Cameroon have cancelled their pre-Nations Cup training camp in Kenya, because of the post-election violence in the country. The Indomitable Lions were to train at high altitude in Kenya. Coach Otto Pfister has announced that the team will instead prepare for the Nations Cup in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, between 4 and 14 January. The team will then travel to Yaounde for two days before leaving for Kumasi in Ghana.
Pfister has named his 28-man shortlist for the tournament, and all except one are based outside Cameroon. Despite the German coach's intentions to woo back Portsmouth defender Lauren, the player is not in the squad. Barcelona striker Samuel Eto is included in the list. Ten of the players will be fighting for their first nations Cup appearance.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Hamidou Souleymanou (Denizlispor, Turkey), Carlos Idriss Kameni (Espagnol, Spain), Pierre Ebede Owona (Metz, France), Janvier Mbarga (Canon Yaounde)
Defenders: Rigobert Song (Galatassaray, Turkey), Eric Matoukou (Racing Genk, Belgium), Andre Bikey (Reading, England), Gilles Augustin Binya (Benfica, Portugal), Timothee Atouba (Hamburg, Germany), Alexis Enam Mendomo (Club Africain, Tunisia), Benoit Angbwa (Saturn Moscow, Russia), Bill Tchato (Qatar Sport Club, Qatar)
Midfielders: Geremi Njitap (Newcastle United, England), Alexandre Song (Arsenal, England), Achille Emana (Toulouse, France), Jean Joel Epalle (Bochum, Germany), Landry Nguemo (AS Nancy, France), Stephan Mbia (Rennes, France), Jean Makoun (Lille, France, Alain Junior Olle Olle (Club National, Uruguay), Modeste Mbami (Olympique Marseille, France), Alain Nkong (Atlente, Mexico), Paul Essola, (Arsenal Kyiv, Ukraine)
Strikers: Samuel Eto'o Fils (Barcelona, Spain), Bertin Tomou (Excelsor Mouscron, Belgium), Mohamadou Idrissou (Duisbourg MSV, Germany), Joseph Desire Job (Nice, France), Christian Bekamenga (Persib Bandung, Indonesia)
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
A British teacher has told how she and her family including her newborn baby were forced from their home in Kisumu, scene of some of the worst violence to follow Kenya's disputed presidential election. In an interview with BBC News 24, Alison Rogers, 42, also said the school she ran with her husband had been burned down and there seemed to be no way out of town.
We had our whole business burned down. We have nothing left there and this morning we had a lot of people at the gate trying to break the gate down to the house. We phoned the police. The police brought tear gas down and helped us to get to a hotel where I am with my family at the moment. It's very, very terrifying and made all the more so because we have a three-week-old baby with us. We have no papers, no documents. In the panic of leaving the house this morning we did not even manage to grab clothes for her so it was a horrible situation arriving in a hotel with no clothes, even for the baby.
At the moment, the British Embassy [in Nairobi] are just giving advice to stay put. They said there was no fuel anywhere around so they can't get vehicles in or out. We do feel a bit safer in this hotel at the moment so that's a bit easier. We were looking after another two [local] families with young children in our house this morning, who are in a terrifying position.
Their houses have been burnt. They had run to us and now we have run on to this hotel. They can't afford this hotel. It's critical for many, many people in this country at the moment. Temporarily we can't safely get to the airport and we don't know how many flights there are a day out of Kisumu. We are told there's one tonight but it's fully booked.
Even trying to get to the airport is a very frightening proposition. People can stone the cars or burn the cars or even kill people en route. We expected a little bit of trouble around the election but nobody expected it on this scale We are in a better position than a lot of people in that we have got the possibility, when things calm down a little bit, we will be able to leave the country.
They've looted all the shops. There is no food anywhere in Kisumu. Getting hold of any food is almost impossible. All the lorries have been stopped. There is nothing on the roads so food can't come into the area. It's completely surprised lots and lots of people. We expected a little bit of trouble around the election - I think a lot of people stayed in around the election day - but nobody expected it on this scale. So many people are so frustrated they feel the elections have not been fair, have not been carried out right.
