Ian Urbina | Nov 17

NYT - Several times every year, Teodoro Nguema Obiang arrives at the doorstep of the United States from his home in Equatorial Guinea, on his way to his $35 million estate in Malibu, Calif., his fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats and private jet. And he is always let into the country.

The nation's doors are open to Obiang, the forest and agriculture minister of Equatorial Guinea and the son of its president, even though federal law enforcement officials believe that "most if not all" of his wealth comes from corruption. The graft is related to the extensive oil and gas reserves discovered more than a decade and a half ago off the coast of his tiny West African country, according to internal Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.

And the doors are open despite a federal law and a presidential proclamation that prohibit corrupt foreign officials and their families from receiving U.S. visas. The measures require only credible evidence of corruption, not a conviction for it.

Susan Pittman, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in the State Department, said she was prohibited from discussing specific visa decisions. But other former and current State Department officials said Equatorial Guinea's close ties to the American oil industry are the reason for the lax enforcement of the law. Production of the country's nearly 400,000 barrels of oil a day is dominated by American companies such as ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon.

"Of course it's because of oil," said John Bennett, U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 1991 to 1994, adding that Washington has turned a blind eye to the Obiangs' corruption and repression because of its dependence on the country for natural resources. He noted that officials of Zimbabwe are barred from the United States.

Brussels | Nov 17

DPA - The European Union hopes to launch a training mission aimed at helping Somalia's armed forces fight insurgents by the end of this year, the bloc's top diplomats said Tuesday.

The Somali government has asked for international help to train around 6,000 troops. France, Uganda and Djibouti have already begun their own training missions, which are estimated to be capable of training some 4,000 troops.

Under plans being discussed by EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels, between 80 and 200 trainers from the armies of the bloc's 27 member states would be sent to Uganda to instruct around 1,000-2,000 Somali troops, who would then defend their country's fragile transitional government against armed insurgents.

Today 'we are taking one step. I would foresee that we have a final decision before the end of the year,' said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was chairing the talks in Brussels as the current holder of the EU presidency.

Defiant 'trouser lady' continues to fight decency laws

Washington Post, By Stephanie McCrummen, November 14

KHARTOUM, SUDAN -- A few months after she was arrested for wearing pants, Lubna Hussein was lounging around her home in a shady, upper-class neighborhood in this capital along the Nile River. It was a hot afternoon, but the 34-year-old Sudanese journalist was wearing thick jeans adorned with sequins and embroidered flowers.

"Since all this happened, I will only wear pants," she said in the calmly defiant manner that led to her fleeting global celebrity as "the trouser lady," and a less-publicized backlash that has included anonymous death threats and newspaper columns calling her a prostitute. "If you have something to fight for, you can lose your life."

Shashank Bengali | Asmara, Eritrea | Nov 10

McClatchy -

In this lonely corner of the world, the first sign of distress is the luggage. When one of the few international flights that are still operating here touched down one recent afternoon, the returning passengers emerged from baggage claim as if from a big shopping trip. Old metal trolleys squealed under the weight of mundane items: tires, a laptop computer, tubs of detergent and duffel bags crammed so tightly with food that tin cans bulged through the fabric.

The needs are acute in Eritrea, a narrow shard of sand and rock along the Red Sea that's presided over by one of Africa's most secretive regimes. As its quixotic experiment in economic self-reliance falters, the Ohio-sized country of 5 million has slipped into its deepest political isolation in its 16 years of independence.

The United States and others accuse President Isaias Afwerki of funneling arms and money to Islamist insurgents in Somalia and have threatened to slap him with sanctions. Analysts say Isaias is bent on wresting influence from Ethiopia — Eritrea's large southern neighbor and adversary in a 30-year liberation struggle — and is backing several rebel groups across the chaotic Horn of Africa.

In a rare interview, Isaias dismissed the allegations as "fabrications" by Western interests — including his favorite bogeyman, the CIA — that traditionally have sided with Ethiopia. The pariah label has reinforced his belligerent attitude toward a world that long ignored Eritrea's cries for independence, and one in which he now seems to have just one remaining friend, the wealthy Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. _{(click pic for country profile)}

Nov 10

BBC -

The US military has deployed its Reaper unmanned drones to scour the Indian Ocean with their all-seeing, infra-red eye.

