'SAYINGS' !
"I AM NOT AFRAID OF STORMS,
FOR I'M LEARNING HOW TO SAIL
MY SHIP" !
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G8 : ZIMBABWE STATEMENT !
Full text: G8's Zimbabwe statement
Below is the full text of G8 leaders' statement on Zimbabwe, adopted at a summit in Japan:
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1. We expressed our grave concern about the situation in Zimbabwe. We deplore the fact that the Zimbabwean authorities pressed ahead with the presidential election despite the absence of appropriate conditions for free and fair voting as a result of their systematic violence, obstruction and intimidation.
2. We do not accept the legitimacy of any government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people.
3. We strongly urge the Zimbabwean authorities to work with the opposition to achieve a prompt, peaceful resolution of the crisis. It is important that any mediation process respect the results of the 29 March 2008 election.
4. We support the African Union (AU) as it expresses deep concern with the negative reports from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the AU and the Pan-African Parliament observers on the elections and the loss of life that has occurred in Zimbabwe. We also support the AU's call to encourage Zimbabwean leaders to initiate dialogue with a view to promoting peace and stability. We encourage regional bodies, including Sadc and the AU to provide strong leadership toward a quick and democratic resolution of this crisis, including by further strengthening the regional mediation process.
5. We are deeply concerned by the humanitarian dimension of the situation in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean authorities must allow the immediate resumption of humanitarian operations and full and non-discriminatory access to humanitarian assistance to prevent the suffering of the most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe.
6. We will continue to monitor the situation and work together with Sadc, the AU, the UN and other relevant organisations for a prompt resolution of the crisis. We recommend the appointment of a special envoy of the UN secretary general to report on the political, humanitarian, human rights and security situation and to support regional efforts to take forward mediation between political parties. We will take further steps, inter alia introducing financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for violence.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA SEEKS TO END 'BLOOD OIL' !
An international cartel of oil smugglers steals billions of dollars in "blood oil" from Nigeria, trading it for guns, the president has said.
Speaking at the G8 summit in Japan, President Umaru Yar'Adua drew comparisons between oil "bunkering" and the trade in "blood diamonds".
He said an international effort must be made to stop the trade, which fuelled unrest in the Niger Delta.
The conflict means Nigeria is no longer Africa's largest oil exporter.
Militant attacks in the Delta have reduced production by around a quarter, allowing Angola to overtake Nigeria.
"Stolen crude should be treated like stolen diamonds because they both generate blood money," President Yar'Adua said.
"Like what is now known as 'blood diamonds', stolen crude also aids corruption, violence and can provoke war."
The trade in diamonds helped fuel the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Angola, prompting campaigners to put pressure on the industry to tighten regulations.
A Rivers State government spokesman told the BBC it was time to crack down on the international members of the cartel.
"Some smart alec comes to Nigeria with a vessel partly loaded with guns, partly with cash," said Ogbonna Nwuke.
"In return, he gets cheap oil and delivers the weapons to some boys who think they're fighting the Niger Delta cause."
"The result is confusion."
But activists in the Delta say there is no way oil smuggling could be done without the compliance of corrupt elements of the Nigerian state.
"I have never seen this bunkering business as an illegal thing," says Anyakwee Nsirimovu, a Port Harcourt-based human rights lawyer.
"For God's sake, the waters around Nigeria are not a free area, where you can just pass without anyone asking any questions."
In order for tankers to dock and receive oil from boats coming from the creeks, there must be a high level of involvement from government and the military, he says.
"They are making billions of dollars and they don't want this thing to end."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ZAMBIA TARGETS COPPER FOTUNE !
By Paul Moss - BBC World Tonight, Zambia.
Andrew Hickman sits at his desk and passes over a copy of his company's latest annual report. You do not have to be an accountant to get the basic message: First Quantum Minerals are doing well out of Zambia's copper. It is no great surprise. Demand from China has pushed the price of copper to record levels; it is four times what it was just a few years ago.
And with the copper mines' productivity up as well, money is rolling in. "Since privatisation," Mr Hickman says, "several billion dollars of private investment has gone into Zambia's copper mines. "It is still a poor country, but people are more prosperous than they were 10 years ago, and that's largely down to new investment in the mining industry."
