POPULATION IN NIGERIA TOPS 140m !
Nigeria's oil wealth is distributed according to the population.The provisional results of Nigeria's first census in 15 years show that Africa's most populous nation has a population of more than 140m. The National Population Commission said this was an increase of 63% since 1991.
The headcount is sensitive, as funding and political representation for Nigeria's states depend on the results. Previous results have been mired in controversy and allegations of fraud, but March's census left out questions on religion and ethnicity. The government was concerned that such information would trigger ethnic riots.
The National Population Commission (NPC) chairman said this time he felt there would be no problems.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Total: 140m
Men: 71.7m
Women: 68.3m
Thumbs up?
Counting controversy
"I don't expect any controversy because we have done a transparent and credible census. We have done it as honestly as we can, using the most scientific methods of census taking," Sumaila Makama told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. The BBC's Mannir Dan Ali in the capital, Abuja, says the big surprise in the results so far is that Nigeria has three million more men than women. The last census put Nigeria's population at about 88.5m.
"I am not alarmed about the total figure because it is still within the range of what we are planning," President Olusegun Obasanjo said. Our correspondent says most Nigerians are more interested in finding out the regional and local spread of the population - figures that have not been revealed yet. The census questionnaire was two pages long.The higher a state's population the more money it gets from the federal government. Allocation of some government posts is also supposed to reflect different regions' populations.
But Nigerians must wait until the president, state governors and former heads of states have met to consider and agree to these figures. Many people had wanted to find out how many Christians and Muslims there are in Nigeria, our reporter says. But that aspect was left out of the census questionnaire.
Past censuses have generated so much controversy that many of them have been officially discarded, leaving Nigeria to use estimates for planning purposes. The counting operation in March was a logistical challenge for the NPC. It used digital processing of the forms, and satellite positioning to identify the areas to be counted.
Other questions included in the census were:
Education background
Occupation
Income
Size of house
Type of water supply
Toilet facilities
Type of fuel used
Access to radio, television, telephone
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOMALI ISLAMISTS BATTLE ADVANCE !
Somali Islamist militiamen are fighting Ethiopian and Somali government troops advancing towards their last major stronghold in the port of Kismayo.
Heavy artillery fire has been reported near the town of Jilib, halfway between Kismayo and the capital, Mogadishu.
Ethiopian fighter jets have also been flying low over Kismayo, reports say.
The Islamist militia has vowed to resist the Ethiopian and Somali government troops who forced them out of the capital on Thursday.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA GOVERNOR SACKING REVERSED !
A court in the south-eastern Nigerian state of Anambra has reversed a controversial impeachment of the state governor, Peter Obi. He was impeached in November for gross misconduct and replaced by his deputy. The state assembly's speaker said some of the 23 members who had apparently voted to impeach Mr Obi later denied being present when the vote took place. This is the third sacking this year of a governor that has been declared illegal by Nigeria's courts.
Last week, Anambra's chief judge and three other senior judges were suspended over their alleged roles in these sackings. Some say the recent impeachments are part of a fight against corruption. But critics say it is often more about rival politicians trying to take charge of the states so they can control the elections due early next year.
A spokesman for Mr Obi told the BBC that Anambra High Court judge Nri Ezedi had ruled the impeachment was null and void. His deputy, Virginia Etiaba, had become Nigeria's first female governor after the impeachment decision last month. Both Mrs Etiaba and Mr Obi, from the opposition All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), only occupied their posts in March this year. They took power after a court ruled that Mr Obi's predecessor had rigged the election in 2003.
Chris Ngige, from the governing People's Democratic Party, had been Anambra's governor for three years, but had fallen out with senior party figures soon after the election. He said it was because he refused to loot public money to pay them back for their support. Since Mr Obi took office in March, he has been locked in a power struggle with one of the president's closest aides, Andy Uba, who wants to win the governorship in next year's elections.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
EGYPT REPORTS 10TH BIRD FLU DEATH !
A 26-year-old man has died in Egypt of bird flu after testing positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus. Reda Abdel Halim Farid is the 10th person to die of bird flu in Egypt - and the third to die since Sunday. The country is a major route for migratory birds and one of the states worst hit by the virus outside Asia.
A girl aged 15 died on Monday and a 30-year-old woman on Sunday. All three were from an extended family living in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya. They are said to have shared one house with 30 other family members, raising poultry in the town of Zifta, about 80km (50 miles) north of Cairo. The man died about 10 days after being admitted to hospital showing symptoms of the disease.
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said the family raised ducks, and that members had become infected after slaughtering the flock in an effort to stem the spread of the H5N1 virus. Three of the family's ducks had died of the virus, WHO confirmed. Government officials had hoped an initial outbreak of H5N1 among poultry in February had been contained and would not further affect the country's food supply.
