US/NATO Launches Major Offensive Against the Afghanistan People

Nato launches major Afghanistan offensive

GOLNAR MOTEVALLI | MARJAH, AFGHANISTAN - Feb 13 2010 07:28

US-led Nato troops launched an offensive on Saturday against the Taliban’s last big stronghold in Afghanistan’s most violent province and were quickly thrown into a firefight with the militants.

The assault is the first since President Barack Obama ordered a “surge” of extra troops to Afghanistan in December and the start of a campaign to impose government control on rebel-held areas this year, before US forces start to withdraw in 2011.

Within hours of the operation getting under way, US marines at the tip of the assault battled with Taliban militants in the town of Marjah, the last big militant bastion in Afghanistan’s violent Helmand Province.

Reuters reporter Golnar Motevalli saw marines engaging in a firefight with Taliban fighters after the US troops landed in helicopters near the city.

Marines fired at least four rockets at militants who attacked from compounds. At least one marine was wounded by shrapnel.

“They are about 300m away,” Motevalli said as the sound of assault rifles crackled in the background. Moments earlier, two large explosions resounded and a large black plume of smoke rose into the sky.

The offensive began with waves of helicopters ferrying marines into the city in the early morning hours. British troops then flew into the northern part of the surrounding Nad Ali district, followed by tanks and combat engineering units.

The first objective of marines was to take over the town centre, a large cluster of dwellings, despite the risk of being blown up by bombs rigged by the Taliban.

Gunfire, explosions

Bursts of gunfire rattled through the area as servicemen anticipated their first contact with the militants.

By mid-morning, a couple of large explosions boomed, with a big plume of black smoke rising skywards. One was apparently an improvised rocket with plastic explosives designed to set off roadside bombs.

The 15 000-troop operation may have been named Mushtarak, or together, to highlight that Nato and Afghan forces were determined to work closely to bring stability to Afghanistan, a country often brought to its knees by one war after another.

Decades ago the Marjah area was home to an Afghan-American development project. Its canals, which criss-cross lush farmland, were built by the Americans.

Now Nato is trying to recapture it from a militant group that is highly unlikely to contemplate cooperation with the West.

“Insurgents who do not accept the government’s offer to reintegrate and join the political process will be met with overwhelming force,” the joint Nato-Afghan coalition said in a statement announcing the start of clearing operations.

A local Taliban commander, Qari Fazluddin, told Reuters earlier about 2 000 fighters were ready to fight in the densely-populated area.

The safety of civilians may be the vital issue for Nato in one of the eight-year-old war’s biggest offensives against the Taliban, which have re-emerged as a powerful fighting force since they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001.

Any heavy civilian casualties would make it even more difficult for the American-backed Afghan government to win support in towns that have been held by Taliban insurgents.

Nato forces have decided to advise civilians not to leave their homes, although they have said they do not know whether the assault will lead to heavy fighting.

‘Just my house’

Most residents of the area, estimated at up to 100 000, have stayed put. But others have headed 30km east to the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. “All the walls between the streets and houses are surrounded by bombs. Most people have gone to Lashkar Gah. That’s where we want to go today,” resident Abdel Aziz (16) told the marines through a translator.

Soon after, an old woman emerged from her house and asked the troops not to fire at it.

“This is just my house,” she told the marines.

Unlike previous military operations, the assault on Marjah has been widely flagged for months. Commanders say they hope this will persuade many fighters to lay down their arms or flee.

Residents have been afraid to leave their homes in fear of roadside bombs planted by the Taliban to slow the US advance.

Marjah has been a breeding ground for both insurgents and opium poppy cultivation for years. Much may depend on whether the state can ensure long-term political and economic stability to erase the conditions that have encouraged militancy. - AFP

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-02-13-nato-launches-major-afghanistan-offensive

Saturday, February 13, 2010
20:22 Mecca time, 17:22 GMT

Nato launches major Afghan assault

The assault is the largest undertaken since Obama ordered extra US troops to Afghanistan

US-led Nato troops have launched a long-expected attack on the biggest Taliban-held town in the south of Afghanistan.

Helicopter-borne US marines and Afghan troops backed by British forces swept into Taliban-held town of Marjah, in the centre of Helmand province, early on Saturday.

Thousands of US and Afghan troops are taking part in the offensive, which seeks to undermine support for the Taliban and re-establish government control in the area.

The offensive, known as Operation Moshtarak, the Dari word for “together”, is the biggest joint Afghan-international offensive of the war.

It is the largest combat operation since Barack Obama, the US president, ordered 30,000 US reinforcements to Afghanistan last December.

Danish, Estonian and Canadian troops are also involved in the campaign.

Several casualties

Soon after the offensive began, five Taliban fighters were reported killed.

And by the first day’s end, one service member of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) had died in a bomb attack while another was killed by gunfire, according to a spokesman for the Nato-led multinational force.

Nato declined to give their nationalities.