But the Zambian Government is not convinced that the mining companies have brought enough wealth into the country. This is one of the poorest in the world, with high unemployment, and low life expectancy.
So last April, to fund its programme of poverty reduction, the Government introduced a series of new and higher taxes on the international companies that come here to mine. "The tax has been imposed in breach of internationally binding agreements," insists Mr Hickman, "and to a large extent, it's making the mines uneconomic."
That may be, but it is wildly popular. This water is contaminated and mosquitoes breed here, causing malaria Mwenda Immanuel, trade union activist and volunteer for debt forgiveness campaigners Jubilee
President Levy Mwanawasa's decision to introduce the tax last April was supported by politicians of every ideological hue. And for those working on poverty reduction, it seems self-evident that the money generated by Zambia's natural resources should be used to make life better for all its citizens.
Mwenda Immanuel, trade union activist and volunteer for debt forgiveness campaigners Jubilee, arranges a trip to the shanty town of Kantolomba, just a few miles from Quantum's copper processing plant.
Many of the people here are clearly malnourished, their homes decrepit and overcrowded. Pigs are bathing in a muddy pool that serves as a water-source for locals. "This water is contaminated and mosquitoes breed here, causing malaria," Mr Immanuel says emphatically. "There is no healthcare. The mining companies have to pay more tax to pay for clinics, schools. The Government needs the money for development."
Mr Immanuel's view is backed by the man regarded by many as the father of Zambia.
Kenneth Kaunda nationalised the mines when he was President. The later decision to reverse this is one he bemoans, and he is convinced that if mining companies are to profit from Zambia's copper, their tax contribution should increase. "Copper is changing in value, and therefore everything must change," he insists. "Are we expected to say that what we agreed upon yesterday is valid today?"
Countered with the suggestion that, yes, that is how a contract works, and that if Zambia abrogates the deal, other mining companies will be put off investing here, he merely laughs. "India wants copper, China wants copper - there's a wide market," he says.
But others in Zambia are not so sanguine. The Chamber of Mines has warned it is not only mining companies that will be put off, but that all foreign investors will see the country as high risk if the new tax is imposed as promised. They also say that copper mines require constant upkeep and upgrading, and that this process will be put in jeopardy as well, if the mining companies are more heavily taxed.
But the Zambian government shows no sign of backing down right now. And some observers believe its actions as just one sign of a more general movement now spreading through Africa. "I'm seeing this in Malawi, in Uganda," says Robert Mtong, a political campaigner and seasoned observer of how foreign companies operate in Africa. "People are asking 'where is the money that belongs to us?' In the Niger Delta in Nigeria, people are asking, 'where is the money that comes from the oil?'
"It's early days yet, but a wind of change is blowing, and it will blow more and more."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
MINISTER RESIGNS OVER KENYA HOTEL !
Kenyan Finance Minister Amos Kimunya is stepping down during an investigation into the controversial sale of a luxury Nairobi hotel.
Mr Kimunya said he had asked President Mwai Kibaki to allow him to step down "to facilitate this inquiry."
A government spokesman said the resignation was only a temporary move. The controversy over the sale of the hotel has split the coalition cabinet formed to end weeks of violence after Kenya's presidential election.
Mr Kimunya is a close ally of President Kibaki. He has denied reports that the hotel was sold to a local company with Libyan interests for a third of its value.
"As I stated before, my conscience is very clear, and I maintain the position that I am open to an independent inquiry into the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel," Mr Kimunya said at a press conference. "The finance minister has been in discussions already with the president over this," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said, according to Reuters news agency. "But he will not be replaced, it's only a temporary move."
A government inquiry led by the attorney general last week recommended that Mr Kimunya be suspended. Parliament also passed a vote of no-confidence in him.
But Mr Kimunya had said he would only resign if Prime Minister Raila Odinga - Mr Kibaki's rival in December's presidential vote - also stepped down. "I would rather die than resign," he said over the weekend.
The hotel was allegedly sold for about $45 million, instead of its recorded valued of $115 million. Mr Kimunya implicated Mr Odinga and other officials who he says were privy to the sale of the hotel. The prime minister has led investigations into the hotel sale.
