Congo army makes inroads against weakened rebels

October 30, 2013

RUMANGABO, Congo (AP) — The Congolese army colonel marched triumphantly into town, welcomed by cheering crowds waving palm leaves after his soldiers retook this base in their latest offensive to quash the M23 rebels.

"Congo for the Congolese!" Col. Mamadou Ndala proclaimed in Swahili to applause and adulation, as women threw flowers and shouted out the names of army commanders. The recapturing of Rumangabo from the M23 rebels, who are allegedly backed by neighboring Rwanda, is the army's sixth such victory since Saturday. It's a marked turnaround from a year ago when neither the army nor the U.N. peacekeepers kept the same rebels from seizing Goma, a city of 1 million people.

With more help than ever from U.N. forces, Congo's military is now taking advantage of an apparent weakening within the M23 movement that got its start in April 2012. The stepped-up offensive also comes as neighboring Rwanda faces growing pressure over the rebels. The Rwandan government denies it supports the rebels, despite evidence laid out by a U.N. group of experts.

One U.N. diplomat on Monday said the rebels have abandoned nearly all their positions except for a small triangle near the Rwandan border. John Ging, the director of U.N. humanitarian operations who just returned from Congo, told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York Tuesday that the country stands "at a crossroads of new opportunity" where there are hopes for a better future.

He cautioned, however, that Congo has been at crossroads in the past and "tragically, until now, each time it has gotten worse." "People are saying to us they hope that this time it will actually get better," Ging said. "They see some signs, and where the (U.N.) mission is present, they do point to positive impact."

But he stressed that everyone realizes the instability in Congo, the proliferation of armed groups which will take considerable time to disarm, and the difficult geography of the country. "If these military victories are followed up with serious regional pressure on Rwanda and on M23 to forge some kind of sustainable peace, then this could be a turning point," said Michael Deibert, author of "The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair."

Deibert added that Congo's army is often accused of human rights abuses and of a lack of accountability and that these need to be addressed to prevent a reversal of fortune. The M23 rebels say they want to pursue peace talks, though they have repeated failed and stalled over such issues as amnesty. M23 spokesman Amani Kabasha accused the Congolese government of "provoking fighting with the intention of blaming civilian deaths on M23 and justifying once more the U.N. intervention brigade against our soldiers."

Several Tanzanian peacekeepers have been killed since August. This week the U.N. troops have been in armored personnel carriers and jeeps with mounted machine guns several kilometers (miles) behind the army forces.

Eastern Congo has been wracked by conflict since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, after which Hutu extremists crossed over into Congo. M23 is only the latest rebel group to menace the mineral-rich region.

The insurgency was born out of an earlier rebel movement that had signed a 2009 peace deal with the government. The fighters said the Congolese government hadn't held up its end of the deal that called for the rebels to be integrated into the national army, among other things.

With the purported help of Rwanda, M23 quickly grew in strength and briefly held Goma in November 2012 before bowing to international pressure and retreating. In March, M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda turned himself in to face charges at the International Criminal Court, a move that experts say has seriously weakened the rebels.

"The movement is unable to control its entire territory and suffers from poor morale and scores of desertions," a U.N. group of experts said in a report in late July. Estimates now put the M23 group at 1,000 fighters. However, residents living in border regions claim that soldiers cross from Rwanda into Congo during M23 fighting which makes it difficult to estimate the group's current size.

Timo Mueller, a Goma-based researcher with the Enough Project, an advocacy group active in eastern Congo, said the M23's retreat from strategically important towns and hills in recent days is surprising.

"That would suggest that they cannot hold ground and confront a very ambitious and more professional Congolese army," he said. "I understand that they're scattering or have scattered. I wouldn't say it's necessarily the military end."

Even if the M23 is defeated, he said, the rebels would need to be disarmed and for them to give up their weapons they would need security guarantees to prevent attacks by the army or angry citizens.

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations

Africa's biggest wind farm opens in Ethiopia

27 Oct 2013

The $290m Ashegoda Wind Farm is expected to generate 120MW of electricity, easing Ethiopia's dependence on hydropower.

Africa's biggest wind farm has begun production in Ethiopia, aiding efforts to diversify electricity generation from hydropower plants and help the country become a major regional exporter of energy

Africa's second most populous country - plagued by frequent blackouts - plans to boost generating capacity from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW within the next three to five years.

Much of the increase would come from the 6,000 MW Grand Renaissance Dam under construction on the Nile.

The US $290m Ashegoda Wind Farm was built by French firm Vergnet SA with concessional loans from BNP Paribas and the French Development Agency (AFD).

The Ethiopian government covered 9 percent of the cost.

"Various studies have proved that there is potential to harness abundant wind energy resources in every region of Ethiopia. We cannot maintain growth without utilizing the energy sector," Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in a speech at the launch.