Somali pirates are attacking farther and farther from home; previously safe areas are now very much within range.

The farthest attack from shore has just taken place, 1,000 nautical miles (1,850km) off Somalia.

In total, close to 200 crew members are being held hostage for ransom and hardly a day passes without news of another attack.

The drone is controlled remotely and can fly up to 18 hours at a time.

Its camera is capable of zooming in on suspected pirates from heights of up to 15,200m (50,000ft).

"It has multiple zooms and is very good for the mission for scanning very large areas," said Cdr Gregory Hand of the US military, as he watched one of the three grey drones taxi along the runway besides the turquoise waters of the Seychelles.

"These aircraft have the capability of carrying weapons, but there are currently no plans to place weapons on them," he says.

Ariel David | Rome | November 8

WaPo - The United Nations says it is running out of food for millions of starving Somalis, in part because the United States is delaying aid amid fears it could be intercepted by militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Last month, the U.N. World Food Program began cutting rations by up to half for some people in the lawless, impoverished East African nation, and it will run out of supplies in December, the Rome-based agency said Saturday.

Brian Brady and David Randall | Nov 8

The Independent - Plenty of powerful people have an interest in the mercenary behind the 'Wonga Coup' keeping his own counsel

Simon Mann has been urged by Foreign Office officials to remain silent about the coup attempt that left him languishing in an African prison, and settle for a "quiet life" with his wife and family in the UK, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.

The veteran mercenary returned to Britain last week after he was pardoned by oil-rich Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema – the man he had planned to overthrow five years ago. Mann, with the gratitude of a man sprung 34 years before his sentence was due to run out, apologised for the plot that ended with his incarceration in the notorious Black Beach jail. He swiftly made it clear he wanted revenge on those he believes made him the "fall guy" – notably the Lebanese millionaire, Ely Calil, and Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister.

Mann's friends confirmed yesterday that he wanted "justice" for both men – not only for allegedly leaving him to carry the can for the disastrous coup attempt, but also for failing to look after his wife and children while he was in captivity thousands of miles away.

Yet they also revealed that Mann has already been subjected to government pressure to keep his mouth shut. "The Foreign Office didn't do anything to help get him out of that place, but they have been very quick to try to get him to play ball now he is back," one close friend said. "Simon has been told it would be in everyone's best interests if he could just draw a line under this whole thing. We know the Foreign Office wants to get on-side with EG [Equatorial Guinea] as quickly as possible but, frankly, it is also in their own interests for people to stop asking questions about this whole affair."

Jeffrey Gettleman | Nairobi | November 5

NYT - Members of the political elite in Kenya, a nation where top leaders have long escaped prosecution for corruption and other crimes, could now face an international investigation into the violence that shook the country after disputed elections last year.

After months of stonewalling by Kenyan politicians, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Thursday that crimes against humanity had been committed during the postelection period and that he would seek a formal investigation into them.

Harare | Nov 6

Reuters - Zimbabwe's government has proposed that Zimbabweans take 51 percent ownership of all foreign companies in the country, including mines and banks, according to a draft law seen by Reuters on Friday.

An official at the Chamber of Mines expressed surprise and concern at the proposed legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.

"We haven't seen the regulations but if what we've heard is true, then that's a step back. It goes against what we've been discussing with the Ministry of Mines and other ministries," the official, who declined to be named, said.

The draft regulations said "indigenous Zimbabweans" should hold a controlling interest in each foreign-owned business with an asset value above $500,000. They could further unsettle those investors with an interest in the ruined economy.

Zimbabwe passed an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment law in 2007, which seeks to transfer control of all firms -- including mines and banks -- to black Zimbabweans.

Seeing how well giving all the farms to indigenous Zimbabweans went, this ought to send the country into a whole new level of hell.

Jonathan Sherwood | Rochester, NY | November 3

Futurity - In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.

Now, scientists from several countries have confirmed that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world’s oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea.

