UN-African Union envoy leads call for all Darfur militia to join peace process

A gathering of high-level international officials to Sudan, led by the head of the joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping operation in the country's war-torn Darfur region, today urged all armed groups involved in the conflict to join the peace process initiated earlier this week by Khartoum and a major rebel militia.

UN Chief monitoring aftermath of massive earthquake in Chile

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said he is keeping a close eye on the situation in the Pacific Ocean after a huge earthquake rocked Chile this morning, threatening to send tsunamis crashing through the region.

Nigerian News Update: Why Yar’Adua Changed Gear on Jonathan

Why Yar’Adua Changed Gear on Jonathan

Meeting with Turai takes place

Governors, PDP condemn troops deployment

From Chuks Okocha and George Orji in Abuja, 02.27.2010

Fresh facts have emerged as to why President Umaru Yar’Adua conceded the acting presidency to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, which led to the clarification provided Thursday by the presidential spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi that Jonathan remains the acting president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

THISDAY learnt that following Adeniyi’s pronouncement on Wednesday in which he said the “president has directed the vice president should continue to run the affairs of the state” while he (Yar’Adua) is recuperating, the statement was said to have stirred the hornet’s nest and created uncertainty as to who was steering the ship of state.

This prompted the governors’ caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, and the leadership of the party to move swiftly to douse the tension the statement from the presidency had created.

It was gathered that the governors of Bauchi State; Isa Yuguda, Kwara, Bukola Saraki; Kebbi, Ibrahim Dakingari; Katsina, Ibrahim Shema; and Gombe, Danjuma Goje, moved swiftly with the leadership of the PDP and Hon. Bankole to meet with the president’s aides to explain the implication of the divisive statement and get them to reverse it promptly.

During the meeting which also had the president’s wife, Turai Yar’Adua in attendance, the governors and members of the party ironed out issues and counselled the president’s aides to issue a clarification so as not to exacebate the already tense atmosphere in the country.

The governors and PDP leadership further told the president’s wife and his men that failure to reverse the statement will compel the party to issue a counter statement contradicting the president.

Sources in the presidency explained that for the governors it was important to have the issue sorted out immediately because prior to the arrival of the president, there was an agreement reached with Yar’Adua, on the one hand, and the PDP governors’ caucus and the National Working Committee of the party, on the other, that the acting president would continue to act, while the president comes back home to recuperate fully from his illness.

“But following the infl-ammatory statement, the PDP governor and party leadership were said to have been alarmed, and met with Turai and the president’s aides, and advised that a correction be made,” said one official.

According to the official: “The meeting was meant to douse tension and correct the wrong impression that had been created by the statement.

“It was imperative because the impression had been created that there was a rift in the presidency which was not the case, as both Yar’Adua and Goodluck had been elected on the same ticket.

“So the governors of Bauchi, Kwara, Kebbi, Gombe, Katsina and the Speaker of the House of Representatives met on Wednesday night with the wife of the president, Turai and others to iron out issues.

During the meeting with Turai and the president’s men, another issue that was brought to the fore was the deployment of troops into the streets of Abuja in the wee hours of Wednesday morning without the consent of the acting president.

Sources allege that it may have been the Aide-de-Camp to the President, Colonel Mustapha Onoyiveta who directed the Brigade of Guards to move troops without recourse to his superiors in the army and the Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The PDP leadership and the governors were said to be very concerned by the development and impressed it on the president’s handlers that by that singular action, the entire democratic institution could have been undermined because of the illegal order.

They demanded that the close aide(s) of the president that gave the order be reprimanded, insisting that “it was unconstitutional and illegal to move out troops without the prior knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief, who is presently Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”

They called for an investigation into how the troops were moved without the necessary official permission.

It was gathered that the governors also privately prevailed on Turai to set up a meeting between the president and the acting president as soon as possible.

As at the time of this report, Jonathan and Yar’Adua were yet to have a one and one meeting.

However, the acting president was said to have met with Turai Yar’Adua Thursday night to welcome the First Family back and pay condolences to her as a result of her ailing husband.

Turai was said to have thanked the acting president and informed him that the president was upstairs resting from his trip but will be accessible once he is able to receive visitors.

