Namibia’s premier News, Lifestyle, Sport, Technology, Job, Property Portal | iNamibia

Maltas Club to Facilitate Sponsorships for Learners - AllAfrica.com

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:00:46 +0200

Windhoek — The top three best performing Grade 10 pupils at Helvi Kondombolo School at Omuthiya in the Ohangwena Region will be sponsored by the University of Namibia Maltas Club's potential sponsors.

"We have found companies that will sponsor them and the learners academic needs will be catered for in Grade 11 and 12 irrespective of the secondary schools they will attend," says Wilfred April, the Co-coordinator of the Club.

The Club, which visited the region during the just-ended school holiday, also educated the rural communities about the use of solar stoves and why they could be of great help to rural communities. "The communities in these respective areas experience tremendous power cuts, and the solar stove could be of great help to prepare meals for the communities," April adds.

The Maltas Club and their sponsors donated a solar stove to the Amagorarses Kindergarten in the Ohangwena village. According to April, when the club approached the Public Relations Manager of Ned Bank, Gernot de Klerk and the Managing Director of Nature Friend Safaris, Leander Borg, for assistance, they were eager to finance this Green Initiative, as their organizations are passionate about sustainability.

The Club will run this project for the whole year and will return to the North on August 22-26, to identify more underprivileged communities who could be assisted by means of a solar stove. Maltas Club is a group of students from the University of Namibia who promote academic excellence, not only in the management science department of the university but throughout the Southern African region.

Opposition Groups Call for Swaziland Election Boycott

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:18 +0200

The leader of Swaziland’s banned opposition People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) has called on citizens to boycott this year’s national elections.

Mario Masuku says elections in Swaziland are part of the government’s plan to prevent the population from demanding multiparty democracy in the southern African kingdom.

He says the administration in Mbabane has so far refused to adhere to both the United Nations and the African Union’s declaration of fundamental rights in elections, which allows citizens to freely elect their leaders.

“Therefore any national elections that are not democratic are not worth the practice,” Masuku said. “And we call on the people to boycott such elections, and call for a democratic dispensation where all the ground is level. Any person who comes to observe this must first state what are the condition, is Swaziland a democratic state? Before they say [the elections] are free and fair.”

But Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku accused groups calling for the elections boycott of being cowards.

The Times of Swaziland newspaper quoted the deputy prime minister as saying “If you go about writing graffiti and forcing people to follow you, it is a sign of cowardice.”

But, opposition groups have often pressed the government to ensure more democratic reforms as well as to allow the formation and participation of political parties in elections.

Political observers say the government is unlikely to meet opposition demands for multiparty democracy in the kingdom.

PUDEMO leader Masuku says the government has often thwarted efforts by groups to educate citizens about democracy.

“People are told that if you don’t participate in the elections you are not patriotic, and so forth, and they will indeed go to form a government. But, we all know that that parliament has no power. All the power is vested in the king, and the people of Swaziland have no power,” said PUDEMO’s Masuku.

Swaziland currently prohibits the formation of political parties. It also allows King Mswati III to appoint 20 members of the 30-member Upper House of parliament, with 10 appointed by members of the national House of Assembly (parliament).

The king also appoints 10 out of the 65 members of the National House of Assembly, while citizens vote for the remaining 55 members.

“Where in any democratic state where groupings are not allowed to participate in elections? “…We are saying these national elections are undemocratic,” said Masuku.

Clottey interview with Mario Masuku, PUDEMO president

Angola, Namibia work together to control cross-border animal diseases - AngolaPress

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:00:17 +0200

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 20:05:55 GMT Server: Apache Accept-Ranges: bytes Vary: Accept-Encoding,User-Agent P3P: policyref="/w3c/p3p.xml", CP="NOI CURa OUR STP STA" Transfer-Encoding: chunked Content-Type: text/html

Angola Press - Economics - Angola, Namibia work together to control cross-border animal diseases 5/22/13 7:11 PM Namibia
Angola, Namibia work together to control cross-border animal diseases Windhoek - Angola's minister of Agriculture Afonso Pedro Canga, arrived Wednesday in Windhoek, Namibia, to sign Thursday a Memorandum of Understanding with the host on cross-border animal diseases.
This is a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Control, Prevention and Eradication of Cross-Border Animal Diseases.
The Namibian minister of Agriculture, John Mutorwa will sign the document in representation of his country.
Angolan experts have lately warned that the cross-border diseases cause enormous economic losses due to the killing of affected animals. Print Indicate Latest News © 1997 - 2008 Angop. All rights reserved.

