Israel concerned at growing boycott threat

Google – AFP, Steve Weizman (AFP), 31 January 2014

Entrance of the Israeli SodaStream factory in the Mishor Adumim industrial

 park, next to the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim on January 30,

2014 (AFP, Manahem Kahana)

Jerusalem — Israeli government and business leaders are alarmed by a growing international boycott movement and the likely effect of EU measures against exports from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Cabinet ministers are to meet next week to hammer out a strategy against a growing international campaign to boycott trade linked to settlements, Haaretz newspaper reported Friday.

And a group of top Israeli businesspeople has launched a publicity campaign urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make peace with the Palestinians for the sake of the economy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 at the 7th Annual International Conference

 in Tel Aviv on January 28, 2014 (AFP/File,

Jack Guez)

In the latest developments, Norway's sovereign wealth fund blacklisted Thursday two Israeli companies involved in building settlements in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem and US actress Scarlett Johansson stepped down as Oxfam ambassador amid a storm over her ad campaign for a firm operating in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

These incidents highlight the creeping success of a campaign to boycott trade linked to settlements built on Palestinian land seized during the Six Day War of 1967, and viewed by the international community as illegal.

Meanwhile, the European Union recently moved to block all grants and funding to any Israeli entity operating beyond the 1967 lines, sparking growing alarm in Israel.

Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the EU's ambassador to Israel, told AFP last week that, in addition to coordinated action by the body, Israel's constant settlement construction was fuelling private moves to boycott products and services linked to the settlements.

He said initiatives in Europe to require separate labelling for goods manufactured in the settlements were gathering pace every time Israel announced a new round of construction.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid warned Wednesday that the breakdown of current peace talks with the Palestinians could strengthen the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and deal a body blow to the economy.

Israel is a country dependent on exports, with 33 percent of its foreign trade conducted with the European Union, he told a security conference.

"Europe is our primary market," he said. "Even a 20 percent fall in our trade with Europe would mean 9,800 workers being fired immediately," he said.

"Even a partial European boycott would be felt by every Israeli, and the cost of living would go up," he added.

"Exports will drop by some 20 billion shekels ($5.7 billion/ 4.2 billion euros) annually; GDP will drop some 11 billion shekels," he said.

Last May, the Palestine Liberation Organisation published an estimate of EU imports of goods produced on settlements, which it put at 229 million euros a year.

'Pain in the ass': SodaStream CEO

While some Israeli companies set up in occupied territory to take advance of tax breaks, low rents and soft loans, others do so for ideological reasons, believing in the Jewish religious imperative to settle the biblical land.

SodaStream, the home soft-drink machine maker that hired Johansson this month, says it hadn't chosen to set up in Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem, but simply inherited the facility when it acquired the business in 2007.

Israeli SodaStream factory on January 30, 2014 (AFP, Menahem Kahana)

In fact, CEO Daniel Birnbaum told New York Jewish weekly The Forward the plant's location was "a pain in the ass."

But he added: "We will not throw our employees under the bus to promote anyone?s political agenda," saying he "just can?t see how it would help the cause of the Palestinians if we fired them."

Senior executive Yonah Lloyd told the Jerusalem Post that would mean making 800 Palestinians and 500 Israelis jobless.

Commenting in Haaretz, Egyptian-Belgian journalist Khaled Diab said that while boycotts could change the behaviour of commercial enterprises they were unlikely to change state policy.

The film "'Lost in Translation' brought Scarlett Johansson global fame. Will the actress's latest role -- lost in the occupation -- earn her widespread infamy," he asked.

"Even at the height of anti-apartheid sanctions, South Africa managed to find 'sanctions-busting' alternatives, and began a process of recalibrating its economy and finding alternative trading partners."

"In addition, sanctions had some unintended consequences," he added. "For instance, it forced the country to innovate more, such as developing alternative energy technologies."

"Like with South Africa, the United States should end its military aid to Israel until it ends the occupation, which might possibly be the single most effective economic action any party can take to end the occupation."