But a health ministry adviser told the AFP news agency that the latest outbreak was not unexpected. "When we had a period of calm between May and October, people started thinking the disease was over, but we insisted on creating more awareness among the people," Abdel Rahman Shaheen said. "We are still expecting more cases but the idea is to keep them to the smallest possible number."
In the Middle East, the disease is also known to be present in Iran, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
U.K. ARRESTS OVER RWANDA GENOCIDE !
The genocide was one of the worst atrocities of the last century. Four men accused of taking part in the Rwanda genocide in 1994 have been arrested in the UK. Scotland Yard said the arrests followed a request from the Rwandan government for their extradition. Vincent Bajinya was arrested in north London, Charles Munyaneza in Bedford, Celestin Ugirashebuja in Essex and Emmanuel Nteziryayo in Manchester.
All four - accused of killing members of the Tutsi ethnic group - will appear before magistrates in London on Friday. Mr Bajinya is also known as Dr Vincent Brown.
A provisional extradition warrant accuses them of killing members of the Tutsi ethnic group "with the intent to destroy in whole or in part, that group". Scotland Yard said the extradition warrants had been issued by City of Westminster magistrates under Section 73 of the Extradition Act 2003. The warrants also allege that between 1 January 1994 and 12 December 1994, the men conspired to kill Tutsis, and aided and abetted the killings.
Tharcisse Karugarama, Rwanda's justice minister, said in November that they had formally requested the British government to hand over four men suspected of planning the massacre.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOMALI ISLAMISTS CHANGE TACTICS !
Somali Islamists change tactics
By Mohamed Olad Hassan
BBC News, Mogadishu.
The Islamist gunmen have left Mogadishu. All forces loyal to Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts abandoned the capital, Mogadishu, late on Wednesday night in what it says is a change of tactics.
"We have taken the decision to leave Mogadishu because of the safety of the civilians," the deputy head of the Islamic courts executive council, Abdi-Rahman Janqow, said as Ethiopian-backed government troops advanced towards to the city. "All of our troops have withdrawn. They are now heading to somewhere they think they can fight with their enemy and kill them one by one without fighting among the civilians", he added.
The exact destination of the courts militia is still unclear but witnesses saw them in convoys heading to the southern Somali port city of Kismayo, 500km (310 miles) from Mogadishu, the provincial capital of the Juba region. Regional experts say the likely destination of the Islamic courts is Ras Chiamboni in the Juba, a region which has dense bush jungle which can give good cover for guerrilla fighting. The Islamists' retreat came hours after a joint force of Ethiopian and Somali government troops arrived in Balad, 30km (18 miles) from Mogadishu on the main road leading north.
Government commander Hasan Nour Heyle, said there would not be an immediate move into Mogadishu.
"We will stop outside, besiege the capital and consider any way we can go into the city peacefully rather than attacking it", he told the BBC by telephone from Balad.
Armed clan militia appeared in the streets of the capital as soon as the news of the Islamists withdrawal emerged, looting the offices of the UIC administration. Eyewitnesses said at least three people were killed and five injured in two hours of shootouts by looters outside the UIC headquarters in north Mogadishu, where hundreds of armed clan militia gathered this morning. The power vacuum has allowed opportunist clan militia to retake sections of the city they controlled before the UIC took control in June.
Gunmen loyal to former commander Mohamed Jama Furuh, whose militia used to control the seaport, have retaken it. "The port is now in my hand, I want to provide its security and protect it from looting because, there is business property by Somalis, until we hand it over to any other administration", Mr Furuh told the BBC.
In north Mogadishu, militia loyal to Abdu-Kadir Bebbe, one of the commanders of the US-backed defeated warlords, is now in control of a district, saying he will be there until the government arrives. Witnesses and the local residents in north Mogadishu have also reported groups of bandits stealing cars and mobile phones. "The break out of insecurity has forced most of our traders to close their business centres and the luxury cars have disappeared from the streets," said Adbikariim Fodare a businessman in the city's main Bakara market.
The decision by the transitional government to close all the country's borders by air and sea has also affected the smooth running of businesses and people's lives, he said. Businessman Hassan Ileyke said the cost of living had also risen. "Most basic items have soared out of reach of most of the people because the traders are cautious to export commodities from abroad in this transitional period", he said.
Mogadishu, which has enjoyed a semblance of law and order for more than six months of Islamists rule, now seems to be descending back into anarchy. Traditional elders and intellectuals are trying to stop that from happening. A former politician Husien Haji Boot, who is spearheading the effort, said they are meeting to consider ways to maintain the security of the capital. "We want to persuade people to take responsibility for their own security until a government that takes the duty is in place", he said
BBC NEWS REPORT
ZIMBABWE HOLDS 16,000 OVER MINING !
Mugabe says illegal mining destroys Zimbabwe's forests and land.Police in Zimbabwe are reported to have arrested more than 16,000 people as part of a government drive to curb illegal mining. The three-week-long campaign targeted settlements around the mining fields and seized large quantities of gold and diamonds, state media said.
