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  • Museveni, Bashir Agree to Work Together

    Museveni, Bashir Agree to Work Together

    {{Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and his sudanese counterpart Gen. Omar Bashir have agreed to work towards total peace between the two countries.}}

    The two met at the African Union (AU) summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Saturday.

    This was the first time the two heads of state were meeting face to face in over 10 years since their disagreements during the SPLA and LRA wars in Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda respectively.

    Speaking to the press after the meeting, Sudan foreign affairs minister Ali Karti said the two leaders agreed to halt all hostile actions between the two states.

    The meeting, Mr Karti said, was “friendly and frank” during which President Bashir revealed ‘very serious information’ about Uganda and President Museveni responded to it.

    “I do not think we are now in a position to say there is a final solution to the problems, but in my opinion, there is progress in the understanding of the Ugandan President to the seriousness of the request of Sudan and the information put forward by the President of the Republic of Sudan,” Mr Karti said.

    He, however, did not clarify on the ingredients of the “serious information” from President Bashir but noted that the way President Museveni responded to Mr Bashir’s concerns was better than the previous times.

    NMG

  • EAC to Harmonise Seed & Fertiliser Policies

    EAC to Harmonise Seed & Fertiliser Policies

    {{The East African Community is set to harmonise seed and fertiliser policies for its member countries if the recently-launched agricultural inputs systems development project will be successfully implemented.}}

    The $300,000 project is funded by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), a continental organisation with a vision for agricultural prosperity across Africa in order to promote food security and sustainability.

    A principal agricultural economist with EAC, Mr Moses Marwa, said the two-year project, whose implementation started in July, also seeks to facilitate the establishment of fertiliser and seed regulatory systems in the region.

    “As a bloc, we need harmonised policies for seeds and fertilisers,” he told The Citizen over the weekend as the project managers consulted in Arusha to review its implementation roadmap.

    He said currently, each of the five member states – Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda – has its own fertiliser and seed policies, which made it difficult for the regional organisation to implement some projects due to lack of harmonisation.

    The same applied to the regulation of the seeds and fertilizer sectors. “Tanzania has its own regulations. Kenya has the oldest regulatory body which acts differently from those in other states. We need a harmonised system”, he pointed out.

    Mr Marwa added that the implementation of the project would involve all key stakeholders in the region from the public institutions such as the regulatory bodies, agro-dealers, agricultural research institutions, farmers and consumers.

    In the case of Tanzania, the recently-formed Tanzania Fertiliser Authority (TFA) and the Tanzania Association of Seed Traders (Tasta), which is based in Arusha, would be fully involved, he explained.

    A policy officer with the Nairobi-based Agra, Dr Franklin Simtowe, said although the Alliance was supporting the project financially, its implementation rested with the EAC secretariat and the partner states with their respective private sector institutions dealing with improved seeds and fertilisers.

    “The overall objective of this project is to improve EAC farmers’ access to fertilizers and improved seeds of a wide variety, higher quality, affordable prices and which are better suited to the soil and climatic conditions of the region,” he said.

    He expressed optimism that this plan will go in a long way in promoting inter and intra-regional trade of agricultural inputs as well as improving technology transfer.

    Besides putting in place regulatory framework in seed and fertilisers, the project would also embark on awareness creation on benefit of use of harmonized policies and related instruments in enhancing intra-regional trade on agricultural products.

    NMG

  • US Man Found Hanged in Egyptian Cell

    US Man Found Hanged in Egyptian Cell

    {{Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered an inquiry into the death of a US citizen found dead in a police cell.}}

    He said the man, named as retired US military officer James Henry, was found hanging from a bathroom door by his belt and shoe laces.

    Mr Henry, 66, was reported to have been heading for the Gaza Strip in August, when he was detained in North Sinai for violating a curfew.

    A US embassy official in Cairo said the death was “an apparent suicide”.

    According to local reports, the retired army officer’s death came a day after the authorities told him they were extending his detention by a further 30 days.

    Officials told the media that a US embassy delegation had visited James Henry in his cell in the city of Ismailiya last week.