Separately, the UK defence ministry announced the death of one British soldier from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in an explosion while on vehicle patrol in Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand.

Elsewhere in southern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device on a motorbike near US and Afghan troops on a joint foot patrol in Kandahar province on Saturday.

A police commander told Al Jazeera that two children were killed and that US forces also suffered casualties in the attack, which took place in Arghandab district, northwest of Kandahar city.

Fight for Marjah

Marine commanders say they expect anywhere between 400 to 1,000 fighters to be holed up inside Marjah, a town of 80,000 people, including more than 100 foreign fighters.

But Taliban sources have insisted the number is closer to 2,000.

Qari Yousef, a Taliban spokesman in the south, told Al Jazeera that foreign forces had been bombarding the area around Marjah for days and that the operation had in fact begun on February 7.

He also warned that the Taliban would offer stiff resistance.

“Our decision is that there will definitely be resistance because foreign invaders have come to invade our country,” he said.

“If they need 15,000 troops to take over a small village - what will they need to take over a province which is under the Taliban’s hands,” he told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reporting from Kabul, the capital, said: “We’ve been talking to the Taliban over recent days and they are making clear that they will defend the territory and fight till death.”

“Foreign troops want to also send a clear message that the Afghan government will re-establish government presence in Marjah and separate the town from the Taliban to improve people’s lives, open roads and government institutions, which is all part of the new Obama strategy being employed in the region,” she said.

“It’s not all military tactics because Marjah is really strategic, it’s at the doorstep of Lashkar-Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand and if you open those roads you can improve economic development for the people, but they are worried, mostly about civilian casualties.”

‘Clearing’ operation

Isaf termed the offensive a “clearing” operation to be followed by “smaller-scaled ’shaping’ operations”.

Mohammad Gulab Mangal, the governor of Helmand, said earlier this week that local authorities were poised to move in behind the military operation to set up civil services, including police and security.

But Gilles Dorronsoro, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the plan’s key weakness was that it failed to include a long-term plan to prevent the Taliban from returning to the area.

“The Afghan state is just a network of warlords [and] opium dealers - to think that these people are going to take Marjah and build a solid state there, I don’t think so,” he told Al Jazeera.

Marjah is at the heart of Afghanistan’s opium production. Fighters there have exploited an irrigation system built in the 1950s with US aid aimed at turning the central Helmand River valley into Afghanistan’s bread basket.

Janan Mosazai, an political analyst in Kabul, told Al Jazeera that while a military win in the area seemed assured, it would be the second stage of the operation that would be crucial.

“The test to this new approach … will come when the operation is over - when the military stage is over - when there is a requirement for Afghan civilian authorities and for reconstruction specialists to move into Marjah and … give the people of this area the confidence that this time it’s different,” he said.

“[They must show] that there will be a cleaner, more efficient, less corrupt government put into place and that there will be a police force that is not corrupt and doesn’t scavenge on the local population … [and] that this will be a fundamental, long-term change.”

Exodus of civilians

Isaf and the Afghan government have stressed that they hope civilian casualties will be avoided, publicising their operation in advance.

Hundreds of civilians fled the area, but many have stayed.

Jamil Karzai, the head of the Afghan government’s commission for national security, and a relative of the Afghan president, said that publicising the operation so heavily in advance had given away military advantage.

“They are just coming to the media and talking to the media and letting their enemies know there is a big operation against them … everyone out in the country knows about this operation and of course the Taliban and al-Qaeda left the area,” he told Al Jazeera.

He said that long-term success would only come from having Afghan forces playing a lead role in any assault.

“Our Afghan forces understand the ground realities, they understand the region, they understand how to fight al-Qaeda and [the] Taliban. When our army or our police are supported from international forces - by American forces - when they are on the ground … we will win,” he said.

“If international forces are ahead, on the frontline, and our national forces are are in the backstage, we will never win this war.”

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Malcolm X Deserves a Michigan Monument

February 8, 2010

JEFF GERRITT
Detroit Free Press

A Michigan man, Malcolm X deserves a Michigan monument

Brought up in Lansing and nicknamed Detroit Red, Malcolm X, like former President Gerald R. Ford, is a Michigan man. You wouldn’t know it, though, by driving around the state or flipping through a tourist guide. As far as I can tell, the only concrete reminder of Malcolm’s Michigan roots is an obscure homesite marker at 4705 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Lansing.

Malcolm X — born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska — spent much of his youth in Lansing, where the family moved when Malcom was 4, and, later, in Detroit, the birthplace of the Nation of Islam and home to one of the first temples Malcolm attended. Still, our state has no monuments, libraries or public waysides devoted to this seminal freedom fighter, who was assassinated in New York City on Feb. 21, 1965, at the age of 39.

It’s a shame. I believe Malcolm X to be the greatest American leader in the last century. (I’ll explain why in a print edition column this week.) As part of a Black History Month celebration, a concert Sunday night at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit, organized by the Detroit International Jazz Festival and Bishop Edgar L. Vann II, will honor Malcolm X, King, Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali, performing a jazz opus by Christian McBride.

