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  • US Promises to issue Visa to Gen.Bashir Soon – Report

    US Promises to issue Visa to Gen.Bashir Soon – Report

    {{The Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, has arrived in New York to attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).}}

    A diplomatic source told Sudan’s official news agency (SUNA) that the application made by the Sudanese president, Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, to obtain entry visa to the US is still standing, demanding that the US administration meet its obligations as the UN headquarters state.

    On Monday, the US state department said it received a visa application for Bashir to attend the 68th session of the UNGA, noting that he should not make such a trip because he is accused of war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    But the Sudanese government said that Bashir’s visit would be to the UN headquarters and not to the United States itself which does not have any legal right to object to the participation of any official from any country enjoying full membership of the international organization in the UN activities.

    The pro-government, Al-Sudani newspaper, said on Friday that Bashir has obtained clearance of all countries which he will fly through his way to New York to participate in the UNGA’s 68th session.

    The newspaper further said that the foreign ministry has received a promise from the US embassy to grant Bashir an entry visa within the next couple of days.

    On Thursday, the US state department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that Bashir’s visa application is still pending review.

    The US official however, revealed for the first time that the ICC arrest warrant issued for Bashir on alleged war crimes will be a factor in deciding his visa request.

    “I don’t have any update for you. There are a variety of considerations in play with respect to President Bashir’s visa request, including the outstanding warrant for his arrest,” she said in response to questions by reporters during daily press briefing.

    The ICC Pre-Trial chamber, in a decision issued Wednesday, said it had ‘‘… invited the competent US authorities to arrest Omar Al Bashir and surrender him to the Court, in the event he enters their territory.’’

    The visa issue has attracted controversy placing the US, a non-signatory to the ICC’s Rome statute, in the spotlight.

    The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the members of the United Nations to publicly oppose attendance at its General Assembly by Bashir.

    “If al-Bashir turns up at the UN General Assembly, it will be a brazen challenge to Security Council efforts to promote justice for crimes in Darfur,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice program director at HRW.

    “The last thing the UN needs is a visit by an ICC fugitive”, she added.

    On Thursday, a group of Hollywood actors and activists wrote a letter to Obama urging him to block Bashir’s attendance.

    “While we recognize that the U.S. government is obliged to facilitate President Bashir’s visit under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement, we urge you to do everything in your power to prevent the trip,” it said.

    The letter suggested a number of steps to discourage the Sudanese president from visiting.

    The signatories including George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Mia Farrow and Omer Ismail and John Prendergast of the Enough Project said that the US Department of Justice should “explore filing a criminal case against him under 18 USC 1091”.

    “This law, which codifies the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, allows for anyone present in the United States to be prosecuted for genocide, even if their crimes were committed abroad” the letter reads in part.

    “By publicly raising the threat of such a prosecution and the specter that President Bashir’s privileges and immunities may not extend to genocidal acts, your administration would make an important statement about the U.S. government’s commitment to atrocity prevention and accountability”.

    “Declaring that the U.S. will only offer the Sudanese delegation the minimum amount of protection mandated by the UN Headquarters Agreement could also affect the Sudanese government’s decision making process… Limiting the number of visas granted to President Bashir’s security detail and imposing specific geographic constraints on those visas could also circumscribe the delegation’s mobility and raise the reputational costs of the trip” it adds.

    “In the event that President Bashir remains steadfast in his intent to travel to United Nations headquarters despite these actions, there are a number of steps that can be taken to impede his travel.

    Our diplomatic corps should encourage countries along President Bashir’s planned flight path to refuse landing rights for his aircraft for refueling and restrict access to their airspace.

    The U.S. delegation to the United Nations and Ambassador Samantha Power should also encourage senior UN officials and delegations from other countries to publicly refuse to meet with President Bashir or his delegation. Drawing on the precedent set by a similar rejection of former Iranian President Ahmadinejad in 2011, our diplomats could also coordinate a walk-out of the UN General Assembly session in protest of President Bashir’s presence”.

    sudantribune

  • Nairobi mall Gunmen Holding Hostages

    Nairobi mall Gunmen Holding Hostages

    {{Gunmen who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall on Saturday have taken at least seven hostages, police and security guards at the scene told reporters.}}

    “They have seven hostages, confirmed,” an officer said as police were engaged in an operation to clear the mall shop-by-shop and evacuate terrified people caught up in the incident.

