LIBERIA TO GET US ABUSES REPORT!
A US document on atrocities committed in Liberia over the last three decades is due to be presented to the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Commissioners say the 4,000-page report, compiled by the US government and intelligence agencies, will help substantiate allegations of brutality. Liberia was torn apart by decades of unrest and civil war. It was brought to an end in 2003 when former President Charles Taylor resigned as part of a peace agreement.
The commission was launched in 2006, after Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf came to power in presidential elections, so Liberians could speak up on crimes and suggest solutions on how to progress with them. The BBC's Ledgerhood Rennie in the capital, Monrovia, says prominent Liberian human rights group Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) will hand over the document to the TRC after they obtained it with the help of US authorities and human rights groups.
"The TRC has a mandate to investigate human rights in this country. With this document the TRC will be able to go forth with its work and give the Liberian people the true nature of our history," JPC head Augustine Toe told the BBC's Network Africa programme. The TRC is now collating public statements to begin public hearings before the end of the year.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
LIBERIA DECRIES LACK OF DOCTORS!
Jonathan Paye-Layleh - BBC News, Monrovia.
An acute shortage of trained doctors is sabotaging Liberia's efforts to deliver health care to its people. Health Minister Walter Gwenigale says Liberia needs at least 1,200 doctors to grapple with its post-war situation but currently it has only 120. And 70 of those are foreign doctors serving with international non-governmental organisations and the United Nations.
"We have a serious shortage of health manpower, not just doctors; we need doctors but we also need more nurses, more midwives and more laboratory technicians," Mr Gwenigale said. "If we have enough doctors we will be able to properly cover (Liberia's) 15 counties," he said. "Right now a county is lucky if it even has one."
Like other civil servants, Liberian doctors are underpaid, leading many to change profession or travel abroad for employment opportunities. In addition, nearly all the available doctors prefer to take up assignments in Monrovia and the other coastal towns, leaving the rural sector inland to quacks or ill-prepared health workers.
Mr Gwenigale said that to encourage doctors to take assignments up-country, their pay would be increased to about $1,000 - that's five times the current average salary. "To be able to really deliver health care to our people you have to go beyond hospitals, but the shortage of trained manpower is greatly hampering us."
Liberia has only one medical college which turns out between six and 12 graduates each year. Medical students complain of no light to study by But there is no guarantee that even these graduates will take up assignments at home. And medical students at the college, which is a part of the University of Liberia, complain about the conditions in which they are expected to live and train, with a lack of electricity and running water in their dormitories.
"The dormitory is not even conducive for people to live; medical students need to study for up to six hours a day but here we study on candles," said student spokesman Robert Mulbah. In addition to the lack of light and water "we don't even have food", he said. The dean of the college, Dr Tarbeh Freeman, admitted there were problems but said engineers were working on the electricity supply and the government was taking steps to provide the students with what they need.
He was referring to assurances made by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf during a recent visit to the medical school, when she promised government assistance. In the meantime, private nursing schools are mushrooming across Monrovia - but the Ministry of Health warns that some of them are failing to meet the minimum standards. The acute shortage has caused former officials with medical backgrounds to return to active duty.
Former Health Minister Dr Peter Coleman is one of them and he was blunt in explaining the challenge faced by doctors in Liberia. "We are all overworked. We are talking about a doctor to patient ratio of one to 50,000. That puts a lot of stress on the professionals." "There will be a lot of people left out because doctors need time to interact with patients," Dr Coleman said as he prepared for a surgical operation at Liberia's John F. Kennedy Hospital - the country's biggest.
To pay a doctor or consultant a $200 monthly salary "is not encouraging at all," says Dr Coleman. "This is why we see an exodus of trained doctors from Sub-Saharan Africa going to seek greener pastures abroad."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
CHILD HUNGER 'CRISIS' IN OGADEN !
Elizabeth Blunt - BBC News, Addis Ababa.
A humanitarian disaster is now imminent in Ethiopia's Somali region of Ogaden, a report says, just two months after the UN warned of acute food shortages. Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency says the situation is critical, with over 20% of children in the Ogaden acutely malnourished.
Rebel attacks and military counter insurgency operations have disrupted food supplies for months. In August, the UN said emergency food aid was needed for 600,000 people. This latest report, prepared with technical assistance from the aid agency Save the Children is the first attempt to measure the effects of the current situation on young children in the Ogaden. It follows reports submitted to the government last month by both Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) and the UN, which also sounded the alarm.