In the past, donors have accused Mr Kibaki of failing to keep promises to tackle the rampant corruption in Kenya.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOUTH AFRICAN WINS TOP BOOK PRIZE !
Henrietta Rose-Innes studied under Nobel winner JM Coetzee. South African novelist Henrietta Rose-Innes has been named the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She won the award for her story Poison which was published in the anthology Africa Pens, and takes a £10,000 prize.
The other four writers on the shortlist were from Ghana, Malawi, and Nigeria and South Africa. The prize, given for a short story, can be awarded to African writers who have published fiction within Africa or elsewhere in the world. The prize is named after Sir Michael Caine, a former chairman of Booker plc. Last year's Caine Prize was won by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko for the Jambula Tree, a story about lesbianism.
Henrietta Rose-Innes is relatively experienced compared with recent winners. She has already had two novels published as well as editing an anthology of South African writing. Her novels Shark's Egg and The Rocket Alphabet have been well received - she studied creative writing under the Nobel laureate JM Coetzee.
Winning the prize guarantees more interest from publishers and reviewers as well as including a month's scholarship at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
AFRICAN BOOK PROZE TO BE ANNOUNCED !
The winner of the ninth edition of one of Africa's top literary awards, the Caine Prize for African Writing, is due to be announced.
Two writers from South Africa have been shortlisted for the prestigious prize, along with candidates from Ghana, Malawi, and Nigeria.
The prize can be awarded to African writers who have published fiction on the continent or elsewhere.
There were more than 70 entries for the £10,000 ($20,000)prize.
The prize is named after Sir Michael Caine, a former chairman of Booker plc.
Last year's Caine Prize was won by Ugandan writer Monica Arac de Nyeko for the Jambula Tree, a story about lesbianism.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGER SIGNS POWER DEAL WITH CHINA !
Chinese companies are interested in Niger's reserves of uranium.The government in Niger has signed an agreement for China to help improve the country's power supplies. China will transfer several electrical power units to Niger under the agreement, officials said. The deal comes as Niger's cities have been experiencing power outages, partly due to problems in supply from Nigeria.
Chinese companies have recently become more active in Niger, exploring for uranium and oil in the north and east of the country. Government officials said the power units were being dismantled in China prior to their transfer, the BBC's Idy Baraou reports from Niger. Each unit is expected to provide 15-20 megawatts (MW) of power.
"We hope that this new equipment could help increase the production of electric power by about 30% for the region of (the capital) Niamey, which means we will be able to provide between 50 and 60 megawatts," said Hamidu Mamudu, head of Niamey's existing power plant.
An official from Niger's state power company was also travelling to Asia to purchase new parts for Niger's ageing infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Niger's government says it is investing about $4m for short-term improvements to the country's power grid. Demand for power in Niger has been increasing. Niger, a major producer of uranium, is also one of the world's poorest nations.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
MILITIA ATTACK ZIMBABWE DISPLACED !
Armed militia have raided two camps for people fleeing post-election violence in Zimbabwe, opposition and medical officials have said.
Several people were killed in one attack in Gokwe, north of Harare, the opposition said.
In Ruwa, near the capital, masked men beat up and abducted people who had previously sought refuge at the South African embassy, a witness said.
At least eight people were taken to hospital, the witness said.
About 400 people have been sheltering in local squash courts in Ruwa after being moved on from the South African embassy.
The opposition Movement of Democratic Change says 5,000 of its members are missing and more than 100 of its supporters have been murdered since elections in March.
It accuses the army and ruling party militias of being behind the violence - charges denied by President Robert Mugabe.
This led the MDC to pull out of the 27 June presidential run-off against President Mugabe.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round of presidential elections in March, but official results gave him less than the 50% needed to avoid a run-off.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
TOP U.N. OFFICIAL KILLED IN SOMALIA !
Gunmen have killed the head of the UN Development Programme in Somalia, UN officials say.
Osman Ali Ahmed was shot as he left a mosque in the capital, Mogadishu, and died in hospital of his injuries. It is the latest in a string of attacks on officials, which is plagued by lawlessness after years of conflict.
