Pirates off Somalia free German cargo ship

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BERLIN (AP)

09/07/08

A German shipping company says pirates off the coast of Somalia have released one of its cargo ships after holding the vessel and crew for 41 days. All aboard are unharmed.

The Lehmann GmbH shipping company says the MV Lehmann Timber is sailing Wednesday for a safe port a day after the hijacking ended. The captain and 15 crew members will be brought ashore and given medical checkups and a chance to rest.

The ship’s owners say in a statement they are “delighted that the incident has been resolved and that the crew are safe and well.”

The ship was one of two hijacked on May 30 off the Horn of Africa. Piracy is rampant along the 1,880-mile (3,025-kilometer) Somali coast.

Ban: Sudan ambush unacceptable

09/07/2008 - (SA)

News 24 .com

New York – Seven UN-AU peacekeepers were killed in Sudan’s Darfur region in an attack condemned by UN chief Ban Ki-moon as “an unacceptable act,” his spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Seven peacekeepers were killed and 22 were wounded, seven of them critically, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

Ban, who is flying back from the G8 summit in Japan, “condemns in the strongest possible terms this unacceptable act of extreme violence against AU-UN peacekeepers in Darfur,” she said.

The peacekeepers were attacked while returning from following up allegations by the Minni Minnawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, which signed a 2006 Darfur peace deal with the government, that two former rebels had been killed, according to UNAMID in Khartoum.

A UNAMID official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said suspected pro-government Janjaweed militiamen ambushed the convoy at Um Hakibah in North Darfur State, southwest of the peacekeeping mission’s headquarters in El Fasher.

The UN secretary-general “calls on the Government of Sudan to do its utmost to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly identified and brought to justice,” Montas said.

Ensure safety and integrity

Ban urged all parties “to respect their agreements, to double their efforts to ensure the safety and integrity of the peacekeeping force and reach a comprehensive settlement to the crisis in Darfur as soon as possible”.

He reiterated his appeal to the international community to provide “all necessary support to the peacekeeping force in Darfur”.

UNAMID deputy force commander Karenzi Karake went to assess the situation following the ambush.

Last month, Arab militiamen briefly abducted and assaulted a UNAMID official and three colleagues held at gunpoint during a stand-off near the main UNAMID military base in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

In late May, dozens of heavily armed men on horseback ambushed a UNAMID patrol in Darfur and seized weapons from Nigerian troops near El Geneina, and in a separate incident a Ugandan policeman was found murdered in North Darfur.

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Details of the latest attack emerged as visiting British Foreign Minister David Miliband said it was difficult to see future optimism in Darfur, which has been driven by conflict for more than five years.

Ethiopia denies attacking Sudanese police base

ADDIS ABABA (AFP)

09/07/08

Ethiopia on Wednesday denied Sudanese accusations it had launched a cross-border attack against a police base killing 19 people.

“This simply isn’t true,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s spokesman, Berekat Simon, told AFP.

On Tuesday, Sudan’s army spokesman claimed Ethiopian forces had attacked a police base 17 kilometres (11 miles) inside Sudanese territory, killing 19 people, including one police officer.

“It is a very long border between the two countries, lots of people cross the border, sometimes minor incidents between locals can happen,” Berekat said.

The Sudanese army spokesman provided no reason for the attack in the Jabal Hantub area of Gedaref state, which lies on the northern part of the long international border.

Berekat said both countries enjoyed good relations. “We maintain good neighbourliness. We don’t know why they are accusing us,” he said.

Man charged with student murders

BBC NEWS

09/07/08

A man has been charged with the murders of two French students who were found dead in a bedsit in south-east London.

Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, both 23, had been bound and gagged and suffered numerous stab wounds at the bedsit in New Cross on 29 June.

The property had been set alight after their deaths.

Nigel Edwards Farmer, 33, of no fixed address, has been charged with murder, arson and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Detectives arrested Mr Farmer after he walked into Lewisham police station in the early hours of Monday.

Severely damaged

He was initially taken to hospital under guard for treatment to serious burns to his hands and arms.

The badly-burned bodies of the two students were found after an explosion at the bedsit.