During the raids, police officers burnt temporary homes used by panners. Tens of thousands have turned to mining following the collapse of commercial agriculture, correspondents say. People dig or pan for gold or diamonds, risking their lives in shallow mines which frequently collapse, says the BBC's Tony Andoh-Korsah.
Critics say President Robert Mugabe has ruined what was one of Africa's most developed economies. Zimbabwe has the world's lowest life expectancy, highest inflation rate and chronic unemployment. Mr Mugabe says he is the victim of a Western plot to bring him down because of opposition to his seizure of white-owned land.
During the raids, officers recovered more than 500,000kg (79,000 stone) of gold and gold ore, and nearly 5,000 diamonds. Most of the arrests and recoveries were made near border posts and included dealers from neighbouring Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.
The suspects were trying to smuggle the minerals to neighbouring countries, reports the government newspaper The Herald. Police say the suspects were all released after paying or promising to pay admission of guilt fines.
Police launched the campaign codenamed Chikorokoza Chapera (which means The End of Illegal Gold Dealings) following concerns over rampant smuggling of precious stones and environmental degradation in mining areas.
The government accuses powerful politicians and businessmen of buying minerals from panners and smuggling them outside the country.
"A few greedy fat cats have monopolised the industry and engaged every other person in the villages, farms and elsewhere to recklessly pan for gold and other precious minerals," Augustine Chihuri, the country's Police Commissioner, was quoted as saying recently by the Herald.
"We are also worried about the level of siltation in our dams and land degradation," he said referring to extensive destruction of the environmental by the panners.
In his state of the nation address last week, Mr Mugabe said Zimbabwe was witnessing rampant destruction of forests and land through uncontrolled fires and illegal panning.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
D.R. CONGO TROOPS CLASH WITH REBELS !
Several dissident soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been killed in a clash with government forces in the east of the country.
The UN says the death toll from Wednesday's fighting is not clear. Some reports speak of 18 insurgents killed.
DRC government forces say they were attacked by troops loyal to dissident Gen Laurent Nkunda north of Goma, in North-Kivu region. The situation in the east remains highly volatile, correspondents say. This is despite a 2003 ceasefire which ended a five-year conflict.
The rebels have occupied the Rutshuru hills near the Rwandan border since early December.
DR Congo is attempting a transition to democracy and this month installed an elected president, Joseph Kabila, for the first time in 40 years.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOMALI TROUPS CLOSE IN ON CAPITL!
The speed of the government's advance has surprised observers. Ethiopian and Somali government forces have reached the outskirts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after Islamist forces abandoned the city. Eyewitnesses say Somali troops were cheered by crowds, but some residents condemned the Ethiopian presence. Ethiopia's prime minister said his men were consulting Somali officials and Mogadishu elders about what do to next.
In recent days Ethiopian troops have helped the interim government capture ground previously held by Islamists. "People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," resident Abdikadar Abdulle told Reuters news agency, adding that military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University.
However another resident told the BBC: "The entire people of Somalia are ready and working against the Ethiopian armed forces... As Muslims, God willing we will defeat the enemies of Islam and their lackeys." The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan, in the city, says clan militiamen seized key buildings as soon as Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) withdrew its fighters early on Thursday.
Residents in the north of the city have reported cars and mobile phones being stolen. Rising insecurity has forced most businesses to stop trading. The situation seems to be descending back into anarchy, our correspondent adds. Observers say the UIC's departure leaves a power vacuum in Mogadishu, raising fears of a return to clan warfare that has plagued the city and Somalia for 16 years.
In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said:
"We will act on the basis of the advice of the transitional government and in consultation with the elders of Mogadishu but at the moment we are not in Mogadishu, we are just outside."
Islamic fighters have fled towards the port city of Kismayo, their last remaining stronghold, 300 miles (500km) to the south. A senior UIC official Omar Idris said the retreat was "not the end". He told the BBC's World Today radio programme: "We know what happened in Iraq... I think this is very, very early to say that the Islamic Court forces were defeated."
At the weekend Ethiopia began a major offensive to support the weak government against the UIC - which previously held much of central and southern Somalia. The conflict has killed hundreds of people. The head of the International Red Cross Somalia delegation said it was "extremely concerned about civilians caught up in the fighting".
The African Union has called for Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia. However the UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces. The UIC has its roots in the north of the capital Mogadishu. Courts administering Islamic law restored order in a city bedevilled by anarchy since the overthrow of former President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
The UIC assumed control of the whole capital in June, driving warlords out and rapidly extending their influence to much of southern Somalia - with the exception of Baidoa, the seat of the transitional Somali government. That body, set up in 2004 after talks between Somali factions, has been unable to meet in the capital because of opposition first from warlords, then from the UIC. UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is accused by both Ethiopia and the US of having links to al-Qaeda - charges he denies.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
AFRICA EXPLORER'S REMAINS EXHUMED !