Islamist groups have been staging an insurgency against the government troops and their Ethiopian allies who ousted them from power in 2006.
Mr Ahmed was attacked in Mogadishu's southern Bulohube district, a UN official told AFP news agency. "The gunmen shot Ahmed as he was leaving evening prayers in the mosque in Bulohube," he said.
Mr Ahmed's son and another man were also wounded in the incident, the Associated Press news agency quotes a neighbour as saying. The neighbour said Mr Ahmed had been covered in blood and unconscious as he was taken to hospital.
The shooting came a day after an explosion in the capital reportedly killed a Somali official, his wife and four others.
Recent violence in Somalia has come despite a ceasefire pact signed by the government and opposition Islamist groups last month. Some factions rejected the deal.
Ethiopian troops, in Somalia to support the government, said they had killed at least 71 insurgents last week.
Thousands of people have fled the country this year as the security situation has deteriorated, aid agencies say.
Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in January 1991.
The UN has warned that nearly half of Somalia's population is likely to require aid later this year.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA FOOTBALLER'S BROTHER HELD!
Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped the elder brother of Nigerian and Everton football star Joseph Yobo, police say.
Norum Yobo was seized at a hotel in Port Harcourt, a spokeswoman said. No group has yet claimed responsibility and no ransom has been demanded.
Everton football club said it would do all it could to help Joseph Yobo, who is on holiday in Lagos.
Kidnappings, frequent in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country, have mostly ended with a ransom payment.
Rivers State police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey told BBC Sport that an investigation had been carried out at the hotel where Norum Yobo was seized.
"We have not heard anything yet from Mr Norum or the kidnappers but we will make a statement available as soon as we can establish contact with them," she said.
The family has confirmed the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, but otherwise declined to comment.
BBC Sport reporter Oluwashina Okeleji in Nigeria says kidnappings - more often of oil workers - have become a common occurrence in the south of Nigeria.
Although Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer and the bulk of that oil comes from the Niger Delta area, the region remains deeply impoverished, he says.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"Sayings"
"TEARS MAY BE DRIED UP,
BUT THE HEART NEVER" !
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Cathy Buckle's Letter from Zimbabwe !
Simply sit down
Saturday 5th July 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
It is now clear that the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed in the March 29th elections has been ignored and, as a result we find ourselves in the deepest crisis. Hundreds of people: men, women and children have started arriving at foreign embassies in Harare, begging for temporary refuge and humanitarian assistance. First it was the South African embassy, then the American embassy: crowds of people who are cold, tired, homeless, hungry and frightened and who have nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. They don't shout, scream, protest and demand, instead they simply sit down on the roadside and wait patiently for someone to help them.
Such is the tragic image of our broken, desperate people that even for those of us living here, the ruination of ordinary lives and the suffering that people are enduring is utterly heartbreaking. Everyday holds tears and trauma and the most common phrase in our lives is: "We are in God's hands."
The MDC say that a quarter of a million people have been displaced from their homes since the end of March. It is undoubtable that thousands more have by now fled for our borders and crossed over into Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa - legally and illegally. They have done this to stay alive and unless something happens to change the situation urgently, hundreds of thousands of others will have no choice but to follow the exodus to our borders.
This morning, as I write this letter, hundreds upon hundreds of people are crowded outside banks across the country desperately trying to withdraw their own money. This is because most shops no longer accept cheques and the Governor of the Reserve Bank has limited daily withdrawals per person to one hundred billion dollars. With one hundred billion dollars you can, today only, buy just three single blood pressure tablets. Or, today only, you can buy one copy of a local weekly newspaper and and two small green onions. In my home town, even if you had the money, there is almost no food left to buy. In the week since Mr Mugabe was again sworn in as President, our supermarkets have become emptier than ever. There are no dry staple goods at all, no milk or eggs and no wheat or flour. In my home town the main bakery is closed and we've had no bread for over a fortnight.
This is why hundreds and thousands of people now have no choice but to leave the country. It is truly a most desperate situation and people from all walks of life are in dire need of help - primarily for food and life preserving medicines but also for shelter and protection. We hear the words from abroad and from the AU, the UN and some of our neighbours but we don't need words, we need help and we need it now, literally to save lives.
