February 05, 2007

Bush to unveil budget dominated by military, Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is expected on Monday to estimate the costs for the Iraq war at nearly $300 billion over the next 2 1/2 years and propose limiting domestic spending for fiscal year 2008.

Mon Feb 5, 2007 7:46AM EST

By Caren Bohan

The new budget, which also includes a 10.5 percent increase for other military spending, is the first he will submit to the Democratic-controlled Congress. It will be released at 10 a.m./1500 GMT

A fight is looming over domestic priorities, and Democrats say they are braced for "sticker shock" on the Iraq estimate, which comes as Bush faces criticism over his plan to send in more troops.

As details of the budget spilled out over the weekend, some Democrats accused Bush of fiscal irresponsibility for seeking to make his tax cuts permanent while projecting huge costs for Iraq. Some expressed worry that the price tag for the war could end up being even higher than Bush has estimated.

"As is typical of this administration, this will be a budget that conceals more than it reveals," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad told Reuters in an interview.

The North Dakota Democrat said Bush's fiscal policies were pushing the country "off a cliff and into a chasm of debt."

White House budget director Rob Portman said the budget estimates on Iraq were "prudent" and insisted Bush would be able to reach his goal of erasing the budget deficit by 2012.

"Going forward, the president has laid out not only declining deficits every year, but a balanced budget within five years," Portman told CNN.

WAR SPENDING RISING

He confirmed Bush would ask Congress for $100 billion more for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for fiscal year 2007, which ends in September, and $145 billion for 2008. He will also pencil in a forecast of $50 billion for 2009 but include no war projections beyond that year.

The war spending for 2007 will mark the highest annual level since the invasion of Iraq nearly four years ago. The total for this year of $170 billion includes the $100 billion request and $70 billion that Congress already appropriated.

The military has told the White House it needs billions of dollars to replace tanks, artillery and other weapons used in the Iraq war. Those costs will be included in the 2007 and 2008 Iraq war requests.

An administration official who has been briefed on the budget said Bush will propose a 10.5 percent rise in the Pentagon's regular budget to $481 billion in 2008.

The spending plan totaling $2.9 trillion would hold growth in domestic discretionary spending to 1 percent, said the official, who was contacted by Reuters and spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt Bush's announcement.

Brian Riedl, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said that, politically, Bush has little to lose and much to gain from a confrontation with Democrats over domestic spending.

Bush will try to turn the tables on Democrats who have attacked his fiscal stewardship and shore up support from Republicans who view him as a big spender, Riedl said.

"The president can draw a line on discretionary spending and refuse to sign a spending bill that is above his stated level," Riedl said. "He can enforce that top-line number through the use of his veto."

Posted by Publisher at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)

Manning seals legacy with Super Bowl win

MIAMI (Reuters) - Peyton Manning added the missing ingredient to his Hall of Fame credentials by leading the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI on Sunday.

Mon Feb 5, 2007 5:12am ET

By Steve Ginsburg

Manning, a seven-times All-Pro quarterback slammed by his critics for failing to win when it matters, exorcised his big-game demons by completing 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and one touchdown in a steady rain at Dolphin Stadium.

"In years' past when our team's come up short, it's been disappointing," Manning, the game's Most Valuable Player, told reporters. "Somehow we found a way to have learned from some of those losses and we've been a better team because of it."

Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy believes the criticism of Manning was unfair but will probably linger.

"Maybe people will say now, 'If he doesn't win two in a row, it's not good enough,'" the coach said.

"But he's done it, he's got it behind him. I don't think there's anything else you can say now other than this guy is a Hall of Fame player and one of the greatest players ever to play the game."

With Indianapolis nursing a five-point lead early in the final period, cornerback Kelvin Hayden picked off a pass by Rex Grossman and returned it 56 yards for a score that increased the Colts' advantage to 29-17.

Grossman's pass toward the right sideline was intended for Muhsin Muhammad and Hayden leaped in front of him before racing down the sideline accompanied by a cordon of blockers.

Chicago's offense, which had sputtered most of the night, never recovered, allowing Dungy to become the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl.

"I thought about all the guys who came ahead of me, who could have done it and didn't get the opportunity," said the 51-year-old Dungy. "I dedicate the game to them."

Grossman completed 20 of 28 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown but had two crucial interceptions in the fourth quarter. The Bears (15-4), seeking their first title since the 1985 season, also lost three fumbles.

"It was slippery," said Grossman, who fumbled twice. "When the ball was snapped up from center, it would just kind of slide off my hands."

Dominic Rhodes had 113 yards on 21 carries for the Colts, who amassed 191 yards on the ground.

The Super Bowl victory was the Colts' first since the 1970 season when the club, playing in Baltimore, defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16-13.

Indianapolis recovered from a dazzling -- and demoralizing -- 92-yard touchdown on the game's opening kickoff by Bears rookie sensation Devin Hester.

Hester raced up the middle and cut to the outside, needing just 14 seconds to give Chicago a 7-0 lead. It was the first time in the Super Bowl's 41-year history the opening kickoff was returned for a score.

SCORING PASS

"Whenever you come out on the first play of the game and set the tempo, it says a lot," said Hester, who scored six touchdowns on kick returns during the regular season.

"It builds up the team's confidence that we're going to win. But it didn't happen."

Indianapolis (16-4) responded to Hester's score with a 53-yard touchdown pass from Manning to wide receiver Reggie Wayne but the conversion attempt was botched and the Bears held a 7-6 lead.

A four-yard touchdown from Grossman to Muhammad following a fumble by Indianapolis gave the Bears a 14-6 lead with 4:34 left in the opening quarter.

Adam Vinatieri kicked a 29-yard field goal to slice the Bears' lead to 14-9.

Indianapolis took a 16-14 lead, an advantage it never lost, with six minutes left in the half on a one-yard touchdown by Rhodes, capping a seven-play, 58-yard drive.

Two Vinatieri field goals in the third quarter gave the Colts a 22-14 lead before the Bears' Robbie Gould countered with a 44-yarder to trim the Chicago deficit to five.

But the Bears could not close the gap, plagued by turnovers and the slippery conditions.

Chicago coach Lovie Smith, like Dungy an African-American, said he was very disappointed.

"When you turn the ball over as much as we did, it's really hard to win," he said. "We got off to a great start and had an eight-point lead. The turnovers really did us in tonight."

Posted by Publisher at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)

Iran installs 328 centrifuges at atomic site: sources

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has installed two cascades of 164 centrifuges each in its underground nuclear plant, laying a basis for full-scale enrichment of uranium and upping the stakes in a standoff with the West, European diplomats said on Monday.

Mon Feb 5, 2007 8:50am ET

By Mark Heinrich

The cascades were to be test-run shortly, without uranium feedstock inside, and fuel material would then be added if the tests were successful, they said.

The 328 centrifuges would be the vanguard of 3,000 planned for installation in the coming months.

Iran recently finished installing piping, electrical cables and other equipment needed to begin so-called "industrial-scale" enrichment in the vast subterranean complex, which is fortified and ringed by anti-aircraft guns in the central Iranian desert.

Firing up the cascades would dramatically sharpen Iran's confrontation with Western powers that pushed through limited U.N. sanctions on Tehran six weeks ago to try to curb what they suspect is a disguised effort to assemble atomic bombs.

The Islamic Republic, the world's No. 4 oil producer, says it wants solely civilian atomic energy from uranium enrichment.

Diplomats said the installation of the first two cascades was likely to be the gist of Iran's planned announcement of "significant" nuclear progress on February 11, when it caps anniversary celebrations of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Two cascades have been installed in the underground plant, but they are not yet being run with gas," said a European Union diplomat in Vienna, headquarters of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has inspectors at Natanz.

"Their plan is to start dry-spinning the cascades within days and then start feeding them with UF6 (uranium feedstock gas)," the diplomat told Reuters, alluding to findings during recent visits by IAEA inspectors.

"The Iranians appear to intend to have about six cascades (about 1,000 centrifuges) installed by the spring, and the rest of the 3,000 by around June." Iran plans to rig up a total of 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz in the longer term.

A diplomat from another EU state gave an identical account.

IAEA REPORT TO SECURITY COUNCIL PENDING

There was no immediate IAEA comment. Such confidential information would be wrapped into a report the IAEA must deliver to the U.N. Security Council on February 21 on whether Iran has heeded a demand to stop enriching uranium.

If not, Iran faces the threat of broader sanctions.

"Iran is heading in the opposite direction from that sought by the Security Council," said the first EU diplomat.

Iranian media have repeatedly quoted hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying February 11 will be a day to "prove the Iranian nation's obvious right" to nuclear technology.

Three-thousand centrifuges going nonstop could purify enough uranium for one bomb within a year, assuming Iran wants one.

Tehran has run two pilot cascades of 164 centrifuges in a small research-level wing of Natanz for months, enriching token amounts of uranium but more often "dry-spinning" them.

But Iran has struggled to get centrifuges to spin smoothly in unison without overheating or vibrations for sustained periods -- the key to producing volumes of enriched uranium.

Analysts say that even if Iran has 3,000 on line in Natanz by June, no sure thing given a litany of previous delays, it may well need another year to iron out technical glitches and a further year to generate usable quantities of nuclear fuel.

Therefore, ElBaradei has said plenty of time remains for the major world powers and Iran to resuscitate negotiations on a compromise capping Iran's program short of "industrial scale" with trade benefits for Tehran in the bargain.

He has said a last-resort, pre-emptive strike on Iran mooted in the United States and Israel would be disastrous by inflaming the whole Middle East and giving Iranian radicals an excuse to pull Tehran out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But a war of nerves between Iran and the West is worsening.

