Vice President Mujuru, Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara, Deputy Prime Minister Khupe, Honourable Ministers and Members of Parliament, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Government Officials, Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen;
I would like to welcome you to this historic launch of the new Government’s 100 Day Plan. This Plan will provide the blue print for the implementation of key sector reforms and the initiation of essential development and rehabilitation programmes.
The first 100 Days of this Government represented the process of formulation and consolidation. Today with the launch of this Government’s commitment to the next 100 Days, we move into the sphere of implementation.
More importantly , this 100 Day Plan has the potential to change the culture of Governance in Zimbabwe as it represents a Ministerial commitment to delivery to the Zimbabwean people to which they will be able to hold individual ministers, and the government as a whole, accountable.
Indeed, accountability is the cornerstone of any democracy and this Government will not shy away from its responsibilities as defined by the GPA.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am particularly proud of the work that has gone into developing this plan as it represents the first concrete example of what can be achieved if the various signatories to the GPA are committed to working together for the betterment of our nation. I would like to express my gratitude to the World Bank for sharing our vision and for supporting the development of the 100 Day Plan. It was through their support, that we were able to take all our ministers and the acting permanent secretaries to Victoria Falls to develop this implementation agenda.
We went to this remote location to build a sense of team work, mutual respect and cooperation amongst colleagues and associates who yesterday were bitter political adversaries.
During the course of the retreat, we formulated an agreed vision for the way forward and a detailed plan of how to get there which is what we are presenting to you today.
This implementation plan is based on the commitments contained in the GPA and the vision provided by the Short Term Emergency Recovery Plan (STERP) which was launched in March of this year.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the development of this 100 Day Plan was undertaken by myself as Prime Minister and executed through my office in line with my mandate and responsibilities under the GPA. Indeed, it is important that we recognise the key role played by this agreement in the development of the Plan.
It is from the GPA and the Constitution of Zimbabwe that every member of Government derives his or her mandate. Its clarity on the structure of the inclusive government and the roles of the individuals and institutions within it should allow the machinery of governance to run smoothly during this transitional period.
The GPA states that, the Executive Authority of the Inclusive Government shall vest in, and be shared among the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, as provided for in this Constitution and legislation.
Within the agreement, the authority and responsibility of the Prime Minister includes but is not limited to;
· Chairing the Council of Ministers and is the Deputy Chairperson of Cabinet;
· Exercising executive authority;
· Overseeing the formulation of government policies by the Cabinet;
· Ensuring that the policies so formulated are implemented by the entirety of government;
· Ensuring that the Ministers develop appropriate implementation plans to give effect to the policies decided by Cabinet: in this regard, the Ministers will report to the Prime Minister on all issues relating to the implementation of such policies and plans;

· Ensuring that the legislation necessary to enable the government to carry out its functions is in place: in this regard, he/ she shall have the responsibility to discharge the functions of the Leader of Government Business in Parliament;
· Being a member of the National Security Council;
· Reporting regularly to the President and Parliament.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am aware of, and I accept the responsibilities placed upon myself and my Office to ensure the formulation of all relevant policies and their efficient and effective implementation.
I am also aware that, while it is vitally important to have a coherent plan to guide our policy development and implementation, it is as important that the will exists to ensure that such a plan, once developed, is implemented.
This is particularly relevant to a coalition Government such as ours. If all the signatories are not fully committed to abiding by the agreement to which they have appended their names, then the technical implementation of Government policy will falter.
Sadly, there appears to be a reluctance by residual elements from the old government to obstruct and frustrate the successful implementation of the GPA. This attitude, should it continue, will limit the effective implementation of the 100 Day Plan and subsequently impact negatively on our ability to make a positive difference to the lives of all Zimbabweans.
What continues to plague Zimbabwe can be best described as a reluctance to accept the reality of the changes taking place within the country.
This residual resistance represents an unwillingness to accept the fact that the new political dispensation is not only irreversible, but also offers the country the only viable way forward.
The continued violations of the rule of law and the GPA prevent the inflows of development aid, obstructing a progressive legislative agenda and risk keeping Zimbabwe mired in poverty and the fear of persecution.
Ladies and Gentlemen as different political parties, it is natural that we have different political agendas. However, as co-signatories to the GPA, we should be united by our agenda of Governance and of delivering essential services to the people while simultaneously promoting their freedoms.
Such is the clarity of the GPA and the Constitution, that if there was truly a political will to abide by their letter and spirit, these issues could be resolved immediately. In doing so, we would prove to the international community that we are genuine and serious about restoring Zimbabwe to its rightful place in the family of nations.
The reality of the situation is that we must deliver more to the people and more quickly. The citizens of this great nation have been steadfast and resolute in allowing this new Government the opportunity to prove its worth. The members of the civil service have allowed us to introduce an interim allowance in lieu of salaries. While this allowance is more than their previous salaries, it falls short of what their counterparts in the region receive.
The Government is aware of this, and is grateful for their support and patience. However, there is a limit to the progress that we can make while the GPA is not fully implemented and while the rule of law continues to be violated. Those individuals that continue to undertake these actions are in effect stealing from every Zimbabwean.
Ladies and Gentlemen, once we embrace this need for mutual cooperation to drive our nation forward, we can then concentrate on the business of Government, delivering services to the people and driving the legislative agenda.
The next 100 Days of this Government are vital to proving our commitment to restoring Zimbabwe to its proud place in the international family of nations.
I know that the vast majority of Ministers, Government officials and members of the civil service are committed to rebuilding our country and are committed to implementing fully the 100 Day Plan.
I acknowledge that resources are scarce, but all Ministers involved should be aware that there are many projects and policies that can have a positive effect on people’s lives and which can be introduced at little or no cost.
I invite all stakeholders and representatives of Civil Society to work with us to ensure the successful implementation of all the targets identified in the plan.
I thank the international community and donor organizations for the support they have afforded our country and for their continued commitment to working with the Government and all stakeholders to deliver to the people the Zimbabwe our liberation heroes fought for.
Despite the challenges we have faced in the first three months of this new political dispensation, the GPA still represents the only viable way forward for this country,. Indeed, the positive impact that we have had on the lives of the people, in a relatively short timeframe, justify the purpose and role of the GPA in providing a stable framework within which we can take our country forward.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I call upon each member of our new Government and every citizen of Zimbabwe to join me in putting the interests of our nation and our people first – to join me in choosing progress and prosperity over poverty and persecution. There is no viable alternative for our country, our people or ourselves.
I believe in a future for Zimbabwe that puts the welfare of its citizens first, where development leads to growth, which in turn leads to prosperity for all.
Let us work together to make the next 100 Days a tribute to our ability to unite, to implement the necessary legislative reforms and to initiate the programmes of rebuilding our beautiful Zimbabwe that the people demand and deserve.
I thank youClick here to download the 100 day plan
MDC Sets Deadline For Resolution of Outstanding Issues