Africa explorer's remains exhumed
By Mark Doyle
World affairs correspondent, BBC News
The once-rival cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa are linked by ferry. The remains of Pierre de Brazza, the 19th Century French explorer and founder of modern-day Congo, have been exhumed in Algeria. They will be reburied in three days' time in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville.
It is one of the few African cities that retains the name of its colonial founder. Brazza was buried in 1905 in Algiers, when Algeria was part of metropolitan France. His century-old adventure story pits the Frenchman against the envoy of the Belgian crown, Henry Morton Stanley, to capture central Africa. Both men had different masters but a common aim - to win the 19th Century "Scramble for Africa", that audacious and often cruel race to subjugate a continent.
The American Stanley, who today is famous for having re-supplied the struggling British explorer David Livingstone, was working for the ambitious King of Belgium, Leopold. Brazza was working for France.They both wanted to capture the navigable section of the great Congo river - and with it vast territories and fabulous mineral wealth.
In the end, Brazza won the race through uncharted jungles, planting the French flag on the northern shore of the river. Brazzaville was born. Stanley was forced to the southern shore of Congo river. He founded another city and named it after his royal Belgian backer, and Leopoldville took root.
Today, Brazzaville and Leopoldville, later renamed Kinshasa, are joined by only a short ferry ride. Brazzaville is the capital of Congo. Kinshasa is the capital of the confusingly named "Democratic Republic of Congo". Brazza's remains will be flown to Brazzaville in a few days time to be reburied in a mausoleum built jointly by the French and Congolese governments.
Some Congolese are critical about the honouring of this controversial figure. They say Africans have not benefited from the relationship with France. French and Congolese historians of Brazza's exploits say, however, that by the standards of the day, their man was a humanist who had respectful relationships with African chiefs. Where possible, they say, he used negotiations rather than force - unlike Stanley, who by most accounts was a brash and violent conqueror.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
CONGO ACTIVISTS FINED FOR FORGERY !
Congo activists fined for forgery
By John James
BBC News, Pointe-Noire.
The men say their conviction was intended to intimidate them.Two leading anti-corruption campaigners in Congo-Brazzaville have b.een found guilty of forgery and breach of trust. Both say the trial is an attempt to intimidate them. Christian Mounzéo and Brice Mackosso were given two month suspended prison sentences and fines of $600 each by the court in the second city, Pointe-Noire.
The few hundred people packed into the small courtroom to hear the short judgment being read out expressed shock and surprise at the verdict. Friends said they were astonished the men could have been found guilty of breach of trust and forgery when the international organisations who had given the money in question had vouched in court for the men's innocence.
Christian Mounzéo said afterwards the verdict had been expected. "We know that the government has used justice as an instrument to prosecute human rights defenders so we are not surprised about this judgement," he told the BBC.
The public prosecutor had earlier asked the judge not to send the men to jail because he said the arrests had already damaged Congo's reputation. Both men have always denied the charges which relate to a donation of around $4000 and a computer. Their arrest in April was condemned by human rights groups and the World Bank. The men say they will appeal this morning's decision, which they say is designed to stop them acting as independent experts on two new anti-corruption committees.
Congo is sub-Saharan Africa's sixth largest oil producer but has been told by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that it must be more open about its use of oil revenues if it wants to qualify for debt relief.
BBC NEW REPORT.
CMEROON CORRUPTION HINDERS AIDS FIGHT !
Cameroon corruption hinders Aids fight
By Jenny Cuffe
BBC World Service, Cameroon
Patients at Abongmbang say they are being charged for HIV tests. In Cameroon alone, the Global Fund and World Bank have allocated more than $133m (£68m) to stem the tide of HIV/Aids. But with corruption endemic, are the millions being spent on combating the disease being used effectively? Latest figures show that 5% of Cameroon's population are infected with HIV/Aids, and there are plans to ensure they all have access to anti-retroviral drugs and cheaper treatment.
Both the Global Fund and a local NGO, the Scouts Association, have recently given money or testing kits to a hospital in Abomngbang in the rural east of the country so that it can provide free screening. But when Serge Tchapdar went along, he was told he would have to pay - and he tells me his friends were also asked to do so. And four members of staff - including the one in charge of the unit - say the hospital did not give any free tests. The hospital's director, Dr Jean-Paul Kengue, says the tests were done for free - but the records he shows me as proof do not show this.
The tests are indicative of the problem in Cameroon. Tackling Aids cannot happen until a cure is found for Cameroon's second deadly virus - corruption.The government says it has put more than $4.5m (£2.3m) into the fight against Aids; resulting in treatment at specialist centres for 25,500 patients, the cost of anti-retrovirals falling to $5 from $13, and pregnant women, children and the very poor getting them free.
