US blacklists S. Africa's Gupta family over 'widespread corruption'

Yahoo – AFP, October 10, 2019

The US Treasury has sanctioned close associates of South Africa's former president
Jacob Zuma, pictured here, who is at the center of a massive corruption scandal
(AFP Photo/RODGER BOSCH)

Washington (AFP) - The US Treasury announced sanctions Thursday on South Africa's Gupta family and associate Salim Essa, calling them a "significant corruption network" that dispersed bribes and misappropriated millions in state funds.

The wealthy, Indian-born Guptas are at the center of a judicial inquiry into rampant corruption during the nine-year administration of South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma.

"The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets," said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"Treasury's designation targets the Guptas' pay-to-play political patronage, which was orchestrated at the expense of the South African people," she said.

The sanctions immediately freeze any assets the blacklisted individuals have under US jurisdiction and forbid Americans and US businesses -- particularly international banks with any US operations -- from transactions with them.

The sanctions were placed under the US Global Magnitsky Act which targets large-scale corruption and human rights violation.

"Today's sanctions announcement demonstrates the US government's unwavering commitment to supporting the rule of law and accountability in South Africa," the Treasury said.

"We support the anti-corruption efforts of South Africa's independent judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and the ongoing judicial commissions of inquiry."

In that inquiry, the Gupta brothers -- Ajay, Atul and Rajesh -- are accused of fraudulently profiting from government contracts including energy and transport deals through their close association with Zuma.

The investigation has also cast a shadow over President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has denied business dealings with the brothers.

Key dates for South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma pic.twitter.com/TUp2xqDag8

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 11 oktober 2019

S.Africa looks to strip Gupta brother's residency

Yahoo – AFP, March 11, 2018

In February, South African police raided properties belonging to the Gupta
family in Johannesburg as part of a graft probe (AFP Photo/WIKUS DE WET)

Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa has launched proceedings to strip the permanent residency status of one of the lynchpins of a controversial Indian business family accused of corruption, an official said on Sunday.

Ajay Gupta, a fugitive sought by police over alleged graft, now faces the prospect of losing access to banking facilities as well as his South African identity papers if his residency is rescinded.

Ajay is one of three Indian-born Gupta brothers who are among South Africa's richest people who are now being investigated by police over corruption allegations. The country's graft watchdog has also accused them of having improper links to former president Jacob Zuma.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has discussed the "the possibility of revoking Ajay's residency" with President Cyril Ramaphosa, his spokesman told AFP.

"Since then, he has instructed the director-general of home affairs to investigate the legal environment for that to happen," Mayihlome Tshwete told AFP.

Gigaba has had a torrid week after insisting that Ajay's brother Atul was not a South African citizen, only to be contradicted by the election commission which confirmed he was a citizen who was listed on the electoral register.

Gigaba then skipped a sitting of parliament on Wednesday at which he had been due to answer MPs' questions, citing illness.

South Africa has launched several investigations into the Guptas and Indian tax officials this week raided several properties belonging to the brothers in their former hometown as part of a money-laundering probe.

Last month, South African authorities raided Gupta properties in Johannesburg as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged graft.

Ajay was declared a "fugitive from justice" by police after failing to respond to a summons.

Thirteen other people are facing charges linked to allegations that the Guptas embezzled millions of dollars of public money meant for poor South African dairy farmers.

They are also accused of receiving highly-favourable government contracts during Zuma's presidency.

Led by Atul, the family arrived in South Africa in 1993 as white-minority apartheid rule crumbled, a year before Nelson Mandela won the country's first democratic elections.

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PR firm Bell Pottinger seeks rescue after South Africa scandal

PR firm Bell Pottinger seeks rescue after South Africa scandal

Yahoo – AFP, Kenza BRYAN, September 8, 2017

British public relations firm Bell Pottinger was accused of orchestrating a
racially-charged campaign on behalf of the controversial Gupta family in South
Africa (AFP Photo/Rodger BOSCH)

London (AFP) - British public relations firm Bell Pottinger, accused of stirring racial tension in South Africa, faces administration to save it from collapse, a company source said Friday.