    {{Second foreign death}}

    The prosecutor said Mr Henry was arrested on 29 August on the road between El Arish and Rafah in North Sinai, for breaking a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

    The curfew was put in place across large parts of Egypt under a decree by the interim government, to quell unrest following the ousting in July of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

    In a statement, the prosecutor said Mr Henry had been carrying a map of Egypt and an advanced electronic device.

    US embassy officials in Cairo said they were in contact with the Egyptian authorities and were providing all appropriate consular services.

    Mr Henry is the second foreign citizen to die in police custody in as many months.

  • Amnesty blasts AU’s resolution on ICC

    Amnesty blasts AU’s resolution on ICC

    {{Global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has described the African Union’s call for immunity of leaders facing charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) as ‘deplorable’.}}

    Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of Law and Policy Tawanda Hondora faulted the declaration made at an Extraordinary Summit of the AU that no senior government officials should appear before the ICC and their call for deferral of the cases against Kenya’s leaders sends ‘a strong message that the victims of the post-election violence in Kenya don’t matter.’

    The declaration was made at the Summit on the question of Africa’s relationship with the ICC in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

    “This declaration sends the wrong message, that politicians on the African continent will place their political interests above those of victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,” said Hondora.

    The Summit called for the deferral of the ICC trials of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto by the UN Security Council, and set up a contact group of the AU Executive Council to take up the matter with the United Nations Security Council.

    “Amnesty International recognises that Kenya has suffered a horrendous assault, with significant loss of life and livelihoods, but this must not be used to insulate the Kenyan president and his deputy from appearing before the ICC,” said Hondora.

    “Victims of the post-election violence have waited over five years to see the cogs of justice turn after Kenya failed to deliver justice and the ICC stepped in. These trials should and must go ahead. Any move by the Security Council on foot of the AU’s request to delay justice would be political interference in independent judicial proceedings.”

    AU leaders debated calling for the withdrawal of the 34 African countries that are members of the Rome Statute of the ICC if the Kenyan cases are not dropped or deferred, but did not go that far.

    Amnesty International had called on African leaders not to support such a move amid fears that states critical of the ICC would follow the example of the Kenyan parliament which on 5 September voted to leave the Court.

    “African states played a vital role in setting up the ICC and have an unquestionable stake in producing a just, fair and effective court,” said Tawanda Hondora.

    Deputy President William Ruto is due back to The Hague for trial to resume on Monday.

    {agencies}

  • UK to Relax Visa Rules for Chinese

    UK to Relax Visa Rules for Chinese

    Visa applications for Chinese visitors entering the UK will be simplified, Chancellor George Osborne has announced during his trade trip to China.

    Under the plan, Chinese nationals visiting the EU will not need to submit separate UK visa applications if they book with selected travel agents.

    Mr Osborne is trying to persuade more Chinese companies to invest in the UK.

    But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his trip was also about changing British attitudes to China.

    “Many people think of China as a sweat shop on the Pearl River. Yet it is at the forefront of medicine, computing and technology. It’s a very rapidly changing country.”

    Earlier, Mr Osborne told an audience of students that his visit was about “much more than a collection of business deals”.

    “What I really want it to be about is strengthening the understanding between our two nations, deepening our friendship, working out where by working together we can improve the lives of all our citizens,” he said in a speech to university students in Beijing.

    “Yes, of course, we have differences, different political systems, we attach value to different things, and we shouldn’t be afraid of pointing out where we disagree.

    “But let us not do it in a way that is not respectful of each other and tries to understand each other, and let us try to overcome our differences and work together in peaceful co-operation.

    “Because ultimately we want the same thing – a better life for our citizens.”

    Adam Marshall, director of policy at business lobby group the British Chambers of Commerce, said UK businesses would “breathe a collective sigh of relief” at the plans to simplify Chinese visa applications.

    {wirestory}

  • ArchBishop Tutu Against Africas Plans to Pullout of ICC

    ArchBishop Tutu Against Africas Plans to Pullout of ICC

    {{South Africa’s Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace prize laureate, has launched a global campaign to stop African nations from abandoning the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).}}

    Sudan and Kenya, whose political leaders are accused of war crimes and genocide, are leading the movement against the ICC and have already threatened to pull out of the tribunal.