The MDC has set next Monday as the deadline for the resolution of all outstanding issues, MDC Secretary General, Hon. Tendai Biti has said. Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters at Harvest House in Harare, Hon. Biti said if the outstanding issues were not resolved by next Monday, the party would refer the issue to the party’s supreme making decision body, the National Council, which will meet on 17 May 2009.
He said the outstanding issues that remained unresolved were the appointment of provincial governors, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and the Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana.
He said the appointments of Gono and Tomana were unprocedural in that they were executive appointments done after the signing of the GPA, which states that such appointments must be done following an agreement by the principals.
Also of concern to the MDC was the refusal by Robert Mugabe to swear in MDC treasurer-general, Hon. Roy Bennett as the deputy Minister of Agriculture and the unilateral grabbing of ministerial portfolios by Mugabe.
Hon Biti said Bennett was innocent until proven guilty. He said according to the GPA, which was now part of the Constitution of Zimbabwe; Mugabe had no powers to refuse to swear-in Bennett after being nominated by his party. The MDC secretary-general urged the deputy-minister designate to go to his office and start work.
The MDC secretary-general also lashed out at the service chiefs for failing to respect “the new authority in town, which is the office of the Prime Minister.”
He said the service chiefs had shown reluctance to respect the Prime Minister, Hon. Morgan Tsvangirai during the Independence Day celebrations and at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
“The delay in finding a lasting solution to outstanding issues is of great concern to the MDC.
“In our view these issues should have been concluded soon after the formation of the inclusive government in February,” Hon. Biti said.
He said the party was worried that some elements in government, Zanu PF, the security forces and public media continued to disregard some clear provisions laid out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
“There are a number of toxic and poisonous attitudes that some of these institutions are showing. Their attitude is as if they are in a war situation,” Hon. Biti said.
He said the public media, especially The Herald and the ZBC, continued to preach hate speech intended to assault the MDC, which is a democratic party that won the 29 March 2008 elections with a clear majority.
Hon. Biti also raised concerns over the disregard of human rights by some State security agents in light of the re-arrests of Zimbabwe Peace Projects director, Jestina Mukoko, Ghandi Mudzingwa, former personal aide of the Prime Minister and 16 other MDC and civil society activists.
“We find it unacceptable that when we want to make progress there are some people whose conduct is inconsistent with rebuilding a new Zimbabwe,” he said.
He said the conduct of Zanu PF continued to undo all efforts to rescue the country.
The secretary-general, however, assured MDC supporters and the people of Zimbabwe that the party stood by its principles and values that it had been fighting for the past ten years.
Hon Biti said the MDC has “an excellent relationship” with South African President Jacob Zumba and hoped that the new era in South Africa would bode well for Zimbabwe.To download the latest MDC Changing Times Online click here
Click here to download the STERP Document from our library.
The New Prime Minister's Speech in Full is here to be read or be downloaded hereYou can also view the video of the inauguration of Zimbabwe's New Prime Minister here

Millenium village -Millenium dome

1958-9 Remembered
17 June 2009
A screening of the IRR's film 'From you were Black, you were out' as part of the French Institute's Mosaïques festival.
Wednesday 17 June 2009, 6pm
French Institute, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT
Speaker:
Colin Prescod - Film's Director and Chairman, Institute of Race Relations
IRR's film, 'From you were Black, you were out', is being shown alongside 'Welcome To England' and 'Grove Roots'.
Tickets: £5. To buy tickets, please call 020 7073 1350. The film forms part of a four part series 'Struggles for Black Community', now available for the first time on DVD from the IRR (see link below). They were made by Colin Prescod for Channel 4 at the beginning of the 1980s.
Events listing is provided for information only.

A good Traditional place to eat in south london?Try Adulis eritrea restaurant in CAMBERWELL