Defiler Guilty As Charged - AllAfrica.com

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:00:43 +0200

Windhoek — The man who faced three charges of raping a minor girl-child was convicted on all three counts in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

Judge Naomi Shivute rejected Gariseb's version that he was never at the scene of the crime as not reasonably true and found that the complainant positively identified him on at least three occasions. She said she was satisfied the State proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt that Gariseb indeed had sexual intercourse thrice with the victim under coercive circumstances by assaulting her and threatening to kill her should she not comply with his instructions.

Although the victim was a single witness, according to Judge Shivute, she made a good impression on the court.

At fourteen years of age she appeared to the court as sufficiently intelligent to observe and she could remember what transpired as the incident happened in broad daylight and she spent a considerable amount of time with the perpetrator, the judge continued.

"The victim was able to remember the identity of the culprit, and on the strength of the description she gave to Constable Ugab, he was able to connect the description to the accused. The accused has a distinctive feature, namely, a mole," she noted.

She stressed the fact that it was never disputed that the description given by the victim matched that of the accused.

She further said that evidence showed that when the victim was taken to the place where the accused was found, she immediately recognised him on her own despite the fact that there were other people around.

The judge also indicated that at the identification parade the victim without any hesitation pointed out the accused, as she knew him. The victim gave her evidence in a straightforward manner and did not succumb to any pressure under cross-examination and she remained calm and was able to give straight answers to the questions put to her, said Judge Shivute.

"In contrast I find that the evidence of the accused that Constable Ugab was the one who pointed out the accused to be far-fetched," the High Court judge remarked.

Brazil HRT Expects to Start Drilling Second Namibia Well in Two Weeks - Wall Street Journal

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:00:39 +0200

RIO DE JANEIRO--Brazilian oil startup HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA (HRTPY, HRTP3.BR) expects to start drilling on its second well offshore Namibia in two weeks, Chief Executive Milton Franke said Wednesday.

"The Murombe prospect is only 15 kilometers from Wingat," Mr. Franke said during a conference call with analysts. The drilling rig will be moved to Murombe shortly, the executive added.

Earlier this week, HRT said that the company's first well drilled off the coast of the West African nation did not contain oil in commercially viable volumes. Despite the disappointing results, the Wingat prospect provided the company with important data that will aid HRT's efforts in Namibia, Mr. Franke said.

"We have today a much better sample of information about Namibia than we had before, maybe we have the best set of information out of all companies in Namibia today," Mr. Franke said.

The well also proves that the region offshore Namibia holds crude oil, Mr. Franke said. Oil samples from the Wingat well showed very light oil rated at about 40 degrees on the American Petroleum Institute's scale, the executive added.

"Wingat confirms the oil potential of the basin," Mr. Franke said. "Most thought Namibia would only be a [natural] gas potential area."

HRT operates 10 exploration blocks off the coast of Namibia and holds minority interest in two others. The company also holds a 55% interest in 21 exploratory blocks in Brazil's Solimoes Basin, and recently purchased a 60% stake of the Polvo heavy oil field offshore Brazil. Polvo produces about 13,000 barrels per day.

Write to Jeff Fick at jeff.fick@dowjones.com

AP PHOTOS: Nigeria prepares to bury writer Achebe

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:56 +0200

OGIDI, Nigeria (AP) — Writer Chinua Achebe, whose works focused on the conflict between modernity and the way of life in rural Nigeria, has returned home for the final time.

Achebe's corpse arrived Wednesday in his native Anambra state. There, local government officials and writers feted the late novelist, who died in March at the age of 82. While the man himself hated the trappings of power in Nigeria, which include looting government funds, local elected officials arrived in tinted-glass SUVs with police sirens wailing.

Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, died in Boston after a brief illness. He lived through and helped define traumatic change in Nigeria, from independence to dictatorship to the disastrous war between Nigeria and the breakaway country of Biafra in the late 1960s. He knew both the prestige of serving on government commissions and the fear of being declared an enemy of the state. He spent much of his adult life in the United States but never stopped calling for democracy in Nigeria or resisting literary honors from a government he refused to accept.

His books include "Things Fall Apart," which propelled him into international acclaim, as well as his recent autobiography about his experience during Nigeria's civil war called "There Was A Country."

On Thursday, Achebe's body will be buried in his family's home in Ogidi, a small town in the rolling red-dirt hills of Anambra state. Locals planned a wake to last through the night to honor him.

Here are some photographs by The Associated Press showing the writer's final journey home.

