Muamar Gadhafi accepts Asylum in Russia, will relinquish power in the coming days; says a Senior Diplomat in the Libyan Embassy in Norway

By Korir, Chief editor (API)

This is good news for the rebels fighters in Libya who have been pushing for Muamar Gadhafi‘s fall from power.

The senior diplomat says he, and all other embassy officials who had secretly entered into negotiations with the Norwegian immigration authorities in a plan to abandon Muamar Gadhafi are now pleased, and will temporarily halt the negotiations for their asylum in Norway and see what happens with the Libyan leader  in the coming days.

However, the senior diplomat (Name withheld due to security reasons – some family members are in Libya) says they were not sure if the Transitional Council leaders based in Benghazi will retain them as diplomats in Norway when they finally take over the leadership of the country after Muamar Gadhafi‘s fall.

 Muamar Gadhafi is reported to have accepted to take up asylum in Russia because he believes, the Russians will not hand him over to the ICC to face charges already preferred against him.

President Museveni of Uganda had earlier offered Muamar Gadhafi safety in Uganda but the offer was turned down. The same was done by the South African President Zuma, who even chose to travel to Tripoli trying to convince Gaddafi to relinquish power and take up asylum in South Africa or elsewhere in Africa.

Many people do not understand Muamar Gadhafi. The man is brilliant. He knows that by accepting asylum in any African country he is sentencing himself to death because after sometime, he will be sent back to Tripoli in exchange for oil. African governments can easily be pressured to hand him back to Libya.

Russia will not exchange him for oil, and even if Russia was to give in to pressure in some years to come, Muamar Gadhafi would only be handed over to the ICC where he will not be sentenced to death and will have privileges while under detention there.

The choice to take up asylum in Russia is also because Gadhafi knows that Prime Minister Putin will most probably take over the presidency next year. He believes that Putin would not have accepted to back NATO’s attack of his country if he was in power. The senior diplomat in Oslo says Gadhafi feels President Medvedev has let him down, although he is happy that the Russian leader has allowed him to seek refuge in the country.

According to the senior Libyan diplomat in Norway, the Chairman of the world Chess Foundation managed, during the end of his visit to Libya, to convince Muamar Gadhafi to see sense in the whole saga. Some international media outlets have, however, reported that there was no deal reached between Muamar Gadhafi and his visitor, but the diplomat confirms a deal was reached and the international community will soon see the embattled leader leave the country.

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President Barack Obama will visit Kenya on the 14th of September this year.

By Chief editor Korir (API).

This is good news for Kenya and those who identify with him in the country.

A long-awaited visit to Kenya by President Barack Obama will now take place on the 14th of September this year, a reliable source has revealed.

The visit comes only months after the Killing of Osama bin Laden and last week’s killing in Somalia of the man who is reported to have been the mastermind of the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Obama is going to Kenya and Tanzania as a show of solidarity with the families who lost their loved ones during the bombings.

While on a visit to Kenya, where he will meet with some of the relatives of those who died during the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Obama will also cross the border to Tanzania to pay his respect to those who perished during the bombing of the US embassy in that country.

His visit to Kenya, however, will be a major happening because he will visit Kogelo village, the homestead of his father. Obama’s father was from Kenya.

Ever since he was elected President, many Kenyans have waited to hear the announcement as to when he will visit the country of his roots. The Kenyans want him to visit the country while he is still the President.  Now that the US presidential elections is around the corner – next year – it is time that the president visits Kenya, the home of his father.

Obama has announced that he will fight for a second term as President in next year’s elections, but advisors must have decided that it is better for him to visit Kenya now as president, because with politics one never knows whether a sitting president gets elected for another term in office.

It would also not be conducive for him to visit Kenya in an election year. Both countries, the US and Kenya will have elections next year.

This news of  a planned visit will be received very well by a large section of Kenyans who identify themselves with Obama. Some of them, however, may not like the fact that the president will not spend a night in the country. It is reported that he will be in the country 10 hours before crossing to Tanzania.

After his visit to Kenya, President Obama may finally invite President Kibaki to the White House. Such a visit to The White House by President Kibaki will add to his legacy, a legacy the has given Kenyans a new constitution.

In the first term of his presidency, Obama has been meeting other African heads of State in the White House, including President Ali Bongo, a serving dictator, who has not given his country a new constitution that limits presidential terms as that good constitution of Kenya which Kibaki managed to give the country after having it go through a referendum. This is a big plus for Kibaki and his reception at the White House will definitely be more highlighted than that of dictator Bongo.

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UPDATE!: This article below published after the article above was published.