    The gunmen stormed the upmarket mall and sprayed gunfire on shoppers and staff, killing at least six, reporters and witnesses said.

    Several attackers and trapped civilians were believed to still be inside the large four-storey shopping centre more than two hours after the attack began, and heavy fire was heard as police units moved in.

    Police and ambulances surrounded the Westgate mall, which is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates and would have been packed with families on a sunny weekend day.

    Terrified people could be seen running away from the compound clutching children while others crawled along walls to avoid stray bullets.

    Kenneth Kerich, who was shopping when the attack happened, described scenes of panic.

    “I suddenly heard gunshots and saw everyone running around so we [lay] down. I saw two people who were lying down and bleeding, I think they were hit by bullets,” he said.

    “Initially we thought it is police fighting thugs. But we could not leave until when officers walked in, shot in the air and told us to get out.”

    The motive of the attack was not immediately clear, but Kenyan media said the attackers, who witnesses said were black-clad and masked, may have been either armed robbers or “terrorists”.

    AFP

  • Sierra Leone seeks reparation from Spain for slavery

    Sierra Leone seeks reparation from Spain for slavery

    {{A Sierra Leonean Government official has proposed legal action against Spain to demand reparation over 1839 slavery incident.}}

    Information and Communication minister Alpha Kanu, who is also government spokesman, was quoted suggesting the Spanish government should pay for the capture and trafficking of Sierra Leoneans as slaves in an incident which led to the famous rebellion and commandeering of the La Amistad.

    This happened some 164 years ago, and it inspired the Steven Spielberg film, Amistad.

    It represents one of the most significant moments in Sierra Leone`s transatlantic slave trade history.

    The famous Spanish slave ship was transporting the Africans captured in Sierra Leone when Sengbe Pieh, probably the most famous Sierra Leonean slave, led the historic revolt that saw the seizure of the ship.

    Although their effort to sail back to Africa was foiled by their captors, the slaves ended up in what is now the US city of New Haven where they were eventually freed following a landmark court case.

    Former US President John Quincy Adams, an ardent anti-slavery campaigner, represented the so-called ‘Amistad Africans’ when the 1841 US Supreme Court hearing declared their capture “illegal”.

    Only 35 of them had survived and were freed and returned to Sierra Leone.

    {{Crime}}

    The Amistad Committee was set up 25 years ago, dedicated to keeping the legacy of the ‘Amistad Revolt’ alive.

    Friday was the 25th anniversary of that committee and the Sierra Leone minister was a keynote speaker at the event.

    He said because the slaves were captured after Britain and the US had banned slave trade, the act of the captors amounted to “crime against humanity.”

    “New Haven and Sierra Leone have a right to ask the Spanish Government to pay reparations for the injustice done to our people…Why shouldn’t we ask?” Mr Kanu said.

    He added that any reparation money was to go to the Sierra Leone Government, the people of New Haven, and living relatives of the former captives.

    The same minister in 2008, while representing President Ernest Bai Koroma in a similar occasion in the same city, apologized for the role Africans played in the slave trade.

    He said then it was Africans who captured fellow Africans and sold them off to Europeans.

    “We were the cause” and “for once I think someone should apologize,”
    he stated then in front of the Amistad statue erected in honor of six of the slaves who died in New heaven.

    NMG

  • N Korea Postpones Family Reunions with South

    N Korea Postpones Family Reunions with South

    {{North Korea has postponed a scheduled series of reunions for families separated for six decades since the 1950-53 Korean War, dealing a blow to months of efforts to improve relations between the neighbours.}}

    In a statement on Saturday, the North accused South Korea of “poisoning dialogue to heighten the conflict” and said “the reunions will happen when there can be a normal atmosphere for negotiations to be held”.

