Egypt: Nile River Basin States in Appeal to Countries

29 September 2009

Mathias Ringa

Nairobi — Countries of the River Nile basin have appealed to Egypt and Sudan to co-operate in the formulation of an agreement which would allow equitable utilization of water resources.

Water minister Charity Ngilu said it was unfair for the two countries to maintain a status quo on the usage of the Nile water resources at the expense of other states.

Mrs Ngilu noted that the prolonged and protracted consultations on the Nile basin collaborative framework was causing anxiety and displeasure amongst riparian countries which are not benefiting from the resource.

The minister said the 1929 agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom has been viewed as protecting the interests of the developed downstream riparian states at the expense of the underdeveloped upstream states.

Mrs Ngilu said: "We want the legal framework swiftly concluded and operationalised to save the Lake Victoria and reassure the livelihood of 15 million people bordering the basin.

"Kenya expects Egypt and Sudan to cooperate since their needs are best served through the conservation of the Lake Victoria basin.We would like the downstream riparian states to assist in conserving the lake."

Mrs Ngilu made the remarks in a speech which was read on her behalf by Water resources director John Nyaoro at Sun N' Sand Beach Resort in Kilifi during a workshop on Climate Change and Transboundary water conflict in Africa.

She called on the two countries to ensure peaceful and sustainable development of transboundary waters to avert conflict with other states.

The workshop which was organized by Institute for Security Studies was attended by participants from Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Niger, Zambia among other countries.

ISS acting director Roba Sharamo said the organization through its conflict prevention program had brought up the riparian countries to find means of tackling the stand-off through dialogue.

Mr Sharomo urged Eypt and Sudan to agree to the sharing of the water resources so as to foster cooperation, conservation and boosting food security of riparian countries.

An Ethiopian senior researcher Dr Debay Tadesse called for the preparation of a general framework for cooperation in the Nile River basin with specific reference to equitable utilization of the water resources.

Dr Tadesse said approaches to conflict resolution and resource management would develop the upstream riparian countries which were unable to meet food security.

The researcher demanded for the revision of the status quo through the generation of options to avoid potential confrontation and enhance stability and conservation of the water resources.

"The first logical step is to discuss the issue of the Nile with a desire to finding a lasting solution. The degree of mistrust characterizing the riparian countries has to be avoided through mutual agreement," Dr Tadesse said.

He noted that both the 1929 and 1959 agreements were only bilateral and did not include the other riparian countries of the Nile despite the fact that partitioning was done for all of the river's waters.

The researcher said unless the water resources were shared equally among the concerned states a conflict might occur.

"The existing model based on the status quo early and mid 20th century is deeply flawed. The agreements which were made many years ago have been rejected by the rest of the riparian countries and this might trigger a conflict," he added.

When reached for comment over the issue on the sidelines of the workshop, Dr Magdy Hefny who is the director of the regional center for research and studies of water ethics said he was not in a position to talk about the matter.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909291057.html.

Hamas Acquires New ATGMs

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Israeli intelligence community has determined that the Hamas regime obtained advanced anti-tank guided missiles in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military sources said the intelligence community has tracked the arrival of advanced Russian-origin anti-tank missiles in the Gaza Strip. The sources said the ATGMs reached the Gaza Strip through Egypt in mid-2009.

Algeria Links AQIM With Tribes

CAIRO [MENL] -- The Algerian intelligence community has determined that Berber tribes were cooperating with the Al Qaida network.

Security sources said the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has established links with Berber tribes in central Algeria. They said Berbers were cooperating with AQIM in the province of Boumerdes, east of Algiers and a launching pad for Islamic insurgency strikes.

Turkey Plans To Disband CI Force

ANKARA [MENL] -- Turkey plans to disband a controversial counter-insurgency accused of widespread abuse and corruption.

A government report has recommended the disbanding of the paramilitary Village Guard, meant to fight the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey. The guard, with 82,000 members in 22 provinces, has been mandated to monitor and combat the Kurdish Workers Party, which contains a major presence along the border with Iraq.

Quake triggers tsunami in the Samoas, killing 82

By KENI LESA and FILI SAGAPOLUTELE, Associated Press Writers

APIA, Samoa – A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled massive tsunami waves at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa, flattening villages and sweeping cars and people out to sea, leaving at least 82 dead and dozens missing.

Survivors fled the fast-churning water for higher ground and remained huddled there hours after the quake struck early Tuesday. Signs of devastation were everywhere, with a giant boat washed ashore lying on the edge of a highway and floodwaters swallowing up cars and homes.

The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about 125 miles (200 kilometers) from Samoa, an island nation of 180,000 people located about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. It struck about 120 miles (190 kilometers) from neighboring American Samoa, a U.S. territory that is home to 65,000 people.

Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) inland, Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa, was quoted as saying by a parks service spokeswoman. He reported dozens of park workers missing.

Hampered by power and communications outages, officials struggled to determine damage and casualties.

Samoan police commissioner Lilo Maiava told The Associated Press that police there had confirmed 63 deaths but that officials were still searching the devastated areas, so the number of deaths might rise soon.

