Libya govt accepts Chavez plan, Venezuela says

CARACAS (Reuters) - The Libyan government has accepted a Venezuelan plan that seeks a negotiated solution to the uprising in the North African country, a spokesman for President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday.

Information Minister Andres Izarra also confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in Chavez's proposal to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.

"Libya accepts the proposal to work for a negotiated end to the conflict accompanied by an international commission," Izarra told Reuters. "Venezuela will continue its contacts in the Arab world and elsewhere to find formulas for peace in Libya."

Chavez, a former soldier who casts himself as an anti-imperial revolutionary, is a close friend of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and says he believes reports of repression by Gaddafi are exaggerated.

Reports that Chavez's proposal was being taken seriously by Arab leaders pushed down oil prices after a days-long rally on worries the escalating violence in Libya will hit supplies.

Earlier, the chairman of the rebel National Libyan Council entirely rejected the concept of talks with Gaddafi. Arab League President Amr Moussa told Reuters no decision had yet been taken on the Venezuela plan but that it was under consideration.

Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces.
Source :  http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7220HL20110303

Libya govt accepts Chavez plan, Venezuela says

CARACAS (Reuters) - The Libyan government has accepted a Venezuelan plan that seeks a negotiated solution to the uprising in the North African country, a spokesman for President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday.

Information Minister Andres Izarra also confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in Chavez's proposal to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.

"Libya accepts the proposal to work for a negotiated end to the conflict accompanied by an international commission," Izarra told Reuters. "Venezuela will continue its contacts in the Arab world and elsewhere to find formulas for peace in Libya."

Chavez, a former soldier who casts himself as an anti-imperial revolutionary, is a close friend of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and says he believes reports of repression by Gaddafi are exaggerated.

Reports that Chavez's proposal was being taken seriously by Arab leaders pushed down oil prices after a days-long rally on worries the escalating violence in Libya will hit supplies.

Earlier, the chairman of the rebel National Libyan Council entirely rejected the concept of talks with Gaddafi. Arab League President Amr Moussa told Reuters no decision had yet been taken on the Venezuela plan but that it was under consideration.

Gaddafi struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day but received a warning he would be held to account at The Hague for suspected crimes by his security forces.
Source :  http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7220HL20110303

Local Wikipedia chapter is African first

Next time you search for South Africa in Wikipedia, you may do so in any of the country’s 11 official languages. That's because South Africa is getting its own Wikipedia chapter, the first of its kind on the continent.

A group of local Wikipedians, as they are known, have made it their mission to make Wikipedia more accessible and relevant for South Africans.

Kerryn McKay, director of the non-profit African Commons Project, said the chapter is a bringing together a number of Wikipedians to represent the goals of the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the massive online encyclopaedia.

“We decided there needs to be an organisation to help formalise the process locally. These chapters are very independent and can do their own thing. But they have to further the goals of Wikipedia.

”One of those goals is for each country to establish its own chapter and increase representation of all the world’s languages. South Africa, with its wealth of indigenous languages, is perfectly placed to lead the African continent in reaching this goal."

Geared towards empowering people

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation, according to its website, is to "empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain and to disseminate it effectively and globally".

McKay said one of the benefits of having a local chapter is that it can help community projects by providing resources or even funds.

“Other chapters get funding locally that they then distribute to community projects in their area,” she said.

The South African chapter will also look to develop the local languages on Wikipedia and subsequently translate content, promote awareness of projects and their proper academic use, support the creation of local free knowledge and media, and offer scholarships for promising local students.

A long process

The South African chapter itself is still in the early stages of development. The group have decided upon the legal structure and are currently developing a constitution and appointing five directors, who will take the process further.

“It’s been a very long process. It started with a kick-off workshop last September that pulled together Wikipedians from around the country. We are now finalising the by-laws and are awaiting approval from the Wikimedia Foundation,” said McKay.

Other procedures still awaiting finalisation are the registration of the chapter locally; approval from the Wikimedia Foundation for the constitution; and development of a Wiki presence - all of which could take a further two months.

The group have agreed upon establishing the chapter as a non-profit organisation and are set to begin operating by the second quarter of 2011.

No longer a dubious source

Wikipedia, which prides itself on being a free but comprehensive encyclopaedia, has always allowed users to add their own content. 

This garnered the website a poor reputation amongst scholars, who felt the information could be inaccurate if it was not developed by qualified individuals.

The foundation is now working towards earning a name for itself as a more credible source for the academic world.

“We have a few academics in the group who are looking for ways to make the website work in an academic environment,” said Mckay.

She added that references play a large role in determining the accuracy and legitimacy of a post. 

