Guinea Military Leader Attacks France Over Critical Comments RegardingMassacre

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Guinean leader attacks France over minister’s comments

THE head of Guinea’s ruling military junta has attacked former colonial power, France, for saying it could no longer deal with him following last week’s bloody crackdown on protesters.

“Guinea is not a district of France. When the French foreign minister says something like that, this is a way of denigrating the people of Africa,” Captain Moussa Dadis Camara told news broadcaster, France24.

French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Sunday France could no longer work with the firebrand former soldier, and called for international intervention to quell the rising tension in the world’s No. 1 bauxite supplier.

Kouchner’s comments were the latest international condemnation of Camara for a lethal crackdown on protesters in Conakry on September 28 that a local human rights group said killed 157 people and injured hundreds more.

The African Union has given Camara until mid-October to confirm that he will stay clear of the January 31 elections, warning of sanctions if he misses the deadline.

Camara, who seized power in the wake of a coup last December, has raised the hackles of his opposition by refusing to opt out of presidential elections set for January.

The soldier-turned leader, who received military training in Germany and wears a German paratrooper badge on his trademark red beret, has denied responsibility for the bloodshed and said he is being pressured by the Guinean army to keep a grip on the presidency.

The crisis in Guinea has triggered a round of mediation talks led by Burkina Faso President Baise Campaore. Discussions between Camara’s government and opposition in Conakry on Monday ended with little progress.

Campaore has invited the junta and the opposition to continue discussions in Burkina Faso.

Rio Tinto, a top miner of aluminum ore bauxite in Guinea, said last week that operations were continuing normally.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The struggle for democracy in Guinea

THE global condemnation of the official violence unleashed on the people of Guinea, who had embarked on a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration is justified in every sense. There can be no excuse for the Guinean military authorities to open fire on defenceless people who were only asserting their rights to choose how they wish to be governed. Guinea’s military Head of State, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara should be told in unmistakable terms that his arm-twisting tactic is no longer in vogue.

If anything, the general condemnation of the massacre of over 150 pro-democracy protesters last week, is a clear pointer to the fact that leaders who break faith with their people deserve no respect. While they have a right to contest for their country’s leadership position, they can only exercise that right in a civilised manner, not through brute force. Obviously Camara who had forced himself into office last December following the death of President Lassane Conte, has no intention of subjecting himself to a democratic process. After declaring himself Head of State contrary to the country’s Constitution, he promised to guide the country to democratic rule. Specifically, he named himself President of the National Council for Democracy, which he called a transitional body that would oversee the country’s democratic elections.

Suddenly, a few weeks ago, he changed his mind about not standing for election and declared that he has a right to contest. That was enough to raise the people’s suspicion that his original plan is to manipulate the Presidential election scheduled for next January 31, and possibly perpetuate himself in power. Concerned Guineans were right to have embarked on a peaceful protest against Camara’s anti-democratic plot, which they did in a stadium near the capital, Conakry.

Guinean security forces subsequently opened fire on thousands of defenceless Guineans. This is unacceptable. Local rights groups reckon that about 157 persons were killed. Quoting hospital sources in the capital, which suggested the casualties’ figure would be higher, the Guinean Human Rights Organisation estimated that more than 1,250 people were injured in the violence. Camara’s explanation has been unconvincing, it only confirms that the attack on defenceless people was premeditated,

First, he blamed the shootings on “uncontrollable elements” in the military who allegedly responded to provocation by the people. Then the government said most of the victims were crushed in the stampede at the stadium. However, the same government later blamed certain political leaders for staging the demonstration in alleged disregard of prior warning against the protest. Government further accused the leaders of causing the stampede, violence and looting of two police stations. And that the demonstrators let prisoners out of jail and stole weapons.

Nevertheless, the international community has rightly condemned the violence. The United Nations Security Council expressed “utmost concern” about reports that troops fired on people attending political rally and that women were raped. Similarly, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the United States, African Union, European Union, and France (which has suspended military cooperation with the country) have all condemned the unprovoked violence on defenceless citizens.

The least that Camara can do is to end the repression, identify and punish those responsible for the killings, set political detainees free and allow a return to democratic rule in Guinea. In particular, Camara needs to reaffirm his earlier declaration that he would not stand in the way of a free and fair election. Attempting to do otherwise is a clear signal that democratic principles would be negated. It should also be clear to the him that Guineans are not prepared to compromise true democracy, tired as they are already of autocratic rule.

Since 1958 when Guinea gained independence from France, the country has had only two presidents - Lansane Conte who came to power in 1984 when the military seized power after the death of the first president, Sekou Toure. Camara seized power in December 2008 when Conte died. Captain Camara’s tactics are indecent. He and the Guinean military are dragging Africa backward. They should allow a level playing field and respect the people’s right to choose their own leaders. In the meantime, all the trigger-happy state agents who opened fire on innocent citizens, should be charged for murder and be made to face the full wrath of the law.

How Yar’Adua’s Absence Threatens Nigeria’s Bid for United NationsSecurity Council Seat, Says Gambari

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

How Yar’Adua’s absence threatens Nigeria’s bid for UN Security Council seat, by Gambari

President sends Compaore to Guinea over crisis

From Martins Oloja (Abuja) and Oghogho Obayuwana (New York)
THE decision of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to stay away from the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is a diplomatic blunder which might have its costs for Nigeria, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, an under-secretary-general of the global body of nations, has declared.

Besides, Yar’Adua who is the current chairman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sent Burkinabe leader, Blaise Compaore to Guinea in a spirited effort to end the crisis in the country.

The former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) and erstwhile Minister of Foreign Affairs blamed the blunder on what he called improper advice by the President’s aides while briefing journalists at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday.

He said: “…And I must say very strongly as a senior Nigerian here in the UN secretariat that there was a greatly missed opportunity that our head of state was not advised properly to come to this assembly… apart from the regular sessions of the General Assembly, issues of fundamental importance to Nigeria and to Africa were being discussed on the sidelines: Climate change, Millennium Development Goals, we have issues of disarmament and non-nuclear proliferation, financing global health, including a special meeting with President Barack Obama who was coming to the General Assembly for the first time as President of the United States with African leaders on economic co-operation and development and also on troop contributing countries of which Nigeria is well favoured…It was a tremendous opportunity missed.”

Gambari spoke just as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented his report on women and peace and security to the Security Council.

Gambari however stressed that if high-level lobbying at group, committee and official meeting are well utilised by Nigerian delegates, the country could still claim a non-permanent member seat of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by the middle of this month when the election of five non-permanent members into the Council would hold.

Nigeria is the current chairman of the UN Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations. A Nigerian delegates’ meeting was held at the Nigerian Mission early yesterday morning and was presided over by the desk officer for Nigeria’s election bid, Lawrence Olufemi Obisakin, a minister at the mission.

