Ethiopia PM says anti-dam groups keep Africa poor, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Ethiopia building huge dams to beat power shortages

* Says western campaigners only focus on Africa


By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, March 31 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi denounced Westerners on Thursday campaigning against hydropower dam projects in Africa as "borderline criminal" and said they were helping to keep Africans poor.

Ethiopia is building five hydropower dams -- some funded by the World Bank -- and announced on Wednesday that it would shortly start building a huge 5,250 megawatt (MW) dam on the Nile, despite an escalating row with Egypt over the river's use.

Western NGOs have been campaigning against some of the dams on environmental or human rights grounds.

"These people will not allow the disturbance of butterflies even if this means millions of people have to be subjected to the deadliest killer disease of all -- poverty," Meles told a conference on hydropower in Africa in Addis Ababa.

"I am not a believer in conspiracy theories but, if I were, I would conclude that these people want Africa to remain as it is with all its misery and poverty so they can come and visit nature in its pristine state in winter every so often."

Meles said the groups were from Europe and the U.S.

Power shortages are common in Africa and have hindered investment, even though the continent has abundant potential resources of solar, hydro, oil, gas, coal and geothermal power.

Ethiopia aims to produce 15,000MW of power within 10 years as part of a plan to spend $12 billion over 25 years to overcome chronic power shortages and export to other African countries.

One of the Ethiopian dams, the 1.4 billion euro Gibe III that is expected to generate 1,800MW, has been the subject of a major international campaign over the rights of tribal people.

Over 400 NGOs led by Survival International this month signed a petition against Gibe III. They say that 200,000 Ethiopians who rely on fishing and farming may become dependent on aid to survive if the dam goes ahead.

Meles said the impact of the dam projects would be "negligible" and those affected would be compensated.

"These groups have done virtually nothing to stop their countries from building all the dams they can while at the same time single-handedly subjecting our planet to the threat of catastrophe because of global warming," Meles said.

"(Yet) they are trying to stop projects in poor countries like Ethiopia that are infinitely more environmentally and socially responsible."

Meles is Africa's usual lead negotiator at climate change talks and has in the past suggested European carbon emissions caused his country's 1984/85 famine.

(Editing by Richard Lough and Elizabeth Fullerton)

UN's Ban calls for I.Coast's Gbagbo to step down, Posted by Meosha Eaton

NAIROBI, April 1 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said he wants Ivory Coast's presidential claimant Laurent Gbagbo to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara.

"I renew my call for Mr Gbagbo to step down and hand over power to ... Allasane Ouattara. I want to remind all those who commit serious violations of human rights ... will be held accountable," Ban told a news conference in the Kenyan capital.

"Mr Gbagbo should immediately cede power ... to Allasane Ouattara. Let us see how this accountability (issue) goes. He must first stop killing civilians and stop fighting against his people."

Professional Militaries Don’t Function as Agents----U.S Envoy, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem, MACTV NEWS
Director, Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, Ambassador William Bellamy says modern professional militaries cannot function as agents of a ruler, or a ruling family or ruling elite.

In a welcome address to participants at the 2011 Next Generation of Africa Security Sector Leaders course held in Arlington, Virginia, USA, the retired Ambassador said, “militaries do not serve families, or clans, or tribes or factions.

They do not even serve governments, they serve the nation in its broadest sense. They serve and protect the public. And for militaries to play this role, they must do within a legal and constitutional framework that has broad legitimacy.”

Describing the timing of this year’s course as very appropriate, the Centre Director made a direct reference to the political crisis in North Africa saying that, “across Africa, and indeed through areas adjacent to Africa, we are today witnessing historic events.

An upheaval that began with a single individual that began with a single individual’s protest against injustice, a small act magnified many times over by the power of modern social media, is still unfolding.”

According to him, “citizens have claimed their rights, long serving political leaders have been expelled from office. Existing political orders have been challenged, shaken to their foundations and uncertainty reigns as to what will replace them.”
Bellamy added that, “but even now, it should be clear to us that in moments of crises such as those we are witnessing, certain basic rules regarding appropriate military conduct must apply,” one of which is that professional militaries cannot function as agents.

In the keynote address to the course attendants, Chief Human Resources, South African National Defence Force, Lt. General Derick Mgwebi told the African military officers that Africa was their home and that they needed to cherish their home by transforming their societies for the better.