The Ethiopian government had promised to ensure that the food and medical needs of the people in the region were met in collaboration with UN agencies and other partners. But by the time the children were assessed in early September, over 20% of under fives were already found to be acutely malnourished and 1.5%, severely acutely malnourished - a term which indicates the kind of listless children with wasted arms and legs found in famine situations.
This, the report says, indicates a critical nutritional status situation, which is something short of a humanitarian emergency but could very quickly turn into one without immediate action. The report scrupulously avoids allotting blame but shows how natural and man-made causes have combined to put these children in danger.
The area of Fik where the assessment teams carried out their work was already impoverished and short of food even before the upsurge in rebel attacks this year and the army operation which followed. The Ethiopian army has been accused by Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) separatists of operating a food blockade and causing a man-made famine. The rains in Fik have been poor for the past two years and there is little pasture for the animals.
Now security operations have disrupted normal commercial food supplies and made men in particular afraid to travel to places where they might be able to buy. Prices of grain have doubled, while the price of livestock - people's main source of income - has halved. Even those with money, the report says, have no easy access to food and an urgent response is needed to ensure that the children in these areas survive.
In early September MSF warned that a disaster was looming in the region and complained it had been denied access by the government in Addis Ababa. Later the same month a UN fact-finding mission found a "pervasive climate of fear" in Ogaden and called for an independent investigation into abuses of civilians.
The ONLF was founded in 1984 and is fighting for independence from Ethiopia, complaining of discrimination by the central government against the region's Somali-speaking nomads.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA SPEAKER GOES IN GRAFT ROW!
The speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, has resigned after weeks of pressure. An inquiry found her guilty of breaking house rules in awarding contracts worth $5m to refurbish houses and buy cars. But she had repeatedly refused to step aside and allow a temporary speaker to chair a debate into the findings.
Parliamentary business, including a debate on Nigeria's budget, has been held up for weeks as a result of the affair that has gripped the nation. The affair has become a major embarrassment for President Umaru Yar'Adua who promised zero tolerance on corruption but failed to intervene, despite increasingly angry protests.
Mrs Etteh, a former beautician and ruling party member, is accused of irregularities in spending $5m of government money to buy 12 cars and renovate two official residences - her own and that of a deputy. She had consistently denied any wrongdoing but opponents argued forcibly that she should step aside temporarily to allow someone else to chair the debate into the findings of the panel of inquiry, chaired by David Iroko. The row became so heated that a brawl broke out in parliament earlier this month, during which one pro-Etteh MP collapsed and died.
Mrs Etteh's aides told the BBC that the speaker had decided that she could no longer continue and that her deputy, Babangida Nguroje, has also resigned. The lower house elected Terngu Tsegba, an opposition politician from central Benue State, as the acting speaker. Mr Tsegba will now preside over the Iroko debate, which is expected to take up to a week. Parliament will then have to elect a permanent replacement to Mrs Etteh.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"SAYINGS" !
"HEAL YOURSELF FIRST BEFORE YOU HEAL OTHERS" !
OPRAH TEARS OVER SCHOOL SCANDAL !
Parents of schoolgirls at Oprah Winfrey's private academy in South Africa say they do not blame the US TV talk-show host for alleged abuse. Police from Gauteng's child protection unit are investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse by a matron. Ms Winfrey has visited the school at Henley-on-Klip near Vereeniging at least twice in the past few weeks.
The school has suspended the principal and two matrons and has offered counselling to its 150 boarders. One girl at the school complained she had been fondled while others reported being sworn at, grabbed by the neck, beaten or thrown against a wall. The girls said they had told the principal, Dr Mzimane, but she had failed to act.
South Africa's news24 website says that a visibly upset Ms Winfrey told parents she had trusted the principal, Dr Mzimane and felt let down, "I've disappointed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Parents also told Rapport newspaper that Oprah had given the girls her personal telephone number, e-mail address and postal address saying they could contact her directly at any time. The academy aims to offer an elite education to daughters of the poor.
A father of one of the pupils told her at the meeting: "It's not your fault. We don't blame you.... You have more passion for the school... than anyone else in this country." News of the alleged abuses first broke on 17 October when the school announced the suspension of one "dorm parent" and said it had notified child protection services of allegations of misconduct.