Experts put Ethiopia's hydropower potential at around 45,000 MW and geothermal at 5,000 MW, while its wind power potential is believed to be Africa's third-largest behind Egypt and Morocco.

Delayed completion

Groundbreaking for the Ashegoda Wind Farm was done in 2009 with completion set for 2011 but logistical constraints delayed its finish.

It is the second such project in the country after the 51 MW Adama I wind farm, which began production in 2011.

"Ethiopia might have one of the most impressive investment plans in renewable energy in Africa," Vergnet's site manager Roman Coutrot, said.

"It's not only talking, they are acting and signing contracts. The problem they might face is financing but they are not worried about that," he said.

The 84-turbine farm - straddling a sprawling field of grassland dotted by stone-brick hamlets more than 780km north of the capital Addis Ababa - is part of a plan to mitigate the impact of dry seasons on the country's dams.

At present, Ethiopia's energy resources are almost completely derived from hydropower projects.

"It compliments hydropower, which is seasonal. When you have a dry water season we have higher wind speed," said Mihret Debebe, CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

"There is harmony between the two sources of energy."

Last week, Ethiopia also signed a preliminary agreement with a US-Icelandic firm for a $4 billion private sector investment intended to tap its vast geothermal power resources and produce 1,000 MW from steam.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/10/africa-biggest-wind-farm-opens-ethiopia-2013102713165843147.html.

Tibetan denies official version of cousin's death

October 23, 2013

GANNAN PREFECTURE, China (AP) — Soon after Sangay Gyatso lit himself on fire and burned to death in one of China's ethnic Tibetan areas, police came knocking on his family's door with questions — and seemingly the answers as well.

Was the fiery suicide of the 27-year-old farmer pre-arranged? Didn't he have connections to foreign-based separatists? Didn't the family get a 3 million yuan ($500,000) reward for the self-burning protest?

A cousin of Sangay Gyatso said his family was asked these questions before the government cast the father of two as an incorrigible thief and womanizer who was goaded into setting himself on fire in an elaborate and cruel scheme to fan up ethnic hatred. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation.

"It was all nonsense," the cousin, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, said during an interview conducted in his room at a Gannan prefecture community in the rolling hills along the incline toward the Tibetan Plateau. He sat near a stove used for both cooking and heat. A portrait of the Dalai Lama hung from a molding near a window.

In a rare interview conducted in this ethnic Tibetan region, the cousin told The Associated Press the man burned himself Oct. 6, 2012, at a white stupa near his Gannan village, in a personal protest over the lack of rights for Tibetans. He said Sangay Gyatso was not connected to Tibetan groups abroad.

"There are a lot of lies around Sangay Gyatso and around the people who have self-immolated," he said. Since early 2009, overseas Tibetan rights groups have reported that more than 120 Tibetans — monks and lay people, men and women, and young and elderly — have set themselves on fire. Most died. The groups say the self-immolations are homegrown protests over China's heavy-handed rule in the Himalayan regions.

They are an image problem for Beijing, which first tried to blank out news of self-immolations. After reports continued to leak out, Beijing struck back with accounts of immolators as outcasts who fall prey to the instigation of the Dalai Lama and supporters who allegedly want to split Tibet from China. The Communist Party-controlled media describe the immolators as gamblers, thieves, womanizers, or suffering from life setbacks or physical disabilities.

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader who fled to northern India in 1959, has denied any role in the suicides, deplored the loss of lives and demanded that Beijing investigate under the watch of international monitors. He also says he wants autonomous rule, not independence, for Tibet.

Independent reporting in the region is almost impossible because of Beijing's tight controls. Though foreign journalists can travel to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, police closely followed a group of Associated Press reporters on a recent trip, preventing them from interviewing most local Tibetans.

Sangay Gyatso's full story remains elusive because his immediate family members remain hushed. His cousin and people who live nearby advised the AP against traveling to Sangay Gyatso's village, saying government informants prevent the family from speaking out.

Gannan sits on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau but outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. It includes Tibetan Buddhism's holiest place outside Tibet, the Labrang Monastery in the town of Xiahe. Tibetans make up just over half Gannan's population of nearly 700,000, herding sheep and yaks against a mountain backdrop.

On a recent morning in Xiahe, prayer wheels spun and believers threw their bodies to the ground to offer prayers. Monks in maroon robes and herdsmen in fur coats mingled in the streets. Foreign and Chinese tourists browsed colorful scarfs in shops.

In some shops, Dalai Lama portraits were displayed in inconspicuous corners. An elderly shopkeeper said such displays were once strictly banned, but the rule was relaxed this year because it had irked ethnic Tibetans. Before he could say more, a civilian police employee following the AP crew told him to stop talking. Other residents looked nervous when approached and declined to speak.