He said, “for us as military leaders, we must focus firstly on driving the process of professionalizing our own armed forces, re-modeling and re-positioning our armed forces to be aligned with the principles and demands of democratic societies.”

Conducted in English, French and Portuguese, the four week program was attended by mostly majors and lieutenant colonels representing 25 African nations.

BLACKS’ INVOLEMENT IN EGYPTIAN DEMONSTRATIONS, Posted by Menelik Zeleke

Week of February 6, 2011



BUSINESS EXCHANGE By William Reed
In 1950 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to the first non-White, African-American and United Nations (UN) official Ralph Bunche.  Dr. Bunche sanctioned the “Middle East Problem” and won the Prize for mediations he held between Arabs and Jews in the Israeli-Arab war in 1948-1949 and agreements he brought about between the new state of Israel and four of its Arab neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. 
The events unfolding now in Egypt are the latest example of Black leaders have been co-opted in dubious imperialists’ deals.  Settling Egyptian protests requires the U.S. to be “the honest broker” it has never been as each U.S. administration since World War II has dealt with Arab-Israeli conflicts.
Egypt is a North African country whose governments have a history of protecting Western powers’ interests in the region.   For six decades Egypt has played a vital strategic and symbolic role in world settings protecting Colonialist Countries’ interests in the region.  Beginning with Bunche, Blacks were played for rubes, bamboozled every step of the way.   To appease the demonstrators, and really earn his claim to a Noble Peace Prize, Obama will have to change ways the U.S. has traditionally played the region’s people of color.
In Noble Peace Prize ruse 2 in 1978, it was awarded to Muhammad Anwar El Sadat.  Anwar El Sadat was a Black man who served as Egypt’s third President, from October 1970 until his assassination October 1981.  Surely, Sadat was “played” in the Camp David Accords.  Sadat’s negotiations with Israel and the ensuing Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty were vastly unpopular amongst Arabs, resulting in his assassination and Egypt’s suspension from the Arab League.  Many say Sadat was “used” in establishment of the state of Israel and the $1.5 billion Egypt is paid by the U.S.
Light-skinned Ralph Bunche was too used by the West.  Bunche believed that the Palestinian Arabs were the big losers in the conflict, and that the agreements he negotiated sealed the fate of the UN's plan for an independent Palestinian state.  The Palestinians were played as punks as the Israelis kept almost all land they conquered.  Israel had expanded from the UN-allocated 55% of British ruled Palestine to 79%.  Bunche thought that the armistice agreements were intended as the basis for peace negotiations within a year, but these never took place.  The UN and the U.S. called for the rights of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, this never happened. Their fate remains the World’s No. 1 unsolved problem.
In 2009, President Barack Obama became the latest Black victim in the Nobel Peace Prize stunt.  In a move widely seen as being primarily a rebuke of his predecessor, the choice was seen as reversing many of his predecessors’ unilateral policies.   Now is the time for Obama to support the Egyptians by moving away from the imperialistic roles and guidelines the U.S. has used; and reaching out to the Arab & Islamic worlds by addressing the core issue in the region: bringing the Israelis and Palestinians into serious, fruitful negotiations.
Anti-Mubarak protestors are simply “sick-and-tired” of decades of American-supported shenanigans in their country.  Rather than rush to label whomever the American establishment calls “terrorists”, Black Americans would do well to develop a knowledgeable grasp of the history behind today’s issues.  Britain’s Foreign Secretary says that the Egyptian unrest "underlines the need to drive ahead with the Middle East peace process.  I hope that it underlines to Israeli leaders the need to do that."  It’s time to stray away from the White-controlled media and its typical White-American racist conservative mindset always ready to believe that the U.S. 
only fights for good causes.  In reality, many of the world’s Muslims view the U.S. as a hostile and oppressive force that blindly supports Israel at the expense of the legitimate rights of Palestinians, and that the current US’s “war against global terrorism” is actually a war against Islam.  Obama must break from traditions of decades of “double standards”, and engage in respectful ways with moderate Arabs & Islamics.

Obama urges Egypt's Mubarak to enact reforms, Posted by Meosha Eaton

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Following is the text of U.S. President Barack Obama's statement on the situation in Egypt on Friday evening.
"Good evening, everybody. My administration has been closely monitoring the situation in Egypt, and I know that we will be learning more tomorrow when day breaks. As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life. So I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters.
"The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights and the United States will stand up for them everywhere.