School CEO John Samuel told Rapport newspaper that the school had "engaged professional investigators of the highest standing from South Africa and the United States to conduct a fair and impartial inquiry into the claims."
The team, which includes a retired Chicago policeman, handed over a dossier of statements from schoolgirls to the head of Gauteng's child protection unit, Superintendent Andre Neethling.
Ms Winfrey pledged to build the $40m academy after a meeting with former South African president Nelson Mandela six years ago and she personally interviewed many of the 3,500 South African girls from low income families who applied for the initial 150 places at the school.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
INTERNATIONAL STADIUM HOSTS FINAL !
By Ben Wyatt - BBC Sport
The venue for the second leg of the African Champions League final has been moved from the Military stadium, across Egypt's capital city, to the Cairo International stadium. Ahly board member, Khalid Mortuguey, confirmed the game against Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel, scheduled for 9 November, demanded a venue with greater capacity. "We are doubling the amount of tickets available to fans by moving," Mortuguey said.
There will now be 55,000 tickets available for the showpiece game of African club football, rather than the 25,000 capacity limit of the previous venue. Mortuguey added that 'over a million people' wanted tickets for the match. The game was planned for the Military stadium because the Cairo International arena, Ahly's home ground, had been booked for the opening of the Pan-Arab Games.
However, Mortuguey confirmed that Ahly had successfully negotiated the move to ease the demand on tickets for the game and to ensure maximum support for his side.
If the Egyptian footballing giants win they will become the first team to retain the African Champions League three years in a row. They will also become the first to lift the title for the sixth time overall.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
UN ALARM AT DARFUR CAMP 'REMOVAL' !
By Laura Trevelyan - BBC UN correspondent, New York.
A United Nations humanitarian chief has expressed alarm at reports Sudan's government forced people from a refugee camp in South Darfur on Sunday night. John Holmes said any forced relocations could spark more violence amid the ongoing Darfur peace talks in Libya. Government security forces allegedly used sticks and rubber hoses to force new arrivals at Otash to leave.
The camp in Nyala, south Darfur, is home to some 60,000 people who have lost their homes in the conflict. The numbers fleeing to Otash have increased in the wake of violence at the Kalma camp, Darfur's largest, a week ago.
Mr Holmes said the Sudanese government was only supposed to move people from the camps if they wanted to go and threatening them with sticks and rubber hoses was contrary to agreements. UN officials on the ground saw 10 vehicles with heavy machine guns surrounding people, while eight trucks were loaded with their belongings.
This renewed tension in the camps comes as the peace talks aimed at ending the four-year conflict in Sudan's western region continue in Libya. The Sudanese government declared a ceasefire as those talks opened at the weekend.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
FIRE ENGULFS VEHICLES IN NIGERIA !
At least 30 people have been killed after a road tanker overturned and caught fire on a busy highway between Lagos and Ibadan, say Nigerian police. The fire engulfed three commuter buses and several cars on the road.
Some 5,000 are killed on Nigeria's notoriously dangerous roads each year. "The fire is still burning and more bodies may still be trapped in there," a spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps told Reuters news agency.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at October 30, 2007 08:34 |
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africa
SOMALI PRIME MINISTER STEPS DOWN !
Somalia's transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi has resigned. Mr Ghedi told MPs of his decision after handing a note to President Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf. Mr Ghedi had been blamed for failing to quell the Islamist insurgency in Somalia and for bringing Ethiopian troops onto Somali soil.
In the capital, shells struck for a third day, in the worst fighting for weeks between Ethiopian-Somali government troops and Islamist rebels. On Sunday, thousands fled the capital, Mogadishu, after Ethiopian troops opened fire on protestors.
Salim Aliyow Ibrow - Mr Ghedi's deputy and a close friend - was appointed just moments after Mr Ghedi said he had "proudly" resigned. The BBC's East Africa correspondent Karen Allen says that the prime minister's political future has for some time hung in the balance. She says that despite efforts to salvage his job during talks at the weekend in Ethiopia, he has agreed to step down after pressure from within Somalia and the international community, in particular from the US.
In his address to the Somali parliament in Baidoa, Mr Ghedi denied he had come under outside pressure to step down. "I was not forced to resign, it comes from me. I am not going anywhere and will be here with you as a legislator," he was reported as saying by the Reuters news agency. Mr Ghedi's resignation was swiftly accepted by President Abdullahi Yusuf.