Until next week, thank you for reading, with love, cathy
RWANDA SUSPECTS' CONJUGAL RIGHTS !
By Jamhuri Mwavyombo - BBC News, Arusha .
Some 800,000 people were killed in the 1994 genocide.
The UN war crimes tribunal for the Rwandan genocide has granted suspects and prisoners at its detention centre in Tanzania conjugal rights.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, set up to try the most high-profile cases, says the decision was taken to uphold basic human rights.
The detainees are now free to have sexual relations with their spouses.
But the move is likely to be criticised by Rwanda, which says the tribunal treats suspects like hotel guests.
The ICTR was set up by the United Nations in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, in 1997, to try those accused of involvement in the Rwandan genocide.
An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 1994.
The decision on conjugal rights was taken quietly by the ICTR registrar in May, but the change of policy was confirmed on Thursday.
News of the decision was leaked to the BBC's by various sources.
It is reported there has been excitement and increased visits to the UN detention facilities by spouses of the suspects and prisoners.
But only recognised wives, husbands and girlfriends, whose names are registered with the prison office are allowed to come for the visits.
There is only one female suspect at the detention facility. The move is seen as a big win for the detainees, who have been fighting for these rights for several years.
The detainees had demanded to be accorded similar rights as their counterparts at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The Hague, who have enjoyed the rights since the inception of the court more than 15 years ago.
The ICTR had previously denied the detainees the rights, saying it was not a common practice in the region.
The decision has been taken as the tribunal is about to wind up its work after almost 14 years, but the registrar says it is never too late and that the matter has been under consideration for some time.
The ICTR has defended the move, saying it is an independent body and makes its own decisions.
The tribunal said all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty, though it acknowledged that the conjugal rights are also extended to prisoners in its custody.
The tribunal has convicted 28 people and acquitted five so far.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA MAKES PROGRESS ON STOLEN CASH !
By Sam Olukoya - BBC News, Lagos.
The trail of money from Nigeria is complicated and involves many hands.
"Britain to return £40m stolen funds to Nigeria." That was the screaming headline on the pages of several Nigerian newspapers recently. While it may be a lot of money, it is a far cry from the actual amount public officials are known to have stolen from Nigeria and hidden in bank accounts in the UK and elsewhere.
One former state governor alone is facing charges of looting more than a $100m (£50m) while he held office from 1997 to 2007. His official earnings were only $80,000 a year.
Nigerians have become all too familiar with reports of huge sums of stolen public funds being recovered abroad. Most often the culprits are serving, or former, public officers and their cronies.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil exporter and earns billions of dollars annually from oil sales.
But with many key public posts held by greedy officials with itchy fingers, and little accountability in place, it is not surprising that a lot of public funds end up in private bank accounts in Europe. Banks in Switzerland are particularly well-known hiding places.
Nigerians are generally a pretty tolerant bunch. When hunger pushes people to steal, Nigerians show a sense of understanding. But what they cannot understand is why public officers have to steal far more than what they, and even unborn generations, can spend in a lifetime.
An official of the Swiss embassy in Nigeria recently said a total of $500m had been recovered from the Swiss bank accounts of former Nigerian military ruler, the late General Sani Abacha. The recovered money - popularly tagged "the Abacha loot" - has already been returned to Nigeria.
But Nigeria is not an isolated case.
Dr Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations office on drugs and crime, says $400bn was stolen from Nigeria and kept in foreign banks before the country returned to democratic rule in 1999.
The World Bank says individual African countries lose about 25% of their economic output to corruption annually. If true, that is close to $500bn.
This may be a tip of the iceberg. As one anti-corruption official puts it - if you put the stolen money in a row it will form a path to the moon and back.
The immediate fall-out of this corruption is the hunger, disease, poverty and the lack of adequate basic infrastructure which hold back the continent.
Many Africans believe Europe has a hand in Africa's plight for allowing the free flow of stolen funds into its banks.
The fact that money is coming back suggests progress is being made.
But one Nigerian analyst - Tony Iyare - recently asked a pertinent question.
