DR CONGO: No Water, No Management, No Power

Anselme Nkinsi

KINSHASA, Sep 21 2011 (IPS) - Frequent power cuts have led to the firing of the board of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national electricity company. But it is not clear if sub-par generation from the Inga hydroelectric power stations supplying the capital Kinshasa is due to poor management or to unusually low water levels in the Congo River.

The two power plants – Inga I and II, located on the river some 300 kilometers upstream of the capital – have a combined potential output of 1,775 megawatts, but in recent years due to maintenance problems and delayed renovations they have produced around 800 MW.

However, the generating stations are presently putting out only 300 MW, hugely insufficient to meet demand. This explains the frequent power outages experienced by domestic and commercial consumers alike which led to the suspension of SNEL’s board by President Joseph Kabila in late August.

“We are victims,” protests Mbuyi Tshimpanga, director of the Inga hydroelectric power station. According to him, water levels are low due to poor rains in parts of the river’s four million square kilometer basin.

Tshimpanga says the river’s low water level has led to a reduction in electricity output from the Inga turbines, with serious consequences for supply not only to Kinshasa but to the provinces of Bas-Congo in the west and Katanga in the southwest.

The situation, he stresses, underscores the need to import between 50 and 120 MW from Zambia’s electricity network to reduce the deficit in Katanga province, which shares a border with DRC’s southern neighbor.

Albert Landu, coordinator of the non-governmental organization “Cause Verte”, based in Matadi, Bas- Congo, confirms that water levels are extraordinarily low, with serious implications for river ecosystems. “We have never experienced such a tragedy,” he says. “We fear heavy damage to fish stocks in our province.”

“The directors of SNEL have tried, day and night, to do everything possible to avoid a total black-out,” said Jean-Thomas Lokala, the utility’s outgoing technical director, adding that “The situation is serious without being chaotic…”

But SNEL’s argument that the power cuts are due to low water levels leaves some observers unconvinced. They say the Inga’s production problems are due to poor management, especially of the canal that guides water from the Congo’s main channel through the turbines, which has not been dredged for nearly three years.

“This canal receives 257.4 tones of sediment (sand, mud and gravel) per hour,” explains Henri Kimbanzi, director of Inga I, “that works out to 6,177.6 tones per day. Only 50 percent (of this sediment) is sucked up by machines or trapped by diversion dykes, while the rest is deposited in the channel.”

A dredge was purchased in 2007 for nearly four million dollars by SNEL from a Belgium-based company, Marine Trading Engineering. But it has not yet been installed following a misunderstanding between the company and SNEL; an editorial in the Congolese daily “L’Avenir” noted that the ten percent commission on the purchase was long ago paid out to members of the previous board.

The outgoing technical director for SNEL has rejected the criticism of the site’s management as unfounded. But during a media tour of the dam site in August, IPS noted that the company was busy clearing material from the channel using cutter-suction dredges, which loosen sediment before sucking it up through a pipeline for disposal.

“The consequences of a general failure of the electricity supply to Kinshasa while waiting for the return of the rains should be carefully managed,” says Eugène Bitongwa, owner of a bar in the city’s Bandalungwa neighborhood. If they are not, he says, the economy will suffer a major blow and the tensions that arise could be difficult to control.

Reacting to the suspension of SNEL’s board, Atundu Liongo, the leader of the government-aligned Convention des Democrates pour la République party said, “The decision taken by the head of state is a wise one. Yengo (the outgoing director general of SNEL) lacked imagination and determination.”

In a televised debate on Aug. 22, Triphon Kin Kiey, a member of parliament belonging to the ruling party, said that SNEL has been operating without proper future projections. “There exist in this country people who spend money for fun, yet never pay a single water bill or electricity. This is bad governance.”

But Steve Mbikayi, head of the opposition Workers’ Party, said: “The government is responsible for everything that it has condemned at SNEL. The failure of SNEL is a failure of the government, which has named water and electricity as one of the key development priorities of the Republic.”

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/09/dr-congo-no-water-no-management-no-power/.

Libyan rebel flag raised at United Nations

Sept. 21, 2011

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Moammar Gadhafi's flag is no longer flying at the United Nations because it represents violence and repression, the Italian foreign minister said Wednesday.

The flag of the rebel-backed Transitional National Council was formally raised at the United Nations, replacing the flag of the former Libyan regime.

"Gadhafi's flag is gone because it represented violence, repression, while today the flag of freedom flies and we must work together with the new Libya," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in a statement.

A U.N. meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly backed transition plans outlined by Libya's new leadership.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted more than 50 heads of state at a Friends of Libya meeting. In a statement, they praised the Libyan people for "heroically" fighting for human rights and the rule of law.

Meeting delegates called on the rebel-backed leadership to form a new government "that reflects the full diversity of Libyan society and aims to build a new, united, democratic and pluralistic Libya in which human rights, fundamental freedoms and justice will be guaranteed."