On what manner of campaign would be strong enough for the coveted seat, Gambari, who is also a special adviser to Ban said “…and if our aspiration is to put in view our merit and our standing in world affairs, then we have to step up. If you don’t sing your own song, if you don’t blow your own trumpet, nobody will blow it for you because they are too busy blowing their own trumpet. Nigeria missed an opportunity to really register its own views on the world, register its credentials as an African leader and register its credentials as a country that is trying to move forward on the issues that are domestic but that is of concern to the international community such as the Niger Delta and electoral reforms in our country.”

On what to do next time, he offered: “Next time, I strongly believe the President should be advised not to miss out of the next General Assembly because then, it would be the pattern. That he has not come, that he did not come last year, he did not come this year and he doesn’t come next year. It will not be seen in positive light by the rest of the international community. I speak now as a Nigerian, not as a staff of the United Nations. It concerns Nigeria. I have been an ambassador for the longest period of time in its history. I was here from 1989 to 1999. I have had the privilege and so with the privilege goes with responsibility to speak very frankly. You have to speak through to power. It baffles me that many people for reasons best known to them would not always offer the best advice to the leadership of our country.”

On Nigeria’s chances of clinching the Security Council seat, Gambari submitted that the country has the qualifications to be a permanent member of the Council representing Africa in a reformed and expanded Security Council. “But international politics is not about objectivity… You have to sell yourself and not this kind of re-branding in a PR sense. You have to continue to show your commitment to the ideals of the organisation, we have to show our relevance to defining the major issues that concern the United Nations and this is something that nobody else can do for us. We have to do it ourselves and if we just do what is right, and we have a great opportunity coming very shortly, later this month, Nigeria is likely to be elected. At least, it is up for elections to be a non-permanent member of the Security Council in a very critical period (2010 and 2011), this will be an opportunity to really prove ourselves, prove that we speak for Africa, prove that we are a country to be reckoned with, a country that can make contributions.”

According to Gambari, “Nigeria needs to prepare well. Let me give you an example: Brazil is also going to be joining the Security Council this year. Four months ago, they had already sent a team of people to study, understudy the work of the Security Council. They have already identified their priority. They are already here, they are working. So, we have to look at what other countries that are aspirants are doing, not to copy them but to strategise and showcase what we have to offer which is something I believe should be taken very, very seriously.”

He stressed that even with Nigeria’s endorsement by the African Union (AU), Nigeria still needed to do the basic things and throw its weight on its strength. “Well, the endorsement counts, but at the same time, you have to also present yourself. You are endorsed by the AU but what are you saying about the contributions you have made and are going to make? And recall, this is secret ballot. You need a two-thirds of the votes in the secret ballot. So, that’s why I don’t think we should just assume that we are in. We have to show that we are worthy, not only that, the number of votes you get, even if you are in, is very important. It shows the credits and the credibility you have in the international community by the number of votes you get even if you are elected as non-permanent member of the Security Council. So, these are the issues that I believe should be addressed thoroughly and should be taken very seriously…

“Well, some people dismiss it to say ‘after all, the only members of the Security Council that matter are the permanent five members and of course they are constitutionally allowed the privilege of having the veto but they can use the veto to prevent something from happening, but they cannot use the veto to advance… for any Security council resolution to be adopted, it takes a minimum number of nine, sometimes 11 votes. So, that’s where the non- permanent members come in. So, if Nigeria works closely with the non-aligned movement members, work closely with China, it can make a big difference in some of the decisions of the more than five votes in order to pass a resolution. What the veto does is that nothing can be passed on substantive issues without the concurrence of the five permanent members.”

The Guardian confirmed last night from the presidency that the president has not only written to the Burkinabe leader, the strong “special envoy” is also said to have accepted the challenge to go to Guinea immediately.

Presidential spokesperson, Olusegun Adeniyi who confirmed the development on telephone last night, said though he did not have details of the discussion between the two leaders, he was aware that President Yar’Adua had spoken to his counterpart in Ouagadougou who has agreed to undertake the tough mission to Conakry.

The President’s letter to Compaore reads in part:

“In the course of the seventh session of the International Contact Group on Guinea (ICG-G) held on the 22nd of September, 2009 in New York in the margins of the UN General Assembly, the Group expressed the desire to see other Heads of State of our region follow up on the joint goodwill mission that was undertaken by Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Abdoulaye Wade to Guinea on 12th September, 2009.”

“To this end, I should be grateful if you could find the time to embark on a mission to Conakry with a view to impressing upon Captain Dadis Camara, Chairman of the CNDD, to honour the pledge to the Guinean people, the region and the international community that neither he, the other members of the CNDD nor the Prime Minister would put forward their candidature in the forthcoming presidential elections”.

Yar’Adua further said: “This has become even more urgent, given the deterioration of the political, security and human rights situation in Guinea. There is clearly now a breakdown of dialogue between the CNDD and the political parties, trade unions and civil society organizations. The result is that the entire transition process is threatened with complete derailment.

“I have no doubt that, given your impeccable record of facilitating national reconciliation in the region, you will successfully accomplish this mission in the interest of peace in Guinea and the region…”

Adeniyi said on telephone yesterday: “….I am aware the President spoke with President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso during the week and he has agreed to be his emissary to Guinea. I don’t have details of the message but I think we all know there is a breakdown of law and order in the country.

“The message of President Yar’Adua to the military leaders in Guinea is that they do everything to ensure that the on-going democratisation process in the country is not derailed”.

Resistance to Linguistic Feudalism and Darwinism

Resistance to linguistic feudalism and Darwinism

Conditions for creating a reading culture in Africa

Ngugi wa Thiong’o
2009-10-01, Issue 450
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/59136

Reading empowers people, Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes in this week’s edition of Pambazuka News, but people need more than access to books, they need access to books in their own languages. In the first part of a keynote speech given at the 6th Pan African Reading for all Conference, wa Thiong’o argues that ‘if you want to hide knowledge from an African child, put it in English or French.’ To ‘know one’s language, whatever that language is, and add others to it, is empowerment, says wa Thiong’o, ‘but to know all the other languages while ignorant of one’s own is slavery.’

I want to start by congratulating the organisers of this conference, for nothing can surpass in importance books as entries into human history. I like the lines quoted from morality plays in the Everyman Library series: ‘Everyman will go with thee and everywhere be thy guide.’ The book as a guide! That’s why what one of the speakers said yesterday facetiously, that that if you want to hide something from an African, put it in a book, is sad, tragic even, where it is true. But I would put it differently and say that if you want to hide knowledge from an African child, put it in English or French. Tragically this is true; it is what we do to our children everyday.