    Tutu, the Archbishop emeritus of Capetown and one of the world’s most renowned human rights activists, has appealed to leaders of South Africa and Nigeria, two of the most powerful countries in Africa, “to stop Sudan and Kenya from trying to drag Africa out of the ICC”.

    The campaign has been launched in collaboration with Avaaz, a global civic organisation, described as one of largest online activist networks.

    The 54-member African Union, which has demanded the ICC drop the case against Kenya’s leadership, will be meeting in Addis Ababa over the weekend to discuss, among other things, the role of Africa in the ICC.

    Several African countries, including Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, have criticised and opposed the upcoming trials of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, on charges of crimes against humanity in the 2007-2008 post-election violence that reportedly left over a thousand people dead.

    In an email to over 26 million members of Avaaz, and responding to charges the ICC is a Western witch-hunt because most of its investigations have taken place in Africa, Tutu said, “I do not buy the spin the ICC has an anti-African bias. No.”

    wirestory

  • France Pledges Extra Troops in Central African Republic

    France Pledges Extra Troops in Central African Republic

    {{ France will boost its troop presence in the Central African Republic by the end of the year under a forthcoming U.N. resolution to help prevent the country from spiraling out of control, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday.}}

    Fabius and the European Union aid chief, Kristalina Georgieva, are in the country to drum up support and international interest for a largely forgotten crisis.

    The Central African Republic has descended into chaos since mostly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in March, the latest coup in the country that remains one of the world’s poorest despite resources ranging from gold to uranium.

    Geographically at the center of what some strategists have called an “arc of insecurity” involving Islamist fighters from Kenya and Somalia in east Africa to Mauritania in the west, a power vacuum could pave the way for militants to seize control.

    France has urged world and regional powers not to ignore the conflict that has already seen more than 400,000 people driven from their homes by acts of violence such as murder and rape.

    However, Paris is reluctant to be left to deal with another African hotspot after it felt allies such as the United States were hesitant to help it halt a rebel advance by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Mali earlier this year.

    The African Union has deployed about 2,500 troops. But its resources are limited, prompting Paris to seek a U.N. Security Council mandate that would turn the operation into a U.N. peacekeeping force ultimately supported by French troops.

    “We will increase our support, especially in the logistics domain, after United Nations resolutions (are approved). We will also increase troops, a little at first. This will be done before the end of the year,” Fabius said.

    {wirestory}

  • U.N. Voices Concern over Delay to Guinea Election Results

    U.N. Voices Concern over Delay to Guinea Election Results

    {{The United Nations and the international community on Sunday called upon Guinea’s electoral commission to publish results of a September 28 election aimed at completing a transition to democracy, saying it was concerned over the delay.}}

    Disputes over a published partial count have held up the final result and raised fears of a resurgence of violence that killed about 50 people before the vote.

    The opposition is calling for the election to be annulled, dampening hopes for an end to years of instability since a 2008 military coup that deterred investment in the world’s largest bauxite exporter.

    The United Nations and representatives of the international community including the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, the European Union and the International Organisation of the Francophonie, which brokered a deal with the opposition to end protests and allow the legislative vote, said they were concerned by delays in the publication of the results.

    Guinea’s “National Election Commission should make every effort to complete the tabulation of preliminary election results for publication in any event before Eid al-Adha,” the Muslim feast on Tuesday, said the statement issued by the United Nations and the other entities.

    It called upon political parties and the election commission to cooperate in publishing results from the Matoto district in the capital Conakry, one of the country’s biggest, which both sides claim to have won.

    Partial results from 37 of the country’s 38 electoral districts show President Alpha Conde’s ruling RPG party leads with 53 seats, opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo’s UFDG has 38 seats and former Prime Minister Sidya Toure’s UFR has 9.

    No party is expected to win an outright majority in the 114-seat parliament, and parties are expected to try to form coalitions after the results are known.