Nick Mathiason | Nov 3

The Guardian - New code of conduct could limit aggressive moves by China, South Korea and Gulf states who have been buying vast tracts of agricultural land

Aggressive moves by China, South Korea and Gulf states to buy vast tracts of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa could soon be limited by a new global international protocol.

A scramble for African farmland has in recent years seen the equivalent of Italy's entire arable land hoovered up by businesses from emerging economies.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank are now discussing a new code of conduct for land buyers in Africa. Amid increasing concerns over food security, it could include ensuring consent is given prior to selling land from local people as well as ensuring smallholders do not lose out. A first draft is expected to be released next spring.

Alex Wijeratna, Action Aid's food rights campaign officer, said: "There's a new scramble for land in Africa. It's growing at an incredible rate. There's massive secrecy, poor communities can't get information and they're not being consulted. There's an argument for a moratorium on sales until there's a proper framework to assess them. We are concerned that an agreement will not come fast enough."

Earlier this year, legendary hedge fund speculator George Soros highlighted a new farmland buying frenzy caused by growing population, scarce water supplies and climate change. South Korea bought huge areas of Madagasca recently while Chinese interests bought up large swathes of Senegal to supply it with sesame.

Haroon Siddique & Giles Tremlett | Nov 3

The Guardian - The British mercenary Simon Mann, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Equatorial Guinea last year for plotting to overthrow the oil-rich country's government, has been granted a presidential pardon.

Equatorial Guinea's information ministry said tonight that Teodoro Obiang, the president, had already signed the waiver, which was "a complete pardon on humanitarian grounds".

Mann, an Eton-educated former SAS officer, was arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2004 with dozens of mercenaries when their private plane landed. He spent three years in prison in Zimbabwe and was then extradited to Equatorial Guinea.

During his trial, the court in Equatorial Guinea heard that Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, was a member of the group. Mann acknowledged knowingly taking part in the attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's government, but his lawyer argued he was a secondary player. He has been held at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo, the capital.

Mann was also ordered to pay a fine and compensation of about £14.6m.

The presidential pardon said Mann had been released, taking into account his health and given his need "to receive regular medical treatment and to be with his family". It stated that the pardon came on the eve of an official visit to Equatorial Guinea by Jacob Zuma, the South African president.

The decree also said that Mann's "attitude during the investigation … and his behaviour during the trial and while being held in prison … showed sufficient and credible signs of repentance".

Steve Connor | Nov 3

The Independent -

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa – may soon be falling on bare ground following a study showing that its ice cap is destined to disappear entirely within 20 years, due largely to climate change.

The vast ice fields of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are melting at a faster pace than at any time over the past 100 years and at this rate they will be gone completely within two decades or even earlier according to one of the world's leading glaciologists.

A team led by Professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University said that the latest assessment of Kilimanjaro's famous ice cap has confirmed that 85 per cent of the ice that covered the mountain in 1912 has been lost, and 26 per cent of the ice that was there in 2000 is now gone.

A series of cores drilled through the ice fields at different points on Kilimanjaro has revealed that the melting observed over the past few decades is unprecedented in nearly 12,000 years. The research also shows that that the current thinning of the ice cap is faster than when a devastating 300-year drought occurred 4,200 years ago, a period when very little snow fell on the mountain.

"The dramatic loss of Kilimanjaro's ice cover has attracted global attention. The three remaining ice fields on the plateau and the slopes are both shrinking laterally and rapidly thinning," the scientists write in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

If conditions persist, and warmer temperatures continue to melt more ice than falls in the form of snow, then there is a "strong likelihood that the ice field will disappear within a decade or two", the authors conclude.

Oct 28

BBC - Hundreds of people have attended a wedding in central Somalia between a man who says he is 112 years old, and his teenage wife.

Ahmed Muhamed Dore - who already has 18 children by five wives - said he would like to have more with his new wife, Safia Abdulleh, who is 17 years old.

"Today God helped me realise my dream," Mr Dore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud.

The bride's family said she was "happy with her new husband".