Rather than sending all manner of aid to Africa in the name of solving the continent's problems, would it not be better if Europe took concrete steps to ensure its banks are less of a safe haven for looted African funds?
BBC NEWS REPORT.
FILM OF ZIMBABWE 'VOTE RIGGING' !
By Alix Kroeger - BBC News.
The film alleges there was no secrecy in votes for Robert Mugabe.
New evidence of vote-rigging in last month's presidential election in Zimbabwe has emerged in the form of a secret film made by a prison guard. The guard, Shepherd Yuda, filmed the vote-rigging at his jail in a production for Guardian Films.
Prison officers, including Mr Yuda, who has now fled Zimbabwe, were forced to vote for President Robert Mugabe by superior officers.
The officers organised a postal ballot and stood over them as they cast votes.
Mr Yuda decided to speak out after the murder of his uncle, an opposition activist, two months ago. He knew he and his family would have to leave Zimbabwe as a result.
[South African President] Thabo Mbeki has betrayed us. He didn't want to come down hard on Mugabe -Anonymous prison guard
"This election: I have never seen that type of violence," he says in the film. "The impact has left a lot of orphans; it has left a lot of people displaced. You cannot expect that from your government."
He secretly filmed a war veteran, Superintendent Shambira, watching as prison officers voted. Supt Shambira ensured they marked their ballots for Robert Mugabe, and not the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai. Supt Shambira then logged each vote against an identification number. There was no secrecy. All those voting knew Supt Shambira had the power to condemn them as MDC supporters.
Mr Yuda says he had no choice but to vote for Robert Mugabe. Mr Yuda also spoke to voters on the streets of Harare. "They're standing right in front of you when you cast your vote," one voter told Mr Yuda. "They watch." The voter went on: "Shambira definitely sees you vote - there's no way of hiding it. I was thinking I could vote when he wasn't looking, but he was watching like a hawk."
Among the prisoners is Tendai Biti, a prominent opposition MP and human-rights lawyer. Mr Yuda filmed him having his leg-irons removed for a court hearing.
Mr Biti, who is awaiting trial on treason charges, was released on bail, but could still face execution.
"You know, I was so touched: for a man of his status to be reduced to such levels, to be put in a criminal institution," Mr Yuda says in the film. "It's very, very sad."
Mr Yuda also captured conversations between prison guards in the run-up to the 27 June run-off election, as tension was increasing.
"In my area, there's a lot of tension," one guard tells him. "Zanu-PF (ruling party) thugs came to my house as soon as I left for work today. They abducted my wife. They took her to the base."
These "bases" are springing up in private houses all over Harare. Previously they were a feature of rural Zimbabwe; now they have reached the capital. Ordinary people are abducted and compelled to attend Zanu-PF re-education rallies.
"I am forced to go and guard these bases all through the night, after my shift here," another prison officer says. "They cordon off the whole street: it becomes a no-go area. These people are killers, the thugs that Zanu-PF are using."
And another guard says the rest of the world should do more to help Zimbabwe. "It's in the hands of the international community now," he says. "[South African President] Thabo Mbeki has betrayed us. He didn't want to come down hard on Mugabe. Instead, he kept going on and on about pan-Africanism."
On election day itself, Mr Yuda films a woman who is so fearful that she has pretended to have voted. She colours her little finger with a pink marker, hoping to simulate the ink used to identify those who have already cast their ballots. The day after Robert Mugabe's election, Shepherd Yuda and his family began packing, preparing to leave Zimbabwe.
Their lives would have been in danger if they had stayed. They can only begin to think about returning once Mr Mugabe has gone.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA'S OLYMPIC PLANS IN CHAOS !
By Oluwashina Okeleji - BBC Sport, Lagos.
Nigeria's trip to the USA has been cancelled. Nigeria's Olympic men's football squad has cancelled a training trip to the US due to administrative lapses.
The so-called Dream Team IV were due to play their Olympic counterparts from Honduras, as well as Trinidad and Tobago in Miami as part of their preparations for August's Beijing Olympics.