"I am really suffering, because for the past four years I have been sick from HIV," she says. "My parents discovered I was HIV-positive and they threw me out. I can't pay rent. I can't afford payment for my treatment. "I don't have any work. I can't do anything for myself. I do everything to get drugs. At times I beg." Roffine attends one of Yaounde's HIV clinics where she is entitled to free anti-retrovirals.
But after giving her the first month's supply, the pharmacist told her she would have to pay for any more - because her clinic did not receive enough money to buy the drugs it needed from the national supplier Cename, and the only way to get more was to charge.
It is a familiar story throughout Cameroon - patients complaining they are not getting the free or subsidised drugs they are entitled to. Urbain Olanguena, the Cameroon's minister of public health, says Roffine's case is an isolated incident due to structural problems. "It doesn't question the global system that today permits Cameroon to give drugs free of charge to people with no money," he adds. "But if they need treatment they must get it free of charge... the policies and strategies are to help the poorest, and now we have to work on the effectiveness of our policies and ensure the implementation of these policies."
The $133m coming into Cameroon from the World Bank and the Global Fund has dwarfed the government's annual spending on HIV/Aids. To distribute the funds, the minister has devised an elaborate system, co-ordinated by the National Aids Control Committee. 'Free' anti-retrovirals often end up being sold at Yaounde market .
The committee passes money to Provincial Technical Groups, who then divide it between 48 private and several thousand non-governmental organisations (NGOs). At the bottom are the local committees, groups of volunteers who develop their own plans. This system is wide open to abuse.
Halidou Demba of international NGO Action Aid says local committee presidents and treasurers sometimes misuse the money to buy food grains, stock them in their houses and sell them when food prices are very high in their local market. Effectively, there is a hierarchy of individuals and organisations all giving money to the man above and taking from the man below. The individual sums may be small, but multiply them across the country and you're talking millions of dollars.
The complete absence of written records makes proving corruption extremely difficult, and until recently the subject has been taboo in government circles. But in the New Bell Prison in Douala, three former civil servants are now awaiting trial, accused of embezzling $700,000 that should have been used for the fight against Aids. Damaris Mounlom, who runs an NGO for women's health and development, blew the whistle on the financial irregularities in the Provincial Technical Group, where the accused worked. "When we went to the field we found that every local committee have spent the money in the corruption," she says.
"The people responsible came to see them and said, 'Give me 200,000 because I am here, I have spent the petrol. I must teach you how to protect yourself. Give me 200,000.' - and so on."
But when Mrs Mounlom blew the whistle, she found herself blacklisted by the health ministry, and has now been removed from the National Aids Strategy Committee. And corruption means donors are now asking whether there is sufficient return for their investment. Francois Mkounga, who oversees the World Bank's HIV project - a loan of $50m (£25m) - says they are trying to improve the situation, but there is only so much they can do.
"If the civil society is not providing good information on what is being done on the field it will be very difficult to address those issues of corruption," he explains. "There will be always allegations, but no way to address specific issues. "We need to have a clear view of the mechanism being put in place by people dealing with corruption... we discuss with the government and try to get the government to understand where things are not working well.
"It's a challenge every day."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SUDAN 'BACKS U.N. PLAN ON DARFUR' !
Mr Bashir has remained opposed to a large UN force. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has said in a letter to the UN he backs plans for a join UN-African Union force in the troubled region of Darfur. In the letter to the secretary general, Mr Bashir says he wants to begin "immediately" to implement UN plans. However, diplomats note that Mr Bashir remains opposed to any large-scale UN deployment and has gone back on agreements on Darfur before.
More than 200,000 people have died in the three-year conflict in Darfur.
The UN envoy to Khartoum, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, is expected to brief a Security Council meeting on Darfur on Wednesday afternoon. The main thrust of the three-part UN plan for Darfur is to strengthen the current 7,000-strong African Union force with UN troops.
Mr Bashir has remained consistently opposed to any large UN deployment but now appears to have agreed to the strengthening of a hybrid force. Mr Bashir says Sudan agrees to the first two parts of the UN plan - deployment of new staff and equipment to the African Union force followed by a larger support package.
However, the third part of the UN plan - the size and command of the new force - is not finalised in the letter. And UN diplomats expressed fears that carrying out plans through a special panel - the Tripartite Committee of Sudan, the UN and the AU - would give Khartoum an effective veto. Sudan's change of heart on its previous opposition to UN participation follows international threats of trade sanctions and of a ban on aircraft movements over Darfur, to stop bombing raids by government forces.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum. The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs. Arab militias responded to try to put down the uprising. The government denies accusations from the rebels it is backing the militias.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
TEACHERS EMBRACE MALAWI PLACEMENT !
Scotland has had a relationship with Malawi dating back 150 years. A group of Scots teachers has become the first to participate in a placement scheme in the African nation of Malawi. Eleven teachers took part in the Malawi School Improvement Project, which is run by Link Community Development with support from the Scottish Executive.