Related Articles:

Norway fund blacklists Israeli firms with settlement ties

Scarlett Johansson quits Oxfam over Israeli firm advert

'Pension fund manager PGGM pulls out of Israeli banks'

Biggest Dutch water board pulls out of Israeli deal, citing international law

Civil engineers Haskoning pull out of Israel water treatment project

The Netherlands opposes a boycott of Israel, foreign minister says

EU takes tougher stance on Israeli settlements

Israel condemns EU exclusion rules over settlements


Latin America, Caribbean proclaim 'zone of peace' - New

A continent transformed: the African Union's 50-year dream - New

A continent transformed: the African Union's 50-year dream

Google – AFP, 30 Janaury 2014

Heads of governments during the opening session of the African Union summit

on January 30, 2014 at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa (AFP, Samuel Gebru)

Addis Ababa — High-speed railways, a common language, diplomatic clout, cutting-edge fashion and leadership in space exploration: this was the vision of a transformed Africa laid out before a continental summit on Thursday.

In a speech to the African Union, the 54-member bloc's chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma provided a foresight of what Africa could be like in just 50 years' time, providing some welcome distraction to an agenda dominated by conflict.

Written as a message to a hypothetical friend in 2063, Dlamini-Zuma spoke of a "grand reality" where a new Confederation of African States has replaced the AU.

Chairperson of the AU Commission

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma speaks during

a joint press conference in Abuja on July 16,

2013 (AFP/File, Pius Utomi Ekpei)

"At the beginning of the 21st century, we used to get irritated with foreigners when they treated Africa as one country: as if we were not a continent of over a billion people and 55 sovereign states! But, the advancing global trend towards regional blocks, reminded us that integration and unity is the only way for Africa to leverage its competitive advantage," she said.

"We did not realise our power, but instead relied on donors, that we euphemistically called partners," she said.

She spoke of a future Africa with "regional manufacturing hubs" in Congo, Angola and Zambia, as well as "Silicon valleys" in Rwanda, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya, and of equal access for women to education and business ownership.

The future Africa, Dlamini-Zuma said, was also a leader in renewable energy, with war a thing of the past.

"We lit up Africa, the formerly dark continent, using hydro, solar, wind, geo-thermal energy, in addition to fossil fuels," she told delegates at the summit in Addis Ababa.

"Some magazine once called us 'The hopeless continent', citing conflicts, hunger and malnutrition, disease and poverty, as if it was a permanent African condition. Because of our experience of the devastation of conflict, we tackled the root causes," she said.

She spoke of a future African Space Agency, a modern, continent-wide telecommunications infrastructure and an Africa where young people can tour the continent on high-speed rail links much in the same vein as Europe's InterRail system.

"Our grand-children still find it very funny how we used to struggle at AU meetings with English, French and Portuguese interpretations," she said, describing an Africa half a century into the future where the languages of the former colonial powers have been replaced by the new lingua franca Swahili.

She described Kinshasa as having eclipsed Paris and Milan as fashion capital of the world, and Accra as upstaging Brussels as the home of gourmet chocolate.

Related Article:

An EU in East Africa?

East African countries agree to adopt common currency within 10 years

President Mahama To Lead Process Towards ECOWAS Currency

Latin America, Caribbean proclaim 'zone of peace'


"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

".. Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …." 

AU summit kicks off, with Central African Republic high on the agenda

Deutsche Welle, 30 January 2014

African leaders are discussing violent conflicts that have forced people to flee their homes. Thirty-four leaders from across the continent have traveled to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa for the summit.

Opening the 22nd summit of the African Union (AU), Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn expressed concern over conflicts in South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR). The UN estimates that South Sudan's monthlong conflict has left 3.7 million people without food security and displaced more than 700,000. Sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in the neighboring CAR has displaced nearly 1 million people since last spring.

"We need to find urgent solutions to rescue these two sisterly countries from falling into the abyss," Hailemariam said Thursday. "Failure to do so will have serious implications for peace and security in the region and indeed the whole continent."

The UN accuses both sides of atrocities in South Sudan. A failed coup attempt in December sparked the violence. An uneasy peace agreement has been signed.

