Ugandans want to remain in Somalia

Kampala (Uganda) With just a month to go before the end of the African Union mandate in Somalia, the Uganda army is seeking for a United Nations mandate to maintain a reasonable presence in Somalia.

The People\’s Defense Forces (UPDF) spokesman, Major Felix Kulayigye said on Tuesday that discussions between the African Union and the United Nations to extend the UPDF mandate in Somalia are at an advanced stage.

The UPDF contingent of 1,500 soldiers was deployed on March 1 and has been trying to keep peace in the war-torn country.

Kulayigye said there is still need for a peacekeeping force to help Somalia gain stability.

He said that since arriving in Mogadishu, UPDF have secured the main airport and sea port and provided security and protection for the transitional federal government.

The troops have also provided security for the president and his palace as well as for the national peace and reconciliation conference in Mogadishu.

Kulayigye said there is optimism that the results of last week\’s peace and reconciliation conference will yield positive consultations leading to lasting peace.

He said other countries like Malawi, Burundi, Ghana and Nigeria are still expected to send in their troops but under a new mandate.

The African Union mission needs a total of 8,000 soldiers.

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The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mrs.Patricia Etteh: Demands release of the coprse

Lagos (Nigeria) The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mrs.Patricia Etteh Monday demanded the immediate release of the corpse of a Nigerian, Osamuyi Akpitahi from the custody of the Spanish authorities.

The late Akpitahi was an illegal Nigerian immigrant in Spain who was alleged to have died in the hands of the Spanish security agents while in the process of being deported from Spain in June. Since then, his body is in the hands of the Spanish authorities.

Speaking to the Spanish ambassador to Nigeria, Angel Lasoda, who called on her in Abuja on Monday, Speaker Etteh said; “In our culture, we place high importance and attachment to the dead. Therefore, we demand that the body of the deceased should be immediately released to the family for proper burial”.

“If released and buried according to the customs of his people, the trauma the family is going through will subsidise to some extent. It amounts to double agony for the family, if the corpse of their killed son cannot be buried properly’’, she said.

Etteh, who refused to be swayed by the ambassador’s attempt to justify the killing, said allegations of criminal offences by the Spanish authorities, was not enough to kill Akpitahi.

The deceased, who was alleged to have resisted several attempts to deport him, she said, could have been handed over to the Nigerian embassy in Spain to bring him back home.

Earlier, Ambassador Lasoda alleged that the deceased resisted several attempts to deport him in addition to rape charges against him, but however, added that, the allegations were not a justification for the killing.

He expressed sadness over the “unfortunate and regrettable incident’’, and promised to facilitate the release of the corpse as demanded by the Speaker.

As a country that believes in the rule of law, the matter, he said, had been taken over by the country’s judiciary which had ordered for an autopsy on the corpse to determine the actual fact of the case.

Similarly, the Spanish Senate, according to him, had instituted investigations into the matter and assured the Speaker that indicted officials would be punished according to the country’s laws.

Lasoda, who called for Nigeria’s understanding on the issue, said it should not be allowed to have a negative effect on the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

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UN urges speedy peacekeepers deployment in Darfur

Washington DC (USA) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday pledged to push for action to facilitate the speedy deployment of peacekeepers to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, while at the same time moving decisively to foster a lasting political settlement to the conflict there.

Addressing a press conference in New York following a two-week trip to Afghanistan and several European countries, Mr. Ban said Darfur dominated many of his discussions with top officials. “We have made important progress,” he said. “We must now push the pace. Hard.”

Mr. Ban outlined a number of areas where he would press for decisive action. He noted that the Security Council is now considering a draft resolution on the proposed hybrid UN-African Union force for Darfur. “I sincerely hope that the Security Council will take the necessary action within this week, which will allow more than 20,000 military personnel and civilian police,” said Mr. Ban.

The draft calls on member states to finalize their contributions within 90 days, he added. “I think this is fast, by UN standards. But I want to move more rapidly. The political situation on the ground is too fragile, the humanitarian crisis too dire, to waste more precious time,” he said.

The Secretary-General said the UN must work with the AU and other partners to “start preparing the ground for our peacekeepers immediately.”

He noted that a preliminary reconnaissance group leaves for Sudan Tuesday, while China will soon send a contingent of military engineers to Darfur to commence communications and logistical work that must precede the mission.

Mr. Ban said he had been informed that “several hundred international troops, or more, will be ready to deploy by October,” but added, “I will push for September.”

With the first units of the so-called “heavy support package” slated to start deploying later this year, he said he would press for expeditious action. “I will push to accelerate our timetable to the maximum, to the extent that security and logistics allow.”

The Secretary-General also vowed to “push no less hard on the political front.”

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Mauritania’s foreign minister - Refugees will be repatriated from Mali and Senegal within 12 months

Nouakchott (Mauritania) Mauritania’s minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Mohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine, has reiterated the government’s determination to repatriate refugees living in Mali and Senegal within 12 months as promised, and welcomed the assistance of the international community in doing so.