The project, which began last year, aims to foster educational development in Malawi and Scotland. It provides schools and teachers in both countries and is focused on creating partnerships. Scottish teachers travelled to Malawi during school holidays, where they spent six weeks working with colleagues in schools.
Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: "The scheme is a hugely enriching experience both professionally and personally and offers a unique opportunity for further personal development. "Scottish teachers learn a great deal about themselves and can discover previously untapped skills."
Malawi is the African nation most closely connected with the Scottish explorer David Livingstone. Scotland has had a 150 year relationship with the country and Blantyre in Malawi is named after Livingstone's Scottish birthplace.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ETHIOPIANS NEARING SOMALI CAPITAL !
The transitional government says it is forcing the militia to retreat. Ethiopian and Somali government forces are advancing towards Somalia's capital Mogadishu, which is currently held by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). Earlier, they seized the strategic town of Jowhar, 90 km from the capital, from Islamist militias during a dawn attack.
At the weekend Ethiopia began a major offensive against the UIC, which held much of central and southern Somalia. Jowhar is a former UIC stronghold, and its loss leaves the Islamists with control of little more than the coast.
The Ethiopian and pro-government Somali troops are reported to be only 30 km from Mogadishu. In Jowhar, residents told the BBC they had seen government forces riding on top of Ethiopian armoured vehicles in Jowhar. The UIC still holds Mogadishu, and the southern port city of Kismayo. Leaders of the militia have admitted pulling out of many towns. Reports suggest that the Islamists evacuated many towns without putting up a fight.
The UIC's two most senior military commanders - the defence chief, Yusuf Indade, and his deputy, Abu Mansur - are currently both on the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. On Tuesday Ethiopia said it had repelled the militia from the seat of Somalia's transitional government in Baidoa, but the UIC said the pull-out was tactical and the group was "getting ready for a long war".
Hundreds of people have been fleeing Jowhar, the Associated Press news agency reported. "We do not know where to escape, we are already suffering from floods, hunger and disease," resident Abdale Haji Ali told AP. "We are awaiting death."
Both sides claim to have inflicted hundreds of casualties. The Red Cross has reported more than 850 injured people at hospitals it supports. The UN's World Food Programme has suspended air drops into southern Somalia because of the fighting, but the Red Cross says it has been able to continue its cargo flights to its partners in Somalia. Agencies are having difficulty reaching people affected by months of drought, which has now been followed by flooding
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it is concerned that many people may be fleeing the fighting, and is preparing to receive them in camps along the Kenyan border. The Security Council, which has been debating the Somalia conflict, is due to resume discussions later on Wednesday. Splits have emerged on the council with Qatar insisting that any statement should call for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces, including Ethiopia's, from Somalia. Other council members say that this should not apply to Ethiopian troops, arguing that they are in Somalia at the request of the interim government.
On Tuesday, UN envoy Francois Lonseny Fall warned the Security Council that failure to reach a political settlement could lead to a conflict that could "have serious consequences for the entire region". The UIC - who seized control of the capital six months ago - have introduced law and order to the capital and much of southern Somalia for the first time in 16 years. But other countries accuse the UIC of links to al-Qaeda, charges it denies.
Somalia and Ethiopia - a mainly Christian nation - have a history of troubled relations, and Islamists have long called for a holy war against Ethiopian troops in Baidoa.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
CATHY BUCKLE'S WEEKLY LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE !
Dear Family and Friends,
This December, for the second year in a row, my Christmas Tree has remained
outside in the garden. This tree began life as a seedling amongst the fir
trees behind our house on the farm. Just a couple of inches tall I planted
the seedling in a black plastic bag when we were being evicted from our
farm just before Christmas in 2000. Every year at Christmas time I dragged
the pot inside, covered the tree with bits and pieces, starved it of water
for a week and then back outside it went. As the tree grew I transplanted
it into ever bigger pots and the Christmas tree has survived but not really
thrived. Two years ago my son and I planted the Christmas tree in the
garden, agreeing that it would stay there until there was a change in the
situation in Zimbabwe. At first when I took the tree out of its pot it
stood there in the rich earth in a state of shock. For months it did
nothing, did not seem to grow or lift up its branches or show any sign of
life. Then suddenly as if it finally realised it was free of the
restrictions on its roots, my little Christmas tree began to grow. Now it
is over six feet (two metres) tall and is alive and well and growing on the
front lawn. This week, standing on tip toes I have put a small silver star
on top of the Christmas tree in the garden and it stirs gently in the
breeze of our hot and humid December days.
Having my Christmas tree outside in the garden is symbolic of the state of
affairs in Zimbabwe. Christmas is not completely cancelled but it is not
far off. All the usual traditional Christmas trappings are just not
possible anymore. The traditional Christmas meal is off the menu,
unaffordable by almost everyone. Most families are again separated by
borders, countries and even continents as almost a quarter of our
population remain in exile across the world. Christmas gifts are this year
sparser than ever before - restricted almost entirely to just the children.