Congo fighting persists as UN chief arrives

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:52 +0200

GOMA, Congo (AP) — M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Congo's capital far to the west for a two-day visit expected to take him to Goma, where a new U.N. military brigade is being formed to attack rebel groups and bring stability to the mineral-rich region.

The two rockets exploded in Goma's Ndosho neighborhood, said Col. Premanku Ghosh, a U.N. peacekeeping officer in Congo who blamed M23 rebels. He said civilians were among the casualties. Earlier, another official with the U.N. peacekeeping mission said one mortar round had exploded in the neighborhood of Goma, apparently referring to the same attack. Ghosh said the range of the firing, over 10 kilometers (six miles) indicated the weapons used were rockets.

Wednesday marked the third day of fighting between the rebels and government forces just north of Goma after a nearly six-month lull, officials said. Last November, the M23 rebels, who are allegedly supported and equipped by neighboring Rwanda, seized Goma before retreating from the provincial capital fewer than two weeks later under intense international pressure.

The Congolese army is holding its positions in the area of Mutaho and there is no evident movement of M23 headed towards Goma, said Ghosh.

Mutaho, where the fighting broke out, is a largely unpopulated area in the dense forest at the foot of the Nyaragongo volcano, around 10 kilometers (six miles) northeast of Goma. Both sides are bombarding each other with mortar rounds and rockets.

Congo, an enormous country the size of Western Europe, has endured decades of conflict, especially in its mineral-rich east. An investigation by U.N. experts found that Rwanda and Uganda have backed M23, which both governments deny.

U.N. peacekeepers were widely criticized for failing to stop the rebel advance into Goma last November. Since then, the U.N. Security Council voted to create a special intervention brigade in Congo with a mandate to attack armed groups to bring back stability.

Ban Ki-moon is expected to discuss the brigade and a peace process initiated at a February summit when he meets with Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Wednesday in Kinshasa, Congo's capital.

Only around 100 soldiers from Tanzania have arrived so far to form part of the brigade. Congo's army has proven to be no match for the rebels, who are believed to be getting high-end equipment including night vision goggles from Rwanda.

The M23 called the creation of the intervention brigade "a declaration of war" and have vowed to fight the U.N. should they try to enter M23 territory.

Associated Press reporter Saleh Mwanamilongo contributed to this report from Kinshasa, Congo.

Boko Haram’s Funding Remains 'Elusive'

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:46 +0200

— Nigerian militants known as Boko Haram are well-armed and presumably well-funded. But as thousands of Nigerian troops battle the Islamist group, analysts say the actual source of the funding is as elusive as the militants themselves. The question is: who or what might be paying for the militancy.

When the Nigerian military announces its victories against Boko Haram, it usually includes a list of the weapons that soldiers have recovered. It used to be mostly AK-47s, ammunition and bombs. More recently the list has included machine guns mounted on trucks, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns.

Solid financial support

Political analyst Nkwachukwu Orji says there is no doubt the group is well-funded.

"If not, they would have fizzled out a long time ago. But for them to have continually been able to recruit, to train, to acquire their equipment and resources - that means there’s a sustainable way of funding that organization," he said.

Boko Haram Facts

Based in the northeastern city of Maiduguri
Began in 2002 as a non-violent Islamist splinter group
Launched uprising in 2009; leader was subsequently killed in police custody
Has killed hundreds in bombings and shootings since 2010
Boko Haram translates to "Western education is sinful"
Wants Nigeria to adopt strict Islamic law
Says it will kidnap women and children as part of its campaign
Has taken over parts of northeastern Nigeria

Orji wouldn’t even speculate as to exactly who is paying the bills, as very little is known about the group or its funding. If Nigeria’s intelligence agencies know who is sponsoring the insurgency, they aren’t saying.

What is known, however, is that Boko Haram operations are far more sophisticated than they were when the group began its uprising in 2009 and since then, thousands of people have been killed.

Part of a regional trend?

Clement Nwankwo, the executive director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center in Abuja, says funding for Boko Haram could be part of a larger regional push by radical Islamist militant groups seeking to acquire territory in West Africa.

"I think there must be some funding coming from extremist groups, coming from some extremist groups who want perhaps to create a base in northern Nigeria," he said.

His theory is supported by recent events in Mali, where militant groups took over much of the country’s north last year. The militants were beaten back in January with the help of the French military.

While Boko Haram has long been known as a shadowy group that melts into society, Nwankwo says it now appears to have more in common with the Mali rebels than was previously thought.

"It would appear that they have established bases in certain parts of the northeast that nobody can even penetrate or go to, and they’ve excluded every symbol of authority in those areas," he said. "Some even say they are in control of various local governments in the northeast and are collecting taxes and running the show in those places."