The pair have had a fractured relationship fuelled by clan rivalries during the three years they have worked together in Somalia's transitional government. Mr Ghedi is from the Hawiye clan, which is dominant in Mogadishu and is the largest in the country. President Yusuf is from the breakaway northern state of Puntland and comes from the Darod clan, the country's second largest.
Observers say the fear is that with Mr Ghedi gone, the Hawiye will now be even more united in their opposition to Mr Yusuf's transitional government. Aides close to the president said that the resignation was part of a deal to end what he called the political confusion in Somalia.
President Yusuf told parliament he welcomed the resignation "with respect to the situation the country is undergoing, the humanitarian catastrophe facing us and the longstanding deadlock among us". The Ethiopians, seen as rivals by many Somalis, have been fighting alongside Somali troops to try and restore order to the fractured country, but many see them as inflaming tensions.
Somalia has been without an effective government since civil war began in 1991, but has seen a surge in violence since Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted Islamists last December.
The UN says some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu in the past four months.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
S.AFRICA MINI CATTLE RUSTLERS !
By Alice Lander - BBC News, Durban.
Cattle rustlers in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province have been trying to outwit police by transporting the animals in small cars. Police in Zululand say they seized two cows and two goats found squashed into the back of a tiny Fiat Uno.
The National Anti-Stock Theft Forum said more than 62,000 cows were stolen in the area last year. The authorities say the use of ever-smaller vehicles came after police stepped up surveillance of larger vans. Police chased one overloaded Fiat Uno into the night, after receiving a tip-off at around 0300.
The driver abandoned the car after he realised he was being followed and ran off into the bushes. All the seats except the driver's had been taken out and the cows and goats loaded in their place. The vehicle and its unusual passengers were taken to Emanguzi police station and then to the centre where they keep stolen animals in Hluhluwe.
"Police have been keeping watch on vans and trucks travelling at night," local police spokesman, Capt Jabulani Mdletshe explained. "Now they are using small cars to avoid detection."
The authorities say in another instance the rustlers managed to cram two cows and seven goats into a Toyota Tazz before being pulled over. Some cattle are stolen by local villagers to restock their kraals after the loss of their own cattle to raiders. But most are stolen by syndicates who sell them for their meat to butcheries in Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho.
"Syndicates will use every mode of transport available to them," said the head of KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union's security desk, Koos Maree. The KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union's security desk said at least 15,000 cows, 7,000 sheep and 900 goats had been stolen in KwaZulu-Natal so far this year. Police said they hoped these animals would be given a trauma debriefing - but did not elaborate on what that would entail.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
AFRICA WAITNG FOR NET REVOLUTION !
By Darren Waters - Technology editor, BBC News website
More than a third of Africa's citizens should have access to broadband internet by 2012, a conference of technology leaders is set to hear. Fewer than four out of 100 Africans currently use the internet, and broadband penetration is below 1%.
The barriers to broadband access are key talking points at the Connect Africa meeting in Kigali, in Rwanda. Dr Hamadoun Toure, head of the International Telecommunication Union has called for "immediate action".
The conference features representations from organisations such as the World Bank, World Health Organization and United Nations, as well as high-profile technology leaders such as Intel's chairman Craig Barrett. The attendees were all invited to make financial commitments to improving technology and telecoms in the continent. More than $3bn has been pledged so far.
Dr Toure said that despite the bleak picture of access issues in Africa there was plenty of opportunity. He told the BBC News website: "If you have just 1% of broadband access today you have 99% of opportunity. "The good news is that Africa has had the highest growth in mobile use globally - twice the global average over the past three years. "For the first time economic indicators are positive from Africa."
In Rwanda, access to the net is limited and high-speed connections are rare, the BBC's Digital Planet programme was told by officials and users in the country. "Not many students are able to connect to the internet at the same time," said Marie-Josee Ufitamahoro, a student at Kigali institute of technology. "For example, a class of 40 students requires each pupil to be connected, so what we need is bigger bandwidth so we can share ideas with other students in other parts of the world."
Albert Butare, Rwanda's state minister for telecommunications and energy, said the issue of bandwidth was critical. "It's what governs the speed of the internet, the quality of the connection, whether or not you can do video conferencing," he said. "If you are talking about telemedicine or distance learning, you need images and clear audio."
