Zimbabwe to protest to South Africa over 'pirate' 1st TV

Robert Mugabe has been busy campaigning around the country

Zimbabwe's government says it will protest to South Africa over a "pirate" TV station which is to be based there ahead of this month's elections.

1st TV is due to be launched later on Friday and will be broadcast into Zimbabwe by satellite.

Zimbabwe's state-run TV, which has a domestic monopoly, is widely seen as being biased in favour of President Robert Mugabe.

1st TV's head used to work closely with Mr Mugabe's rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai has been prime minister in a coalition government with Mr Mugabe since 2009 but key reforms of sectors such as the media and security forces have not been implemented ahead of the elections.

Regional heavyweight South Africa helped broker the power-sharing deal and is still trying to mediate between the rivals in order to avoid a repeat of the violence which marred the 2008 election.

Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round, accusing pro-Mugabe militias and the security forces of attacking his supporters after he gained most votes in the first round.

On Thursday, Lindiwe Zulu, South African President Jacob Zuma's special adviser on Zimbabwe, told Reuters news agency: "We are concerned because things on the ground are not looking good."

She has previously said the elections should be postponed from 31 July, prompting Mr Mugabe to call her "stupid and idiotic".

Two days of early voting for members of Zimbabwe's security forces on Sunday and Monday saw many logistical problems, such as a lack of ballot papers, raising fears that the election will not go smoothly.

Southern African countries are due to meet to discuss Zimbabwe's elections over the weekend.

Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper suggests that South African parastatal Sentech may be facilitating 1st TV's broadcasts.

"We are not very sure if the South African government is aware of what its parastatal is doing to hurt Zimbabwean interests. We will pursue diplomatic channels,'' it quotes Media, Information and Publicity permanent secretary George Charamba, a close ally of the president, as saying.

"We will be taking decisions mindful of the need to cripple this pirate television broadcast station,'' Mr Charamba said.

The Herald says 1st TV is funded by the UK government, which it has long accused of trying to oust Mr Mugabe because of his policy of seizing white-owned land.

The British embassy in Harare told the BBC it could not comment on individual grants because of the current context in Zimbabwe but said it worked with "various civil society organisations to help create a vibrant space for Zimbabweans to participate, freely debate, discuss and share information".

"We think greater access to impartial and factual information along with diverse views helps inform Zimbabweans of their democratic choices," it said.

"Access to multiple sources of information through different media enhances the electoral process."

Andrew Chadwick, Mr Tsvangirai's former communications director, refused to reveal the sources of 1st TV's funding.

"The majority of our investors are private," he told the BBC earlier this week.

"We've also received support from groups supporting human rights, freedom and democracy."

He denied that 1st TV would be biased in favour of Mr Tsvangirai, saying it would be impartial, in contrast to the pro-Mugabe ZBC.

1st TV says it can be viewed for free by hundreds of thousands of people in Zimbabwe.

Mali unrest: Kidal's deadly race riots

Tuareg rebels have long accused the government of ignoring their desert region

At least one person has been killed in Mali's northern town of Kidal, following ethnic clashes between Tuaregs and black civilians, ahead of elections next week.

Tuareg rebels held the town until a June deal with the government.

The BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Mali says it remains unclear who is really in charge of the town.

Many Malians blame Tuareg separatists for starting the 2012 rebellion which led Islamists to seize northern areas.

French and West African forces intervened in January to force the Islamist militant groups out of the desert towns but security remains a concern.

Elections are being held on 28 July in a bid to restore civilian authority over the country.

It is not clear what started the clashes in Kidal but witnesses say shots were fired and a member of the Songhai community was killed by Tuareg youths, who also set fire to black-owned shops.

Local military commander Colonel Didier Dako said soldiers had been deployed in the town to quell the violence, reports the Reuters news agency.

Since arriving in Kidal last month, the soldiers had been confined to barracks in order to avoid confrontation with the local population and the rebels.

Some of the youths reportedly shouted: "Long live Azawad" - in support of the rebel call for independence for northern Mali.

Under the June deal, fighters from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) are allowed to remain in the town but they are supposed to disarm.

Kidal is the only town in Mali where the light-skinned Tuaregs form a majority.

The Tuaregs have launched several rebellions since Mali's independence in 1960, accusing the government in Bamako of ignoring the northern areas where they live.

The MNLA had been allied to the al-Qaeda-aligned groups in early 2012, but the alliance crumbled as the Islamists gained control of most of the territory in the north.

The Tuaregs captured Kidal after the French-led offensive forced the Islamist groups out of northern towns in January.

Earlier this week, one of the 28 registered presidential candidates pulled out of next week's election, saying the authorities were not in a position to hold the poll.

Analysts say that Mali's state had all but collapsed after a military coup in March 2012, which helped the rebels to extend the areas under their control.