The White House cancels President Obama’s visit to Kenya scheduled for 14th September

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HIV/AIDS: Dark days of denialism and deadly treatment delays

SOUTH AFRICA: Top five recent successes in HIV

Photo: Antony Kaminju

Making progress

DURBAN,  – South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme has come a long way from the dark days of denialism and deadly treatment delays. Francois Venter, chairman of the country’s bi-annual HIV conference, SA AIDS 2011, gave IRIN/PlusNews five reasons to be happy about the country’s progress:

1. Testing – About 12 million people in South Africa have been tested for HIV in the past year, representing just under a quarter of the total population.

2. Antiretroviral prices – ARV drug costs have been halved in the past six months, because of the country’s recently negotiated ARV tender. HIV is now one of the cheapest chronic conditions to treat in the South African public health system.

3. Treatment – Nearly 1.4 million South Africans are on ARVs – still less than half of those in need. But of the 1.4 million on treatment, 400,000 were initiated in the past year. The programme hopes to have 2.3 million on treatment by the end of 2012, according to Venter, who is also deputy executive director of the Wits Institute for Sexual & Reproductive Health, HIV and Related Diseases. Over 5 million South Africans are living with HIV.

At present, 1,668 public health facilities provide ARVs in South Africa.

4. Tuberculosis – South Africa has finally begun to tackle TB. Although about 70 percent of TB patients are co-infected with HIV, TB has been “the orphan of the health world for decades”, Venter told IRIN/PlusNews.

“[TB] has been mismanaged and hasn’t been given the resources it deserves. For the first time, it’s being regarded as the emergency it actually is,” he said. “For the first time, we’re seeing the drugs and the diagnostics; we need to now start making sure that the health system is one that allows us to start to tackle it.”

5. The re-engineering of the primary healthcare system – Venter called this initiative one of the most profound changes planned in the past 20 years. Expected to be community-driven, the restructuring of local health districts is set to increase access to HIV care and treatment.

llg/kn/mw source www.irinnews.org

Aid workers have welcomed a “long overdue” headcount of Burmese refugees

MYANMAR-THAILAND: Aid workers welcome Burmese refugee census

Photo: Brennon Jones/IRIN

Thai authorites began the count in May

BANGKOK,  – Aid workers have welcomed a “long overdue” headcount of Burmese refugees living in three of 10 camps along the Thai-Burmese border, hoping this will address the problems of thousands who are unregistered and thus missing out on vital services.

The census began in late May on the orders of Samart Loifah, governor of Tak Province, where the Mae La, Umpiem Mai, and Nu Po camps are located.

“Currently around 40 percent of the camp population is unregistered,” Sally Thompson, deputy executive director of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), an umbrella group of 12 international NGOs working to assist refugees and displaced people from Myanmar. Such people do not have access to health, education and other services available to those who are registered, she said.

The Thai government stopped screening and registering new arrivals in 2005 after officially giving refugee status to nearly 140,000.

About 70,000 have since received third-country resettlement – mainly in the USA, Canada and Australia – while more people, mainly ethnic Karen and Karenni, continue to cross the 1,800km Thai-Burmese border.

An estimated 50,000 now live as unofficial residents in government-run camps. As of April 2011, TBBC figures show a total camp population of 143,000, while the Ministry of Interior puts the number at 93,000. The census is designed to count the total number of registered and unregistered camp inmates.

Thompson said TBBC’s primary concern had been the lack of an effective registration process.

“There are delays in medical referrals and hospital clearances. In the food sector people end up having to share [rations]. Many are sharing accommodation with other friends and relatives. If you’re not registered, you don’t get to vote in the internal elections, so you don’t have a voice.”

“Nervous and scared”

Refugees living in the camps “feel insecure” about the implications of the census, the TBBC reports – a concern shared by Burma Partnership, a network of Asia-Pacific organizations supporting human rights in Myanmar. Many refugees suspect Burmese pressure behind the move.

As of 9 June the census was ongoing, said the Karen Refugee Committee, a refugee representative body within the camps.

The census is taking place after comments made in April by National Security Council chief Tawin Pleansri that Thailand intends to close down the camps in the future.

Governor Samart, who ordered the count, has been quoted in the past as expressing dissatisfaction about the economic strain the refugee situation had placed on Thai-Burmese trade, including Myanmar’s decision to close the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Tak Province in July 2010.

Khin Ohmar, the coordinator of Burma Partnership, said that while the census is supposed to be a routine procedure, rumours were circulating within the camps about why it was being conducted now.

“Since the news on repatriation started, people are very nervous and scared,” she said.

“They have tried to call for more information. If the count is different from regular procedure, then it will be worrying for the Burmese people. Thailand is the only sanctuary for them.”

Despite the comments of both Pleansri and Governor Samart, the government of Thailand has not placed any timeframe on repatriating refugees. In April, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said refugees would be sent home to Myanmar only “when it’s safe for them to return”.

ms/ds/cb source www.irinnews.org

Leadership is made more challenging in the humanitarian sector by insecurity and risks

AID POLICY: Good leaders battle risk-averse humanitarian culture

Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

Leadership is made more challenging in the humanitarian sector by insecurity and risks to lives when mistakes are made (file photo)

DAKAR,  – Understanding the bigger picture; taking decisions and risks on the basis of incomplete or contradictory information; possessing self-awareness, humility and enthusiasm – these are just some of the qualities humanitarian workers see as being most important in a humanitarian leader, according to a 9 June report by ALNAP entitled Leadership in Action: Leading effectively in humanitarian operations.

