The Kenya Daily nation reports that “A group of youths claiming to be supporters of Cote d’Ivoire incumbent Laurent Gbagbo on Monday attacked UN peacekeepers providing security for the African Union (AU) mediator, the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.”

This is putting the Kenyan PM’s life in danger. If the conflict between the two forces escalate while the PM is in the country, he may not be able to leave the country.  This is risky business. The soldiers loyal to the incumbent president know only too well that Raila had earlier called for military force to be used in removing the president.

These soldiers are people who know that their lives are in the hands of the serving president and will not allow an outsider from another country to negotiate the resignation of their protector.

It now remains to be seen in the next few days whether Raila will succeed or that failure will claim the events of the day.

Many parties in Kenya are against Raila’s involvement in the Western African Nation’s problems and have already voiced their concern.

By Chief editor Korir, African Press International

Monrovia (Liberia)-A high-level Peace and Security forum of the Mano River Union (MRU) convened in Monrovia Monday to discuss the crisis in neighoring Cote d’Ivoire.

Security experts from member states arrived in the country at the weekend for the meeting aimed at “taking steps that will prevent the crisis from spreading in the MRU basin which has been polarized by war for decades”.

A press statement from the Planning and Economic Affairs Ministry says the “core focus of the meeting will take into consideration the importance of peace in the Basin reminiscent of the recent past”.

“Host country Liberia and other member countries are seriously troubled by the crisis in La Cote d’Ivoire and are going to take steps to consolidate the fragile peace and security in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and save the Mano River Basin from further economic, social and political decadence,” the statement noted.

According to the statement, “Participants will discuss means of bringing together around the discussion table, the Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouatarra to discuss the post-election violence in their country and the way forward. The MRU forum will also seek to convince both sides to inform their foreign partners, whoever they are, to respect the Ivorian constitution.”

The situation in Ivory Coast has remained volatile since November 28 last year when dispute erupted over run-off election results in that country. The incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has hung on to power, despite declaration by the international community that opposition leader Alassane Ouatarra won the poll.

The Mano River Union formed in 1976 as an economic pact, groups together Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire. Cote d’Ivoire joined the Union in 2008.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirlreaf is the current chair of the MRU.

By Terence Sesay, Liberia-January 17, 2011

SOUTH AFRICA: Too much maize

Photo: IITA

Maize production has been booming in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, 13 January 2011 (IRIN) – After a record maize harvest, a bid by South African farmers to form a pool to export the surplus – enough to feed its food insecure neighbours, Swaziland and Lesotho, for several years – has raised questions about the future of the crop and the manufacture of biofuel.

The country’s Competition Commission rejected the bid on 11 January. “We wanted to start a debate in the country. Surpluses of this magnitude are unusual; food prices are going up globally. We have suggested the farmers consider storing the surplus,” the Commission’s Oupa Bodipe told IRIN.

“In the long run they should look at growing maize more for animal feed, or at alternative crops such as sunflower for oil.” He said the surplus should challenge the government and the agriculture sector to broaden their options and suggested the farmers consider using the surplus to manufacture biofuel.

South Africa has produced surpluses for several years. The Competition Commission said the farmers’ plan to take the latest surplus off the market would raise the price of maize-meal – a staple food in South Africa – and make animal feed more expensive.

Commercial farmers harvested more than 12.8 million tonnes of maize in the 2009/10 season – the biggest crop in three decades – but local annual consumption of between eight million tonnes and nine million tonnes will leave a surplus of about four million tonnes. Lesotho consumes about 344,000 tonnes per year and Swaziland 140,000 tonnes.

The Competition Commission acknowledged that “The existence of the surplus may well result in lower-than-expected returns to farmers, and financial difficulties for some. Ultimately, this may negatively affect the country’s productive capacity of maize in the long run.”

Johan Willemse, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of the Free State, said the Competition Commission did what it was mandated to do – take steps to keep food prices down – but it had brought the focus on the government to firm up its commitment to agriculture.

“With the inability to find other markets outside South Africa, the long-term effect will be that farmers are going to plant less, as dictated by the domestic market,” he noted.

