July 2

scoop.co.nz - Two tribal communities in eastern Chad have agreed to end a long-running feud and live peacefully together under an initiative co-sponsored by the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the country.

MINURCAT, the UN mission to Chad and the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR), and local authorities in the town of Adre brought together members of the ethnic Zaghawa and Massalit communities yesterday to formalize the end to their feud.

Daniel Howden | July 1

The Independent - The streets are no longer burning, but smouldering corruption at every level of government threatens to rip the country apart. Once the pride of East Africa, it has now been judged a failure of a state, writes Daniel Howden

Symbols rarely come as obvious or appropriate as Nairobi's Integrity Centre. A stone's throw from State House Avenue, the headquarters of Kenya's Anti-Corruption Commission (Kacc) is both a rusting hulk and a public joke. It was built to project the arrival of a brash new world but its metal panels have oxidised and bled, scarring its bronze facade with rivulets like the tracks of filthy brown tears.

In a country so traumatised by the consequences of corruption this ought to be a hive of activity. Instead it is a place which most experts would be happy to see closed. "They should be locked in and paid to stay there," says Mwalimu Mati, an anti-corruption campaigner. "They're not ever going to fight grand corruption. They are managers of scandal and no action is ever taken."

Eighteen months after East Africa's island of stability was brought to the brink of civil war by the fallout from a stolen election, there is a temptation to assume that if the country is not burning, it must be healing. That would be wrong, according to the annual index of failed states, issued yesterday, which put Kenya in the critically failed group, one place below Burma.

Daniel Howden | June 30

The Independent - The troubled unity government of Zimbabwe is locked in a "make or break" battle over the constitution that could see the party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai walk out.

Members of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) boycotted a cabinet meeting led by Robert Mugabe yesterday, but sources in the former opposition group said they were not yet ready to disengage.

The power-sharing administration is facing its most serious challenge yet following the start of talks about redrawing the bankrupt southern African nation's constitution. Plans put forward by Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party would concentrate more power in the hands of the President, an idea that was rejected in a referendum in 2000.

"If they insist on this draft then it will break the unity government, its content is unacceptable," said one MDC minister, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But I don't see that happening for several months, you don't want to walk out before trying to deal with this issue."

June 26

BBC - Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Analysts say the move could further strengthen Russia's role in supplying natural gas to Europe.

The agreement comes during a four-day African tour by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

As well as forming Nigaz, Russia is keen on developing a trans-African pipeline to transport Nigerian gas to Europe.

This could further reinforce Gazprom's already-strong influence over Europe's energy supplies.

Daniel Howden | June 25

The Independent - Six years ago, the world came together to stop a trade in gems that was fuelling civil war in Africa. Now the architect of the deal has quit, warning that jewels 'have blood all over them' again

The leading architect of the international system to stop the trade in blood diamonds has warned that the safety net is close to collapse with governments and the industry failing to act against gross violations.

Ian Smillie, the "grandfather" of the landmark Kimberley Process, that was agreed in response to appalling civil wars in Africa fuelled by illegal gems, said he had "stomped out" on his scheme as it was no longer working.

"It isn't regulating the rough diamond trade," the Canadian expert said yesterday. "It is in danger of becoming irrelevant and it's letting all manner of crooks off the hook."

Camillus Eboh | Abuja | June 24

Reuters - Nigeria's president will propose a 60-day amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta on Thursday, in an effort to end years of attacks on Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, a senior official said.

The government estimates as many as 20,000 militants could participate in the programme, but sceptics question whether an amnesty alone will be enough to halt widespread oil theft, pipeline bombings and kidnappings for ransom.

David Montero | June 24

CSM Media Roundup - Some armed groups who adhere to a more moderate interpretation of Islam have begun battling Al Qaeda-linked extremists.

Somalia is beginning to seem more and more like the Swat Valley of eastern Africa – a place where Al Qaeda-linked insurgents are setting up religious law courts, assassinating government ministers, and spreading their tentacles farther and deeper.