Prior to the Thursday night meeting, officials conversant with the meeting disclosed that only Hajia Turai, the Chief Security Officer to the President, Yusuf Tilde, and his ADC have access to the president.

In a related development, as a sign that Jonathan is asserting his authority, he briefed presidency staff yesterday on how he intends to
work.

Presidency officials said “it was a meeting to harmonise the two offices, the president’s office and the VP’s office to work as one presidency.” There was no official statement after the meeting.

Meanwhile Adeniyi yesterday shed more light on the president’s medical report said to have been sent to the acting president.
Adeniyi stated that only one medical report was sent to Dr. Jonathan penultimate Friday, February 19 as opposed to numerous reports as was reported in the media.

Adeniyi had on Thursday while providing clarification on the president’s directive that Jonathan remains the acting president and Commander-in-Chief, added that Jonathan had received Yar’Adua’s medical report while the latter was away in Saudi Arabia.

Adeniyi denied newspaper reports that the acting president was receiving regular briefing on the health of the president while he was away.

According to Adeniyi, “further to my interview with State House correspondents yesterday, I wish to clarify that only one medical report on President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was sent to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan by the chief physician to the president, Dr Salisu Banye, through the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. This was on Friday, February 19, 2010.

“The Acting President has not received any other medical report before or after that date,” he said.

Chile News Bulletin: 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits; Many ReportedKilled; Tsunami Warnings Throughout Pacific Region

latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-chile-earthquake28-2010feb28,0,2152464.story

latimes.com

8.8 earthquake hits Chile; cities throughout Pacific brace for tsunamis

The quake strikes 60 miles offshore, knocking down highway overpasses and buildings in the capital and the port city of Concepcion. At least 82 are killed, with the toll expected to rise.

By Chris Kraul
7:40 AM PST, February 27, 2010
Reporting from Bogota, Colombia

The death toll is expected to rise from a devastating earthquake that struck Chile after midnight Saturday and President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of her country catastrophe zones.

Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma told reporters at a midday news conference that the magnitude 8.8 quake with an epicenter 60 miles offshore from the port city of Concepcion, had left at least 82 dead.

The first television transmission of the damage showed collapsed highway overpasses and buildings in south Santiago, the capital, and Concepcion. Aftershocks continued to strike the region throughout Saturday morning.

Coastal cities throughout the Pacific region were bracing for possible tsunamis. Hawaii was expected to receive a tsunami of 1 and 2 meters by midday. Waves measuring more than 2 meters had struck the Chilean island of Juan Fernandez.

Fires broke out in Valparaiso and Concepcion, owing apparently to gas leaks.

Telephone and electric power were out and water services were all down from much of Saturday morning and communication was problematic.

Chile was also the scene of one of the world’s strongest earthquakes ever recorded in 1960 that left hundreds dead. The quakes are caused by the recurring collision of tectonic plates off the Chilean coastline.

Kraul is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Andres Dalessandro in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

From The Sunday Times
February 27, 2010

Chile earthquake kills 78 and triggers tsunami

A massive earthquake has hit the coast of Chile, killing dozens of people, flattening buildings and triggering a tsunami.

The 8.8-magnitude quake, the country’s largest in 25 years, shook the capital Santiago for a minute and half at 3:34am (6:34am GMT) today.

A tsunami warning has been extended across 53 countries, including most of Central and South America and as far as Australia, Hawaii and Antarctica.

The wave has already caused serious damage to the sparsely populated Juan Fernandez islands, off the Santiago coast, and is now travelling across the ocean at several hundred km per hour.

The death toll in Chile has reached 78 and is still rising according to President Michelle Bachelet, who has declared a “state of catastrophe” in the country.

Calling for calm from an emergency response centre, the outgoing president said: “We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks.

“Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We’re doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately.”

The quake hit near the town of Maule, 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles underground.

The epicentre was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river.

In Santiago buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were brought down, but the full extent of the damage is still being determined.

Santiago airport has been shut down and will remain closed for at least the next 24 hours after the passenger terminal suffered major damage.

Chilean television is showing images of destroyed buildings and damaged cars, with rubble-strewn streets.

Dozens of people were seen roaming through the streets, some wheeling suitcases behind them and others gathering around open fires to keep warm.