Poor agricultural infrastructure also limited access to domestic and regional markets. “It is ironical, when we have such a massive surplus, that poor communities in poor provinces such as the Eastern Cape do not have access to cheap maize because of the poor roads – in fact, Eastern Cape does not even have a maize-milling plant,” Willemse said.

End of the road for maize?

The existence of the surplus may well result in lower-than-expected returns to farmers, and financial difficulties for some

Investment in better crop varieties over the years had doubled yields per hectare and maize production in South Africa had “saturated”, said John Purchase, chief executive officer of the Agricultural Business Chamber.

Maize prices had remained consistently low but there was scope for investment to broaden local markets. “Maize within South Africa was still cheaper than globally, even during the hike in 2008,” he noted.

“Unfortunately, it has not meant cheaper maize-meal – consumed by most of our people – because of added costs such as fuel and energy, which have remained high, but maize-meal prices are still cheaper in South Africa, compared to the rest of Africa,” Purchase said.

Maize accounts for 70 percent of the country’s grain production and covers 60 percent of its cropping area. Purchase and other representatives of the agriculture sector are debating how to deal with the future of maize – the backbone of the sector.

According to the International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI), South Africa produces half of Southern Africa’s maize, the main staple food in the region.

But as maize harvests have improved in other Southern African countries like Malawi and Zambia, which have also reaped surpluses, demand for the staple has shrunk. Besides, South Africa mainly produces genetically modified maize, which has few takers.

Maize exports have also been hit by the strong rand, which dropped from around R8 to the US dollar at the beginning of 2010 to about R6.80 at present.

Purchase said they were considering growing maize for markets outside the continent. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted in its latest update that the Republic of Korea was the top importer of South African maize in 2010.

Kobus Laubscher, head of Grain SA, the agricultural body that applied to the Competition Commission, said they appreciated the debate on the future of maize farming getting underway. Lower prices and the inability to sell the surplus had been discouraging some farmers.

FAO said preliminary estimates indicated that the area planted to maize in South Africa was likely to decline by about 10 percent compared to 2010 levels.

“We urge the government to come up with alternatives, including a biofuel strategy which calls for the mandatory blending of biofuel [with retail petrol or diesel],” Laubscher said.

South Africa does not allow staple grains such as maize to be used for the production of biofuel, but has announced ratios for blending biofuel with commercially sold fossil-fuel based petrol and diesel.

This is not mandatory as it is in Malawi, which has been using ethanol-blended fuel since the energy crisis in the early 1970s.

South Africa’s agriculture minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, recently said the government should review its biofuel policy.

The rationale for the pool

The Commission was more optimistic. “The surplus in itself is not indicative of an industry in decline. Surpluses and deficits arise due to changing market circumstances, and markets adjust accordingly. There is no evidence that this industry cannot survive such an adjustment.”

Ronald Ramabulana, chief executive officer of the National Agricultural Marketing Council, agreed, saying the situation was temporary. “With farmers planting less, the supply in the market will reduce and the situation will correct itself.”

Abdolreza Abbassian, secretary of the Intergovernmental Group on Grains at FAO, said he was concerned about the impact of the Commission’s decision on the farmers, and that it could disrupt maize supplies in the long run. “But the commission must have done its own cost benefits analysis for the country.”

The farmers’ desire to form an export pool was prompted by two reasons: “One was to ring-fence the four million [tonne surplus], hoping it would then probably push prices to a level which could help them,” said Willemse.

The other reason was that it was beyond any farmer’s capacity to export such a quantity on his own. “It now time for the government to seriously engage with the farmers,” Purchase suggested.

In the past few days agriculture minister Joemat-Pettersson has been travelling to various provinces to meet with commercial farmers.

IRIN was unable to get comment from the South African agriculture department.

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source http://www.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: No deportations until March

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN

Temporary relief for Zimbabwean migrants

JOHANNESBURG, 7 January 2011 (IRIN) – Undocumented Zimbabwean migrants were given until 31 December 2010 to regularize their stay in South Africa, but this has been extended to 31 March, and problems with issuing passports by the Zimbabwean authorities could delay the process even further.

