[Ugnet] How Mbeki Declined Backing Obasanjo's Third Term Bid
How Mbeki Declined Backing Obasanjo's Third Term BidLaolu Akande New-York Exclusive report Sunday, April 17, 2005 http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article07 After President Olusegun Obasanjo openly stated that he is under pressure to run for a third term amid rumors speculating on such plans, more details are beginning to emerge on the international dimensions of the move. Diplomatic sources have disclosed to The Guardian on Sunday that Obasanjo had sought the understanding of the South African President Thabo Mbeki in case he has to stay in power for some more time in order to successfully complete his reform agenda. The sources, some of whom are very close to Mbeki, explained that Mbeki had hinted back to Obasanjo that such a move would be contrary to the spirit of good governance which both of them have been championing. It was revealed that Mbeki had played a critical role in 2003, when formidable forces in the PDP, including a good number of PDP Governors had planned to ensure that Obasanjo was not nominated for a second term. Mbeki as the diplomats recalled to The Guardian had met several of the PDP Governors and other critical political forces in the country including former military president Ibrahim Babangida and urged them to support Obasanjo for a second term. According to the diplomats, Mbeki had argued that it would be a disgrace for Obasanjo-a leading African leader at the forefront of efforts to reshape Africa and inspire international confidence-not to be nominated by his party for reelection when he is known to be interested in a second term. Although it was not clear how much of Mbeki's persuasion swayed support for Obasanjo who was eventually nominated by his party, but the sources said Mbeki came thought as a friendly international backer for Obasanjo going up to the 2003 election. The diplomats, some of which were aware of the meetings Mbeki held with some of the Nigerian politicians, and other who said Mbeki narrated the events to them personally disclosed that many of the politicians that Mbeki spoke with including IBB, had warned him that he-Mbeki-knew so little about Obasanjo. But Mbeki had asked that Obasanjo be given a benefit of the doubt. This was why according to the diplomats that Mbeki himself was surprised that Obasanjo even considered and encouraged certain elements who wanted him to take a third term. Mbeki was said to have categorically informed Obasanjo that he could not possibly support such a move to back Obasanjo for a third term. Speaking last month in Berlin, Germany, Obasanjo himself revealed that he is indeed under pressure to run for a third term. Although the president did not reveal the names of those mounting the pressure he did say he was not interested. Obasanjo had been invited by members of the German-African Association to deliver a lecture on: Nigeria: A strong emerging economy? In the question and answer session, President Obasanjo confirmed rife speculations about a third term ambition. Said Obasanjo: They keep worrying me, maybe you should stay a little longer...But I believe our transition will not be complete without transiting from government to government and from one personality to another?But diplomats warned that it is in line with Obasanjo's public service record that he is always succumbing to external pressure to serve, just like he did when he took over power from Murtala and when he agreed to stand election for presidency in 1999 after he had publicly stated that he was not interested. The Guardian was told that one of the reasons driving a third term for Obasanjo is the feeling among his closest advisers that his first term may indeed have been completely wasted in terms of confronting the major issues facing the country, especially the reform agenda. Obasanjo is said to be of the view that it is now that his quest to reform and halt the slide in the nation, is beginning to gather momentum and to sustain such a momentum more time would be needed lest the zeal is quenched by a new regime that would not share the same agenda. But Mbeki's refusal so far to play along is said to be a major setback, even though a tougher hurdle is said to await Obasanjo regarding the attitude of other leading nations like the US, UK and the European Union. A State Dept source had once explained to The Guardian that the US was still awaiting the transfer of power from one particular president to another before Nigeria can be really considered as a stable civilian regime. And until Obasanjo successfully hands over to another president, Nigeria would still be considered to be engaged in a long transition. Diplomats added that if Obasanjo continues in a third term, internationally, it may signal another red flag at a time when good governance is being demanded by the international community, especially international donors and Africa's development partners.Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
[Ugnet] Kako SS closed over strike