More than any leader before or since, Malcolm X reminded us how far we have to go, and continues to do so today. An advocate for the dispossessed, his message should have special relevance to Michigan, a bleeding state whose largest city virtually defines the crisis of America’s cities.

Acknowledging his life in a concrete way would encourage others to carry on his work, and that’s the best way to honor this fearless and uncompromising freedom fighter. It’s time the state created a monument to Malcolm, a Michigan man who changed the nation, and the world.

Ivory Coast Opposition Groups Challenge President Gbagbo’s Rule

Ivory Coast opposition challenges president’s rule

Saturday, February 13 06:36 pm
Reuters Tim Cocks and Ange Aboa

Ivory Coast’s main opposition groups said they no longer recognised Laurent Gbagbo as president of the country on Saturday after he dissolved the government and electoral commission.

The top cocoa grower’s leading opposition parties, who accused Gbagbo of staging a coup with the decision, said supporters should reject the president and called on the security forces to “conform scrupulously with their republican mission.”

They did not elaborate on that call, and no clarification was immediately available. Police units tear-gassed about 100 opposition supporters trying to gather in the streets of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city, shortly after the statement.

Gbagbo dissolved the government and election body on Friday in a row over the preparation of voter lists ahead of long-delayed polls meant to end the nation’s political crisis.

“In consequence of this announcement, the (opposition coalition) RHDP proclaims that we no longer recognise Mr Laurent Gbagbo as the head of state of Ivory Coast,” said a statement read out by opposition leader Alphonse Djedje Mady.

The parties of Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo’s leading challengers, signed off on the statement.

“(We) will not recognise the new election commission, nor the new government,” the opposition parties added.

The elections are needed to end years of instability and stalemate after a 2002-2003 war that divided the country, leaving rebels running the north hands despite various peace deals. Gbagbo has a firm grip on soldiers in the south

Gbagbo’s announcement on Friday night is certain to delay the vote, which is already more than four years overdue and central to reforms aimed at helping the ailing cocoa sector.

SCARED RESIDENTS

Abidjan residents had rushed indoors after work on Friday, anticipating trouble. The normally bustling streets and palm-fringed outdoor bars were largely deserted overnight.

Traffic resumed on Saturday, but the atmosphere was tense. The leader of Bedie’s youth wing earlier on Saturday called for Ivorians to take to the streets and burn tyres, stoking fears among residents of more turmoil.

“I’m really scared,” said Arsene Yao, 30, a mechanic.

“There’s going to be more violence and everything’s going to burn. I can’t imagine what the president was thinking.”

Nothing in a peace agreement signed in 2007 gives Gbagbo the authority to dissolve the electoral commission, which is independent of all the warring factions. In his address, he invoked an article of the constitution to justify it.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro must pick a new government on Monday but the process of choosing an electoral commission boss could be long and drawn out, as all parties to the conflict are supposed to agree on the appointment.

After years of delays, many Ivorians have grown cynical about their leaders and their talk of elections.

“If they were going to have elections, they’d have had them already,” said Rosie N’Goran, 28, who sells fruit by the roadside despite her college degree.

“I no longer trust any of them at all,” she said.

Frustration is growing after more than seven years of crisis in a country that was once the envy of its neighbours, prospering while many of them stagnated or went to war.

Nationwide power cuts because of damage to a turbine have worsened the mood. Rioters burnt down a government building in the rebel-held west on Tuesday over the handling of the polls.

(Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

South African President Jacob Zuma Hails Former Leader Nelson Mandela’sLegacy

Zuma hails Mandela’s legacy

AFP

CAPE TOWN. President Jacob Zuma hailed Nelson Mandela’s legacy of a non-racial, unified South Africa in a state address that celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison.

The 91-year-old icon made a rare public appearance at the opening of parliament where Zuma pledged to boost South Africa’s economic recovery as the country readies to host Africa’s first football World Cup.

“As we celebrate Madiba’s release today, let us recommit ourselves to building a better future for all South Africans, black and white,” said Zuma, using Mandela’s clan name.

“President Mandela was central in assisting the country to win the rights to host this great event.

‘‘We therefore have to make the World Cup a huge success in his honour.”

Zuma joined South Africans and world leaders who heaped praise on Mandela on Thursday as the country celebrated his release from 27 years of imprisonment on February 11, 1990 — an event which signalled the end of apartheid.

“Let us pursue the ideal for which Madiba has fought his entire life — the ideal of a democratic and free society, in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities,” said Zuma.

He acknowledged that his government “must work faster, harder and smarter”. As South Africa prepares for the World Cup kick-off in June, Zuma said the economy was now creating work after shedding 900 000 jobs last year.

“Economic indicators suggest that we are now turning the corner. Economic acitivity is rising in South Africa, and we expect growth going foward.