Conflict in CAR

The AU and UN also called for action to end violence in CAR, which slid into conflict in March after the overthrow of its president.

"Our common objective is to end the violence between Muslim and Christian communities," UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said. "We must act without delay."

Often accused of responding sluggishly toward crises, the AU, with members from 54 of the continent's 55 states - only Morocco has not joined - appears to have taken steps toward more robust action in the face of sudden outbreaks of violence. Plans include keeping in place an AU standby force of troops ready to deploy during emergency situations.

More positive plans

The AU also looked ahead on Thursday, toward a distant future of high-speed railways, a common language, diplomatic clout, cutting-edge fashion and leadership in space exploration. In a speech, AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma provided a foresight of what Africa could look like in just 50 years' time, providing some welcome distraction to an agenda dominated by conflict.

Written as a message to a friend in 2063, Dlamini-Zuma spoke of a "grand reality" where a new Confederation of African States had replaced the AU. "At the beginning of the 21st century, we used to get irritated with foreigners when they treated Africa as one country: As if we were not a continent of over a billion people and 55 sovereign states!" she said. "But the advancing global trend towards regional blocks, reminded us that integration and unity is the only way for Africa to leverage its competitive advantage."

She spoke of a future Africa with "regional manufacturing hubs" in Congo, Angola and Zambia, as well as "Silicon Valleys" in Rwanda, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya, and of equal access for women to education and business ownership. The future Africa, Dlamini-Zuma said, would also lead the world in renewable energy and leave its wars in the past. She also spoke of an African Space Agency, a telecommunications infrastructure spanning the whole continent and high-speed rail links between countries as exist in Europe.

mkg/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)

Related Article:

An EU in East Africa?

East African countries agree to adopt common currency within 10 years

President Mahama To Lead Process Towards ECOWAS Currency

Latin America, Caribbean proclaim 'zone of peace'

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

".. Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …." 

Archbishops criticise Nigerian and Ugandan anti-gay laws

BBC News, 30 January 2014

Archbishop Welby is on a five-day tour of Africa

Related Stories

• Will gay Kenyan author change attitudes?
• Nigerian gets 20 lashes for gay acts
• Fears over new Nigeria anti-gay laws

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to the presidents of Nigeria and Uganda, after being asked about laws there penalising gay people.

The letter said homosexual people were loved and valued by God and should not be victimised or diminished.

Nigeria and Uganda have both passed legislation targeting people with same-sex attraction.

The letter is also addressed to all primates (heads of national Churches) in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishops Justin Welby of Canterbury and John Sentamu of York said the letter was a result of "questions about the Church of England's attitude to new legislation in several countries that penalises people with same-sex attraction".

The letter comes as Archbishop Welby starts a five-day tour of Africa.

'Draconian'

In Nigeria this month, President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill which bans same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection.

In Uganda - Archbishop Sentamu's native country - a bill allowing for greater punishments for gay people, and those who fail to turn them in to police, has been passed by parliament, but blocked - for now - by President Yoweri Museveni.

The laws have been heavily criticised by gay and human rights groups.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay described the Nigerian law as "draconian".

She said she had rarely seen a piece of legislation "that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic, universal human rights".

In their letter, the archbishops reiterated their support for a document known as the Dromantine Communique, published in 2005 by the primates of the Anglican Communion.

The communique said: "We continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support and care of homosexual people.

"The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us.

"We assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by Him and deserving the best we can give - pastoral care and friendship."

'False gospel'

Archbishop Welby's stance on homosexual relationships has created tension with more traditionalist Anglicans.

Last October, he held talks with members of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), which condemns those who preach what it calls a "false gospel" claiming God's blessing for same-sex unions.

The primates of seven national Anglican churches in Africa attended October's Gafcon meeting, including Uganda and Nigeria.

Archbishop Welby has said some gay couples have loving, stable and monogamous relationships of "stunning" quality.

But he says he still supports the Church of England's opposition to active homosexuality.