"We may well be in administration by Monday," the source told AFP, in reference to the process whereby a troubled firm calls upon independent expert financial help in a bid to remain operational.

In a chaotic week, major clients including banking giant HSBC and telecommunications group TalkTalk have axed ties with Bell Pottinger after it was accused of orchestrating a racially-charged campaign on behalf of the controversial Gupta family in South Africa.

Other fleeing customers include construction company Carillion, financial services firm Investec and luxury goods maker Richemont, according to media reports.

Britain's Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) trade body expelled Bell Pottinger on Tuesday over a campaign deemed "likely to inflame racial discord".

'White monopoly capital'

"White monopoly capital" was one of the slogans Bell Pottinger used on behalf of Oakbay Capital, an investment holding company run by the Indian Gupta family.

The Twitter hashtag #whitemonopolycapital is used by supporters of South Africa's ruling Zuma family, which has controversial ties to the Guptas, to discredit opponents.

The British PR giant deliberately created a narrative of "economic apartheid" to defend the Guptas, according to an independent report, which was conducted by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and published on Monday.

By Thursday, Bell Pottinger chairman Mark Smith told a staff meeting at the PR firm's headquarters in Holborn, central London, that it was likely to go into administration.

Accountancy firm BDO has been hired to look at options including a possible sale.

Various media reported that Bell Pottinger's Asian division will separate from its parent group and rebrand under the name Klareco Communications.

The group's second biggest shareholder, advertising firm Chime, has meanwhile written off its investment and handed back its 27-percent stake.

Nevertheless, Bell Pottinger is still "considering all the options", according to an official spokesman.

The group has pledged to introduce a more formal review of client work to help "identify high-risk clients and high-risk mandates", as well as redeveloping its corporate policies, including for social media, and establishing a new ethics committee.

'Fall from grace'

Bell Pottinger was created in 1987 by Tim Bell, one of Margaret Thatcher's foremost PR advisers, and is well known in the UK for its links to the world of politics and business.

British peers were informed on Thursday that the government has no power to remove the firm from its register of lobbyists.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Conservative Party frontbencher Lord Young said that while the company had acted "unprofessionally and unethically" in South Africa, the only way it could be struck off was if it ceased its public relations business.

He also said that the scandal has had "a very damaging impact" on the Britain's reputation in South Africa.

AFP's source said Friday that they were still "hopeful" about the company's situation, adding that the international response to the scandal in their view had been "out of proportion".

Almost 36 million people trapped in modern day slavery: Global Slavery Index

The second annual Global Slavery Index (GSI) has shown that 35.8 million people are subject to modern day slavery - some 20 percent more worldwide than initially thought. The highest total of slaves was in India.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Nov 2014

The results of a survey published on Monday by anti-slavery campaign group Walk Free estimates that some 35.8 million people are currently trapped in modern day slavery.

In its second annual report, the 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI) said that due to new methods, some 20 percent more people are enslaved around the world that previously thought.

"There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty," said Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Australian-based Walk Free Foundation.

Widespread

Forced into in a life of cotton picking, cannabis growing, prostitution, fighting wars or cleaning up after the wealthy account for just some of the definitions of modern slavery across the 167 countries which were covered in the GSI report.

Debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children, as well as human trafficking are also included in the foundation's interpretation of modern slavery.

The report also showed that modern slavery contributed to the production of at least 12 goods from 58 countries.

Social norm

According to the Index, the biggest offender, with the highest proportion of its population enslaved, remains the West African nation of Mauritania. Despite Mauritania's anti-slavery legislation, it is rarely enforced and the slavery of black Moors by Berber Arabs is an entrenched part of society.

Following Mauritania in second place was Uzbekistan where, every autumn, the government forces over one million people, including children, to harvest cotton.