A Nigerian soldier, part of the "Operation Flush" patrolling the remote northeast town of Baga, Borno State, April 30, 2013.

Last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan announced a state of emergency in three northeastern states and sent thousands of troops to take back areas he said had been occupied by Boko Haram. Since then the military says it has captured more than 200 Boko Haram fighters, killed dozens more, and taken at least five districts back from insurgents in Borno State, the heart of the insurgency.

So far, no journalists or independent observers have found a way to verify the military’s claims and Boko Haram has said nothing since the northern offensive began.

Retired army captain and security consultant Aliyu Umar says the new offensive is still in its beginning stages. He calls Boko Haram funding “elusive” and says the military needs better intelligence figure it out.

"Funding of Boko Haram is quite a very crucial question. If we can get to the bottom of that then we can cut off the source of the funds," he said.

Kidnapping, a major source of income

Boko Haram does have one source of income we know about, Nwankwo says, albeit relatively new. Kidnapping may not have created Boko Haram’s strength but it is now helping it get stronger.

"I have seen news stories now saying that they are embarking on kidnapping to supplement their funding," said Nwankwo. "In that case it means it’s affecting the revenues that are coming in, that’s one. Or two it means they have so many more people to pay that they need extra money in addition to what they’re already getting."

Last year, Boko Haram promised to start kidnapping civilians in retaliation their members' families being imprisoned. This year several prominent Nigerians have been reportedly kidnapped for ransom and the Reuters news agency says it saw documents showing Boko Haram making over $3 million for releasing a kidnapped French family.

Namibia: Show Jumping and Dressage Tourney in Offing … Musical Freestyle or ... - AllAfrica.com

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:39 +0200

Windhoek — The Auas View Equestrian Club will host its Show Jumping and Dressage tournament this coming weekend. The competition is made possible through a generous sponsorship from Kühne & Nagel who came on board as the main sponsors.

Yvonne le Roux, representative of Auas View Equestrian Club says a total of 97 riders and their horses have entered the competition.

Visitors to the show will be treated to highlights including the precision and speed competitions on Saturday afternoon. Another definite highlight will be the musical freestyle event, which can be viewed at the dressage arena on Sunday.

According to Wikipedia the Musical Freestyle or Musical Kur (from German kür or 'freestyle') is a form of dressage movement setting the horse's 'dance' to music. Movements and figures are choreographed to meet the technical requirements of the particular level with carefully chosen music that highlights the horse/rider combination. Musical freestyles are entertaining and offer great audience appeal.

The Auas View Masters will be ridden on Sunday. The four most successful rider/horse combinations from the 90 cm to the 130 cm jumping competitions qualify for this event. The rider with the best overall result will emerge as the Auas View Master.

There will also be food and drinks for sale during the day and a delicious braai on Saturday evening. The club is situated in Hegel Street in Academia in beautiful surroundings, and families are encouraged to take some time out during the coming weekend to view the exciting rides. Entrance is free of charge.

Amid signs of turmoil, S Sudan says oil will flow

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:41 +0200

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Following a lengthy Cabinet meeting, South Sudan's government spokesman said Wednesday that the country will continue to export oil through Sudan and that there had been only a temporary slowdown in production.

An official in South Sudan's oil ministry earlier told The Associated Press that Sudan had blocked the export of South Sudanese oil. The official insisted he not be identified because he is not authorized to release the information. But government spokesman Barnabas Marial Benjamin said later that it was only a temporary slowdown.

"It is not really a shutdown," Benjamin said, before explaining a technical process behind storage procedures and valve openings. "But as we speak now P2 is going to be opened later on this afternoon and the oil will continue to flow to reach Port Sudan."

Benjamin downplayed the summoning of the Chinese envoy to South Sudan over recent oil issues. South Sudan's oil industry sector is dominated by Chinese companies.

"The summoning of the Chinese envoy was actually to explain to them about the temporarily non-turning on of the valve at P2. They are stakeholders in this process and so there is need to inform them that the valve has not yet opened," Benjamin said.

Benjamin said South Sudan's oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau is going to Khartoum later Wednesday to meet his Sudanese counterpart to clear the issue.

While speaking at a police graduation ceremony in Juba on Monday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir warned there could be an oil shutdown like the one that ended nearly two months ago. He said Juba was still working with Sudan "in a diplomatic way."

South Sudan must export all its oil through pipelines owned by Sudan. South Sudan resumed oil production in April this year, 16 months after a shutdown caused by disagreements with Sudan over oil transit fees.