Related Articles:

European Continent Now Completely Free of Criminalizing Gay Sex After Cypriot State Repeal

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

South African traditional leaders attack graphic male circumcision website

Dr Dingeman Rijken, who set up website with detailed images to reveal dangers of ritual, accused of breaking cultural taboo

theguardian.com, David Smith in Johannesburg, Wednesday 29 January 2014

The website aims to reveal the "dark secrets" of the circumcision ritual undergone
by teenage boys from the Xhosa group. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

A Dutch doctor in South Africa has published graphic images of penises mutilated during botched circumcision ceremonies, angering community leaders who accuse him of meddling in their culture.

Dr Dingeman Rijken said he had set up a website to reveal the "dark secrets of the ritual" because traditional leaders had shown "shocking" indifference and incompetence to the annual toll of death and injury.

The leaders have condemned Rijken for breaking a cultural taboo and reported his site to South Africa's Film and Publication Board, demanding it be shut down.

Every year thousands of teenage boys from the Xhosa group embark on a secretive rite of passage in Eastern Cape province, spending up to a month in the bush to study, undergo circumcision by a traditional surgeon and apply white clay to their bodies.

While many initiation schools are officially sanctioned, others are unregulated and allow bogus surgeons to operate with unsterilised blades. According to Rijken, who works in the region, 825 boys have died from complications since 1995 and many more have suffered from what he calls male genital mutilation.

Explaining his reasons for going public, Rijken writes: "Winter 2012. Groups of young boys with white faces were brought out of a secret dark world into glaring hospital lights. Sunken eyes from dehydration, flaky skin from malnourishment, bagged eyes from sleep deprivation.

"Frequently you would smell the rotting when they were walking past. I spend many hours cleaning their wounds, trying to insert urinary catheters in their botched penis, battling to explain 17-year-olds that they had lost their manhood."

He adds that, following another "catastrophic" winter season in 2013, and with traditional leaders unlikely to make a positive change, he chose to go to the media and set up the site "to inform prospective initiates and the broader community about the dark secrets of the ritual".

Graphic images show severely disfigured, infected or amputated genitals on the website, ulwaluko.co.za, named after the Xhosa language word for initiation into manhood. Visitors are told: "Please be warned that this website contains graphic medical images of penile disfigurement under 'complications' and 'photos'. You may only enter this website if you are 13 years of age or older."

But critics argue that Rijken has betrayed their culture and should have handled the matter differently. Nkululeko Nxesi, from the Community Development Foundation of South Africa, told the AFP news agency: "That website must be shut down with immediate effect. He should respect the cultural principles and processes of this nation."

Patekile Holomisa, a former leader of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, took a similar view. He told AFP: "We condemn the exposure of this ritual to people who do not practise it. Women should not see what happens at initiations."

The Film and Publications Board has restricted the website for under-13s but ruled that it is a "bona fide scientific publication with great educative value".

It added: "The website highlights the malice that bedevils this rich cultural practice. It does not condemn this rich cultural practice but makes a clear plea for it to be regulated so that deaths do not occur."

Related Articles:

Female genital mutilation affects a fifth of young girls in sub-Saharan Africa

Jewish parents in US begin to question the need for circumcision

Israeli court fines woman for refusing to circumcise her son

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear and beloved Kryon: What should we know about "Brit-Mila" (Jewish circumcision)?

Answer: All circumcision was based on commonsense health issues of the day, which manifested itself in religious-based teaching. That basically is what made people keep doing it. This eighth-day-from-birth ritual is no more religious today than trimming your fingernails (except that Brit-Mila is only done once, and it hurts a bit more).

It's time to start seeing these things for what they are. Common sense is not static. It's dynamic, and related to the culture of the time. Yesterday's common sense about health changed greatly with the discovery of germs. It changed again with practices of cleanliness due to the discovery of germs, and so on. Therefore, we would say that it really doesn't make a lot of difference in today's health practices. It's done almost totally for cultural historic and traditional purposes and holds no energy around it other than the obvious intent of the tradition.