Santiago resident Simon Shalders said: “There was a lot of movement. The houses were really shaking, walls were moving backwards and forwards, and doors were swinging open.”

About 65,000 British tourists visit Chile each year, according to the country’s tourist authority.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel information for people planning to go to Chile, saying: “The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in contact with our embassy in Santiago in order to establish the facts on the ground.

“Communications are sporadic. We will update this advice over the next few hours.”

In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told a local radio station. “It was very bad, people were screaming, some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them.”

Several big aftershocks later hit the south-central region, including ones measuring 6.9, 6.2 and 5.6.

The earthquake was caused by the floor of the Pacific being pushed below South American land mass.

This sudden jerking of the sea-floor displaced water and triggered a tsunami, which is now crossing the ocean at a speed of a jet plane.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica.

A spokesman said: “Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated.

“It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts.”

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center also warned of a “potential tsunami threat to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island”.

Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it added.

All Pacific islands including Hawaii and the Easter Islands have also received warnings.

On the Easter Islands people are now seeking higher ground before the wave strikes.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Chile, which is part of the pacific “ring-of-fire” tectonic-plate boundary, and many buildings are built to withstand tremors.

However Dr David Rothery, of the department of earth and environmental sciences at the Open University, described a magnitude 8 quake as a “rare event” with only one a year on average.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same region on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left two million homeless.

The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the US West Coast.

Chile well prepared for quakes

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News

It is not possible to predict the time and magnitude of an earthquake, but certain places on the Earth know they are always at risk from big tremors. Chile is one of those places.

It lies on the “Ring of Fire”, the line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific rim.

The magnitude 8.8 event that struck the country at 0634GMT on Saturday occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, just off shore and at a depth of about 35km (20 miles).

The biggest city close by is Concepcion, just over 100km to the south.

Collapsed buildings and widespread disruption will have been unavoidable.

Because the quake occurred below the sea floor, tsunamis were also generated, and alerts were issued not just for the Chilean coast but across the Pacific in general.

The Nazca and South American tectonic plates are vast slabs of the Earth’s surface and grind past each other at a rate of about 80mm per year.

The Nazca plate, which makes up the Pacific Ocean floor in this region, is being pulled down and under the South American coast.

It makes the region one of the most seismically active on the globe.

Since 1973, there have been 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater.

Gap-filler

Saturday’s shock had its epicentre some 230km north of the source of the magnitude 9.5 tremor of May, 1960 - the biggest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world. Thousands died in that event.

And it was also about 870km south of the 1922 8.5 event which killed several hundred people in central Chile.

Saturday’s tremor is therefore something of a gap-filler between two massive historical events.

French and Chilean seismologists had recently completed a study looking at the way the land was moving in response to the strain building up as a result of the tectonic collision. Their analysis suggested the area was ripe for a big quake.

“This earthquake fills in an identified seismic gap,” Dr Roger Musson, who is the British Geological Survey’s Head of Seismic Hazard, told BBC News.

“The last major earthquake that occurred in this area was in 1835. This was a famous earthquake observed by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle. This is a place where the stress has been gathering for 170 years, and finally it’s gone in another earthquake that’s repeated this famous historical quake.”

As is nearly always the case, the region was hit by a series of aftershocks. In the two and a half hours following the 90-second 8.8 event, the US Geological Survey reported 11 aftershocks, of which five measured 6.0 or above.

People will no doubt reflect on the scale of this event and compare it with the recent devastation in Haiti which has claimed an estimated 230,000 lives.

Saturday’s quake was almost 1,000 times more powerful than the one to hit Port-au-Prince in Haiti. But size is not in itself an indicator of the likely number of deaths.

One major factor which will limit the number of deaths in Chile will be its greater level of preparedness.

Both the Chilean authorities and the Chilean people are generally well versed in how to cope in such an emergency.

Severe shaking

The Chilean National Emergency Office (Onemi) is responsible for coordinating responses from services such as fire fighters, medical teams and civil defence.

The emergency response system is organised at national, regional and local level.

“Chile is a seismic country. So, we must be prepared!” is the message from Onemi.

The office provides advice on how to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters, and how to behave when one strikes.

Scientists say severe shaking is likely to have been experienced along a 300km stretch of coastline, including in important urban centres such as Concepcion, Arauco, Lota, and Constitucion.