While experience and competencies count, it is often “personal qualities” that differentiate decent and brilliant leaders, says the report: passion, dedication, putting communities’ needs at the centre of all decision-making; being aware of one’s own limitations; being quick to learn from mistakes; and, says Ross Mountain, former head of the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo, possessing enough self-assurance to risk being disliked.

But growing risk-aversion in the humanitarian sector quashes individuals’ ability to exercise these characteristics, stifling effective leadership, report author Margie Buchanan-Smith, told IRIN.

The current drive to improve accountability – while an important aim – has in some cases “squeezed out creative space” in humanitarian organizations, said Buchanan-Smith.

“Stifling culture of compliance”

“There is alarming evidence of a growing tendency towards risk-aversion in the sector, associated in part with the drive for accountability, which is resulting in a stifling culture of compliance, and in part with the constraints of bureaucracy,” said the report.

ALNAP’s head of research Paul Knox-Clarke told IRIN: “There are more checks and balances, more boxes to tick… This can prevent bad or unusual things from happening, but in a situation when sometimes the unorthodox is necessary.”

The problem is particularly acute in UN institutions, which are more hierarchical and bureaucratic than NGOs, and where, “risk-taking by individuals is more likely when they disregard their own career paths and prioritize humanitarian objectives.”

As a result, good leadership often transpires “in spite of” not “because of” organizational culture, says the report, giving the example of Andrew Macleod, UN cluster coordinator in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, who regardless of his status in the hierarchy, effectively led coordination between the humanitarian community, national government and military communities.

Risk for risk’s sake is not the goal, rather “honourable risk” is worth striving for – that is, bold decisions are taken that recognize the heavy cost of failure, for instance, when lives are at stake, said Buchanan-Smith.

Abbas Gullet, head of the Kenya Red Cross, is seen by fellow staff as embodying this approach. “The sky is the limit,” they said when describing his approach to bold, creative ideas.

Women, national staff under-represented

Leadership qualities identified in the report are not unique to the humanitarian sector, but the situations in which they must be exercised are often particularly complicated and challenging: working with people in distress; taking decisions that will affect people’s lives on the basis of ambiguous information; and working in dangerous environments, for instance.

While leadership can be learned, often it is childhood experiences or mentors that inspire effective leadership, said El Khidir Daloum, country director of Somalia for Save the Children UK, who cites his father as his first leadership mentor.

El Khidir Daloum: “A good leader is someone who is prepared to take the blame”

Photo: Save the Children

El Khidir Daloum

DAKAR, 9 June 2011 (IRIN) – El Khidir Daloum was recently cited as a particularly effective humanitarian leader in ALNAP’s new study Leadership in Action. Full report

A national staff member who rose to become an international country programme director, Khidir’s path is unusual in the humanitarian sector, where the leadership potential of national staff is “usually ignored”, said Smith.

Many strong humanitarian leaders have complex identities, drawing on all aspects of them depending on what they need to be achieved. Many cited Jemilah Mahmood, Malaysian president of NGO Mercy in Indonesia, as an effective leader: she told ALNAP she identifies with the Malaysian, Malay, Chinese, medical doctor, Muslim, female, mother, humanitarian aid, and global business cultures.

Mahmood stood out as one of the rare women among a sea of men identified as effective leaders – an issue that must urgently be addressed and better-understood, said all interviewees.

Visions of leadership still sit in a largely “male” and Western mould, said Knox-Clarke, and one in which the researchers themselves, to a degree, held. Thus many interviewees believed effective leadership must necessarily entail being a workaholic, describing effective leaders as being “married to their jobs”

“Many men have been living out what they think of as leadership in an increasingly complex world where that model might not work very well,” he added.

Rather than one leader embodying a “heroic mix” of attributes which will inevitably lead to burnout, organizations should consider a leader-as-host approach, that is, looking at a team’s collective leadership ability, rather than focusing on one person, said Knox-Clarke. “That would take the weight off the humanitarian coordinator and place it on the humanitarian country team,” he said.

When it comes to risk, the humanitarian community should look to good examples of public sector organizations that have enhanced accountability while not constraining leadership, said Buchanan-Smith; while chief executives should think about new ways of incentivizing leadership, not just checking it against compliance with the agency’s procedures and financial targets, said Knox-Clarke.

Finally, the glaring question of why so few women and national staff are cited as effective leaders in senior field-based roles, needs to be urgently addressed, said Buchanan-Smith.

aj/cb source www.irinnews.org