“There are lots of watchdogs on Wikipedia. It is difficult to write rubbish on topics as it needs citations. There is a strong discipline of monitoring on the site,” said McKay.

Source : http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/science_technology/local_wikipedia_chapter_is_african_first.html

Libya protests: Gaddafi regime shaken by unrest

The 40-year rule of Col Muammar Gaddafi is under threat amid spiralling unrest throughout Libya.

Several senior officials - including the justice minister - have reportedly resigned after security forces fired on protesters in Tripoli overnight.
Witnesses say renewed protests have hit two suburbs of the capital.
In an earlier TV address, Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam conceded that the eastern cities of al-Bayda and Benghazi were under opposition control.
But he warned of civil war and vowed that the regime would "fight to the last bullet".
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in neighbouring Egypt, says Col Gaddafi has now lost the support of almost every section of society.
Reliable sources say Col Gaddafi has now left the capital, our correspondent adds.
'Hatred of Libya' After clashes in the capital overnight were suppressed by security forces, state TV reported a renewed operation had begun against opposition elements there.

"Security forces have started to storm into the dens of terror and sabotage, spurred by the hatred of Libya," the Libyan TV channel reported.

An eyewitness in Tripoli told the BBC that the suburbs of Fashloom and Zawiyat al-Dahmani had been cordoned off by security forces.
Protesters were out on the streets and flames and smoke could be seen rising from the area, the witness said.
Amid the turmoil on the streets, senior officials have also begun to desert the regime.
Justice Minister Mustapha Abdul Jalil quit the government because of the "excessive use of violence", the privately owned Quryna newspaper reported.
In New York, Libya's deputy ambassador to the UN denounced the Gaddafi government, accusing it of carrying out genocide against the people.
Libya's envoy to the Arab League, Abdel Moneim al-Honi, announced he was "joining the revolution", and its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, told the BBC he was also resigning.
In another blow to Col Gaddafi's rule, two tribes - including Libya's largest tribe, the Warfla - have backed the protesters.
Meanwhile, two helicopters and two fighter jets from Libya landed in Malta.
The helicopter was said to be carrying French oil workers.
The fighter pilots, both colonels, took off from a base near Tripoli after they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese officials quoted by Reuters news agency said.
The agency said one of them had asked for asylum.

Sources: BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12523669

Egypt Erupts in Jubilation as Mubarak Steps Down

Demonstrators in Cairo rejoiced Friday upon hearing that President Hosni Mubarak had been toppled after 18 days of protests against his government.

CAIRO — An 18-day-old revolt led by the young people of Egypt ousted President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, shattering three decades of political stasis here and overturning the established order of the Arab world. 

Shouts of “God is great” erupted from Tahrir Square at twilight as Mr. Mubarak’s vice president and longtime intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, announced that Mr. Mubarak had passed all authority to a council of military leaders.
Tens of thousands who had bowed down for evening prayers leapt to their feet, bouncing and dancing in joy. “Lift your head high, you’re an Egyptian,” they cried. Revising the tense of the revolution’s rallying cry, they chanted, “The people, at last, have brought down the regime.”
“We can breathe fresh air, we can feel our freedom,” said Gamal Heshamt, a former independent member of Parliament. “After 30 years of absence from the world, Egypt is back.”
Mr. Mubarak, an 82-year-old former air force commander, left without comment for his home by the Red Sea in Sharm el Sheik. His departure overturns, after six decades, the Arab world’s original secular dictatorship. He was toppled by a radically new force in regional politics — a largely secular, nonviolent, youth-led democracy movement that brought Egypt’s liberal and Islamist opposition groups together for the first time under its banner.
One by one the protesters withstood each weapon in the arsenal of the Egyptian autocracy — first the heavily armed riot police, then a ruling party militia and finally the state’s powerful propaganda machine.
Mr. Mubarak’s fall removed a bulwark of American foreign policy in the region. The United States, its Arab allies and Israel are now pondering whether the Egyptian military, which has vowed to hold free elections, will give way to a new era of democratic dynamism or to a perilous lurch into instability or Islamist rule.
The upheaval comes less than a month after a sudden youth revolt in nearby Tunisia toppled another enduring Arab strongman, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. And on Friday night some of the revelers celebrating in the streets of Cairo marched under a Tunisian flag and pointed to the surviving autocracies in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen. “We are setting a role model for the dictatorships around us,” said Khalid Shaheen, 39. “Democracy is coming.”
President Obama, in a televised address, praised the Egyptian revolution. “Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day,” he said. “It was the moral force of nonviolence — not terrorism and mindless killing — that bent the arc of history toward justice once more.”
The Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed Islamist movement that until 18 days ago was considered Egypt’s only viable opposition, said it was merely a supporting player in the revolt.
“We participated with everyone else and did not lead this or raise Islamic slogans so that it can be the revolution of everyone,” said Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, a spokesman for the Brotherhood. “This is a revolution for all Egyptians; there is no room for a single group’s slogans, not the Brotherhood’s or anybody else.”
The Brotherhood, which was slow to follow the lead of its own youth wing into the streets, has said it will not field a candidate for president or seek a parliamentary majority in the expected elections.
The Mubarak era ended without any of the stability and predictability that were the hallmarks of his tenure. Western and Egyptian officials had expected Mr. Mubarak to leave office on Thursday and irrevocably delegate his authority to Vice President Suleiman, finishing the last six months of his term with at least his presidential title intact.
But whether because of pride or stubbornness, Mr. Mubarak instead spoke once again as the unbowed father of the nation, barely alluding to a vague “delegation” of authority.
The resulting disappointment enraged the Egyptian public, sent a million people into the streets of Cairo on Friday morning and put in motion an unceremonious retreat at the behest of the military he had commanded for so long.
“Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state’s affairs,” Mr. Suleiman, grave and ashen, said in a brief televised statement.