“It is too soon, though, to be certain of the pace of recovery,” he said.

“Now is the time to lay the groundwork for stronger growth going foward, and for growth that gives rise to more jobs. “This year, 2010, shall be a year of action,” he said.

State support measures to mitigate the economic fallout will not be withdrawn, with 846 billion to be spent on public infrastructure over the next three years, he said.

In the wake of crippling electricity price hikes and power shortages, Zuma said the government will establish a new independent system operator, that will buy power from independent power producers and the ailing state utility Eskom.

A new measure will also see a one billion rand government-backed fund to broaden access to housing finance, with additional plans to also set aside 6 000 hectares of state land for low income and affordable housing.

Amid renewed violent protests over poor service delivery, Zuma said the government aimed to provide proper service and land tenure to half a million households by 2014.

Vowing to beef up government service, Zuma said his ministers will sign delivery agreements and tackle violence, which averages 50 murders a day, and increase the police force.

Al-Qa’idah in federal court or military commissions?

For the most part, I try to provide analysis on this forum about events in or about the Middle East. On occasion, I will venture into the realm of opinion or editorializing when I feel strongly about a particular issue, but always in the context of the Middle East. Like everyone, I have opinions on the entire range of issues, but on this forum, I mainly focus on the Middle East.

The issue of trying al-Qa’idah terrorists in federal/civilian court trials or by military commissions straddles that definition. It deals with American jurisprudence and the disposition of hundreds of al-Qa’idah detainees in U.S. custody, most held at the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also deals with some of the most hardened Islamic radicals captured on battlefields and other venues in the Middle East - it is hard to separate the two.

Almost all of these detainees - their exact status is still in limbo, thanks to semantic ambiguities of the Justice Department - are enemy combatants. Enemy combatants have normally tried by military courts, military tribunals, military commissions, or whatever term was in vogue, at the time going back to the Civil War. The Military Commission Act of 2006 provides for that today, following a Supreme Court ruling. It affords detainees the right to challenge their detention by U.S. forces or authorities - basically it answers the Supreme Court’s ruling that you cannot indefinitely detain people without recourse.

Given that ruling, at some point in time we have to address holding these al-Qa’idah thugs. I will be impolitic here and go on record as saying that I was against moving these detainees to Guantanamo in the first place. I would have interrogated them thoroughly (make your own determination on what that means) and left them in graves in Afghanistan. These vile creatures - by their own admission - planned and supported the slaughter of over 3,000 innocent people, mostly Americans, on September 11, 2001.

What I see now is the current administration wanting to put on a show on the world stage, to showcase American justice. Why? A band of thugs murders 3,000 people in an act of war - remember the ‘Usamah bin Ladin fatwa of 1996 declaring war on us - and we are supposed to respond with a criminal prosecution? Call me cynical, but I do not think Attorney General Eric Holder nor President Barack Obama really means to try these killers - they are more intent on putting the previous administration on trial.

For whatever reason, Obama and Holder believe that embarrassing former President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will improve America’s standing in the world. While that might play well on the upper west side of Manhattan, it has no real effect in the real world. Does anyone really think that the people who want to kill us will have their minds changed by he fact that we have a federal trial in New York as opposed to a military commission in Gitmo? Or that someone on the fence will say, “Wow, they tried our brothers in civilian court before they executed them - maybe they really are the good guys.” As my niece says, PAHLEEZE.

There are a host of other concerns about using the federal court system. There is the defense’s arguable right under our system to have access to a lot of classified information. In the case of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman, often called “the blind shaykh,” the government was compelled to disclose the true identities of more than 20 intelligence assets. Because of the criminal actions of one of the defense attorneys, much of that information was passed to al-Qa’idah. We in the military call this “shooting yourself in the foot.”

I am also concerned that some federal judge - bound by what her/she perceives to be the norms of criminal law - would dismiss many of the charges or throw out much of the government’s evidence as “fruit of the poisoned tree” because of the means obtained. Despite Holder’s prejudgment that the defendants will be found guilty - which raised legal issues of yet another dimension - there is no guarantee of a conviction.

Then there is the time and money - do we really need this type of kabuki dance going on in lower Manhattan for three years, with the price tag of maybe a billion dollars. You can buy a lot of JDAMs (GPS-guided munitions) for that kind of money. Rather than motion them to death in a court in New York, let’s put some American steel on al-Qa’idah targets in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia etc. - but that’s just me….

A military tribunal should have the same result as a federal court - executions with no release of classified information with no security/logistics nightmares and no grandstanding.

I was surprised - pleasantly - that most Americans wanted “Christmas bomber” ‘Umar Faruq ‘Abd al-Mutalab moved to Guantanamo and water-boarded. They get it - Holder and Obama don’t.

Zimbabwe News Update: ZANU-PF Names New Politburo

Zanu-PF names new Politburo

By Sydney Kawadza
Zimbabwe Herald

PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday announced a new Zanu-PF Politburo that contains a few surprises while a number of the old guard have been retained in an expanded organ with more committee members.