As Washington moved a second aircraft carrier group into the Gulf, Iran barred entry to 38 IAEA inspectors with Western nationality, among the 200 designated to work in the country.

Diplomats close to the IAEA say Iran has also held up the installation of IAEA cameras to monitor the underground Natanz hall, although Tehran has strongly denied this.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in Berlin and Edmund Blair in Tehran)

Posted by Publisher at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

Optimism as North Korea readies for nuclear talks

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea heads into talks with the region's main powers this week with signs the impoverished state may be ready to agree to an initial deal over demands it stop building a nuclear arsenal in exchange for aid.

Mon Feb 5, 2007 6:07am ET

By Jonathan Thatcher

But diplomats and analysts say there is no chance the North will agree to completely give up its atomic weaponry at the six-way talks with the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, which resume on Thursday in Beijing.

"North Korea is feeling the heat," said Chun Bong-geun, a senior researcher at South Korea's Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. "I don't think it will be a huge deal. It'll be something small."

He said that should be enough for the South Korean government to resume crucial shipments of food and fertilizer to the reclusive North, stopped after Pyongyang's defied international warnings and test fired missiles last July.

The international community later imposed sanctions after North Korea's first nuclear test last October.

The main focus of the latest round of talks is likely to be on winning agreement from North Korea to at least shut down its Yongbyon nuclear plant -- the source of fissile material for its nuclear weapons program.

Washington's envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, told reporters in Tokyo that the ultimate goal was for North Korea to "get out of this nuclear business entirely".

"I think we have continued reason to believe that the North Koreans will come to this round prepared to negotiate on the issues before us ... So let's see if that proves true," Hill said.

READY TO SHUT REACTOR

A pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, the Chosun Sinbo, said the North had told the other parties to the talks it was ready to shut down its nuclear reactor and accept the return of international nuclear inspectors, thrown out more than four years ago.

In return, it wanted supplies of alternative energy until light-water reactors -- which do not produce material that can easily be turned into nuclear warheads -- can be built in the country which is plagued by power shortages.

That would be close to a deal in 1994, which eventually collapsed in acrimony, between the United States and North Korea and which included supplying the North large quantities of fuel oil a year until the new reactors were up and running.

North Korea did agree in 2005 to scrap its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

But it then walked away from the talks, incensed by a U.S. clampdown on its overseas finances, only returning to them last December.

This time, diplomats and analysts say there seems to be willingness by Washington and Pyongyang to reach some sort of deal.

"They are not meaningless steps because they are the first steps toward the ultimate goal of scrapping the (North's) nuclear program and the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," a South Korean foreign ministry official said.

Hill, speaking to reporters in Seoul at the weekend, said Pyongyang had to come up with specific steps on dismantling its weapons program.

Even if the North does shut down its nuclear reactor, some analysts estimate it has stashed away enough fissile material for at least six to eight nuclear weapons.

"Whatever agreement they can reach on first steps, it is still far too long a way to go to complete the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear programs," said Noriyuki Suzuki, chief analyst at Tokyo-based Radiopress news agency, which specializes in monitoring North Korean media.

"There will be lots of twists and turns ahead."

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, and Linda Sieg and Teruaki Ueno in Tokyo)

Posted by Publisher at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

Hamas PM urges unity deal with Abbas as truce holds

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said on Monday he hoped a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas would result in an agreement on a unity government to end a crippling Western embargo.

Mon Feb 5, 2007 7:23am ET

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

Haniyeh and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal will hold talks in Mecca on Tuesday with a Fatah delegation led by Abbas which also aim to end factional warfare which has killed more than 80 Palestinians since December.

"There may be obstacles but we confirm that we are going with true intentions to reach a Palestinian-Palestinian agreement that would end tensions and reinforce national unity," Haniyeh said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Gaza.

"We have no choice but to reach an agreement," he said.

Haniyeh said a ceasefire deal between rival Hamas and Fatah forces was taking hold and he hoped it would last. "The government is determined that calm should be a permanent one and not temporary," he said.

In Gaza City gunmen from rival factions stood down, with minor violations reported.

Members of the governing Hamas faction and rival Fatah conducted joint patrols of the Gaza Strip to ensure that their gunmen had left the bullet-pocked streets and removed checkpoints as required by the ceasefire's midnight deadline.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Fatah of violating the ceasefire by abducting four Hamas members and refusing to pull gunmen off several rooftops in Gaza City.

"Such violations could blow up the internal situation and endanger the Mecca dialogue," he told Reuters.

While both sides had released some hostages taken during the fighting, officials said that Hamas still held nine Fatah men while 32 members of Hamas remained in Fatah custody.

PREVIOUS TRUCES

Previous truces fell apart quickly amid tensions that have spiraled since Hamas, an Islamist group whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, trounced Fatah in elections last year, prompting the West to suspend aid unless it moderates its stand.

Abbas's call in December for new elections triggered an especially fierce round of fighting. Hamas accused Abbas, the Fatah leader, of engineering a coup. At least 80 people have been killed in clashes since.

Abbas said he would give talks one last chance to form a coalition government between Hamas and Fatah.

"Fatah has always been interested in an agreement, an agreement that serves the Palestinian interest and would get our people out of the internal, regional and international crisis," Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman, said.

But he noted that previous rounds of negotiations had been abandoned after Hamas stuck to its refusal to accept Western demands that the government recognize the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept past Israeli-Palestinian accords.

"Optimism alone is not enough, our people have witnessed long dialogues and numerous meetings. We want to get out (from Mecca) with a national agreement," he said.

Failure to clinch an agreement in Mecca appeared certain to trigger more fighting on Gaza's still tense streets.

Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades armed wing said it continued to hold a nephew of Mohammad Dahlan, Fatah's most powerful leader in Gaza and a top security aide to Abbas.

Qassam Brigades has also called on the Fatah forces that stormed and burned part of Gaza's Islamic University on Friday to turn themselves in to the brigade's leaders by Wednesday night or face "punishment".

Posted by Publisher at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2006

Gerald Ford, oldest former US president, dies

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who took office after the Watergate scandal and later stunned the nation by pardoning a disgraced Richard Nixon, has died at his home in California, aged 93.

Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:47am ET
By Steve Gorman

Vowing that "our long national nightmare is over," Ford took over from Nixon, who on August 9, 1974, became the only U.S. president to resign his office.

Nixon had been implicated in a cover-up of a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. Ford defended his highly controversial pardon of Nixon until his death.

President George W. Bush, in a tribute from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, said that Ford had helped heal the nation.

"For a nation that needed healing and an office that needed a calm and steady hand, Gerald Ford came along when we needed him most," Bush said.

The oldest living U.S. president, Ford served for 2-1/2 years with a style often mocked as bumbling until he lost the 1976 U.S. presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Ford had been ailing and largely out of the public eye for several years. He died at 6:45 p.m. (0245 GMT) on Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, his office said. No cause of death was given.

Funeral services, expected to take place after his body lies in state, were to held in Washington and Grand Rapids, Michigan, his boyhood home. Plans will be made final on Wednesday, Ford's office said. The public may view the body in Palm Desert, California, Washington and Grand Rapids, it said.

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age," Betty Ford said in a statement.

"His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

A one-time Republican congressman, Ford was the only U.S. president who was not elected to either the presidency or vice presidency. He was appointed vice president in 1973 after Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.

Ford became president when Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment in the scandal over a politically motivated burglary of Democratic Party offices in the Watergate complex.

One month later, on September 8, 1974, Ford stirred enduring controversy by granting Nixon "a full, free and absolute pardon" for any crime he may have committed in office.

That set the paradoxical pattern for the fill-in presidency of this rough-hewn politician who had served 26 years as a congressman from Michigan.

A HEALER, BUSH SAYS

His death leaves three living former presidents -- George H.W. Bush, Carter and Bill Clinton. Bush is oldest at 82, a few months senior to Carter.

Ford is survived by four children and his wife of 58 years, Betty Ford, who won many admirers for her personal battles against breast cancer and prescription drug and alcohol addiction. The Betty Ford Center she helped found in 1982 is viewed as a top center for treating drug and alcohol abuse.

Ford's mini-term included two assassination attempts; the fall of Vietnam; Cambodian seizure of a U.S. freighter, which prompted him to "send in the Marines;" constant fights with Congress; and a stumbling, head-cracking clumsiness that made him a butt of jokes.

Critics ridiculed his occasional clumsiness with barbs such as "he can't walk and chew gum at the same time."

Ford revived questions about his intellect and grasp of issues with a notorious gaffe in a televised campaign debate against Carter in 1976. He asserted in defense of his foreign policies that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."

He fell just short in his fight to overcome a 30-point Carter polling lead and lost one of the closest elections in U.S. history.

Gerald Rudolph Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 14, 1913. His name then was Leslie King but his parents were divorced soon after his birth and he later took the name of his stepfather, Gerald Ford Sr.

A Navy officer in World War II, Ford married Betty Bloomer in 1948.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Crawford)

Posted by Publisher at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006

Fifth Nigerian governor impeached for graft

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - The governor of the central Nigerian state of Plateau on Monday became the fifth this year to be impeached as President Olusegun Obasanjo tightened his grip on power five months before elections.

Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:02 PM GMT

By Shuaibu Mohammed

Analysts said the removal of Joshua Dariye for corruption, like four earlier impeachments, was legally questionable because the number of state lawmakers voting to remove him did not make up the two-thirds majority required by the constitution.

Dariye's deputy, Michael Botmang, was sworn in to replace him at a ceremony attended by the local head of the police, ruling party and secret police, a sign that the federal government backed the process.