I remember when my mother used to send on a journey alone, to some relatives for instance. She would give me rigu, food and water for a rainy day, and then would sit me down and tell me everything about the path before me to ensure that I would not get lost. Every instruction was punctuated with: Do you understand? Then would she let me go. Only a very irresponsible parent would give instructions in words and language that the child does not understand. Now, nothing is more important than life’s journey; and yet we in Africa following the colonial path, send our children on the journey of life with instructions coded in European languages. The colonialist may have wanted us to go astray, but why would we, an independent Africa, want our children to get lost? More likely, it’s a case of the lost giving instructions on how to lose your way in life.

In my book, Decolonising the Mind, published in 1984, I told the story of my relationship to my mother tongue, Kikuyu, and my language of education, English. English was also the official language of the colonial state. I told how we used to be punished when we were caught speaking an African language in the school compound. We were humiliated by being made to carry a piece we called ‘monitor’ around our necks, literally stating that we were stupid. This humiliation and negativity were attached to African languages in the learning process. A good performance in English on the other hand was greeted with acclaim. Two things were taking place in the cognitive process: Positive affirmation of English as a means of intellectual production; and criminalisation of African languages as means of knowledge production. With English, went pride: With African languages, shame. For a long time I used to think that this was an African problem.

But some years ago, when I was researching my new Book, Re-Membering Africa, which has just been published, I found out that what was done to Africa had already been done to the Welsh. In 19th century Welsh kids caught speaking their mother tongue in school compound were also humiliated by being made to carry something around their necks with initials: WN-Welsh Not. At the very least, my colonial story had been re-enacted in Wales.

Even earlier than Wales was the case of the relationship between English and Irish languages. English colonial settlement was first tried out in Ireland in 16th century. But the English were finding it difficult to conquer the Irish or rather, tame them. In 1598, Edmund Spencer, a contemporary of Shakespeare and the celebrated author of the Fairie Queen and other poetic works, published A View of Ireland at the Present Time. Spencer was an English land-owner in Ireland, a neighbour to Walter Raleigh, the founder of the colony of Virginia. In the book, A View of Ireland, Spencer literally prescribes a cultural solution to the political and military problem posed by the Irish resistance. He argues that if you change their names, strike out the Mc’s and O’s of their naming system, and then impose English, the Irish would soon forget the Irish nation. Language conquest would enable indeed complete political conquest. The solution to native resistance is thus seen as lying in the erasure of their memory through changing their memory through changing their language and main system.

It’s really the same colonial process dramatised in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, where Caliban loses his tongue and then his land to Prospero. When Caliban complains about the loss of his natural and human resources, Prospero accuses him of ingratitude for seemingly forgetting the gift of Prospero’s language: But then Caliban curses back, pointing out that the price of learning Caliban’s language is the loss of his sovereignty: ‘I was my own subject, now, your slave.’ Language in other words is part of that transition from freedom to slavery.

Africans who were taken to Americans by force by Raleigh and his descendants to become plantation slaves had their languages and their names literally banned, almost as if the colonists were reading from Spencer’s manual. In the place of African names, they were given those of their owners. Even the drum language was banned by the act of banning the instrument itself. But the plantation master never lost his linguistic connection to Europe. The Spanish, French, Dutch and English plantation owners remained connected to their European Languages.

We find similar practices in Asia. Japan banned the Korean language and imposed Japanese during the brief Japanese colonial era. We can say the same things relative to the indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, South and North America. In the history of modern colonialism all the colonial powers, at one time or other, have imposed their languages on the conquered peoples, thus ensuring that the entire system of production, dissemination and consumption of knowledge takes place through the colonial language only. Even the very identity of the colonised is expressed in the language of conquest. In Africa, in other words identity is based on the language of the colonial conquest.

The case for mental conquest through language was put best by McCauley, the British secretary of education, who argued, in his famous minutes on Indian education, that English should be used to create a class, Indians in the name, but otherwise imbued with an English mentality; this class, he argued will help the British as effectively governors and the governed.

We can then generalise and say that where there is a situation of domination and subordination, between any two groups, whatever their colour or religion, this will be reflected in the language relationship. Unfortunately the linguistic imbalance of power takes a life of its own and may continue even after the underlying economic and political situation has changed. I believe that is how English and other European languages have come to be in the position in which they are today vis-à-vis other languages in the world, languages through which instructions for children on their life’s journey, are coded, with the gleeful approval of their own parents. The result of the many years of imperial relationship between Europe and the rest of the globe is world of languages divided into a dominant few, largely from Europe, and marginalised many, largely from Africa and Asia and Americans. Today, four of the five languages of the UN Security Council, are European. It is also not a coincidence that European and the West happen also to be the dominant economically in the world.

Therefore the problem is global, not peculiar to Africa, although it manifests its worst results in our continent. While the problem is basically economic and political; but philosophically, its roots lie in the conception of relationship between languages in terms of hierarchy, a kind of linguistic Feudalism and linguistic Darwinism.

Linguistic and cultural feudalism is the view consciously or unconsciously held that some languages between and even within nations, are of higher order than others; that they constitute an aristocracy while others, in a descending order of being, occupy lesser positions, different degrees of minions.

In the world today, a handful of western languages constitute that aristocracy. They dominate in the production and dissemination of ideas; they dominate in publishing and distribution and consumption of knowledge; they control the flow of ideas. Intellectuals who come from the supposedly lesser languages find that, to be visible globally, they must produce and store ideas in Western European languages, English mostly. In the case of most intellectuals from Africa and Asia, they become visible on the world stage but simultaneously invisible in their own cultures and languages. Global visibility comes at the price of local or regional invisibility.

This is because the dominant languages become perceived, even by the dominated, as having all the magic power of knowledge and production of ideas, culture itself, where the dominated languages are seen as having the opposite. They are incapable of producing knowledge and good ideas. But I wish it was simply a case of linguistic feudalism is being transformed into linguistic Darwnism.

Linguistic Darwinism is the extreme product of hieratic dominant language, dependent of the death of other languages. Languages can grow but only on the graveyard of others, an attitude that underlies all practices of monolingualism. In this most extreme form of monolingualism, linguistic Darwinism sees the growth of a national language as being dependent on the death of all the other languages. This is the assumption behind many national language policies: In order for the national language to be, other languages must die.

The death of any language is the loss of knowledge contained in that language. The weakening of any language is the weakening of its knowledge producing potential. It is a human loss. The saying cited yesterday that the death of an old person is the death of a library is probably more true of languages. Imagine the impoverishment of world culture if all the learning in say classical Greek and Latin had died with the languages? Today we can only imagine but never know the loss of knowledge with the disappearance of so many languages on earth. Each language, no matter how small, contains the best knowledge of its immediate environment: The plants and their properties, for instance. Language is the primary computer with a natural hard drive.

African languages face the destiny of dinosaurs: Things of the past. For the national, African and even global good, the prevailing power relationships of languages and cultures, has to be challenged and hopefully even shaken up. This was the thinking behind my books, Decolonizing the Mind, and also Re- Membering Africa.