The highest number of total slaves was found in India where an estimated 14.29 million people live a life of slavery. The Index said, however, that India had recently taken important steps to combat the problem by strengthening its criminal justice framework through legislative amendments and increasing the number of its anti-human-trafficking police units.

'Appalling situations'

At the opposite end of the scale, the GSI report also showed that the countries doing the most to combat the problem were the Netherlands, Sweden, the US, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, the UK, Georgia, and Austria.

Despite being at the bottom of the list, Europe still has 566,000 people involved in forms of modern slavery. For example, people are trafficked into Ireland to grow cannabis, or forced into begging in France.

"These findings show that modern slavery exists in every country. We are all responsible for the most appalling situations where modern slavery exists and the desperate misery it brings upon our fellow human beings," said Forrest.

ksb/se (AFP, 2014 Global Slavery Index)

BRICS Wrangle Over New Development Bank

Jakarta Globe - AFP, March 26, 2013

Image provided by the South African government shows President Jacob
Zuma speaking in Pretoria on March 24, 2013. (AFP Photo) 

    

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Durban, South Africa. BRICS emerging powers on Tuesday sought a deal on setting up a development bank that would rival Western-backed institutions, trying to iron out significant differences ahead of a leaders' summit in Durban.

The grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and hosts South Africa are racing to flesh out proposals for an infrastructure-focused lender that would challenge seven decades of dominance by the World Bank.

Just hours before leaders kick off the summit at 17:30 GMT, finance ministers were still working to agree key elements of the plan.

Disputes remain over what the bank will do, with each side trying to mold the institution to their foreign or domestic policy goals and with each looking for assurances of an equitable return on their initial investment of around $10 billion.

Failure to secure a deal would be a major embarrassment for many of the participants and would play into the hands of those who argue the BRICS have little to bind them together.

Xi Jinping, who has underscored the growing importance of the group by making Durban his first summit as China's president, earlier expressed hopes for "positive headway" in establishing the bank.

In a keynote speech in Tanzania on Monday Xi vowed Beijing's "sincere friendship" with the continent, and a relationship that respects Africa's "dignity and independence."

Meanwhile host President Jacob Zuma has lauded the summit as a means of addressing his country's chronic economic problems including high unemployment.

"BRICS provides an opportunity for South Africa to promote its competitiveness," Zuma said in a speech on the eve of the summit.

"It is an opportunity to move further in our drive to promote economic growth and confront the challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment that afflicts our country."

A failure to take concrete steps would raise questions about whether the BRICS grouping can survive.

"Ironically it may be the cleavages within the BRICS grouping that more accurately hint at the future of the global order: tensions between China and Brazil on trade, India on security, and Russia on status highlight the difficulty Beijing will have in staking its claim to global leadership," said Daniel Twining of the German Marshall Fund.

But if the leaders succeed it would be the first time since the inaugural BRICS summit four years ago that the group matches rhetorical demands for a more equitable global order with concrete steps.

That would send a loud message to the United States and European nations that the current global balance of power is unworkable.

Together the BRICS account for 25 percent of global GDP and 40 percent of the world's population.

But members say institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Security Council are not changing fast enough reflect their new-found clout.

Diplomats say it could start with $10 billion seed money from each country, but the exact role of the bank is up for debate.

Indian officials have pressed for a BRICS-led South-South development bank, recycling budget surpluses into investment in developing countries.

Many developing nations inside and outside BRICS will hope that is a way of tapping China's vast financial resources.

Meanwhile China would no doubt like the bank to invest in trade-multiplying projects.

Aside from the development bank, the group will also try to establish a foreign exchange reserve pool worth as much as $240 billion to be drawn on in financial crises.

China has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, worth $3.31 trillion at the end of 2012, and establishing currency swap lines could help other BRICS tap that massive resource.

Later on Tuesday Brazil is to sign a bilateral accord with China to promote trade in their national currencies.