Dr Toure said the conference needed to take action on regulatory issues in some African countries, which often tie down the roll-out of net access. "The heads of state present will give assurances to the private sector on the availability of competition and the creation of a proper regulatory environment for them in which to evolve," he said. "The private sector from outside Africa and inside will make fruitful partnerships."
One of the biggest problems facing internet development in Africa is a lack of interconnectivity. More than 70% of internet traffic within Africa is routed outside the continent, driving up costs for business and consumers. "This is a serious problem and will be discussed," said Dr Toure. But he said Africa should not be looking for special treatment from the technology private sector. "Africa has to create the opportunities; Africa doesn't need charity," he said. "We need to make sure we have a good environment that will attract private sector investment. There's nothing wrong with making profits in Africa."
The International Telecommunications Union says more than $8bn was invested in telecommunications infrastructure across Africa in 2005. Dr Toure said the challenge for the ITU, technology leaders and companies was to help Africa meet its Millennium Development Goals by 2015. In the technology sphere, that means easy access to information and communication technology for more than half of the continent's population within eight years.
BBC NEW REPORT.
MANUEL JOSE ISSSUES AHLY WARNING
Ahly coach Manuel Jose has told his players to keep their focus as they close in on a record third consecutive Champions League title. The Egyptians held Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the final in Sousse on Saturday. The result prompted celebration among some Ahly players ahead of the second leg to be played in Cairo on 9 November.
The Tunisian 'Red Devils' must fear the worst ahead of the return match as they were also held goalless at home by Ahly in the 2005 final and crumbled 3-0 away. But the Portuguese manager has warned his side not to be over-confident. "It would be ridiculous to think we won the cup because we drew in Tunisia," Jose said.
"Both teams still have a 50-50 chance. "I have to admit that we concluded our target in Sousse but we still have to work very hard to make sure that this cup stays with us. "Etoile are a very good team and honestly they deserve all the respect. "They have some very good young players and they are certainly a tough challenger."
The Egyptians are seeking to win the title for a record sixth time and for an unprecedented third time in a row.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !
Dignity and Freedom
Sunday 28th October 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
The first real rain of the new season fell this week and it came with a bang. In the distance the rolling rumble of thunder got louder as the storm drew closer. The sky grew darker, the clouds dropped lower and then the birds went quiet - a sure sign that it was about to start. The noise soon built to tremendous levels and the flashes of lightning were instantly followed by cracks of explosive, roaring thunder - the storm was directly overhead. A strange orange, yellow cloud formed in the sky - a warning of ice for sure. Two shirtless men who had been toiling for most of the day down in the riverbed ran up to the road and raced for cover, using their buckets as umbrellas. The pair have become a feature of the neighbourhood this summer. They collect water from a pool they have dug in the almost dry riverbed that runs through a nearby vlei. The water is murky and the buckets are edged with mud but there is a continuous demand from urban neighbourhoods where water is usually only available for a couple of hours a day, and somedays not at all. The men fill buckets, decant them into twenty litre containers, load them onto a hand cart and then sell them in the neighbourhoods to those most desperate.
Moments after the water gatherers had taken cover the rain began, coming in thin slanting sheets at first but then overtaken by a rush of hail stones. The pea sized white balls skipped off the roof and lay on the ground giving a temporary white landscape which soon melted. When the hail slowed the torrents of rain moved in - big drops pelting down, bringing relief to the land and giving hope that always comes with a new season. Two inches (50ml) of rain fell in the first hour, accompanied by brilliant streaks of white fork lightning coursing through the sky, so close as to make your hair stand on end.
When it was over, seemingly from nowhere, came the summer regulars: Sausage flies, Dragon flies, Chongololos, Flying ants and the big black biting ants that give off a foul smell which we called Matabele Ants when we were kids. From unknown places a myriad crickets, cicadas and frogs have emerged to sing and screech and fill the air with the sound of Africa. The hard, baked ground has come back to life instantly and there is a new, soft spring underfoot. Almost overnight a flush of green has risen in the bush, on the roadsides and across our gardens. The barren, burnt landscape, ravaged by a devastating season of bush fires, can breathe again - you can almost feel the relief. The wild flowers that stood so starkly in the sand and ash have also taken on a new fullness and more mellow colour and are a picture: dwarf red Combretums, Yellow Heads, blue Thunbergia, exquisite orange Pimpernels and the Protea bushes are covered in creamy white flowers.