Continue reading the main story

Khartoum Notifies South Sudan It Will Halt Oil Flow By 7 August

Sudan has notified South Sudan that it will stop oil flow through its pipelines next month, according to Nhial Deng Nhial, South Sudan's minister of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Nhial told reporters on Wednesday that the government of South Sudan had received a notification from the Sudanese government saying that the pumping stations will be shut off by 7th of August 2013.

"We have been notified through our embassy in Sudan that as of 7th, the Republic of Sudan will cease oil belonging to South Sudan from passing through its territory," Nhial said.

Sudanese intelligence service this week released two statement information about the alleged arrival of Sudanese rebels from South Kordofan where they held a meeting earlier this month to Juba, adding to operation was facilitated by the SPLA intelligence.

Also several Sudanese officials pointed out that the two 60-day warning fixed last June will be implemented if Juba continues to ignore the implementation of the security arrangements and its implementation matrix.

Minister Nhial Deng Nhial said South Sudan will begin a gradual reduction of crude oil that passes through Sudanese territory to reduce the effect of a likely shutdown by Khartoum on South Sudan.

But he did not say when this will begin following the notification from Khartoum.

South Sudanese vice -president Riek Machar on 30 June was in Khartoum where he discussed the issue of the rebels and the possible stoppage of oil flow with his Sudanese counterpart Ali Osman Taha.

The two officials reiterated their commitment to implement the signed agreements and vowed to implement it in a way to avoid the return of tensions between the two countries.

Since last June after Bashir's decision on the possible shut down of the pipeline, Juba says willing to unconditionally implement what is agreed with Sudan but accused its northern neighbour of blackmailing.

"What we are not willing to do, is to be blackmailed because we don't have any way to pass our oil through", reiterated minister Nhial on Wednesday .

Insuring Ghana's Smallholder Farmers Against the Weather

Tamale — Smallholder farmer Suleman Mustapha Simbia, 40, is pleased with the introduction of an insurance initiative called the Ghana Agriculture Insurance Programme.

The programme is being implemented in this West African nation to help farmers who had been suffering from loss of income as a result of the bad weather conditions that affect their yields. "I no longer think of losing my yield due to the low or high rainfall. My confidence and love for farming has grown. And this year, I have increased the number of acreages I cultivate from 1.2 to 2.4 hectares," he told IPS.

The system is fairly straightforward. A farmer pays one-tenth of the total cost of their crops at the beginning of the farming season to GAIP. And if there is no rain for 12 consecutive days, the system triggers a payout.

This is the second year of its operation, and to date a total of 136 smallholder farmers received payouts on claims from the Ghana Agriculture Insurance Programme (GAIP) because of the drought in northern Ghana.

While no exact figures are available for how much was paid out, the programme pays farmers depending on the size of their land and the amount they invested in inputs. On average, farmers who invest 150 dollars in inputs for half a hectare of land could be paid out between 200 to 300 dollars, depending on how severely they were affected by the weather.

But the scheme is dependent on automatic weather stations (AWS). AWS is a map-based system that records daily climatic data including wind, rainfall, relative humidity and temperature. The insurance programme uses data from AWS to ascertain when farmers are affected by the weather, and payouts are made based on this data.

Agro meteorologist at GAIP Evelyn Debrah told IPS that the programme benefits farmers by protecting them from the cost of production during extreme weather patterns and allows them to remain in production following the disaster.

"For example, if there are more than 12 consecutive dry days (less than 2.5 mm of rain) within 20 km of a GMet weather station, it will automatically trigger a payout to policy holders," she said.

The initiative is funded by the German government under the Innovative Insurance Products for the Adaptation to Climate Change project. It is implemented through a public private partnership between the National Insurance Commission, the Ghana Insurance Association and theGerman Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

UN - Troops in Darfur Allowed to Return Fire

Peacekeeping force guards supply convoy of soldiers from the joint African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

THE African Union cum United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNMID) which includes over 870 Tanzanian troops has mandate to use force to protect civilians or return fire if attacked.

The UNMID spokesman, Chris Cycmanik said over the phone from Darfur in Sudan yesterday that the hybrid peace keeping force operates under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter.

"The UN forces in Darfur operate under Chapter Seven which allows the use of force and in fact in this incident they did return fire," said Mr Cycmanik. He noted that reports that the TPDF soldiers who died in a rebel attack in the troubled Sudanese region were unable to protect themselves are not true.

Cycmanik was clarifying a statement made by the Tanzania People's defence Forces (TPDF) spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Kapambala Mgawe last Monday, in which he said the country is seeking a review of UN mandate in Darfur to enable peace keeping soldiers retaliate with fire power if attacked.

