UN aid chief arrives in Yemen to call for support for 150,000 displaced persons

The top United Nations humanitarian official arrived in Yemen today in a bid to garner support for some 150,000 people driven from their homes by an armed conflict between Government forces and a rebel militia that first erupted in 2004.

UN refugee agency enters Facebook contest to win funds for displaced Somalis

The United Nations refugee agency is harnessing the ever expanding world of cyberspace to raise funds, entering a challenge on a Facebook platform that could net $50,000 to help forcibly displaced Somalis.

Côte d’Ivoire: UN legal team assesses prisons and judiciary

United Nations legal experts are on a 10-day visit to Côte d’Ivoire to study the West African country’s implementation of national laws and its prison administration as well as the judiciary’s interaction with other sectors of society.

Experienced UN official selected to lead efforts to resolve Western Sahara dispute

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today that he intends to appoint a highly experienced United Nations official as the head of the Organization’s efforts to resolve the long-running dispute over the status of Western Sahara.

UN official seeks to defuse tension at holy site in Jerusalem

A senior United Nations official today visited Jerusalem’s Harem Al Sharif/Temple Mount compound, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, in a bid to defuse tensions, calling for an immediate end to all provocations following recent clashes in the city.

Africom Head Defends US Military Excercise in Gabon

Africom head defends military exercise in Gabon

Tue Sep 29, 8:43 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The head of the US Africa command defended holding a joint military exercise in Gabon, which has been rocked by protests in the wake of a disputed election in early September.

General William Ward denied that it was inappropriate for the US military to hold the Africa Endeavour exercise in the West African nation, where riots broke out after an election to replace late president Omar Bongo.

“Those African nations who participate determine where various pieces of it will be hosted,” Ward said of the exercise, which brings together military personnel from more than 25 nations.

Violence broke out in Gabon on September 3, when Ali Bongo was named the winner of an election to succeed his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who ruled the country for 41 years before his death in June.

Opposition leaders say up to 22 people have been killed in demonstrations and opposition presidential candidate Andre Mba Obame has alleged “massive fraud” in the August 30 vote, and told AFP he fears assassination.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, Ward dismissed claims that training provided by the Africa Endeavour mission could be misused by soldiers in Gabon, who earlier this week detained the editor of a newspaper over reports on post-electoral violence.

“What’s going on there is a exercise where nations… want to be more capable in conducting peacekeeping and other operations,” Ward said.

“Our methodology is a methodology that says we want to help them to be more professional,” he added.

“Where our policy indicates that we have a relationship, then we work to help that nation become more professional to cause the things that we do to be an example of how militaries act as protectors of their people and not as oppressors.”

The command that Ward heads has faced controversy since it was established in 2007, with governments from various African countries fearing it was the beginning of increased US military presence in the continent.

Ward noted that the command continues to be headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany and insisted “there are no plans to move any of that to the continent of Africa.”

Describing Africom as “a listening organization,” Ward said his goal was to improve African security capacity.

“We see a professional African security sector as a vital element towards helping to prevent conflict,” he said. “What we’re about is increased stability in Africa.”

DR Congo: UN restarts stalled reintegration of ethnic fighters

A United Nations assessment team has succeeded in restarting the disarmament and integration of some ethnic fighters into the national army in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after they rejected the process or set preconditions.

Mystery Over Missing Iran Scientist

Thursday, October 08, 2009
18:45 Mecca time, 15:45 GMT

Mystery over missing Iran scientist

Mottaki has accused the US of involvement in Amiri’s disappearance

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of an Iranian scientist, said to be involved in Tehran’s nuclear programme, has deepened with speculation that he may have defected to the US.

Washington has denied any involvement, with reports on Thursday quoting Ian Kelly, the US state department spokesman, as saying the US had no information on Shahram Amiri.

“We saw that wire story, and we looked into it. We just basically don’t have any information on this individual,” he said.

Amiri, who is said to be a researcher at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, disappeared after he went on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June.

His family in Tehran said he was closely questioned by Saudi police at the airport and later called his wife from Medina, in Saudi Arabia, before apparently vanishing.