BRICS leaders will also establish business and think tank councils.

With Syria's two-year long civil war escalating through the suspected use of chemical weapons, BRICS leaders will also have to weigh a call from President Bashar al-Assad to intervene.

In a message to the summit leaders Assad asked "for intervention by the BRICS to stop the violence in his country and encourage the opening of a dialogue, which he wishes to start," said his senior adviser Bouthaina Shaaban after he delivered the message to Zuma.

Agence France-Presse

This handout photo on March 26, 2013 shows South African Finance Minister

 Pravin Gordhan (C) poses with his counterparts (L-R) Minister Chidambaram 

Palaniappan of India, Minister Xiaochuan Zhou of China, Minister Guido Mantega

 of Brazil and Minister Anto Siluanov of Russia on the margins of the 5th BRICS

 summit held at the Inkosi Luthuli International Conference Centre in Durban,

on March 26, 2013. AFP PHOTO / GOVERNMENT HO/ ELMOND JIYANE

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"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)

Dutchman in Kenya: drilling against drought

RNW, 6 August 2011, by Rob van Dijk

 (Foto: Robin Hutton)

             

To combat Kenya’s drought and famine, a Dutch resident wants to drill new wells, down to 100 metres, four to ten times deeper than most existing ones. “Most shallow wells have dried up. We could start drilling in two or three months.”

Wim van den Burg lives in southeast Kenya, close to the Somali border. In October and November, the “little rainy season”, there was no rain at all, the Dutchman recounts. “If we didn’t get any rain in the ‘big rainy season’ in November, I realised, we’d be in big trouble. And we are.”

No drinking water

There were a few showers in July. By then most of the corn had been scorched. A few stalks yielded shrivelled oars, far too little to feed all the hungry mouths. Worse still, many wells dried up, leaving people with nothing to drink.

Things are bound to get worse, Van den Burg fears, not just in Kenya, but across East Africa. “The next rainy season, the little one, doesn’t begin until October. Even if we get rain then, people won’t be able to harvest their crops until two or three months later.”

Deep down

Van den Burg has been working in Kenya since 1989. “We’ve dug 50 or 60 wells, each 10 to 25 metres deep. Most of them are still working. But in the remote areas the wells are dry.”

To find water, you need to drill further down, he explains. But to get to some 100 metres down you need a special drill, which costs around 60,000 euros. “Such drills also allow you to test the quality of the water, so you know if it’s worth building a well.”

Last weekend he began a drive to raise the money. Once he gets the drill, thousands of starving, thirsty people will again be able to drink and feed themselves.

More information at www.wimvandenburg.nl

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"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil at Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.) - New ! 

Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, but India in top five

Survey shows Congo, Pakistan and Somalia also fail females, with rape, poverty and infanticide rife

The Guardian, Owen Bowcott, Wednesday 15 June 2011

A woman works at a sunflower field at Kunwarpur village, east of Allahabad,
India. Her country has been ranked the fourth worst in the world for women.
Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

• Afghan women resort to self-immolation
• Domestic violence endemic in India
• 'No woman in Somalia happy to be a woman'
• Congo, 'rape capital of the world'
• A Pakistani acid attack victim fights for justice

Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows.

The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely hazardous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking.

Others were less surprised to be on the list. Informed about her country's inclusion, Somalia's women's minister, Maryan Qasim, responded: "I thought Somalia would be first on the list, not fifth."

The survey has been compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman, aimed at providing free legal advice for women's groups around the world.

High maternal mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a "near total lack of economic rights" render Afghanistan such a threat to its female inhabitants. "Continuing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combine to make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.

"Women who do attempt to speak out or take on public roles that challenge ingrained gender stereotypes of what is acceptable for women to do or not, such as working as policewomen or news broadcasters, are often intimidated or killed."

The "staggering levels of sexual violence" in the lawless east of the DRC account for its second place in the list. One recent US study claimed that more than 400,000 women are raped there each year. The UN has called Congo the rape capital of the world.