The biggest city close to the epicentre is Concepcion, which forms part of the second largest conurbation in the country with a population of about one million.

It is the capital of Concepcion Province and the Bio Bio region, the name of the river that flows through it.

Concepcion’s history has been marked by earthquakes. After a huge tremor in 1751, Concepcion was moved from its original site, currently the town of Penco, to a location further from the sea in the Mocha Valley.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8540522.stm
Published: 2010/02/27 12:33:55 GMT

Hawaii prepares evacuations ahead of tsunami

10:04am EST

HONOLULU (Reuters) - Hawaii prepared to start evacuations ahead of a tsunami generated by a massive earthquake in Chile, a civil defense official on the U.S. island said on Saturday.

It planned to sound civil defense sirens across the island state at 6 a.m. local time (11 a.m. EST) after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was generated that could cause damage along the coasts of all the Hawaiian islands,

“Get off the shore line. We are closing all the beaches and telling people to drive out of the area,” said John Cummings, Oahu Civil Defense spokesman.

Buses will patrol beaches and take people to parks in a voluntary process expected to last five hours.

More than an hour before sirens were due to sound lines of cars snaked for blocks from gas stations in Honolulu.

“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the Warning Center said in a bulletin. “All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face.”

The center has issued a Pacific-wide tsunami warning that included Hawaii and stretched across the ocean from South America to the Pacific Rim.

Geophysicist Victor Sardina said the Hawaii-based center was urging all countries included in the warning to take the threat very seriously.

“Everybody is under a warning because the wave, we know, is on its way. Everybody is at risk now,” he said in a telephone interview.

The warning follows a huge earthquake in Chile that killed at least 82 people and triggered tsunamis up and down the coast of the earthquake-prone country.

The center estimates the first tsunami, which is a series of several waves in succession, will hit Hawaii at 11:19 a.m. Hawaii time (4:19 p.m. EST) in the town of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, with waves in Honolulu at 11:52 a.m.

Sardina said the Hawaiian islands could expect waves of six feet (two meters) in some places. Other estimates have been higher but he could not confirm those were likely.

Sardina said the center was looking at Hilo Bay on Hawaii Island as a worst-case scenario right now.

“The shape of the bay favors the waves gaining in height,” he said in a telephone interview.

He said California and Alaska could also be affected, but the impact on those coasts should be minimal.

(Reporting by Suzanne Gordon and Ikaika Hussey in Hawaii and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Peter Henderson, editing by Vicki Allen)

WWF welcomes new protected areas in Ukraine

The Bystroye Canal under construction in the Danube delta, not far from the Ukrainian village of Vilkove in 2004. The US, EU said the canal was a threat to the environment. Environmental group WWF has welcomed Ukraine’s decision to designate large swathes of land as protected, but warned that key areas, such as the Danube delta, were still under threat.
(AFP/Ania Tsoukanova)

Environmental group WWF on Wednesday welcomed Ukraine’s decision to designate large swathes of land as protected, but warned that key areas, such as the Danube delta, were still under threat.

Over the past 10 months, the Ukrainian government has established 29 new protected areas, bringing the total number of protected nature zones in the country to 38, WWF said in a statement.

“With these additions, Ukraine’s protected area system now covers 3.7 million hectares, or approximately 5.5 percent of the country’s territory,” WWF said.

But the group also warned of “a number of pressures that are threatening even those areas that already enjoy some form of protection, including inappropriate or poorly planned infrastructure developments.”

Specifically, the development of a massive ski area in Bukovel in western Ukraine, among the 20 largest such areas in the world, is increasingly threatening key wilderness and protected nature parks in the Carpathian mountains, WWF complained.

Another cause for concern was the recent completion of the Bystroye Canal in the Danube delta, WWF said.

Source:
AFP, “WWF welcomes new protected areas in Ukraine“, accessed February 25, 2010

Rebels With a Cause–And Plenty of Joy

Rebels with a cause – and plenty of joy

By Elisa Bray
Friday, 26 February 2010

From the soul: Sangare and her band at the Dome, Brighton

The sixth African Soul Rebels package tour brings together three of Africa’s most radical artists, Oumou Sangare, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo and the Kalahari Surfers.