This is also true for a great deal of the admonishments of the Old Testament regarding food and cleanliness, and even the rules of the neighborhood (such as taking your neighbor's life if he steals your goat, or selling your daughter in slavery if you really need the money... all found in scripture). The times are gone where these things matter anymore, yet they're still treated with reverence and even practiced religiously in some places. They're now only relics of tradition, and that's all. If you feel that you should honor a tradition, then do it. If not, then don't. It's not a spiritual or health issue any longer.

Be the boss of your own body and your own traditions. Follow what your spiritual intuition tells you is appropriate for your own spiritual path and health.

Gay trials suspended in Nigeria over mob violence fears

Google – AFP, 29 January 2014

Man, arrested for alleged immoral behaviour, appear before an Islamic sharia

 court in Bauchi, capital of the northern Nigerian state, 21 August, 2007 (AFP/File,

Pius Utomi Ekpei)

Bauchi — Two Islamic courts in Nigeria have been forced to suspend the trials of 10 men accused of homosexuality because of fears of mob violence, judges and officials have said.

An angry crowd last week pelted stones at seven men suspected of breaking Islamic law banning homosexuality after their hearing was adjourned at the Upper Sharia Court in the northern city of Bauchi.

Police were forced to use teargas and fire shots in the air to disperse the mob, who were demanding summary trial and execution for the defendants.

Sharia police otherwise known as HISBAH

 stand during a court session outside the

 Tudun Alkali Area Sharia Court in Bauchi

21 August, 2007 (AFP/File, Pius Utomi Ekpei)

The seven had been due to reappear before the same court on Tuesday.

But registrar Unguwar Jaki told AFP: "We can't continue with the trial in view of the security breach we had during the last court session.

"The court will have to suspend the trial pending the review of the security situation with relevant authorities to avoid a repeat of the mob action we saw last week."

Nigeria banned same-sex marriage and civil unions earlier this month in a move that won widespread support in the religiously conservative country but triggered international outrage.

Homosexuality was already banned under sharia Islamic law, which exists alongside state and federal laws in the majority Muslim north of Nigeria and carries the death sentence.

A separate trial of three other suspects at another sharia court in the Tudun Alkali area of the city was also put on hold.

"The trial has been suspended because of the stoning incident in the other court, which we are trying to avoid here", said judge Nuhu Mohammed Dumi.

"The remand notice for the suspects expired today (Tuesday) but we will have to extend it."

Dumi suggested that the new trial date would not be publicised and the suspects brought to court in secret to avoid unrest.

Lawyer Suleiman Musa, defending the three, has objected to his clients' continued detention but Dumi said the decision was for their own safety.

"The families of the three suspects... came to me requesting bail and I told them that it was in their interests to stay in prison because they risk losing their lives at the hands of an angry mob if they are released on bail," he said.

"They realised the danger."

Togo arrests three over huge ivory haul

BBC News, 29 January 2014

The handcuffed suspects were paraded with the haul of tusks in Lome

Related Stories

• 'Ivory kingpin' arrested in Togo
• Thriving trade in illegal ivory
• Wildlife crime 'hurting nations'

Police in Togo have arrested three men after finding nearly two tons of ivory in a container destined for Vietnam.

Two of the suspects are from Togo and the other is Vietnamese.

Conservationists say the West African country is a transit point for illegal ivory between Central Africa and Asia.

Despite a global ban on the ivory trade nearly a quarter of a century ago, Africa's elephant population is heading towards extinction.

The numbers of forest elephants in central Africa have decreased by more than 60% over the past 10 years.

The three suspects were paraded by police before reporters along with the haul of ivory in the Togolese capital, Lome.

Lt Pierre Awi said 1,680kg (3,700lb) of ivory had been concealed in a container at the city's port bound for Vietnam.

"The container was loaded with wood that was serving as a cover for a large quantity of ivory in bags underneath," he said.

Conservationists say the seizure represents the tusks of about 230 elephants.

African countries are struggling to contain the illegal trade in ivory.

On Tuesday, a court in Kenya used tough new anti-poaching laws to fine a Chinese man $230,000 (£138,000) for smuggling ivory.

He was caught last week with 3.5kg of the contraband in a suitcase at Nairobi's international airport.

