Lagos (Nigeria) The senior deputy Director General of Political Affairs in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Mr. Yossi Gal, Wednesday called for greater Nigerian-Israeli partnership in science and technology.

Gal told journalists on Wednesday in Abuja that such partnership would further boost the cordial bilateral relations between the two countries.

The envoy said that although the relationship between Israel and Nigeria was solid, cordial and mutual, there was need to explore other areas of cooperation.

“Presently, Israel is working with Nigeria in the field of agriculture and aqua-technology,” he said.

He added that his country’s land mark achievement could largely be attributed to its technological development and that Israel was ready to assist Nigeria in this area.

Gal said that so far, 6000 Nigerians had been to Israel and that the desire to have more bilateral relations with Nigeria and Israel prompted his two-day visit to Nigeria.

The Israeli envoy said that his country was also ready to work with the Nigerian private sector and that Israel was ready to host Nigerian business and trade delegations.

According to Gal, some Nigerian academics are in Israel for one form of training or the other and that Israel and Nigeria also have a thriving cultural exchange programme. /APA

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*”Police announced the arrest of three men in connection with the death of Arild Lund, 56, of Drammen.
Lund was found dead in his own apartment in the end of January.

The three suspects are all in their 30s and from Lithuania, Søndre Buskerud police said today in a press release. The men have been working in Norway, and have had temporary contracts.

The three men were arrested at two different sites in Drammen and were being questioned on Wednesday afternoon. Police said that further arrests could result in the case.

Local police have been assisted by the National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) and around 100 persons have been questioned so far in the investigation.

The autopsy report determined that Lund died as the result of severe violence, but police have yet to divulge details from the crime scene.”*

By Kristin Grøntoft and Jonathan Tisdall

*”/”*Lifted by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525 source.aftenpostenENG

*”A small Norwegian company is providing technology that Microsoft hopes will help prevent digital copyright violations.
Norwegian Harper Security has signed a licensing deal for their DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology with software colossus Microsoft, IT web site idg.no reports.

Harper’s innovation is based on combining the two types of copy protection most often used – digital ‘watermarking’, which adds information to media files about who has the rights to the file, and fingerprinting, which marks each file with information about the purchaser.

“It is clear that for a small player like Harper Security a deal like this is a big opportunity. We have worked with this since February 2006 and are very pleased to announce this now,” Ragnar Harper told Computerworld.no.

“The deal makes it possible for us to reach a global market, with a brand name like Microsoft behind us. It will help us in talks with potential clients in the rest of the world, and give us credibility,” Harper said.

Harper and co-founder Valery Pryamikov have built up several years of cooperation with Microsoft on various levels, and the technology behind Harper Audio Protector has been developed by Microsoft Research and Harper Security.

Harper Security views traditional DRM as a dead end, particularly since it is seen as consumer-hostile. Their solution does not limit the purchaser’s ability to use the files as they wish, which Harper says is a key reason users seek ways to circumvent copy protection.”*

By Jonathan Tisdall

*”/”*Lifted and published by African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no, tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525 source.aftenpostenENG

Lagos (Nigeria) The Nigerian general elections, due in April are crucial to the stability of Africa, the director of the West African Affairs in the US State Department, Mr. Philip Carter, said here Wednesday.

Speaking while on a courtesy visit to the campaign headquarters of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, Wednesday, Carter said on account of the importance of the election to Africa, his government sent him to confer with stakeholders, which include political parties, the electoral umpire, civil society organizations and others that play a role in the process in order to “have a sense of what is happening”.

The United States, he said wants the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work towards the realization of free, fair, and acceptable elections in April so that stability could be guaranteed on the African continent.

Carter said the US government has invested so much in promoting democracy in Nigeria and was therefore keenly hoping that the current transition process would result in free, fair, and credible elections.

The National Secretary of the PDP, Chief Ojo Maduekwe assured Carter that the ruling party was very much concerned and working hard towards sustaining democracy where the rule of law is paramount, admitting that the situation was yet to be perfect.

He said the party was poised to surpass its winning record in the 2003 elections in a way that legitimacy of the outcome would not be compromised.

“The PDP is confident of winning in many states because it is the only party that is working hard campaigning and canvassing for votes from the electorate,” said Madueke.
/APA

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Windhoek (Namibia) The planned anti-Mugabe demonstration organized by civil society organizations during the current visit of the Zimbabwean leader to Namibia, missed to make much impact, APA observed here.

As few as 50 placard-wielding demonstrators gathered outside the Zimbabwean high commission in Windhoek on Wednesday morning to protest against Mugabe’s state visit.

The demonstration, staged by civil rights activists, was marked by a heavy police presence. The event also attracted a lot of media attention.