"What has happened today is something that is unexpected, but it has happened. I am a child of necessity," said Botmang at the ceremony where he chanted support for the ruling party.

"I want everybody to go back ... assured that there is special security in the state to take care of any miscreants," he added.

Heavily armed riot police were drafted into the state capital Jos from around northern Nigeria and there was no immediate sign of unrest in the state, which has seen several bouts of ethno-religious bloodshed over the last six years.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission issued a wanted notice for Dariye, who is also a fugitive from justice in Britain having jumped bail for suspected money laundering.

Impeachments in Bayelsa, Oyo, Ekiti and Anambra states over the past 12 months were all similarly controversial.

EMERGENCY RULE

Obasanjo declared a state of emergency last month in southwestern Ekiti after a chaotic impeachment there resulted in three people claiming to be governor.

Many analysts believe the impeachments are part of a plan to cause chaos across Africa's most populous country, giving a pretext for Obasanjo to declare a wider state of emergency and postpone the elections. He has denied this.

"This was a gestapo removal. The government wants to create anarchy and sustain itself in power," said Abubakar Momoh, political science lecturer at Lagos State University.

Nigerians are due to elect their president, state governors and lawmakers next April in polls that should mark the first democratic handover from one government to the next since Africa's top oil producer gained independence in 1960.

Obasanjo has assured that the elections would be free, fair and on schedule but with increasingly fierce power struggles both in the states and at the national level, many Nigerians fear they could be derailed.

Dariye is an ally of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is locked in a power struggle with Obasanjo. Dariye's supporters decamped to an opposition party last year when the ruling People's Democratic Party suspended him over corruption.

Dariye was impeached at an unannounced sitting of a faction of the state house of assembly at dawn on Monday, which was not attended by any members of the press or public.

Six members of the assembly's 24 had argued that they constituted a two-thirds majority on the grounds that the 14 members who decamped to the opposition had vacated their seats. The issue is being disputed in the courts.

Posted by Publisher at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2006

Rice says North Korea seeks to escalate crisis

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cast doubt on Saturday on reports that North Korea had pledged to stop nuclear tests, saying it seemed bent instead on escalating the crisis.

Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:27am ET
By Sue Pleming

News reports had raised hopes that tension was easing on Friday by saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had told China's special envoy Tang Jiaxuan this week that he planned no further nuclear tests.

But Rice met Tang in person in Beijing on Friday and then told reporters traveling onwards to Moscow with her that he had given no sign China had achieved such a diplomatic breakthrough.

"Tang did not tell me that Kim Jong-il either apologized for the test or said that he would not ever test again," she said.

Russia is the last stop on Rice's five-day trip, aimed at shoring up support for U.N. economic and weapons sanctions imposed on Pyongyang a week ago to punish it for conducting an underground nuclear test on October 9.

She played down news reports that Kim had told Beijing he "regretted" the test, which was condemned internationally, including by China, the North's closest ally and economic lifeline.

"The Chinese did not, in a fairly thorough briefing to me, say anything about an apology," she said. "The North Koreans, I think, would like to see an escalation of the tension."

She also questioned whether Pyongyang intended to return to six-party talks, which have been stalled for nearly a year.

Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's top nuclear negotiator, earlier told U.S. television Pyongyang hoped to return to the table.

North Korea boycotts the talks because Washington, accusing it of counterfeiting money, is imposing restrictions on its external financing. Rice said these would remain in force.

FEW COMMITMENTS WON

She said before leaving China that North Korea's tone was still belligerent.

Rice's visits to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing were overshadowed by speculation that the unpredictable communist state would conduct a second nuclear test.

On Friday, reports that Kim had told Tang no more nuclear tests were planned had raised hopes that the crisis was cooling.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying: "I understand he (Kim) expressed clearly there was no plan to conduct nuclear tests."

Rice won few commitments from China and South Korea on implementing the restrictions on their impoverished neighbor.

China, a traditional ally of North Korea, is seen as having the greatest potential leverage over Pyongyang, but it also fears instability and a potential wave of refugees should sanctions against North Korea prompt its collapse.

It is opposed to North Korean ships being stopped and inspected on the high seas, one measure authorized by the U.N. resolution, believing it could provoke Pyongyang into stronger action.

The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported on Saturday that China had begun restricting some of its exports to North Korea, including oil and home appliances.

But North Korea, underlining its defiance, said more than 100,000 people had rallied in the main square of Pyongyang on Friday to hail the nuclear test.

"The nuclear test was an exercise of the independent and legitimate right of the DPRK (North Korea) as a sovereign state," its official KCNA news agency quoted Choe Thae-bok, a senior member of the Workers' Party of Korea, as saying.

Posted by Publisher at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

Bush resists major course change in Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Friday he will resist election-year pressure for a major shift in strategy in Iraq, despite growing doubts among Americans and anxiety over the war among Republican lawmakers.

Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:42am ET
By Steve Holland

"Our goal in Iraq is clear and it's unchanging," Bush told Republican loyalists, denouncing Democrats who want a course correction as supporting a "doubt and defeat" approach.

But less than three weeks before November 7 elections, pressure is growing in the U.S. Congress for a major shift in a war that has cost the lives of at least 73 Americans in October alone.

"I don't believe we can continue based on an open-ended, unconditional presence," Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe was quoted as saying in The Washington Post.

"I don't think there's any question about that, that there will be a change" in the U.S. strategy in Iraq after the November 7 congressional elections, she added.

Addressing election-year concerns about Iraq that have many Republicans panicking about losing control of the U.S. Congress, White House spokesman Tony Snow said, "Political reasons do not win conflicts."

At the same time, Snow said Bush was open to adjusting military tactics in the face of a failed attempt to secure Baghdad.

Bush met for a half hour on Friday with visiting Gen. John Abizaid, who oversees the Iraq war as head of the U.S. Central Command, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

On Saturday, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top White House officials will meet U.S. military officials in Iraq for a long-scheduled videoconference. Abizaid will be a key presenter at that meeting, Perino said.

"The president is always listening to his commanders and his senior policy advisers on the tactics that are needed to win in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said.

Many Senate Republicans are awaiting the results of a special panel led by longtime Bush family friend and former Secretary of State James Baker, the Iraq Study Group, which is preparing recommendations for a shift in strategy.

The Baker report will not be issued until after the elections, in which Bush's Republicans risk losing control of the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.

COURSE CORRECTION?

White House officials say the recommendations will be reviewed seriously but have already rejected trial balloons such as a phased troop withdrawal, a dialogue with Iran and Syria, and a partitioning of Iraq.

Rumsfeld declined to say whether he believed a course correction was needed in Iraq.

"I think the way I'll leave it is I prefer to give my advice to the president," he said at the Pentagon. "I'm old-fashioned."

Democratic leaders of the House and Senate wrote a letter to Bush urging him to change course, saying the situation was deteriorating and "there is no effective plan for improvement."

"We've lost the hearts and minds of the people and we've become caught in a civil war," said Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who drew Bush's ire a year ago by calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Bush, raising $1 million for Republican candidates, invoked President Ronald Reagan, saying Reagan had the strong will to win the Cold War and that it would take similar backbone to win the war against Islamic militants.

"Despite all of the opposition that the president faced from the Democrats, he didn't waiver," he said. "He stood for what he believed."

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith, Deborah Charles and Tabassum Zakaria)

Posted by Publisher at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2006

U.N. sanctions on N.Korea expected Saturday

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council expects to impose arms and financial sanctions on North Korea on Saturday for its reported nuclear weapons test, with U.S. intelligence pointing to confirmation that it took place.

Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:12am ET
By Evelyn Leopold

Russia and China submitted new amendments to a U.S.- drafted U.N. resolution, which are expected to delay the vote by several hours, but U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said he was confident the resolution would be adopted on Saturday.

In Washington, a preliminary U.S. intelligence analysis has shown radioactivity in air samples collected near a suspected North Korean nuclear test site, a U.S. official said on Friday, five days after Pyongyang announced it conducted the test.

"That's right, though this is only a first look. People have been saying all along that the working assumption is it was a nuke," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At the United Nations, Bolton said on Friday evening that weapons-related "technical" amendments had arrived from Moscow, which council members were studying.

"I'm still ready to go for a vote. We will just have to see what the instructions are overnight in particular from Moscow and China," Bolton said.

Seeking to meet objections from China and Russia, the latest version of the U.S.-drafted resolution makes clear the measures do not include military force under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.

IMPACT OF SANCTIONS?

On Friday, China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, voiced reservations about the most controversial provision in the text that authorizes nations to search cargo going to and from North Korea for nuclear materials or ballistic missiles.

China wants the wording softened to make interdiction less mandatory in the resolution, while Russia has criticized other parts of the text.

With China fearing a flood of refugees from a sudden collapse of North Korea -- which was sorely tested yet survived the demise of the Soviet Union, the death of its founder and a famine that may have killed 10 percent of its people in the 1990s -- some questioned what impact any sanctions would have.

"North Korea is already very familiar with poverty," former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung told Reuters on Saturday. "The country can also get support, at least in order to survive, from countries such as China."

Kim, the architect of South Korea's engagement policy with its old foe to the North, blamed U.S. policy in part for the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, which he said could only end if Washington held direct talks with Pyongyang leaders.

"The United States must talk to North Korea," Kim said in an email interview. "We have to talk not only with friends but also with enemies, if necessary."

In an effort to defuse the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit China, Japan and South Korea from October 17 to 22. A U.S. official said Rice would also likely travel to Moscow during the trip.