They are very frustrated with the democracy that's been on display here. People are not feeling that their voice has been heard properly. They are not feeling the results have been fair at all. Over the next couple of days things are going to become very desperate unless the government can take control very quickly.
BBC NEWS REPORT !
The Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior Somali military official and his bodyguard in south Mogadishu. Colonel Farah Abdulle Ga'al and his bodyguard died when a landmine concealed under the colonel's chair exploded after he arrived at work. The incident occurred while fierce fighting continued between insurgents and government forces.
Ethiopia-backed forces took control of Mogadishu from Islamists a year ago. The UN says that 60% of the city's residents have fled clashes in the city. On Sunday night, insurgents attacked three bases belonging to African Union peacekeepers, Somali and Ethiopian forces.
Ethiopian troops reportedly responded with heavy artillery fire. At least two shells exploded in Bakara market, close to where the colonel and his bodyguard were killed. He used to be there every morning to inspect the security operation, but this morning the land mine blew him up, it was a barbaric act and inhumanity," said Mogadishu's Deputy Mayor Abdi-fitah Shawey.
Al-Shabab posted the claim of responsibility on its internet site. Earlier on Sunday, a woman and her five children were killed when a mortar round exploded in north Mogadishu. Another two people were reported to have been killed in the southern part of the city.
Somalia has been politically fragmented since 1991 and the country's transitional government, faced with an insurgency, is dependent on international aid and Ethiopian military support.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"NEVER DO THINGS BY HALVES " !
Posted by: Mara at December 31, 2007 13:37 |
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Businessman Prashant Shah is from Kisumu, in western Kenya, the home town of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga. Anger at the election result has spilled into violence and several people have been killed in the town. I have just put 25 of my family and friends onto a plane that we chartered to fly to Nairobi and then on to Uganda. We decided to get out last night. I am staying here because I have a lot of businesses and a lot of people still on my side.
I was born and brought up in Kisumu. I can't leave my fellow workers. I run a transport business and we've also got a hardware shop. I didn't vote in the election, there were a lot of people at the voting station and it was too crowded. There has been a lot of trouble over the past 48 hours.
It started when there was a delay in the election results and it got worse when the results were finally announced. I think Raila Odinga won and the result was rigged. Everything has gone haywire. On Saturday everything in Kisumu was looted. About 12 or 13 shops in the central business district were burned down. All the shops are now empty.
I live near Nyalenda, a district in Kisumu. I was at home at the time of the trouble, but we saw a couple of things while it was happening. Property, people - everything was under attack. It wasn't safe to go out, anyone crossing the street was vulnerable.I think the rioters were from the outskirts of Kisumu. I think they are just people taking advantage of the situation.
Today is much calmer, we do not hear anything going on. The army is on the boundaries of the town, trying to prevent people - looters - coming into the centre. Kisumu central business district is like a ghost town, it will take a long time to repair. I can't see there being any business for the next six to eight months, although my shops are OK at the moment.
We hope the situation will settle down in the coming days. But it's hard to know what will happen.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
By Martin Plaut - BBC Africa analyst.
The new United Nations peacekeeping force for Darfur in Sudan is due to start its operations. The force, Unamid, replaces the African Union observer mission in the western region to become the world's largest peacekeeping force with 26,000 troops. The deployment of the force has been delayed by a dispute with the Sudanese government over its composition. It will also immediately face a severe test - how to deal with a new offensive by Chadian forces and Darfur rebels.
A number of towns and villages in western Darfur have been under attack from the combined force since Friday. The new United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (Unamid) is an attempt to end the conflict in the troubled Sudanese region, which has seen the deaths of more than 200,000 people since 2003. It currently has just 9,000 soldiers and police on the ground.
African Union soldiers will be part of the new peacekeeping force Its operations have been hamstrung by quarrels with the Sudanese government over which troop contributing countries are acceptable. The international community has also, so far, been unable to agree on who will provide Unamid with the attack helicopters it so badly needs.
Yet on the eve of its establishment, it is already facing a major test - an attack by Chadian armed forces fighting alongside Darfur rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement. Chad denies its troops have crossed the border but diplomatic sources, who have asked not to be named, have said a number of Sudanese towns and villages in the area of el-Geneina are under threat.
The Sudanese government has complained to the UN Security Council.