Zimbabwe came back to life again this week, you can see it and feel it and smell it. And now in our newly washed land we look to our leaders and politicians to finally put an end to this time of pain and suffering and turmoil. We are not a greedy, selfish and demanding nation, we want only food in the fields, products in the shops and space to walk, talk and act with dignity and freedom. We want our families that are living such hard and lonely lives in the diaspora to come home; we want to start rebuilding our communities and neighbourhoods and to have joy in our lives again. It is not too much to ask. Perhaps this new season can be the start, the change we all so desperately want.
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.
HEAVY FIGHTING IN SOMALI CAPITAL!
Some of the heaviest fighting in months has broken out between Ethiopian forces and local insurgents in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Residents said that at least 10 people had been killed amid shell and machine-gun fire as the Ethiopian forces launched an offensive. Somalia has seen a surge in violence since Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted Islamists last December. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the fighting.
The BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says the latest clashes began after Ethiopia moved reinforcements and a convoy of 20 tanks and armoured cars into the city late on Friday. One of the vehicles was hit by a landmine and exploded. Early on Saturday the Ethiopians fanned out of their barracks and fighting erupted. The forces targeted areas of the city occupied by militia who are remnants of forces loyal to the ousted Union of Islamic Courts.
Insurgents are reported to have captured and ransacked a police station. They later retreated chanting "God is great", witnesses said. Local resident Ismail Osman told the Reuters news agency: "Ethiopian troops and insurgents are fighting in every alley." The Ethiopian forces have since reportedly returned to barracks, but heavy artillery fire has continued.
A worker at one of Mogadishu's main hospitals said many people had been brought in suffering from gunshot and shrapnel wounds. Local elders described the Ethiopian offensive as a genocide and have appealed to the international community to intervene. Some 1,600 Ugandan troops are also in Mogadishu as part of a planned 8,000-strong African Union force to support the interim government.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the civil war began in 1991. The UN says some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu in the past four months.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SPANISH PLANE CREW HELD IN CHAD !
Chadian authorities have detained the seven Spanish crew members of a plane chartered to fly more than 100 children to France. The crew are being held along with nine French citizens - three journalists and six members of the French charity Zoe's Ark - in the eastern town of Abeche. The charity says the children need medical treatment, but a BBC reporter says they appear to be in good health. Inquires also indicate they are not all orphans from Darfur, as Zoe's Ark says.
Staff from the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, said many of the children cry at night for their parents and say they are from villages in Chad. A spokesperson for Zoe's Ark, Stephanie Lefebvre, has denied there was any plan to sell the children for adoption. She insisted the children had been sick and needed help. But the French foreign ministry has condemned the charity's attempt to fly the children out of the country as "illegal and irresponsible". A court in Paris has launched a criminal investigation.
The BBC's Stephanie Hancock was among a group of reporters taken by Chadian authorities to the airport at Abeche, a town close to the Sudanese border, and shown the private charter plane still sitting on the runway where it was abandoned two days ago. The reporters were later taken to the local police headquarters to see the 16 Westerners who were detained. They are not held in prison cells but in a large room and are showing no signs of mistreatment, our correspondent says.
The seven Spaniards among the group are the plane's two pilots and five air stewards. Spanish media have reported they are employees of the Barcelona-based charter company, Girjet. The company said it had provided transport for the charity but was not otherwise involved in the plan, media reported.
Chadian authorities initially have 72 hours to question the group, a period which expires on Sunday morning, but are expected to seek a further 48 hours to continue their inquiries. It is still unclear whether charges will be brought against the Europeans, but the Chadian government has repeatedly said that what was attempted was illegal, our correspondent says.
The reporters were also taken to the orphanage in Abeche where the 103 children are being cared for by aid workers and UN staff. Aid workers confirmed they were not treating any of the children for any serious illnesses or injuries. The vast majority of the children are believed to be between three and five years old, with the oldest about eight or nine, and several babies no more than one-and-a-half, our correspondent says.