She may meet Chinese, Russian, Japanese and South Korean officials in Beijing to underscore their unity in opposing a nuclear North Korea, a U.S. official said.

Those five countries had been engaging North Korea in the "six-party talks" aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

THREATS EVERY DAY

The draft U.N. resolution would prohibit the transfer or development of weapons of mass destruction and ban sales of luxury goods to North Korea. It would freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

It also imposes an arms embargo on heavy conventional weapons and allows a travel ban on individuals connected with North Korea's dangerous weapons programs, and their families, if a council sanctions committee approves the names.

North Korea walked out of the talks nearly a year ago, complaining about Washington's crackdown on its alleged smuggling and illicit financial activities and U.S. refusal to hold direct talks with a country U.S. President George Bush once branded as part of an "axis of evil".

North Korea again blamed Washington's "hostile policy" for the crisis, saying "... a dangerous atmosphere of confrontation reminiscent of that on the eve of war is now prevailing on the Korean Peninsula", the state news agency, KCNA, said.

Christopher Hill, the State Department's point man on North Korea, said the United States was not nervous about Pyongyang's "blood-curdling threats."

"I can assure you we can deal with these sorts of belligerent threats," he said in remarks at Washington's National Press Club. "North Korea makes threats every day of the week, including on Sundays."

(David Morgan reported from Washington. Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Jack Kim in Beijing, Lee Suwan in Seoul, Will Dunham and Sue Pleming in Washington, George Nishiyama and Linda Sieg in Tokyo, Oleg Shchedrov and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow, and Karin Strohecker in Vienna)

(Editing by Bill Tarrant; Evelyn Leopold)

Posted by Publisher at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

Dream of free Biafra revives in southeast Nigeria

ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Down a dark, narrow alley in the heart of West Africa's biggest market, sheltered in his tiny wooden stall, a trader draws out a wad of crisp bank notes printed with the words "One Biafran Pound."

By Estelle Shirbon

Manchikah can't buy anything with the currency because it was only accepted from 1967 to 1970 in a chunk of southeastern Nigeria that tried and failed to secede under the name Biafra. He risks arrest for keeping a stash of it.

Yet for him, the worthless money represents the hope of a better future for the Ibo, Nigeria's third-largest ethnic group whose home region is the Southeast.

"We are keeping it because we are going to have our freedom, and we will use it," he says.

"We want Biafra. We need Biafra. We are suffering in this Nigeria!" he adds, raising his voice as he warms to his subject.

Dozens of others gather around, shouting their agreement, and within minutes they burst into song in the Ibo language.

These young men, like many Ibo, are angry because they feel that their people have been marginalized by successive Nigerian governments ever since the Biafran forces surrendered to the Nigerian army in 1970 after a war that killed a million Ibo.

They are bitter at the fact that no Ibo has ruled Nigeria since 1966 and they accuse the two bigger tribes, the Hausa in the North and the Yoruba in the Southwest, of monopolizing power and the riches of Nigeria's multibillion-dollar oil industry.

Traders in Onitsha see decades of neglect in their city, a sprawling maze of slums and muddy alleyways strewn with rubbish, with scarce electricity and no clean water. That other parts of Nigeria are equally derelict offers little comfort.

SEPARATISTS

Against this backdrop, the idea of an independent Ibo homeland has regained strength in recent years.

A separatist group, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), formed in 1999 and has drawn increasing support, especially among young people.

"We have many graduates in Biafra but many of them are in the market pushing wheelbarrows because they don't have anything else," said Gladys Okechukwu, a 24-year-old member.

"We should have our own country so everyone can have the opportunity to show what they can do," she said.

MASSOB says it is unarmed and has devised a 25-stage plan to achieve its goal peacefully. The stages include measures like the reintroduction of the Biafran currency and flag.

But many Nigerians, including among the Ibo, are skeptical that this strategy could ever result in an independent Biafra.

Authorities accuse MASSOB members of numerous acts of violence, which the group denies. Its leader, arrested last October, is facing trial for treason and hundreds of other activists have been arrested, but the group is defiant.

"If the Nigerian government intimidates us, it makes us more popular," said a member who gave his name as Moshe Ben Israel.

The Ibo, who have the reputation of being brilliant traders, see themselves as the victims of persecution by other tribes jealous of their business success. Many draw comparisons with anti-Semitism and consider themselves "the Jews of Nigeria."

An underlying problem that fuels the separatist aspirations of some Ibo is Nigeria's long history of inter-ethnic violence.

One of the events that precipitated the Biafran war was a series of massacres of Ibo in the North in 1966, mostly committed by Hausa who were angry over a failed coup in January that year that was perceived as being Ibo-led.

"A GLASS CAGE"

The rivalry between the Ibo and the Hausa has religious undertones. The Hausa are predominantly Muslim while the Ibo are almost all Christians. But like most ethnic violence in Nigeria, the clashes between them are often fueled by politicians.

The latest example was in February, when Hausa killed dozens of Ibo in northern cities. In Onitsha, Ibo retaliated by killing about 100 Hausa and driving hundreds of other from the city.

Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who as military governor of the Southeast declared Biafran independence and then led the Biafran forces, says the Ibo have to struggle to break out of "a glass cage" hindering their progress within Nigerian society.

"I look at the MASSOB experiment and I say it might have a chance," Ojukwu, a charismatic figure now in his 70s, said in an interview at his home in Enugu, the old capital of Biafra.

"What is the alternative? Do you allow Nigeria to trample on the freedoms of about one-third of the population? Do you accept the humiliation of being second-class citizens and having enforced limits on your progress?"

For a group of veterans who were crippled in the war and now live by the side of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, waiting in wheelchairs for motorists to stop and give them money, the young radicals offer hope that their struggle was not in vain.

"For 40 years no one heard about Biafra but now it's gradually coming up again. One day it will reach the high heaven and God will grant us our freedom," said Joseph Akani, who was paralyzed from the waist down by a Nigerian bullet in 1968.

"We have suffered enough. Unless Biafra comes we have nowhere to lay our heads."

Posted by Publisher at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2006

Ghana to play Nigeria in London friendly

World Cup finalists Ghana will play West African rivals Nigeria in a friendly in London on August 15, the Ghana Football Association website said.

Posted on 10 July 2006 - 12:55

The match will be the first for Ghana after their second-round elimination by Brazil in the World Cup finals last month.

Nigeria have not played since the African Nations Cup finals in Egypt, where they finished third.

Nigeria are using the game to prepare for the start of the qualifiers for the 2008 Nations Cup, which is to be hosted by Ghana. No venue was announced for the game.

Nigeria beat Ghana 1-0 in Port Said during the Nations Cup finals in January.

Posted by Publisher at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2006

US says Nigeria Must Answer on Missing Taylor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nigeria faces "consequences" for the disappearance of exiled former Liberian leader Charles Taylor if he is not handed over to stand trial on war crimes charges, the United States said on Tuesday.

Mar 28, 2006 — By Tabassum Zakaria

White House spokesman Scott McClellan would not say whether President George W. Bush would still meet with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as scheduled on Wednesday.

"Right now we are looking for answers from the Nigerian government about the whereabouts of Charles Taylor," McClellan said.

Nigeria, which has been pressed by Washington to end Taylor's asylum there, said during the weekend that Liberia was free to take the former warlord into custody.

But on Tuesday, just as Obasanjo was scheduled to leave Abuja for Washington, Nigerian officials said Taylor had disappeared from his residence in the southeastern part of the country on Monday night.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was Nigeria's responsibility to hand over Taylor for prosecution, warning of "consequences" if it did not happen.

"We consider it a very serious matter, senator, if he has indeed escaped, very serious," Rice told Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Leahy pushed Rice to cancel Obasanjo's meeting with Bush, a request Rice did not address.

Rice stressed Obasanjo had promised to closely monitor Taylor and turn him over once a new Liberian government was in place.

"If we are no longer on course for that then we will have to examine why this happened and have consequences accordingly," said Rice, without specifying what the consequences would be.

Taylor had lived in Nigeria since 2003 when he stepped down as president and after Obasanjo helped broker a peace deal to end Liberia's 14-year civil war that spilled over into nearby countries. Taylor is wanted on war crimes charges by a special U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone.

"It is the responsibility of the Nigerian government to see that he is conveyed to the special court for Sierra Leone," McClellan said. "We expect the government of Nigeria to fulfill this commitment."

Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, said Bush should cancel his Obasanjo meeting to send a message that "the United States stands unequivocally for bringing Charles Taylor to justice."

"The inability of the government of Nigeria to provide adequate security around the residence of Charles Taylor, one of the world's worst war criminals, is inexcusable," Obama said.

Republican Rep. Ed Royce of California, a member of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said countries should not consider giving Taylor sanctuary.

"Such action will be met with stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress — including serious sanctions," he said.

Rep. Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who chairs a House subcommittee on Africa, said the United States "must review our relationship with Nigeria in light of Taylor's escape and should immediately authorize a substantial financial bounty" to help ensure his capture.

Taylor is accused in Sierra Leone of supporting rebels notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians, in exchange for diamonds to finance the Liberian conflict.

The two conflicts claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and spawned a generation of child soldiers.

(Additional reporting by Vicki Allen and Sue Pleming)

Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Posted by Publisher at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2006

Ethnic leaders urge Nigeria group to free hostages

ABUJA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Ethnic Ijaw leaders tried to secure the release of four foreign oil workers held by militants in Nigeria's delta on Saturday, amid concern that if one of the ailing captives died, conflict in the region would escalate.