    Six days of meetings between family members still separated after the war had been due to start on Wednesday in the Mount Kumgang resort, north of the militarised border.

    The reunions would have been the first in nearly three years.

    North Korea also said it was putting off planned talks on resuming tours of Mount Kumgang, suspended after a North Korean guard shot dead a South Korean tourist in 2008. The talks had been set early October.

    There was no immediate comment from the South Korean government.

    Technically at war

    The neighbours remain technically at war as the 1950-53 war ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The conflict left millions of families divided, with travel across the border all but impossible and nearly all forms of communication barred.

    The abrupt announcement upended an easing of tensions in recent months.

    Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told Reuters that authorities in Pyongyang were trying seeking to secure more concessions from the South, a recurring tactic used by the North.

    Concessions on this occasion, he said, were aimed particularly at lucrative tourism to Mount Kumgang.

    “For North Korea, the tours come first and family reunions come later. It is the opposite for South Korea”, he said.

    {Reuters}

  • Pakistan Frees Afghan Taliban Commander

    Pakistan Frees Afghan Taliban Commander

    {{Pakistan has released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the former Afghan Taliban second-in-command, from prison in an effort aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan.}}

    “Yes Baradar has been released,” Omar Hamid, a spokesman for interior ministry told AFP news agency on Saturday, without elaborating.

    The US and Afghanistan have long pressed Islamabad to free Baradar, a figure they believe could tempt moderate Taliban leaders to come to the negotiating table as US-led troops prepare to leave Afghanistan at the end of next year.

    Pakistani sources said Baradar would probably be sent to Saudi Arabia or Turkey as part of that process, but Pakistan government officials would not confirm this.

    Sartaj Aziz, a government adviser, told media in Islamabad this month that Baradar would not be handed over to Afghanistan directly, as some in Kabul had hoped, and would instead be released into Pakistan.

    He said it was important to make sure that released Taliban prisoners had a chance to establish contact with their leadership on the ground to persuade them to be part of peace talks – an idea he said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had agreed to.

    aljazeera

  • Asia airs Nuclear Ambitions at U.N. Gathering

    Asia airs Nuclear Ambitions at U.N. Gathering

    {{China, India and other Asian states used a United Nations nuclear agency meeting this week to signal their determination to expand the use of atomic energy.}}

    At the September 16-20 annual gathering of the IAEA’s 159 member states, China outlined plans for more nuclear power plants despite safety worries around the world in the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima disaster.

    “The Chinese government has never wavered its firm determination to support nuclear energy development,” Ma Xingrui, chairman of China’s Atomic Energy Authority, said.

    With 17 nuclear power units now operating on the Chinese mainland, Beijing has another 28 under construction, the largest number in the world, he told the IAEA conference.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has cut its long-term outlook for nuclear energy growth for a third year in a row, in part because of hesitancy following Japan’s crisis. But, it said, the industry could still nearly double its capacity by 2030 due to growth in Asia.

    “Nuclear power faces challenges but the outlook remains strong,” Agneta Rising, director general of World Nuclear Association industry body, said. “That a few countries have a negative view is not enough to affect its long-term growth.”

    South Korea too is continuing efforts to expand its nuclear power program; it now has 23 plants and plans to build 11 new reactors by 2024, Sank-Mok Lee, head of the South Korean delegation, said.

    India’s construction of four home designed pressurized heavy water reactors is progressing as scheduled and it aims to build sixteen more such plants, Ratan Kumar Sinha, chairman of its Atomic Energy Commission, said.

    India now has 19 reactors in operation, he said.

    Indonesia said it was “resolved to harness nuclear energy” and Vietnam said the site investigation and feasibility study for two plants would be completed and submitted to the government for approval by the end of 2013. Pakistan too spoke of its intention to construct more nuclear power plants.

    Nuclear power has long been used as a reliable alternative to fossil fuels in natural resource-starved parts of Asia, even though the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdowns caused a growing crisis of confidence.