Chad has said its ground and air forces have attacked rebel targets along the border, but have not crossed into Sudan.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
By Martin Plaut - BBC News.
A joint offensive is under way between Chadian forces and rebels in Sudan's region of Darfur, Sudanese diplomatic sources say. A number of towns and villages in Western Darfur have been under attack from the combined force.
Sudan's government has complained to the UN Security Council, describing the Chadian attack as unprecedented. Chad says its ground and air forces have attacked rebel targets along the border, but had not crossed into Sudan.
The offensive comes on the eve of the establishment of the joint UN-African Union force in Darfur. The fighting in Western Darfur is described as ongoing and serious. Officials, who asked not to be named, said Chadian armed forces and Darfur rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement were attacking towns and villages in the area of el-Geneina.
The UN has withdrawn humanitarian staff from two towns in the region. The fighting began on Friday, with Chadian aircraft reportedly attacking targets inside Sudan.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki won Thursday's closely-fought election, the electoral commission has declared. The announcement came after opposition leader Raila Odinga accused Mr Kibaki of electoral fraud and called for a full re-assessment of the results.
Opposition protesters began riots in the capital Nairobi, just minutes after the announcement. The count was badly delayed, sparking violence in which at least 10 people are reported to have been killed.
Mr Kibaki won 4, 584,721 votes, beating Mr Odinga by more than 230,000 votes, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) said. Kalonzo Musyoka, another presidential contender, got 879,903 votes. "The commission therefore declares Honourable Mwai Kibaki as the winner," ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu said. Mr Kibaki was then immediately sworn in for his second five-year term.
Mr Odinga had led since vote counting began, but saw his advantage evaporate as later votes were added. The ECK announcement was delayed, following chaotic scenes at the commission's headquarters in Nairobi. Just minutes after Mr Kivuitu began reading the poll results, an opposition member approached the podium, shouting "Justice!" and "This is not a police state!"
Pandemonium then broke out, as other members of Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement got to their feet and began shouting, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports from inside the ECK headquarters. Mr Kivuitu had to be led away from the building by police, only to return later and announce Mr Kibaki as the winner of the poll.
Mr Odinga had earlier said that Mr Kibaki "flooded this [electoral] commission with his cronies".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
China will back the bank's international development arm. The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has agreed with China to develop joint aid projects in Africa. China has been criticised over its condition-free aid and lending to the continent, as it seeks energy sources and raw materials for its industries.
Mr Zoellick, ending a four day trip to China, said he had discussed the need for Beijing to now not lend more to African nations than they could repay. China will donate to the bank aid fund, having received aid itself until 1999.
Mr Zoellick said China's moves in Africa had been a topic during his talks with senior officials including China's Export-Import Bank governor Li Ruogu.
"Governor Li and I both agreed we should try to develop a project or projects in Africa during the course of the next year," Mr Zoellick said. He said the World Bank could help train sub-contractors so Export-Import Bank could hire more African workers.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"WHEN YOU MEET SOMEONE BETTER THAN YOURSELF,
TURN YOUR THOUGHTS TO BECOMING HIS EQUAL" !
Posted by: Mara at December 30, 2007 04:11 |
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By Martin Plaut -BBC Africa analyst
The Ethiopian decision to invade Somalia in December 2006 altered the balance of power in the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian army is now fighting on several fronts. On 28 December 2006, they helped government forces capture Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu, which they had controlled for six months. Ethiopian forces, which had been facing Eritrea along their 1,000km border, but were otherwise confronting few security threats, are now engaged on three fronts.
The forces in Somalia are now bogged down and cannot withdraw, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently acknowledged. In addition to the conflict in Somalia they now also confront a growing rebellion in the Somali region of Ethiopia from the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
Knox Chitiyo, head of the Africa programme at the Royal United Services Institute in London, believes the Ethiopian military position is increasingly difficult. "The government now has daggers pointing at it from all directions," he says. "It is facing a multi-front war with no prospect of a military victory."
The invasion has:
Left Ethiopia bogged down in Somalia
Forced around 600,000 Somalis to flee their homes, in what the UN has described as one of the worst humanitarian situations in Africa
Brought the United States into the conflict, allied to Ethiopia
Left Eritrea even more isolated from the international community and threatened with being declared a terrorist state by Washington.