Gadhafi is on the run and wanted for war crimes allegedly committed since February. International rights groups accuse Libyan rebels of committing atrocities during the Libyan war as well.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/21/Libyan-rebel-flag-raised-at-United-Nations/UPI-44031316616352/.

Europe on the edge of recession

August 14, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Europe is edging closer to recession, dragged down by the crippling debt problems of the 17-country euro bloc, official figures showed Tuesday.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, revealed that the economies of both the eurozone and the wider 27-country EU shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter of the year. In the first quarter, output for both regions was flat. A recession is officially defined as two straight quarters of falling output.

Europe's stumbling economy is making it harder for other economies around the world to recover and policymakers from all round the world are urging more decisive action, particularly from the European Central Bank, to deal with the crippling debt crisis to restore confidence to the global economy.

"The ECB's recent announcement that it will do 'whatever it takes' to save the euro is welcome, but clarity over what will be done is crucial," said Tom Rogers, a senior economic adviser for accounting firm Ernst & Young.

The region is the U.S.'s largest export customer and any fall-off in demand will hit order books — as well as President Barack Obama's election prospects. The eurozone is grappling with sky-high debt levels and record unemployment of 11.2 percent. Compared with the year before, the eurozone's economy is 0.4 percent smaller.

Without Germany continuing to post solid levels of growth, the eurozone would officially be in recession. Europe's largest economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.3 percent in the second quarter. Though down on the 0.5 percent recorded in the first quarter, the advance was a little more than expected — most economists thought Germany would only grow by 0.2 percent.

Though Germany currently benefits from strong demand for its products, its high-value exporters are finding it increasingly difficult to tap international markets. Forward-looking surveys, including Tuesday's closely-monitored ZEW survey of German investor sentiment, are suggesting that confidence is taking a knock as Europe moves from one crisis point to another.

The other 16 countries that use the euro are Germany's biggest export market and six of them are in recession. The U.S. is also coming off the boil, with growth in the second quarter down compared to the previous three months at 0.4 percent, according to Eurostat.

Slower economic growth is also making it harder for governments and central banks to control the debt crisis in Europe. Shrinking economies make it more difficult to get the public finances into shape. Lower output dents tax revenues while forcing up the cost of social benefits.

"The big picture is that the economic growth required to bring the region's debt crisis to an end is still nowhere in sight," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics. For those countries at the front-line of Europe's debt crisis, the figures make for grim reading. Unsurprisingly, Greece is faring the worst — its economy is 6.2 percent smaller than a year ago and back at the level it was in 2005.

Portugal, which has also been bailed out and enacting the tough austerity medicine, suffered a big 1.2 percent drop in output in the second quarter, compared with the previous quarter's modest 0.1 percent drop.

Italy and Spain, the eurozone's third and fourth largest economies, shrank by 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent respectively in the second quarter. Both countries are struggling to convince markets they have a strategy to get a grip on their debts. Spain has even acceded to a bailout of its banks.

Alexander Schumann, chief economist at The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, urged Europe's indebted countries to carry on with their reforms and that it won't be long before they start reaping the rewards.

"We need to be patient but there are positive signs that in 18 or 24 months we might see light at the end of the tunnel in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, "he said. "We can get there if politicians don't block the tunnel with ideas that add new uncertainty."

Gaza: Egypt opening border ahead of Muslim holiday

August 14, 2012

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Egypt on Tuesday opened its border with Hamas-ruled Gaza for a three-day period ahead of a major Muslim holiday this weekend, but imposed tight restrictions on who can travel and did not say whether it would resume normal border operations.

The government in Cairo closed the border Aug. 5, shutting down the Rafah passenger terminal and — according to Egyptian security officials — sealing more than 100 cross-border smuggling tunnels. The move came after Islamic militants in Egypt's Sinai desert near Gaza killed 16 Egyptian troops at a border post near Israel.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's government has suggested the assailants had help from Gaza, a claim Hamas denies. The Egyptian restrictions raised tensions between Morsi and Hamas, both members of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood and presumably sympathetic to each other.

The Hamas interior minister, Fathi Hamad, has demanded that Morsi reopen the Rafah crossing quickly and suggested the new Egyptian president was acting like his predecessor, the staunchly anti-Hamas Hosni Mubarak who had backed Israel's tight blockade of Gaza's borders.

"We suffered from the unjust regime of Mubarak that participated in the Israeli blockade of Gaza," Hamad wrote in comments posted on his ministry's website. "Why should we suffer now, in the era of Egypt's revolution and democracy?"