It is the first major UK tour for Sangare, the queen of Wassoulou music and one of Mali’s biggest stars. Sangare invited the bands to join her because the three groups share a common goal in portraying African cultural richness to the rest of the world.

For Sangare, there are other messages in her music: “My own cause is, and has always been women’s rights, and the rights of children. I want to both fight against hardship and inequalities but also show that there are strong African women with me in this struggle, and that we are making a difference.

It’s true that when I sing it’s joyful, but in among that joy I always take the opportunity to slip in messages that educate my nation and my country (and beyond, when I go on tour). Where I come from, that’s very important. It’s true that people are happy to just listen to music, but they’re also interested in what the person is actually saying with the music.”

It is also the first UK tour for Benin’s voodoo rockers Orchestre Poly-Rythmo – despite their 45 years as a band – and a rare sighting for Kalahari Surfers, who, since their 1984 debut album, have been censored at home in South Africa.

On tour until 3 March

Security Council welcomes Iraq’s support for non-proliferation

The Security Council today welcomed Iraq’s support for global efforts to limit the number of nuclear weapons and dismantle existing stocks.

UN blue helmets sent to scene of violence in north-west Liberia

The United Nations Mission in Liberia has sent police and troops to help national authorities investigate an outbreak of violence in the country's north-west, where several people have reportedly been wounded in inter-communal clashes.

Today on New Scientist: 26 February 2010

All today’s stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: the unstoppable rise of spam, the failure of Arctic ice arches, and why happiness ain’t all it’s cracked up to be

Afghanistan War Bulletin: Resistance Fighters Attack Kabul; US PlansOffensive in Kandahar

Friday, February 26, 2010
20:29 Mecca time, 17:29 GMT

Taliban fighters attack Kabul

Several suicide bombers attacked a hotel popular with foreigners in Kabul, the Afghan capital

At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded when several suicide bombers attacked a hotel popular with foreigners and the surrounding area in the centre of Kabul.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, one of the deadliest on the Afghan capital in a year.

Ten Indians, an Italian and a Frenchman were among the dead, officials said.

Attacks on guesthouses used by foreigners have increased in recent months.

The first blast occurred at about 06:45 local time, near the Kabul City Centre, Kabul’s largest shopping centre located in the city’s main commercial district, that includes the Safi Landmark Hotel.

That was followed by two smaller explosions.

Sporadic gunfire was heard in the area as ambulances raced to the scene and grey smoke billowed into the air.

Police say at least two police officers were among those killed in the blasts.

The Reuters news agency quoted Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, as saying “holy warriors” had “managed to attack in the heart of Kabul city once again”.

He said at least five Taliban fighters launched the attack, including two suicide bombers who detonated explosives-packed vests near the hotel and a shopping mall, Reuters reported.

‘Crying and shouting’

Witnesses said people in pyjamas were led from the Park Resident hotel and taken away in ambulances.

Friday’s attack came as US, Afghan and Nato forces push ahead with Operation Moshtarak

Najibullah, a 25-year-old hotel worker, said he ran out of the hotel when he heard the first explosion. He said he saw two suicide bombers on the site.

“I saw foreigners were crying and shouting,” he said.

“It was a very bad situation inside. God helped me; otherwise I would be dead. I saw one suicide bomber blowing himself up on the first floor of the hotel.”

The Park Residence was previously attacked in mid-2005, when a suicide bomber struck the hotel’s internet cafe.

Dr Subodh Sanjivpaul told The Associated Press news agency that he was trapped in his bathroom for three hours inside one of the small hotels where he lived with other Indian doctors.

“Today’s suicide attack took place in our residential complex,” he said as his wounded foot was bandaged.

“When I was coming out, I found two or three dead bodies. When firing was going on, the first car bomb exploded and the full roof came on my head.”

Indians ‘targeted’

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, called Friday’s assault a “terrorist attack against Indian citizens” , who were working to help rebuild Afghanistan.

S.M. Krishna, India’s foreign minister, described the attacks as “barbaric” and a matter of “deep concern”.

“These are the handiwork of those who are desperate to undermine the friendship between India and Afghanistan,” he said in a statement.

The Indian Embassy in Kabul has been the target of two major attacks, one in July 2008 that killed more than 60 people and another last October that killed 17 people.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Kabul, Hoda Abdel-Hamid, said that the attack was a message from the Taliban that it would continue its activities despite a major offensive against it in Helmand province.