    In contrast with growth plans in Asia, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium have decided to move away from nuclear power after the disaster.

    The IAEA’s projections said low natural gas prices, an increase in subsidised renewable energy capacity and the financial crisis were expected to have an impact on nuclear prospects in the developed world in the short term.

    But population growth, demand for electricity, climate change concerns and price volatility for other fuels “continue to point to nuclear generating capacity playing an important role in the energy mix,” it added.

    {agencies}

  • Ukraine & EU to Sign Free Trade Pact

    Ukraine & EU to Sign Free Trade Pact

    Ukraine’s prime minister sought on Saturday to calm Russian fears over Kiev’s plans to sign a free trade pact with the European Union, saying in practice there would be no threat to Russia’s home market.

    Moody’s Investor Service cut Ukraine’s sovereign credit rating on Friday, partly on concern over relations with Russia.

    Speaking at an international conference in the Black Sea resort of Yalta, Mykola Azarov also expressed frustration at Russia’s refusal to reduce the price of its gas sales to the ex-Soviet republic and said Kiev may be obliged to reduce further the volume of its gas imports.

    Azarov’s government approved plans this week to sign landmark agreements in November with the EU on political association and free trade – drawing new threats of retaliation from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Russia says it fears its market could be flooded by competitive EU goods entering Ukraine free of import duties and being re-exported across the long border with Russia. It says it will introduce counter-measures to mitigate damage and has invited Kiev to join a Russian-led customs union.

    Azarov dismissed the threat of illegal transit of EU goods into Russia as “hypothetical” and one which in practice would not happen.

    “We are convinced that the signing (of the agreements with the EU) does not hold any risks (for Russia),” he said, adding that he would give personal assurances of this to Russia and its trade allies in the Moscow-led Customs Union.

    But he had sharper words for Russia over its refusal to bring down the price of gas supplies to Ukraine which hangs heavily on the country’s cash-strapped economy.

    Ukraine pays what it sees as an exorbitant price of more than $400 per thousand cubic meters under a 2009 contract which Russia has refused to revise despite pleas by the Azarov government.

    In a bid to break away from reliance on Russia, Ukraine is trying to secure alternative energy sources by stepping up domestic gas production, reaching shale gas and off-shore deals with Western companies, and possibly bringing in liquefied gas from foreign suppliers.

    Azarov said Ukraine was pressing ahead with “a serious restructuring” of its energy policy to diversify energy sources.

    wirestory

  • BlackBerry to cut 4,500 Jobs

    BlackBerry to cut 4,500 Jobs

    {{BlackBerry Ltd warned on Friday it expects to report a huge quarterly operating loss next week and that it will cut more than a third of its global workforce, rekindling fears of the company’s demise and sending its shares into a tailspin.}}

    The company, which has struggled to claw back market share from the likes of Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy phones, said it expects to report a net operating loss of between $950 million and $995 million in the quarter ended August 31, due to writedowns and other factors.

    The results will put more pressure on BlackBerry to find a buyer for either some parts of the company, or for all of it. It said last month it is weighing its options, including an outright sale, in the face of persistently lackluster sales of its new smartphones, which run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

    “The company has sailed off a cliff,” said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis. “What do you expect when you announce you’re up for sale? Who wants to commit to a platform that could possibly be shut down?”

    BlackBerry’s Toronto-listed shares fell as much as 23.7 percent to C$8.25 on Friday, their lowest this year, before closing down 16 percent at C$9.08. The company’s Nasdaq-listed shares ended 17 percent lower at $8.73, after falling as low as $8.01.

    Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry, once Canada’s premier technology company, said it expects to book a $930 million to $960 million writedown in its fiscal second quarter owing to a ballooning stockpile of unsold BlackBerry Z10 devices.

    The company had bet much of its future on the popularity of the Z10 touchscreen device – the first of the smartphones to be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. While the device drew favorable reviews, it has failed to gain traction among consumers since its introduction earlier this year.

