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

Reading about Ann Njogu and the sacrifice she made by leaving a huge salaried job in preference to having one that will guide and help the needy, is amazing and one thing that those who love aiding others do not miss noticing and getting enticed to be partnered with one way or another. We congratulate her for the work she is doing for the Kenyans and hope many emulate her way of doing things that contribute in developing the people of Kenya. API

After early education in Nakuru, Njogu joined Mugoiri Girls High School in Muranga and later the University of Nairobi. She graduated with a Bachelor in Law in 1989.

The following year, she graduated as an advocate from the Kenya School of Law and joined Akhaabi and Company Advocates as an associate.

The holder of a Certified Public Secretary (K) certificate joined Madison Insurance Company as legal officer in 1992 and rose through the ranks to become the chief legal officer.

She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, and has attended human rights and management seminars in Raul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden.

Brought up in a close-knit family of seven, the Executive Director of Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) was brought up in Nairobi�s Bahati estate, Eastleigh and Nyandarua. She says she began human rights activism as a small girl of only five when she demanded to know why her parents did not take her photographs while a toddler and yet everyone else in the family had photos.

Njogu, a mother of two, a daughter, Stephanie aged 15, and a 12-year-old son, Ted, says few people, especially women, know their basic human rights. Hence in 2000, she quit a high paying job as the chief legal officer at Madison Insurance Company, to devote herself to running the NGO.

Creaw, a non-profit making organisation was established for the purpose of transforming society by empowering women through helping them know their rights.

Ann Njogu: CREAW Director���

“I needed new challenges. I had risen to the highest level in the company. Being young and energetic, I needed an occupation that could bring smiles to disadvantaged members of society.”

With her two colleagues, she had quietly founded Creaw in 1998, to give legal advice to women. They agreed they needed to give back to society part of their time and legal skills as appreciation “for nurturing and educating us.”

But the organisation founded to occupy her spare time was increasingly becoming her favourite. This led to her decision to quit her job.

However, her family was against the move and could not understand why she had to quit a well paying job for an organisation whose future could not be guaranteed.

Njogu, however, had made up her mind, and not even her husband could convince her otherwise.

Now eight years down the line, she is happy she followed her instincts.

The founders, who are members of the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida), decided to form Creaw to supplement Fida�s efforts and to go “that extra legal assistance mile” she says.

Creaw is proud of many achievements. One of it is the campaign for creation of gender desks manned by women police officers where aggrieved women can report violence. This is intended to check the charade of insensitivity women are taken through by male officers who demand victims demonstrate their ordeal to the officers� mirth.

The organisation has opened an office in Nakuru and also runs domestic violence sensitisation programmes in Ngong, Karatina, Garissa and Mwingi.

Her efforts in championing women�s cause have received the Community Awareness Award from the Rainbow House movement in Chicago, USA, where she had an opportunity to meet famous TV talk hostess Oprah Winfrey.

Despite initial challenges, Njogu has propelled Creaw to international recognition. The NGO now boasts of a lean workforce of 12 professionals and eight volunteers.

She cites cases of rape, which have in the past few years dramatically increased, despite the passing of the Sexual Offences Bill (2005), as some of the worst cases of human rights abuses.

Her move to alert city residents on Rape Red Spots saw her pick awards at home and abroad.

This strong woman was the force behind the controversial “Beware of Human Dogs and Beasts at this place” billboards, which were spread all over Nairobi and Kiambu district. The billboards, placed in places where cases of rape and defilement had been reported, elicited a lot of discussions, eventually making the law enforcers to take relevant action.

“Whenever one saw the alert message then the red colour signalling danger, they knew they were not on safe ground and thus we managed to reduce cases of rape in the danger spots,” Njogu says.

This led to the lighting of the Uhuru Park recreational facility, which had been ignored by the City Council.

She says that although rape is one of the second leading crimes in the country after assault, nobody takes it seriously. As a matter of fact, it was only after this campaign that an anti-rape squad and children�s desk in various police stations ware established. She says many sexual related crimes like rape, defilement and sodomy are never reported hence the need to sensitize people on their rights.

The lawyer notes that re-claiming the vulnerable Rape Red Spots through mobilisation of various stakeholders to provide essential services like the Nairobi city Council setting up lighting in the red spots whilst the police increasing surveillance is one of the achievements that she is proud of.

Her ceaseless search for justice on behalf of poor Kenyans by providing pro-bono services through the court process has resulted in real and actual gains for poor and marginalised women and has enhanced their access to justice.