    Opposition groups, which have rejected the partial results, last week pulled their representatives out of the election’s organizing commission, calling for the vote to be annulled.

    reuters

  • Malaysian Court Rules Use of ‘Allah’ Exclusive to Muslims

    Malaysian Court Rules Use of ‘Allah’ Exclusive to Muslims

    {{A Malaysian court ruled on Monday that a Christian newspaper may not use the word “Allah” to refer to God, a landmark decision on an issue that has fanned religious tension and raised questions over minority rights in the mainly Muslim country.}}

    The unanimous decision by three Muslim judges in Malaysia’s appeals court overturned a 2009 ruling by a lower court that allowed the Malay-language version of the newspaper, The Herald, to use the word Allah – as many Christians in Malaysia say has been the case for centuries.

    “The usage of the word Allah is not an integral part of the faith in Christianity,” chief judge Mohamed Apandi Ali said in the ruling. “The usage of the word will cause confusion in the community.”

    The decision coincides with heightened ethnic and religious tension in Malaysia after a polarizing May election, in which the long-ruling coalition was deserted by urban voters that included a large section of minority ethnic Chinese.

    In recent months, Prime Minister Najib Razak has sought to consolidate his support among majority ethnic Malays, who are Muslim by law, and secure the backing of traditionalists ahead of a crucial ruling party assembly this month.

    His new government – dominated by his Malay-based United Malays National Organization – has toughened security laws and introduced steps to boost a decades-old affirmative action policy for ethnic Malays, reversing liberal reforms aimed at appealing to a broader section of the multi-ethnic country.

    In its case, the government argued that the word Allah is specific to Muslims and that the then-home minister’s decision in 2008 to deny the newspaper permission to print it was justified on the basis of public order.

    About 200 Muslims outside the court in the administrative capital Putrajaya, greeted the decision with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).

    “As a Muslim, defending the usage of the term Allah qualifies as jihad. It is my duty to defend it,” said Jefrizal Ahmad Jaafar, 39. Jihad is Islamic holy war or struggle.

    {{Minority Rights}}

    Lawyers for the Catholic paper had argued that the word Allah predated Islam and had been used extensively by Malay-speaking Christians in Malaysia’s part of Borneo island for centuries.

    They say they will appeal against Monday’s decision to Malaysia’s highest court.

    “The nation must protect and support the rights of the minority,” said Father Lawrence Andrew, the founding editor of the Herald. “God is an integral part of every religion.”

    Christians in Indonesia and much of the Arab world continue to use the word without opposition from Islamic authorities.

    Churches in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak have said they will continue to use the word regardless of the ruling.

    The paper won a judicial review of the home minister’s decision in 2009, triggering an appeal from the federal government. The court ruled on Monday that the constitutional rights of the publisher had not been infringed.

    Ethnic Malays make up 60% of Malaysia’s 28 million people, with Chinese accounting for more than a quarter and ethnic Indians also forming a substantial minority. Christians account for about 9%.

    reuters

  • Lampedusa Boat Survivors ‘Swam for Hours’

    Lampedusa Boat Survivors ‘Swam for Hours’

    {{Survivors of a migrant boat that capsized off the coast of Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa began on Monday recounting their horrific time at sea last week as divers continued to pull bodies from the wreck.}}

    “There was a big fire,” Issa, a young Eritrean, told media outside the migrant camp on the island. “Five-hundred people, including 16 children and 85 women, all of them moved sides and we capsized.”

    The captain of the boat reportedly set fire to a T-shirt to call the attention of the Italian Coast Guard. The boat sank 47 metres down into the Mediterranean Sea, with the majority of those on board feared dead.

    “We were in the sea for four hours. Between 350 to 360 people were killed,” Issa said.

    On Monday, divers took advantage of a break in bad weather to continue search efforts, recovering 17 more bodies. That brought the confirmed death toll from the tragedy to 211.

    Coast Guard Capt. Filippo Marini estimated it would take two more days to complete the search and recovery mission. “Bodies have been recovered from outside the ship and from the ship’s cabin. Now we have to get inside the hold,” Marini told reporters on Monday.

    Only 155 people are believed to have survived the sinking.

    Reporters said several Italian ministers had visited the survivors, who hoped authorities could find a solution for them in the coming days.

    The ship had arrived within sight of Lampedusa after two days of sailing from Libya. The capsizing tossed hundreds of people into the sea, many of whom could not swim.

    france24