Lemine made the statement in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott on Tuesday evening, when he addressed the heads of international organisations as well as diplomats accredited to the country on the efforts made by the government to resolve the problem of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal and Mali.

The Mauritanian government attaches high importance to the permanent resolution of the refugee problem, Lemine said.

He promised that the government will resolve the issue within 12 months as President Sidi ould Cheikh Abdulahi promised during his election campaign.

The issue is “a national duty and a moral commitment that should be resolved in the interest of national unity,” Lemine went on.

He recalled that the government has set up of an interdepartmental committee, led by the secretary general of the presidency, that was already holding consultations with representatives of political parties and the civil society.

The committee was presently visiting Dakar where it met with President Abdoulaye Wade and made contacts with delegates of associations of Senegal-based refugees before visiting the refugee camps.

All the Mauritanian refugees will go back home, he said, and assured them that the government was working on an integrated reintegration programme for them.

For their part, the diplomats and representatives of international organisations lauded the efforts being made by the Mauritanian government to resolve the problem.

The diplomats then pledged their countries’ willingness to back Mauritania in ending the refugee crisis which they said will certainly help the country regain its reputation on the international scene.

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A field officer of Niger’s armed forces (FAN), Major Kindo Zada on Tuesday defected to the rebels

Niamey (Niger) A field officer of Niger’s armed forces (FAN), Major Kindo Zada on Tuesday defected to the rebels of the Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ), along with several other soldiers, informed sources told APA Wednesday.

In a release published on Wednesday on its website, the MNJ has confirmed the defection of this FAN officer, noting that “Major Kindo arrived with dozens of soldiers on board 20 pick-up vehicles”.

Considered as a close aide to the former President Ibrahima Bare Mainassara, Zada had held high positions in the military hierarchy.

The MNJ calls for a better implementation of the 1995 peace accords that put an end to the Tuareg revolt in the 1990s, particularly the clauses providing for their social and economic reintegration and the provision of jobs to the natives by mining companies.

The rebel movement also urged the government to shed light into the murder of former president Ibrahim Bare Mainassara on 9 April 1999.

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The Liberia National Security Agency (NSA) Wednesday released a video - Showing allegedon coup plotters

Monrovia (Liberia) The Liberia National Security Agency (NSA) Wednesday released a video clipping in Monrovia which allegedly showed Charles Julu, who is now in police custody, with others discussing plans to overthrow the Liberian government.

In the video shown Wednesday night, four persons, including Julu, were seen discussing what was said to be plans to execute the plot, but security forces did not allow journalists to take photos during the show.

The meeting of the suspected coup planners reportedly took place in the Ivorian town of Guiglo near the Liberian border.

One of the suspects, former Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) Colonel Andrew Dorbor, who is also in police custody, identified himself among the coup plotters, including foreign mercenaries, in the video.

Colonel Dorbor, who is in custody as state witness, identified some of his accomplices, including Charles Julu, one Colonel Wolo Nagbe and another AFL officer, Junior Gaye.

Nagbe also confirmed that they met in the Ivorian political capital Yamoussoukro to receive US$5,000 each as an initial amount to win support from other Liberians.

In the video watched by representatives of media institutions, as well as top security officers and Julu himself, it was observed that one of the problems for receiving the money promised them was the lack of a functional Western Union branch in Yamoussoukro for the transfer of the money.

The alleged coup plotters were heard saying that they should meet in Abidjan to receive the money. It was not however indicated who was providing the money and where it was coming from.

After the video show, security sources intimated that Dorbor implicated an unnamed Lebanese in the alleged plot.

The security officers also told journalists that Dorbor was arrested in the Ivory Coast where the National Security Agency launched an operation last February following reports that some unidentified Liberians residing in and out of the country were plotting to subvert the government.

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Peace march in Niger’s capital

Niamey (Niger) Dozens of people on Saturday took to the streets of Niamey, the capital of Niger, to protest against the attacks carried out in the North of the country by the rebels of the Movement of Niger’s People for Justice (MNJ).

The march that was followed by a rally outside the national assembly was organised by a coalition of civil society organisations called ‘Citizenship Movement’ to demonstrate against the attacks by MNJ rebels and their “foreign allies”.

Demonstrators chanted slogans hostile to MNJ and “its manipulators”, and to France, which many people believe is supporting the rebels in the rich northern province of Niger.

In a statement issued on 14 July, local civil society organisations including the ‘Citizenship Movement’ denounced the “active complicity of countries like Libya and foreign companies like the French AREVA Group”, which they accused of hampering the exploitation of Niger’s resources.

On Wednesday, the AREVA Group, specialised in nuclear energy dismissed allegations that it was supporting the MNJ rebels in northern Niger, where it has several uranium sites.

MNJ rebels demand the full implementation of the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Tuareg insurgency of the 1990s, especially in its clause providing for the social and economic reinsertion of former Tuareg rebels and more jobs for local people.

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