This week, Al Shabab, the top militant Islamist force that controls most of the country, tried and convicted four thieves. Their punishment: amputation of one hand and one foot each, in accordance with a strict, literal reading of Islamic law. The sentence has been temporarily delayed, but it's the latest sign that Somalia is fast becoming an extremist haven. (Last month, Islamists invited a crowd to see a man suspected of stealing $90 worth of clothing get his hand cut off, BBC reports in a detailed eye witness account.)

And as in Pakistan, many are looking to armed tribes in Somalia who adhere to Sufism – a mystical, moderate interpretation of Islam – as the best chance for peace.

Scott Baldauf | Johannesburg | June 23

CSM -

With or without an international mandate, Ethiopian forces have entered Somali territory to back up a fast-failing Somali government.

Sources close to Western embassies in Nairobi confirmed news reports that Ethiopian troops have taken positions in the Central Somali town of Beledweyne, and that Ethiopian troops were also active in the Gelgadud region north of the capital of Mogadishu. Kenyan forces, too, are reportedly amassing along the Somali border as a defensive measure, in what Kenya's foreign minister described in a press conference as a matter of "national security."

Magdi Abdelhadi | Cairo | June 23

BBC -

Nearly 60 years since the Egyptian army overthrew the monarchy, some Egyptians may be looking to the army again for a successor to 80-year-old head of state and former air force chief Hosni Mubarak.

Not far from the podium where President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981 while watching a military parade stands a huge frieze.

The gilded triptych glorifies the military and places it at the heart of Egyptian society from the time of the Pharaohs.

The central scene portrays soldiers, together with farmers, workers and students, carrying a plaque inscribed with 1952 - the year a group of army officers overthrew King Farouk and declared Egypt a republic.

The message is clear: the military injects dignity and pride into Egypt and deserves its privileged status - a status the officers have enjoyed since 1952.

The military has also been transformed into a veritable business empire, whose exact size, turnover and profit no-one is allowed to know. Not even parliament can scrutinise its affairs.

Tracy McVeigh | June 21

The Observer - Africa's longest-running civil war is over and a new country is supposed to grow out of it. But there are few schools or roads and the people live in fear of kidnap and death. Soon, Southern Sudan's humanitarian disaster could dwarf that of its neighbour Darfur

Gallery: guns and disease ravage south Sudan

William Maclean | London | June 19

Reuters - Under pressure in his Pakistan enclaves, Osama bin Laden is facing a familiar quandary: Where to go next? The answer is unlikely to be Yemen or Somalia, despite their new prominence as regional al Qaeda sanctuaries.

U.S. drone attacks and a looming Pakistan army offensive against one of al Qaeda's main allies in a northwestern tribal area have stirred speculation that bin Laden's men are seeking a less risky refuge for their anti-Western campaign.

But simply leaving Pakistan's remote Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) could expose the world's most wanted man and his entourage of planners and bodyguards to satellite detection and the curious gaze of a local population of uncertain loyalty.

Related thread: Yemen could be "another Afghanistan" -EU official

June 20

BBC - The speaker of Somalia's parliament has called for neighbouring states to send troops to the country within 24 hours.

Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur made the appeal as fierce fighting that has spread to the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, continued for a second day.

Islamist forces battling the country's transitional government briefly took over a police station and other key buildings in Karan district.

Thousands are fleeing the area, previously a refuge for the displaced.

"The government is weakened by the rebel forces," AFP news agency quoted Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur as saying.

"We ask neighbouring countries - including Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen - to send troops to Somalia within 24 hours."

In May, Mali and Algeria began preparing to get tough on AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). For much of the past six weeks, however, AQIM appeared to be on the offensive. In Mali, an AQIM affiliate executed a kidnapped British citizen, Edwin Dyer, and appeared to be behind the assassination of Colonel Lamana Ould Cheikh, an army officer with responsibility for hunting militants. Meanwhile, militants claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Algeria.

Mogadishu | June 19

AFP - Somalia's internal security minister was among 10 people killed on Thursday in a suicide bombing at a hotel in Beledweyne, north of the capital, management at the hotel who witnessed the blast told AFP.

