AfricaDigest 10/22/10

[AfricaDigest Manager]

Guinea presidential run-off election in doubt

Guinea's run-off poll due on Sunday is in doubt after the new
electoral head found serious logistical shortfalls.
Key materials have not been distributed, while computers used for vote-
counting have been stolen.
Gen Toumany Sangare, who only took over at the electoral commission a
day ago, is set to meet the two presidential candidates later on
Friday.
The election is intended to be the country's first democratic poll,
after 52 years of authoritarian rule.
The military seized power in 2008, leading to two years of political
upheaval.
After meeting the two candidates, Gen Sangare will take a decision on
whether to go ahead with the vote that has been twice delayed, causing
street clashes.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital, Conakry, says just 24 hours
into his new job, Gen Sangare is beginning to realise that the task
ahead of him is bound to stretch his much-heralded experience in the
management of elections.
The Malian national was appointed by the military leader after months
of infighting and accusations of fraud at Guinea's electoral
commission.
During Thursday's meetings at the commission, Gen Sangare discovered
that neither the alpha-numeric voter cards nor the sealed voter
envelopes have been distributed.

It was also revealed that computers meant for electronic vote-counting
were stolen from the commission's premises earlier this week.
Meanwhile, agents and other temporary electoral staff have threatened
to boycott the vote if salary arrears going back 11 months are not
paid.
Gen Sangare also met interim Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore, who urged
the new electoral chief to tread carefully as he feared further
violence.
Border patrols

The country has been tense since the first round vote in June and the
run-off has been delayed - once in July because of investigations into
electoral fraud and again in September because of clashes between
rival supporters.
Earlier this week, two supporters of Cellou Dalein Diallo were killed
as police opened fire on crowds demanding the removal of the former
election commission head who they accused of bias.

Both presidential candidates, Mr Diallo and Alpha Conde, have given
their backing to Gen Sangare.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources confirmed to the BBC that troops from
neighbouring Sierra Leone have been deployed to patrol the area near
their common border.

A former prime minister, Mr Diallo is seen as the favourite to win the
run-off. He took 44% of the votes in the first round - and claims he
was denied overall victory only by fraud.
Mr Conde, a veteran opposition leader, won 18% of the vote - although
he claims he was cheated out of some 600,000 ballots.
Correspondents say the fierce tensions between the two candidates'
supporters has its origins in rivalry between Guinea's two largest
ethnic communities. Mr Diallo is a Peul, while Mr Conde is a Malinke.
Despite their economic dominance, a member of the Peul community has
never been president. The Malinke are heavily represented in the
ruling military junta.

The first round was seen as Guinea's first democratic vote since
independence in 1958, raising hopes of an end to military and
authoritarian rule in the mineral-rich country.
Guinea is the world's largest exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite.
It also has important deposits of iron ore, but it remains one of the
poorest countries in West Africa.
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AU asks UN for Somalia air and naval blockade

The African Union has asked the United Nations Security Council to
back a naval and air blockade of Somalia.
A blockade would stop piracy and the flow of arms reaching insurgent
groups fighting the transitional government, said Ramtane Lamamra, AU
commissioner for peace and security.
He also repeated a call for international troop numbers to be
increased from under 8,000 to 20,000.

Somalia's fragile government is battling an Islamist insurgency.
The al-Shabab militia - which now controls much of southern and
central Somalia, including parts of the capital, Mogadishu - is linked
to al-Qaeda.
However, the government, backed by AU troops, has recently gained some
ground.
'Anything goes'

"The African Union is very concerned that the insecurity in Somalia is
spilling over into the region," Mr Lamamra told the UN Security
Council.
He called on the council to authorise a force of up to 20,000 troops
and nearly 2,000 police.
Crucially, he urged the UN to make sure they had enough money and
resources, says the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN in New York. Fewer
than 8,000 soldiers have been deployed so far and they are badly paid
and equipped, she adds.
The calls for both the blockade and extra troops were backed by
Somalia's UN-backed government.
"At this point now it's an open no-man's land. Anything goes in and
out," Somalia's ambassador to the UN Omar Jammal told the BBC's World
Today programme.

Security Council president Ruhakana Rugunda said the requests were
"legitimate" but would need to be studied further.
Ms Rugunda is UN ambassador for Uganda, which supplies the bulk of the
troops already in the AU force in Somalia (Amisom).
Uganda is pressing the case for enlarging the force, our correspondent
says.
However, other countries - such as the UK and France - are more wary
of funding missions over which the council has limited control.
Mr Lamamra criticised the UN's policy as limited engagement and half-
hearted measures, and urged an increased effort to confront the threat
posed by Somalia to regional and international security.