"Rights activists say militia groups and soldiers target all ages, including girls as young as three and elderly women," the survey reports, "They are gang raped, raped with bayonets and some have guns shot into their vaginas."

Pakistan is ranked third on the basis of cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women. "These include acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse," the poll finds.

Divya Bajpai, reproductive health adviser at the International HIV/Aids Alliance, added: "Pakistan has some of the highest rates of dowry murder, so-called honour killings and early marriage." According to Pakistan's human rights commission, as many as 1,000 women and girls die in honour killings annually.

India is the fourth most dangerous country. "India's central bureau of investigation estimated that in 2009 about 90% of trafficking took place within the country and that there were some 3 million prostitutes, of which about 40% were children," the survey found.

Forced marriage and forced labour trafficking add to the dangers for women. "Up to 50 million girls are thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide,", the UN population fund says, because parents prefer to have young boys rather than girls.

Somalia, a state in political disintegration, suffers high levels of maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation and limited access to education and healthcare.

Qasim added: "The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50-50 because there is no antenatal care at all. There are no hospitals, no healthcare, no nothing.

"Add to that the rape cases that happen on a daily basis, and female genital mutilation being done to every single girl in Somalia. Add to that famine and drought. Add to that the fighting [which means] you can die any minute, any day."

Monique Villa, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "Hidden dangers – like a lack of education or terrible access to healthcare – are as deadly, if not more so, than physical dangers like rape and murder which usually grab the headlines.

"In Afghanistan, for instance, women have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. In the top five countries, basic human rights are systematically denied to women.

"Empowering women tackles the very roots of poverty. In the developing world when a woman works, her children are better fed and better educated because they spend their money for their family."

The survey was based on responses from more than 200 aid professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists chosen for their expertise in gender issues.

Each country was also ranked in terms of six risk factors including: health, discrimination and lack of access to resources, cultural and religious practices, sexual violence, human trafficking and conflict-related violence.

In terms of individual risk categories, Afghanistan was deemed to be the most dangerous for health, economic/discrimination and non-sexual violence; the Congo is most plagued by rape and sexual violence; and India has most problems with trafficking.

"You have to look at all the dangers to women, all the risks women and girls face," said Elisabeth Roesch, who works on gender-based violence for the International Rescue Committee in Washington.

"If a woman can't access healthcare because her healthcare isn't prioritised, that can be a very dangerous situation as well."

The TrustLaw website has been in existence for some time, linking up local NGOs and social entrepreneurs with established law firms who are prepared to offer legal advice on a pro-bono basis. The groups are vetted by Transparency International.

More than 450 law firms are already involved including some from China. Among those that have recently benefited have been the charity Riders for Health, which delivers medicine to remote villages, and reviewed its contracts in Nigeria.

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India taps IT power to woo African youth

The Economic Times, 28 MAY, 2011

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DAR ES SALAAM: India is reaching out to African youth here by offering to make Tanzania a "communication and IT hub of East Africa" and has unfurled new possibilities of cooperation in key high-tech areas like space cooperation.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
with Tanzania President  Jakaya Mrisho
 Kikwete visiting project (Co EICT) at
 Dar-es-Salaam Institute of Technology
at Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania on
Friday. (PTI)

Drummers and dancers swayed jauntily, waving flags of India and Tanzania at the entrance to the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology where hundreds of budding engineers and young IT trainees eagerly waited for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to speak to them Friday evening.

It was a hot and humid evening in this coastal metropolis, but the torrid weather could not deter students who sat patiently and clapped spontaneously as Manmohan Singh described them as "the future of Tanzania" and offered to "create a pool of world class professionals" in East Africa's largest country.

"You represent the future of Tanzania, and from what I have seen I can say with confidence that the future of Tanzania is bright," he said to loud applause before formally launching the Indo-Tanzanian Centre for Excellence in IT which has been set up by Indian software engineers at a cost of a little over $2 million in August last year.