Kenan Malik: journey of an ex-anti-racist
By Arun Kundnani
1 June 2009, 3:00pm
Kenan Malik's latest book From Fatwa To Jihad: the Rushdie affair and its legacy distorts anti-racist history and plays into the hands of today's anti-Muslim politics.
During the 1980s, Kenan Malik was active with an organisation called East London Workers Against Racism (ELWAR). In response to racist violence, ELWAR organised street patrols and ensured the physical protection of families under attack. Malik thus spent much of 1984 camped out in a house in London's East End defending its residents from racists. Nowadays, Malik is better known as a commentator on race issues and a mainstream media pundit.
According to his latest book, From Fatwa To Jihad: the Rushdie affair and its legacy (Atlantic Books, 2009), multicultural policies are to blame for fostering a sense of 'tribalism' in British society, for the growth of 'radical Islam', for censorship of the arts and for the cultivation of a bogus notion of minority victimhood. The book is not so much about the fatwa against Rushdie or 7/7; rather he uses these two events to narrate a shift he believes has occurred over the last twenty years in Britain: from anti-racism to multiculturalism, from universalism to identity politics and from issues of politics to issues of culture. What results is an often mystifying mix of anti-racist history and journalistic cliché, with parts of From Fatwa To Jihad reading like a Left pamphlet from the early 1980s and other sections regurgitating the half-truths and conventional wisdoms of Nick Cohen, Andrew Anthony and Trevor Phillips.
What distinguishes Malik's book from others in the 'crisis of multiculturalism' genre is his attempt to appropriate anti-racist history itself for this discourse and thus to give an anti-racist rather than merely liberal endorsement to the current attack on multiculturalism. In doing so, Malik draws, sometimes disconcertingly, on the same political traditions of radical anti-racism with which the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has long been associated. Yet, he not only distorts those traditions; he also ends up reinforcing notions of liberal integrationism that are central to today's anti-Muslim racism.
From the 1980s, says Malik, fuelled by collusion between the state and opportunist religious and cultural organisations in minority communities, there was a rise in ethnic identity politics. From the state's point of view, multicultural policies were introduced as the most effective way to manage the discontent that racism produced. From the point of view of self-appointed community leaders, 'ethnic' funding was a golden opportunity to finance pet projects in the name of specific cultural needs. Multiculturalism thus served as a diversion from the anti-racist politics of the time - for example, the Asian Youth Movements (AYMs) that had sprung up in the late 1970s and which were less interested in having Asian culture officially recognised than in fighting state racism and racist violence. Moreover, the idea that each ethnic or religious group had its own unique and distinctive identity that needed nurturing led to segregation and, ultimately, inter-ethnic hatred and violence.
Such arguments would, of course, be familiar to anyone who read A. Sivanandan from the 1980s onwards. Malik, however, deploys them without any acknowledgement of their origins. Moreover, the way in which he reinterprets them for the current context takes him onto new and dangerous terrain. Whereas for Sivanandan, the anti-racist critique of multiculturalism is, first and foremost, directed at its denial of the political reality of racism, for Malik, the objection to multiculturalism is more that it fosters an illiberal Asian culture that is out of step with modernity. For Sivanandan, what matters is how culture is politicised: does it divide and ossify or is it, as Amilcar Cabral put it, a 'combusting force'? For Malik, on the other hand, politics must be rigorously policed for any intrusion of 'culture' at all.
This leads Malik to claim that, for Asians, the issue today is whether 'second-generation migrants' are able to throw off 'their parents' cultures and traditions'; failure to do so, he says, leaves them 'adrift'. Moreover, Malik argues that racism is no longer a problem that Asians face. He thus echoes the argument of US neoconservative Dinesh D'Souza's 1995 book The End of Racism: it is not society that needs to be less racist but minorities who need to be more liberal; there are no racist barriers to lower, only non-white individuals who need enlightening. It is a position which Malik will, of course, find easier to sell to his editors than his older anti-racist radicalism.
'There is,' claims Malik, 'no evidence of any kind of systematic targeting of minorities of the kind that was common in Britain just twenty years ago.' Incidents of racist harassment are 'so rare that every one makes a national headline'. He contrasts this with the late 1970s and 1980s, writing that in the ten years from 1978, there were forty-nine racist murders. No doubt readers of IRR News will know that, every week, racist attacks take place that are barely reported, even in the local press. It is worth adding that in the ten years from 1998, the IRR recorded sixty-eight deaths with a known or suspected racist element. Even allowing for different methods of recording, this hardly suggests that Britain has solved its racism problem over the last twenty years. On the question of a specifically anti-Muslim element to contemporary racism, Malik is even more in denial. Negative discrimination against Muslims barely exists as a social reality, he says. Indeed, 'if Muslims are singled out in Britain, it is often for privileged treatment'. The real problem, he says, is not discrimination but the 'desire to play the victim'.
While the existence of racism once made a desire for community-specific political movements such as the AYMs 'understandable', today, states Malik, they lead directly to 'tribalism'. He writes about his friend Hassan, who, in response to racism, drifted from secular Leftism into Islamic identity politics. Hassan knew nothing of the Qur'an but 'anger about racism created in him resentments towards British society out of which radical arguments about the Muslim community could breed'. His drift towards Islamism, which began with the Rushdie protests, was thus rooted in injustice. Yet Malik refuses to countenance that what was true of his former comrade Hassan might be true also of young Muslims today. Insisting that there is no longer any racism to fuel identity politics and that imperialist wars are not really imperialist, Malik argues that the 'rage of Islam' is a self-sustaining 'culture of victimhood' which has detached itself from any real political injustice and is sustained by the currency multiculturalism gives to 'offence' and 'grievance'.
For Malik, the problem with multiculturalism is that it gets in the way of freeing Asians from their 'traditional cultures' so that they can be fully integrated into Europe's liberal values. He takes the essence of progressive minority politics in this ostensibly post-racist era to be the critique of Muslim and Asian identity. Rushdie's Satanic Verses is regarded as an exemplar while multicultural notions of cultural and religious sensitivity are seen as unwelcome restraints on such a politics. He argues that the Satanic Verses affair marks the beginning of a change in attitudes towards freedom of expression, which has resulted in the 'criminalisation of criticism of Islam'. The demands for censorship which, he says, some Muslims have made has ended up backfiring as Muslims themselves now find themselves criminalised for their opinions. As his own examples illustrate, though, the only cases in which a person's freedom of expression has actually been criminalised have been Muslims considered by the state to have 'unacceptable opinions'. Yet, for Malik, these are not examples of 'targeting a minority'; rather the real story is that the 'fatwa has become internalized' so that writers and artists are no longer free to criticise Islam. The media class, it seems, has its own ways of 'playing the victim'.
The attack on multiculturalism was once a progressive stance within a radical anti-racist framework. But to abstract that position from its historical anti-racist context and apply it in today's different circumstances is to end up endorsing, effectively, the French republican model of assimilation, with its fear of minority culture as a threat to its superior values and its denials of the continued existence of racism. Whereas twenty years ago, minority and majority 'cultures' were still regarded by the state as a means of stabilising political conflicts of race and class, today 'culture' and 'religion' are the vectors of new liberal racisms, the symbols of all that is threatening in the non-western world. Liberal anti-multiculturalism now serves, by default if not intent, to reinforce the ideological underpinnings of today's racism and imperialism.
Malik claims the radical mantle of the AYMs. Yet their true heritage lies in those who continue to do grassroots support work for victims of racism outside of the glare of the media. Malik, on the other hand, in his journey from East End anti-racist to West End anti-multiculturalist has completely converged with the status quo.
Kenan Malik's From Fatwa to Jihad: the Rushdie affair and its legacy was published by Atlantic Books, April 2009, £16.99.