In a sign of the sensitivities surrounding Amiri, Iranian officials have not publicly identified him as a nuclear scientist, referring to him only as an Iranian citizen.

‘US interference’

Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, on Wednesday accused the US of involvement in Amiri’s disappearance.

“We have found documents that prove US interference in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia,” he told reporters, according to the website of state Press TV.

The report did not give details, but quoted Mottaki as saying Iran held Saudi Arabia responsible for failing to protect Amiri.

Iran’s ISNA news agency referred to “some rumours” that Amiri was an employee of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation and wanted to seek asylum abroad.

Possible defection

Meir Javedanfar, an Iran analyst based in Tel Aviv, said the most likely scenario was that Amiri had defected.

“It’s very difficult to say whether he defected voluntarily or whether he was kidnapped, but if you go back and look at the precedents, it is possible he is what some people call a ‘walk-in’,” he told Al Jazeera.

“If he went to Saudi Arabia of his own initiative and he disappeared like that, I think - based on what happened to General Reza Asgari - we can’t rule out that he perhaps walked in himself with the information in order to give himself up and work with the Americans.”

Ali Reza Asgari, a former deputy defence minister, disappeared in Turkey in 2007.

Turkish, Arabic and Israeli media suggested he defected to the West, but his family has dismissed that.

Saudi plans

Javedanfar also said Amiri’s disappearance in Saudi Arabia would be of particular concern to Tehran.

“There is concern about Saudi Arabia because the Saudi government has been trying to reduce Iran’s hand in the region,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They scored a victory in the Lebanese elections where Hezbollah [which is backed by Iran] lost, and now we see the Saudi king in Damascus. The Iranian press see that as an effort by Riyadh to reduce Iran’s hand.

“If you put all these together, I think the Iranian government is particularly worried that this happened on Saudi soil.”

Nuclear row

Iran is involved in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear energy programme, with the US and its allies saying Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran denies the charge.

Malek Ashtar University, where Amiri reportedly worked, is involved in the implementation of “special national research projects” and has faculties in aerospace, electrical engineering and other topics, according to the university’s website.

Amiri disappeared more than three months before the disclosure of a second uranium enrichment facility that Iran has been building near the city of Qom.

The underground plant was kept secret until Iran disclosed its existence last month.

Diplomats say it did so only after learning that Western intelligence agencies had discovered the site.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

African National Congress General Secretary Says It May Take Decades toReverse the Apartheid Legacy in the Field of Education

Mantashe: Education struggles with apartheid legacy

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Oct 08 2009 11:52

The country’s education system will take “decades” to shake off apartheid’s legacy, African National Congress (ANC) general secretary Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.

“Denying blacks access to education was the policy of the apartheid government. This will take decades to correct,” Mantashe told the Black Management Forum’s annual conference in Midrand.

In 1953 apartheid’s architect, prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, said it was no use teaching “the Bantu” mathematics when they could not use it in practice.

“So now it’s 2009 and they expect us to have enough maths and science teachers. This is an exaggerated expectation,” Mantashe said.

South Africa’s schools also had problems for which history could not be blamed, he said. A problem for the present education system was the time both teachers and pupils spent in class.

“At former Model C schools teachers work for seven to eight hours, but in the townships they teach only for three-and-a-half hours. In this case we cannot blame disparities on history.”

A recent survey also found paperwork was consuming too many hours for teachers.

Mantashe said there were currently 800 000 students at universities, but only 400 000 in Further Education and Training institutions.

It was common knowledge that for every engineering university graduate, the economy needed eight technicians.

“We must correct this distortion.”

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga told the conference the curriculum was the main challenge.

“We will definitely implement reform in 2010. We’ll eat humble pie and there will be changes in the curriculum and at the end of this month we’ll issue instructions that have to be implemented next year.

“Outcomes based education is very noble, but what has happened is that our education system has been compromised ‘big time’,” she said.

It was all very well to have teachers in class, “but what they teach must be teachable”.

Like Mantashe she cited teacher absenteeism as one of the problems facing education. — Sapa

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-08-mantashe-education-struggles-with-apartheid-legacy

Twisty tale of the leaked email passwords

Tens of thousands of email account passwords appeared online at the start of the week, with the story developing ever since