“There will be no deportations until the end of March,” said Ricky Naidoo, spokesman for the South African Department of Home Affairs.

In September 2010 South Africa announced a moratorium on deporting Zimbabweans and said it would allow migrants until 31 December to regularize their stay by applying for work, business or study permits.

The lull in deportations will give the department time to process more than 275,000 applications for permits received from Zimbabwean migrants. “We are trying our best to complete the adjudication process in the next few weeks,” Naidoo said.

The South African government relaxed its requirements as the 31 December deadline approached and now awaits a variety of outstanding documents, including passports, to process the applications.

Zimbabwean migrant rights organizations in South Africa, such as the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF), and People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), expressed their appreciation.

“They [the South African government] even accepted applications with just birth certificates and, in some instances, not even that,” said Braam Hanekom of PASSOP.

The two NGOs are helping migrants who have applied for permits to obtain the required documents. The biggest problem was getting a Zimbabwean passport.

Only about a sixth of the estimated Zimbabwean irregular migrant population applied for legal status

Earlier this week, the Zimbabwean registrar general’s office indefinitely suspended the production of passports, temporary travelling documents, and other documents such as national identity cards and birth certificates, after saying an electrical fault had affected its database in the capital, Harare.

ZEF’s Gabriel Shumba estimated that at least 100,000 applications for South African permits had been submitted without passports.

Naidoo said South Africa had offered to help the Zimbabwean government issue the passports, but refused to comment on whether the offer had been accepted. So far, 42,779 applications had been finalized and approved, 10,166 were awaiting review, and 222,817 were awaiting adjudication.

The Zimbabwean daily newspaper, The Herald, which supports the ruling-ZANU-PF party, on 7 January quoted Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede as saying that they would start issuing passports again on 10 January.

“But will that help? They have a tremendous backlog,” Shumba noted. Thousands of Zimbabweans who went home to obtain identity documents have been left stranded.

Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the refugee and migrant programme at Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), a South African organization, told IRIN that the Zimbabwean authorities had been issuing 500 passports a day before they suspended production.

The price of not applying

Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean migrants could face deportation from South Africa, “as only about a sixth of the estimated Zimbabwean irregular migrant population applied for legal status,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

“There are an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of whom migrated as a result of the social and economic unrest in Zimbabwe in recent years.”

The organization has reception centres for refugees at the Beitbridge border crossing from Zimbabwe to South Africa and in Plumtree, the main border crossing between Zimbabwe and Botswana, and is on standby to provide free transportation to deportees. With support from local and international bodies, IOM has prepositioned non-food items including tents and blankets.

ZEF’s Shumba said inadequate publicity about the regularization process and lack of information on the requirements had deterred many Zimbabweans from applying.

Employers had also often been reluctant to provide letters of employment for fear of persecution. “The home affairs [department] assured these employers that there will be no action taken against them a bit too late,” Shumba said.

“Most Zimbabwean migrants work part-time, it was difficult for them to establish full-time employment,” Hanekom noted.

Nevertheless, Zimbabweans migrants could still apply for asylum, he said. “The application will provide them a temporary asylum seeker’s status until their interview to establish whether they qualify – this can take up to two years.”
He noted that asylum applications by Zimbabweans had a dismal record, “95 percent of them get rejected, but it can still get you some time.”

In the past 10 years, as hyperinflation, and social and economic problems have rocked Zimbabwe, more and more Zimbabweans have sought refuge in neighbouring South Africa, the most economically advanced country in the region.

jk-dd/he

source http://www.irinnews.org

COTE D’IVOIRE: Fresh violence in Abidjan, civilians on the move in the west

Photo: Monica Mark/IRIN

Abobo – after the violence

ABIDJAN, 13 January 2011 (IRIN) – Two days of bloody clashes in Abidjan, leaving at least nine dead, have prompted fears of renewed post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest city as the political stalemate entered its seventh week. Disputed electoral results have left both incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, and his challenger Alassane Ouattara claiming victory in November’s presidential run-off.