"India is ready to provide all the help we can within our resources to enable Tanzania to create a pool of world class IT professionals," he said.

"If we can produce a steady stream of highly trained scientists, technologists and engineers, our cooperation would be worthwhile and we would be putting our money to good use," he said.

This is the first time an Indian Prime Minister was addressing the youth in an African university, signalling New Delhi's new vision to forge a contemporary and modern partnership with the African continent where over 50 per cent of nearly 1 billion people are in the age group of 18-35.

"The scientific and technological empowerment of the youth has a direct correlation to a nation's social and economic progress," he said.

The institute also houses the Param High Speed Super Computer gifted by India to Tanzania in 2009 that is being used for weather-forecasting and high-speed computation.

This has made Tanzania only one of four African countries that also include Ghana, Egypt and South Africa which has facilities for high-tech computing facilities. India has also set up a similar IT centre for excellence in Ghana.

Raising the bar for India's diplomatic thrust in Africa, Manmohan Singh announced India's readiness to cooperate with Tanzania in the area of space technology and applications and placed it in the larger context of South-South bonding.

India prime minister pledges billions to Africa

BBC News, 24 May 2011

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India will offer $5bn (£3.1bn) credit to African nations to help them meet development goals, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.

Mr Singh is also likely to take up the issue
of Somali pirates

Speaking at a meeting with African heads of state in Ethiopia, Mr Singh also pledged to support African education and infrastructure.

He is in Africa in a bid to expand India's trade with the continent.

Analysts say India is lagging behind its rival China in trying to invest in and access African markets.

Mr Singh is at the beginning of a six-day visit to the continent.

India's commerce with Africa is worth $40bn (£25bn) a year, but it is dwarfed by China, which does roughly three times as much business with the continent.

Manmohan Singh spoke of a unique relationship between India and Africa, which he said owed its origins to a common struggle against colonialism, apartheid and poverty.

He said Africa had the potential for major growth.

"Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world. There is good news in the struggle against HIV and Aids, as well as in improving literacy, reducing infant mortality and building institutions of representative government," he said.

The BBC's Will Ross, in Nairobi, says that despite the global downturn, India and Africa have been fairly resilient - economies are steadily growing although many of the poor would say they are not feeling the benefit in their own pockets.

While India's economy expanded by more than 8%, India's business links in Africa are also growing - one example being Bharti Airtel spending $10bn (£6.2bn) in 2010 to take over mobile phone operations across Africa from the Kuwaiti firm, Zain.

The challenge for African leaders, our correspondent says, is how to boost the trade and move away from an over-reliance on single commodities - the continent's raw materials.

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Mubarak should see the writing on the wall: India

Antara News, Thu, February 03 2011

New Delhi (ANTARA News/IRNA-OANA) - In a subtle suggestion that President Hosni Mubarak should step down, India said Egypt`s rulers should see the `writing on the wall` as it hoped that `sane, rational and pluralistic` leadership would over power there.

`People of Egypt are fairly clear in their thinking and in their action and those who are ruling Egypt must see the writing on the wall,` pti reported quoting External Affairs Minister S M Krishna as said in an interview.

`It will be in the larger interest of the region and in the larger interest of our bilateral relationship that the leadership is taken over by a sane, rationalist, pluralistic leadership which will be of benefit to the people of Egypt and our bilateral relationship,` Krishna said in reply to a question.

Noting that India was closely monitoring the developments in Egypt which is witnessing mass movement against Mubarak, he did not rule out the possibility of Muslim Brotherhood, a group opposing Mubarak, coming to power in the country.

Asked to comment on an opinion that the developments in Egypt may also affect Pakistan the minister said India will have to wait and see how the situation emerges and then take a position.

`India believes in democracy, we believe in democratic values, we believe in the rule of law and we believe that other countries should also respect the wishes of the people,` he said.

Editor: Jafar M Sidik