Sangay Gyatso's cousin described him as "a very normal young Tibetan farmer with a very normal life." Choe Gyamtso, a monk from Sangay Gyatso's village, defended him in an interview with India-based broadcaster Voice of Tibet. He said Sangay Gyatso was a decent man and that the account of him as a thief and womanizer was a lie.

He also said the Chinese government offered a 1 million yuan reward to Sangay Gyatso's family in exchange for their saying that the man self-immolated over disputes with his wife. He said the family turned down the money.

The cousin could not confirm the government offer, but said local officials had alleged that the family had accepted 3 million yuan from India for the man's self-burning act, which he denied. Officials never made such a claim publicly.

Pressure also came down on monks at the local Dokar Monastery, where Sangay Gyatson self-immolated. Gannan police said late last year that they detained seven people, including three from the monastery, for their roles in Sangay Gyasto's death, characterized as premeditated homicide. Police said the monks knew about the suicide plan in advance, took photos of the self-immolation and sent them overseas to incite ethnic hatred. It's unclear whether anyone was tried.

For decades, Tibetans have complained of the lack of autonomous rule that was promised by the Communist Party since China's takeover of Tibet in the 1950s, and human rights activists say China has trampled on religious freedom and culture. China says Tibet has belonged to it since ancient times, and that since asserting control in the '50s it has ended serfdom and brought development to a backward region.

In 2008, discontent and ethnic hatred erupted into violent riots across Tibetan regions, including Gannan. Sangay Gyatso's cousin said local Tibetans are upset over an influx of China's majority Han people, who often get government jobs while Tibetan youth remain unemployed. "We have become a pitiable people that are nobody," he said.

The cousin recalled Sangay Gyatso becoming agitated over what he considered a lack of rights for Tibetans. "He said he was not capable of doing big things, but said as an individual he could burn himself," the cousin said.

The shocked cousin tried to talk him out of it, but Sangay Gyatso assured him at the time that he was only joking. After Sangay Gyatso died, his cousin said, "I thought of his words. Oh, he was preparing to do it. ... My heart ached, and I cried."

Israeli city divided by religion after close vote

October 31, 2013

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (AP) — After a contentious mayoral election between secular and ultra-Orthodox rivals, this deeply divided city has become a flashpoint for a religious struggle that is threatening to tear Israel apart.

Claiming the election was stolen, secular and moderately religious residents of Beit Shemesh are arranging large demonstrations against the ultra-Orthodox mayor, demanding a new vote and even suggesting the city be split in two. But the protests go far beyond the alleged election fraud. They cut at the very nature of Israel as it tries to maintain its character as both a Jewish state and a pluralistic democracy.

"I really feel like they (the ultra-Orthodox) are trying to conquer our city. It's not 'live and let live.' They are pushing us out," said Etti Amos, 56, who has lived in Beit Shemesh since her family emigrated from Morocco when she was a child. She said her three children have left town because they saw no future.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 10 percent of Israel's population. Maintaining a strict lifestyle that revolves around prayer, most live in ultra-Orthodox dominated towns or in insular neighborhoods in larger cities like Jerusalem.

While generally keeping to themselves, they often face resentment from the general public for shirking compulsory military service while receiving taxpayer stipends to pursue religious studies. They have also caused controversy by trying to force their conservative lifestyle on others.

Beit Shemesh, a city of about 100,000 west of Jerusalem, is split almost equally between the ultra-Orthodox and the others — a vibrant mixture of secular, modern Orthodox, Russian and American immigrants and Jews of Middle Eastern descent who all coexist peacefully. Frictions have increased as neighborhoods have begun to overlap.

Residents also say that the ultra-Orthodox mayor has neglected their needs, reneging on promises to build a sports stadium, a cultural center and a library, while funneling resources and construction projects almost exclusively to his own community.

"If the current planning policies continue to be as they have, there will be no need for an election in 2018 because the ultra-Orthodox will already be a clear majority," said Daniel Goldman, a modern Orthodox religious activist. "There is a constant undercurrent of tension and the more the ultra-Orthodox grow, the more influence they wield in City Hall, the more we feel uncomfortable."

Last week's municipal election highlighted the divisions. Secular challenger Eli Cohen said the campaign should have focused on the mismanagement by incumbent Mayor Moshe Abutbul. Instead, it became about religion.

Official results show voters lined up almost entirely along religious affiliation. Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods voted overwhelmingly for Abutbul, while other areas supported Cohen, with a little more than 900 votes separating them.

Dozens of witnesses have alleged fraud, including ballots that were damaged and disqualified, and residents with questionable identification trying to vote more than once. About 2,000 people demonstrated late Tuesday, calling for a new election.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said eight people have been charged with voter fraud after being found with 200 fake ID cards. Abutbul rejects the accusations and says he won fairly. He boasts of paving roads and building malls and restaurants that cater to secular residents and says he will continue to serve everyone equally.