The US says it opposed the Ethiopian invasion, although it certainly supplied assistance to the Ethiopian military once the invasion had happened, and used its AC-130 gunships to try to kill senior Islamists on at least one occasion in January 2007.
Many Somalis are opposed to the Ethiopian presence.The US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said: "We urged the Ethiopian military not to go into Somalia." This is acknowledged by Ethiopian officials, who say the then head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid told them the invasion would be a mistake, and warned that Somalia would become "Ethiopia's Iraq."
Others analysts are not so apocalyptic. Ethiopia argued it had no alternative but to confront the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) after it took power in Mogadishu in mid-2006, because of the Islamists' alleged links with al-Qaeda. The declaration of a jihad against Addis Ababa by UIC leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys was seen as the last straw.
But even if the UIC was routed, it has now re-formed and has banded together with other forces in the Eritrean-based Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia. Sally Healy of the Royal Institute of International Affairs argues that even if Ethiopia has made some security gains, the suffering of ordinary Somalis has been disproportionately high. "The cost for the people of Mogadishu has been unacceptable," she says.
This reflects the view of the United Nations, which now considers Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa. The conflict is taking a heavy toll on Somali civilians.Peter Smerdon of the World Food Programme says it will have to try to feed at least 1.2 million Somalis during 2008. "More than 600,000 people were forced from their homes in Mogadishu in 2007 by fighting and the worst cereals harvest in 13 years in Middle and Lower Shabelle, traditionally the most agriculturally productive regions of the whole country," Mr Smerdon says.
He warns the numbers needing food aid could well rise if there is continued insecurity and any kind of repeat of the floods and bad harvests seen in recent years.
So how might the Somali crisis be resolved?
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced this year. Ethiopia has said it would consider withdrawing its troops if an international peacekeeping force were put in place, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the situation in the country makes such a deployment "neither realistic nor viable". The UN believes a new initiative is required, bringing together Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and the opposition.
This proposal was put forward by the UN's senior Somali official, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, when he addressed the UN Security Council earlier this month. "These discussions should preferably be held in a location close to Somalia or in one where most observers following the situation in the country are based," he said. "I am preparing the agenda, identifying a possible list of participants, and the timing for this process." Ms Healy says this is really the only way forward.
Until an exit strategy can be achieved for Ethiopia, its troops will remain in occupation of the country - providing a cause around which the Islamists can rally. "The Somali people must create a situation that would allow the Ethiopians to leave," she says. But 16 years after the country last had a functioning national government, there seems little prospect of President Abdullahi Yusuf asserting control of the whole country in 2008.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Italy and Libya have agreed to mount joint patrols in the Mediterranean Sea to stop illegal immigrants crossing from Libya to Italy. Under the deal, Italy will supply six police patrol boats to help officials from both countries watch the ports and beaches that serve as departure points.
Each year, thousands of Africans try to reach the EU on unseaworthy vessels. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the deal would save lives and dismantle criminal gangs. He was joined by Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgam as they signed the agreement in Tripoli. The deal between Italy and its former colony did not state when the joint patrols would begin.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Building collapses happen frequently in Egypt's cities. The number of people killed in a building collapse in Egypt on Monday has risen to 33. The official Egyptian news agency said rescuers found three more bodies early on Saturday, and were continuing to search through rubble. Only three survivors have been found since the block of flats collapsed. The building disintegrated as workers carried out renovations. The authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the building's owner. They have also arrested one of the contractors carrying out the repairs.
Officials say the flats were built without a permit 25 years ago. Another five stories were added later - also without a permit. The authorities say the owners ignored orders to remove the top two storeys. Collapses happen frequently in Egypt's overcrowded urban centres, where many buildings are constructed with poor materials and regulations are flouted.
In 2005, at least 16 people died when a building collapsed in another residential area in the Mediterranean city - Egypt's second largest. That block, which had had three extra floors added illegally, collapsed onto the wall of a neighbouring school as mothers were waiting to pick up their children.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The slow return of vote results has sparked anger on the streets. Kenya's opposition has claimed victory in presidential elections, and urged President Mwai Kibaki to admit defeat to prevent the spread of violence. Official figures gave challenger Raila Odinga a four percentage point lead over President Mwai Kibaki, with three-quarters of the vote counted. Kenya's electoral chief said results from some rural parts had been delayed.