Residents in the Abobo district of Abidjan, often described as an opposition stronghold, told IRIN the latest wave of violence began after armed men loyal to Gbagbo carried out a dawn raid on 11 January.

“I was leaving to work around 5am on Tuesday [11 January] when I saw police trucks heading into the area.”, a 28-year-old bank cashier, who introduced himself simply as Traoré, told IRIN. “All I know is there were many of them, at least 10. When I returned, my wife said they had entered all the houses on the pretext of looking for hidden weapons. They took mobile phones, money and roughed up a few people.”

Gbagbo’s youth minister, Charles Blé Goudé, had announced a planned rally in the area on 11 January. Blé Goudé heads the Jeunes Patriotes, a pro-Gbagbo youth group whose violent riots forced the evacuation of several thousand foreigners in 2004, and which has featured on both European Union and UN sanctions lists. The first day’s clashes left three policemen and two civilians dead. But the fighting the following night was more brutal, another Abobo resident said.

Speaking in hushed tones, unemployed mechanic Ta Pi told IRIN: “Around midnight we started hearing bursts of gunfire every 10 minutes. It kept us awake the entire night. It was heavy air weapons or rocket-propelled grenades. Even this morning we were frightened to leave the house.” He gestured at the eerily empty streets of Abobo, where 4x4s filled with policemen passed by at regular intervals. “It is just too much. The psychological wounds inflicted are the worst – imagine being scared to leave your own house.”

A police source who requested anonymity dismissed allegations of heavy-handedness on the part of the police. “All I will say is – four of my colleagues were killed yesterday. But the population keep saying they’re not armed,” he said.

The district of Abobo is in the northernmost part of Abidjan. With a population of over 1.5 million, it is sometime called “Quartier Little Africa” because of its diversity and has provided an important support base for Ouattara. There were reports of a heavy security presence in and around Abobo on 16 December after Ouattara supporters had mobilized to march on the state broadcasting headquarters.

While other districts of the economic capital have remained relatively calm, news of the violence in Abobo spread rapidly. Residents in other areas complain of continuing uncertainty.

Duékoué “in cinders”

Meanwhile, the situation in the west also remained fragile after an outbreak of violence there last week. Despite an apparent easing of tensions in recent days, humanitarian organizations have warned that the situation there is increasingly precarious. “The last few weeks have left Duékoué in cinders”, a resident of the town told IRIN. “People don’t even have a roof over their heads any more. Anyone who can leave the area is doing so because it is just not stable here. The situation is deplorable.”

The Gbagbo government, which still has control of the Ivoirian army, the Forces Armées Nationales de Côte d’Ivoire (FANCI), has sent a mission to the west to control the violence. Mission head Col Vako Bamba said police recorded 15 dead and some 30 wounded in the Duékoué region during three days of violence. “The cost has been enormous both in terms of human lives and material damage,” he told IRIN.

While UN Humanitarian Coordinator Ndolamb Ngokwey has stressed the UN’s commitment to sending more humanitarian personnel into the west, reports from Duékoué point to a continuing exodus of civilians, including hospital workers, while some humanitarian missions in the area are closed down or operating with skeleton staff, struggling to meet needs. Some of those leaving have headed to the town of Man, which is under the control of the rebel Forces Nouvelles.

Makeshift camps are being set up around the outskirts of Man, the president of the General Council of Man, Blaise Blon Siki, told IRIN. “We need all the help we can get here – there are people sleeping in the bush,” he added.

In Bloléquin, another western town some 120km from the Liberian border, 33-year- old cocoa farmer Marie Jean said 30 members of his family had already left for Liberia. “I preferred to stay behind and make the trip on my own – it is easier than leaving in a big group,” he told IRIN. “Everyone is leaving by foot because then you can hide more easily in the bush if necessary,” he added.

The UN Refugee Agency is bracing itself for around 50,000 refugees coming into Liberia as a result of the political fallout. A Bloléquin resident who requested anonymity, warned: “The real number of people crossing the border is going to be much higher than official figures. The fact is, many of those fleeing are old people, women and children, and some of them won’t make the 120km walk”.

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source http://www.irinnews.org