"We are allowed to use any weapon including semi- automatic rifles, machine guns and tanks in combat," Cycmanik noted. Bodies of the seven slain TPDF soldiers are expected to return home next Friday or Saturday, but Cycmanik refused to identify them saying their names would better be released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation or TPDF.

He said so far all bodies have undergone a postmortem and were yesterday paraded for final respects by their peers before a journey back home began. Under Chapter Seven of the UN Mandate, soldiers in volatile regions including Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali and Somalia are allowed to return fire if attacked while Chapter 6 Mandate does not allow the return of fire and is applicable in relatively peaceful areas.

UNMID hybrid forces in Darfur are under Tanzanian Lieutenant General Paul Mella and his deputy Major General Wynjones Kasamba also of TPDF. The Tanzanian soldiers were deployed to Darfur in February, last year and the seven deaths are the first largest casualty for the hybrid force since the mission started.

Meanwhile, one of the Tanzanian soldiers injured during the ambush in Sudan on Saturday has been referred to another hospital in Khartoum from Nyala in Darfur where he was admitted for three days.

The soldier (name withheld) is among four who were said to be on critical condition on Monday by the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF) spokesman, Lt Col Kapambala Mgawe. Lt Col Mgawe said yesterday that the soldier was transferred alongside the bodies of seven soldiers who were killed on the same ambush.

The bodies are undergoing final postmortem in Khartoum. "We expect the bodies to arrive in the country perhaps over the weekend. They will be preserved in Lugalo Hospital awaiting last respects due to be held at the Diamond Jubilee grounds near TPDF headquarters," he said.

He added that United Nations has assured the safety of Tanzanian soldiers on the peacekeeping mission following talks between TPDF and UN in the wake of Saturday's incident. On Monday, Lt Col Mgawe said 10 soldiers out of 14 injured were doing well in Nyala Hospital in Darfur. He added that only four of the soldiers were under intensive care.

Science Is Key to Locally Adapting the Post-2015 Agenda

The recent UN high-level panel report on the post-2015 development agenda alludes to the potential of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) in development.

In fact, the document makes an explicit point about technology transfer: "The innovation, diffusion and transfer of technology is critical to realising true transformation. Whether in information, transportation, communications or life-saving medicines, new technologies can help countries leapfrog to new levels of sustainable development". [1]

This is the crux of the matter. Governments will need to make massive investments in these sectors for ST&I to play a part in implementing this new global agenda.

But investments will need to be backed up by stronger alliances and serious efforts to adapt the new development objectives to national realities.

National context

Although the post-2015 framework is set to be global in nature, the high-level panel has called for goals, targets and indicators based on countries' own context and priorities. For the developing world, particularly Africa, adopting and adapting the framework cannot be done without due consideration of the level of ST&I input required to adapt the framework.

As a start, each country will need a national consultative process involving key stakeholders, including scientists, to begin giving this global framework a national character. This could result in several derivative frameworks but the consultative processes should lead to a global roadmap precisely setting out the how of implementation.

The African common position on the post-2015 development agenda - developed by the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the UN Development Programme and finalised in March - specifically identified ST&I as an urgent priority for Africa. [2]

It is during the development of the national roadmaps that an assessment of ST&I resources required for implementation should accompany plans for goals and targets. National roadmaps need to include such 'ST&I-readiness' that will provide the basis for measuring the effectiveness of rollout and implementation.

How this would work in practice, for Africa, could be the focus of a committee of heads of state and government on the post-2015 development agenda, which was established at the African Union Commission summit in May.

ICC - Trial of Kenyan VP to Open in Hague

Initial appearance: Deputy President William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang before the ICC.

The International Criminal Court has rejected a request from Kenya's deputy president to begin his trial in Africa.

The ICC said Monday that the trial of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto will commence September 10 at the ICC's headquarters in The Hague.

Ruto and co-accused Joshua Arap Sang are facing charges of crimes against humanity, for allegedly helping to organize deadly ethnic violence that followed Kenya's 2007 presidential election.

Defense lawyers had asked the ICC to hold at least parts of the trial in Kenya or neighboring Tanzania.

An ICC statement said judges favored the idea in principle but decided to hold the trial at the Hague because of several factors, including security, cost considerations, and the potential impact on victims and witnesses.

Monday's decision does not affect the trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also facing charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the Kenyan post-election violence.

Kenyatta's trial is due to begin November 12 in the Hague.

More than 1,100 people were killed and several hundred thousand displaced in riots and fighting that erupted across Kenya after the disputed 2007 election.

The president, his deputy and Sang are all cooperating with the ICC and appeared before the court in April 2011. All have denied the charges against them.

Despite the charges, Kenyatta won a first round victory in Kenya's March presidential election, with Ruto running as his deputy.