Holiday Pics -Down south

Peaceful protest punished
By Frances Webber
4 June 2009, 4:00pm
A culture of fear seems to be re-establishing itself at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre (IRC), where a recent report reveals that peaceful protests about detention have led to those concerned being transferred to prison.
The latest annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), published in March 2009,[1] reveals that in April 2008 a group of twenty-eight detainees who held a peaceful protest about their detention were intimidated and forcibly moved out by riot-trained so-called Tornado Units, and twenty-one of them were sent to prisons.
Harmondsworth's troubled history
Harmondsworth IRC, the privately-run [2] centre on the fringes of Heathrow Airport, has a troubled history marked by suicides, hunger strikes and protests. In 2004, a Ukrainian asylum seeker hanged himself in the showers. The death triggered a large-scale disturbance. In January 2006, an Eritrean detainee, Bereket Johannes, committed suicide. In response, sixty-one detainees held a meeting, formed a committee and issued a statement complaining of disgusting conditions and disrespectful and degrading treatment. It was subsequently reported that all the detainees involved in the peaceful protest were moved to isolation cells by officers, and many were transferred to other removal centres.[3]
In November 2006, inmates set fire to parts of Harmondsworth during disturbances over the treatment of detainees. An inspection by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons shortly before the disturbance found that the centre was run as if it were a high security prison and that there were high levels of oppression and bullying. During the disturbances, detainees claimed they were denied food and water for up to 40 hours, locked in overcrowded, pitch-black rooms flooded with water for more than 24 hours, forced to urinate and defecate in front of each other, and strip searched in front of several officers. Liberty sought a public inquiry into the allegations and, when this was refused, took legal action on behalf of three detainees. On 17 March 2009, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government had breached Article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention, which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment, by failing to order an independent inquiry into the allegations. Lord Justice Elias observed: 'The inmates are in a subordinate and difficult situation - there was much evidence, for example, that many were afraid to complain of ill treatment.'[4]
Kalyx curtails protest
The lesson which Kalyx, the company running Harmondsworth, and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) appear to have drawn from the disturbances, the inspections and the litigation does not appear to be a positive one of seeking to put their house in order. In particular, the causes of major frustration for detainees - the length of detention (which can exceed two years), the lack of information or progress on cases, and the frequent moves around the detention estate, often with little or no notice, which have been the subject of complaints by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and by the Representatives of the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture - have not been effectively addressed. Instead, as the IMB report finds, Kalyx and UKBA have 'taken robust action to prevent the build-up of any articulate group of detainees expressing dissatisfaction with their detention by moving detainees seen as troublemakers to prisons or other IRCs'. As the report adds, this approach 'has, on occasion, had negative consequences for individual detainees who may have been moved out of the Centre simply for mounting a peaceful protest'.
For example, 'On 1 April [2008] about 30 detainees told Kalyx staff that they were very unhappy about issues related to their immigration status and they refused to leave one of the courtyards at the 11pm curfew time. Some stayed outside until 4am. Kalyx kept the situation calm by offering hot drinks and access to toilets. The next day UKBA local staff held a surgery in one of the dining halls answering detainees' questions as best they could and detainees were polite and well mannered. Some of the issues raised by detainees were: lack of information from UKBA; not being listened to by UKBA; bail being always refused; immigration judges not being independent of UKBA; transfer to an IRC nearer home being refused; being beaten at the airport; cases taking a long time; complaints that people should not continue in custody after the end of a prison sentence; and why was not tagging more readily available [as an alternative to detention].'
Despite the entirely peaceful nature of the protest, the politeness of the detainees seeking information, and the patent legitimacy of their complaints, the IMB report continues: 'Kalyx became concerned about intimidation of other detainees and the possibility of a disturbance. The decision was made to move out 28 detainees on 5 April with the use of Tornado Units (units of prison officers and detention custody officers who are specially trained in anti-riot techniques).'
The men to be moved (including one man in a wheelchair) were brought to the sports hall at 6am and confronted with two lines of 'Tornado' officers in full riot gear. They were made to sit on low benches, facing the silent riot officers, for several hours, during which time no food or drink was offered to them. Twenty-seven were moved out (the man in the wheelchair was not moved owing to lack of suitable transport), twenty-one of whom were sent to prisons.
The IMB report concluded that the arrangement in the sports hall 'felt very intimidating (intentionally so)'. But what justification did Kalyx have for bringing in the dreadfully named 'Tornado Units' to intimidate these detainees and transfer them, most to prisons? Solely, it seems, the fact that they had peacefully voiced serious complaints. It is just this type of behaviour by Kalyx and UKBA which, as the IMB found, creates 'major frustration' and could lead to another disturbance.
Another damaging response to the 2006 disturbances is to rebuild half of Harmondsworth to a prison design. As the Board points out, 'To be secure an IRC does not need to look and feel like a prison'. It is also concerned at the design, which incorporates partially screened toilets inside shared cells where some inmates eat - an arrangement which the Board members do not think 'consistent with common decency or dignity'.
The misery of detention is reflected in the statistic of ninety-eight incidents of actual self-harm during 2008. The board 'continues to be extremely concerned about the provision of support for those with mental health issues, the difficulty of getting external agencies involved and the appropriateness of immigration detention for people with significant mental health needs'.
IMB denied access to detainees' complaints
The other significant complaint in the IMB's report is the UKBA's denial of access to complaints by detainees. Instead, from 1 December 2008, they were to be given monthly or quarterly summaries and statistics. They complained: 'If this is allowed to stand it will be a serious diminution of the function of IMB's ....' It is outrageous that the independent body set up to monitor the treatment and welfare of detainees is not allowed to see their complaints. The UKBA is citing 'data protection issues'. Perhaps they mean 'UKBA protection issues', or 'go away and leave us alone'. Fortunately, the men and women of the IMB are made of sterner stuff.
Postscript: Kalyx was unsuccessful in the renewed bid to manage the centre, which is being taken over by GEO (which runs Campsfield) from the end of June 2009. In April 2009, a US appeals court upheld an award of $42.5 million in punitive damages against GEO, formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp, for the 'horrific and gruesome' death in 2001 of inmate Gregorio De La Rosa Jr, who was beaten to death by two other inmates while guards and supervisors looked on. The appeal court described the company's conduct as 'clearly reprehensible' and 'a disgusting display of disrespect for the welfare of others and for the state's civil justice system' following revelations that the prison warden had destroyed or lied about crucial evidence.[5]
[1] Independent Monitoring Board, Annual report on Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, May 2009, accessed on Medical Justice website http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/725/78/. [2] The company running Harmondsworth, Kalyx (formerly UK Detention Services), runs three prisons in England. Kalyx is owned by Sodexo, a huge multinational company dealing in food and facilities management services and service vouchers and cards. Sodexo employs 332,000 people in eighty countries, and its 'correctional services' arm runs prisons in France, Australia, Chile, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands as well as in the UK. [3] IRR News, 'Detainees punished for protesting after suicide', 25 January 2006, http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/january/ha000020.html. [4] Liberty, Press release, 'Liberty wins ruling against Home Secretary over 2006 Harmondsworth disturbance', 17 March 2009; AM & others v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Kalyx Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 219. [5] John MacCormack, 'Prison company to pay $42.5 million in beating death', Express News USA, 8 April 2009, accessed on Medical Justice website http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/728/69/.
The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors.

Ayoub mzee with friends-Actors

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release June 9, 20092009/569

Notice to the Press

2009 World Food Prize Winner
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will announce the winner of the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate in a ceremony on Thursday, June 11, at 11:43 a.m., in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the U.S. Department of State. Also attending will be Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs David Nelson will host the event.
The World Food Prize recognizes the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The World Food Prize includes a cash award of $250,000 and a sculpture by world-renowned designer Saul Bass. Each year, more than 4,000 institutions and organizations around the world are invited to nominate candidates for the prize. The World Food Prize is guided by a distinguished Council of Advisors that includes former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush.
For more information on the World Food Prize, go to http://www.worldfoodprize.org/.
This event is open press coverage.
Pre-set time for Cameras: 10:15 a.m. from the 23rd Street entrance.
Final access time for writers and stills: 11:15 a.m. from the 23rd Street entrance
Media representatives may attend this event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) a U.S. government-issued identification card (State Department, White House, Congress, Defense Department, Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identity card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by official photo identification (driver’s license or passport).
Media inquiries for this event may be directed to:Kerry Humphrey (202) 647-0677 Jeffrey Jamison (202) 647-4864Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs

Asylum seekers wrongly refused legal aid
By Frances Webber
A local law centre project to help unrepresented asylum seekers has demonstrated that the vast majority are wrongly refused legal help for their appeals.
In June 2007, Devon Law Centre set up its Asylum Appellate Project (AAP), to help asylum seekers refused public funding for their appeals to obtain it, and to obtain the evidence necessary to change public policy. The law centre's second report demonstrates the importance of this project. It has succeeded in reversing funding refusals in thirty-eight of the forty-five cases it has dealt with (84 per cent), and ten of the thirty-three asylum appeals it has dealt with (30 per cent) have resulted in permission to stay being granted.
Asylum seekers whose claims are refused by the Home Office should be granted legal aid for their appeal provided their claim has at least a 50 per cent chance of success. But solicitors who take on too many unsuccessful claimants can lose their contract with the Legal Services Commission. This has made solicitors extremely cautious about the cases they grant legal aid to, and has led to a 'cherry-picking' mentality whereby they accept only the cases which are obviously going to succeed. And in a vicious circle, appellants who have no legal representation have a much lower chance of success on appeal - partly because asylum seekers lack the necessary expertise to know about calling witnesses or obtaining reports in support of their claim, let alone the finance to do so, and partly because, as the project appears to confirm, immigration judges take far less trouble over unrepresented claimants. There is an assumption that, because the person has no legal representation, their claim must be unfounded. So the wrongful denial of legal aid means that genuine asylum claimants are likely to have their appeals rejected.
People helped to gain asylum by the project include a Chinese trade unionist who had been tortured in a forced labour camp, Zimbabwean opposition members, a member of a persecuted Somali clan and two Pakistani sisters who were victims of serious violence, rape and abuse. Without the work of the project, all of them would have been forced either to go back to face the situation they fled from or to live a destitute life on the margins in the UK.
Although on a small scale, based on the asylum seekers assisted in Devon and Cornwall, if the project's results were replicated nationally, it would mean that solicitors are wrongly refusing legal aid in four out of five cases, and that in almost a third of those cases, representation would result in a successful appeal. This is an invaluable report for those campaigning for access to justice for asylum seekers.
[1] Devon Law Centre, Asylum Appellate Project: Second Year Report, June 2009.