The president of the French national committee for Unicef said 48 of the children questioned so far appeared to be Chadian, not Sudanese. "Our impression is that the majority aren't orphans, but at this stage it's just an impression," Jacques Hintzy told Radio Television Luxembourg.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
LEBANESE SHOPS LOOTED IN S LEONE!
Many shops in the capital are owned by Lebanese businessmen.Youths in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, have ransacked more than a dozen shops owned by Lebanese traders. The young men took to the streets after reports that a Sierra Leonean woman had died after being raped by a man of Lebanese origin in the town of Kenema. Police dispersed the rioters, who stole televisions, radios, mobile phones and electricity generators from the shops.
Sierra Leone has a large Lebanese business community; many settled there after independence from the UK in 1961. Kenema is a diamond-trading town about 300km (185 miles) from Freetown. Samir Hassaniyeh, the leader of the Lebanese community in Sierra Leone, said some traders had received threats and delayed opening their shops on Thursday, but later opened them thinking the danger had passed, Reuters news agency reports.
But when all the shops had opened the youths began their attacks. "You cannot kill our people ... We are going to kill the Lebanese," the agency quoted one of the looters as shouting. "It is a great shock, what has been done to Lebanese shops," Mr Hassaniyeh, told AFP news agency. The West African country emerged from a decade of civil war in 2002.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
DOZEN KILLED IN DR-CONGO FLOODS
At least 30 people have died and 100 been injured in flooding in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials have said. Heavy rain caused waterways to burst their banks, washing away roads and bridges and knocking down power lines. Some of the victims were electrocuted, others drowned or were crushed when their homes collapsed.
Officials said the number of people killed could rise as relief workers reach districts cut off by the floods. The torrential rain began falling late on Thursday and continued until Friday morning. Government officials have set up a committee to deal with the crisis.
A particularly heavy rainy season across a broad stretch of Africa since June has led to the worst floods in 30 years, the United Nations has said. The latest floods in the DR Congo brings the number killed to more than 400. Two million people across the continent have been affected, with many requiring shelter and food aid.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
KENYA POLLS SET FOR 27 DECEMBER !
Kenya's electoral commission has named 27 December as the date for elections. Presidential, parliamentary and civic polls will be held simultaneously and are expected to be closely contested.
President Mwai Kibaki is running for a second five-year term, having won an election in 2002 to replace former long-time leader Daniel arap Moi. Political deals are expected to be struck in the next few days as candidates forge new alliances, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from Kenya. President Kibaki's biggest challenge is likely to come from the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, former cabinet minister Raila Odinga, who is making a second attempt at securing the presidency.
Recent opinion polls put Mr Odinga more than 10 points ahead with 43-52% compared to 31-38% for Mr Kibaki. Another former cabinet minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, is also to take part in the contest, as well as a former televangelist turned politician Pastor Pius Muiru.
President Kibaki, 75, will be seeking re-election on the basis of Kenya's strong economic record. However, the key issues in the elections are likely to be his track record, trust and tribe, in a country where politics continue to be polarised along ethnic lines.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
OIL GOVERNOR REMOVED IN NIGERIA !
Nigeria's Supreme Court has annulled April's election of the governor of oil-rich, violence-prone Rivers State. The court said current Governor Celestine Omehia had not been the legitimate candidate of the governing People's Democratic Party. It ruled that the post should go to Rotimi Amaechi, who won the party's primaries, but was dropped on the eve of voting because of graft allegations.
Troops have been deployed in the state capital in case of violence. It is the third time this month that a Nigerian court has nullified the election of a state governor. The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says the governor of Rivers State controls a budget in excess of $1bn, but the region has been wracked by poverty and has become synonymous with violence and kidnappings, so any political instability could have dire consequences.
Our correspondent says that on the streets of the state capital, Port Harcourt, there has been some celebration and some trepidation at the news of the Supreme Court's ruling. Troops have been deployed to try to prevent any outbreak of violence as the many armed gangs in the state have close links to competing local politicians. The court did not call for fresh elections.
April's poll in Rivers State was marred by massive vote rigging and violence - and was declared a farce by election observers. Mr Amaechi himself is a controversial figure, our reporter says. The anti-corruption agency was investigating how he, as the speaker of the state house of assembly, had allegedly amassed a fortune of around $150m. As governor, he will be immune from prosecution.
On paper, Rivers State in the Niger Delta is the richest region of Nigeria but massive corruption has meant most live in poverty, our reporter says.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