Hotel worker Ahmed Abdi said up to 13 people could have died in the attack, staged at the hotel where minister Omar Hashi Aden was staying with his entourage.

"His body is lying at the reception," he said.

Abdi said the suicide bomber drove an explosives laden Toyota saloon car up to Hotel Medina as the minister and his delegation was preparing to leave.

Witnesses told AFP the blast destroyed much of the hotel and left a thick pall of smoke over the town, around 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the capital.

Johannesburg | June 17

IRIN - It will take at least ten years to develop a variety of staple grain that will survive in the climates caused by global warming in most parts of Africa, and the continent has less than two decades in which to do it, warn the authors of a new study.

"The countries have to start developing varieties now, but many of these countries don't have breeding programmes," said Luigi Guarino, one of three authors of a study to be published on 19 June in the US journal, Global Environmental Change. "This study, we hope, at least raises the flag."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international scientific body, has predicted that food production in Africa could halve by 2020 as global warming pushes temperatures up and droughts become more intense.

The new study by researchers at Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment, in the US, and the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust, noted that "For a majority of Africa's farmers, warming will rapidly take climate not only beyond the range of their personal experience, but also beyond the experience of farmers within their own country."

_{Previously posted articles:
** Africa: The Second Scramble for Africa Starts
** Researchers urge rules to stop 'land-grabbing' worsening hunger
** Foreign land grabs for food could fuel unrest
** China's new export: farmers
** Financial crisis may worsen food crunch it eclipsed
** Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply}

David Smith | Johannesburg | June 18

The Guardian - One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country's endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

South Africa is notorious for having one of the highest levels of rape in the world. Only a fraction are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction.

The study into rape and HIV, by the country's Medical Research Council (MRC), asked men to tap their answers into a Palm Pilot device to guarantee anonymity. The method appears to have produced some unusually frank responses.

Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, said: "We have a very, very high prevalence of rape in South Africa. I think it is down to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It's rooted in an African ideal of manhood."

June 17

BBC -

A UN base in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been fired on by army soldiers in a dispute over pay.

It is the latest in a string of mutinies in North Kivu by soldiers who have not been paid for six months.

A senior UN peacekeeper told the BBC that army commanders are not handing over soldiers' wages.

The army and UN forces are conducting an offensive in the region against ethnic Hutu rebels many of whom fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide.

A UN spokesman told the BBC the situation needed to be dealt with urgently.

"There is a risk of a potential disintegration of the Congolese army," he said.

Over the last few months, members of the Tutsi-dominated rebel militia, the Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), have been integrated into the national army.

"There has been a fast-track integration of the CNDP and we are now seeing the results. The commanders are getting the money but not distributing it," the UN spokesperson said.

Daniel Howden | Berbera, Somaliland

The Independent - “In our culture we were nomads and we believed it was our right to take sheep, to take cattle. That is how we see the ships. They are our sheep and we will take them.”

The ships that Farrah Ismail speaks of are those plying the sea lanes off the Horn of Africa. And the culture he refers to is that of the Somali nomads who have been raiding rival tribes or clans for centuries.

The story of how this inherently nomadic view of the world was brought to bear on one of the industrial world's most valuable trading routes is the story of Ismail's life.

Kate Connolly | Berlin | June 17

The Guardian - Twenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe.

The businesses, which include some of the biggest names in European energy, finance and manufacturing, will form a consortium next month. If successful, the highly ambitious plan could see Europe fuelled by solar energy within a decade.

The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar energy initiative will first raise awareness and interest among other investors for the project, known as Desertec, which is estimated to cost around €400bn (£338bn).

Mogadishu | June 17

BBC -

Islamist guerrillas have vowed to topple the UN-backed government

Mogadishu's police chief has been killed as government forces attacked insurgent bases in the Somali capital.

Witnesses saw the bodies of at least eight people, mainly civilians, in the latest battle to convulse the city.

