President Dos Santos Speaks on Poverty in Angola at the MPLA PartyCongress

Poverty worries Dos Santos

AFP–LUANDA. ANGOLAN President Jose Eduardo dos Santos acknowledged during a rare public appearance yesterday that despite his country’s oil wealth, the majority of Angolans were “very poor”.

Dos Santos, dressed in a red party T-shirt, was speaking at the opening of the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola party congress, only the second since the end of a 27-year civil war in 2002.

“In every 100 Angolans, close to 60 are very poor. They don’t manage to eat normally every day, they don’t know how to read or write and they don’t have easy access to drinking water,” he said.

The veteran leader, who has ruled Angola for more than three decades, urged his party and business leaders to help improve the standard of living for those living in poverty.

“The efforts of the party and all society and a large part of the country’s resources should be aimed at the elimination of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and unemployment,” he told an audience of 2 000 party delegates.

Dos Santos also referred to the importance of businesses making money “not just for squandering” but also to create investment.

The president’s comments, echoed a speech last month when he called for “zero tolerance” on corruption.

Despite Angola’s enormous oil and diamond wealth, it has some of the world’s worst social indicators with one in six children dying before the age of five and less than half the population with access to sanitation.

But while the World Bank estimates two-thirds of the population remain in extreme poverty, a small elite, among them members of the president’s family, is making billions of dollars every year from oil and other investments.

The MPLA’s congress runs until Thursday. It will re-elect members of the central committee and is expected to formally name Dos Santos as the party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential election, although no date has been set as the constitution is being revised.

The congress is a major event on the calendar of the party which claims to have over four million active members.

In the 2008 parliamentary elections, it won 81 percent of the vote. — AFP.

Evo Morales Wins Bolivian Presidential Election

Morales wins Bolivian presidential election

Xinhua

LA PAZ (Bolivia). EVO MORALES from the ruling Movement for Socialism won the presidential election in Bolivia on Sunday, as exit poll showed.

According to the exit polls by three local TV channels, 50-year-old Morales, who became Bolivia’s first indigenous president in January 2006, garnered 62-65 percent of the vote.

His closest rivals Manfred Reyes Villa of the Bolivian Progress Plan and Samuel Doria of the National Unity party got 23-25 percent and 9 percent of the vote respectively.

It was the first presidential election since the new constitution was approved in a referendum in January 2009, which scrapped a previous one-term limit for presidents and allowed current president to stand once more for re-election.

In the legislative part of the general elections, Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism party won 59 percent of the ballots, giving it domination in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the National Congress, polls suggested.

Meanwhile, the PPB got 24 percent and the UN 11,16 percent. With a Congress dominated by his party, Morales will be able to pursue socialist reforms as well as to enforce the new constitution.

The official results of the elections are expected to be announced later after the ballot counting is completed in 48 hours. The missions of observers from the Organisation of American States and the European Union praised on Sunday the high voter turnout in the general elections and their transparency.

More than 5,1 million Bolivians were registered to vote on Sunday in the elections for a new president, a vice president, 130 deputies and 36 senators.

For the first time, some 180 000 Bolivians living in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the United States voted abroad. — Xinhua.

ZANU-PF Politburo Endorses Presidium for Zimbabwe

Politburo endorses Presidium

By Sydney Kawadza
Zimbabwe Herald

ZANU-PF’S Politburo yesterday endorsed the Presidium nominated by the party’s 10 provinces ahead of the fifth National People’s Congress that starts in Harare tomorrow.

The party’s supreme decision-making body outside congress also endorsed the election of Cde Amos Midzi as Harare provincial chairman, in addition to the Central Committee nominations made by the provinces.

In an interview after the Politburo meeting at Zanu-PF headquarters last night, party deputy secretary for information and publicity Cde Ephraim Masawi said the nominations would have to be confirmed at the congress.

“We deliberated on the nomination of the Presidium and endorsed the nomination of President Mugabe as the party’s President and First Secretary and Vice President Joice Mujuru as the second secretary.

“The Politburo also endorsed the nomination of Vice President-designate Cde John Nkomo and national chairman-designate Cde Simon Khaya Moyo,” he said.

Cde Nkomo has been nominated to fill the void left by the death, in August, of fearless founding nationalist Cde Joseph Msika.

The Politburo had tasked the Matabeleland provinces to recommend a cadre to take over the post.

The region subsequently settled on current party chairman Cde Nkomo, a decision that was unanimously endorsed by provinces countrywide.

The provinces also nominated Cde Khaya Moyo as national chairman to take over from Cde Nkomo.

Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Masvingo provinces had nominated other candidates for the national chairmanship.

Manicaland opted for secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa.

Mashonaland Central had initially done the same but later settled for Cde Khaya Moyo.

Masvingo province first went for Politburo member Cde Kembo Mohadi, but the Home Affairs Co-Minister advised the province to withdraw the nomination and instead throw their weight behind Cde Khaya Moyo.

Masvingo duly backed Cde Khaya Moyo, who is presently Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa.

Cde Masawi said the Politburo endorsed Cde Midzi’s re-election as Harare provincial chairman after he beat Cde Hubert Nyanhongo in recent polls.

“The meeting discussed the developments in Harare and endorsed the leadership elected in November but strongly urged the party to work hard in uniting the people of Harare,” he said.

Cde Masawi said measures would be taken to ensure the feuding Harare factions were brought together.

“There are people that have been tasked to start work on uniting the province as we want to regain the seats that we have lost in Harare,” he said.

Controversy shrouded the restructuring exercise in Harare amid clashes between party supporters rooting for Cde Midzi and others who were backing Cde Nyanhongo, Zanu-PF’s sole legislator in Harare.

The Politburo meeting also discussed lists of Central Committee members as nominated by the provinces.

“We discussed the lists submitted and endorsed the nominees. What is only left is for the People’s Congress to confirm the endorsed candidates.”

The fifth National People’s Conference begins tomorrow with a Politburo meeting that will be followed by a Central Committee meeting on Thursday.

President Mugabe will officially open the congress on Friday.

Accreditation of party delegates and journalists is scheduled to begin today.

Security Council calls for credible Ivorian polls at the earliest

The Security Council today called for the holding of credible presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire at the earliest date possible, after the much-delayed polls were recently postponed again.

Ban looks to UN budget committee to support plan to boost security

The United Nations faces unprecedented security challenges in many regions of the world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly’s budget committee today, as he sought support for almost $300 million in new funding to make the Organization and its staff safer.

Global minerals, arms smuggling networks fuel DR Congo conflict - UN report

Minerals and arms smuggling worth millions of dollars persists in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despite international sanctions, fuelling rebel strength despite national army operations, and army and rebel soldiers continue to kill civilians, according to a new United Nations report that calls on the Security Council to take action to plug the gaps.

Ban urges Sudanese President to help secure release of abducted staff

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to become directly involved in securing the release of two staff members of the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur who have been held hostage now for over 100 days, stressing that the situation is critical given that one of them is gravely ill.

UN humanitarian arm launches $378 million appeal for Zimbabwe

International aid agencies and the Government of Zimbabwe today appealed for $378 million to support humanitarian and early recovery efforts in the Southern African country over the next year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced today.

Agreement on Iraqi election law means polls can go ahead in February - UN

The United Nations today pledged to give Iraq support and technical assistance for holding delayed national elections following parliamentary approval of a revised electoral law, noting that the poll could now be held as early as the end of February.

Ban urges Sudanese President to intervene to secure release of abducted staff

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to become directly involved in securing the release of two staff members of the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur who have been held hostage now for 100 days, stressing that the situation is critical given that one of them is gravely ill.