Publisher: korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.aftenposteneng

Thursday, May 1st, is “May Day” for many people all over the world.

Maypoles are traditional ways of celebrating the First of May in many countries. PHOTO: HENRIK WIDTH �

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“May Day” means different things to different people.

For many, it is the International Workers’ Day, or a celebration of the labour movement.

But the celebration has other origins, some very ancient, and different customs have become associated with it.

In addition, it occurs about halfway between the solstice and the equinox… Ok, thereabouts, anyway.

In Norway, May 1st is a national holiday, even though many people, at least the younger generation, don�t seem to know quite why anymore.

Some people associate the day with pre-Christian indigenous celebrations — and the tradition of dancing around a maypole might be a part of this heritage.

And for many, May Day simply signifies the beginning of summer.

At any rate, now May Day has become celebrated around the world in all its many manifestations, and so it will be in Norway tomorrow.

This means there will be no news service on our English Web Desk. But we will be following the news, and hope to catch you up as soon as we are back in place on Friday, the day after.

Happy May Day everyone!

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African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.apa

The German government is consulting the Rwandan defense officials on how best it can offer military assistance to the Rwandan peacekeeping contingent in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur, a senior official said here Wednesday.

Speaking during a press conference in Kigali, the Rwandan minister of Information in the office of the Prime Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, said German government officials are seeking Rwanda�s advice on how to effectively handle the Darfur mission given the tremendous achievements registered by Rwanda�s military in various peacekeeping missions.

Germany credited Rwanda for her efforts to stabilize Sudan�s Darfur region by leading to a scale down in numerous death of people and stopping possible genocide from taking place.

�It came from the German leadership that they wanted us to advise them on how to better shape the hybrid United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur,� Mushikiwabo said.

�It is quite encouraging and it shows the level of trust and confidence the government of Germany has in us,� Mushikiwabo said.

Rwanda has over 3000 troops in the Darfur conflict that has claimed over one million innocent lives.

The minister added that representatives of both governments would soon meet to determine what area the European nation could assist Rwanda.

Germany, whose engagements with Rwanda pre-date the arrival of Belgian colonialists after World War I in 1918, is one of Rwanda�s main development partners.

Under the existing financial cooperation, Germany last year joined Britain, Sweden and Belgium in channelling part of its aid to the country�s general budget support.

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African Press Internationbal – api

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.aftenposteneng

Norwegian politics will be boring without this man. He knows how to put the other parties on their toes and give them sleepless nights. He is tough when it comes to checking on the government ministers and what they deliver to the public. When ministers get lazy, Hagen, through his membership in the parliamentary control committe does not hesitate summoning them to be grilled in parliament. Some ministers when summoned may choose to give answers unsatisfactory and hope to get away with it, but that is when Hagen makes them sweat until they give proper answers.

Famous Norwegian politician Carl I Hagen is calling it quits from politics.

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Chairman of the populist Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), from 1978 to 2006, he has been vice-president of the Norwegian Parliament since 2005.

On Wednesday, he said he would not be running for reelection to the parliament.

After a long and controversial career, Carl I Hagen says he’s ready to retire from politics.

PHOTO: HÅKON MOSVOLD LARSEN

Hagen is turning 64 next week and says he wants to focus on his years as a pensioner.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg commented: “Hagen is a political opponent I have great respect for. Although we have been in disagreement in many cases and in many debates, I will come to miss him.”

Hagen’s many political opponents, and often the media, have painted him as being a populist and even a racist.

His political methods have been said to appeal to the masses by playing on their fears of foreigners, and especially immigrants.

However, he managed to build up the Progress Party to be one of the most popular in terms of voters in the country.

He once reportedly took part in a celebrity game-show, in which he expressed his love for America by riding an electric bull, wearing a cowboy hat and answering questions about his favorite singer—Elvis, of course.

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African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.aftenposteneng

We in API, send our heartfelt condolences to Martine’s family who have lost their dear child who had a bright future. May the good Lord keep her soul in eternal peace, and give a lasting comfort to the family. API

The murdered Norwegian student Martine Vik Magnussen was finally put to rest in Norway on Wednesday.�

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The funeral was held at Asker Church, outside Oslo. It was filled with mourners and overflowing with flowers, as Magnussen�s family and friends took their final farewell.

“Martine didn’t get so many years, but her life had so many colors and much depth,” said the priest.

Although her murdered body was identified in London as far back as March 17, investigations into the crime delayed the return of her body to Norway.

She was just 23 at the time she was found killed

Flowers and bouquets abounded at the funeral held for Martine Vik Magnussen in Asker Church.