    For the second quarter, the company expects to have sold about 3.7 million BlackBerry smartphones to end users. BlackBerry said it is changing the way it accounts for device sales, now booking revenue only after a device is sold to the end-customer, and not to carriers.

    Worryingly, most of the unit sales being recognized in the quarter are older-generation BlackBerry 7 devices. The company said it could not recognize BlackBerry 10 devices shipped in the quarter until those devices are sold through to end customers. That suggests carriers have been having difficulty moving the new line of devices.

    reuters

  • New Software to Improve Financial Management at Grassroot Levels

    New Software to Improve Financial Management at Grassroot Levels

    {{The Ministry of Local Government on September 19, launched a new ICT program aimed at improving financial management and budget utilisation among grass root levels, public institutions and institutions affiliated to the local government ministry.}}

    Officially unveiling the EASY TO USE program, Minister James Musoni said that this electronic approach will help the institutions to manage their books of accounts as well maintaining good financial records, as requested by the law.

    The new system will also improve means to receive and record money in financial books and ease drafting of financial reports.
    Minister Musoni said that the new electronic information recording will be used in sectors levels, schools, and health centres, among other institutions.

    He noted that the software will check embezzlement of public funds and will quicken and promote service delivery.

    Minister Musoni James, emphasized that the EASY TO USE program will play a vital role in ensuring that grass root levels achieve activities signed in the performance contracts.

    The launch of the new electronic filing follows a decision to allow sectors awards tenders.

    Prior to this development, sectors have been submitting financial reports on hard papers.

    The meeting was also attended by provincial executive secretaries, some sector executive secretaries and institutions affiliated to the local government ministry as well officials from the ministry of finance and the office of the auditor general.

    source: RBA

  • Regional Police Officers Complete Peacekeeping Training

    Regional Police Officers Complete Peacekeeping Training

    {{Sixty police officers from the eight Eastern Africa Standby Force Coordination Mechanism (EASFCOM) member countries, on Friday, completed a two-week United Nations Police Officers Course (UNPOC) at the Peacekeeping Training Centre in Gishari, Rwamagana District.}}

    The course dubbed “Turning Professional Police Officers into Competent Peacekeepers” was attended by officers from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and the host, Rwanda.

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, who presided over the closing ceremony, congratulated the school management, trainers as well as graduates for conducting and completing the course.

    He also thanked EASFCOM for choosing Rwanda to conduct the 39th UNPOC course.

    The United Nations Police Officers Course is a result of the multilateral cooperation among regional countries.

    It aims at capacitating the officers, particularly, in Peace Support Operations and to enhance regional cooperation and stability in general.

    “I thank our sister police forces from Eastern Africa region that availed their officers to participate on this course and reassure that we stand ready to join hands with them for the good of our nations” IGP Gasana said.

    “Policing work is dynamic; we face dynamic challenges and trends of various crimes, hence, police forces should be on standby refreshing themselves through vigorous training such that we can have a common understanding on the procedures to be followed while undertaking these challenges both in the region and beyond,” he added.

    “Rwanda National Police won’t spare any chance that calls for training and I urge all countries represented here to incorporate training of its police Officers in all its strategic planning,” he emphasized.

    Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) Ogwal Charles, a trainee from Uganda said, “I’m now an international police officer. This course has left me with skills that enables me serve well not only my country but also elsewhere in the world”.
    He, however, suggested the course to be extended to all regional officers.

    The course covered a wide range of subjects such as UN⁄AU peace operations, human rights protection, women, peace and security, code of conduct, cultural awareness, stress management, safety awareness, gender and sexual exploitation, hostage survival skills, safety precautions.

    Major Sarah Fadl Ahmed, one of the trainees from Sudan, said, the “We have used one stone to kill two birds by acquiring efficient professional skills, attitudes and knowledge concerning peacekeeping and other skills that are very important in our daily work as a career police officers.”

    “I wish, on behalf of my fellow participants, to thank Rwanda National Police for hosting us in this beautiful country. I’m now a good and a confident peacekeeping police officer who can efficiently fulfill assigned duties” she reiterated.

    source: RNP