21 Jan 2006 10:32:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Daniel Flynn

The militant group, whose month-long campaign of violence has driven oil prices to their highest level since September, is demanding the release of two Ijaw leaders, compensation for pollution and more local control over the delta's oil wealth.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has crippled one tenth of Nigeria's oil production, has warned that U.S. hostage Patrick Landry is gravely ill and threatened to kill British, Honduran and Bulgarian captives if he dies.

Many fear that would lead to a dramatic worsening of the delta's long-running conflict. Ijaw elder statesmen have appealed to the little-known group to release the captives, seized 10 days ago from a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield.

"We are doing everything possible behind the scenes to ensure the speedy release of the hostages," said Kimse Okoko, president of the Ijaw National Congress.

Oil unions threatened to withdraw from Nigeria's delta if security worsened on Friday following a vow by the militants to continue with their campaign of bombings and sabotage which has killed dozens of people and injured many more.

One senior oil industry figure said President Olusegun Obasanjo was unlikely to heed demands for the release of militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and former Bayelsa state governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Nigeria's only Ijaw governor, Alamieyeseigha was impeached last month for money-laundering after escaping arrest in Britain and now faces criminal charges. Asari, who led a bloody militant rebellion in the delta in 2004, is on trial for treason.

"If the government does not take a hard line this whole thing could happen again in six months," said the source. "And if anything happens to one of the hostages, then it changes the entire game."

NOT ADDRESSING DEMANDS

Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru, part of a task force named by Obasanjo, said on Friday the government had only preliminary contact with the militants.

"We are not addressing their demands as of now. We have just made a first contact," he told journalists in the delta town of Yenagoa. "We are hopeful for the early release of the hostages."

The government committee was due to meet again on Saturday to discuss strategy. A troika of three Ijaw elder statesmen, including Okoko, have offered to act as mediators, sources said.

Army officials in the area have said troops are on high alert but are not trying to track down the hostages as the government pursues negotiations.

Many analysts believe tensions in the delta, which produces all Nigeria's oil, will rise ahead of national elections in 2007. An Ijaw uprising before the 2003 elections cut Nigerian output by 40 percent.

The four captive workers have complained to Reuters by telephone of diarrhoea and fatigue from constant movement in the humid, mosquito-plagued delta in southern Nigeria.

"We are in bad shape, we really are," Landry, who suffers high blood pressure, said on Thursday. "Meet these people's demand. We are not military: we came here to work."

So far, Shell is the only oil major to say it has suffered attacks. It has cut its production by 210,000 barrels a day and pulled out 500 staff. Hundreds of contractors have also fled.

Moving by motorboat in the maze of creeks in the delta, the kidnappers have said that if Shell paid the $1.5 billion they say it owes delta villages for years of pollution, they would focus on other oil companies.

France's Total and Italy's Agip, a unit of ENI have both denied militant claims they were attacked.

(Additional reporting by Tom Ashby in Lagos)

Posted by Publisher at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2006

Shell considers Nigerian area pullout - source

LAGOS (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is considering withdrawing more staff from the west of Nigeria's delta region after attacks by militants who threatened on Monday to wreak more destruction on the leading OPEC oil exporter.

Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:38 AM GMT
By Tom Ashby

A senior industry source told Reuters that the Anglo-Dutch giant was considering more evacuations from its remote swamp locations after pulling out 330 workers from four oil flow stations due to a deadly attack on Sunday.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, also believed to be behind the kidnapping of four foreign staff last week, said it carried out Sunday's raid and advised oil workers to leave the delta, which produces almost all Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels a day of oil.

"It must be clear that the Nigerian government cannot protect your workers or assets. Leave our land while you can or die in it," the group said in an email statement.

"Our aim is to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian government to export oil."

The possibility of a major Shell staff pullout will increase pressure on President Olusegun Obasanjo's government to crack down on the militants, who are demanding more control over the region's oil revenues and the release of two Ijaw leaders.

Analysts say the increasing violence is also part of growing regional rivalry ahead of presidential elections in 2007.

Shell is the largest oil producer in Nigeria, which is key to U.S. hopes of reducing dependence on supplies from the volatile Gulf. A major staff pullout is likely to trigger more output cuts in the country, already hit by the attacks.

"I think (Shell will) have to evacuate the whole of the swamps around (the city of) Warri," the industry source told Reuters, adding a decision would be made on Monday.

A spokesman for Shell declined to comment. The company normally pumps 380,000 barrels a day from the Warri region -- three-quarters of it from the swamps.

POVERTY AND OIL

Violence against oil workers is frequent in the Niger Delta, which accounts for almost all of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels a day production and where an estimated 20 million people live in poverty alongside a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Thousands of troops have been stationed in the vast wetlands region since 2003 when Ijaw militancy before national elections forced companies to shut 40 percent of Nigeria's output.

The evacuation of the 330 workers on Sunday had no impact on output because those flow stations were already closed after the militants bombed a nearby major crude oil pipeline last week. But it will delay repairs to the 100,000 barrel-a-day pipeline.

Multinational oil companies might consider more drastic withdrawals of workers from across the whole of the Niger Delta swamps if the attacks go on, said the source, asking not to be identified.

The government has tried to establish contact with the kidnappers of the four foreign oil workers -- an American, Briton, Bulgarian and Honduran -- but the militant group said it was not interested in their offers of "blood money".

"The leverage (the militants) have is the fact they have hostages. Without that, the military would have come in heavily," said the industry source.

Ruled by military dictators for most of its history since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria returned to civilian government in 1999, but ethnic militia and organised thuggery remain a feature of political life.

Much of the rhetoric of militant Niger Delta groups is echoed by regional politicians, who have demanded a greater share of Nigerian oil wealth and the right to pick the ruling party candidate for elections in 2007.

"This is a period when both sides who claim power in Nigeria are going to extremes," said Pini Jason, a newspaper columnist.

In a statement last week, the militants demanded the release of Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, an Ijaw militia leader who faces treason charges, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former delta governor who was impeached last month for money laundering.

Posted by Publisher at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2006

Nigeria extends deadline for Nations Cup players

LAGOS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria have set a new deadline of Monday for overseas-based players to report to their African Nations Cup training camp in Portugal or be ruled out of the tournament.

'Following further talks with English Premier League clubs, coach Austin Eguavoen has now fixed January 9 instead of Friday for all foreign-based players to report to camp or forget making the final 23-man squad,' Nigerian Football Association (NFA) spokesman Robinson Okosun said on Wednesday.

Nigeria captain Jay-Jay Okocha of Bolton Wanderers, defender Joseph Yobo of Everton and West Bromwich Albion forward Nwankwo Kanu are the English Premier League players concerned.

The availability of several invited players in Italy and France is also in question.

Under the regulations of world soccer governing body FIFA, clubs must release players to their national teams 14 days before a major tournament.

The Nations Cup will hold in Egypt from Jan. 20 to Feb. 10.

Nigerian newspapers said West Brom manager Bryan Robson planned to ask the NFA to allow Kanu to join up with his compatriots after their match at Wigan Athletic on January 15.

'Nigeria's first game is on January 24 and he (Kanu) would still have a week to prepare with the national team,' This Day paper quoted Robson as saying.

'We'll just ask the Nigerian FA to be helpful.'

However, Okosun said: 'That request will be against the new deal we've reached but we'll wait to hear from them before any comments.'

Nigeria, who won the Nations Cup in 1980 and 1994, face West African rivals Ghana in their opening Group D game before taking on Senegal and Zimbabwe.

Posted by Publisher at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2005

Nigeria says attack likely caused pipeline fires

LAGOS, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Fires that broke out along two pipelines in the southern Nigerian state of Delta on Tuesday were most likely caused by an attack rather than attempted oil theft, the state oil company said on Thursday.

Thu 29 Dec 2005 8:46 AM ET
(Adds details, quotes)

"It was a wilful act of destruction," said Levi Ajuonuma, spokesman for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Asked whether NNPC suspected an attempt at stealing from the pipeline -- a common problem in the Niger Delta -- or a deliberate attack, he said: "We are looking at it as an attack."

The pipeline fires in Delta came just one week after unknown gunmen attacked two Royal Dutch Shell pipelines in neighbouring Rivers state, killing 11 people and cutting output by 180,000 barrels per day (bpd). Shell has now resumed production there and the shortfall is just 15,000 bpd.

The Niger Delta accounts for almost all of Nigeria's 2.4 million bpd crude output.

Ajuonuma said the situation at the Delta pipelines was now under control and there was no disruption to supply of petroleum products from the Warri refinery in Delta to northern Nigeria, or of crude oil to the Kaduna refinery in the north.

The pipelines are operated by the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), an arm of NNPC.

"There is a high security alert in the area right now. Government is not going to stand by and let people disrupt our economy. Security agencies are working around the clock to ensure there is no reoccurrence," Ajuonuma said.

He said he was not aware of any deployment of extra troops in the Niger Delta, as reported by several Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.

Posted by Publisher at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)

December 28, 2005

Nigeria says two bidders left for telecoms firm

ABUJA (Reuters) - The privatisation of Nigeria's state telecoms firm Nitel is scheduled to go ahead on Thursday but only two of six bidders originally shortlisted will take part, the privatisation agency said on Wednesday.

Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:30 PM GMT

A Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) spokesman said Egypt's Orascom Telecom and Newtel, a little-known company, would bid for Nitel -- a short line-up for one of the most high-profile measures in the government's programme of free-market reforms.

Nigeria, one of the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets, has attracted keen interest from foreign investors, but most of the growth has come from private mobile operators while loss-making Nitel is predominantly a fixed-line business.

The BPE official did not say why South African fixed-line operator Telkom or Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Technologies, which were both still in the running for Nitel earlier this month, were no longer involved.