Rioting has broken out in some opposition strongholds, where people feared their votes were being abused. The head of the country's election commission, Samuel Kivuitu, said that early on Saturday afternoon, with 159 of Kenya's 210 constituencies tallied, Mr Odinga had 3,726,240 votes, to Mr Kibaki's 3,416,139 - around 49.5% to the challenger and 45.3% to the president.
Mr Kivuitu admitted there had been problems establishing results from some areas. He warned that "if we don't get the results quickly, we will have to announce what we have".
Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement raised fears that the delay may indicate electoral officials were under pressure to rig the result, and said it was now time for the president to admit defeat. "In view of the growing anxiety and restlessness in the country over the extended delay... we now call upon the outgoing president to acknowledge and respect the will of the Kenyan people and concede defeat," said Mr Odinga's vice-presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi.
But Mr Kibaki's supporters pointed out that he had closed the gap after Mr Odinga opened an early lead. President Kibaki's Party of National Unity said it would wait for the official results, and urged officials to speed up the count. "Any other kangaroo results given by any Tom, Dick or Harry deserve every contempt," said a spokesman.
In parts of western Kenya, demonstrators expressed their anger that their votes had still not been added to the official tally. Protests turned to looting and rioting, and police in Kisumu, an opposition stronghold, fired tear gas and gunshots in the air to disperse people. Mr Odinga has a four percentage point lead over Mr Kibaki
Anti-riot police and youths fought running battles across the city, the BBC's Noel Mwakugu reports from Kisumu. There were also reports of trouble from Bungoma, Busia, Eldoret, Kericho and Kakamega - opposition areas where the people feared victory was about to be stolen from them. "We are sensing a plan to rig the elections," taxi cyclist Eric Ochieng, 18, said in western Kisumu, as riots raged and smoke billowed overhead. "We will not accept this," he told Reuters.
Much of the violence was enacted along ethnic lines, with Luo supporters of Mr Odinga clashing with members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. A spokesman for the Electoral Commission of Kenya told the BBC that turnout had perhaps been more than 70%, from an electorate of 14m. Early results showed that a majority of MPs had lost their seats.
Kenyan parliamentarians had gained notoriety in the past five years for arbitrarily increasing their salaries and allowances, while a majority of Kenyans continued to grapple with meagre wages and a high cost of living.
Vice-President Moody Awori was one of the 16 ministers who lost their seats. The vote also saw three sons of retired president Daniel Arap Moi lose their seats in three different constituencies in the Rift Valley province. Mr Moi has helped fund Mr Kibaki's campaign.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The ambassador is the latest high-profile victim of violent crime. The Tanzanian ambassador to South Africa was beaten unconscious by armed robbers at his own farewell dinner in Pretoria, police say. The ambassador, Emmanuel Mwambulukutu, is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Six other people were also taken to hospital after the attack, including the ambassador's wife. One person has been arrested. South Africa has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. A South African government official at the dinner told the South African Press Association that armed men broke into the diplomatic compound at around 2200 local time.
"They ordered us to lie down, tied our hands, robbed us of our cellphones, money, and household goods," he said. "Quite a few people were assaulted, hit with bottles. They kept threatening my 15-year-old daughter with rape."
The robbers brandished weapons but no shots were fired. They made off in the ambassador's own Mercedes car after beating up another guest when they failed to start his Audi, according to the official, who was not named. We don't care for God. Police located the ambassador's car using its satellite tracking device and arrested one man. He was shot and wounded in the process, and taken to hospital under police guard. Police say they are hunting his accomplices.
Calls for a crackdown on violent crime in South Africa have been renewed by a spate of attacks on high-profile targets. These include:
A Vietnamese embassy official shot and wounded at his home in Pretoria in October
South Africa's UN ambassador robbed at gunpoint in his son's home in July.