“My organisation under the legal aid programme seeks to reclaim through the court, and/or alternative dispute resolution, women�s human rights in the areas of property rights violations including succession and inheritance, custody, maintenance, division of property and divorce,” she says.

Creaw has assisted women who cannot afford legal fees in their criminal cases including domestic violence, rape and defilement.

Under the Gender and Governance programme Creaw, recently drafted the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which shall seek to push for affirmative action within the Constitution whilst awaiting for the new Constitution.

“Creaw has been a key stakeholder and partner in the drafting and also lobbying for the Sexual Offences Bill that is now a law, as well as in stepping it down and we are happy that the offenders now are facing stiffer punishments.”

In partnership with groups from UK, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania, Creaw is working towards abolishment or regulation of the practice of bride price. Recent surveys conducted have linked human rights violations to bride price.

This impressive lady could go on and on for years about Creaw and her passion for women rights issues. She is determined it seems to spend her last breath on this course. As a woman taking leave of her office, I cannot help feeling proud and secure in the knowledge that one day, the Kenyan woman will tread the country without fear of oppression, assault or marginalisation.

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African Press International – api

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

Eleven Muslims deported to Somalia from Kenya after the collapse of Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union (ICU) have been released from Ethiopian jails and taken to Somalia.

It is not known why they were freed without charges.

But 19 Kenyans deported and detained with this group remain in Ethiopia’s jails in Addis Ababa and Awasso cities.

An unnamed Kenyan among those released has not returned to the country for fear of persecution.

About 60 Kenyans and foreigners were deported to Somalia on January 27 after crossing from the war torn country in the wake of the collapse of the ICU spurred by an Ethiopian led invasion.

Kenyan and Ethiopian authorities accused them of links with the ICU and Al Qaeida. Most were taken to Ethiopia and some to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Reports in Somalia’s Dobley town and Daadab on Kenya’s border with Somalia indicate one of the deportees was Kenyan without identification papers. Relatives declined to divulge further details.

In Nairobi the Muslim Human Rights Forum that has fought against US led renditions said its officials have met some of the released former deportees on the Somalia border.

Al Amin Kimathi, head of the forum, said the eleven were set free from Awasso and taken to Baidoa in South Central Somalia in February, apparently after being cleared by a military tribunal.

The official said one Kenyan has become deaf because of inhuman detention conditions. Independent accounts from former deportees show two detainees are now paralysed and one has lost an eye.

“It shows the extent of torture and atrocities in these jails,” said Al Amin.

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African Press International – api

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

Al-Hajj had an emotional reunion with his son, after six years of detention in Guantanamo

AlJazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj has hit out at the US treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison where he was held for nearly six and a half years.

 

Saying that “rats are treated with more humanity”, al-Hajj said inmates’ “human dignity was violated”.

 

 

 

Al-Hajj, who arrived in Sudan early on Friday, was carried off the US air force jet on a stretcher and immediately taken to hospital.

 

Later, he had an emotional reunion with his wife and son.

 

 

 

His brother, Asim al-Hajj, said he did not recognise the cameraman because he looked like a man in his 80s.

 

Still, al-Hajj said: “I was lucky because God allowed that I be released.”

 

But his attention soon turned to the 275 inmates he left behind in the US military prison.

 

‘Dignity violated’

“I’m very happy to be in Sudan, but I’m very sad because of the situation of our brothers who remain in Guantanamo. Conditions in Guantanamo are very, very bad and they get worse by the day,” he said from his hospital bed.

 

 

“Our human condition, our human dignity was violated, and the American administration went beyond all human values, all moral values, all religious values.

“In Guantanamo … rats are treated with more humanity. But we have people from more than 50 countries that are completely deprived of all rights and privileges.  

“And they will not give them the rights that they give animals,” he said.

Al-Hajj complained that “for more than seven years, [inmates] did not get a chance to be brought before a civil court to defend their just case”.

 

 

 

Free man

The US embassy in Khartoum issued a brief statement confirming that a “detainee transfer” to Sudan had taken place and saying it appreciated Sudan’s co-operation.

 

 

A senior US defence official in Washington speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that al-Hajj was “not being released [but] being transferred to the Sudanese government”. Sudan’s justice minister told Al Jazeera that al-Hajj was a free man and would not be arrested or face any charges. 

 

 

The two said they were blindfolded, handcuffed and chained to their seats during the flight home. The Reprieve organisation that represents some Guantanamo inmates said Moroccan detainee Said Boujaadia was also released and flown home on the same aircraft as the three Sudanese. According to a US defence department statement, five detainees were “transferred” to Afghanistan as well. It said that all those detainees, nine in total, had been “determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review proccesses”.

 

 

Al-Hajj was the only journalist from a major international news organisation held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for the network’s broadcasts.

Seized in 2001

 

He was seized by Pakistani intelligence officers while travelling near the Afghan border in December 2001.

Despite holding a legitimate visa to work for Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel in Afghanistan, he was handed to the US military in January 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay.

Al-Hajj, who is originally from Sudan, was held as an “enemy combatant” without ever facing trial or charges.

Al-Hajj was never prosecuted at Guantanamo so the US did not make public its full allegations against him.

But in a hearing that determined that he was an enemy combatant, US officials alleged that in the 1990s, al-Hajj was an executive assistant at a Qatar-based beverage company that provided support to Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.

The US claimed he also travelled to Azerbaijan at least eight times to carry money on behalf of his employer to the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a now defunct charity that US authorities say funded armed groups.

The US also clamed he met Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, allegedly a senior lieutenant to Osama bin Laden who was arrested in Germany in 1998 and extradited to the United States.

His lawyers have always denied the allegations.

 

‘Element of racism’

 

Al-Hajj had been on hunger strike since January 7, 2007.

David Remes, a lawyer for 17 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, told Al Jazeera that the treatment al-Hajj received “was more horrific than most” and that there was “an element of racism” in the way he was treated.

 

 

He said he had been in contact with the lawyer representing al-Hajj and it appeared the cameraman had been “psychologically damaged”.

 

 

“The Europeans would never receive this treatment,” Remes said.

About 275 detainees remain at Guantanamo and the lawyer said European detainees had all been returned to their country, leaving nationalities such as Yemenis – who now constitute one third of the inmate population. 

 

 

Aljazeera had been campaigning for al-Hajj’s
release since his capture in 2001 [EPA]

Remes said al-Hajj had been released because the Bush administration “wants to flush as many men out of Guantanamo as quickly as possible … as Guantanamo has become such an international badge of shame”. 

 

“Once the Supreme Court said the men could have lawyers the pressure increased [on the US] and condemnation isolated the US administration. Guantanamo was a PR disaster,” he said.

“Unfortunately Americans appreciate violations of rights but they have no sympathy for men held at Guantanamo as the [Bush] administration has done such a good job in portraying them as the worst of the worst and as evil doers.

“I’ve met many prisoners, gotten to appreciate their suffering … we know them as humans not as worst of worst, we’ve met their families.

“I’ve been to Guantanamo and the human dimension of Guantanamo is a story yet to be told,” Remes said.

 

 

Al Jazeera concerns

 

Al Jazeera had been campaigning for al-Hajj’s release since his capture nearly six and a half years ago.  

Wadah Khanfar, the network’s director-general who was in Khartoum to welcome al-Hajj, said “we are overwhelmed with joy”.

But he criticised the US military for urging al-Hajj to spy on his employers.

“We are concerned about the way the Americans dealt with Sami, and we are concerned about the way they could deal with others as well,” he said.

“Sami will continue with Al Jazeera, he will continue as a professional person who has done great jobs during his work with Al Jazeera.

“We congratulate his family and all those who knew Sami and loved Sami and worked for this moment.”

Two other Sudanese inmates at Guantanamo, Amir Yacoub al-Amir and Walid Ali, were freed along with al-Hajj.

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African Press International – api

 

 

 

 

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

Twenty-three people, including the defence minister for south Sudan, have been killed in an aeroplane crash in the African state.

 

Dominic Dim, who was also minister of the Southern People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), died when the aircraft went down about 375km from the southern capital Juba, Diek Machar, south Sudan’s vice president, said. 

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no

Watching Aljazeera tv program today focusing on the President of the Republic of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, one cannot avoid liking him. His straight forward attitude when answering questions from the journalist is amazing. When you listen to him, you get a feeling that he is speaking from his heart. And he puts his people ahead of everything else. Investing on kids knowledge is the best thing that other world leaders should emulate. Knowledge and activities of the mind keeps kids from engaging in crimes and drugs. It is one good example the Kalmyk republic boast about.

This country, though small, can become a model for world success.

Early life

From a humble beginning – his parents, as with other Kamlyks – were deported by Josef Stalin in World War II, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov grew up in Elista after the Kalmyks were allowed to return following Stalin’s death. He won the Kalmykian national chess championship in 1976 at the age of 14. From 1979-80 Ilyumzhinov was a mechanic-fitter at the Zvezda plant in Elista. After two years in military service for the Soviet Army, he returned to the plant as a mechanic for a year, and then studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations from 1983-89. From 1989-90 he was selling cars as manager of the Soviet- Japanese company “Liko-Raduga” in Moscow, and from 1990-93 he was President of SAN Corporation in Moscow. Ilyumzhinov acquired his wealth in the economic free-for-all which followed the collapse of the USSR. He now owns a private jet and six Rolls Royces; he has a black limousine in Moscow, but prefers his white one at home.

Political career

On April 12, 1993, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected as the first president of the Republic of Kalmykia, and has been running the state since then. Soon after his election, Ilyumzhinov introduced presidential rule, concentrating power in his own hands. He called early elections on October 15, 1995 and was re-elected unopposed – this time for a 7-year term. He won re-election in 2002. According to the BBC, Ilyumzhinov’s election platform for the presidency of Kalmykia included promising voters $100 each, a promise of a mobile phone for every shepherd. He once campaigned under the slogan “a wealthy president is a safeguard against corruption.” He also pledged to introduce what he called an “economic dictatorship” in the republic, as well as to promote chess in Kalmykia, in Russia and to the wider world. He speaks English relatively fluently.

After his reelection in 1995, Ilyumzhinov reportedly told a journalist from the Russian daily Izvestia, “Irrespective of what I tell people, I give them instructions on a sub-conscious level, a code. I do the same thing when I communicate with Russian citizens from other regions. I am creating around the republic a kind of extra-sensory field and it helps us a lot in our projects.”

Ilyumzhinov has striven to become an “Asian values” authoritarian like his Singaporean, Korean, and Chinese role models (even though his republic is in the southern European portion of Russia). He has spent millions of dollars on chess and religion, building a Catholic church at the instigation of the Pope John Paul II. He has also built a mosque, a synagogue, 22 Orthodox churches, and 30 Buddhist temples. Chess was made a compulsory subject in the first three years of elementary school – the only place in the world where this is the case; the region now has numerous champions. The Dalai Lama has visited Kirsan on mque, any occasions, and has blessed a number of the temples in Elista. Ilyumzhinov denies persistent accusations of diverting the republic’s resources for his own use (in fact he does not draw a salary as president), as well as of suppressing media freedom. In 2004 police dispersed a small group of demonstrators who accused him of human rights violations and demanded his resignation. When Australian journalist Eric Campbell interviewed people in Elista about Ilyumzhinov, he found that many were happy that he had managed to gain widespread attention for Kalmykia through chess, although one was slightly critical of the money invested in chess projects.

On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina of an opposition newspaper, was stabbed to death in Elista. Both people convicted in the murder were Kalmykian government aides, and one was an advisor to Ilyumzhinov. One other person was acquitted by offering evidence to help in the conviction. Ilyumzhinov denied any involvement with the murder – and indeed it was fully investigated by the local and the Russian authorities.

Claim of being abducted by an Unidentified Flying Object

Two newspaper journalists relate – although this is not in his autobiography – that Ilyumzhinov maintains that in 1997 while he was on a business trip to Moscow he was forced onto a UFO. “They took me from my apartment and we went aboard their ship. We flew to some kind of star. They put a spacesuit on me, told me many things and showed me around. They wanted to demonstrate that UFOs do exist.” He predicts that, “The day will come when [the extra-terrestrials] land on our planet and say: ‘You have behaved poorly. Why do you wage wars? Why do you destroy each other?.’ Then they will pack us all into their spaceships and take us away from this place. It appears that the story was allegoical and taken literally by two gullible western journalists anxious to gain attention.

FIDE career

From November 1995 to present Ilyumzhinov has been President of the World Chess Federation, investing a large amount of his private fortune into the game. He has been enthusiastic about attracting international tournaments to Kalmykia. His flamboyant plans to build an extravagant Chess City in the republic have led to protests by its impoverished citizens. The 1996 bout was scheduled between Gata Kamsky and Anatoly Karpov for Baghdad, after negotiations with Saddam Hussein. However the international response was so harsh, however, that FIDE moved the match to Elista.

In other developments during that time, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov encountered opposition from rivals in the European chess federations, the U.S., and Canada. Some of these managed to a special meeting in Utrecht, Netherlands, on April 27-28. The meeting called for equal treatment for Kamsky and Karpov, the restoration of the traditional FIDE cycle of qualifying contests leading to the world title match, and a shake-up in FIDE. To reinforce this reformation the Utrecht partners supported a candidate to challenge Ilyumzhinov at the FIDE Congress that took place alongside the World Chess Olympiad. The candidate was Jaime Sunye Neto, a grandmaster from Brazil. Ilyumzhinov was successful in mustering support from the Third World and from Russia, and he won the election 87-46. There was no restoration of the traditional qualifying cycle, and Ilyumzhinov’s own preference for a $5 million knockout contest for the world’s top 100 players was deferred from December 1996 until December 1997 with no definite sponsor announced.

In the summer of 1998, the controversial president of FIDE announced his possible candidacy for the Russian presidency. At the same time he was embroiled in turmoil over his plan to introduce an annual knockout FIDE world title system. The plan was resisted by Anatoly Karpov on the grounds that his contract with FIDE stipulated that the winner of the 1998 Karpov-Anand match would hold the title for two years. Karpov’s successful advocacy of his rights led to the cancellation of a planned world title knockout series in Las Vegas, Nevada, late in the year. Since Karpov had an unsuccessful year apart from the Anand match, he was unable to resist the plan that he would have to enter this knockout, whenever it came to be organized, at a far earlier stage.

Ilyumzhinov was involved in further controversy when some groups made attempts to persuade the 140 member countries of FIDE to boycott the main team event of the year, the World Chess Olympiad, scheduled to start in late September 1998 in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. The event started late due to the failure to complete the new venue in time, but it attracted 110 teams to the main event, a Swiss-system contest shortened to 13 rounds to allow for the delay.

Libyan tournament controversy

Ilyumzhinov arranged to hold the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya, at the urging of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The 2004 World Championship was held in Libya, and Boris Gulko who had previosuly not wanted to attend, being qualified to play. He accepted the invitation but President Qadafi’s son, who was also the President of the Libyan Organizing Committee, reportedly announced: “We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemies to this championship.” FIDE clarified that this statement was never made and it was only a rumour. Even so, Gulko, along with other Jewish players from Israel and the United States, declared that they will not participate. Gulko sent a strong letter to Ilyumzhinov, saying “I implore you not to be the first president of FIDE to preside over the first world chess championship from which Jews are excluded. Our magnificent and noble game does not deserve such a disgrace.” The tournament went on as scheduled, without Gulko.

Re-election controversy

On June 2, 2006, Ilyumzhinov was reelected as FIDE President by a margin of 96-54 against his opponent Bessel Kok. In an October 2006 Wall Street Journal article Gary Kasparov harshly criticized Ilyumzhinov FIDE’s leadership stating: “(Ilyumzhinov) has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today. He runs the chess world in the same authoritarian way he runs his impoverished republic. After a decade of such mistreatment, the only place that could be found to host the (chess world champion unification) match was his own capital. Some sponsors boycotted the organization, and tried to set up a rival one.” Nigel Short, the British grandmaster who supported Kirsan’s rival for the leadership of FIDE, was critical of Ilyumzhinov’s victory and said that “either FIDE stays a cowboy organisation mired in sleaze and shunned by corporate sponsors, or it becomes a modern, professional sporting body.” Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion, and onetime supporter of Kirsan, has now turned against him.

Source: wikipedia

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Source.Gvt of the republic of Kalmykia

Elista – the capital of Kalmykia

Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, is located in the South West of the republic in the wide valley to the South from the Yergeninskaya Height.

According to the data of the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Kalmykia for January 1, 2002 was 109.9 thousand.

By January 1, 2002 the area of Elista was 39657 hectares of which 21045 hectares is the city itself and 18612 hectares is the conjoining territories.

The transport network of the city is made by 300 kilometers of automobile roads, including 220 km of asphalt coated and 80 km of unpaved roads. The three highways crossing Elista have federal status: Elista – Volgograd, Elista – Makhachkala, Elista – Astrakhan.

The external transport communication is performed by the railroad line Stavropol – Elista, motorways Stavropol – Elista – Volgograd, Elista – Astrakhan and Volgograd – Elista – Kizlyar and the airlines.

The analysis of Elista population growth indicated that the largest growth rates occurred in the recent years. The growth of the population in 1996 made 6.3 percent.

The demographic changes are conditioned by the incoming migration flow from other regions and rural areas of the republic.

One of the priorities in the development of the city is residential construction and construction of social objects.

In the last six years the amount of contractual works reached 1.5 billion rubles, this amount in 2001 became 10 times higher than in 1996. Completed were over 269 thousand of residence areas from all the financing sources.

The residential construction was activated by the adoption of the Presidential Program “Dwelling 2001″. The city hall carried out the necessary works aim at the realization of the program. The Elista City Council prepared and adopted the municipal targeted program “Dwelling” that marked the main directions of fulfilling the provision of residential areas to the population of Elista. The program stipulates the attraction of all the financing sources, the development of the mortgage crediting, individual residential construction, construction of housing to various degrees of completeness, mansard construction.

The Elista City Council have established the Investments and Mortgage Service in order to create the organizational, economic and information condition for solving the questions connected with the investment activities in municipal education as well as coordination of City Hall activities in the sphere of mortgage crediting.

The main directions in the work of the Service are connected with the coordination of investment issues, realization of mortgage crediting, development of legal basis for the investment tenders and operative control in realization of investment projects.

Realization of the “Dwelling” program objectives required the creation of the organization to become its principal executor. The experience of the other regions and the analysis of the current situation allowed the service to develop the documents required for the creation of such organization. On May 20, 2001 a non-profit fund, the City Fund for the Development of Mortgage Housing was created to become the main executor of the program.

May 2001 was marked by the beginning of active work in construction of residential objects and attraction of financial resources to the residential construction.

The main condition in granting apartments with the installments of payment is the payment of 50 percent of housing cost and 2 guarantor and the corresponding overall family income.

The advantages of the program are:

• Cost of 1 square meter of housing is below the market price (uncompleted construction);
• Payment by installments up to 10 years;
• Inflation ratio is excluded;
• The credit rate is 10 percent.

All the new construction must be organically inscribed in the architectural look of Elista which is the recent years takes up ethnic color.

The city is carrying out the gradual greening and municipal improvements, laid are new parks, repaired roads, flower beds and loans, pavement and lighting of walkways.

It is necessary to note that Elista is the largest city in the republic inhabited by 31.2 % of Kalmykia’s population. Elista accounts for 30 % of republic’s enterprises’ and organizations’ capital assets, 32 % of capital investments, 45.1 % in the total industrial output, over 70 % of retail trade and catering. Elista carries capital city functions and is a political and administrative, cultural and organizational center. It was legally acknowledged in the decree by the President of the Republic of Kalmykia “On the city of Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia” dated December 02, 1997. Realization of this decree have considerable increased the legal, social and economic status of Kalmykia’s capital.

The program of the social and economic development determines the prospectives of the development of Elista, reformation of the particular sectors of city economy, increase of the life standards.

The program of social and economic development of Elista for 2001-2005 stipulates the plans of measures to support small and middle enterprises, shows calculations of the population’s demand, economic effect of the production development, provides basis for the development of the industries.

There are 23 industrial enterprises in the territory of Elista. They represent the following sectors: oil extraction, power production, machinery building, wood processing, construction materials, light, food and printing industries.

The structure of the industrial production by sectors is characterized by the following data: oil extraction- 70.5%, printing – 1.3%, construction materials – 0.7%.

The City Hall of Elista developed the program of the prospective development of the industrial production for years 2001-2005, is was approved by the decision of the Elista City Council. The program defines the priority directions for the development of industrial production by supporting the modern competitive plants and types of economic activities, worked out the mechanism of program’s realization by offering state contracts, system of crediting.

In 2001 the enterprises of light industry received the total amount of 3043.0 thousand rubles of commodity credit. This support contributed to the growth tendency in the light industry production.

Effectiveness of the republic’s economy was greatly influenced by the development of private entrepreneurship. So far the highest potential belongs to the small businesses as it is more flexible to meet the changing market conditions.

The number of small enterprises in Elista is 2713 or 23,6 % of the total number of enterprises, registered as tax payers and carrying out business in the territory of Elista.

In the period from 1996 to the first half of 2002 the number of small enterprises in Elista grew by 2.5 times.

The main educational priorities in the schools of the city are: development of the national educational system, studies of the Kalmyk people’s epic “Jangar”, application of the unique technology “Enlargement of the didactic units” by P. Erdniev, development of chess education.

The unique educational technology , enlargement of didactic units, developed by P. Erdniev is actively implemented in more than 50 regions of Russian Federation. The followers of professor Erdniev work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Stavropol and other cities of Russia.

Elista is also a science center of the region concentrating post secondary and secondary educational institutions, Kalmyk State University.

Education of the city is 10 secondary special institutions offering instruction to 6892 students, 29 secondary schools, including 7 innovative ones, 2 evening schools, 9 primary schools, 26 children’s pre-primary institutions, the Palace of Children’s Arts, Children’s Olympic Reserve Sport School.

Prizes of Elista students at all-Russian school student’s subject Olympiads are the indicators of school achievement level. Former Elista school students attend post secondary educational institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Pyatigorsk, Astrakhan, Volgograd. In the last 10 years 72 students left secondary school with golden medals, 131 were awarded with silver.

In spite of the difficult social and economic situation and inadequate financing the municipal health care institutions managed to save its structure and specialists, did not lower the amounts of health services and constantly perfect the methods and forms of work. Eight treatment and prophylaxis institutions function in Elista. In order to ensure a higher degree of accessibility of medical services to the population four branches of city clinics were opened in the city.

The main objective of the youth policy is the creation of legal, social, economic and organizational conditions for the development of young personality, realization of his creative and physical potential, formation of active life position.

The Elista City Council aids the family and children assistance centers “Itkel”, “Itsel”, “Buyancha sedkel”. Social protection of rights and interests, availability of jobs for minors and youths is one of the main concerns of the city administration and all the prevention services.

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

Story by Wayne Mafaro and Prince Nyathi

Johanneburg (South Africa) – Zimbabwe’s opposition factions announced a parliamentary cooperation agreement on Monday giving them firm control of parliament and piling up the pressure on embattled President Robert Mugabe.

But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party factions – the larger one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by academic Arthur Mutambara – will still be short of a two-thirds parliamentary majority required to amend Zimbabwe’s defective Constitution that bestows wide-ranging powers on Mugabe. “Its our pleasure to announce that our two formations in Parliament have agreed to work together,” Tsvangirai told journalists in Johannesburg. “The combined MDC parliamentary caucus is now in control of Parliament and ZANU PF (Mugabe’s party) is now the opposition.”

The Tsvangirai-led MDC won 99 seats while the Mutambara group won 10, to bring their total number of seats to 109, a simple majority in the 210-seat House of Assembly. An independent candidate won one seat while ZANU PF, which had controlled Parliament since Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence took 97 seats. Three constituencies where voting could not take place will hold by-elections at an as yet unknown date.

Tsvangirai, who says he should be declared president because he defeated Mugabe in the March 29 combined presidential and parliamentary elections, urged the veteran Zimbabwean leader to concede defeat because there was no way he could rule effectively when he does not control Parliament. “He should concede. He cannot be president without control of Parliament,” said Tsvangirai.

However, analysts say with Zimbabwe’s strong presidential system Mugabe, if he wins an anticipated second round ballot against Tsvangirai, would still be able to rule although an opposition-led but traditionally weak Parliament would make the task a little harder. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is expected to issue official results of the presidential vote sometime this week. But ZANU PF and independent observers acknowledge Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai, although they say a second round of voting is required to settle the contest.

Tsvangirai said his party would this week meet Tanzanian President and African Union Chairman Jakaya Kikwete in its bid to bring more pressure on Mugabe to allow the release of the presidential election results.
The ZEC’s failure to release the results has touched off a tense stalemate that analysts fear could lead to violence and bloodshed, while the United States has threatened sanctions over delays to issue results.
The MDC says Mugabe is delaying results to use the time to unleash violence and terror on voters in a bid to cow them to support him in the second round ballot that, according to the electoral law, should be held within three days of issuing of results.

The MDC says at least 15 of its supporters have been murdered while another 3 000 have been displaced in the violence, which it the opposition party has described as a war being waged by state security forces and ZANU PF militants against Zimbabweans. Tsvangirai said the United Nations Security Council was on Tuesday scheduled to discuss violence and the deepening electoral crisis at the request of the MDC.
“We have requested that the UN deals with the matter. The UN is meeting tomorrow and Zimbabwe is on the agenda,” the opposition leader said.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti is expected to brief the Security Council on the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and to ask that the world body send a special envoy to probe violence and human rights abuses committed by state agents against opposition supporters.

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