My first prescription was that writers from marginalised cultures and languages had the duty and responsibility of making themselves visible in their languages. As I did not want to be saying do as I say but not as I do, I made the decision way back in 1978 to break with English as the primary mans of my writing, particularly in fiction and drama. My first novel in Gikuyu, Devil on the Cross, was first written on toilet paper in a maximum security prison where I had been put by a postcolonial African Government for having participated in the writing and performance of a play in my mother tongue. Today, I still believe that writers and other intellectuals have the duty to challenge and shake up that view of languages in theory and practice

But later I realised that though writers bore the primary duty of producing ideas in African languages, there was another equally important player. Writers do no do so in order to decorate their home shelves with unpolished manuscripts. They want to be published in order to reach the reader. But alas there were no major publishers in African languages. So lack of publishers in African languages leads to lack of writers in African languages and therefore few readers of African language productions and therefore few publishers willing to risk money by venturing there, and you can see the vicious circle.

The publisher then is an integral part of any meaningful challenge to linguistic feudalism and linguistic Darwinism. I have written several works in Gikuyu. But this would have been impossible without the willingness of Henry Chakava and the East African Educational Publishers to invest resources and skills into the project.

It is not question of books only. There are no journals of creative and intellectual production in African languages. So a young writer beginning to write has absolutely no forum in which he can showcase short pieces, at least. Let me show you what effects a journal can have by citing my own practice. Conscious of the problem of journals and with the assistance of the New York Niversity where I then worked as Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies, I founded a journal of culture and modern literature in 1992. Mutiri was the first of its kind in Gikuyu. Even under very limited circulation the journal has made some impact. Let me cite one example.

A Kenyan student, Gatua wa Mbugua, was doing his senior paper at the University of California, Santa Cruz, when he came across the journal, Mutiri, at a friend’s house. It was the first time that he was seeing modem poetry and essays in Gikuyu. He immediately started writing his own poems and songs in Gikuyu. Later at Cornell University, he wrote the first ever Masters dissertation on Crop Science in Gikuyu. And early this year, he successfully defended his Doctorate in Agricultural Science at Wyoming University. Where his fieldwork for his Masters was done in Kenya, that for his dissertation was carried out in the central highlands of Wyoming. He had to be very dedicated to his task. For his examiners in both cases at Cornell and Wyoming, he had to give an English translation of the thesis and dissertation. As for as I know, this was the first doctoral science dissertation in an African language, certainly so in Gikuyu. The point here is that it was a Gikuyu language journal that inspired him to do what he has done, and now he is committed to producing smaller and simpler Science texts in Gikuyu.

The writer and the publisher need another partner. The government. Many African states don’t have a national language policy in a multilingual situation, meaning African languages. In some cases they have shown hostility. Whatever we may say of colonial states, they, through literature bureaus, often came up with some sort of policies. Some post-colonial governments have even shown active hostility to African languages. Governments have to create an enabling environment in terms of policies and resources. We have only to look at Kiswahili in Tanzania today, the result of Nyerere’s progressive linguistic foresight, continued in the successor Tanzanian governments. By Kiswahili having a home and a base, it is the one African language that is becoming an active player in the globe.

The fourth partner is of course the seller of books. Booksellers have to be willing to stock books written in African languages. At present this is largely missing. There are very few bookshops that sell African language books.

I could add other partners: Award givers and conference organisers. At present, many awards meant to help in the growth of African literature actually work against African literature and readership. They give awards that stipulate English as the linguistic means of literary production. Conference organisers within and outside Africa recognise only those intellectuals and writers who write in English. I was talking to Zanzibari writers and on the mainland, and they all felt that global visibility only went to writers in English. This obviously has to change: African languages have to speak for the continent. I have never heard of awards for French literature that stipulate that such writers, to qualify as French writers for purposes of French literature awards and conference invitations, must written in Chinese or Zulu.

There is finally the reader. The reader is the most important component of the four partners. Without readers and buyers of African language books, there can never be such a literature. But then those books have to be there, in the first instance. In other words the five elements have to work together: Writers, visibility in the world for writers and books in African languages, will come automatically, from a solid base in Africa.

The choice open to the world should not be between mono-lingualism and hierarchy of languages; but between those two models and a network system among languages. Language relationships within and between nations should not be in terms of hierarchy but rather in terms of network, with transitions enabling the transmission of knowledge and ideas between languages, a theme we can explore tomorrow.

I hope this conference will debate and share experiences that will really create the African reader of African literary and intellectual productions, a reader who is an integral active member of the global intellectual productions, a reader who is an integral, active member of the global intellectual community. ‘Father, do not send me into the dark alone among strangers,’ says the persona in one of Sonia Sanchez’s poems. Parents have the responsibility to send their children out into the world equipped with the self-confidence that arises from a clear knowledge of one’s base. Let me put it this way. To know one’s language, whatever that language is, and add others to it, is empowerment. But to know all the other languages while ignorant of one’s own is slavery, I for one choose empowerment rather than slavery and I believe that this I what this conference is all about: Empowerment through reading.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

This speech was made as the keynote address at the 6th Pan African Reading for all Conference, hosted by the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 11 August 2009.

Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, and director of the International Centre for Writing and Translation, at the University of California Irvine.

Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Zimbabwe News Update: President Mugabe Says Government is Ready toEngage West

Zim ready to engage West

Herald Reporters

Zimbabwe is ready to engage those countries that have been hostile to it, President Mugabe said yesterday.

Officially opening the Second Session of the Seventh Parliament in Harare, President Mugabe said Zimbabwe would continue to engage the Western community with a view to normalising relations.

“Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and co-operative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past,” he said.

He, however, stressed that engagement must ultimately lead to the speedy removal of the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West for embarking on the revolutionary land reform programme.

“We will also continue to engage our international partners on a bilateral level through Joint Commissions of Co-operation and other treaties, in order to drum up support for our economic recovery programme.

“Following the launch of the Zimbabwe-European Union dialogue in Brussels early this year, our re-engagement with the European bloc is gathering momentum.

“However, as our inclusive Government re-engages the Western countries, we expect those countries that have imposed illegal sanctions which have hurt and continue to hurt our economy and the generality of the people to remove them.”

President Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to unite for economic turnaround, saying national development was a collective responsibility.

“If the realisation of the fruits of our economic turnaround effort may seem to take longer than expected, it is because the parameters for it have been more demanding in both form and content than expected.

“Together, let us build the bridges of amity, forgiveness, trust and togetherness.

“Let us be the Zimbabwe united in body, mind and spirit. Only that way can we really succeed,” the President said.

The new session, President Mugabe said, was historic in that it was the first since the formation of the inclusive Government by Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC.

He said in keeping with the Global Political Agreement, the crafting of a new constitution was on course.

To expedite the work, the three principals — President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy PM Mutambara — agreed to include the six negotiators to the GPA in the constitutional management committee.