I thought how I could best describe the atmosphere of this Christmas to
people outside of the country and all week have added words to a list. This
is December in Zimbabwe:
Two inch long Msasa beetles armed with fierce nippers;
Great fat sausage flies everywhere telling us the rain is near;
Flame lilies - scarlet and yellow in the jungly green bush;
Paradise flycatchers trailing exquisite long orange tail feathers;
The bubbling call of the Coucal and the mocking warnings of the Go Away Birds
Big, orange, sticky mangoes
Towns seething with people and monstrous queues - not for presents or treats
but queues for money, for petrol and, longest of all, queues for sugar.
This is Christmas in Zimbabwe in December 2006. To all my family and
friends and to Zimbabweans wherever you are in the world, I send love and
thanks for everything you all to do help this wonderful country. Until my
next letter in 2007, have a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year,
love
Cathy.
Copyright, cathy buckle, 23rd December 2006.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:
orders@africabookcentre.com
NIGERIAN CHIEF JUDGES SUSPENDED !
The Ekiti governor's impeachment led to a state of emergency.Four Nigerian chief judges have been suspended by judicial authorities for their alleged role in the controversial removal of state governors. The row centres on whether some judges have backed illegal action taken against the governors by regional politicians for alleged corruption.
Some impeachments were later declared illegal by higher courts even though the judges backed them at the time. Five governors have been impeached on corruption claims in just over a year. Critics say the anti-corruption drive, spearheaded by President Olusegun Obasanjo, is a cover for a political witch-hunt.
Almost all of the country's 36 state governors, who cannot be prosecuted while in office, are currently being investigated by the country's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The National Judicial Council's suspensions of the four chief judges come into immediate effect. President Obasanjo cannot run for a third term in 2007 Chief Justice Alfa Belgore vowed to punish any judge who did not follow constitutionally laid down impeachment procedures. Recently the Supreme Court ruled that January's impeachment of Oyo State's Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja was illegal.
One of those suspended is the chief judge of Anambra State, where Peter Obi was impeached for gross misconduct in November. Another is from Ekiti State, where President Obasanjo declared a state of emergency after the impeachment of its state governor in October was declared unconstitutional. In the ensuing political chaos, several different politicians declared themselves to be the rightful governor.
The president then stepped in and appointed a former general and political ally to administer the state. It is not only state governors that find themselves under the close scrutiny of the EFCC. In September, the agency accused the vice-president of fraudulently using $125m (£64m) of public funds for personal business interests. Atiku Abubakar denies the allegations, which he says are politically motivated. He fell out with the outgoing president over Mr Obasanjo's bid to serve a third term in office, and is standing as a candidate for the opposition in next April's presidential election.
Earlier this year, Nigeria's parliament rejected a plan to change the constitution to let Mr Obasanjo seek the third term.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Sierra Leone relearns diamond mining
By Will Ross - Sierra Leone.
Searching for diamonds is gruelling work. Knee deep in brown water Mohammed Kamara shakes his large circular sieve as a colleague pours in endless buckets of mud and gravel. This has been the daily routine for thousands of miners in Sierra Leone's eastern district of Kono since the 1930s, when diamonds were first found in the West African country.
As diamonds are so easily smuggled out figures are hard to come by, but some experts have suggested that since the 1930s as many as 70 million carats of diamonds have been mined in Sierra Leone. However, the miners and people of Kono have hardly benefited, with a common daily wage of less than 50 US cents plus two cups of rice.
In a wooden hut, normally serves as a video hall, 20 men struggle with a two hour Diamond Identification and Classification exam.The last time Komba Mejor sat in a classroom was more than 20 years ago, but having just completed a two week course he wants to pass on his newly gained diamond knowledge. "I now understand more about the value of the diamonds and if I pass the exam I will teach my brothers and sisters so we can get more money from the diamonds," he says.
A small generator is fired up (electricity is rare in Kono) and with the help of a small lamp and an eye piece, Komba and his colleagues identify and weigh a variety of diamonds. This is all part of a programme funded by USAid, aimed at helping the miners gain a better understanding of the industry and avoid being ripped off by middlemen. "The monopoly of information has really deprived the local miners and subjected them to poverty," says Babar Touray, of the US funded Integrated Diamond Management Programme.
"Those foreigners who came in and were knowledgeable about diamonds didn't give the chance to indigenes to get the information and know-how to determine the price of diamonds, so they have always been at the mercy of foreign buyers."
But one of the course instructors, Mohammed Jabi, says the miners' newly acquired knowledge is not going down well with the diamond dealers in town. Many hope to use their new diamond knowledge to teach others "We asked the dealers to give us diamond samples to use in the practicals, but after some time they learnt we were trying to increase the awareness of the miners and the diggers so they are now refusing to give us samples," he says.