The demonstrators, predominantly whites, waved placards which read in part :’ Enough is Enough, ’No Land Seizures in Namibia’ and ’Nujoma Learn from Mandela Not Mugabe’, etc.

Speakers at the event castigated a report by the New Era newspaper in Windhoek for welcoming Mugabe and urged the publication to report about real things that are happening, citing the example of Zimbabwe teachers who have resorted to selling airtime cards on the streets in Namibia and many who have been reduced to beggars.

The main reason of the demonstration, according to a press statement by the National Society for Human Rights, was to add to the ever-growing international outrage over the dangerous human rights, humanitarian and human security situation, which is prevailing in Zimbabwe.

The press statement blamed Mugabe for the 1980s atrocities in Matabeleland where over 7 000 people were killed, the land reforms and the clean-up exercise dubbed ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ which displaced over 700 000 people.

For these and other alleged human rights violations, the activists called for Mugabe to be tried in the international courts.

Mugabe arrived in Namibia on Tuesday on a four-day state visit at the invitation of his Namibian host, President Hifikepunye Pohamba. /APA

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Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The 2004 Noble peace prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai on Wednesday urged African countries to protect the Congo forest from further damage.

Maathai said that the Congo forest, currently regarded as the only symbol of African forests, needs special protection by African countries.

“This forest is one of the very important forests in the world, like Amazon and the southeast Asia forests. It is important for Africa. I appeal to African countries to protect the Congo forest,” she said.

Maathai was speaking to journalists after giving a lecture to African security officers on environmental security at the ongoing regional forum on security.

She said environment ignorance and lack of awareness as well as poor budgeting for the environment resulted in environmental degradation in the continent.

“What we have seen is that African nations are not giving enough budgets for environmental protection as they are doing for defense ministries to buy weapons, and to other institutions. There are countries that don’t even have ministries for the environment. There is environmental ignorance in Africa,” Maathai said.

She asked African countries to increase budgets for environment protection as part of the ongoing efforts to fight desertification in the continent.

Maathai said Africa is currently facing greater environmental degradation and deforestation than ever before, which results in the loss of millions of lives annually through floods, crop failure, starvation and other related problems.

Million of people are getting poorer due to environmental degradation in our continent, she said.

Maathai proposed the inclusion of the study of the environment in African educational curriculum as part of the ongoing efforts to minimized desertification in the continent. /APA

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Monrovia (Liberia) Liberia’s media advocacy group ; the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has condemned the arbitrary closure of The Independent newspaper by government security forces on Tuesday afternoon.

In a press statement issued in Monrovia Tuesday evening, the Press Union also condemned the seizure of the newspaper’s offices without a court order and called on the government to unlock the newspaper’s doors and “submit to the rule of law”.

The PUL says while it “acknowledges the reckless ethical misconduct” of the newspaper, it will resist any attempt by the government to “institute mob justice” against the paper.

The Union in the statement urged President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf not to “allow her government to regress into mob justice, but to give chance to the judiciary to function, if there has been a violation by the newspaper.

The Information Ministry Tuesday revoked the operating licence of The Independent newspaper for one year, for publishing for the second time, obscene photos of the former minister of state for presidential affairs Willis Knuckles having sex with two women.

The ministry also sealed the offices of The Independent and warned the Sabannon Printing Press not to print the newspaper.

The Press Union, however, also suspended the paper’s membership for three months for ethical transgression, while the government had earlier threatened court action against the paper when it printed the obscene photo for the first time, which resulted in the resignation of the minister.

In apparent compliance with the call by the PUL for the government not to violate the rule of law, the Information Ministry Wednesday reopened the offices of The Independent, but said the one year ban still remains in place. /APA

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Kampala (Uganda) A contingent of Ugandan troops for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia will be flagged off on Thursday by President Yoweri Museveni.

Army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye confirmed on Wednesday that the president will hand over the Ugandan flag to the commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping troops for Somalia, Col. Peter Elwelu.

Col. Elwelu was a brigade commander before being called for the Somalia assignment.

But the exact date of their departure is still not yet established, as Kulayigye refused to disclose the exact date saying that is not for the public to know.

The Uganda troops are going to Somalia amid reported threats by Somalia militias opposed to the deployment of an African Union force. The militias have threatened to “slaughter the African Union force at the gates of Somalia”.

But at a press conference on Tuesday, President Museveni said he has been holding discussions with the militias there so that they appreciate the mission of the African Union force.

Museveni said the African peacekeepers are going to help restore peace in the war-torn country.

He said, however, that the African force will be allowed to use force when they are provoked.

Early this month, the Uganda parliament passed a resolution allowing the deployment of the Uganda troops to Somalia. /APA

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