Analysts speculated that confusion about whether the package on sale would include SAT-3, an underwater cable that is Nitel's key asset, may have scared off investors. The BPE has said all along that SAT-3 was included but the Communications Ministry has said the opposite.

Celtel, Africa's number three mobile operator which is owned by Kuwait's MTC, said on December 1 it had lost interest in Nitel because it would have to take on the heavily overstaffed fixed-line business, not just the mobile arm Mtel.

The following day, South Africa's MTN said it had withdrawn from the bidding to instead focus on launching in Iran, although the BPE said MTN was ruled out anyway because it could not take on Mtel and keep its existing mobile licence. MTN is the number one mobile operator in Nigeria.

Analyst Bismarck Rewane of Financial Derivatives Ltd. said that as well as the uncertainty surrounding SAT-3, the Nitel privatisation process had been undermined by a change in Nigerian telecoms licensing rules scheduled for early next year.

"With the unified licensing regime coming in which allows firms that have mobile networks to also run fixed-line operations, how much is Nitel really worth, versus setting up your own fixed-line network?" he said.

Analysts say Nitel is inefficient, overstaffed and lumbered with outdated and neglected infrastructure and unquantified pension liabilities. SAT-3, the gateway for international calls and Internet connections, is the firm's most valuable asset.

In 2003, Nitel posted a loss of 19 billion naira and a debt of 15 billion naira.

The number of telephone subscribers in Nigeria has jumped from 500,000 in 1999 to over 17 million now on investments of about $10 billion, according to the sector regulator -- but most of the new lines are mobile ones.

With a population of 140 million and a telecoms usage density that remains among the lowest in the world, Nigeria's potential for further growth in the telecoms sector is substantial.

But analysts say Nitel's problems are likely to dash any hopes the government had of making big financial gains from the sale.

It is not the first time Nigeria has tried to sell Nitel. In 2002 a $1.3 billion sale collapsed when the winner failed to come up with the cash. It would have been Africa's biggest privatisation had it gone through.

Posted by Publisher at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2005

Nigerian oil pipeline blast kills 8, hits output

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A suspected dynamite attack on a major Nigerian oil pipeline killed eight people and cut output by seven percent, authorities said on Tuesday.

Tuesday 20 December 2005, 11:54am EST
By Austin Ekeinde

The sabotage by unidentified gunmen on the pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile, Research) also caused a major oil spill and fire in the remote southern delta, the company said.

"The attack was very devastating ... the whole community has been razed down by the explosion. Eight corpses have been recovered so far and many more are still missing," Monwan Etete, chairman of Andoni local government area, told journalists in the Rivers state capital Port Harcourt.

Shell closed two oilfields to help curb the fire and said that 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil output had been "deferred". The company originally said in a statement that only 170 bpd were affected.

"The fire may have been caused by a dynamite attack carried out by unknown persons," Shell's statement said.

The pipeline blast followed shortly after two other security incidents at oil and gas installations in the delta, which pumps almost all of Nigeria's 2.4 million bpd, Shell said.

An unknown gunman attacked a security post in the nearby Cawthorne Channel field, while there was another attempted attack on a tugboat servicing the liquefied natural gas plant at Bonny.

"This seems to suggest coordinated attacks, but it's difficult to be conclusive about it," said a senior oil industry official, asking not to be named.

The violence could be linked to the downfall of the former governor of neighbouring Bayelsa state, who is due to face money laundering charges on Wednesday, or to frustration by oil thieves who have seen their activities curtailed by security forces recently, he added.

Industry officials estimate that large-scale crude oil theft has dropped from 100,000 bpd earlier this year to about 20,000 bpd recently because of a heavier military presence in the vast wetlands region.

"What is clear is that this was sabotage with malicious intent," the source said.

Posted by Publisher at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

Nigeria FA asks Aiyegbeni not to shun Nations Cup

LAGOS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Nigeria and Middlesbrough striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has been urged by his country's Football Association not to boycott next month's African Nations Cup finals.

Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:10 PM GMT

Aiyegbeni was quoted by local media last weekend as saying he would not go to the Jan. 20-Feb. 10 finals in Egypt because he does not have a good relationship with Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen.

"The coach said he wasn't going to use me (so) I have made up my mind, I want to stay with my club during the competition," Aiyegbeni, who scored in Middlesbrough's 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, said.

Nigeria Football Association chairman Ibrahim Galadima has asked the 23-year-old, a key figure in the side who has scored nine times in the league for his English club this season, to change his mind.

"We want him in the side and he should consider those Nigerians who look up to him as a role model," Galadima told reporters on Monday.

"It's disappointing when any player who is doing well makes this kind of decision."

Relations with Eguavoen have been strained since September when Aiyegbeni played only the last two minutes of Nigeria's World Cup qualifier win over Algeria in Oran.

Aiyegbeni was not called up for subsequent Nigeria matches.

The team just missed out on a place at next year's World Cup finals in Germany. They finished equal on points with Angola in their group but the Angolans went through with a better head-to-head record against the Nigerians.

Eguavoen has included the striker in a 49-man provisional squad due to start their Nations Cup preparations in the Portuguese coastal resort of Faro on Wednesday.

It is not the first time Aiyegbeni has been involved in a row with Nigerian soccer officials.

During the 2004 Nations Cup in Tunisia, he was sent home with defender Celestine Babayaro and striker Victor Agali for breaking a curfew.

Nigeria have been drawn with West African rivals Ghana and Senegal as well as Zimbabwe in Group D. They are aiming for a third Nations Cup win in Egypt after previous victories in 1980 and 1994. They finished third at the last tournament, won by Tunisia.

Posted by Publisher at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2005

Nigeria police tear gas women in air crash protest

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian police threw tear gas and arrested women staging a peaceful rally on Friday to protest poor air safety after a plane crash last week in which about 50 of the 106 killed were children, witnesses said.

Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:45 PM GMT

About 200 mothers wearing black gathered in an upmarket area of Lagos to deliver a letter of protest to the government when riot police surrounded them, witnesses said.

"We told them we were concerned mothers of Nigeria and we insisted on walking to government house, but they blocked the road and threw tear gas in front of us and behind us. Everyone scattered," said Bola Belgore, who was one of 17 women subsequently arrested.

She said the group had held the rally in solidarity with the mothers of the victims and had written to the police to request protection.

"We didn't think there could be any objection by anyone," Belgore said.

Lagos police spokesman Olabode Ojajuni denied that tear gas was used on the women.

"That is not true. The Commissioner of Police is handling the matter. We have met with the women," he said, without providing further details.

The December 10 crash of a 32-year-old DC-9 aircraft operated by Sosoliso Airlines was Nigeria's second major air tragedy in as many months.

The plane crashed at the Port Harcourt airport and burst into flames during a storm. An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash.

President Olusegun Obasanjo grounded Sosoliso and another privately owned airline on Tuesday and ordered an emergency audit of all aircraft in the oil exporting country, accusing the industry of corruption.

Belgore said the rescue effort after Saturday's crash was also flawed, and exposed the dire state of emergency services in Africa's most populous country.

Posted by Publisher at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2005

Nigerian state lawmaker knifed as rivalry heats up

LAGOS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Nigerian state legislator was stabbed and others beaten in a fight between rival factions of the Oyo state assembly over an attempt to remove the governor, police said on Wednesday.

14 Dec 2005 14:28:05 GMT

Source: Reuters

A feud between the Oyo governor and his estranged patron, both members of Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), is fast degenerating as the rivals struggle for control of the PDP in the southwestern state ahead of elections in 2007.

The problem in Oyo is part of a wider pattern of ruthless jostling for position ahead of 2007, when all 36 states of Africa's most populous nation are due to elect their governors, who hold wide-ranging powers over state finances.

Police said Oyo lawmakers started fighting each other in the assembly on Tuesday after one faction tried to launch impeachment proceedings against Governor Rasheed Ladoja. Some lawmakers fired guns in the air to scare away their rivals.

Police used tear gas to stop the fighting.

"All hell was let loose before police restored order. Before then they wounded each other and one lawmaker was stabbed," a police spokesman said by telephone from Ibadan, the Oyo state capital and one of Nigeria's biggest cities.

The crisis in Oyo stems from a dispute between the governor and Lamidi Adedibu, his main sponsor or "godfather" in Nigerian political jargon.

Ladoja won the governorship in 2003 with Adedibu's backing, but the two fell out shortly after Ladoja assumed office and resisted some of his godfather's demands, according to observers in the state.

Adedibu has been trying to unseat Ladoja ever since and several people have died in clashes between their supporters in the last two years.

Political violence is not uncommon in Nigeria, which returned to civilian rule in 1999 after 15 years of military dictatorship. Paid thugs are frequently used to intimidate opponents or influence the outcome of elections.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose home state of Ogun neighbours Oyo, has tried to broker peace between the rivals but with little success.

Nigeria's ThisDay newspaper said 18 legislators loyal to Adedibu recalled the assembly, which has not sat since August due to the crisis in the state, to begin impeachment proceedings against the governor. They were stopped by 13 others in Ladoja's camp.

The crisis in Oyo is similar to that in southeastern Anambra state, where several people were killed and government buildings were destroyed in two days of rioting last year by militants demanding the removal of the state governor.

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December 08, 2005

New Nigerian party to oppose 3rd term for Obasanjo

ABUJA (Reuters) - Two dissident factions of Nigeria's ruling party opposed to keeping President Olusegun Obasanjo in power for a third term said on Thursday they were forming a new political party.