During British colonial days, the mining giant De Beers was granted exclusive mining rights in the country, although illicit mining later became rampant. The industry was nationalised in 1970, but Sam Koroma, who works for the British-funded Diamond Sector Project, says mistakes were made. "The problem was the speed we went into nationalisation, it was not well researched as we were in a hurry," he says.
"So the policies in place were not properly looked at in order to pick out the good ones and throw out the bad ones. When we took over, corruption set in at the highest level." And after the corruption came war. Greed fuelled the conflict, which devastated Sierra Leone during the 1990s. The diamond fields in the east of the country were seized by the brutal rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
Using forced labour, the diamonds were exchanged for weapons and cash. During a break from sieving, Mohammed Kamara remembers how he was ordered to mine for the RUF from 1993 to 2000. "If you refused to go, you would be severely beaten or even killed. Every blessed day you went to the mine you found diamonds. But we got nothing. At times the rebels gave us food for the day if they felt like it - other times nothing."
Mohammed, who struggles to support his wife and two children from his work, recently joined a mining co-operative, giving him above average daily payments and an agreed share of the value of any diamonds sold. The first effort was unsuccessful and the private backers, who had invested close to $100,000 in the co-operatives, made a loss. But lessons were learnt and this could yet prove to be a way of seeing the country's diamond proceeds more evenly distributed.
Britain's Department for International Development is working with the government of Sierra Leone to make the industry more transparent and accountable, while De Beers has been offering some technical training. Since the end of the war, official diamond exports have risen sharply each year - from $26m in 2001 to $141m in 2005. The government's royalty is 3%, but of that figure only 0.7 % goes directly into the government's coffers.
Official records show that from the last two years of the diamond tax, around $2.5m should have been returned to develop the diamond mining communities. But that money was paid to the local chiefs, and very little reached their people. The payments to the chiefs were recently stopped, but the chiefs are politically powerful and with what could be a closely fought presidential election just a few months away, there may be pressure to resume the payments to keep the chiefs on side.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ZIMBABWE IN TLKS ON CHINA LOAN !
Critics say President Robert Mugabe has ruined Zimbabwe's economY. Zimbabwe is preparing to open talks with China for a $2bn (£1.1bn) loan, in a bid to boost its crumbling economy. Much of the money would be used to fight Zimbabwe's soaring inflation, the state-run Herald newspaper reported. China has been looking to extend its influence in Africa and recently hosted a summit of African leaders.
Zimbabwe has been struggling to cope with economic collapse brought about, critics say, by the policies of President Robert Mugabe. The southern African country - previously one of the continent's most developed economies - has seen inflation leap above 1,000%, while food and fuel shortages are rife. The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this week that Zimbabwe's dire economic situation could get worse.
If agreed, the Chinese loan would be the biggest foreign loan secured by President Mugabe's government.
"China's government is ready to negotiate with the government for a $2bn loan facility to fight inflation and other aspects of the economy," Zimbabwe's ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, said. He said China's assistance to Zimbabwe would "dispel the myth" that the country's economic problems were beyond redemption.
China had appointed an official to open talks with Zimbabwe's finance minister and central bank governor, the Herald reported.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
IMF WARNS ZIMBABWE OVER ECONOMY !
Food shortages are acute. Conditions in Zimbabwe will get worse unless the government stabilises the economic situation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. IMF officials, who recently spent 10 days in Zimbabwe, said conditions had deteriorated in the past year and that food and fuel shortages were "acute". Inflation is above 1,000%, while most Zimbabweans are out of work. The government must cut total spending while prioritising food imports and health services, the IMF said.
The country must also improve its relations with the international community, the IMF added, to build support for much-needed reforms. Many foreign governments blame President Robert Mugabe's policies for the country's crippling economic problems. He, in turn, says Western countries are sabotaging the economy to remove him from power because of his land reform programme.
The IMF said the government's main aim should be to stabilise the economy as a first step to raising living standards. But it said rampant inflation and falling economic output were increasing poverty. "Zimbabwe's economic crisis calls for the urgent implementation of a comprehensive policy package," the IMF said in a statement. "Without a fundamental change in policies, prospects are for a continued deterioration in the economic situation."
Sharp cuts in public spending were needed to help reduce inflation, the IMF said. This should be accompanied by reform of exchange rates, liberalisation of price controls, the removal of restrictions on current account payments and the strengthening of private property rights.
At the same time, the government must provide support for the poorest in society, those affected by HIV-Aids and the government's mass clearances of slum areas, the IMF said. Zimbabwe avoided expulsion from the IMF earlier in the year after it repaid some of its debt and pledged to clear the entire sum by December.
IMF officials will meet in March to decide on the status of Zimbabwe's debts and its membership.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
