Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule, as police surround the Supreme Court. (BBC quote)

API/APN story: President Pervez Musharaf has declared emergency rule in his country saying he cannot wait and allow Pakistan to commit suicide. He told the public through his broadcast message that he lives for Pakistan and for him Pakistan comes first and other things after.

In justifying his action, the General quoted America’s Long time president�Abraham Lincoln who assumed power when America was in crisis during the American civil war.

Musharaf says, the three pillars of government,�the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive have not been in unity to work for the benefit of Pakistan and in the fight against terror.

He accused the judiciary of playing with the Executive and paralysing the running of the government. He has now dismissed the Chief Justice who according to him was the key man in harassing the the government, and has appointed a new Chief Justice that he hopes will do better for the benefit of the country.

According to many international media outlets, among them BBC, CNN and Aljaazeera the Pakistani constitution has now been suspended but Musharaf has stated that all political elected officials will continue to function. This means that the Prime Minister, the provincial governments, the legislature�and others will continue to function. The Judiciary is the one arm in trouble waters as they now must expect dismissals and unknown disciplinary measures.

Turning to Western countries, Musharaf asked for their understanding saying, the West must not judge Pakistan�the way they judge western countries when it comes to civil liberties and democracy. He says Pakistan is learning and is on the road to full democracy, but that it will take time to reach a level that the west will be satisfied with.

Now it remains to be seen how the General will run the country and interestingly who he will work with from the opposition parties including that which is led by Benazir Bhutto.

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Nouakchott (Mauritania) The Mauritanian economic agents who were victim of the events, which pitted Senegalese and Mauritanian communities, Friday met in Nouakchott to validate the articles of their association, authorized since mid-September.

This meeting was primarily aimed at making a census of the economic operators, businessmen, traders, street peddlers or craftsmen, who lost their assets during the sad events.

“We also intend to initiate talks with the authorities towards an agreement enabling all those victims to secure their due”, the chairman of the association, Alassane Hamady Soma B�, said during the meeting.

He added that his association is working towards sensitizing the public opinion, policy-makers and the authorities about the lot of these Mauritanian citizens who “lost all their assets during the 1989 events”.

The association�s leitmotiv is “a fair compensation for the economic, financial and psychological damages its members suffered”.

The meeting was led by Professor Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, a former human rights activist in Mauritania, who was many a time victim of the brutality of Maaouya Ould Taya�s regime.

Talks on the return of Mauritanians deported in 1989 to Senegal and Mali are slated for mid-November.

The return of these refugees was one of the key themes addressed during the electoral campaign by Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi, who was elected president of Mauritania in March 2007.

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Kampala (Uganda) The rebel Lord�s Resistance Army(LRA) delegation currently in Uganda for consultations Friday called upon the government to ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop the indictments against their top commanders in order to increase the chances of a peace agreement.

While meeting the speaker of parliament on Friday afternoon, the LRA legal advisor, Cryspus Ayena Odongo said the ICC indictment is one of the leading stumbling blocks to achieving total peace in northern Uganda,

The ICC in 2006 issued arrest warrants for five top LRA rebels to face charges for crimes against humanity in The Hague, Netherlands.

Ayena said that the decision by the government to take the matter of the war to the ICC was rushed and not properly analyzed.

He argued that Uganda has the capacity and justice system to handle the matter of punishing perpetrators of crimes in the 20-year old war without the ICC�s involvement.

Ayena said it is difficult for the LRA to sign a peace agreement when the warrants of arrest against their leaders still stand. He said the government can use its powers to ensure that the ICC drops its decision to arrest the LRA top rebels.

The speaker of parliament, Edward Ssekandi commended the LRA for agreeing to hold talks with the government aimed at ending the war. He said that with the positive trend the talks are taking, there is a possibility the indictments against the top LRA rebels will be lifted. He called upon the LRA to sign the final part of the agreement so that the whole country can become peaceful.

The LRA rebels also called upon the government to introduce the federal system of government in order to stop any future wars as a result of concerns of the leadership favouring some regions of the country.

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Rabat (Morocco) The Moroccan ambassador to Spain was recalled for consultations on Friday on the decision of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan Foreign ministry has announced.

According to the ministry, the decision follows the announcement of the official visit by King Juan Carlos of Spain to the Spanish-held cities of Ceuta and Mellila which the Moroccan kingdom is claiming.

Describing this visit “as regrettable”, the Moroccan government on Thursday rejected and disapproved of it which the Spanish King is planning to make on Monday and Tuesday to Ceuta et Mellila at the northern border of Morocco.

Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi said he was “surprised” by this visit to the “despoilt cities�, the first one since the Spanish King came to office in 1975.

El Fassi strongly expressed his “deep regret and rejection of this initiative which may influence the existing privileged relations between the two brotherly countries and hopes that such measures be dropped”.

The Moroccan government stressed that these two cities “are part and parcel of the Moroccan territory and will return to the motherland through direct negotiations with neighbouring Spain”.

Morocco is continuously claiming its sovereignty over these two cities colonised by Spain in 1497.

Earlier in 1987, Rabat had offered to set up a consultation committee to find a solution to this “old decolonisation file” , diplomatic sources said in the Moroccan capital.

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N�Djamena (Chad) The 18 Europeans held in Abeche (east of Chad) for one week as part of the Zoe�s Arch (NGO) child abduction case have been transferred Friday evening to Ndjamena where their hearing began Saturday with an investigating magistrate.