Opening an extraordinary session of the Central Committee at Zanu-PF Headquarters in Harare yesterday, the First Secretary and President of the party said the Presidium had given due regard to the state of the party and challenges it was facing in coming up with the Politburo.

Former committee member Cde Webster Shamu is now secretary for the commissariat.

He has the onerous task of mobilising and reinvigorating party structures.

Cde Shamu will be deputised by former deputy party spokesperson Cde Ephraim Masawi.

Former deputy secretary for administration Cde Rugare Gumbo takes over the information and publicity department from Cde Nathan Shamuyarira and he will be deputised by Cde Cain Mathema.

Cde Mathema is a career journalist and author.

Cde Shamuyarira becomes a committee member.

Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire rose to take over the department of production and labour, while Cde Obert Mpofu and Cde David Parirenyatwa were appointed to head the economic affairs and health and child welfare departments, respectively.

Former deputy secretary for youth affairs Cde Saviour Kasukuwere takes over the indigenisation and economic empowerment portfolio that was left vacant following national hero Cde Vitalis Zvinavashe’s death last year.

Cde Abigail Damasane heads the gender and culture department.

Cde Sithembiso Nyoni and Cde Francis Nhema have been appointed to the new portfolios of business development and liaison, and environment and tourism respectively.

Members who retained their positions are Cde Didymus Mutasa (administration), Cde David Karimanzira (finance), Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa (legal affairs), Cde Oppah Muchinguri (women’s affairs), Cde Absolom Sikhosana (youth affairs), Cde Ignatius Chombo (land reform and resettlement), Cde Stanley Sakupwanya (welfare of the disabled and disadvantaged persons) and Cde Olivia Muchena (science and technology).

Some Politburo members that have moved portfolios are Cde Sydney Sekeramayi (national security); Cde Stan Mudenge (external relations) and Cde Nicholas Goche (transport and welfare).

New and returning Politburo members include Cde Edson Ncube (deputy secretary for administration), Cde Charles Tawengwa (deputy, finance); Cde Abednico Ncube (deputy, external relations); Cde Samuel Mugande (deputy, transport and welfare); Cde Patrick Chinamasa (deputy, legal affairs); Cde Richard Ndlovu (deputy, production and labour), Cde Eunice Sandi-Moyo (deputy, women’s affairs); Cde Eddison Chakanyuka (deputy, youth affairs) and Cde Lazarus Dokora (deputy, education).

Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti (deputy, economic affairs); Cde Douglas Mombeshora (deputy, health and child welfare), Cde Tendai Savanhu (deputy, indigenisation and economic empowerment); Cde S. Mukusha (deputy, gender and culture); Cde Herbert Murerwa (deputy, land and resettlement), Cde Joshua Malinga (deputy, disabled and disadvantaged persons), Cde Patrick Zhuwao (deputy, science and technology), Cde James Gumpo (deputy, business development and liaison) and Cde Nelson Mawema (deputy, environment and tourism).

Committee members include Cdes Solomon Mujuru, Tsitsi Muzenda, Victoria Chitepo, Kumbirai Kangai, A. Chimbudzi, Nathan Shamuyarira, Naison Ndlovu, Thokozile Mathuthu, Angeline Masuku, Khantibai Patel, Tshinga Dube, Munacho Mutezo, Cephas Msipa, Josiah Hungwe, Jacob Mudenda, Flora Bhuka, Cliveria Chizema, Edna Madzongwe and O. Maluleke.

President Mugabe said the new Politburo had to tackle a number of issues.

“We have to re-organise all our people so they remain in a state of permanent readiness. We have the constitution-making process, which is already underway.

“There are crucial issues to be decided through that process. Persistent attempts by outsiders at influencing matters being handled under the constitution-making process need to be warded off. What is the interest of these powerful outsiders in the writing of our constitution?”

President Mugabe said Zanu-PF needed structures that were in touch with developments.

“The ideological side of our party needs revamping so we are able to be a party which defines issues, debates emerging ones, indeed, one which places new matters on the national table.

“The party needs a strong underpinning on policy issues and we shall be making further proposals.

“We are a national party and all our people must identify with the structures we create and persons assigned to man them.

“Once Zanu-PF is divided or any of its organs is faulted on whatever grounds, a negative message is transmitted in our nation.

“We cannot be all leaders at one time. What is more, there are no persons who are more leaders than others in the party. What we have are persons wielding higher responsibilities for which more is expected out of them.

“It is a call to serve, never an opportunity for flaunting imagined power. The power rests with the people and the party emerging from the organisation.

“We have huge duties to discharge, bigger battles to fight, great wars to win. And victors do not bicker.”

The announcement of the new political bureau was deferred at the Fifth National People’s Conference in December 2009 to allow for more consultations.