"Even if they need to have a revote at one or two ballot boxes, the results will stay the same," he told The Associated Press. "The city will stay the same city. There is room for everyone. ... I build for everyone. Those who will try to distort my image will face stiff resistance."

He said those who questioned the election were "making it such that good people will not come to the city." With their high birth rates, the ultra-Orthodox are the largest growing segment of Israeli society. Many see Beit Shemesh as a battle that could signal trends in the country.

In its most extreme neighborhoods, the ultra-Orthodox have erected signs calling for the separation of sexes on the sidewalks, dispatched "modesty patrols" to enforce a chaste female appearance, and hurled stones at offenders and outsiders.

Other signs exhort women to dress in closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts, and announce that computers and Internet connections are prohibited. In the most famous case, an 8-year-old girl was assaulted two years ago by extremists who spat on her and called her a whore for walking through their neighborhood in an "immodest" fashion.

The ultra-Orthodox say these are isolated events blown out of proportion by a secular media that seeks to defame them. Most insist they embrace fellow Jews and harbor no ill will. But at the same time, they see a future in which Beit Shemesh will become the biggest ultra-Orthodox city in Israel.

It's a sentiment that has Avi Vakhnin, a 47-year-old merchant who has lived his whole life in Beit Shemesh, saying he feels like he is in "mourning" after the election. "They've taken over and got funding from the government to build new buildings while I can't pay for my mortgage," he said. "But we are not going to give up. It's going to be a war."

Israel allows Egyptian bombers to fly over Gaza

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

For the first time in 34 years, Israel has given permission for Egyptian fighter-bombers to fly over the Gaza Strip twice within a week, Israeli TV Channel 2 has said. Egyptian F16s were allowed to fly over the border "to monitor weapons' smuggling", it was claimed. Egypt has said that the flights were part of the campaign against "terrorism" in the Sinai Peninsula.

The terms of the 1979 Camp David Treaty signed by Egypt and Israel, said El-Shaab newspaper, make it clear that the Sinai is to be an arms-free zone, apart from a small border force. Although 18 aircraft were counted flying over the border by witnesses, 48 hours later the Egyptian military denied that this had happened.

El-Shaab reminded its readers that Israel allowed Egyptian Apache attack helicopters to fly over Gaza in September in a move against what were claimed at the time to be "arms caches".

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/7925-israel-allows-egyptian-bombers-to-fly-over-gaza.

Count of discovered exoplanets passes the 1,000 mark

Brussels (UPI)
Oct 22, 2013

The count of exoplanets circling distant stars has passed a benchmark figure, astronomers said, as the 1,000th was added to a European database Tuesday.

For the last few weeks, astronomers have been waiting as the confirmed exoplanet count -- recorded by the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia website -- approached the 1,000 mark.

With the help of the Super Wide Angle Search for Planets (SuperWASP) collaboration, the number jumped from 999 to 1,010 overnight, Discovery.com reported.

All 11 of the newly confirmed exoplanets orbit stars with periods of between 8 days to less than 2 days, making them all "hot-Jupiters" and not remotely inhabitable, astronomers said.

Counting exoplanets isn't an exact process, they said, and the numbers can change with further research.

For example, some of the 1,000 exoplanets on the list -- particularly very massive ones -- are being looked at closely as they seem to exhibit stellar rather than planetary characteristics.

After further study, the astronomers said, some may be reclassified as brown dwarfs, or "failed stars," which would take them off the exoplanet count list.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Count_of_discovered_exoplanets_passes_the_1000_mark_999.html.

Russia to expand Kyrgyzstan military base: official

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (AFP)
Oct 26, 2013

Russia will expand its airbase in Kyrgyzstan at the end of the year ahead of the shutdown of a US base in the country, a senior commander said Saturday.

The number of planes at Russia's Kant airbase in the country "will at least double by this December," Viktor Sevastyanov, a senior Russian air force commander, said at a ceremony marking the base's 10-year anniversary.

Russia will also send in more pilots, he said in televised remarks.

The Kant airbase last year was a source of disagreement between Kyrgyzstan and Russia, which is competing for influence in the region with the United States, whose lease at its Manas base expires in July.

Last year Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev complained that the Russian base was not benefiting Kyrgyzstan and instead owed Bishkek $15 million (11 million euros) in back rent.

However in September Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement allowing Moscow to continue operations at Kant until 2032 in exchange for Moscow's writing off nearly half a billion dollars in debt owed by the Central Asian country.

The base, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Bishkek, currently has 10 Sukhoi fighters, two Mi-8 helicopters, and about a dozen other transport and training airplanes. It is Russia's only airbase in Central Asia.

The United States is meanwhile planning to pull its flight operations from the Manas base ahead of the expiration of its lease, and use an alternative airbase in Romania as a transit point for troops leaving Afghanistan.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_to_expand_Kyrgyzstan_military_base_official_999.html.