It is now not clear what role Mr. Suleiman, whose credibility plummeted over the past week as he stood by Mr. Mubarak and even questioned Egypt’s readiness for democracy, will have in the new government.
The transfer of power leaves the Egyptian military in charge of this nation of 85 million, facing insistent calls for fundamental democratic change and open elections. Hours before Mr. Suleiman announced Mr. Mubarak’s exit, the military had signaled its takeover with a communiqué that appeared to declare its solidarity with the protesters.
Read on state television by an army spokesman, the communiqué declared that the military — not Mr. Mubarak, Mr. Suleiman or any other civilian authority — would ensure the amendment of the Constitution to “conduct free and fair presidential elections.”
“The armed forces are committed to sponsor the legitimate demands of the people,” the statement declared, and the military promised to ensure the fulfillment of its promises “within defined time frames” until authority could be passed to a “free democratic community that the people aspire to.”
It pledged to remove the reviled “emergency law,” which allows the government to detain anyone without charges or trial, “as soon as the current circumstances are over” and further promised immunity from prosecution for the protesters, whom it called “the honest people who refused the corruption and demanded reforms.”
Egyptians ignored the communiqué, as they have most official pronouncements of the Mubarak government, until the president’s resignation was announced. Then they hugged, kissed and cheered the soldiers, lifting children on tanks to get their pictures taken. “The people and the army are one hand,” they chanted.
Standing guard near the presidential palace, soldiers passed photographs of “martyrs” killed during the revolution through barbed wire to attach them to their tanks. At Tahrir Square, some slipped out of position to join the roaring crowds flooding the streets.
Whether the military will subordinate itself to a civilian democracy or install a new military dictator will be impossible to know for months. Military leaders will inevitably face pressure to deliver the genuine transition that protesters did not trust Mr. Mubarak to give them.
Yet it may also seek to protect the enormous political and economic privileges it accumulated during Mr. Mubarak’s reign. And the army has itself been infused for years with the notion that Egypt’s survival depends on fighting threats, real and imagined, from foreign enemies, Islamists, Iran and the frustrations of its own people.
Throughout the revolt, the army stood passively on the sidelines — its soldiers literally standing behind the iron fence of the Egyptian Museum — as the police or armed Mubarak loyalists fought the protesters centered in Tahrir Square.
But Western diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were violating confidences, said that top army officials had told them that their troops would never use force against civilians, depriving Mr. Mubarak of a decisive tool to suppress the dissent.
It has been “increasingly clear,” a Western diplomat said Friday, that “the army will not go down with Mubarak.”
Now the military, which owns vast commercial interests here but has not fought in decades, must defuse demonstrations, quell widespread labor unrest and rebuild a shattered economy and security forces. Its top official, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, 75, served for decades as a top official of Mr. Mubarak’s government. And its top uniformed official, Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, has not spoken publicly.
Egypt’s opposition has said for weeks that it welcomed a military role in securing the country, ideally under a two- to five-member presidential council with only one military member. And the initial reaction to the military takeover was ecstatic.
“Welcome back,” said Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who administered the Facebook group that helped start the revolt.
Mr. Ghonim, who was detained for 12 days in blindfolded isolation by the Mubarak government as it tried to stamp out the revolt, helped protesters turn the tide in a propaganda war against the state media earlier this week, when he described his captivity in an emotional interview on a satellite television station.
“Egypt is going to be a democratic state,” he declared Friday, in another interview. “You will be impressed.”
Dr. Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, 32, a transplant surgeon who was among the small group of organizers who guided the revolution, said the leaders had decided to let the protests unwind on their own. “We are not going to ask the people to stay in the square or leave — it is their choice,” he said. “Even if they leave, any government will know that we can get them to the streets again in a minute.”
“Our country never had a victory in our lifetime, and this is the sort of victory we were looking for, a victory over a vicious regime that we needed to bring down,” Dr. Harb said.
Amr Ezz, 27, another of revolt’s young leaders, said that calling the revolution a military coup understated its achievement. “It is the people who took down the president and the regime and can take down anyone else,” he said. “Now the role of the regular people has ended and the role of the politicians begins. Now we can begin negotiations with the military in order to plan the coming phase.”
The opposition groups participating in the protest movement had previously settled on a committee led by Mohamed ElBaradei, the former diplomat and Nobel laureate, to negotiate with the army if Mr. Mubarak resigned.
Mr. ElBaradei could not be reached for comment on Friday, but in a television interview he indicated that he expected the talks with the military to begin within days.
“I’d like to see that started tomorrow so we can have a sharing of power, the civilian and the military, and tell them what our demands are, what they need to do,” he said.
By evening, Egyptian politicians were beginning to position themselves to run for office. Amr Moussa, one of the country’s most popular public figures, resigned his position as secretary general of the Arab League, and an aide, Hesham Youssef, confirmed that Mr. Moussa was considering seeking office.
In Switzerland, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had frozen possible assets of “the former Egyptian president” and his associates.
In the military’s final communiqué of the day, its spokesman thanked Mr. Mubarak for his service and saluted the “martyrs” of the revolution.
In Tahrir Square, protesters said they were not quite ready to disband the little republic they had built up during their two-week occupation, setting up makeshift clinics, soundstages, a detention center and security teams to protect the barricades.
Many have boasted that their encampment was a rare example of community spirit here, and after Mr. Mubarak’s resignation the organizers called on the thousands who protested here to return once again on Saturday morning to help clean it up.