"This is the strongest fighting we've seen in recent months," one resident, Asha Mo'alim, told the BBC. "We're ducking in our rooms."

Pro-government forces have been locked in fierce battles with radical Islamist guerrillas in the city since 7 May.

Cairo | June 16

Reuters -
Libyan authorities have reported an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean coastal town of Tubruq(Tobruk), and the World Health Organisation was sending a team to investigate, a WHO official said Tuesday.

The cases -- approximately 16 to 18 have been reported -- would be the first in more than two decades in Libya of the disease known in medieval times as the Black Death, according to John Jabbour, a Cairo-based emerging diseases specialist at WHO.

"It is reported as bubonic plague," Jabbour said, adding WHO still didn't have "a full picture" of the situation.

"It is officially reported by Libya... Tomorrow, WHO is deploying a mission to Libya to investigate the whole situation, to see how many of the cases are confirmed, or not confirmed."

He said preliminary information from Libyan authorities showed 16 to 18 reported cases including one death, and that Tripoli had asked for assistance from the global health body.

Bubonic plague, noticeable by black bumps that sometimes develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and fever and still kills around 100 to 200 people annually worldwide. It can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics.

A plague epidemic of 1347 to 1351 was one of the deadliest recorded in human history, killing about 75 million people, according to some estimates, including more than a third of Europe's population.

That pandemic was thought to have begun in Asia, then spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

June 16

BBC -
Aid agencies estimate some four million Somalis need food aid

The UN World Food Programme in Somalia has launched an inquiry into a report that thousands of sacks of aid were being sold on the open market.

Maize, wheat and cooking oil - marked not for re-sale and bearing the UN logo - were found in Mogadishu markets.

One trader told Britain's Channel 4 News he bought food from WFP staff who allowed them to load lorries freely.

Another trader said he invented fictional refugee camps, which were then allocated food that he sold.

"You go to the WFP office and fill in an application form to create a camp," he told Channel 4 News.

"When we receive the food, we give out some, and then divide the rest between ourselves and the WFP guys, who negotiated the deal."

The WFP denied that its staff were implicated but said powerful clans in war-torn Somalia may be involved.

June 16

BBC - Congolese ex-Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba will face five counts of war crimes, the International Criminal Court has ruled.

The charges relate to the actions of his troops in the neighbouring Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.

Mr Bemba has denied all charges, saying the militia was not under his command once they had crossed the border.

He led a rebel movement during DR Congo's long civil war but became vice-president under a peace deal.

Mr Bemba is the most high-profile of four Congolese warlords facing trial at the ICC.

The former head of the Guinean armed forces is among 20 people expected to appear in court charged with drug trafficking in the next few days.

State media said they were arrested after months of investigations carried out by the new military authorities.

They include the former army chief, General Diarra Camara, his son, and other ex-senior officers.

Eight Nigerians, a Ghanaian and an Israeli are also among those reported to have been charged.

In recent years, West African countries such as Guinea have become major transit points in the trafficking of narcotics, particularly cocaine from Latin America.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital, Conakry, says the start of the trial against the alleged drug traffickers will mark a significant turning point in the war waged against them by the military government led by Moussa Dadis Camara.

Andy Rowell | June 14

The Independent - Documents seen by The IoS support claims energy giant enlisted help of country's military government

Serious questions over Shell Oil's alleged involvement in human rights abuses in Nigeria emerged last night after confidential internal documents and court statements revealed how the energy giant enlisted the help of the country's brutal former military government to deal with protesters.

The documents, seen by the IoS, support allegations that Shell helped to provide Nigerian police and military with logistical support, and aided security sweeps of the oil-rich Niger Delta. Earlier this month Shell agreed to pay $15.5m (£9.6m) in a "humanitarian settlement" on the eve of a highly embarrassing US lawsuit.

One of the allegations was that Shell was complicit in the regime's execution of civilians. The Anglo-Dutch firm denies any wrongdoing and said it settled to help "reconciliation". But the documents contain detailed allegations of the extent to which Shell is said to have co-opted the Nigerian military to protect its interests.