Hundreds of injured were being treated by health workers and that people are still struggling into centers seeking treatment, Maiava said.

At least 19 people were killed on American Samoa, officials there said.

"I don't think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster," said American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, who was in Hawaii for a conference.

In Washington, President Barack Obama declared a disaster for American Samoa. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was deploying teams to provide support and assess damage.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi looked shaken Wednesday on board a flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Samoan capital of Apia.

"So much has gone. So many people are gone," he told reporters on board. "I'm so shocked, so saddened by all the loss."

Malielegaoi said his own village of Lepa was destroyed.

"Thankfully, the alarm sounded on the radio and gave people time to climb to higher ground," he said. "But not everyone escaped."

Gov. Tulafono told reporters in Honolulu that more victims could be found when rescuers reach areas that are inaccessible by roads. Tulafono said a member of his extended family was among the dead.

There were unconfirmed reports of at least five additional people dead in the island nation of Tonga, west of the Samoas, New Zealand's acting Prime Minister Bill English said.

"There are a considerable number of people who've been swept out to sea and are unaccounted for," English said. "We don't have information about the full impact and we do have some real concern that over the next 12 hours the picture could look worse rather than better."

He said a New Zealand P3 Orion maritime surveillance plane would reach the region later Wednesday to search for survivors. U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. John Titchen said a C-130 was being dispatched Wednesday to deliver aid to American Somoa, assess damage and take the governor back home.

On Samoa, New Zealander Graeme Ansell said the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale was leveled.

"It was very quick. The whole village has been wiped out," Ansell told New Zealand's National Radio from a hill near Samoa's capital, Apia. "There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need 'round here."

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said an Australian woman has been confirmed killed in Samoa, three other Australians have been hospitalized and six other Australians remain unaccounted for after the tsunami.

Mase Akapo, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in American Samoa, reported at least 19 people killed in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila. Officials reported at least 50 injured.

American Samoa is home to a U.S. national park that appeared to be especially hard-hit.

Reynolds, the park superintendent, said he had been able to locate only 20 percent of the park's 40 to 50 employees and volunteers. He spoke to park service officials from Pago Pago Harbor and reported that the visitor center and offices were destroyed, according to Holly Bundock, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

Residents in both Samoa and American Samoa reported being shaken awake by the quake early Tuesday, which lasted two to three minutes and was centered about 20 miles (32 kilometers) below the ocean floor. It was followed by at least three large aftershocks of at least 5.6 magnitude.

The quake came Tuesday morning for the Samoas, which lie just east of the international dateline. For Asia-Pacific countries on the other side of the line, it was already Wednesday.

The Samoan capital was virtually deserted with schools and businesses closed. Hours after the waves struck, fresh sirens rang out with another tsunami alert and panicked residents headed for higher ground again, although there was no indication of a new quake.

Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa as a non-voting delegate in the U.S. House, said he had talked to people by telephone who said that Pago Pago — just a few feet above sea level — was flattened and several hundred people's homes were destroyed.

The dominant industry in American Samoa — tuna canneries — was also affected. Chicken of the Sea's tuna packing plant in American Samoa was forced to close although the facility wasn't damaged, the San Diego-based company said.

The effects of the tsunami could be felt thousands of miles away.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said "very weak" tsunami waves were registered off the island of Hachijojima about 10 hours after the quake. There were no reports of injuries or damage in Japan, which is about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) northwest of Samoa.

U.S. officials said strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington state. No major flooding was expected, however.

In Los Angeles, lifeguards said they will clear beaches at about 8 p.m. in response to an advisory for possible dangerous currents.

While the earthquake and tsunami were big, they were not on the same scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle. That tsunami killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries across Asia.

The 2004 quake was at least 10 times stronger than the measurements being reported for Tuesday's quake, Atwater said.

Stress disease kills Australia's koalas

By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer

CUDLEE CREEK, Australia – The koala, Australia's star symbol, is dying of stress.

Koalas live in the rolling hills and flat plains where eucalyptus trees grow, because they need the leaves for both food and water. But as people move in, koalas are finding themselves with fewer trees, researchers say. The stress is bringing out a latent disease that infects 50 to 90 percent of the animals.

"Koalas are in diabolical trouble," says researcher Frank Carrick, who heads the Koala Study Program at the University of Queensland. "Numbers show that even in their stronghold, koala numbers are declining alarmingly."

The problem came to national attention in August, when the well-known Sam the Koala died during surgery to treat the disease, called chlamydia. Sam captured the world's attention during major wildfires in February, when she was photographed drinking from the water bottle of a firefighter in a smoldering forest.

Sam was in such obvious pain from chlamydia that veterinarian John Butler decided to operate. But her organs were too scarred to complete the surgery, and Sam was euthanized.

Chlamydiosis is a virus that breaks out in koalas in times of stress — like cold sores in humans — and leads to infections in the eyes and urinary, reproductive and respiratory tracts. It can cause blindness, infertility and death.

Deborah Tabart, chief executive of the Australian Koala Foundation, urged the government to follow up on Sam's case by classifying koalas as a threatened species and implementing policies to preserve their habitat. Her organization named September "Save the Koala" month, with the theme "No Tree, No Me."