Sources: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/world/middleeast/12egypt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Single currency for East Africa ?

Experts from the east African Community (EAC) are meeting in Tanzania this week to set the stage for negotiations for a single currency as part of the region’s economic integration.

The EAC consists of partner states Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

The EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu opened the meeting of the High Level Task Force (HLTF) that will negotiate the protocol to establish a Monetary Union by emphasizing the importance of the next stage of the integration process to the region’s economy.

“The introduction of a common currency will provide a stronger and more solid basis for investment and economic growth,” Mwapachu remarked, adding, “Certainly, for an efficient and effective common market to operate, a monetary union, and not simply the free movement of capital, is essential”.

The EAC Secretary General noted that the partner states need to integrate their economies more deeply for the region to achieve the Monetary Union, the third pillar of the integration agenda after the Customs Union and Common Market.

Mwapachu also observed that a monetary union would help eliminate price instability and exchange rate volatility, which he said would translate into a competitive business environment that spurs investment flows and growth.

Heads of country delegations appointed to the HLTF were unanimous in voicing their commitment to steering the negotiations to a successful conclusion. At this week’s meeting the HLTF is expected to among others, consider and adopt the methodology of work, review and refine the draft roadmap towards the EAMU, and lastly agree on the calendar of activities for the negotiations process. Negotiations for the Protocol are slated to commence in March this year.

The HLTF comprises senior officials from the partner states Ministries of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, East African Community Affairs, as well as Central Banks, Capital Markets Authorities, Insurance and Pensions Regulatory Agencies, and National Statistics Offices.

Source: CP - Africa
http://www.cp-africa.com/2011/01/21/single-currency-spur-east-africa-regional-growth/

Sudan: Referendum vote over, now the hard work begins

The referendum vote on the future of Southern Sudan defied critics by passing off peacefully, but the region still faces challenges that could threaten stability, say experts and officials.

"The referendum environment was peaceful, secure and orderly to allow voters in large numbers to exercise their democratic rights with relative ease," Victor Tonchi, head of the African Union observer mission, told reporters at the release of a preliminary report on 16 January.

Despite previous warnings of the risk of violence, the 9-15 January voting period was peaceful and calm, observers said. Enthusiastic voters queued patiently for hours, with a high turnout in the South. The numbers were, however, far lower in the North.

"This is our moment in history, when we get to choose our destiny for the first time in our lives," voter Susan Tombe said. "Nothing is more important to us as the people of the South, and nobody would do anything to spoil it."

The referendum is the climax of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war. That conflict claimed some two million lives, according to observers.