But this latest attack seems to have been the most shocking yet. The South African government official said the ambassador told the robbers at one point: "Gentlemen, God bless you." They are said to have replied: "We don't care for God. Let's stab these dogs."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
By Hugh Pym
BBC's business and economics correspondent
He was one of the leading players in the City of London, where billions of pounds change hands every day. But he chose to give it all up in favour of one of the poorest regions on earth. Richard Harvey was chief executive of the insurance giant Aviva, parent company of Norwich Union. In January he shocked the financial world by announcing he was quitting to take "the gap year he never had".
BBC News spent time with Richard Harvey and his wife Kay in Kenya, as the only media organisation to see at first hand their development work and discuss their experiences. Mr Harvey was approached by several charities hoping to sign him up for the year off. He chose Concern Universal, which supports localised initiatives to improve the daily lives of people in some of the world's poorest communities.
After retiring from his Aviva post in July, he and Kay visited projects in Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. They opted to spend time first in Kenya.
We caught up with them at Nado Enterit school, in a remote rural area two hours drive from Nairobi. Richard Harvey has moved quickly from the challenges of running a global corporation with 60,000 employees to tackling problems with the school's cooking arrangements. Kay Harvey is putting her teaching experience to good use in the classroom.
Many pupils get nothing to eat at home before they set off on the walk to school, sometimes as far as five miles. The meal provided at school can be the only one of the day. Maize and wheat are provided by the UN World Food Programme as local crop cultivation is impossible on the barren ground. Firewood is short and cooking methods are primitive. Staff toil over an open fire in a hut, where the smoky atmosphere is unhealthy.
Richard Harvey has investigated energy efficient cookers and come up with a prototype for the school. The oven will consume less firewood and provide a better facility for cooking. With his experience of corporate environmental policy, he knows of the growing interest in carbon-offsetting schemes. His idea is to recruit British companies to fund new ovens in Kenyan schools. They would gain credits equivalent to the reduction in emissions enabled by the new cookers. The schools in turn would receive a cash boost.
Its an example of the joined-up thinking which the former Aviva boss has already brought into play in his new role. Its small scale, but he is pleased to be making a difference. "What we have learned we would love to put to use in terms of encouraging the link between business and government and major donors to work better," says Mr Harvey.
He has been moved by the plight of AIDS victims and the extent of deprivation in some areas. But he is optimistic about the continent's economic prospects. "Africa has to trade its way out of difficulty and its got a long way to go. Africa has a fantastic future." "People here are genuinely clever, education is pushing its way through a whole generation and there will be a serious competitor for Asia in the long run." "Business needs to think about getting on and investing here because it won't be long before there is an African tiger to chase the Asian tiger".
The Kenyan leg of the trip is over and after a Christmas break Malawi will be the next stop in the New Year. There will be new challenges for the former corporate chief in his new environment, a long way - in every respect - from the City of London.
Adventure Capitalist, produced by Gareth Jones, will be shown on News 24 and BBC World.
News 24 will show it on 22 December at 05:30 and 21:30. It will be repeated on 23 and daily from 25 to 31 December.
BBC World will show it on 26 December at 20:30. It will be repeated daily from 28 to 31 December.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The head of Nigeria's anti-corruption unit has reportedly been ordered to go on year-long study leave, in an apparent attempt to sideline him. Nuhu Ribadu, who has spearheaded Nigeria's attempts to combat financial crime, is involved in the prosecution of seven former state governors. Observers say that if he is removed from his post, it will be a blow to President Umaru Yar'Adua's credibility.
The president came to power in May promising to fight rampant corruption. Reports say Mr Ribadu was told to tender his resignation in readiness for further studies. Nigeria's police chief Mike Okiro called a press conference to say there were no ulterior motives behind the move, and that Mr Ribadu had been ordered to attend a one-year policy and strategic studies course in central Nigeria.
The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says that despite the official denials, the notion that Mr Ribadu may be removed from office is highly controversial and invites suspicion that the move is designed to hinder the campaign against corruption.
In the last few months the agency has arrested a number of former state governors, most recently James Ibori from Delta state: a hugely wealthy and powerful politician who was a key figure in President Yar'Adua's election campaign.