Press Release:
8th June 2009
IMMEDIATETO NEWS/POLITICAL DESKS
BNP gain foothold in EuropeThe BNP have won two European Parliament seats: one in Yorkshire and Humber; another in the Northwest. However, they failed to gain seats in London, and in the Midlands.Nick Griffin was elected as Euro MEP for the North West. Griffin only needed around 8% of the Euro votes across the region to be elected to Strasbourg, against the 6.4% he polled in the last European Elections in 2004.Some commentators have stated that this is a disaster particularly for the Labour Party. It is also an extremely worrying sign to see the BNP’s support increase since 2004.Simon Woolley, Director of Operation Black Vote, said:It would appear that the BNP have gained from low voter turnout and a disgruntled electorate that has sought to bash the main parties. The expenses scandal and the disarray of the Labour Party, especially over the past week, have meant voters having less confidence in the leading party to rule the country efficiently. This has led to gains for extreme right parties in the UK. The racist BNP's Nick Griffin's election in particular is a disaster for politics, a disaster Black communities in the UK and for immigrants and those seeking asylum across EuropeAshok Viswanathan, Assistant Director of Operation Black Vote said:“The rise of racism in society, such as attacks on asylum seekers, immigrants, Muslim communities and a debate on the merits of multiculturalism for almost a decade, has meant that racism is becoming more ‘normal’ and acceptable. This is underpinning the BNP’s vote. Low voter turnout has also been a cause for this BNP victory."Abdus Shuman, Assistant Events Co-ordinator at Operation Black Vote said:"From the results it is quite clear that more needs to be done to ensure that in further elections voter turnout increases to the extent that the BNP are blocked completely. It is dismaying to know that the BNP could have been stopped in these elections had more people voted.”Wyn Grant, a politics professor at Warwick University said:"It's clear from the Netherlands that the populist right is going to do well in many areas. It's a trend across Europe, and it's not surprising the global recession exacerbates tensions especially with one in ten Europeans unemployed."The polling evidence across Europe seems to suggest the rise of racist parties is not only a problem facing the UK, but that right-wing parties will also have an impact in other European countries. Geert Wilder’s Dutch far-right Freedom Party was given more than 15 percent of the vote in the Netherlands and just one seat less than the ruling Christian Democrats.
The Freedom Party despises Islam, opposes immigration, and wants the European Parliament abolished.ENDS

On Mercury
Why are many large craters on Mercury relatively smooth inside? Images from the MESSENGER spacecraft that flew by Mercury in October 2008 show previously uncharted regions of the planet that have large craters with an internal smoothness similar to Earth's own moon, and are thought to have been flooded by lava floes that are old but not as old as the surrounding more highly cratered surface. MESSENGER will buzz past Mercury late in 2009 before entering orbit in 2011. Image Credit: NASA, JHU APL, CIW

What’s Up for June?
06.04.09
› View Vodcast


What’s Up for June? Hello and welcome. I'm Jane Houston Jones at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California 2009 is International Year of Astronomy. And each month this year we’re showcasing a great celestial object. This month it’s the Hercules Globular Cluster, which is also called M-13. It’s called M-13 because this object is the 13th of Charles Messier’s 1764 catalog of celestial objects. But Charles Messier wasn’t the discoverer of this cluster! M-13 was discovered half a century earlier by Edmund Halley. A globular cluster is a collection of hundreds of thousands of ancient stars held together by gravity. You can easily find M-13 in the "Keystone"of the constellation Hercules, about a third of the way along a line drawn between Eta and Zeta Herculis. M-13 will look like a round hazy glow in binoculars. Through a telescope, you’ll see individual stars at the edge of the cluster, and a dense core of stars closer to the center. The Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (or “WFPC2” for short) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys combined data from 1999 through 2006 to create a glittering image of this Herculean star city. A spiral galaxy like our Milky Way is made up of three visible parts: the nucleus, the disk and the halo. The nucleus contains the highest density of stars in the galaxy. Most of the gas and dust is contained in the disk. The halo, or outer shell, is spherical and contains little gas, dust, or star formation. The globular clusters found in the halo are the oldest parts of the galaxy. M13 is one of 150 globular clusters in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy. This is the last month to get a good look at Saturn in the evening sky. So, don’t miss it! The rings are narrowing to nearly edge on, and look dimmer than they did last month! You can read about the Hercules globular cluster on NASA's International Year of Astronomy website: astronomy2009.nasa.gov And you can learn all about NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov That's all for this month. I'm Jane Houston Jones. And you can learn all about NASA's missions at: www.nasa.gov That's all for this month. I'm Jane Houston Jones. › View Vodcast

Anatomy of a Busted Comet
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this image of comet Holmes in March 2008, five months after the comet suddenly erupted and brightened a millionfold overnight. Every six years, comet 17P/Holmes speeds away from Jupiter and heads inward toward the sun, traveling the same route typically without incident. However, twice in the last 116 years, in November 1892 and October 2007, comet Holmes mysteriously exploded as it approached the asteroid belt. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

E-News UpdateJune 4, 2009. Issue 1************************************************************************************PRUDENCE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE TAKES MAJOR STEPS AS ONLINE DIGITAL PUBLICATION: Benefits Readers and AdvertisersPrudence International Magazine, a leading worldwide African publication devoted to promoting business between the United States, Africa and Europe, is focusing its efforts to become a primarily online publication, according to Samson Agbebi, publisher.The move makes it a pacesetter among magazines focused on Africa, as it is the first publication of its type to take this major digital step. "We are very excited about our new product," said Agbebi. "We have many subscribers around the world and have received many requests from them to provide an online edition in order to ease their accessibility to our magazine. We listened to them and we've refocused our efforts to meet the demands of our computer-oriented readers and advertisers." Agbebi added that the digital edition enables the magazine to continue to offer quality business-to-business linkage through its exclusive coverage of businesses with close ties and interests in Africa. The online edition has several reader-friendly features, including options to easily bookmark pages, write notes on pages and print pages. It also provides a three-for-one advantage for advertisers, who will now receive more value for their money. Advertisements will appear in the online edition, the print edition and on the newly introduced Prudence Television at http://prudencetv.com/. The three-for-one approach provides more extensive and visual impact to readers and because the online version is expanding its distribution and circulation, more persons will see the advertisements. In addition, Prudence International is now partnering with Magazines.com, a leading independent agent of magazines. This relationship will also expand the magazine's market.The initial digital issue was launched in March. It is a commemorative edition with a cover story featuring Barack Obama, president of the United States. Prudence International Magazine, considered by its readers as "The Pulse of Africa," now in its fifth year of publication, is based in Washington, D.C. The publication is very popular with policy makers in the U.S. and Africa. "It has impacted positively on a huge amount of mid-size business enterprises on both continents. "We will continue to promote business opportunities, provide business information and business awareness to our readers," he said.The online version retains its familiar departments. Among these include Focus on Africa; Business, Money and Investment; On the Marble (feature on people); Culture and Heritage; The Law and You; Prudence on the Scene; Education; Opinion and a major cover story.The printed version of the magazine will continue to be an option for readers; however, with the ease of delivery and readability, Agbebi believes the online version represents the future of magazines and will become the more popular choice of readers.To the new magazine experience go to: http://www.prudenceinternational.com/.