The process of establishing the Zimbabwe Media Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission was progressing well and conclusion was imminent, he said.

“A Bill to regulate matters incidental to the establishment of a Human Rights Commission will be introduced in this august House during this session,” he said.

The Government was deeply concerned by the plight of civil servants.

“The preferred situation is one where the salaries and allowances of public servants are benchmarked against the Poverty Datum Line.

“This will be undertaken as soon as resources become available. I, therefore, appeal to public servants to remain patient as the necessary arrangements are being put in place.”

He said work had already started on a Medium-Term Plan to succeed the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme, as well as the Three-Year Macro-Economic Framework to cover the period 2010 to 2012.

“The two programmes which are succeeding STERP are expected to usher in the transition from the economic stabilisation mode to a growth and development one,” he said.

The session, he said, would debate the Public Finance Management Bill while the Audit Office Bill would be tabled to replace the Audit and Exchequer Act.

The Bill will provide for the establishment of an independent National Audit Office and an Audit Office Commission.

Amendments to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act to enhance the effectiveness of the central bank will also be tabled.

“With the summer cropping season now upon us, efforts are afoot to ensure utmost preparedness in terms of inputs and tillage service provision,” he said.

President Mugabe said the diamond industry continued to court the attention of investors.

“So far, two serious investors have been selected. The engagement of the investors will help bring progress to Chiadzwa, where measures to ensure the orderly relocation of the local families to pave way for full-scale commercial mining, are already underway,” he said.

The State was pursuing the rehabilitation of Hwange Power Station and the resuscitation of smaller stations to address power shorta- ges.

President Mugabe left for Geneva, Switzerland, last night to attend the International Telecommunications Union World Summit.

He was accompanied by the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Transport and Communications Minister Nicholas Goche and other senior Government officials.

VP nominations: Provinces disagree

Herald Reporter

Confusion surrounds the implementation of a directive by Zanu-PF’s Politburo that the three Matabeleland provinces nominate a person to fill the post of Vice President and Second Secretary which fell vacant following the death of fearless founding nationalist, Cde Joseph Msika.

The Politburo gave Matabeleland North and South, and Bulawayo 14 days within which to come up with their preferred nominee for State Vice President, but it seems the three provinces are disagreeing on how to proceed.

The deadline expires in seven days’ time on October 14.

In an interview yesterday, Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Cde Zenzo Ncube said he only learnt about the Politburo decision in the Press on Monday after Bulawayo Province nominated Zanu-PF national chairman Cde John Nkomo for the post.

“As a province, we were not informed and we only read about it in the newspaper.

“Our province is a rural one covering areas like Binga, Bubi, Nkayi, Hwange, up to Victoria Falls.

“We have to run around informing the people about it. I doubt if we will be able to beat the October 14 deadline. We want things to go procedurally,” Cde Ncube said.

Matabeleland South chairman Cde Andrew Langa said they were yet to meet as a province to agree on a nominee.

He indicated that no date for such a meeting had been set and declined to say which way the province was likely to go.

“As a person, I may support a position taken by Bulawayo Province, but we are yet to meet as a province,” he added.

Cde Langa said there were a number of people from the province who were interested in filling the post left vacant by Cde Msika’s death in August.

Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Isaac Dakamela appeared to indicate the decision on Cde Nkomo’s candidature was not unanimous, saying wider consultations with the other Matabeleland provinces should have been carried out first.

Cde Dakamela said Matabeleland should have a consensus on the choice of the next Vice President.

“We had not yet met other provinces, but Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu will meet Matabeleland North and South so that we have consensus.”

Sources yesterday said the Politburo’s intention was for the three provinces to come up with a single name that they all agreed on rather than for them to each forward their preferred candidates for consideration.

Yesterday, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa said it was now up to the concerned provinces to decide how they wanted to proceed.

A source from Matabeleland North told The Herald yesterday: “No one is clear on what exactly is happening and there is a danger that some people might manipulate the process for their own benefit and not for the good of the party or the nation.

“The provincial co-ordinating committees should sit down so that we avoid situations where a few people make announcements on behalf of the rest of the province,” he said.

He added that there was a danger that the region would forward three different names to the Politburo and this would not augur well for the party.

Zanu-PF’s Politburo, which is the highest decision-making body in the party outside of national congress, met last week and gave the Matabeleland provinces two weeks to come up with potential candidates.

On Sunday, Bulawayo Province endorsed Cde Nkomo at a meeting attended by Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Cde Absolom Sikhosana, Cde Angeline Masuku and Cde Joshua Malinga.

The province said it chose Cde Nkomo to take over the Vice Presidency because he had a national outlook as the former Zapu was not a party for the people of Matabeleland region alone.

Zanu-PF will convene its national congress in December this year to elect a leadership — including a new party vice president and second secretary — to steer it for the next five years.

Inclusivity marks Parly opening

Herald Reporters

THE inclusive Government was on show when Parliament opened yesterday.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T president sat on the Government side, while VP Mujuru sat chatting with Speaker of the House of Assembly Mr Lovemore Moyo, who is also MDC-T national chairman.

Outside Parliament, fist-pumping Zanu-PF supporters and palm-waving MDC supporters stood side-by-side to witness the historic opening of the Second Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe.

During lunch afterwards, President Mugabe lauded legislators from both MDC formations in a humorous off-the-cuff speech for graduating from being “dishonourable legislators” following the conclusion of the proceedings without incident.

Guests to the luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development were left in stitches when the President said last year’s behaviour by the legislators showed their immaturity.

“There was discipline in Parliament. Last year MPs were still raw, they are polished now, they are dignified and they can be called honourable. Last year they were dishonourable,” President Mugabe said to the laughter of the guests.

Last year, the opening of the First Session of Parliament was interrupted by rowdy MDC-T MPs who continuously interjected while President Mugabe was reading his speech.

The President, who always makes humorous remarks in his off-the-cuff speech, had earlier made fun of the speech he presented in the August House, saying he had been “forced” to read it.

“The one (speech) I made in Parliament was not my speech. I was forced to make the speech, but I don’t know how many ministers we have and thoughts they have on development. A bit of what they gave us found room in that speech. I was reading other people’s views, but now I have the opportunity to be myself,” he said.

While speaking on the inclusive Government, President Mugabe said those who were not part of the arrangement should not blame anyone because voters had excluded them.

“As I said, the inclusive Government is also exclusive. There are those who are complaining that they were left out, but there is no way we could have that abundant mercy, hameno ana Baba Mukonori nana Reverend Damasane. Politics haina yekuti those who have lost could be made winners. Ana Mavambo vakaruza, it’s the people who excluded them by virtue of not voting for them,” said President Mugabe.

Father Fidelis Mukonori and Reverend Damasane were the two clergymen who officiated at the luncheon.

Proceedings for the opening started at State House, where President Mugabe dressed in his ceremonial regalia and accompanied by the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, had a photo session.