Mr Dore said he and his bride - who is young enough to be his great-great-grand-daughter - were from the same village in Somalia and that he had waited for her to grow up to propose.

"I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry," the groom said.

Alisha Ryu | Nairobi | October 22

VOA News - At least 24 people were killed and as many as 60 wounded in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, during what witnesses say was one of the worst fighting in recent months. African Union peacekeepers are being increasingly blamed for causing deaths and injuries among civilians.

Even the most battle-hardened residents describe the early morning fighting between African Union peacekeepers and al-Shabab militants as one of the most frightening battles they have ever seen.

October 16

Al Jazeera - Nigeria's main rebel group has ended its 90-day ceasefire with the government and threatened to resume attacks in the oil-producing southern region.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said in an emailed statement that it would resume "hostilities against the Nigerian oil industry, the Nigerian armed forces and its collaborators" on Friday.

Daiel Howden | Oct 17

The Independent - Arrest of MDC official pushes Tsvangirai to denounce Mugabe as 'dishonest partner'

Zimbabwe's troubled power-sharing government is facing its most serious crisis after the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, declared a "temporary withdrawal" in response to the arrest of one of his main allies.

"It is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner," he told reporters in Harare. "Whilst being in government, we shall forthwith disengage from Zanu-PF and in particular from cabinet and the council of ministers until such time as confidence and respect are restored amongst us."

The stalemate could stall all government business including attempts to reform the constitution. Mr Tsvangirai said that if the crisis intensified further, it could be resolved only by holding fresh elections under the supervision of the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community.

The former trade unionist and opposition leader has been sharing power with his bitter political rival, President Robert Mugabe, since March this year but the already rocky relationship has reached breaking-point after the arrest of Roy Bennett, a prominent member of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

David Leigh | Oct 17

The Guardian - • Guardian 'released from restrictions forthwith'
• Report called firm's oil waste 'potentially toxic'
• Read the Trafigura study: the Minton report (pdf)

Lawyers for oil traders Trafigura finally abandoned attempts to keep secret a scientific report about toxic waste dumping in west Africa, that was shown to the Guardian.

Just after 7.30pm Carter-Ruck, libel lawyers for Trafigura, wrote a letter to the Guardian which said the newspaper should regard itself as "released forthwith" from any reporting restrictions. An MP revealed the report's existence to parliament this week, after the Guardian was hit with a "super-injunction" banning all mention of it and other UK media were then subsequently notified of, and therefore bound by it.

The Minton report, commissioned in 2006 from the London-based firm's scientific consultants, said that based on the "limited" information they had been given Trafigura's oil waste, dumped cheaply the month before in a city in Ivory Coast, was potentially toxic, and "capable of causing severe human health effects".

The study said early reports of large scale medical problems among the inhabitants of Abidjan, were consistent with a release of a cloud of potentially lethal hydrogen sulphide gas over the city. The effects could have included severe burns to the skin and lungs, eye damage, permanent ulceration, coma and death.

Daniel Howden | Darfur, Sudan | October 17

The Independent - The Lord's Resistance Army, one of the most feared guerrilla groups in Africa, has moved into Darfur, one of the continent's most troubled regions, intelligence sources in Sudan say.

The unexpected move by the LRA comes just as the war-weary west of Sudan recedes from world headlines and after the UN mission there had tentatively declared the fighting to be over. The possible arrival of a messianic cult notorious for rape, civilian massacres and the enslavement of child soldiers threatens that fragile peace. The LRA has been terrorising the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo for 18 months but the bulk of its forces have now crossed into southern Darfur, a senior official in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) told The Independent.

"We have confirmed that the LRA are there and they have clashed with the local population," said Major-General Kuol Deim Kuol.

Grand Rapids, MI | October 16

PressTV - The grounds have reportedly been established for armed American presence on Somali soil with a US security firm winning a contract in the war-ravaged country.

Michigan-based CSS Global Inc., secured the contract under the plea of 'fighting terrorism and piracy' and 'protecting' Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), reported Michigan Live citing The Grand Rapids Press newspaper.

