supporting the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance, which complains of neglect at the hands of the wealthy Khartoum elites. The SRF in April staged an attack on central Sudan.

    South Sudan in turn accuses Sudan of backing rebels in its eastern Jonglei state, where fighting is making it impossible to realise government plans to search for oil with the help of France’s Total and U.S. ExxonMobil.

    South Sudan plans to sell 6.4 million barrels of oil worth $300 million before shutting down its entire production by the end of July due to the row.

    It had only resumed oil production in April, after turning off wells pumping around 300,000 barrels per day in January 2012 when both sides failed to agree on pipeline fees.

    Oil industry insiders say once the pipelines are closed it will take several months to restart production as they would have to be flushed of water and cleaned first.

    reuters

  • Royal Baby Celebrations

    {{The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a boy on Monday at 16:24 BST weighing 8lbs 6oz}}

    The Duke of Cambridge said they “could not be happier”

    The couple spent the night at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington

    The duchess could be discharged on Tuesday, giving the public the first glimpse of the prince

    The name of the royal couple’s son, who is third in line to the throne, has yet to be announced

    The birth will be marked later with gun salutes and the ringing of Westminster Abbey’s bells.

  • Russias Orthodox Patriach Condemns Same-Sex Marriage

    {{The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has condemned the legalization of same-sex marriages as a sign of “the coming of the apocalypse.”}}

    Patriarch Kirill made the statement during his Sunday service at the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square.

    By legalizing gay marriages, governments in mostly Western countries justify “a choice in favor of sin,” Kirill said, Interfax reported.

    He criticized governments that prevent people who oppose same-sex marriage from showing their opposition.

    “Those who are true to their conscience in fighting these minority-imposed laws are subject to repression,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse.”

    “And we must do everything so that the law never endorses sin in Holy Russia because that would mean that the people are on the path of self-destruction.”

    Kirill also spoke in support of a ban promoting homosexuality that President Vladimir Putin signed into law on June 30.

    The bill comes into force six months before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and allows police to levy fines and arrest foreign tourists if they have reason to suspect them of being “pro-gay.”

    Authorities routinely ban gay-rights parades and activists have often come under attack.

    {The Moscow Times }

  • Ethiopian Troops Quit Somali City

    {{Ethiopia has begun pulling troops out of a former rebel stronghold in Somalia, but it has no plans for a complete withdrawal from the fight against al Qaeda-linked insurgents, its foreign minister said on Monday.}}

    Somalia has enjoyed relative calm after military offensives by African Union (AMISOM) peacekeepers and Ethiopian troops, who have pushed al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab from urban strongholds in central and southern Somalia.

    But suicide attacks have reinforced concerns the militants remain a potent force and Ethiopia’s sudden withdrawal in March from Hudur – the capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border – enabled al Shabaab to retake the town.

    Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said Ethiopia had begun pulling out of Baidoa – once considered the most important rebel city after the port of Kismayu – because it was now relatively stable and Somali forces were able to take over.

    “The withdrawal from Baidoa should have been done almost a year ago but AMISOM was not ready and that could not be done,” he told Reuters in an interview. Ethiopia seized the city, about 250 km (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, last year.

    “I am now glad that there is a well organized and planned withdrawal and the space is already being occupied by Somali forces,” Adhanom said.

    After a 2006-2009 stint, Ethiopia once again sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al Shabaab, alongside African Union forces from Uganda and Burundi and Kenyan troops that later incorporated the AMISOM mission, after entering Somalia independently to pursue al Shabaab.

    Addis Ababa pledged at the time that its forces would stay in the war-ravaged country until Somalia’s government could ratify a new constitution and its ragtag military was able to fend off the militant Islamist threat on its own.

    Tedros said Ethiopia’s aim now was to deploy in areas where the rebels appeared to have a far stronger presence. He expressed confidence that Somali troops would be able to stand their ground in places Ethiopia left.

    Ethiopian troops may deploy back to areas they have left if AMISOM and Mogadishu asked for their return, he said.

    {reuters}

  • Mali Interim President Meets With Tuareg Rebel Leaders

    {{ Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traore has met for the first time with members of two northern Tuareg separatist groups, provoking anger among many in the country’s south as ethnic tensions rise ahead of a presidential poll on Sunday.}}

    The election is meant to unify the West African nation after a March 2012 coup allowed Tuareg rebels and their al Qaeda-linked Islamist allies to seize the West African nation’s desert north.

    A French-led offensive earlier this year routed and scattered the Islamist fighters, though sporadic attacks continue.

    The Tuareg rebels, who were sidelined by the better-armed Islamists early on in the 10-month occupation, last month agreed to take their fighters off the streets in exchange for a promise of negotiations with the new government after the elections.

    “We spoke of peace and reconciliation,” Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assale, head of external relations for the Tuareg MNLA rebels, said following the closed-door meeting at the presidential residence late on Sunday.

    Representatives of the MNLA and its ally, the High Council for the Unity of Azawad, had been due to meet with military officials on Monday to review progress in implementing the preliminary peace deal signed in neighboring Burkina Faso.

    But many in the capital Bamako viewed the unannounced visit with the president, during which Traore broke the Muslim holy month of Ramadan’s traditional daytime fast with the Tuareg leaders, as an affront.

    “Dioncounda may forgive them, but the people will not,” said Bamako resident Youssouf Toure.