###

Roy Evans
Managing Editor
Ph: 202-379-2980
Fx: 202-379-4850
http://www.prudenceinternational.com/

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

New African Woman: The magazine for the discerning woman


Going beyond the glossy: IC Publications launches a new international magazine dedicated to real African and Black women’s issues in the contemporary age.
Following research on what African women really want to see on newsstands worldwide, , IC Publications, the pan-African publishers, found that despite the abundance of women’s magazines , the African market remains largely void of publications that seriously tackle, encompass and address the real and broader issues pertaining to Black women.
Today, therefore, IC Publications is pleased to announce the launch of the New African Woman magazine, which fills this glaring gap with admirable passion, substance, wisdom, fun and inspirational vigour. The magazine transcends all fields, with compelling coverage on wide-ranging issues – fashion, beauty, politics, business, music, real life stories, history, sports and much more.
“Our research has revealed that despite the plethora of women’s publications, the majority, if not all of them, give very little or no coverage at all to issues affecting continental African women or those living outside Africa. Our new magazine is therefore casting its net as far and as wide as possible to meet every Black woman’s need – contemporary and traditional,” says Afif Ben Yedder, publisher of the IC Publications Group.
The New African Woman editor Regina Jere-Malanda is also passionate about the magazine’s editorial concept: “Our aim is to embrace everyone and every topic that pertains to Black women’s lives: for example, beauty, fashion, politics, economic empowerment, women’s rights, health and everyday lifestyles; but unlike what we see in the market today, we will give tasteful and meaningful coverage that inspires rather than imposes; expertly advise rather than dictate; and portray the abundant and diverse beauty of the African woman with the respect it deserves, rather than cheapen it.”
She adds: “This magazine will prove that the African woman’s story is not just about exotic beauty, backbreaking housewifery, and suffering and despair, but is a story of inspirational hope and courage, success and motivation, resilience and zeal.”
True to her word, the first 100-page issue is a real treat and reaches out to everyone. It tackles a range of topics which many women (and some men) will identify with, including:
o parenting; money matters and insight into the global economic recession, and how to deal with its ensuing credit crunch; o embracing Black beauty and what that entails; the politics that come with Black women’s ever-changing hairstyles and why they do so; o beauty and fashion which highlights Africa’s design talent and how African fashion is taking the Western fashion world by storm; o and it calls for respect and dignity for young women in this hip-hop music culture.
To top it all, the magazine dedicates a special focus, profiling some of Africa’s most influential women, who stand as beacons of hope and encouragement for future generations. It is a truly inspirational read.

For more information and interviews, please contact:
Regina Jere-Malanda
New African Woman
7 Coldbath Square
London, EC1R 4LQ
+44 (0) 2078 413 210 or + (0) 2078 413 227
Email: r.malanda@africasia.com

Fly Away Home
This overhead view is of Atlantis atop a modified 747 as the craft flew over California's high desert. Atlantis and the crew of the STS-125 mission landed at Edwards Air Force Base on May 24, 2009, and departed Edwards on the journey home via ferry to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, June 1, 2009. The shuttle landed safely the following day at 6:53 p.m. EDT. Image Credit: NASA/Jim Ross

The UK Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), The National Alliance of Women’s Organisations (NAWO) and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)

Invites you to an event discussing
the contribution of women, violence against women and
the Socio-political and economical situation
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

with

Senator Eve Bazaiba Masudi
(Chair of the DRC Senate Socio-Cultural Affairs Committee)

on

Wednesday June 10th from 17:30 - 19:30,
at
Development House
56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT, UK

Please RSVP to Hilde Roren at http://uk.mc274.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=info@nawo.org.uk

Light refreshments will be available courtesy of
COMMON CAUSE UK, platform of Congolese women in the UK.



May 28th and the future of the Horn of Africa

The change that took place in Ethiopia eighteen years ago and which we celebrated this week has had a major impact on the lives of the Ethiopian people and on their future. It is impossible to contest the fact that, the economic development and the building of infrastructure, carried out over the last eighteen years, is far greater than what had been achieved by all Ethiopian Governments combined in the modern history of the country prior to 1991.

But what is usually overlooked is the fact that it is in the political area that the progress has been so historic and momentous. It is only in the last eighteen years that Ethiopians, for the first time in their history, have had the opportunity to enjoy political rights which have made it possible for them to see their leaders criticized openly, either in parliament or in the media, sometimes in ways which some would regard less than decent and civil.

Let it be said immediately that, with little doubt, Ethiopia 's democracy is still young and fledgling. Humility is therefore in order. Nonetheless, in light of the long history of autocracy that the country had previously experienced, the eighteen years of democracy that Ethiopia has enjoyed is of great historic significance, including in terms of ensuring the viability of the nation. That autocracy and dictatorial rule almost destroyed Ethiopia may have been forgotten by some, but that was the real challenge that had become vivid during the last years of the military government.

May 28th also has real meaning for the Horn of Africa and for the people of our sub-region, and, frankly speaking, for Africa as a whole. It is now becoming incontrovertible, that Ethiopia is one of the pillars for peace, stability and security in the Horn of Africa. More than eighteen years ago, during the last years of the Derg regime, it was not a few who had doubts about the future of Ethiopia . The OAU summit of 1990, in Addis Ababa , decided to convene the following one in Abuja . That explains why the 1991 meeting of the African Heads of State and Government had to take place, as the EPRDF forces were entering Addis Ababa , in the new capital of Nigeria . It is to be recalled that for many years prior to 1991 all OAU Summits were taking place in Addis Ababa . Why the sudden change of procedure in 1990 and the decision to take the summit out of Addis Ababa ? It was felt that Ethiopia would not be safe to host OAU meetings after 1990.

In the course of the past eighteen years, a country which many thought had entered into another turbulent period of its history - a period which might indeed test its very viability - has been able to morph into a state which may now be seen as a bulwark and a pillar for peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, a lynchpin for effective economic co-operation, and a force for sanity and civility in inter-state relations in our sub-region.