"I also call upon the Egyptian government to reverse the actions that they've taken to interfere with access to the Internet, to cellphone service and to social networks that do so much to connect people in the 21st century.

"At the same time, those protesting in the streets have a responsibility to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms they seek.
"Now going forward this moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise. The United States has a close partnership with Egypt and we've cooperated on many issues including working together to advance a more peaceful region.
"But we've also been clear that there must be reform: political, social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people. In the absence of these reforms, grievances have built up over time.

"When President Mubarak addressed the Egyptian people tonight, he pledged a better democracy and greater economic opportunity. I just spoke to him after his speech and I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise. Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people and suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.

"What's needed now are concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people, a meaningful dialogue between the government and its citizens and a path of political change that leads to a future of greater freedom and greater opportunity and justice for the Egyptian people.

"Now ultimately the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people and I believe the Egyptian people want the same things that we all want, a better life for ourselves and our children and a government that is fair and just and responsive.
"Put simply, the Egyptian people want a future that befits the heirs to a great and ancient civilization. The United States always will be a partner in pursuit of that future and we are committed to working with the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people, all quarters, to achieve it.

"Around the world, governments have an obligation to respond to their citizens. That's true here in the Untied States, that's true in Asia, it is true in Europe, it's true in Africa, it's certainly true in the Arab world, where a new generation of citizens has the right to be heard.

"When I was in Cairo, shortly after I was elected president, I said that all governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion. That is the single standard by which the people of Egypt will achieve the future they deserves.

"Surely there will be difficult days to come but the United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful.
"Thank you very much."

Kenya reforms judiciary, AU backs ICC trials delay, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Reforms prescribed by new constitution
* Judicial changes to cement Kenya's plea over ICC trials
* AU vote may embolden Kenya's in its pursuit of deferral
* ICC seen as targeting Africa by many on continent
* More than 1,200 people killed in post-election violence


By James Macharia
NAIROBI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki on Friday named a new chief justice as part of planned reforms and to cement the east African country's case to have The Hague allow it to hold trials of post-election violence suspects.
Kenya wants to block the International Criminal Court (ICC) from holding the possible trials of six suspected masterminds of the deadly fighting that erupted after the opposition accused Kibaki of rigging the Dec. 2007 presidential election.

The country won the support of the African Union at a summit in Addis Ababa where foreign ministers backed Kenya's plan to suspend criminal proceedings against the suspects.

Kenya is now likely to call for the U.N. Security Council to defer or suspend the trials from taking place for a year while it overhauls its judiciary to handle the cases.
Kibaki nominated Justice Alnashir Visram as the next chief justice. He also named lawyers Githu Muigai as attorney general and Kioko Kilukumi as director of public prosecutions. The appointments are subject to parliamentary approval.

Kenya's post-election violence, which saw hundreds of thousands uprooted from their homes, was sparked when Prime Minister Raila Odinga, then opposition leader, accused Kibaki of rigging the vote. The two later agreed to form a unity cabinet to end the bloodshed after weeks of negotiations.

Odinga, who is attending the AU summit in Ethiopia, said he was not consulted on the nominations of the judiciary officials.

This is a further sign of a widening split in the cabinet, which emerged after Odinga criticised Kenya's move to seek the AU's backing in delaying the ICC trials, which Kibaki supported.

"No, I was not consulted," said Odinga when asked by Reuters if he had spoken to Kibaki regarding the nominations.

"I will deal with this when I get back to Nairobi," he said.

Kenya's suspended higher education minister William Ruto and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, are the most prominent suspects on the ICC list. They have both declared they will run for president in elections next year.

Ruto was suspended to defend an unrelated corruption case.

AU VOTE
One African diplomat said the AU vote had been unanimous.
"There was a vote and we decided for it, for Kenya's position," Djibouti's Foreign Affairs Minster Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit.
The vote has to be formally passed by African heads of state at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The U.N. Security Council helped set up the ICC and has control over its mandate, enabling it to postpone cases for one year, especially if the prosecution of such cases could cause further upheavals in the country where crimes occurred.

It can however refuse, as it did when Sudan sought a delay in the case against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

(Additional reporting by Richard Lough, Aaron Maasho and Patrick Muiruri in Addis Ababa; Editing by Matthew Jones)