    Light-skinned Tuaregs have been blamed for attacks on black Malians in the northern city of Kidal and for the abduction of four election workers and a deputy mayor in another northern town last week.

    Two of the Tuareg delegation are named in arrest warrants for alleged crimes committed during the occupation of the north.

    “If the Malian justice ministry is searching for a presumed criminal, the president must use all means to deliver him (to the courts) not welcome them with a cup of tea in front of the cameras,” another resident of the capital Boubacar Mamadou said.

    {wirestory}

  • Iran condemns EU’s blacklisting of Hezbollah

    Iran condemned on Tuesday the European Union’s decision to put the armed wing of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on its terrorism blacklist and said the move was “contrary to all political and legal norms, surprising and unacceptable”.

    Hezbollah was set up with the help of Iranian funds and military advisers some three decades ago and, along with Syria, is still Tehran’s most important ally in the region, positioned as it is on the “frontline” with Iran’s sworn enemy Israel.

    Pressed by Britain and the Netherlands, the European Union blacklisted Hezbollah’s military wing on Monday over accusations it was involved in a bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis and their driver a year ago, and its deployment of thousands of fighters to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turn the tide of Syria’s civil war.

    Many EU capitals had previously resisted lobbying from Washington and Israel to blacklist the group, warning such a move could fuel instability in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon where Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government and has dominated politics in Beirut in recent years.

    “To label a resistance group which has campaigned against invasion and occupation and has a legal presence with the people’s support in the government of Lebanon shows it is based on loose logical foundations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement on the ministry website.

    “This action was accomplished with the direction of some influential members of the European Union and is contrary to all political and legal norms, surprising and unacceptable,” he said.

    Israel, which welcomed the EU decision, would be the main beneficiary, the Iranian foreign minister said.

    “This action will be to be benefit of the illegitimate Zionist regime and its supporters.”

    While there may be a softening of Iran’s tone towards Israel once outgoing hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is replaced with moderate President-elect Hassan Rouhani on August 4, Tehran’s official hostility to the Jewish state is very unlikely to change.

    agencies

  • Pope Francis Arrives in Brazil

    {{Pope Francis has arrived in Brazil on his first trip abroad since becoming head of the Catholic Church in March.}}

    The first Latin American Pope touched down at Rio de Janeiro airport on Monday afternoon and was greeted by President Dilma Rousseff.

    The Argentina-born pontiff has travelled to Brazil to attend the Roman Catholic World Youth Day festival.

    En route, the Pope told reporters that the global crisis risked creating a lost generation of jobless youth.

    As he left the Alitalia plane, he was welcomed by President Rousseff to cheers and applause from the waiting crowd. A choir sang and he was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

    The Pope waved before being taken by motorcade to the centre of Rio, where large numbers of pilgrims have gathered.

    The authorities have increased security during the Pope’s visit, following weeks of nationwide protests against corruption and bad governance.

    Pope Francis has refused to use an armoured Popemobile, despite requests from Brazilian officials. Some 22,000 security staff will be on duty during his visit.

    More than a million young Catholics are expected to gather in Rio for World Youth Day, which takes place every two years, and is a celebration of the Catholic faith.

    The Pope is due to lead a service on Copacabana beach, and visit a shanty town.

    Speaking to reporters on his flight from Rome, the Pope said “we run the risk of having a generation that hasn’t worked,” even though work confers dignity.

    He also criticised what he said was a “culture” of socially rejecting the elderly who were “thrown away” as if they had nothing to offer.

    BBC

  • Photo of the Day

  • Nigerian Scholars Visit Ministry of Defence

    Participants of the Senior Executive Course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria (NIPSS) who are on study tour in Rwanda from 13 to 27 July 2013, visited the Ministry of Defence on 20 July.

    The visit is aimed at broadening the Course participants their outlook and perception of the Republic of Rwanda.

    At the Ministry of the Defence, the Nigerian delegation was received by Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, Acting Director General of Policy and Strategy.

    On behalf of Hon. Minister of Defence, the DG Policy and Strategy briefed the visitors on national defence and security as well as the regional security situation.

    Rwanda is among the six selected countries to host the study tour of the participants to the Senior Executive Course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies of Nigeria.

    The study tour is under the theme “Strengthening Institutional Frameworks and the Transformation Agenda in Nigeria”.

    MOD

  • FIFA Could Ban Uganda

    {{FIFA has threatened to Ban Uganda warning that any interference in the country’s football governing body (FUFA) matters will result in Uganda’s suspension from international football.}}

    FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke in a communication dated July 19 to education and sports minister Hon. Jessica Alupo, reiterated the governing body’s requirement that all FIFA member associations manage their affairs independently and without influence of any third parties as stipulated in articles 13 and 17 of the FIFA Statutes.

    “Any actions/measures taken unilaterally against the structures and/or status of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) would be considered as interference in the FUFA affairs and the case would be brought to FIFA’s higher instances for appropriate sanctions, which could include suspension.” Read the letter.

    The letter is in response to Hon. Alupo’s letter dated July 16 following legal guidance from the Solicitor General for which government intended to “take appropriate measures in public interest with the objective of improving the management of soccer in Uganda”.

    In the letter, Valcke advised government to provide clear guidelines on how the federation should proceed should it decide that FUFA still needs to undergo legal changes or modifications.

    “Nevertheless, such changes or modifications should not affect the constitutional structure of the federation. FUFA went through deep changes with the adoption of a new constitution in August 2012 which is now in line with the FIFA standard statutes.”