Thu Dec 8, 2005 6:01 PM GMT

By Estelle Shirbon

The new group accused Obasanjo of leading an assault on democracy by trying to extend his tenure illegally, and listed other examples of what it said was a "drift towards tyranny and dictatorship".

"We came into being as a direct response to the flagrantly anti-democratic tendencies of the present administration," the group said, citing unethical use of security forces, opacity in the oil sector and alleged corruption.

Members said they would welcome Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has become a political foe of Obasanjo, if he chose to leave the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).

"We are not fronting for the vice president ... He is a good politician who can look after his own affairs. If he decides to work with us, he will find enough room here," said Tom Ikimi, who was a minister under late dictator Sani Abacha.

Obasanjo's second term as president of Africa's most populous country and top oil producer expires on May 29, 2007 and under the constitution he cannot stand for a third one.

He has said he intends to leave and would uphold the constitution, but his allies have launched a vociferous campaign for an amendment allowing him to run again.

A power struggle within the PDP, in which Obasanjo allies have systematically purged those who support Atiku's ambition to become president in 2007, has led many Nigerians to believe Obasanjo harbours a "third-term agenda".

"STRANGE BEDFELLOWS"

"The president himself is leading this assault," said Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta, one of the leaders of the emerging party. He was police chief under the transitional military government between Abacha and the return to civilian rule.

The PDP is essentially a vehicle for winning elections in the fledgling democracy, which emerged from 15 years of military rule in 1999.

Critics of the dissident factions, the Movement for the Defense of Democracy (MDD) and the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), say they are made up of political has-beens who have no project apart from opposing the third term.

"What if Obasanjo has no third term agenda? They have not addressed Nigerians on any other substantive issue of national interest," said political columnist Pini Jason.

"They don't have any democratic credentials to write home about," he said in a reference to the fact that several prominent members had jobs in former military governments.

The PDP itself on Wednesday described the MDD and MRD as "an alliance of failed politicians" and "strange bedfellows".

Gambo Jimeta said a plan was afoot to discredit MDD and MRD members by accusing them of coup plotting.

His words echoed the vice president, who denied on Monday he was involved in any coup plot. No such accusation has been levelled at Atiku, who made the statement after a newspaper reported that Obasanjo was poised to accuse him of coup plotting as a precursor to impeaching him.

The PDP said on Wednesday it had no intention of victimising any opposition politician, "especially on trumped-up charges of coup plotting".

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November 30, 2005

Nigerian police shut radio in feud with oil state

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian police shut a radio station owned by the southern Bayelsa state on Wednesday as the federal government intensified its campaign to dislodge the governor, who is wanted for money laundering in Britain.

Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:42 PM GMT

By Austin Ekeinde

Bayelsa Radio failed to start broadcasting on Wednesday morning and several armed riot police stood guard outside the sealed building in the state capital Yenagoa.

"The radio station was shut down," said police spokesman Haz Iwendi, adding that he was not sure why. "It could have been a security measure if it was inciting people to violence, then we have the right to shut it down."

The federal government is piling pressure on Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to step down after he skipped bail in London where he was due to stand trial for laundering 1.8 million pounds.

About 1,000 federal troops armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, helicopter gunships, tanks and armoured cars have swarmed into major towns of the state, which is at the heart of the oil-producing Niger Delta.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of police entered the government headquarters in what they said was a search for illegal weapons.

The federal government has also encouraged a group of lawmakers to impeach the governor, but it lacks the two-thirds majority in the 24-member house required to pass the bill.

The group of 15 lawmakers, one short of two-thirds, suspended four opposing representatives on Tuesday in an apparent bid to overcome its lack of majority.

It also instructed the judiciary to investigate the impeachment charges, which include embezzlement, money laundering and lying about his wealth.

The federally-controlled Nigerian Television Authority incorrectly reported on its nationwide news bulletin on Tuesday that 16, not 15, lawmakers were present.

Bayelsa Radio correctly reported that there were only 15.

Nine opposing legislators said they were prevented from attending the assembly by troops.

Governor Alamieyeseigha has argued that the federal government is persecuting him for championing the cause of his Ijaw ethnic minority for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth.

Many of the governor's supporters have also argued that he is being hounded for supporting Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is fighting President Olusegun Obasanjo for supremacy in the ruling party ahead of elections in 2007.

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November 28, 2005

Darfur rebels pledge unity to break talks deadlock

ABUJA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Rival rebel leaders from the Sudanese region of Darfur sounded a rare note of unity on Monday as they worked on a common negotiating position for the seventh round of peace talks with the government.

Mon 28 Nov 2005 1:07 PM ET
(Adds comment from Sudanese president in paragraphs 9-10)

By Estelle Shirbon

Minni Arcua Minnawi and Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, who both claim to be chairman of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said they would put on hold infighting that has held back progress in previous rounds of peace talks in the Nigerian capital.

"I don't want to make any competition here, because our people on the ground need us to remain united. Any division and the only winner is the government of Sudan," Nur told Reuters in Abuja, where the talks are due to start on Tuesday.

Minnawi, who boycotted the previous round and whose participation is seen as crucial because he commands loyalty from many fighters in the field, had a similar message.

"We are going to enter the talks with one delegation ... I came here because I hope this should be the final round," he told Reuters.

The newfound quest for rebel unity also stretched to include the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which will be part of the joint negotiating position.

"We in JEM think that the unification of these two groups (the Minnawi and Nur factions) will help the process go forward and will help us all together to achieve the goals of our people," said JEM chief negotiator Ahmed Tugod.

The rebels said they were eager to start discussing the issues of wealth-sharing, power-sharing and security that lie at the root of the Darfur conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million into refugee camps in the vast desert region.

In Khartoum, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said the government was committed to the Abuja peace process. Its negotiating team is due to arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday.

"(We want to) achieve a peace agreement between all the people of Darfur which includes decentralised rule and equality of justice and wealth," Bashir said in a speech to parliament.

VIOLENCE ON THE GROUND

Many observers are downbeat about the talks, citing not only rebel infighting but also doubts about how serious the government would be about implementing any agreement, and an upsurge in violence in Darfur in the past two months.

But the African Union (AU), which has 6,000 peacekeepers in Darfur and is the main mediator in the Abuja peace talks, said the closing of rebel ranks would offset the deteriorating situation in the western Sudanese region.

"The security situation does have an impact on the negotiations because it creates a climate of mutual distrust, and it's difficult to deal with the parties when they are in that mode," AU mediator Sam Ibok told Reuters.

"So what we are trying to do is two-pronged. While we are attending to the security situation and saying to the AU in Darfur to do everything they can to stabilise it, we are also trying not to replicate the problem here in Abuja," he said.

The rebels said one element that could help progress in the talks was the participation, on the government side, of members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), a former rebel group from southern Sudan.

The SPLM reached a peace settlement with Khartoum in January after more than two decades of war -- a separate and bloodier conflict than the one in Darfur -- and is now part of the Sudanese government.

Nur said the presence of SPLM negotiators in Khartoum's team would make a difference to the Darfur rebels, who have affinities with the former rebels from the south. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum)

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November 02, 2005

Nigerian court allows challenge to Taylor's asylum

ABUJA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A court has allowed two Nigerians who were tortured and mutilated in Sierra Leone to challenge Nigeria's decision to grant asylum to former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of backing the torturers.

02 Nov 2005 13:20:23 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Estelle Shirbon

Rejecting an objection by the government, the Nigerian Federal High Court said the men were entitled to try to bring Taylor to justice because of the suffering they endured.

"These applicants have their hands mutilated ... They have suffered personal injuries and it is of greater interest to them that justice be done," Judge Stephen Jonah Adah told a hearing on Tuesday.

"They have a genuine interest in this case and they have a legal right to pursue it," he said, according to a transcript obtained on Wednesday.

David Anyaele and Emmanuel Egbuna say they were attacked by rebels backed by Taylor in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown in 1999. The rebels hacked off Anyaele's arms and set him on fire, and mutilated Egbuna's wrists.

A lawyer representing the two said they were not seeking financial damages but wanted to see Taylor face trial. The men brought their case over a year ago but it has made slow progress through the Nigerian legal system.

Nigeria granted asylum to Taylor in 2003 to get him out of Liberia and help end a war there that killed 250,000 people, but it has since come under pressure to hand him over to Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed war crimes court.

WAR CRIMES COURT

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Wednesday it was crucial that Nigeria hand Taylor over quickly, particularly as the Sierra Leone court was struggling to find the funds it needed to complete its work.

"Nigeria's ongoing harbouring of an indicted war criminal undermines the court's ability to achieve its mandate to prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious crimes committed in Sierra Leone's armed conflict," HRW said.

"Given scarce resources and the anticipated short duration of the court, time is of the essence," it said.

The court in Freetown has indicted Taylor for crimes against humanity, accusing him of supporting rebels who chopped off the limbs of civilians, conducted mass rapes and recruited child soldiers to dominate the country's diamond-producing areas.

Nigeria says it will only turn Taylor over if asked by an elected Liberian government and will not transfer him to a third country. A call for his extradition from Liberia looks unlikely as he still instils fear there and his return could destabilise the country's fragile peace process.

The Nigerian plaintiffs argue that their government should not have granted Taylor asylum under African Union and Geneva Convention guidelines, which prohibit asylum to war criminals.

Judge Adah set Dec. 6 for the court to start hearing the substance of the case. But government lawyers have signalled their intention to appeal against Adah's ruling, which could further delay proceedings.

(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja, Nick Tattersall in Dakar)

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October 23, 2005

About 50 may have survived Nigeria air crash

Oct 23, 2005 — LAGOS (Reuters) - There are 50 or more survivors from a crash on Saturday night of a Nigerian airliner carrying 16 people, a state government spokesman said on Sunday.