The United States already considers the koala a threatened species. And the Australian Koala Foundation estimates there are fewer than 100,000 koalas left in Australia, down from the millions at the time European settlement started in the late 1700s.

Carrick and other scientists think the numbers are slightly higher, but in any case, regional counts by scientists and state governments show a huge drop. There's clear evidence that some local populations have gone extinct because of chlamydial disease, Carrick said.

The majority of koalas hug a stretch of eastern coastline in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. They are most abundant on the so-called Koala Coast, a 155 square-mile (375 square-kilometer) swath of semi-rural coast in southeastern Queensland.

A 2008 survey of the Koala Coast by the Queensland government shows the population dropped 64 percent, from more than 6,200 in 1999 to about 2,800. While car accidents and dog attacks killed many koalas, the report blamed about 60 percent of the deaths on disease.

"We need to learn to live with our native species but instead we keep encroaching on them," said Tracy Goodman, an Adelaide resident who recently visited Gorge Wildlife Park with her husband and 4-year-old son, Matthew. Ten koalas live at the park. "Protection of koalas absolutely should be legislated."

Wide-eyed children waited in line to hold and pet Violet, a tame koala patiently munching on moist eucalyptus leaves. "They are quite cuddly and soft, aren't they?" 7-year-old Emily Marshall grinned after her grandparents took her photo with Violet.

Wildlife keeper Loren Ellis said all of Gorge's koalas are healthy, though she's not sure about the wild ones who visit occasionally, searching for food.

"There aren't always enough leaves to go around in the wild," Ellis said.

Australia, known for its unique flora and fauna, already counts more than 55 extinct mammals, birds and reptiles.

In 2006, the government's Threatened Species Committee said local population declines did not necessarily mean koalas were declining across the whole country and that they were "resilient" enough to live in small or fragmented habitats. But Environment Minister Peter Garrett has since ordered a review of the government's conservation strategy.

"I have agreed that the situation probably has changed; it looks like the figures for koalas aren't as good as I would like," Garrett said in a television interview last month.

The two states with the densest koala habitat have taken measures to protect the animal. New South Wales has classified them as a vulnerable species under the state conservation act, and endangered in two areas. Queensland lists the animal as vulnerable in some parts of the state.

While applauding the state efforts, Carrick urged the federal government to get involved.

"If koalas are not of national significance, I don't know what on earth would be," he said. "Koalas are right up there as an international wildlife icon with China's pandas."

US to send home 4,000 more troops from Iraq

By LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more U.S. troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war. Army Gen. Ray Odierno said in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month.

He said that will mean about 4,000 fewer troops than are in Iraq now — about the size of an Army brigade.

"As we go forward, we will thin our lines across Iraq in order to reduce the risk and sustain stability through a deliberate transition of responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces," Odierno said in a statement he was to deliver before the House Armed Services Committee.

A copy of the testimony was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

A Defense Department official confirmed Odierno planned to announce at the House hearing that he is reducing the number of brigades in Iraq, as has been long expected.

In his eight-page statement, Odierno cited data showing that the monthly number of attacks in Iraq have dramatically dropped over the last two years — from more than 4,000 in August 2007 to about 600 last month. He also said that far fewer al-Qaida and foreign fighters remain in Iraq, and most of those who are left are criminals and disenfranchised Iraqis who have been recruited by what Odierno described as a "small ideological core" of insurgents.

Despite cautious optimism, Odierno's outlook of the nation he called an enduring U.S. interest was far from rosy.

He predicted several looming problems as U.S. troops prepare to end combat missions by September 2010 and leave Iraq at the end of 2011. They include:

_A pair of truck bombings Aug. 19 at Iraq's finance and foreign ministries, which killed about 100 people in Baghdad, revealed "a clear security lapse," Odierno said.

_Iraqi officials have yet to agree on a system of government that is accepted across what Odierno described as ethnic, sectarian and regional lines. He described a power struggle between provincial officials and Baghdad and said long-standing tensions continue to stall progress between Arabs and Kurds.

As the January elections approach, military officials have identified Arab-Kurd tensions as one of the top concerns for potential violence, especially in contested territories in the oil-rich north that each side claims as its own. Still, Odierno said the darkest days of the Iraq war seem to be long gone, citing failed efforts by extremists still seeking to destabilize the nation.

"The overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people have rejected extremism," Odierno said. "We see no indications of a return to the sectarian violence that plagued Iraq in 2006-2007."

_Although Iraqi leaders had planned to find government jobs for all members of a group known as Sons of Iraq who helped curb the insurgency, "we do not believe they will meet this timeline," Odierno said. "We continue to monitor the progress of this program very closely."

Iraq's government promised to open thousands of police and military jobs, dominated by Shiites, to the Sons of Iraq, who are mostly Sunni. But the government has been accused by Sunnis of dragging its feet on integrating the jobs. Odierno, however, said 23,000 former Sons of Iraq have begun working in government jobs since 2008, and 5,000 more will start next month.