PHOTO: KNUT FALCH/SCANPIX

�Related stories:

Martine�s body to be�returned

Tribute to murdered�student

Inquest delays return of student�s�body

Family of man sought in student�s death hires a�lawyer

Norwegian student probably strangled, Egyptian�sought

Murder probe launched into London student�s�death

Norwegian student feared dead in�London

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African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.nation.ke

Now it is final. The protocol issue has been sorted once for all. The President is on the top followed by his vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and in the third place is the PM Raila Odinga. The government had to act swiftly after the embarassment that was caused during last weeks peace mission in the Rift Valley where Raila and Kalonzo were fighting for seniority infront of the memebrs of public.

Now that things are clear, the PM has to be contended that he is udner the VP and the two should work together as a team in support of the President so that Kenya moves on in development.

Kibaki’s powers remain the same. He is the one that makes all important appointments. And retains all executive powers.

The photo below: Kibaki’s right hand is near Kalonzo, so we may as well say Kalonzo is his right hand man. API

Kibaki, Raila powers spelt in dossier

Story by BERNARD NAMUNANE

A new structure of the government that spells out the powers and responsibilities of the President and the Prime Minister has been prepared.���

President Kibaki, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka (left), Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi(right) after the naming of Grand Coalition Cabinet at State House Nairobi last month. Photo/FILE

The circular, which also outlines the role of Cabinet ministers, shows President Kibaki retaining most of his executive authority, including overall responsibility for the Cabinet, but ceding some of his duties such as chairing Cabinet sub-committee�s to Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

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Cabinet

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The Draft Government structure obtained by the Daily Nation but which has not yet been officially released, puts Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka in a somewhat awkward position by raising the possibility of the President�s principal assistant sitting at Cabinet committee meetings chaired by Mr Odinga.

But this can only happen when Mr Musyoka attends such meetings in his capacity as the Home Affairs minister.

The President�s powers and responsibilities, appearing under the banner of �The Presidency and Cabinet Affairs�, include State affairs and functions, executive authority of government, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Organisation of government business, Cabinet Affairs and Secretariat.

The President is also responsible for all security dockets, appointment of the VP, Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers, ministers and assistant ministers, together with the hiring of judges, ambassadors and high commissioners and is overall responsible to parliament for the performance of the whole government.

Mr Odinga, on the other hand, is responsible for coordination and supervision of the execution of the functions and affairs of the government, including those of ministers, chairing Cabinet committees, public service reforms and performance contracting, efficiency monitoring unit, inspection of State corporations, and any other duties assigned by the President.

He is also responsible for the ministries of State for Public Service and the ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, although the two have substantive ministers.

The move to spell the functions and powers of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers and ministers could be seen as a quiet decision by the Government to end the protocol row that emerged last week as the grand coalition government toured the Rift Valley province to hasten the resettlement of people displaced from their homes by the post-election violence.

It also seeks to end the growing sentiments by some ministers that President Kibaki and Mr Odinga share executive authority since they were signatories of the National Accord that brought into existence the grand coalition government.

The Presidential circular, signed by the Head of Public Service, Mr Francis Muthaura, dated April 25, 2008, places Vice-President Musyoka in the second position, ahead of the PM.

The circular that is labelled �draft�, further outlines the functions of seven new ministries in the 42-member Cabinet that were created to meet the expectations PNU and ODM leaders following the enactment of the National Accord.

From the onset, Presidential Circular No.1/2008 whose title is �Organisation of the Government of the Republic of Kenya� states:� �This circular is issued with the authority of His Excellency the President and it contains appointments and changes made in the Government since the previous circular was issued on 9th August, 2007.�

Responsibilities

It then explains: � The ministerial portfolio responsibilities remain an internal matter for each ministry to determine within the broad scope of the listed functions, and these responsibilities will be varied as circumstances and needs arise. This circular supersedes all previous Presidential Circulars on the above subject.�

It is copied to all ministers, assistant ministers, permanent secretaries, provincial commissioners, Attorney General, State House Comptroller, Controller and Auditor General, Public Service Commission Secretary, Clerk to the National Assembly, Registrar of the High Court, and Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman.

According to the circular, President Kibaki, who is the Head of State and Government, will preside over Cabinet affairs; State affairs and functions; appoint VP, PM, deputy PMs, ministers, assistant ministers; and chair all organs of security, among other responsibilities.

However, he is accountable to Parliament on the overall performance of his government, it states. It is significant to note that the docket of Cabinet Affairs was hotly contested during the consultations on the naming of the coalition cabinet between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga with the latter insisting that it should be under him.� Surprisingly, when the Cabinet was named, it had been dropped from the new ministries that were created.

Under the Office of the President are the ministries of Internal Security, Defence, Special Programmes and State House.