“There is a concern that as the Nato push against the Taliban goes on, these types of attacks will increase as a result.

“The Taliban is showing that they too are very strong-willed and that they will attack anywhere and anytime they want.

“An attack like this one sends a message that no one is really safe, that even a city like Kabul, with heavy security, is not safe from the conflict anymore,” she said.

She said that since Operation Moshtarakbegan 12 days ago, Kabul has been largely safe although attacks have occurred elsewherein Afghanistan.

Nato ‘outrage’

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary-general, expressed outrage over the dawn assault.

“I strongly condemn the terrorist attack which took place this morning in Kabul,” Rasmussen said in a statement.

“Once again, the enemies of Afghanistan have killed innocent civilians, Afghans and international workers alike.”

After 12 days of fighting, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of US marines in southern Afghanistan, had welcomed Thursday’s flag-hoisting in Marjahas “a new beginning” as Afghan government authority was restored.

Afghans “believe there is a fresh start for Marjah under the government of Afghanistan”, he said as the country’s flag was hoisted by the governor of Helmand province in front of several hundred residents.

Humanitarian groups have said residents are facing deteriorating conditions as food, medicine and other supplies run dangerously low and innumerable Taliban-planted bombs make movement in and out of Marjah perilous.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Friday, February 26, 2010
22:05 Mecca time, 19:05 GMT

US ‘planning Kandahar offensive’

Operation Moshtarak was launched to push Taliban fighters out of Marjah and surrounding areas

The United States is planning to launch a military offensive in Afghanistan’s Kandahar city following the military operation to drive Taliban fighters out of the town of Marjah in Helmand province, a senior US official has said.

“I think the way to look at Marjah, it’s the tactical prelude to larger, more comprehensive operations later this year in Kandahar city,” news agencies quoted the unnamed official as saying on Friday.

Afghan troops raised their flag over Marjah as the town was symbolically handed over to the Kabul government’s control after two weeks of fighting by a joint Afghan, Nato and US Marine force.

The senior US official told reporters that the military operation was “pretty much on track”, but cautioned that it would be several more weeks before Nato troops had cleared the area of Taliban fighters.

The Marjah offensive was an early test of the new strategy of Barack Obama , the US president, to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistanto win control of Taliban-held areas and put in a civilian administration.

Kandahar ‘very important’

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, said earlier this week that “Operation Moshtarak” was a “model for the future”.

“We are going to go to where significant parts of the population are at risk and Kandahar is clearly very, very important not just to the south but to the nation,” he told Britain’s The Timesnewspaper.

“It is not the only area though.”

Kandahar is Afghanistan’s second biggest city and has been a centre for Taliban resistance since the movement was forced from power by the US-led invasion in 2001.

“If the goal in Afghanistan is to reverse the momentum of the Taliban … then we think we have to get to Kandahar this year,” the US administration official was quoted as saying.

“Bringing security, comprehensive population security to Kandahar city is the centrepiece of operations this year. Therefore, Marjah is the prelude, a sort of a preparatory action.”

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said that the reported plans for a Kandahar offensive would fit with comments made byofficials before the Marjah operation.

“This all fits in with Obama’s plan to surge 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and then set a timeline for withdrawal,” she said.

“Sources were telling me this is what the plan was … They were going to focus on 80 distinct areas and they thought if they could secure those they could connect the dots and form a ‘U’ around the country.

“The reason they want to do this is because they believe that could be the main economic artery, the main road that hits most of the population centres.

“They are not necessary trying to secure the whole country, just the main population centres.”

Taliban ‘confused’

A British commander said on Friday that the Helmand offensive had left Taliban fighters “disorientated”.

“One of the key conclusions from what the commanders on the ground have seen is the degree of dissipation and confusion the Taliban are experiencing,” Major General Gordon Messenger told reporters in London.

“There is increasing evidence that they feel under pressure and are moving out of the area.

“Insurgent activity across the area is levelling off and in some cases experiencing a bit of a lull.”

However, Taliban fighters showed that they still had the ability to strike elsewhere in the country, killing at least 17 people in suicide bomb and gun attacks on a number of guesthouses in the capital Kabul on Friday.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies