An Antonov cargo plane en route to Somalia with 11 people on board including three Burundian military officers crashed into Lake Victoria after take-off from Uganda’s main airport on Monday, officials said.

“It plunged into the lake and went down deep,” said an aviation source, who feared all had been killed.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Ignatius Igundura said there were four crew members and seven others on board the plane when it crashed. “The rescue is on right now,” he told Reuters.

An army official said the chartered plane was going to the Somali capital Mogadishu, carrying a brigadier general, a colonel and a captain from Burundi as well as one Ugandan army soldier, the crew, the civilians and some food.

Uganda and Burundi both supply troops to an African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

There were no details on what had caused the crash.

Africa’s air accident rate is six times worse than the rest of the world, according to the International Air Transport Association

source.standard.ke

Hassan al-Turabi, 76, was freed from prison in Port Sudan and flown to his home in the capital Khartoum in the early hours without explanation, his son Siddig told Reuters.

“We don’t know what is going to happen in the morning but there is no guard outside the house in Khartoum. He has been released … We are very happy,” said Siddig.

In January, Turabi became the only political leader inside Sudan to call on Bashir to hand himself in to the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of orchestrating war crimes in the western Darfur region.

Turabi, Bashir’s close political and religious ally until they split in a bitter power struggle in 1999-2000, said the president should do this to save Sudan from the sanctions and political turmoil that would follow if he defied the court.

Last week, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir but he has repeatedly said he would defy the court, which is not recognised by the Sudanese government.

Most other opposition figures in Sudan have said little about the case or rallied round the president, describing the ICC’s charges as a Western and Zionist plot against Sudan.

In the 1990s when Sudan hosted al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Turabi was widely seen as the driving force behind Khartoum’s promotion of militant Islamist groups.

Siddig said his father appeared in good health but had lost weight.

Bashir Adam Rahman, secretary for international affairs in Turabi’s party, was also released, Siddig said.

On Sunday, Bashir — brandishing a sword at a rally in Darfur — threatened to expel diplomats and more aid groups.

Sudan has already closed 13 foreign and three local aid groups saying they had helped the ICC.

“We will expel anyone who goes against Sudanese law, whether they are voluntary organisations, diplomatic missions or security forces,” said Bashir.

Before the expulsions, the United Nations and aid groups were running the world’s largest humanitarian operation in Darfur.

International experts say almost six years of conflict in Darfur have killed 200,000 people and displaced more than 2.7 million people from their homes. (Reuters)

source.the standard.ke

Nairobi (Kenya) – Maasai morans may not know it, but they are at the centre of a global scientific controversy over a patent application for their genetic capacity to drink lots of milk.

The row broke out a fortnight ago when South African researchers complained that the University of Maryland in the US had patented gene mutations collected from Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and South Africa.

The application, filed in 2007 and published last year, records Prof Sarah Tishkoff  then with the University of Maryland and Floyd Allan Reed as the inventors and sole applicants. When contacted by the Nation, Dr Tishkoff said the application was not made for any commercial gains but to protect the invention from intellectual property prospectors.

In Kenya, the study was carried out in 26 sites, in the Rift Valley, Eastern, Central and Nyanza provinces. The Maasai, like the other pastoral communities in the study, were found to have a gene mutation that allows for higher milk tolerance.

Although almost everybody feeds on milk as a baby, after being weaned a gene that helps in digesting lactose, a sugar found in dairy products, switches off denying many adults the capacity to digest or tolerate milk. The study in question has now identified the responsible gene mutation, more prevalent in pastoral communities such as the Maasai.

Using advanced biotechnology Prof Tishkoff, who has since moved to University of Pennsylvania, US, and Floyd Reed developed a process which could be exploited for industrial purposes. It is this process that is being patented.

The Kenyan researcher in the study group is Dr Sabah A. Omar of the Kenya Medical Research Institute. If not patented any commercial group can exploit it and no gains would go to the local communities, she told the Nation in Nairobi on Saturday.

The study had been approved by Kemri’s ethical board. While milk seems to be a universal food, a lot of people actually cannot tolerate it as it will resort to upset stomach and other unpleasant digestive side effects. Theoretically the new discovery could lead to new medical diagnostic kits to identify those with milk taking disorders or perhaps develop enzymes that could remove milk intolerance.

source.The Nation (Kenya) – March 2, 2009.

Yaounde (Cameroon) – Twenty-four Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, activists and their defence lawyer, Barrister Benjamin Enow, were arrested in Mutengene, Monday, February 23.

Those arrested included the SCNC National Chairman, Chief Ayamba Ette Ottun and his Vice Chairman Ngala Nfor Nfor.The activists were arrested during a gathering at James Sabum’s (National Organising Secretary) residence, after appearing in court for a case against them in Tiko that morning.

The litigation followed their arrest and detention on Monday, October 6, 2008, at the same venue (Sabum’s residence). After the proceedings last Monday, February 23, at the Tiko Magistrate Court, the case was adjourned – for the last time – to April 6. Magistrate Mukete Tahle Itoe adjourned the case because the Prosecution Witnesses were absent. The Magistrate warned that, if by that April 6, the State Counsel, Martin Sakwe, fails to produce the Prosecution Witnesses; he was going to apply Section 3 (1) of Public Policy on the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), dismissing the case.

Immediately after the proceedings, the activists drove directly to Pa Sabum’s residence for another gathering. It was while they were having their refreshments that the District Officer, DO, of Tiko, Augustine Fonka, arrived with a truckload of armed soldiers from the Special Amphibious Battalion.
The soldiers jumped down from their truck and fell on the elderly ‘freedom fighters’ like a swarm of bees. They kicked and bludgeoned the activists with the butts of their guns before bundling them into the truck.

Afterwards, they ransacked the “Guest House”, as the SCNC Conference Parlour is called, destroyed and confiscated plates, food flasks and chairs. Barrister Enow, who was on a prowl, was also whisked off and detained at the Mutengene Gendarmerie Brigade.

Within a twinkle of an eye, the area was inundated by lawyers who engaged in a verbal confrontation with the gendarmes. As the legal minds thronged the gendarmerie vicinity, the Mutengene Gendarmerie Commander who, ostensibly, had received instructions from above to disperse the lawyers, became confused on what to do.He accosted the lawyers yelling that his “Patron” had said nobody should be found around the premises.

The irate lawyers hurled back verbal missiles at the gendarme. Frustrated by their stance, the gendarme turned to Barrister Innocent Bonu and asked, “Maitre, you people want to put ‘sansan dans mon garri’?”

As the lawyers continued to troop in, one of the soldiers got to the DO who was arguing with the lawyers and asked him to give them orders to brutalise and disperse the lawyers. In response, the DO told the soldier to take it easy. After the DO assured the legal minds that their comrade would be released soon, they piped down.

Barrister Enow was later released at about 6 pm, after taking down his statements. The SCNC activists were also granted self bail each by nightfall. The diehards went back to their usual meeting place where they had another brief meeting that night before dispersing.

After his release, Barrister Enow told The Post that their arrest was a gross violation of human rights. He described the treatment meted to the old men and women as dehumanising.”I was molested during my arrest but, while in detention, they simply asked me to sit on the floor which I did. They did not allow me to call my lawyer,” Enow said. He added that, while in detention, they were charged with obstruction of traffic, illegal re-union and distribution of UN flags.

Reacting to the arrest, Barrister Eta Besong Junior, President of the Bar Council, explained that there are certain provisions that must be followed before a lawyer is arrested. He, however, stated that the matter was still sub judice (still under study by the law court).

For his part, the leading defence counsel of the SCNC case, Barrister Stanislaus Ajong Anu, said the arrest, detention and subsequent release of the accused persons is ample proof that the State intends to use any means at their disposal to obtain conviction against them.