The Horn of Africa is one of those regions of the world which is vulnerable to all sorts of threats, perhaps, among other factors, its proximity to the Middle East contributes to this sad state of affairs. Add to this the inscrutable psychological phenomenon that the sub-region has to contend with in the form of a leadership in Asmara which continues to be a curse for the region. That in itself would be enough to constitute a formidable source of instability in any region of the world. That should underscore how much of a challenge Asmara is to the Horn, thus also the increased responsibility Ethiopia has come to assume, together with others with similar commitment, for the peace and stability of the Horn. This is not limited to what is done in the security area, on the ground. It also includes political and diplomatic work and the mobilization of opinion supportive of the creation of conditions for peace and stability. It might suffice to look at the latest position taken by IGAD and the Peace and Security Council of the AU on sanctions on Eritrea . As this issue of A Week in the Horn is going to press, the AU PRC (the Permanent Representatives Committee, Consisting of all AU Ambassadors) heard the position taken by the PSC on Eritrea and endorsed it with not even a single dissenting voice. To reiterate, the Horn is not a safe neighborhood, but, thanks to May 28th its future cannot be said to be bleak. It will not be easy, but despite Eritrea and all those who see salvation in Asmara 's acts of destabilization, the resolve and joint efforts of the peoples of the Horn can indeed make our sub-region a source of hope for its people. With little doubt, without May 28th, all this would not have been possible.

Two recent important developments have once again focused attention on the character and nature of the regime in Asmara . The first of these was the adoption by the Council of Ministers of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia of a measure concerning the property and interests of Eritrean nationals expelled from Ethiopia during the conflict in 1998-2000 for reasons of national security. This move by the Government seeks to provide a legal framework for the resolution of issues that have been pending on this matter for several years. The directive does not create new entitlements or rights but provides the legal basis so that persistent and legitimate concerns can now be handled. Ethiopia in fact is taking a legal and peaceful measure that will have a lasting impact in improving people-to-people relations. This may be something of a surprise to some as it does not match actions being taken by the regime in Asmara . Some people have wondered why Ethiopia should take actions that address pending issues with a particular group of Eritrean nationals with no direct association with the Eritrean regime or its security apparatus at a time when Eritrea has been intensifying deliberate acts of destabilization against Ethiopia and coordinating the actions of international terrorist groups in the region. In fact, of course, Ethiopia ’s actions cannot be evaluated nor examined in the light of what Asmara may or may not do. Ethiopia ’s actions are not reciprocal. They deal with matters in Ethiopia that need to be addressed on the basis of the right principles upheld under Ethiopia 's Constitution. Such commitment to the rule of law is inconceivable in Eritrea which does not even have a constitution. Any comparison with a country so brutally controlled by the personal whims of its leader is highly inappropriate.

The second significant development recently has been the bold action taken by regional bodies against the regime in Eritrea . First, IGAD unanimously voted to call for sanctions against Eritrea . This was followed by the African Union Peace and Security Council asking the United Nations Security Council to adopt punitive measures against Eritrea for its active involvement in support of terrorist elements in Somalia against the TFG and the African Union Peacekeeping force, AMISOM. For any objective observer this has been long in coming although Eritrea , while acting surprised, continues to play its spoiling role. Now it is up to the United Nations Security Council to deliver a remedy which might take the first step in curing a malaise that began to affect Eritrea almost immediately after its hard won de jure independence sixteen years ago.

This call by the regional bodies against one of their own is unprecedented. It is a clear demonstration that both IGAD and the African Union have exhausted their patience and lost hope that Eritrea might return to peaceful ways of its own accord. The United Nations Security Council should be equally well placed to understand this situation as it has had to deal with similar transgressions by Eritrea against UNMEE, and more recently, against Djibouti . The call by the three top international envoys, involved in the Somali peace process, the UN envoy to Somalia, his AU counterpart and the facilitator of IGAD on Wednesday May 27th in Nairobi, expressing their joint support for the position taken on the sanctions against Eritrea by IGAD ministers and the Peace and Security Council of the AU show how seriously Eritrea's destabilizing role is taken by the region and by Africa in general. The world will now be expecting strong, effective and unambiguously punitive measures to be taken by the Council against the leadership in Eritrea . Indeed, the Security Council can hardly afford to fail these regional organizations or the entire people of the region yet again.

Eritrea's response to the criticisms has been, as usual, defiant. On Tuesday this week, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the AU’s statement “outrageous”, “illegal and utterly irresponsible”, an “irresponsible and cynical flouting of the rule of law”, and a “deplorable act …. symptomatic of the fundamental structural malaise that has gripped the African Union right from its inception.” In fact, far from being “made on the basis of groundless accusations” or being “irresponsible”, the statement, unanimously agreed by the AU’s Peace and Security Council, was based on extensive and detailed evidence provided by Somali ministers as well as UN and other sources. One of these sources is actually one of the main opposition leaders in Somalia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys’, now the leader of Hizbul Islam, Al Shabaab’s main ally in the extremist attacks on the TFG. Sheikh 'Aweys', has openly admitted that the opposition is being helped by Eritrea, and, of course, Sheikh ‘Aweys’ himself was in Asmara for over two years until he was sent down to Mogadishu last month, and followed shortly afterwards by several plane loads of arms supplies. Against such evidence, Eritrean denials of assisting Al-Shabaab and Sheikh ‘Aweys’ look increasingly threadbare.

REPORTS Obama's Middle East speech in full

Eritrea’s 18th Independence Day Celebrated
The 18th Anniversary of Eritrea's Independence was
celebrated on May 24 across
the nation in a patriotic
spirit. The celebrations at the
Asmara Stadium in the
capital at the national level
took place in the presence of
Government officials,
religious leaders, diplomats,
and tens of thousands of
citizens, as well as representatives of Sudan and Libya.
In a speech on the occasion, President Isaias Afwerki
expressed appreciation to members of the Eritrean
Defense Force, Eritrean nationals inside the country and
abroad, Ministries and Administrative Zones, social
associations, various companies, as well as friends and
partners for their memorable contributions to the
achievements the country has gleaned in the past 18 years
of independence in all sectors and fronts.
(for full text of
the President's speech go to http://www.shabait.com/)

Foreign Ministry Issues Press Statements on
the irresponsible positions of IGAD and AU
In a Press Statement released on May 25, 2009 Eritrea has
strongly rejected the irresponsible and illegal statement
issued in the name of the African Union. The African
Union has issued on 23 May 2009 an outrageous statement
urging the UN Security Council to “impose sanctions
against Eritrea”. The illegal and utterly irresponsible
statement, issued in Addis Ababa in the name of the socalled
“Peace and Security Council” of the organization,
was made on the basis of groundless accusations against
Eritrea, without ascertaining the facts, and without even
consulting the current Chairman of the African Union.
It is to be recalled that a similar Press Release was issued
by the MFA on IGAD’s call to impose sanction on
Eritrea. In the Press Release issued on 22 May 2009,
Eritrea rejected IGAD’s stance as an irresponsible
resolution by an inept organization which bears primary
responsibility for the current mayhem and crisis in
Somalia. It further exposed the fact that IGAD has
degenerated into a mere instrument for advancing
Ethiopia's perilous strategies in the region and especially
its hostility against Eritrea. (Press Statements Refer:
http://www.shabait.com/)

For Further information contact the Embassy of the State of Eritrea:; 96 White Lion Street London N1 9PF
Tel 020 7713 0096: Fax 020 7713 0161; e-mail: paamba@eriembauk.com
Refer also the following websites;: www.shabait.com , www.shaebia.org

ISLAMIC HOTLINE

THE ISLAMIC HOTLINE:UK LAUNCH OF THE FIRST ISKAMIC ADVISORY PHONE SERVICE RUN BU AL-AZHAR CLERICS Islamic Hotline or El-Hatef El-Islami is a pay-per-call service which is online 24/7, ready to receive callers’ queries at any time of day to give reliable answers by AL-AZHAR Scholars, in Egypt after 24 hours, and outside after 48 hours. This easy to use service has begun in Arabic and has been translated to English, Urdu, Bengali, Indonesian, Malay and Senegalese (Wolof).