The High Court of Chad transferred the case from the Abeche county court to that of Ndjamena, Ahmat Yacoub Adam, spokesperson of the High Court told the media.

The public prosecutor placed under committal order the 18 Europeans who were led to the “Guantanamo” ward of the recently built Ndjamena high security prison, intended for dangerous prisoners or condemned people.

On Saturday, a magistrate started the hearing of the 18 Europeans who may incur a sentence between 5 to 20 years of hard labour, a legal source in the Chadian capital said.

If the fate of the three journalists amongst the detainees is known at the beginning of next week, considering that President D�by ordered their release, the remainder of the accused will have to wait several days to know their fate.

Corroborating sources confirmed Friday that negotiations are underway to extradite the accused to France.

To avoid any riot in the capital, the government deployed an impressive security device from the Ndjamena airport, the prison to the county court.

The same device was deployed Saturday at the hearing.

A 19th European, the Belgian pilot who was to take the crew to France, a 75 year old man, has been waiting for several days at the “Guantanamo” ward to know his fate.

The Zoe�s Arch has been accused of attempting to take illegally to France 103 children from Chad and Darfur.

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Thommessen, left and Liberal Party leader Lars Sponheim, at a party congress earlier this year.

PHOTO: Heiko Junge

Deputy leader takes leave

Olaf Thommessen is finished as deputy leader of the Liberal Party after media reports that he has used funds from his mother’s memorial fund to pay back taxes.

Olav Thommessen has had to grapple with illness and the failure of his marriage to Vendela Kirsebom. PHOTO: �serud, Lise

Thommessen made the decision after consulting party leader Lars Sponheim and secretary general Terje Breivik on Thursday night.

“Both Lars Sponheim and Liberal Party secretary general Terje Breivik consider this a wise decision in view of the situation that has occurred,” Liberal Party information chief Steinar Haugsv�r told Aftenposten.no, and emphasized that it was Thommessen’s personal decision to take leave.

Thommessen, 41, has had a rough life in the media spotlight recently, having suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that led to a breakup with supermodel Vendela Kirsebom after 11 years of marriage.

He also had clashes with Sponheim, who has appeared uneasy about the popularity of the man many see as his unquestioned heir to party power. Thommessen has kept a low party profile and refused to challenge Sponheim for leadership.

Now Thommessen risks embezzlement charges after admitting borrowing NOK 73,557 (USD 13,650) of his mother’s fund to pay back taxes and other private bills.

Internal e-mails from the fund’s board revealed the wayward funds and Thommessen admitted to newspaper VG that he had borrowed over NOK 100,000 from the fund over the past three years.

“Because of the dimensions this matter has taken in the media, I will seek a leave of absence as deputy leader of the Liberal Party. In coming days I will compose an open letter to the (Foundation) Inspectorate which both the media and others will have access to,” Thommessen told VG.

Thommessen said that he had decided to drop his leadership duties out of a desire not to harm the Liberal Party. He will continue his duties as a city council representative for Oslo.

On Friday evening Thommessen announced that he was not standing for re-election as deputy party leader and resigning as head of the Annette Thommessen Memorial Fund.

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Bahadir Mirzaolimov and flowers left near the scene of the murders.

PHOTO: GORM KALLESTAD/SCANPIX/POLITIET

Bahadir Mirzaolimov received Norway’s maximum sentence of 21 years on Friday for the double murder of his ex-wife and a seven-year-old girl in Overhalla in April.

Namdal Court found the 27-year-old Uzbek man guilty of two murders under exceedingly aggravating circumstances in the killing of Anne Grete Vollum, 35, and Cicilie Watnan Lian, 7.

Mirzaolimov did not receive any leniency for confessing to the murder of his ex-wife, and the verdict said that “the killings were carried out in a grotesque and bestial way”.

The testimony of Vollum’s 10-year-old daughter, who was assaulted but not killed during Mirzaolimov’s rampage, was pivotal, and described as extremely credible and clear in the verdict.

During the trial Mirzaolimov admitted to killing his former wife but to remembering only flashes of the other crimes. Before the verdict was announced his lawyer said that Mirzaolimov accepted and wanted to serve his sentence.

“He says he has destroyed both his life and that of others,” lawyer Arve Opdahl told newspaper Adresseavisen.

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By our correspondent Wilfred Zulu

API/APN in Lusaka–A Zambian court has sentenced a former commander of the reserve military wing to jail for involvement in corruption and abuse of office when he served in the 10-year rule of Frederick Chiluba.

Lusaka High Court deputy registrar Jones Chinyama convicted former head of Zambia National Service (ZNS) chief, Lt. Gen Wilford Funjika to two years in prison with hard labour. The court however suspended the sentence on account of ill health.

On the first count, 59-year-old Funjika was found guilty of receiving 15, 000 British pounds as a bribe for awarding a contract to a local firm.

In the second count, he was again sentenced to two years for awarding a 72, 000 pounds contract to a British company without following tender procedures.

�I now sentence you to two years imprisonment with hard labour on each count and the sentence will run concurrently,� said Chinyama in his ruling on Thursday.

Funjika becomes the latest prominent figures in the former President (Chiluba�s) government to be convicted for graft.

He was ordered to pay back to the Treasury 15, 000 pounds within 90 days.��

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