According to Anu, the intent of the authorities is to muzzle the defence, destabilise and traumatise the accused persons so that they cannot properly prepare their defence. “The defence lawyers and the accused persons are concerting and the possibility of dragging the State and some individuals in their personal names to court for such gross human rights abuse is not ruled out,” said Ajong.

source.The Post (Cameroon)

Lagos (Nigeria) – As oil and gas producing companies operating in the Niger Delta suffer declining output forcing them to withdraw expatriate workers from the restive region due to kidnappings and militant attacks, oil field engineering contractors have also continued to flee the country, THISDAY Checks have revealed.

Investigations showed that companies from South Africa, Holland, France and the United States are involved in the latest withdrawal of companies from Nigeria .

Aside Willbross, a United States oil field services contractor, which relocated to North America last year, and Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a leading global engineering, construction and services company, that withdrew few months ago, many other companies have withdrawn from the country and relocated to other countries due to the increasing wave of kidnappings and other violent crimes in the Niger Delta. KBR is a member of TSKJ Nigeria Limited, a joint venture, which was involved in the construction of the various trains of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plants in Bonny Island of Rivers State.

According to investigation, Foster-Wheeler, a United States-based global conglomerate, which was incorporated in Bermuda and with its principal executive offices in New Jersey, has also withdrawn its services from the Niger Delta. The company is focused on Engineering, Construction and Procurement (EPC) and on power projects. Foster Wheeler’s subsidiaries, Foster Wheeler Energy Limited and Foster Wheeler Nigeria Limited, in a joint venture with National Engineering & Technical Company Limited (NETCO), a subsidiary of the NNPC executed a three-year term services contract for Chevron Nigeria Ltd.
The company’s subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Nigeria also executed a $20 million, front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, for Chevron’s gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Delta State .

Herrieme, an international company from Holland could also not stay in Nigeria due to the restiveness in the Niger Delta. THISDAY also gathered that Grinaker, a South African company has also withdrawn from Nigeria due to the increasing volatility of the operating environment. Grinaker is a multi-disciplinary construction and engineering group, anchored in South Africa and focused on selected infrastructure, energy and mining opportunities in Africa . The company has an annual turnover in excess of $ 1billion and employs some 15,000 people.

Also last week, Globestar, withdrew its workers from Warri in Delta State, after armed youth invaded its premises and killed its security adviser.
Acergy S.A. recently announced the award of a contract valued at about $50 million for the fabrication, assembly and testing of eight manifolds and support structures, 8 suction piles, 23  well jumpers and other subsea structures for Total’s Usan Oilfield located offshore Nigeria on behalf of Cameron Offshore Systems Nigeria Ltd. THISDAY gathered that this contract is being executed at Globestar Yard in Warri.

Beside kidnapping of oil workers and destruction of oil and gas installations, some chief executives of some indigenous oil services firms, who spoke to THISDAY on the matter, attributed the exodus of these foreign companies partly to lack of jobs in the oil and gas sector. “Some companies are reluctant to come because of lack of job flow,” said a CEO, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the International Energy Services Limited, Dr. Diran Fawibe, blamed the lack of jobs in the industry to the Niger Delta crisis. He told THISDAY that the international oil companies have a lot of projects, which could not be executed due to the restiveness in the Niger Delta. “If the oil companies are postponing projects, there will be no jobs for the oil services contractors. The Niger Delta crisis is responsible for this situation,” he said.

It was gathered that the contracts mostly affected are major Engineering Services Agreement (ESA), which are projects that are above 50,000 man hours and a contract ceiling of $80 million per contractor. THISDAY Checks further showed that Medium and Small Scale Engineering Services Agreements (MSSESA), which falls below 50,000, man hours and has a contract ceiling of $40 million per contractor, were also affected. MSSESA has contract duration of two years, with an option for one-year extension.

source.This Day (Nigeria)