Call Islamic Hotline Service Number in your Country. Choose your Language. You will Receive a Secret Code for each Question. Start Recording after the Beep.Your Question will be Delivered to AL-AZHAR Scholars in Cairo. The Sheikh's Answer to your Question will be Ready After 48 Hours.Call back the Same Service Number in your Country After the Due Time.

Use your Secret Code to Listen to the Recorded Answer from One of AL-AZHAR Scholars. About Islamic Hotline
Islamic Hotline Phone Service was created in Egypt in 2000 with the mission to become the global and primary source of information for Moderate Islamic Teachings in IT & Telephony medium, initially through the medium of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, and subsequently, via Internet through unified messaging and e-debit cards.

Islamic Hotline or El-Hatef El-Islami is a pay-per-call service which is online 24/7, ready to receive callers’ queries at any time of day to give reliable answers by AL-AZHAR Scholars, in Egypt after 24 hours, and outside after 48 hours.

This easy to use service has begun in Arabic and has been translated to English, Urdu

This easy to use service has begun in Arabic and has been translated to English, Urdu

Internal Affairs Minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, and the British High Commissioner to Uganda at Immigration headquarters during the signing of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between Uganda and Britain. Photo by Nelson Wesonga

Ugandans sentenced in UK to serve time at home
Monitor Reporter
A new agreement between the United Kingdom and Uganda will allow Ugandans sentenced in UK to return and serve their sentences in Uganda. Also, UK citizens who will be sentenced under the Uganda justice system will be able to serve their sentences in UK prisons. The Prisoners Transfer agreement was signed on Tuesday morning by the 3rd deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Al Hajj Kirunda Kivenjinja and the British High Commissioner to Uganda H.E Martin Shearman at the Immigration headquarters. The new agreement is expected to affect more than 60 Ugandans currently locked up in the UK jails.Minister Kivejinja welcomed the signing saying it will allow ease the rehabilitation of prisoners since they will be serving sentences at home.While signing the agreement, Mr Shearman reiterated the importance of cooperation between the two governments on immigration issues to ease the movement of people in today’s global village.Meanwhile the British government has also donated $1 million towards construction of immigration headquarters and rehabilitation of Luzira prisons, Uganda’s main prison.

SOURCE: KFM RADIO

Forced returns of Iraqis from Sweden
By Lotta Holmberg
18 June 2009, 3:00pm
Deportation charter flights from the UK to the Kurdish controlled area of northern Iraq have been regular occurrences, now, other European countries are carrying out forced returns.
On 14 June, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that a total of 111 failed Iraqi asylum seekers have now been deported to Iraq from Sweden. The summary below of Sweden's forced returns policy is based on the Dagens Nyheter report as well as a news item broadcast on the Konflikt programme on Sveriges Radio on 15 May 2009. Journalists, Julia Lundberg and Randi Mossige Norheim, managed to make contact with some of the deportees after they were removed.
The Minister of Migration has designated 2009 the 'Year of Return' and Sweden has now reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to take back failed asylum seekers. This means that the government in the Kurdish region, which previously refused to take back deportees from Sweden, will now be forced to abide by the new Swedish-Iraqi agreement.
On 23 February, forty-five Iraqis were deported from Sweden to Baghdad on a specially chartered plane in what police codenamed operation 'G Baghdad 2'. In order to fill the chartered flight, the police carried out searches for Iraqis and then took those arrested to different deportation centres throughout Sweden. Once on board the flight, the forty-five asylum seekers (men, women and children) were accompanied by 107 Swedish officials, eighty-eight from the Prison Board (which has main responsibility for deportations) and sixteen from the police. There was also one doctor, one nurse and an interpreter on board. The cost of the charter flight was estimated at 1,728,662 Kronor (around £135,500).
At least nine of the Iraqis, whom the radio journalists managed to talk to afterwards, said they were handcuffed throughout the whole process, from the time that they were arrested in the morning, during the journey, and until they landed in Baghdad (a total of at least nine and a half hours). Six of those interviewed said that they were physically restrained throughout the journey by being 'locked' onto their aeroplane seats through the use of a special belt. The police's internal report claims that all handcuffs were removed once the Iraqis were placed on the chartered flight. One of the men the authorities sought to deport was partially paralysed and in a wheelchair. In order to remove him, the police had entered his apartment by using the keys of his care workers, who had just visited him. The disabled man was so desperate to prevent his removal, that he started to break off pieces from his wheelchair, to throw the parts at the police.
Six out of the thirty-four Iraqi deportees, whom the reporters managed to interview, said that they experienced feelings of drowsiness and sickness after taking food or drink during their time in the custody of the Swedish authorities. They believe the kind of sensations they experienced were due to some sort of sedative. Although the administration of sedatives during deportation is illegal, the suspicion is that drugs were secretly placed into the food. The authorities, however, report the atmosphere on board the flight was calm and people who were aggressive before getting on the plane had come to terms with their removal. In the official report, produced by the authorities, all names of officials have been blanked out.
One man interviewed by the journalists was an elderly Iraqi who has permanent residence status in Sweden. He spoke of his despair, because his 32-year-old son, who has such severe learning difficulties that he has the mental age of a young child, was one of the deportees. In one case, involving the deportation of a family, the children had to be put into the care of social services the day before the deportation flight, after the mother suffered a nervous breakdown. The family were only reunited on the deportation flight.
The Swedish government dispute the facts as reported on the programme.

COMING SOON ! COMING SOON!
ON OBE TV Sky channel 207

SWAHILI FILES-
A Program that is dedicated to Public and current Affairs
For further details please call tel 07960811614
Further details to follow

COMING SOON ! COMNG SOON !
ON OBE TV
Swahilifiles-Apgram dedicated to East Africans
Further details to follow
For more info plese call tel 07960811614

THE CLOTHES SHOW LONDON 2009



All Under One Roof
Clothes Show London will ooze glamour and cool and will be the place to see and be seen!
From trend reports by some of the most prestigious fashion experts around to catwalk shows showcasing the latest fashion, to make up and hair demonstrations showing you exactly what you need to know for the perfect pout and the super-stylish hairstyle.
Whether you want to listen to celebrity advice on the Expert Studio, shop till you drop, pamper and preen at the Jessica Natural Nail and Champagne Bar, watch the 45 minute Fashion show with over 40 models and dancers in the Fashion Theatre, or feast your eyes on stunning demonstrations, trend reports and fashion tips to stand out from the crowd at The Style Stage, or maybe you just want to relax with a cocktail on The Designer Beach or chill out in the sumptuous surroundings of KitKat Senses Café... the show has it all.

Why has Africa not attracted more interest from the U.S. business community? We have collected all of the answers and case studies into a news release introducing a study that launched one week ago commissioned by the US Chamber of Commerce:http://www.usafricainvestment.com/