In July, al-Shabab said it carried out two bombings in the Ugandan
capital, Kampala, in which at least 76 people were killed, in revenge
for the presence of Ugandan troops in Mogadishu.
--------------
Rhino GPS used to deter poachers
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Five rhinos in South Africa's North West province have been fitted
with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to help protect them
from poachers.

The GPS chip is fitted into the rhino's horn by drilling a small hole
in the inert or dead part of the horn.

As well as GPS tracking, the device is equipped with alarm systems to
alert game wardens of unusual movement or if a rhino is outside of the
park.

The North West Park Board is testing the devices in Mafikeng Game
Reserve.


We can monitor the animals on whatever time delay we want
Rusty Hustler, North West Parks Board
The board began this novel project in April of this year, when they
tested the chips.

Park vets carried out the first implants the system is now "up and
running" - constantly monitoring the five animals.

"It's basically a satellite system which connects with the cell phone
system and we can monitor the animals on whatever time delay we want,"
Rusty Hustler, head of security for North West Parks Board, told BBC
News.

"There are a number of alarms that can be programmed: one for
excessive movement, so if the rhino starts running, and another that
goes off if the rhino sleeps for longer than six hours, which is
abnormal."

An alarm also sounds if the chip goes outside of the area of the game
reserve.

A reaction team in the park would be able to track and quickly reach
the animal if an alarm went off.

More than 200 rhinos had been slaughtered in South Africa since the
start of the year and there is a high demand for rhino horn, a prized
ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.

Mr Hustler said that the board was looking to use the devices in
animals in other North West province parks and were planning to tag
more animals in the coming weeks.

He added that in the future, the devices could even help to track
rhino horns that were taken by poachers to help combat the illegal
trade.

Story from BBC NEWS:
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UN drops award sponsored by Equatorial Guinea's Obiang

A United Nations agency has suspended plans to grant a prize sponsored
by Equatorial Guinea President Teodor Obiang Nguema after lobbying by
human rights groups.
Mr Obiang is accused of rights abuses, rigging elections and
corruption. He has previously denied such charges.

The UN scientific and cultural agency, Unesco, said its executive
board agreed to suspend the life sciences prize.
It said it would continue consultations on the award's future.
The prize was created by the board in 2008, and Equatorial Guinea was
to finance it for five years for a total of $3m (£2m).
The suspension was welcomed by campaigners.

Tutu Alicante, of EG Justice, said: "The way Teodoro Obiang has
governed Equatorial Guinea undermines all the values Unesco stands
for.
"The suspension is a sign that the Obiang government cannot pull the
wool over the eyes of the international community with empty human
rights public relations campaigns."

There was no immediate response from President Obiang or his
government.
It argues that criticism of the country's leadership is misguided and
that it is taking steps to better the lives of its citizens, including
by building hospitals and schools.

'Dictator'
Earlier this year a coalition of human rights groups condemned Unesco
for planning to award the prize.
The 28 groups said Unesco should end its association with "one of the
world's most infamous dictators".
They asked the UN agency to identify the source of the funds used to
sponsor the prize and said it should be used for the education and
welfare of the people of Equatorial Guinea, rather than the
glorification of their president.

Equatorial Guinea's vast earnings from oil and gas should give its
population of 600,000 people a theoretical income of $37,000 (£23,000)
a year each.
But most Equatorial Guineans live in poverty after 15 years of
plentiful oil production.
Mr Obiang seized power from his uncle in 1979 and was re-elected last
year with 95% of the vote.

Watchdog Transparency International has listed Equatorial Guinea as
among the world's most corrupt countries.
Last year, a French court threw out a lawsuit against him and two
other African leaders, accusing them of using public funds to buy
luxury homes. The court said foreign heads of state could not be sued.
In 2004, a US Senate investigation discovered that Mr Obiang, and
members of his family, were the signatories to accounts at Riggs Bank
in the US which had received millions of dollars in revenues from the
central African country's oil wells.
-------------
Nigeria probes disappearance of 'toxic waste' ship

Nigeria's environment watchdog has ordered an inquiry into the
apparent disappearance of a UK-registered ship it said had dumped
toxic waste.
The watchdog said the Grand America had offloaded containers of
electronic waste before disembarking.
But a customs official later said the containers had not been
offloaded, and the ship was allowed to leave because no-one had
ordered it to be impounded.