Nairobi/Abuja | Oct 11

DPA - Some 70 people were killed, many of them burned to death, in a multiple-vehicle inferno in Nigeria caused after a fuel tanker lorry crashed, the online edition of This Day newspaper reported Saturday.

The accident in Anambra State ultimately involved nine vehicles, including the fuel tanker, six commuter buses, and passenger car and a van, the report said.

The newspaper cited eyewitnesses as saying the fuel tanker first toppled over near a junction, spilling fuel onto the road. The fuel exploded when a car approached the secne and then the other vehicles also were engulfed in flames.

Will Ross | Eldoret, Kenya | October 9

BBC - A Kenyan deadline expires on Friday for people displaced by post-election violence to leave their camps.

Two weeks ago President Mwai Kibaki ordered the closure of the camps, which at the peak of the violence were home to around 500,000 people.

Oc t 7

BBC - Rival ethnic groups in Kenya who fought after the 2007 election are rearming in readiness for violence at the 2012 poll, a BBC investigation has found.

It is feared villagers in Rift Valley province are moving from traditional weapons such as spears to machine guns.

Government officials insist they are tackling the influx of illegal arms.

But they have been widely criticised for failing to punish the ringleaders of violence after the 2007 election, in which 1,300 people died.

Daniel Howden | Oct 6

The Independent - Plans for a high-speed rail line may spell the end for East Africa's Victorian engineering folly.

In a neglected corner beyond Nairobi's frantic bus terminal lies the entrance to the city's railway station. It barely warrants a second glance from the thousands of commuters making their way on to the hundreds of matatu minibuses that keep Kenya's capital moving. The station is more useful for time travelling than getting anywhere in a hurry. Most of the destinations have fallen off its battered departure boards, no one sits on the ripped upholstery in the first-class waiting room, and only a tiny Somali girl is brave enough to use the blocked bathrooms behind it. Platform One has the feel of a museum gone to seed, which is what it has taken a step closer to becoming this month with the unveiling of plans for a high-speed rail link between Mombasa and the capital.

It may not have passed the lips of Nairobi's station announcers but the plan for double-decker trains was also the last call for the legendary "Lunatic Express", a folly of Victorian engineering that changed East Africa and created the modern country now crowding on to buses outside. The new version is expected to cost more than £2.5bn and take five years to build and will cut journey times to three hours. Despite its price and ambition, the construction will not match the extraordinary cost both in human lives and to the British Exchequer of the line it replaces.

The railway line's original purpose was to shore up Britain's hold on Uganda, which was believed to hold the key to the security of the River Nile. In the convoluted logic of the late 19th-century "Scramble for Africa", stopping France, Germany or Belgium from tampering with Lake Victoria's waters flowing into the Nile would secure the Suez Canal and, in turn, the passage to India. A rail track would mean troops could be quickly transported from the coast to the Great Lakes region in defence of the empire. At least, this was the argument made in the 1890s by the British East Africa Company to persuade Parliament to finance the line that would eventually cost £5m (that, and assurances that it would hasten the end of slavery).

Not everyone was convinced and the radical MP Henry Labouchere denounced it memorably: "Where it is going, nobody knows, what is the use of it, none can conjecture ... It is clearly naught but a lunatic line."

Miriam Mannak | Cape Town | Oct 6

IPS - Maternal mortality rates in Africa constitute a "monumental tragedy" that requires urgent attention by African governments, health experts say.

"Expectant mothers in Africa, of all pregnant women in the world, are worst off. An average African woman has a chance of one in fourteen of dying during pregnancy or child labour," says human rights and health researcher Ebenezer Durojaye.

Durojaye, a Nigerian working at South Africa’s University of the Free State, told IPS that the situation in Sierra Leone is even worse. "Here, a woman has a chance of one in eight of dying during pregnancy and labour. In countries like Singapore, for instance, the maternal death risk is one in 3,000," he explained.

Durojaye was speaking at the 19th World Congress by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), in Cape Town, South Africa. The event, which runs from Oct. 4-9, is being attended by over 2000 obstetricians, gynaecologists and health experts from around the world.

"The situation in Africa is an outright nightmare and a monumental tragedy," Durojaye said.