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THE AFRICAN ECONOMIST VOL. XIII NO. 37 JUNE 2005 NEWS
At the end of the five-hour meeting, President Obasanjo said: "They agreed that whoever wins will forge ahead with a government of national unity which will make everybody have a stake in the government."
He said this was achieved bearing in mind Togo has been ruled for the last 38 years by a government of one person, namely Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died in February. The BBC's Anna Borzello in Abuja said Mr. Obasanjo did not give details of how this broad-based government would work. However, she says the president announced that a committee would be set up to monitor all the decisions taken in Abuja, including an agreement to review Togo's constitution. Mr. Olympio, who is Togo's most powerful opposition leader, said : "We want to see a period that respects the rights and dignity of every Togolese, including fundamental human rights." Mr. Gnassingbe, son of the late Togolese president, said: "What I want is to work with everybody in good faith and we need to go away from a bitter opposition to a healthier opposition." New timetable for Burundi poll
"The transitional period is extended to 26 August, national elections will be held not later than 19 August and the swearing in will be on the 26th," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told reporters after the meeting of leader from east and central Africa. 'Distraction' "We have written to the mediators and to all the regional heads of state ahead of the Kampala summit, asking them not to extend Ndayizeye in his duties," the former rebel Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) spokesman Karenga Ramadhani told AFP. Correspondents say the call by the FDD has led to fears that the peace process may be in danger.
Some 250,000 people have been killed in Burundi's 12-year civil war, which saw Hutu rebels fighting for a greater share of power from the Tutsi minority, which has traditionally ruled the country. Mr Ndayizeye is a Hutu but critics say he is a front for Tutsis who still wield the real power, through their domination of the military. Former Hutu rebels are being integrated into the army. Liberians register for elections Liberians have began queuing as they register for the post-war West African country's first presidential and legislative elections on 11 October. Students, and roadside traders and market women formed queues in some places in the capital to register, but there was apathy amongst many others. There are some 18 political parties and more than 50 presidential hopefuls registered to participate. "We are confused, we don't know who to register to vote for," said Lucy Kollie, 36, carrying a baby on her back. "We don't know who means what." There are 1,500 registration centres across Liberia to enhance the registration, which ends on 24 May. Optimism Transitional head of state Gyude Bryant, whose administration is to hand over power in January next year to the elected government, visited a registration centre near the presidency expressing happiness that it had started but displeasure at the low turn-out.
Displaced Liberian fighting ended in 2003 with the stepping down and exile of former President Charles Taylor. It saw close to half a million people displaced, some of whom are still residing in camps around Monrovia.
Isaac resides in the Jah Tondo Displaced people camp in the western Brewerville suburb of Monrovia. "We want to vote, but we are concerned we are not likely to be taken out of here before October," he said There are three registration centres at the Jah Tondo camp, which is home to thousands of displaced people. Nigeria demands more debt relief
The head of the delegation, Senator Udo Udoma, currently in Washington, says that he wants debt cancelled altogether. He says it is unconscionable that Nigeria is paying so much on its debts when there is so much poverty in the country. "At a time that about 79,000 Nigerian children between the ages of one and five are dying from malnutrition, lack of adequate healthcare and so on, I think that we are entitled to some relief," said Senator Udoma Corrupt The past unwillingness of creditor governments to agree to debt relief reflects concerns about corruption, which has been a severe problem in Nigeria. Creditors have also had concerns about economic policy performance, and Nigeria's reluctance to be monitored by the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Udoma said that Nigeria is now making progress on corruption. He said that he at least would accept outside monitoring to ensure that funds released by debt relief were used properly. He also said that previous military governments incurred much of the debt. Much of the money lent never reached Nigeria, he said, and much was ostensibly for projects that in fact never existed. Somali parliament defies warlords
The BBC's Caroline Karobia in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where Somalia's parliament is based, said the MPs erupted in jubilation when the results of the vote were announced. Of the 152 MPs present, 145 voted in favour of setting up in Baidoa and Jowhar until Mogadishu is considered safe. There were seven abstentions. A similar vote in March was declared null and void after MPs fought in parliament - but parliamentary speaker Sherif Hassan has said this vote was also unconstitutional because he did not call the meeting. More than 100 members of the 275-strong parliament are in Somalia, including the warlords who control the capital, and have refused calls to return to Kenya. Fears In Washington, the US and the European Union released a joint statement voicing their concern at the lack of progress. "The Somali reconciliation process is at a critical stage. There is an urgent need for a viable agreement on relocation and security," it said. Foreign donors, who have bankrolled the long peace talks, are pressing the transitional government to relocate to Somalia. The African Union is to meet on Thursday to consider the foreign troop deployment. The session will examine a proposal to send 1,700 Sudanese and Ugandan troops to ensure the security of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. But the issue of foreign troops is controversial. Ethiopia President Yusuf is seen as an ally of Ethiopia but he has little support in Mogadishu. Many Somalis do not trust Ethiopia, since a war in the 1970s. The Mogadishu warlords accused Ethiopia of sending weapons into Somalia - a charge Ethiopia denied. Since his election last October, he has called for an African Union protection force before he can lead his government back to Mogadishu.
They say this will restore security in Mogadishu but some government officials fear that the force could be used against them, if relations continue to deteriorate.
Hussein Jabiri, Gedi's communications director, told IRIN in Nairobi: "Yes, a bomb has exploded. One of the PM's security details accidentally exploded a bomb. Neither the prime minister nor members of his delegation has been hurt."
The explosion
went off as the prime minister started his speech, a local journalist
said. The journalist could not immediately tell how many people had been
injured, but added: "I witnessed at least 20 injured people being carried
out from the stadium." Other sources told IRIN that "between 8 to 10 people were killed and between 30 and 50 injured." Most of the injured were taken to Hayat and Madina hospitals, both in south Mogadishu. One source at Hayat hospital told IRIN that "38 people were brought into the hospital from the stadium", adding that 21 suffered minor injuries. Another source told IRIN that a local journalist was among the injured. "A HornAfrik [a local radio station] journalist Mahamud Halane is in serious condition," said the source. Thousands of people who had turned up to listen to the prime minister fled the stadium, "causing a stampede which injured many other people", the journalist added.
Gedi arrived in
Mogadishu together with a team of ministers, MPs and members of the
international community on 29 April. It was the first time the PM had
visited the capital since his appointment by President Abdullahi Yusuf in
December 2004. He had received an enthusiastic welcome from the public and
a show of support from militiamen allied to the country's faction leaders,
according to eyewitnesses. A senior political adviser to Gedi, Abdurrahman Ali Usman "Malaysia", told IRIN in Nairobi that the incident would not affect the PM'strip. "He will continue with his visit and meet the people of Mogadishu," he said, adding that the PM had visited those injured by the explosion in the hospitals |