The President later inspected a guard of honour mounted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police Mounted Unit.

The procession from State House to Parliament began with the President and First Lady travelling in a vintage Rolls-Royce, accompanied by the mounted police unit travelled along Josiah Tongogara Avenue, before turning into Sam Nujoma Street.

People lined up the streets to behold the spectacle, a tradition that has become Zimbabwe’s major event of the legislative year.

President Mugabe’s entourage arrived at Parliament Building with chants of “Gushungo, Gushungo,” reverberating from the excited crowd honouring one of Africa’s founding statesmen.

The Zimbabwe National Army Signals Band led the singing of the national anthem, which was accompanied by a flypast by Air Force of Zimbabwe K-8 jets in diamond formation and a 21-gun salute.

The Head of State and Government, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, later inspected a guard of honour mounted by the Presidential Guard made up of seven officers and 107 other ranks.

In the House of Assembly, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausku led High Court and Supreme Court judges into the chamber, followed by a procession of legislators led by the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

The House was full to capacity and most legislators could be seen standing after failing to secure seats.

In the House, proceedings started with the Clerk of Parliament, Mr Austin Zvoma, reading the proclamation by President Mugabe summoning Parliament to convene.

Business was temporarily suspended for 15 minutes before President Mugabe walked in, accompanied by service chiefs.

The national anthem was played before President Mugabe read his speech.

Women legislators from all the political divide ululated when President Mugabe said Parliament will ratify the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development, which seeks to promote and protect the rights of women.

After the President’s speech, the House of Assembly and Senate sat and a motion in support of the speech of the Head of State was moved in the two Houses.

In the House of Assembly, Goromonzi MP Cde Beata Nyamupinga while in Senate, Makoni Senator Stanley Sakupwanya both of them from Zanu-PF, moved a motion giving notice that a respectful address be given to the President on the address he had delivered giving a roadmap to the coming session.

Both Houses adjourned to October 20, 2009.

What change is MDC-T talking about?

Campion Mereki

EDITOR — Addressing belated anniversary rallies for his party, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai told his supporters that he was happy that people now realise that it is the MDC that can bring ‘‘real change’’.

What change was Tsvangirai talking about? Was he talking about the US$200million that was pledged during his trip to Europe and the US?

Is the ‘‘real change’’ he was talking about, about taking Zimbabwe to the Rhodesians on a platter is as being advocated by the likes of Eddie Cross, a very cross white man who has not made his disdain for independent Zimbabwe a secret?

That kind of change is not only dangerous but will not be stomached in a country that came through the barrel of the gun at a cost of over 50 000 precious lives.

All Zimbabweans should not forget what Paul said to the Corinthians that food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, all shall be destroyed on the day of the Lord. Why does the MDC-T leadership harp about food, and not the land from which the food comes?

We should open our eyes and see the reality of this regime change agenda to preserve our revolutionary legacy from the depredations of reactionaries.

Campion Mereki.
Harare.

Somalia News Update: Hizbul Islam Leader Declares Ceasefire in FightingWith Al Shabaab

Somalia: Hizbul Islam chief declares ‘ceasefire’ in Al Shabaab war

6 Oct 6, 2009 - 3:09:45 PM

MOGADISHU, Somalia Oct 6 (Garowe Online) - The leader of a rebel faction fighting against Somalia’s UN-recognized interim government has called on another rebel faction to stop fighting, Radio Garowe reports.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of Hizbul Islam faction, told the BBC Somali Service during a Tuesday interview that Al Shabaab fighters should “stop the bullets.”

“Al Shabaab should stop fighting and solve differences using the Islamic book,” Sheikh Aweys said, while referring to the Noble Qur’an, Islam’s holy book.

Fighting between Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab erupted last week over control of the key southern port of Kismayo, where Al Shabaab rulers established an administration independent of Hizbul Islam.

Both Islamist factions have been fighting jointly since May to topple the Somali interim government in the capital, Mogadishu.

“I believe that this war has no benefit…since the fighting is between Islamists who are expected to be united against the enemy,” Hizbul Islam’s leader added.

Sheikh Aweys dismissed comments attributed to Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali “Dheere” Mohamud who claimed that the fighting in Kismayo is not between Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, but that Al Shabaab was fighting against Sheikh Ahmed “Madobe” Mohamed.

“The fighting is between the two groups [Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab] and we were attacked and we request that the bullets be stopped,” Sheikh Aweys said.

Hizbul Islam’s chief defended Sheikh Ahmed Madobe as a “well-known Mujahid who is a member of Hizbul Islam.” He suggested that humans can make mistakes, but “that is not enough for war.”

Sheikh Aweys confirmed a Saturday night meeting with Al Shabaab’s senior leaders, but said “no agreement” was reached and pledged to inform the media.

Asked why he spoke out now, Sheikh Aweys said he spoke because the fighting continues between Hizbul Islam and Al Shabaab factions in parts of Lower Jubba region, where Kismayo is located.

Further, Sheikh Aweys said Kismayo should be jointly administered by both groups, as was agreed in Aug. 2008 when the port town was seized from a clan warlord. He said that the recent battles in Kismayo “will not divide the Mujahideen brothers.”

On Tuesday, brief skirmishes erupted between Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam around Janay Abdalla village, with Hizbul Islam fighters reportedly retreating from the village.

Source: Garowe Online

Somalia: Hizbul Islam claims to capture ‘foreign fighters’

6 Oct 6, 2009 - 4:04:04 PM

MOGADISHU, Somalia Oct 6 (Garowe Online) - A spokesman for Somali rebel faction Hizbul Islam has said that they captured ‘foreign fighters’ during battles against Al Shabaab, although Hizbul Islam fighters withdrew from a key military position, Radio Garowe reports.

Sheikh Ismail Haji Addow, spokesman for Hizbul Islam, told reporters in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday that Hizbul Islam “controls all fighting areas.”

“Our fighters suffered casualties including deaths, but there are more casualties on the side of Al Shabaab,” Sheikh Addow said, who declared victory.

He claimed that Hizbul Islam fighters captured “foreign fighters” from unnamed countries, who were fighting alongside Al Shabaab, an insurgent group listed as a terror organization by the U.S. and Australian governments.

Fighting was reported overnight Monday and into midday Tuesday, with independent sources confirming that Hizbul Islam fighters were pushed out of Janay Abdalla village in the outskirts of Kismayo

Hizbul Islam fighters withdrew to an area about 10km from Janay Abdalla, and although Al Shabaab rebels seized Janay Abdalla, they reportedly did not advance further.

The small village has been the scene of intense fighting for the past three days, with Hizbul Islam maintaining control of Janay Abdalla until Tuesday’s battle.

There were no reliable casualty reports, but various sources tell Garowe Online that casualties were small on both sides.

Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam are two Somali rebel groups who have been jointly fighting to topple the Horn of Africa country’s UN-recognized interim government since May.

The two rebel factions began fighting each other last Thursday over control of the key southern port of Kismayo, after Al Shabaab declared a new administration for Kismayo by excluding Hizbul Islam.

Despite Tuesday’s fighting, Hizbul Islam chief Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has called for a ceasefire between the two rebel groups.

Somali elders say they solved tensions in southern Somalia

Posted: 10/6/2009 1:08:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA

TIYEGLO (Sh. M. Network) – the traditional elders in Tiyeglo village in Bakol region have said on Tuesday that they solved tensions between the Islamist forces of Harkat Al-shabab Mujahideen and Hizbil Islam there in southern Somalia.

The elders from Bakol region said that they had achieved completely calming the tensions of both Islamist fighters of Hizbul Islam and Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen in the recent days after mediating them in over the past 24 hours.

Malak Gududow Hassan, one of the traditional elders in Bakol region whom Shabelle had contacted through the telephone said that the situation of the village was calm that time adding that both rival sides agreed to end their conflicts and reach solution.

He said both sides agreed the Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen to manage the village while the other was said to stay there as forces adding that they also returned weapons each other which they took forcibly during the tensions.

There is no comment from the higher officials of both the Islamic administrations who talked about the deal which the two sides reached in Tiyeglo village in Bakol region in southern Somalia.

For more send your comments to radioshabelle@ymail.com

‘Our fighters are still in out of Kismayu town’: official

Posted: 10/7/2009 12:23:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA

MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) – the Islamist organization officials of Hizbul Islam have Wednesday said that their fighters are still in out of the port town of Kismayu, just after Islamists in Jubba regions said they took over whole areas in southern Somalia.

Officials from both the warring sides claimed victory over the fighting which continued west of the town in over the past few days as each one says has the upper hand of the clashes and control of the areas where both sides fought.

Sheik Mohamed Mo’allin, the secretary of the information for the Hizbul Islam organization told Shabelle radio that their fighters were yet in the war zones they clashed with the Islamist forces of Jubba regions asserting that Sheik Ahmed Madobe is an official member of the Hizbul Islam.

It was yesterday when the spokesman of the Islamic administrations of Jubba regions Sheik Hassan Ya’qub Ali said that they took over the control of Birta-der and Janay-Abdalla in the west of Kismayu town where the fighting continued last days.

He said that their fighters were fighting against with other forces loyal to Sheik Ahmed Mohamed Islam known as (Madobe).

The recent fighting which continued out of the ports town of Kismayu in Lower Jubba region caused more casualties of deaths, injuries, displacement and loss of property and the latest reports from the region indicate that the situation of the war zones is calm right now.

For more send your comments to radioshabelle@ymail.com

Hizbul Islam claims victory over fighting out of Kismayu town

Posted: 10/6/2009 12:02:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA

KISMAYU (Sh. M. Network) – The Islamist organization of Hizbul Islam has claimed victory over the fighting in out of Kismayu town, just after heavy fighting between the Islamist fighters continued overnight there, officials told Shabelle radio on Tuesday.

Sheik Adow also said that the clash between the two sides broke out as the bases of their fighters in out of the town were attacked pointing out that both forces exchanged heavy weapons for a while adding that they inflicted more casualties, deaths and injuries to the side against them.

The official said three fighters were killed and others were injured from their side during the fighting which bitterly continued there yesterday until overnight.

There is no comment about yesterday’s fighting which started at Birta-Der village in the west of the town from the representatives of the Islamic administration of Jubba regions based in Kismayu town.

Residents said that there were civilians who were wounded there as the fighting continued saying that they were rushed to the main hospital of Kismayu town in the regional capital of Lower Jubba region.

The statement of the Hizbul Islam organization claiming victory in the fighting in Kismayu town comes as the spokesman of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen held a press conference in Mogadishu recently and said that the fighting in and around the port town of Kismayu was not between both Islamist fighters of Hizbul Islam and Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen.

For more send your comments to radioshabelle@ymail.com

Uganda releases detained Somali minister

Posted: 10/7/2009 1:55:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA

KAMPALA (Sh. M. Network) - Ugandan authorities released Somalia’s junior defence minister Youssuf Mohamed Siad after he was arrested by mistake overnight in the capital Kampala, the army spokesman said.

Siad had entered Uganda by road from neighbouring Kenya, raising suspicions of security officials in the East African country, currently hosting a regional security meeting and about to celebrate its independence day.

“He was released this morning. He was held comfortably through the night,” Felix Kulayigye told AFP. “Once we realised who he was, he was not treated as a prisoner.”

Authoirites launched investigations upon receiving information on Siad’s entry into the country, Kulayigye said.

“We followed him up. After the arrest was made he was identified as a minister,” he explained. “Certainly he should have come by air. He should have notified us and travelled as a visiting foreign official.”

A powerful Mogadishu warlord and former member of Islamic Courts Union which ruled the country in 2006, Siad is now a key member of Somalia’s internationally-backed transition government that is battling Islamic insurgents.

Asked whether he would be staying in the country or returning home, Kulaigye said: “I don’t know what his plans are, but he is now a free man.”

SOURCE: AFP

INTERVIEW-Somalia cannot defeat insurgents alone-minister

Posted: 10/5/2009 11:31:00 AM
Shabelle: SOMALIA

NAIROBI - Somalia’s government will not be able to defeat al Qaeda-linked militants jeopardizing peace because the Horn of Africa nation’s forces are too weak and African peacekeepers have a defensive mandate, a minister said.

“Somalis alone are not capable of confronting these groups. We need international assistance to strengthen our security forces to prepare them to do most of the job,” Interior Minister Abdulkadir Ali Omar told Reuters in an interview.

Omar was deputy chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that briefly ran Mogadishu in 2006. His moderate Islamist militia has now been integrated with government security forces.

Fighting since the start of 2007 has killed some 19,000 civilians, uprooted 1.5 million from their homes and confined the government to a few blocks of the capital, with an African Union force (AMISOM) protecting key sites.

AMISOM has been targeted by insurgents with suicide attacks, but quibbles over its mandate have prevented the 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi going on any major offensive.

“Amendments of AMISOM rules of engagement are important, so that they can play more active role in the country,” said Omar.

He appealed to international donors to fulfil commitments of financial support so the government could defeat the rebels and tackle the humanitarian disaster in the country.

“We would like to see more practical support from the international community and that aid has to be more than words.”

SOURCES: REUTERS

Guinea Opposition Forces to Shun Talks With Military Leaders

Wednesday, October 07, 2009
22:42 Mecca time, 19:42 GMT

Opposition to shun Guinea talks

Guinea’s main opposition coalition has said it will not participate in talks aimed at ending a political crisis in the West African country unless the country’s military leader resigns.

Ba Oury, a leading opposition official, said on Wednesday that talks would go forward only once Moussa Dadis Camara leaves office.

The opposition is also calling for the arrest of soldiers who fired at 50,000 pro-democracy protesters last week.

A human rights group says 157 people were killed in the incident. The government put the toll at 57.

Conditions set

The parties, grouped under Les Forces Vives de la Nation, made the demand in an emailed statement in the capital, Conakry.

“We will only sit on the same negotiating table with the junta when these demands are met,” Oury said.

Ecowas, a regional bloc of African states, appointed Blaise Compaore, the president of Burkina Faso, to mediate between the government and opposition groups after last week’s violence.

He met both sides on Monday.

Abdul Gadr Diallo, an analyst from the Guinea Forum think-tank, told The Associated Press that the opposition group’s conditions “will make the task of President Compaore even more difficult”.

Camara ‘responsible?’

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, accused Camara of possibly ordering the shooting of pro-democracy protesters.

On Wednesday, Kouchner said Camara was “strongly suspected … to have participated in the decision” to launch the crackdown in Conakry.

Kouchner’s latest comments on Camara’s government came after he was asked about the crackdown by the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

“The least we can say is that we strongly suspect the interim president to have … taken part in the decision,” he said.
————————————————————————————–
Factbox: Guinea

Capital: Conakry
Population: 9.2 million (2006)
Languages: French and local dialects
Religions: Muslim (90 per cent), Christian and other local beliefs
Geography: Shares borders with Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast
—————————————————————————————
An aide to Camara accused Kouchner of carrying out a “political and media lynching” of the Guinea government and appealed to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to rein him in.

“We are asking the highest political authority to ask Bernard Kouchner to show restraint. It’s very, very important,” Idrissa Sherif, an adviser to Camara, said in an interview with France 24.

Camara, who seized power in a military coup last year, insists he was not responsible for his troops’ actions.

“Was Captain Dadis responsible or not for this savage intervention by the Guinean army in the stadium where the opposition was protesting?” Kouchner asked.

“It’s hard to say, because obviously he and everyone else denies it.”

“Nevertheless, it was red berets, the forces that surround the leader of the coup d’etat,” he said, noting that Camara “still lives in the military camp and not in the presidential palace”.

Kouchner said many of the soldiers responsible were “Foresters” - residents of the Guinee Forestiere region of south-eastern Guinea - and that he had heard they were “recently reinforced by Liberian troops, former mercenaries”.

Liberia is investigating the allegation.

‘Criminality’

The French foreign minister’s comments came amid a wave of international condemnation following the crackdown.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, condemned Guinea’s government on Tuesday and called for Camara to give up power and apologise to Guineans.

She said the US would take “appropriate actions” against Guinea’s government.

“It was criminality of the greatest degree and those who committed those acts should not be given any reason to expect that they will escape justice,” she said.

Camara initially said he would not run in elections scheduled for January, but recently indicated that he may have changed his mind. After the deadly protest, he banned all gatherings and demonstrations.

Source: Agencies

Food enters Gaza through crossings while fuel pipeline remains shut down - UN

Food and animal feed have entered Gaza from Israel in recent days, but the Nahal Oz fuel pipeline remains closed, the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) has reported.

Madagascar: Ban urges leaders to build on momentum for unity government

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Madagascar’s leaders to quickly conclude talks on a transitional government following progress made under United Nations-backed mediation in the crisis that led to the President’s ouster earlier this year.

450 Former Militants in Nigeria Express Anger Over Non-Payment ofAllowances

450 ex-militants on rampage over allowances

Oct 7, 2009
By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—OVER 450 ex-militants in Edo State went on rampage yesterday in Benin City over what they described as the Federal Government’s alleged refusal to absorb and rehabilitate them and pay their allowances.

The militants, who sang Ijaw war songs, blocked the exit gates of Government House and vowed to disrupt activities in the area unless Governor Adams Oshiomhole came out to address their problems.

But the governor, who was at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting when the militants stormed his office, rushed out of the meeting to address the ex-militants to calm frayed nerves.

The protest, which commenced at Ugbowo area, crippled economic activities in the entire Benin City, as banks and shops locked up, fearing that the fierce-looking protesters would attack them.

The protest was, however, peaceful and well organized as the ex-militants trekked from Ugbowo, where their camp is located, to Government House.

Over one thousand combat-ready armed mobile policemen followed the ex-militants, but the ex-militants vowed to disarm the policemen if they tried to disrupt the peaceful protest.

They complained that the leader of the militants in the state, Egbema 1, informed President Umaru Yar’Adua when he visited the president that the state had seven militant camps with 450 freedom fighters in them and that the president agreed that all of them would be rehabilitated.

They wondered why the amnesty coordinator now insisted that only 250 of them would be rehabilitated, contrary to the earlier agreement their leader had with President Yar’Adua.

One of the leader of the Niger Delta Freedom Fighters (NDFF), Olodiama chapter, Robert Okubor, told newsmen that “we decided to protest because we want to come and report our grievances to the governor.

“When the president was making the broadcast, he did not mention any number that will be rehabilitated, he said all freedom fighters. When Egbema 1 went to Abuja, he told the president we have 450 freedom fighters in Edo State.

“But the coordinator told us that the federal government said it is only 250 they are going to rehabilitate, but what happens to the remaining 200. If these 200 are allowed to go back to the creeks, it means the amnesty has failed and we do not want it to fail.

“That is why we said that we will not accept the 250, all of us must be rehabilitated or else they should forget it. We do not want to cause trouble any more. Every body here has been trained on how to handle guns, so if you allow them go back to the creeks it will be bloodier for the entire state.”

Jackson Ikunbor, who represented Egbema 1, said “as far are these boys are brought from the creeks, they should be rehabilitated. If you say you are not absorbing every body, do you know what the remaining 200 are going to do?

“They will go back to the creeks and recruit more people. If this amnesty must succeed, it must be handled holistically. We have decided we do not want to handle arms again, but people should not force us into it.

“We have not even eaten since yesterday because they have not paid our allowance. We are just confused now”.

However, Governor Oshiomhole, who rushed out of the Exco meeting to address the protesters, said he was already aware of their problems.

He said: “ I have contacted the Minister of Defense and we have resolved that all the 450 will be rehabilitated. But I want to appeal to you to assist the state government to develop the state because no contractor will agree to come to your area if they are not safe.

“We will build schools, rehabilitate the health centers and build roads where necessary. But I want to also appeal that you help us stop this problem of kidnapping in the state. Help us fish out the perpetrators because some times they hide in the communities.

“We will accommodate some of you in board appointments so that we all can help to develop our state.”

UN envoy calls on Cypriots to focus on unification issues

The senior United Nations official charged with steering negotiations between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders in their talks on unification of the Mediterranean island today urged the people of Cyprus to concentrate on the issues at hand in the ongoing discussions.