The circular describes Mr Musyoka as the principal assistant to the President and Leader of Government Business in Parliament. Mr Musyoka also heads the ministry of Home Affairs that deals with prisons and remand homes, criminal rehabilitation, and approved schools, among others.

The ministry of National Heritage and Culture, and that of Immigration and Registration of Persons are under the VP�s Office.

The office of the PM, which is housed at the Treasury, is charged with the task of coordinating and supervising the execution of the affairs of the Government including ministries. Mr Odinga will also chair cabinet committees such as those on corruption, preside over Public Service Reforms and Performance Contracting and the dormant agency anti-corruption agency� the Efficiency Monitoring Unit.

The circular also places under Mr Odinga�s charge the Inspectorate of State Corporations and other duties that he will be assigned by the President in line with the National Accord.

The two deputy premiers, Mr Musalia Mudavadi and Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, have the responsibility of deputising Mr Odinga in the coordination of government affairs and will also perform any other functions that the PM will assign them.

Circular

The circular defines the functions of the new ministries of Nairobi Metropolitan Development that was hived from that of Local Government, Fisheries that was split from Livestock and Fisheries, Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands, Industrialisation, Public Works, Forestry and Wildlife, and Medical Services.

Nairobi Metropolitan Development, headed by Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo, will be responsible for the development of the Nairobi Metropolis and growth of areas under it, and craft strategy that covers transport system, upgrading of slums, planning and zoning areas, efficient water supply and waste management, investment in infrastructure and making the metropolis globally competitive.

However, the National Urban and Metropolitan Areas Development Board remains under the docket of Local Government headed by Mr Mudavadi.

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African Press International – api

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Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.standard.ke

Revelations of jailed Mungiki leader

By Standard team

Former MPs, (from left), Mr Norman Nyagah, Mr Njenga Karume and Mr Joseph Kamotho address journalists at the Serena Hotel, on Wednesday. They asked the Government to release Mungiki leader, Maina Njenga on bond and resettle the displaced people urgently. Picture by Stafford Ondego

Details of how the Government has sent high-level emissaries to talk with the Mungiki leader emerged in an exclusive first media interview he granted The Standard on Wednesday at the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison.

As Njenga spoke in jail, an indicator of how the Government is changing tact in handling Mungiki was given by seven central Kenya politicians who called for his release. Former Cabinet ministers Mr Njenga Karume, Mr Joseph Kamotho, former MPs Mr Macharia Mukiri, Mr Waithaka Mwangi, Mrs Jane Kihara, Mr Daniel Karaba and Maragwa MP Mr Elias Mbau met in a Nairobi hotel from where they called for the sect leader�s release.

Njenga sounded optimistic of his possible release, saying he had told his family to stop the burial of his slain wife pending the outcome of the talks.

In a lengthy three-hour interview, Njenga made stunning revelations, saying he had met with a delegation led by former Provincial Commissioner Mr Cyrus Maina, who broke ground for talks to seek peace between the Mungiki and the Government.

Njenga said he had twice met the former Nairobi and Coast PC Maina, Catholic Priest Fr Ndikaru wa Teresia and ODM pointman Mr SK Thande.

Maina and Fr Ndikaru, the latter who is well-known to Njenga, were said to have been sent by the Office of the President while Thande, the Lang�ata Constituency Development Fund chairman, represented the Prime Minister�s office.

The first meeting took place last weekend but the initial contact was scuttled by the mysterious killing on Monday of two key Mungiki leaders on the Naivasha-Nairobi highway, Njenga said.

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.cnn

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) – A senior official with Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party (Magabe – right) said Wednesday a run-off vote was needed to decide the country’s presidential election immediately sparking anger from the opposition.

�Women who are opposition party supporters spoke on April 29 of how they had their homes burnt by suspected Zanu PF supporters.

The ZANU-PF source said a second round of voting was needed after much-delayed election results gave President Robert Mugabe 43 percent and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai 47 percent.

A candidate must receive 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a presidential run-off in Zimbabwe.

Asked if the results came from Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission, the official would not specify. “We have ways of knowing these things,” he said.

A spokesman for Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change rejected the ZANU-PF figures as rigged and said the party would refuse to participate in any run-off vote.

“ZANU-PF is trying to position a discussion about a run-off where there is no runoff,” Tsvangirai’s spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, told CNN. “(Mugabe) must concede defeat.”

MDC maintains that, according to its count, Tsvangirai won 50.3 percent of the vote. It has repeatedly vowed not to accept a result other than an outright victory for Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu would not confirm the ZANU-PF official’s data, telling CNN that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not yet released its official results.

The Commission was expected to submit the results of last month’s presidential race to the ruling and opposition parties on Thursday to begin the verification process.

Sending the results to the rival parties would be the final step before making the March 29 vote results public, which Zimbabwe has been under intense international pressure to do.

Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the MDC will compare the results they have tallied from polling stations with the final ZEC count, commission head George Chiweshe said earlier Wednesday.

Independent candidate Simba Makoni will also participate in the process.

Once all parties are satisfied, they will sign verification forms and the results can be released, Chiweshe said. He added the ZEC could publicly announce its results in the event of a stalemate. He did not say when that would happen.

Meanwhile, the MDC has failed in its bid to have the United Nations Security Council appoint a special envoy to address the country’s deteriorating political and humanitarian crisis.

The council’s refusal means that the responsibility for naming such an envoy now rests with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

There has been widespread violence and accusations from the opposition that Mugabe and his supporters have orchestrated a plan to remain in control of government and weed out opposition supporters by general intimidation.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC, told CNN that the Security Council must take action.

“If the U.N. fails Zimbabwe, then the U.N. is failing itself, failing the spirit of the founding fathers.” he said.

U.S. President�George W. Bush repeated his position on Tuesday that the opposition won Zimbabwe’s March 29 election.

“The will of the people needs to be respected in Zimbabwe,” Bush said. “And it is clear that they voted for change, as they should have, because … Mr. Mugabe has failed the country.”

Prior to Tuesday’s session, China and others opposed any Security Council discussion on the situation in Zimbabwe, considering it an internal matter.

But with pictures of violence from the African nation being beamed around the world, all 15 nations on the council asked for a briefing from U.N. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe.

The United States, Britain and France are in favor of an envoy going to Zimbabwe as a first step.

But the motion to send a special envoy did not find the unanimous support required for the Security Council to appoint one.

South Africa thinks its neighbor Zimbabwe should resolve its own problems.

“It’s their country,” South Africa’s Ambassador Dumiasni Kumalo said. “We don’t need a special envoy.”

The Mugabe government opposes the idea of an envoy. “The envoy has been suggested by the U.S., the UK, the usual suspects,” said Boniface Chidyausiku, Zimbabwe’s U.N. ambassador.

“As far as we’re concerned, when an envoy comes to Zimbabwe, it’s got to be in agreement with the government of Zimbabwe.”

Despite the differences, one former Security Council ambassador believes the current discussions are a start.

“We’ve now got all 15 members of the council willing to talk about it, recognizing that the issue has become very serious,” said Colin Keating, former U.N. ambassador from New Zealand. “So I think that’s an important step.”

A senior U.N. political officer said the secretary general will contact leaders in the region to discuss possible next steps in Zimbabwe.

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African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.cnn

AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) – Josef Fritzl, the man Austrian police say has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven of her children, twice holidayed in Thailand while she remained trapped in a cellar below his house, according to German media reports.

Germany’s Bild newspaper quoted a holiday companion, identified only as Paul H, who said he and the 73-year-old Fritzl had traveled to Thailand together twice and spent time in each other’s homes.

“He went [to Thailand] without his wife; apparently she had to look after the children… once he had a very long massage from a young Thai girl at the beach. He really loved that,” Paul H told the newspaper, which featured video footage of Fritzl laughing and receiving a massage in Thailand on its Web site.

“Once I saw how Josef bought an evening dress and racy lingerie for a very slim woman in Pattaya [Thailand] on the beach. He got really angry when he realized I saw him. Then he told me that he has a girlfriend on the side. The items were meant for her. He told me not to tell his wife.”�

The pair had also ventured to Oktoberfest.

Paul H said he had visited Fritzl’s house three times, the last in 2005.

“We sat out on the terrace and had a really nice evening… the kids were well behaved, however, they had a great respect for their father. They were never allowed downstairs into the cellar but we never thought anything of it,” he told Bild.

“Now that I think of the dungeon down there, I feel really sick in the stomach.”

Meanwhile, family members at the center of the incest and imprisonment case have held an “astonishing” reunion, medical officials said.

“They met each other on Sunday morning,” clinic director Berthold Kepplinger told reporters Tuesday. “And it is astonishing how easy it worked, that the children came together and also it was astonishing how easy it happened that the grandmother and the mother came together.”

Investigators say Fritzl held his daughter, Elisabeth, captive in a cellar for 24 years. He raped her repeatedly, they say, and eventually fathered seven of her children.

Elisabeth and two of her children were reunited Sunday with three of her other children and her mother, Kepplinger said Tuesday. The three children and her mother lived in the home above the cellar.

Elisabeth’s eldest child, 19-year-old Kerstin Fritzl, remains in hospital.

A seventh child died years ago, shortly after birth. Fritzl told police he burned the infant’s body in a furnace.

The story of the family’s imprisonment began to unravel a week ago, when Kerstin fell seriously ill with convulsions and was hospitalized.