Africa, India and China have become favoured destinations for e-waste.
The Grand America was detained at the port about a week ago, together
with another ship carrying a similar cargo.
Ngeri Benebo, director general of Nigeria's environmental standards
enforcement agency, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the
Grand America had arrived at Lagos from Antwerp in Belgium.
She said the other ship, the MV Veradin, was originally from New York
and had sailed from Spain.

The MV Veradin is still at the port, but Ms Benebo said she wanted to
know why the Grand America was allowed to leave.
Customs spokesman Wale Adeniyi told the programme that officials from
the environment agency had inspected the Grand America's cargo last
week.
He said it consisted of used TVs, computer monitors and other
electronics, and the agency had deemed the cargo toxic.
So the cargo was returned to the vessel and it was allowed to leave,
he said.
"There was no detention request received by customs," he said.

The Basel Action Network, a pressure group that monitors the trade in
hazardous waste, has raised the alarm about toxic e-waste ending up in
Nigeria.
In a recent report the body claimed that about 500 containers with
400,000 second-hand computers were unloaded every month in Lagos
ports.
--------------
On how the leopard got its spots
By Katia Moskvitch
Science reporter, BBC News

Leopards' spots and tigers' stripes are a camouflage closely tied to
their habitats, researchers say.
A UK team examined the flank markings of 37 species of wild cats in a
bid to understand the spectacular variety of their colour patterns.
The scientists say that cats living in the trees and active at low
light levels are the most likely to have complex and irregular
patterns.
They published the findings in a Royal Society journal.

It is not the first study to suggest that wild cats need spots to
"vanish" in dense forests, sandy deserts or snowy mountains.
But this time, the researchers analysed the colour patterns' detailed
shapes and complexities, stating that these two factors are vital for
camouflage.
To examine different patterns, the team used images obtained from the
internet and classified them with the help of mathematical formulas.
"[Some species] are particularly irregularly and complexly spotted,"
William Allen from the University of Bristol, the lead author of the
study, told BBC News.

"The pattern depends on the habitat and also on how the species uses
its habitat - if it uses it at night time or if it lives in the trees
rather than on the ground, the pattern is especially irregularly
spotted or complexly spotted."

Kipling's inspiration
The first part of the study's title, as it appears in the journal
Proceedings of the Royal Society B is "Why the leopard got its spots".
Dr Allen said that the title has been inspired by a short story of
Rudyard Kipling with a similar name, "How the leopard got his spots".
In the story, an Ethiopian first changed his skin colour to black and
then "put his five fingers close together (there was plenty of black
left on his new skin still) and pressed them all over the Leopard, and
wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks,
all close together. Sometimes the fingers slipped and the marks got a
little blurred; but if you look closely at any Leopard now you will
see that there are always five spots - off five black finger-tips".

Dr Allen explained that though the fingertips idea was understandably
fictitious, Mr Kipling's deduction about leopards needing spotty coats
to "disappear" among trees was spot on.
"The mechanism - the fingerprint - isn't the right idea, but it is
actually the case that leopard's spots and similar patterns evolve in
forest habitats," said the scientist.

Dr Allen's study still fails to explain the mechanism of wild cats'
pattern development - but the scientists managed to find a set of
numbers to measure the irregularity or complexity of a pattern and
correlate this with where the species lives to explain its behaviour.
"We've shown that the usefulness of patterns for species' survival can
be related to a mathematical model of how the pattern arises and what
that does is it gives more complex information on why the leopard has
its spots," said Dr Allen.
And it is all about genetics, he added.

"When you place cat patterning over the evolutionary tree of cats, you
can see that patterning emerges and disappears very frequently within
the cat family, which is kind of interesting - it suggests that
perhaps particular genetic mechanisms can solve very different
appearances of cats."

Other theories
Previously, researchers believed that wild cats used their colour
patterns to attract members of the opposite sex, but Dr Allen's team
discounted this theory, saying that if there were a sexual motive,
"you'd expect to see different patterns in males and females, which
you don't".
"Another idea is that the patterns might have some sort of social
signalling function, but again we didn't support this because the type
of pattern cats have isn't related to their social system.
"For example, lions don't have particular flank markings that help
them get along with living in prides."
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Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality. -
Theodor Adorno, philosopher and composer (1903-1969)
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