The Presidium consists of First Secretary and President Cde Mugabe; Second Secretaries and Vice Presidents Cdes Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo; and National Chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo.

GPA: Central Committee backs Politburo

Herald Reporter

Zanu-PF’s Central Committee yesterday endorsed a Politburo decision to stop their party’s negotiators from making any more concessions in current talks on the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement until illegal Western economic sanctions on Zimbabwe are lifted.

Addressing the organ at Zanu-PF Headquarters in Harare yesterday, President Mugabe said MDC-T had been the biggest beneficiary of the sanctions at the expense of ordinary Zimbabweans.

“Regrettably, we have not heard or seen as much clarity and forthrightness from the other formation, namely the MDC-T led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

“Let us be very clear. When the British Foreign Secretary (David Miliband) told the world that his government would lift sanctions upon request by its partners in the MDC, he was clearly telling us that those hurtful sanctions have continued to this day, because a request to have them lifted has not yet been made by the MDC-T.

“We also note that this is a message the British government has constantly made, namely, that it has always worked with the MDC on this matter, beginning with the drafting of the sanctions measures themselves.”

President Mugabe said MDC-T could not run from the responsibility of calling for the removal of the sanctions.

“There are individuals on the sanctions list.

“Their relatives and friends have also been put on these lists. But the British do not know our relatives. So who has given them our names?

“The MDC has benefited from the sanctions. They can travel anywhere. They are still getting funding at the expense of unity and the ordinary people.

“Chii chinoita kuti munhu atadze kutaura kuti masanctions abviswe? Zvinorevei izvozvo? Asi zvirikuremera vamwe.

“The Government and the country we are running together have been affected by sanctions.

“Why can’t there be vigour and clarity to have them removed because they are hindering progress?”

Speaking after the meeting, newly-appointed secretary for information Cde Rugare Gumbo said: “The Central Committee approved the decision to stop making concessions until other parties honour their obligations.

“Sanctions remain the key outstanding issue in the ongoing talks and the whole process will not go anywhere until this issue is addressed.”

Cde Gumbo said the party acknowledged progress made by the inclusive Government after a briefing from Cde Patrick Chinamasa.

He said a major concern raised was the illegal broadcasting by pirate radio stations based in Botswana and Madagascar into Zimbabwe.

The Central Committee, Cde Gumbo said, recommended that the issue be addressed by the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee to the satisfaction of GPA requirements.

China to invest in Zim power projects

By Reuben Madzivo

Harare and Beijing are finalising agreements that could see Zimbabwe’s power generation capacity topping 5 000 megawatts if completed, making the country a net exporter of electricity.

The deals will see the construction of new power generation plants as well as the expansion of existing power stattions.

In an interview with The Herald on Thursday, Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Hubert Nyanhongo said China had shown great interest in investing in Zimbabwe and expressed optimism that the projects would soon go through.

Though he could not be drawn into giving figures, enquiries by this paper show the projects are potentially worth over US$1 billion.

“China has shown great interest in investing in this power project. Three companies to be shortlisted by the Chinese government will undertake the projects.

“I am hopeful that the project will bring the current power deficits to an end,” said Deputy Minister Nyanhongo.

He said the first project will be the construction of two additional units with a capacity of 600MW at Hwange Thermal Power Station.

Hwange is currently producing 700MW of electricity, about 200MW short of its full capacity.

Kariba Hydropower Station will get two more units with a total capacity of 300MW.

That station is presently producing 250MW.

The Chinese have said they will construct two new hydroelectric power stations on the Condo and Batoka gorges.

At Batoka, a dam and two hydropower stations will be built on either side of the Zambezi River with a total capacity of 1 600MW.

The dam on the Condo Gorge will have a capacity of 150MW.

Zimbabwe and China will partner to construct a thermal power station on a build-operate-transfer basis in Gokwe North with a total capacity of 1 400MW.

Deputy Minister Nyanhongo said one of the projects would see the rehabilitation of the existing electricity transmission and distribution network.

The network has suffered at the hands of vandals over the years.

Zimbabwe presently produces 950MW of electricity from Kariba and Hwange power stations against infrastructural capacity of 1 800MW and has been relying on imports from Mozambique, South Africa and the DRC.

The Energy Ministry has said with output of 2 200MW and at present industrial and domestic use, the country will not experience any power cuts.

Deputy Minister Nyanhongo said: “We are currently relying on 950MW of electricity from Kariba and Hwange, but the country needs between 2 000 and 2 200MW of electricity.”

Zim labour standards hailed

Labour Reporter

Zimbabwe has been rated the best country in terms of observing fair and best labour standards among African Regional Labour Administration Centre members, Labour Minister Paurina Mpariwa has said.

In an interview yesterday after the week-long 36th session of the Arlac governing council of ministers meeting in Kariba, Minister Mpariwa — who is the Arlac chairperson, said Zimbabwe had the best record in observing workers rights in the region.