Mr Bonomo was stabbed nearly 200 times, up to 80 of the wounds inflicted after he was dead, while Mr Ferez suffered nearly 50 knife wounds.

Forensic searches at the severely damaged ground-floor property in Sterling Gardens could continue for several weeks.

Detectives have previously said the students may have been attacked by more than one assailant.

Mr Farmer will appear at Greenwich Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

Eritrea : Press Statement: Security Council: Why dwell on a red herring

By Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Jul 9, 2008, 18:04

By :shabait

As clarified in our previous communications, there is no good-faith territorial dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti. Eritrea harbours no territorial ambitions, or claims whatsoever, on Djibouti. Neither has Eritrea overstepped its territory to occupy an inch of sovereign land of its neighbouring and sisterly State.

While these are the facts of the matter, the Government of Djibouti has sadly been engaged in an unprovoked, intensive and hostile campaign against Eritrea under the prodding of external forces for the last two months. This campaign is underpinned by ulterior motives that have nothing to do with a putative border problem between the two countries. To exacerbate and dramatize the situation, however, the Government of Djibouti was even cajoled to launch a reckless attack on our territorial units on June 10 last month.

The transparent game, principally labeled and packaged in Washington, consists of fomenting an artificial crisis to precipitate the conditions for regional meddling and complication. And, as it happened, the UN Security Council and other regional bodies were pressed to swiftly pass unwarranted statements and resolutions.

The irony of the whole affair is evident indeed. The Security Council has shirked its responsibilities for the past years to accommodate Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories, including the town of Badme, in violation of the UN Charter and the Algiers Peace Agreement. Moreover since April this year, Ethiopia has occupied Mount Musa Ali – that includes sovereign Djiboutian and Eritrean territories – to deploy long-range offensive weapons there.

While these flagrant acts of aggression are ignored, the UN Security Council has now been asked to send “fact-finding missions” and launch “diplomatic shuttles” for a non-existent problem.

Eritrea wishes to underline that it cannot possibly entertain an exogenous agenda when the real problem has, and continues to be, ignored and pushed to the back-burner. The principal causes of potential regional destabilization are clear indeed and Eritrea again requests the UN Security Council to channel its efforts to address the real problems.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Asmara

9 June 2008

Sheffield : Help us pay for cabcam: Taxi drivers’ plea after CCTV verdict

Published Date:

09 July 2008

By Joe Shute

CALDERDALE cabbies are celebrating after being given the green light over plans to install safety cameras in their cars.

The announcement was made by Calderdale Council Licensing Committee. Fifteen councillors voted unanimously in favour of beginning public consultation on fitting CCTV cameras in cabs.

Taxi drivers, who say they regularly face attacks and abuse welcomed the news, but want help from the council to buy the £600 cameras.

Committee chairman Grenville Horsfall (Con, Skircoat) said the council would explore sources of funding for the scheme. “We would be looking at trying to get some kind of grant or handout, possibly from the Government,” he said.

“We will come back to the next meeting with some ideas.”

Sajjad Majid, a 43-year-old driver at A Star Taxis, who during his seven-year career has suffered several attacks including being held up with a knife, said: “We need much more protection it can be a very dangerous job and the cameras would help.

“But it is very difficult for us to make any money at the moment. We are all suffering a huge loss in earnings and I would like to see assistance in paying for them.”

Christine Bampton-Smith (Lib Dem, Luddenden Foot), said: “Increasing the safety of taxi drivers is the important thing.

“It is outrageous our drivers regularly have to suffer racial abuse and violence in their jobs and anything that helps is a marvellous thing.”

The CCTV scheme was piloted in Sheffield in 2006 and saw a massive decrease in attacks – one out of seven fares previously reported by drivers as being a problem plummeted to one in 100.

The cameras mount on windscreens or the rear passenger compartment and constantly record images of passengers at short time intervals.

If an incident occurs, the driver can press a button to save the footage to be later decoded by the police.

Any taxi equipped with security cameras has to be fitted with high-visibilty signs telling passengers that they are being recorded.

Mohammed Siddique who runs Crossley’s Cabs, said: “It is fantastic and the best news I have heard in ages.

“Our drivers need protection most definitely and it is brilliant to finally see some movement on this”.