Final results are not due to be released until 14 February, but early returns suggest an overwhelming support for secession, a view backed by the US-based Carter Center.

"Based on early reports of vote-counting results, it appears virtually certain that the results will be in favour of secession," it said in a 17 January statement. "The Center finds that the referendum process to date is broadly consistent with international standards for democratic elections and represents the genuine expression of the will of the electorate."

US President Barack Obama congratulated Sudan on the peaceful vote. "The sight of so many Sudanese casting their votes in a peaceful and orderly fashion was an inspiration to the world and a tribute to the determination of the people and leaders of South Sudan to forge a better future," Obama said on 16 January.

Similar sentiments were expressed by observers including the Arab League, the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and European Union.

Before 9 July, when the South could potentially become independent, observers say key issues remain outstanding. These include negotiations on citizenship, the sharing of oil revenues - with reserves mainly in the South, but pipelines only running North; border demarcation and Sudan's crippling debt, estimated at US$38 billion.

Abyei
One key concern is the border area of Abyei, where at least 30 people were killed in clashes as voting began.

Abyei was due to hold a separate referendum at the same time as the South, when its residents would decide whether to become part of the North or South. But progress on that vote remains in deadlock, with the largely Northern-supported Misseriya community - who travel through the region annually to graze their cattle - demanding a right to vote.

That demand is rejected by the largely Southern-supported Dinka Ngok people, and Southerners, who say only permanent residents should be allowed to vote. A deal signed on 17 January between Khartoum and Juba over Abyei agreed a raft of measures including boosting security with extra Joint Intergrated Units - the special North-South military force.

Observers suggest the issue of Abyei will now be wrapped in post-referendum negotiations, with the South working for an annexation of the land, and the North wanting to extract a hefty payment in debt, oil and border deals elsewhere. Such a deal would need to involve agreement from those on the ground, but many are still demanding their promised referendum goes ahead.

"Just as commitments were made for a Southern Sudan referendum, so were binding commitments made for an Abyei referendum," said Deng Mading of the civil society group, the Abyei Referendum Forum. "We must have resolution of our status."

According to Douglas Johnson, a Sudan expert and former member of the Abyei Boundaries Commission, "Abyei has so far proved to be the most difficult part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA] to implement, more difficult than the determination of the rest of the North-South boundary or the division of oil revenues."

Senior Southern officials such as Deng Alor have accused the North of backing militias in the region - claims rejected by Khartoum's ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

"We are telling the NCP that it is better to stop doing this because when your house is built of glass don't throw stones at people - the NCP is very vulnerable and they know it," Alor, Minister for Regional Cooperation, said.

Johnson, while calling for the implementation of the referendum provisions before the end of the dry season in May, called for the creation of "long-term mechanisms" to enable both Misseriya and Dinka Ngok to "collaborate in secure annual movements of pastoralists".

In spite of the tensions, the risk of renewed conflict is low, say some officials.

"We have spent so many years bleeding in the bush and losing our close friends and brothers, that both North and South will have to think twice about war," Gier Chuang, Southern Sudan's Internal Affairs Minister. "We are working for a peaceful, stable South Sudan."

Challenges
The key challenge is that major humanitarian and development problems remain. More than 180,000 Southerners have returned from the North in the past three months, adding pressure to communities already struggling to cope, according to figures released by Georg Charpentier, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.

"Every effort is being made to ensure that the basic needs of the returnees are met, including food, access to water and sanitation, blankets and water," Charpentier said.

But the long-term needs are huge. "The chronic poverty, lack of development and the threat of violence that blight people's daily lives will not disappear after the referendum," Melinda Young, head of Oxfam in Southern Sudan, said in a statement on the eve of the vote.

"Whatever the outcome of the vote, these long-term issues need to be addressed," Young added. "Failure to do so risks undoing any progress made in the past few years."

Concern is also growing in the North, where observers fear a possible backlash if the South breaks away. Demonstrations over rising food prices have sparked concern, as inflation grows and the Sudanese pound has weakened against the dollar in recent months.

Veteran Islamist opposition politician Hassan al-Turabi was arrested on 18 January after calling for a Tunisian style uprising in the capital Khartoum.

"There are a lot of people thinking, now what happens to us in the North?" said a civil society activist in Khartoum, who asked not be named.

"We assume the South will be separate," he added. "We have our problems too: Darfur and the east have had rebellions. Will they be the ones to ask, ‘now it is our turn?'"

Source: Africa good news 

http://www.africagoodnews.com/africa/newsletters/item/2122-sudan-referendum-vote-over-now-the-hard-work-begins.html