“Zimbabwe is rated first in the region on the International Labour Organisation country decent work programme after our social partners agreed and signed a decent work declaration last year.

“Arlac members started by presenting their labour experiences and briefs and from there it was realised that our country, despite the challenges we are facing, is a step ahead.

“We are not far away from achieving Millennium Developmental Goals in terms of fair labour standards.

“Some have argued that it is because we are the host of Arlac headquarters but we believe it is because of the dedication and commitment that our social partners have towards uplifting labour standards. There are, of course, some areas that we need to improve as a country but compared to other member States we are the best,” she said.

Ministers pledged to improve working conditions.

“The ministers acknowledged the effects of the global financial crisis as it hinders the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

“The region has agreed to work together in improving labour policies within the region,” she said.

Minister Mpariwa said the United Nations Development Programme pledged to extend technical assistance.

“Arlac as our regional administration centre was tasked to properly disseminate labour market information so as to help member states develop strategies and measures to improve labour standards,” she said.

Ministers shared experiences on how members were implementing the Global Jobs Pact of 2009. They also deliberated on how to guide national and regional policies aimed at stimulating economic recovery, generating jobs and providing protection to workers and their families.

Twenty-four African ministers attended the meeting, four of them as observers.

Arlac members are Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Eritrea, the Gambia, Mozambique and Tanzania attended the meeting as observers.

MPs honour Msika

Herald Reporter

The House of Assembly on Thursday united in applauding the late national hero Vice President Joseph Msika’s contributions to Zimbabwe’s independence and development.

The fearless, founding nationalist died in August last year..

Legislators from across the political divide were unanimous in acknowledging that Cde Msika was a great leader. Mazowe West House of Assembly representative Cde Richard Chirongwe (Zanu-PF), had moved a motion to take note of the late VP’s sterling role in Zimbabwe’s liberation.

He implored the House to make a resolution conveying its deepest sympathy to the nation and the Msika family.

Cde Chirongwe chronicled Cde Msika’s life.

Goromonzi East Member of House of Assembly, Cde Biata Nyamupinga (Zanu-PF), said Cde Msika had walked a painful road leading to the liberation of Zimbabwe.

“He was not selfish, neither was he greedy.

“He admired farming and the best honour we can give him is to farm extensively,” Cde Nyamupinga said.

Zanu-PF legislators who contributed to the debate include Cde Simba Mudarikwa (Uzumba), Cde Margaret Zinyemba (Mazowe South), Cde Betty Chikava (Mt Darwin East) and Cde Ailess Baloyi (Chiredzi South).

Insiza Member of the House of Assembly Mr Siyabonga Ncube (MDC) hailed VP Msika’s work saying he was a frank and forthright man.

Mr Shepherd Mushonga (Mazowe Central, MDC-T) said: “Throughout our campaigns in Chiweshe, his home area, he would not advocate for violence.

“He did not want a racially-based land reform programme; that is why he would protect some of the white farmers.He was a dedicated politician.

“What we learnt from him is that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans and not about race.”

Cde Msika was buried at the National Heroes acre on Heroes’ Day 2009.

Civil servants’ strike illegal

By Felex Share
Zimbabwe Herald

THE Public Service Commission has declared the ongoing civil servants’ strike illegal and ordered all State employees to report for duty or face the legal consequences.

In a statement yesterday, PSC chairman Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah said the process of negotiations was not yet over and civil servants should follow the dictates of the Public Service Act before declaring an industrial action.

Dr Nzuwah’s statement came as unionists described Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s remarks that civil servants should not complain about the salaries they are getting as “irresponsible” and the utterances of a “heartless politician”.

Civil servants’ representatives yesterday also said PM Tsvangirai should dismantle parallel government structures in his office and use the money being paid to his select group to ensure that State employees are better remunerated.

However, Dr Nzuwah said: “In terms of the law, and by their admission, there is no deadlock between the employer and the public service employees.

“Accordingly, any strike or industrial action by civil servants is premature and illegal in terms of the law . . .

“In light of the foregoing, the Public Service Commission notifies members of the public service who are not reporting for duty that they are doing so in violation of the standing regulations and statutes.

“Any member of the public service who does not report for duty should be prepared to face the consequences of his or her actions.”

Dr Nzuwah said civil servants must comply with Section 16:04 of the Public Service Act and the Public Service Regulations (2000).

The cited sections of the law spell out the processes for negotiations and declaring any deadlocks of industrial action.

According to the law, negotiators first engage each other, and if no solution is found, they can call in an independent arbitrator.

If the arbitrator’s decision does not go down well with the employee, that party can then proceed to give notice of a strike; which did not happen in the present case.

However, union leaders yesterday vowed to press on with the strike and would be in Chinhoyi on Monday to update their membership on their chosen course of action.

Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Manuel Nyawo told a rally in Mutare that PM Tsvangirai should redirect money being spent on parallel government staff to genuine civil servants.