In April, outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo promoted Mr Ribadu and gave him a new four-year mandate to co-ordinate anti-corruption work. His critics, who saw Mr Ribadu as an ally of Mr Obasanjo, said he was being rewarded for silencing the opposition.
Chris Albin-Lackey, researcher on Nigeria at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters that if Mr Ribadu's suspension goes ahead, "the day he leaves office will be the day the credibility of Nigeria's 'war on corruption' is entirely destroyed".
The campaign group Transparency International, describes Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Mr Ribadu has convicted over 150 persons involved in economic and financial crimes since its establishment in 2003.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The Somali security forces are hunting for the gang which kidnapped two women who work for an aid agency. The pair, a Spanish doctor and an Argentine nurse, were seized near the northern port of Bossasso, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. They work for the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
A French journalist was freed on Monday more than a week after being captured in the same region. Police denied that any ransom had been paid. A Puntland official told the AP news agency that the kidnappers were "holed up in a mountainous area". Another official, Ahmed Aaid Aw-Nour, said one of the kidnappers was arrested during the kidnap. "Now there is a military operation as we have sent more troops to where the aid workers are staying," he told Reuters news agency.
Puntland government officials and elders said last week that the abductors had asked for a ransom of $70,000 (£35,000) to release journalist Gwen Le Gouil. He was in Bossasso to shoot a documentary on the mass smuggling of refugees from Somalia and other war-torn Horn of Africa countries across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen when he was captured on 16 December.
Puntland has generally been more stable than southern Somalia since the country last had an effective national government in 1991.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The main Kenyan presidential candidates have held final rallies in the capital, Nairobi, before Thursday's vote, tipped to be the closest in Kenyan history. The current President, Mwai Kibaki, addressed a big rally in the city's main park while his main rival, Raila Odinga, spoke at a sports stadium. Mr Kibaki has been campaigning on his economic record while Mr Odinga has focused on tackling corruption.
Rival supporters clashed briefly after the rallies and police fired tear gas. Several people were hurt in the clashes during which stones were thrown. The atmosphere in the city has been highly charged. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds have been made homeless in election-related violence since the campaign began.
Thousands of people attended the rival rallies, described by correspondents as huge. "Everybody can see the work I have done in the past five years," Mr Kibaki told the crowd in Uhuru (Freedom) Park as he appealed for a second term in office. "You all know what we have been doing and I am asking for your votes so that I can continue working." He took the chance to dismiss his opponent, a former member of his cabinet who was sacked in 2005 for opposing government policy, as someone who had been "defeated by the work".
At the stadium a few kilometres away, Mr Odinga promised to sweep away Kenya's old guard, in an apparent reference to his 76-year-old rival's age. "We will not be an exclusive club of grumpy old men," said the 62-year-old, who has been consistently ahead in the polls. He also warned against any attempt to rig the election. This promises to be the closest election since Kenya became a republic more than 40 years ago, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports from Nairobi.
This accounts for many outbreaks of serious election-related violence in western parts of the country. Samel Kivuiti, head of Kenya's electoral commission, says that ethnic tension underlying the fighting is the biggest threat to free and fair elections. Both of the leading candidates have urged their supporters to shun divisive, ethnically based allegiances but other politicians in their campaigns have used ethnicity to add to tension, our correspondent says.
The third of the main presidential aspirants, Kalonzo Musyoka from the small Kamba, tribe has tried to make his appeal non-ethnic but commentators say he has been forced to do so because the Kamba number so few. With no campaigning allowed on Wednesday, Boxing Day, Monday was the last day for the candidates to woo undecided voters out of an electorate of more than 14 million.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
At least 34 people have been burned to death after a petrol pipeline exploded in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, officials say. Local people had been trying to collect fuel from the pipeline, which had been deliberately breached, when something caused the petrol to ignite. Most of the victims were women and children, who had arrived with fuel containers, witnesses said.
Such disasters are not unusual in oil-rich Nigeria. A year ago, at least 260 people died in one pipeline explosion in Lagos. Nigeria produces huge amounts of fuel from its vast oil reserves, but it remains out of legal reach to most of the poverty-stricken population.
"The incident occurred in the early hours of Christmas Day... by the time our team located the place they found about 34 charred bodies," said Frank Mbah, a Lagos police spokesman.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