Addressing Egyptian leaders, Hamad called for a different policy. "Palestine should be considered a priority," he wrote. "If you are not doing that, you have to correct your course." Last week, Egypt began allowing stranded travelers to return to Gaza, and some 4,500 have so far made the trip, according to Gaza border officials. On Tuesday, Egypt for the first time allowed some border traffic from Gaza, but only for a select few — Gaza students registered at foreign universities, those with residency abroad and medical patients.

Gaza border official Maher Abu Sabha said two-way traffic will continue for three days, in the run-up to the weekend's Eid el-Fitr holiday, which caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The limited opening is meant to relieve some of the pressure on Gaza, but also suggests that there is no imminent decision by Egypt to resume normal border traffic.

Amani Salman, 34, and her four sons were waiting on the Gaza side of the border, hoping to cross into Egypt en route to their home in Qatar. Salman said she had been scheduled to travel on the day after the attack and was forced to cancel her plane tickets, at a cost of $1,800.

She said she had hesitated for years to visit her family in Gaza because of the precarious border situation, but decided to risk the trip after the change of government in Egypt. "This year, I thought it will be better, but it was the same," she said. "We love Egypt and we were very happy for their new president. We are not asking for much, just to be treated as humans ... It's a mistake to punish Gaza."

Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam in El Arish, Egypt contributed reporting.

Jordanians to rally for Palestinian state

Fri Sep 23, 2011

Hundreds of Jordanians are set to hold a rally in the capital, Amman, to voice their support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The demonstrators will also condemn the US for pledging to veto the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN Security Council.

Demonstration organizers, the National and Youth Movements, have also called on Jordanians to rally against what they called unfair and corrupt government, lack of political freedom and the slow pace of social reforms in the country.

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas is expected to submit the Palestinian request for membership to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after addressing the General Assembly on Friday.

If Ban decides the request is in order, the Security Council will examine and vote on the bid. In order to pass, the bid will need the backing of nine out of 15 council members, with no vetoes from permanent members.

The future Palestinian state would include the West Bank and Gaza, with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital. The PA says it believes that more than 130 countries would recognize the state of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders.

Israel and the US strongly oppose the Palestinian move. Washington, which supports Tel Aviv's position, claims that a Palestinian state can only be achieved through talks with Israel.

Some reports, however, suggest that Israel and the US are trying to turn Jordan into a homeland for Palestinian refugees, which has angered Jordanians.

On Thursday, Jordan's parliament condemned remarks by an Israeli lawmaker proposing Jordan as an alternative homeland for Palestinian refugees and urged the government to officially protest to the Israeli ambassador over such "offence.”

In 1948, Israel expelled more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

Currently, there are an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.

Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200776.html.

Divided Military threatens Yemen's transition to Democracy

Written by Ali Saeed
Monday, August 13, 2012

Units Loyal to Former President Flex their Muscles

[Sana’a] When Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to step down last year, many Yemenis hoped their country was on the road to democracy. But much of the country’s military remains loyal to Saleh and new President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi is finding it hard to exercise his control over them.

The former president’s son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, remains in control of the Republican Guard. Recently, some 200 members of the elite unit marched to the Defense Ministry in the capital Sana’a to protest Hadi’s decision to form his own Presidential protection force. Until now, the Republican Guard has been responsible for protecting the President.

As the soldiers marched with their guns and rocket-propelled grenades [RPGs] in display, some argued with Yemeni citizens. “They blocked vehicles on the street, got me and all the passengers out of our van after they saw me taking photos of them with the camera of my cell-phone,” Ahmed Dawood, a journalist at the local Yemen Times newspaper told The Media Line. “They pointed their guns at me and asked me to give them my cell-phone,” he added, “but, after I explained that there was no memory card in the phone they left me.”

Since last February, when Hadi replaced Saleh after his 33-year-long reign, the new president has been governing from his house, guarded by the 1st Armored Division, which sided against Saleh in the popular uprising. Hadi has not felt secure enough to move into the Presidential Palace. But now, Hadi is trying to solidify his control over Yemen’s military’s many disparate units.

He recently took control of seven brigades that had been commanded by Saleh’s son, Ahmed, as well as another five which had been under control of General Ali Mohsen, Saleh’s rival.

The Gulf Countries Council [GCC] transition plan which removed Saleh from office stipulates that Yemen’s armed forces become more professional. But the Saleh regime still exerts military power through the Republican Guard, which constitutes one-third of Yemen’s 300,000 military personnel, according to Mohamed Abd Al-Sallam, director of Abaad Strategic Studies Center, a think-tank based in Sana’a. “If no serious actions to remove Saleh’s relatives from their offices are taken, they will continue to hinder the peaceful transfer of power,” Abd Al-Sallam told The Media Line.

Al-Sallam said Saleh also continues to hold powerful positions in civil institutions. “Their resignations must be done gradually, as getting rid of them is not that easy,” he said.

Saleh still heads the General People’s Congress [GPC], a party that he established in 1982. The party ruled Yemen until the popular uprising in 2011 that ultimately brought about Saleh’s resignation. Despite the fact he no longer holds office, Saleh’s supporters still call him “President” or “leader.”