Last August Togo announced it had arrested a man believed to be the kingpin of the country's ivory trade.

Emile Edouwodzi N'bouke, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not yet been brought to trial.

Related Articles:

African and Asian states vow to crack down on illegal ivory trade

Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial

Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial

Google – AFP, 28 January 2014

Tang Yong Jian (R), a Chinese national, buries his face in his palms after

he was arraigned in a Nairobi court January 27, 2014 (AFP, Tony Karumba)

Nairobi — A court in Kenya on Tuesday slapped a record sentence on a Chinese ivory smuggler, the first person to be convicted under tough new laws designed to stem a surge in poaching.

Tang Yong Jian, 40, was ordered to pay 20 million shillings (170,500 euros, 233,000 dollars) or else go to jail for seven years. He was arrested last week carrying an ivory tusk weighing 3.4 kilogrammes (7.5 pounds) in a suitcase while in transit from Mozambique to China via Nairobi.

A spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which manages the country's celebrated national parks, welcomed the verdict.

A raw piece of elephant ivory is exhibited

 in a Nairobi court during the trial of

 Tang Yong Jian, on January 27, 2014

(AFP/File, Tony Karumba)

"It's a landmark ruling that sets a precedent for those involved in smuggling," Paul Udoto told AFP, saying stricter sentences will make the "killing of wildlife a high cost business".

"It's a remarkable precedent," he said, explaining that the fact that smugglers were previously punished with "a slap on the wrist" was demoralising for park rangers.

"It's very motivating for our rangers" to see poachers "lose a lot of money and spend long terms in Kenyan prisons," he said.

Kenya is a key transit point for ivory smuggled from across the region.

Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years, with rhinos and elephants particularly hard-hit.

Under the new law, which came into force a month ago, dealing in wildlife trophies carries a minimum fine of a million shillings or a minimum jail sentence of five years, or both.

The most serious wildlife crimes -- the killing of endangered animals -- now carry penalties of life imprisonment, as well as fines of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings.

Previously, punishment for the most serious wildlife crimes was capped at a maximum fine of 40,000 Kenyan shillings (340 euros, 465 dollars), and a possible jail term of up to 10 years.

Some smugglers caught in Kenya with a haul of ivory were even fined less than a dollar apiece.

Tunisia passes constitution, interim PM Jomaa names caretaker cabinet

Deutsche Welle, 27 January 2014

Tunisia's interim Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa has named a new caretaker government designed to steer Tunisia towards new elections. Parliament has also overwhelmingly approved a new constitution.

Interim Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa on Sunday presented his new cabinet, which should lead the country to elections later in the year, if approved by Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly. Jomaa said he hoped for a vote, and for approval of his team of technocrats, "as quickly as possible."

"The objective is to arrive at elections and create the security and economic climate to get out of this crisis," Jomaa told reporters in Tunis.

Lawmakers subsequently voted in favor of a new Tunisian constitution, completed this week after a two-year drafting process.

"This constitution, without being perfect, is one of consensus," assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said after the vote, with 200 out of 216 parliamentarians approving the paper.

Interim leader Jomaa was appointed last month after the ruling Ennahda party agreed to step down in a deal with the opposition. This followed months of public and political protests triggered by the assassination of left-wing politician Mohamed Brahmi in July.

His announcement was delayed by a day due to discontent over his choice of retaining Lotfi Ben Jeddou as interior minister, the only member of the 21-strong team to hail from Ennahda's Islamist government. The opposition had alleged that Jeddou had not done enough to prevent Mohamed Brahmi's assassination. Jomaa countered that Jeddou should stay on because of Tunisia's fragile security situation and the need for continuity.

Two members of the cabinet are women, while new Finance Minister Hakim Ben Hammouda is an economist with experience at the African Development Bank. Mongi Hamdi, formerly a science and technology official with the UN, will take over as temporary foreign minister.

No date has yet been set for fresh elections but they are expected this year.

Tunisia was the first country to stage a popular uprising as part of the so-called Arab Spring, ousting President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali more than three years ago.

msh/jm (AFP, AP, Reuters)