"There are many survivors. 50 or thereabouts. About half," the Oyo state government spokesman told Reuters.

A Nigerian airliner with 116 people on board including some senior officials crashed shortly after taking off from Lagos en route to the capital Abuja, the government said on Sunday.

Bellview Airlines flight 210 took off at 8:45 p.m. (1945 GMT) on Saturday night and lost contact with the control tower minutes later during a heavy electrical storm.

Authorities located the wreckage of the Boeing 737-200 airliner in Kishi, Oyo state, in southwestern Nigeria about 200 km (120 miles) north of Lagos, a police source said about 12 hours later.

"The government has been able to confirm that Bellview flight 210 may have gone down, thereby confirming our worst fears," Information Minister Frank Nweke told state radio earlier.

Emergency services launched a search and rescue mission.

The plane was carrying 116 people: 110 passengers and six crew, authorities said.

Initially, it was not known whether the plane had crashed, been hijacked or had made an emergency landing.

But the pilot made a distress call minutes after take-off on Saturday night, indicating the plane had a technical problem, a source at the presidency told Reuters.

MISSING

State radio reported that several high ranking government officials were on the plane, but did not name them.

The privately owned Nigerian airline is popular with expatriates. Western diplomats feared several of their citizens could also have been on board.

Dozens of flights run each day between the port of Lagos — one of the world's biggest cities — and Abuja in the heart of Africa's most populous nation.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier told CNN by telephone from Seattle the company would work with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board if the board were asked to help with any investigation.

She said the 737 was the "workhorse of the world commercial jet fleet."

Bellview Airlines could not confirm the airliner had crashed 11 hours after it disappeared and concerned relatives at Lagos airport grew impatient with the lack of information.

More than 140 people died in May 2002 when a Nigerian airliner slammed into a poor suburb in the northern city of Kano, killing people on board and on the ground. The aircraft plowed into about 10 buildings shortly after take-off.

(Additional reporting by Tume Ahemba and Kingsley Igwe in Lagos, Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh in Abuja)

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October 09, 2005

Nigeria 5-1 Zimbabwe

ABUJA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Nigerian soccer players and fans went home broken-hearted on Saturday after the Super Eagles thrashed Zimbabwe 5-1 but failed to qualify for next year's World Cup finals.

Nigeria, who made it to the last three World Cup finals, were thwarted by Angola who beat Rwanda 1-0 in Kigali. Nigeria and Angola finished with equal points but the Angolans went through on a better head-to-head record against the Nigerians.

"Ah, Angola, Angola! Why have you done this to us?" asked Goodness Diji, throwing her arms up to the heavens and wringing her rain-soaked green-and-white scarf after the final whistle blew.

"The whole team is very very sad. Nobody is happy because we didn't qualify. Even if we'd beaten them (Zimbabwe) 10-0 we would not be happy now," said Nigeria star Nwankwo Kanu.

A sea of fans in green and white cheered and beat drums as their team demolished Zimbabwe in the national stadium in Abuja, but many were frantically sending text messages throughout the match to find out what was happening in Kigali.

Obafemi Martins scored at close range in the 34th minute to put Nigeria 1-0 ahead, and a rumour swept the terraces that Rwanda had scored against Angola, sending Nigeria fans racing around and jumping for joy.

But as word spread that the rumour was untrue, nervous Nigerians bit their nails and some sought divine intervention to keep the Angolans in check.

Adding to the tension, a storm broke out at half-time and the players returned to the pitch in driving rain as thunder and lightning roared and flashed just over the stadium.

A lively second half saw Yusuf Ayila scoring in a scramble after a corner kick in the 50th minute.

Zimbabwe fought back and Benjani Mwaruwari headed in a corner kick in the 70th minute, but Nigeria answered five minutes later with a penalty from Martins and Kanu made it 4-1 with another penalty in the 80th minute.

Then came disaster. Groans of despair filled the terraces as news raced through the crowd of a dramatic late winner by Angola captain Akwa in Kigali.

Fans could not even muster a cheer for Peter Odemwingie when he scored Nigeria's fifth goal in the 90th minute, and the crowd filed quickly out of the stadium in grim silence.

Some mournful fans recalled the Super Eagles' disappointing performances in previous qualifiers, especially against Rwanda who held them to a draw.

"This result will make our boys know their mistakes. They will prepare better next time," said Matthew Chukwudi.

Even the defeated Zimbabweans felt sorry for their tormentors. "They performed so well today, they deserved to go through. I feel very very sorry for them," said Zimbabwe captain Peter Ndlovu.

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September 13, 2005

Nigerian separatists say arrests make them stronger

OKWE, Nigeria, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The Nigerian government's attempts to muzzle southeastern separatists by conducting mass arrests will only make the movement stronger, a fugitive separatist leader said on Tuesday.

Tue 13 Sep 2005 9:40 AM ET
By Chukwujama Eze

Hundreds of activists seeking independence for southeastern Nigeria, a region known as Biafra, have been detained for peaceful protests over the last few months. Many have been charged with treason.

"Rather than discourage them, these spates of arrests will strengthen their determination to achieve Biafra," said Ralph Uwazurike, leader of the banned Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

Uwazurike spoke to Reuters from his new house in a remote farming village in Imo state, which is still under construction after security services torched his previous home in 2003.

The 46-year-old has been declared wanted by the secret service, but there were no police visible at his walled compound at the end of a rutted dirt road. Youths clutching walkie talkies stood guard.

"If I come out, they will of course arrest me. There have been plans for them to assassinate me," he said.

MASSOB is a non-violent group drawing support predominantly from the Ibo, Nigeria's third largest ethnic group. It plays on sentiments that caused the 1967-70 civil war in which more than a million people died, mostly from hunger.

The group is particularly popular among youths who did not experience the war, but many older Ibo view the war as a monumental failure and see secession now as unrealistic.

MASSOB last year staged a stay-at-home protest which brought most businesses in the southeast to a standstill.

"My tribe, the Ibo, are disliked in Nigeria ... They just take us to be slaves," Uwazurike said.

OIL RICHES?

During the civil war, the putative Biafran nation included the oil producing southern states of the Niger Delta, but these are populated by different tribes and many delta groups have rejected invitations to join MASSOB.

"In as much as we do not want anybody to force us to belong to Nigeria, we won't force anybody to belong to Biafra," Uwazurike said. "Essentially, the five southeastern states form the bulk of our territory. But if any part of the south of their own volition want to be part of Biafra, that's OK."

The Nigerian government argues that membership of MASSOB amounts to treason because it implies waging war on the rest of the country, but it has yet to secure a legal conviction.

Uwazurike said security services had accused him of keeping a rocket launcher under his bed, which he denied.

"The central idea is to find any means of tracking me down, getting me assassinated or put behind bars for a very long time."

Uwazurike accused the government of rigging itself into power in elections in 2003 and called for a referendum to decide on the region's fate. Independent observers reported widespread malpractices in the 2003 poll which saw President Olusegun Obasanjo win a second term.

MASSOB has relaunched the defunct Biafran pound and national anthem, and hoisted the red and yellow Biafran flag on some buildings in the southeast. It has also opened some "diplomatic missions" abroad to further its cause among Ibo in the diaspora.

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July 05, 2005

Africa prepares G8 message on aid, debt, trade

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - African leaders, admonished by Libya for "begging" from the West, met behind closed doors on Tuesday to agree a message to rich nations that is expected to call for more aid, freer trade and debt relief.

Tue Jul 5, 2005 8:34 AM ET

By William Maclean

Heads of state of many of the African Union's (AU) 53 member governments were holding a private meeting in the Libyan town of Sirte on the second and final day of the pan-continental organization's half-yearly gathering of leaders.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a wealthy force among poor African states, told the leaders on Monday that the solution to Africa's woes was the creation of one pan-continental country, not Western aid that came with strings attached.

But Britain, which is hosting the Group of Eight (G8) summit due to start in Scotland on Wednesday, said any move to increase aid was simply the right thing to do, and in any case trade was the key to unlocking Africa's development.

"It's not about charity, it's about justice," said Britain's international development secretary, Hilary Benn, at the AU summit.

"But in the end it's going to be economic development, opening up the world trading system, enabling Africa to earn and trade its way out of poverty that's really going to make the difference, and for that to happen you also need peace and stability, good governance, and we have heard all that very clearly from the African Union summit."

AU chairman Olusegun Obasanjo, also president of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, praised a British-backed report recommending more help for Africa to be presented to the G8 summit.

But he said rich nations should repay money looted in the past by corrupt African leaders and deposited in the West -- funds believed to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

A STEP FORWARD

Benn said without elaborating that he expected a "real step forward" by the G8.

"People are being ambitious. We are putting pressure on ourselves and on each other. Of course you run the risk (of disappointment), but the greatest crime of all would be not to try in the first place."

More than 40 percent of Africans live on less than $1 a day, 200 million Africans are threatened by serious food shortages and AIDS kills more than 2 million Africans a year.

As it does at all its summits, the AU targeted wars as a big barrier to growth on a continent that has seen 186 coups d'etat and 26 major conflicts in the past half century.

In the African gathering's other major piece of business, the leaders endorsed a plan to demand two permanent seats on a reformed U.N. Security Council, although they dodged the question of how their representatives would be selected.

Diplomats said the gathering was running out of time to tackle the subject, and leaders did not want to spark acrimony among top contenders Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.

"We have agreed the principle but have not gone into the selection process," South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters. "It will be negotiated."

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