“We are talking of the same Government which is broke paying some individuals US$7 000 a
month.

“How many civil servants can be paid with these resources?

“The Prime Minister should divert this money to Treasury because it is creating divisions among civil servants.

“No one is superior to anyone; we are all Government workers.

“We want to emancipate ourselves from the vagaries of political manipulation by some heartless politicians who only remember that we are vital come election time.

“We condemn such behaviour by the Honourable Prime Minister,” Mr Nyawo said.

In an interview, Pubic Service Association president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said Government was yet to communicate with them.

“The inclusive Government has failed the workers.

“Our strike is not a political issue but all parties must put their heads together and find a way out because we are digging in and drumming up support everyday,” she said.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu added: “We are talking of bread and butter issues here and no politician can influence us because we are driven by our members.

“If he (PM Tsvangirai) is serious he should have engaged us in dialogue not to tell us to return to work without anything.

“Government has not come forward to us asking for negotiations since the strike started and we read in the papers that (Public Service) Minister (Eliphas) Mukonoweshuro will be meeting us.”

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe said the PM wanted them to return to work on empty stomachs.

“We are saying to our members; the struggle continues until we are given something,” Mr Majongwe said.

Minister Mukonoweshuro told the media on Tuesday that he would meet union leaders on Thursday, but civil service representatives insisted they had received no communication to that effect from him.

PM Tsvangirai on Thursday said: “When they downed tools they said Tsvangirai promised us money but I did not say how much Government would give the workers.”

A few hours after President Mugabe swore him into office last year, PM Tsvangirai told a rally that civil servants could expect a meaningful salary review in a matter of a few months.

He is also on record as saying he had the “keys” to unlock resources.

The civil servants’ strike, the first since the early 1990s, has coincided with the first anniversary of the inclusive Government and has been going on for over a week now.

Some State employees have been reporting for work while others have heeded the strike call.

Northeast starts snow clean-up; costs mount

The Northeast began to dig out after two blizzards in a week brought the region to a standstill with record snowfalls, creating a multimillion-dollar mess for cash-strapped cities and states.

From Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, cities began to clean up and airports tried to reopen runways for flights possibly later on Thursday but residents were advised to stay home while crews tried to clear streets.

Airlines, already facing economic troubles, were trying to resume their schedules, but airport officials said that it would likely take until Friday to get back to normal, with hundreds of flights on Thursday already canceled.

Washington Dulles International Airport was open but the airfield at Reagan National Airport was closed. The two main runways were open at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, while airports in Philadelphia and the New York City area were open.

The federal government in Washington said agencies in the U.S. capital region would remain closed for a fourth straight day on Thursday, a decision that costs an estimated $100 million in lost productivity each day.

HOPE FOR FEDERAL HELP

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty said he was seeking federal financial aid to cope with the storm aftermath. Many city and state budgets have been stretched by a sagging U.S. economy combined with three big snowstorms since December.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke with some state and local officials on Wednesday, pledging help as they try to dig out.

“She assured me they would move our request expeditiously,” Fenty said on the local NBC station. Another storm is predicted for Monday in Washington, which will likely cause additional groans from budget officials — and those weary of winter.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the blizzard cost taxpayers $1 million for each inch that fell. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley said he was hoping for a federal disaster declaration to help ease the financial burden.

With the 10 inches to 20 inches that fell this week across a large patch of the East Coast, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington have received more snow this winter than any time since record-keeping began.

New York City public schools reopened after being closed on Wednesday for just the third time in eight years. But schools were closed in the Washington metropolitan area and some canceled classes until after a federal holiday on Monday.

Emergency crews were working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey where

strong winds downed lines. Other concerns include heavy snow buckling roofs and ice falling from buildings as it melts.

While the U.S. House of Representatives canceled votes for the week, there were a few events scheduled in the U.S. Senate, including a plan by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman to introduce legislation for sanctions on Iran.

Source:
Reuters, “Northeast starts snow clean-up; costs mount“, accessed February 11, 2010

Rebels, Government Troops Clash in Somalia

Rebels, govt troops clash

MOGADISHU. Somalia’s Shebab-led rebels rallied support after yesterday’s prayers and vowed all-out war as the conflict-riven country braced for a huge nationwide government offensive to crush insurgents.

As residents poured out of the capital in recent days, Islamist fighters poured in to face off with newly-trained government forces backed by African Union troops ahead of the battle. A skirmish that broke out early yesterday when fighters from the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab movement opened fire on government troops, drawing heavy retaliatory shelling, left five civilians dead and 20 others wounded. At the Nasreddin mosque in southern Mogadishu, Sheikh Muktar Robow Abu Mansur, a top military leader with the Shebab, said his movement was ready to face an onslaught by the Western-backed government.

“You are aware of the recent indiscriminate shelling of the enemy against our people. This war is a religious obligation for all of us to go to and fight them,” Robow told the crowd after prayers. — AFP.