"We can't guarantee meeting the deadline set by the organisers so we withdrew our visa applications at the US embassy," Olympic coach Samson Siasia told BBC Sport. "I made efforts to secure a comfortable date for the game but the whole situation has got out of hand. "It would have been difficult to obtain the visas at such short notice; we tried to get them while in Portugal (on a previous training trip) but they told us to apply in Nigeria. "We could get the visas here but it would have been too little too late to embark on the trip and play in these games.
The former Nigerian international admitted the cancellation of the USA trip was "a slight dent" to the teams' build-up for the Olympic tournament in China. He insists their scheduled trip to South Korea for a warm-up game en route to China is still on the cards.
"We'll travel to South Korea and conclude our preparations there before leaving for China, it'sonly a minor setback but we'll be fine.
The 1996 Olympic gold medallists are in Group B at the Beijing tournament alongside Holland, USA and Japan.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
NIGERIA WANTS MINING REPARATIONS !
Nigeria's Plateau State wants $100bn (£50bn) in compensation from the UK and Europe for environmental damage caused, it says, by mining in colonial times.
The Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency has discovered radioactive materials buried under the soil, officials say. Radioactive waste occurs in the material that remains when tin is extracted from its ore.
Many children and cattle are also reported to have fallen into wells dug by the tin mining firms and drowned.
The mines were owned by British and other European companies between the early 1900s and the 1960s. The state government has compiled a report showing the extent of the damage during that time. It says mining companies dug around 5,000 wells.
The Jos Plateau - which the state is named after - became one of the world's major suppliers of tin. But other metals such as lead, uranium, tantalite and zircon have also been mined. Tin was exported to cities in the UK such as Liverpool and Manchester.
The BBC's Shehu Saulawa in Plateau State says the mining has affected farmers, fishermen and grazing grounds belonging to Fulani herdsmen.
Other people have suffered health problems from drinking water from the ponds as the water contains a lot of iron, the report says.
The state government is asking for representatives from the UK and other countries to visit affected areas to see the damage. It said if there is no reparation or compensation then it would take "appropriate legal action".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOMALIS FLOOD TO YEMEN FOR REFUGE !
More than 20,000 Africans have fled across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen this year, twice as many as during the same period in 2007, an aid agency has said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said that almost 700 people had died so far as they attempted to reach Yemen by boat. Security in Somalia has been deteriorating, causing more and more people to flee the country.
Ethiopian troops, in Somalia to support the government there, said they killed at least 71 insurgents this week. Dozens of people have been reported killed in heavy fighting in Somalia this week. Islamist insurgents clashed with government forces and their Ethiopian allies in the capital, Mogadishu, and the central location of Mataban and Guri Eal near the border with Ethiopian.
Some of the insurgents are remnants of the Islamist administration, which ruled much of southern Somalia in 2006, while others are nationalists who see the Ethiopians as invaders.
Many of those displaced have risked the hazardous boat trip across the Gulf of Aden. Dozens of Somalis have been arriving each week in the Kharaz refugee camp in the south of the country, the BBC's Stephanie Hancock reports from southern Yemen. Isolated in a barren desert valley, the camp is a place nobody would come to by choice, she says.
One refugee, Faduma Ahmat Hassan, said her husband and son had been killed coming out of a mosque, and she had gone to collect her son's body. "As I cried next to his corpse the troops took me away," she said. "They raped me for 24 hours and when they brought me back, I was unconscious."
Another refugee was struggling to look after his two infant children after his wife died from dehydration on the boat ride over. "The children always ask me where their mother is but I haven't told them the truth yet," he said.
Recent violence in Somalia has come despite a ceasefire pact signed by the government and opposition Islamist groups last month. Some factions rejected the deal.
This week's battles in Somalia involved a large group of Ethiopian troops - one well-informed source told the BBC it may have been as many as 1,200 soldiers.
Reports from the area say destitute local people - many of whom had earlier fled Mogadishu and see Ethiopia as partly responsible for their plight - refused to co-operate with the foreign troops and that heavy clashes followed.
The insurgents say they killed 10 Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopians say they killed 71 of their opponent attackers, including a well-known member of Union of Islamic Courts, known as Asparo.
Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in January 1991.
The UN has warned that nearly half of Somalia's population is likely to require aid later this year.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at July 04, 2008 12:48 |
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