“Saleh’s remaining at the helm of the GPC is not only a threat to the power transition, but also endangers the party itself, “ Al-Allam explained.

However, some in the party argue that Yemen is well on the road to democracy. ”Ali Abdullah Saleh has left office and the positions of his relatives are governed by military and civil laws,” Tariq Al-Shami, the head of the Media Department of the GPC told The Media Line. Al-Shami explained that the decision to remove Saleh as party chief must be taken by the members of the GPC.

Saleh’s eldest son, Ahmed, remains firmly in control of the Republican Guard, the elite wing of Yemen’s army, which has some 36 brigades nationwide, each equipped with the most modern weapons. General Mohamed Ali Mohsen, the former commander of the Eastern Military Command, said this year that since 1994, no new weapons have entered the hands of any Yemeni armed forces except the Republican Guard.

Yahya Mohamed Abdullah Saleh, the former president’s nephew, is the chief-of-staff of the Central Security Forces. He is one of hundreds of senior officials at several military, security and civil institutions who are still loyal to Saleh.

Late last year, Saleh’s son launched his own private satellite television channel, Yemen Today, which defends his father’s regime day and night. The channel has also a private radio station, Yemen FM, which transmits throughout Yemeni territory, providing glorified accounts of Saleh even to inhabitants of rural areas that lack basic amenities such as electricity.

Some opponents charge Saleh’s military units with widespread corruption. A source at the Ministry of Defense told The Media Line that officers of the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade who are loyal to Saleh are alleged to have recently stolen weapons and military trucks in collusion with departments of the defense ministry.

Last month, Saleh-loyalists who are members of the police force stormed the Interior Ministry in the capital Sana’a, left eight people dead in a clash with security guards, and stole documents, equipment and weapons.

In 1994, Saleh began a civil war with his then-deputy, Ali Salem Al-Baid, who was defeated and fled to Oman. However, since Saleh’s forced retirement, the two men are said to be cooperating to scupper the two-year transitional period which is to be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

“They [Al-Baid and Saleh] are in an alliance and each one has his own aims,” the think-tank’s Al-Salaam said. “Al-Baid is looking to return to politics and Saleh aims for internal conflict that will enable his son to rule Yemen,” he explained.

Saleh left the office in exchange for immunity from prosecution -- an offer not made to his counterpart, Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak, who is currently serving a life-sentence in prison. The deal also does not obligate Saleh to stay out of politics. Saleh remains strong and active within the political landscape through his relatives and aides.

Many fear that if Saleh continues to act as a shadow president, Yemen’s two-year transitional period may extend indefinitely amid political insecurity and economic deterioration.

Copyright © 2012 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

Olympic flag arrives in Rio, marking race to 2016

August 13, 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Olympic flag touched down on Brazilian soil on Monday, marking the start of four years of preparations ahead of the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes waved the five-ringed flag as he and other top officials disembarked from the flight that brought them back from London, where they attended the games' closing ceremony on Sunday.

Speaking at a packed news conference at Rio's Tom Jobim international airport, Paes called it an "important moment" for Rio and for Brazil at large. He pledged the games will leave a vast legacy for Rio, the beachside metropolis that suffered from decades of neglect after it lost national capital status to Brasilia in 1960.

"I see the arrival of this Olympic flag as not the start, but the consolidation of an important process of transformation for the city of Rio de Janeiro," he said. "Rio is a city that spent the lion's share of its history, much more time than it should have, looking toward the past. I'm sure that this process of transformation, this turning toward the future, has been consolidated here."

He added the most important effects of the Olympics "are sometimes, many times, the intangible transformations, the impalpable ones related to the brand of a country, the brand of a city, with the self-esteem of a country."

A handful of demonstrators gathered outside the airport to protest against expulsions connected with Olympic projects and others tied to the 2014 soccer World Cup, which Brazil is also hosting. The Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics, which organized the protest, says as many as 170,000 people risk being removed from their homes, or already have been removed, due to projects related to the two mega-events.

The group says some 4,000 people living in the so-called Vila Autodromo, where the Olympic Park is to be constructed, are facing expulsion. Activists have complained of a lack of consultation between the government and the affected communities and also of low compensation paid out to those kicked out of their homes.

Asked about the government's plan was for the residents of Vila Autodromo, Paes responded that nothing would be done without extensive consultations. "No one is going to throw anyone out of anywhere ... without there being an alternative," he said. "The people will only leave there with lots of consultations, with lots of discussion, with lots of respect."

He added that some of those opposed to the evictions were people "who are always railing against the government. That's why things were paralyzed for so long. They don't want anything to happen here."

The Olympic flag, made out of silk for the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea, will be temporarily housed in the City Hall and will be open to viewings by visitors.