Brother you ask: Does that explain how Maths became a big problem for test takers in the early years of the Museveni regime? Yes but it is not even the whole story!! In the Monitor series by Obote you must have noticed that he tangentially refers to his dealings with the British High Commissioner in Dar-es-Salaam. He is not even touching on how he came to be in deep talks with the same British who in 1972 had replaced him with Amin. The weasel is a consummate liar!! (Yalimba ne nnyina ku mabega). Well, in 1980 the British put Obote in power with the express instructions to reverse whatever small economic empowerment we had gained under Idi Amin. To their disappointment they could see that OboteII was too weak to hold down the Ugandan neo-colony for them. So they looked for other 'running dogs', whom they provided with weapons, delivered up to Mombasa. If you passed by about 20 kilometers from Nairobi on the road to Mombasa, and were in the know, you would have come to the depot where the Moi govt used to transfer these missiles to Ugandan agents of Kayira and Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga. There also was a similar weapons depot near the Kenya-Uganda border, on the Kenya side. Thank God Dr Kawanga never plung DP into the innocent blood of Ugandans. One may vehemently disagree with him on any number of issues but you have to give him that. Meanwhile the same British gave 'military assistance aid' to Obote in the form of a British military Training team. And as I have said, this was actually a mercenary company - Sandline International. Note that in the charter of the OAU Obote had insisted on putting in a death sentence applicable only to mercenaries. But by 1980 Obote had become so degenerate and desperate for power that it was now him that was bringing soldiers of fortune into our country. With urging from the British/Sandline International, Obote asked the late Makerere University Physics Professor and Dean of the Science Faculty, John Illukor (and two others I will not mention) to go around Uganda to convince all Secondary Sch Math Teachers to enlist into a new UNLA elite battalion. (Catch the hen and its chicks will come automatically)!! The promise was that, as top military officers - and the country's best number-crunchers, they as the new elites would be in charge of this very important organ of state and, by extension, at the centre of power. At the same time British Zionist Tiny Rowland of Lonrho International was giving to Museveni his personal jet and missiles to his fighters. Weapons were pouring into Luwero to Kayira and the Cardinal's agents. The battalion of our Mathematics teachers was lined up on the opposite side. None of these teachers ever came out of Luwero alive. The question is: Was this 'meat grinding' of our beloved Maths Teachers a deliberate British effort to deprive our country of a whole generation of Maths teachers ? I would not put it beyond them. Furthermore, if you were a de-tribalised Ugandan you would have been shocked and revolted to see that those that were being sent in the most risky and deadly missions by Kayira and the Cardinal were non-Baganda. Museveni too never sent Tutsis to risky and deadly missions. It is only after Museveni had come to power that he collected all Kayira and the Cardinal's Baganda recruits, took them to camps in West Nile and cut their throats. Inspite of all of this Cardinal Nsubuga never stopped singing to the whole world how he admired Museveni. Even after he had killed Kayiira himself. What kind of human being was Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga? A man who went down his grave denying that children had ever been roasted in railway wagons in Mukula!! I only wish he had been still alive when m7 went to lay a wreath on the ground where they had perished. So dear Brother, partly, that is why there are no A-level Maths and Physics teachers in Kako SS and many of our schools. Their skulls are the ones you see in Luwero. The few of us who were spared are doing 'kyeyo' in South Africa, etc. The lesson is that when our rulers ass-kiss imperialism the costs may last for generations and can be incalculable!! While in Dar-es-Salaam, Obote negotiated with the British Ambassador in Tanzania to, again, put him in power in our country in1980. All of you must remember what was called a British military Training team that Obote got from the British. This team was actually a mercenary company - Sandline International. In fighting the insurgents in Luwero, they and Obote recruited all Uganda's Secondary School Math Teachers into a battalion which had been promised to become the new elites in Uganda. Well they had all of them perish in Luwero. The British were controlling both sides in the war(Remember m7 in Lonrho?) So, we lost a whole generation of Sec School Mathematics Teachers. Read what is happening in Kako SS and reflect on how
[Ugnet] Virgin for sale to pay mothers' medical bills
Virgin for sale to pay mother's medical bills Giles TremlettSunday April 17, 2005 Observer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1461653,00.html When Graciela Yataco scoured her home in Lima's poor San Diego area to see what she could sell to pay her mother's medical bills, she decided the only thing of any value was her own virginity. So 18-year-old Graciela advertised it for sale in a newspaper for 20,000 soles, about £5,000. The advert has provoked a storm of indignation in Peru, where saving Graciela's virginity has become a question of national pride - while the reasons why she feels forced to sell it are largely ignored. 'It hurts me to see mama ill and crying every night,' she told the local Trome newspaper. 'I live with my brothers and sisters in complete misery, and I do not have a job that would allow me to help my family out. 'Deciding to sell my virginity was not an easy thing, but what else have I got?' Her mother, Gracia, has heart and kidney problems. 'Here in Lima I could not even dream of finding a job that would allow me to pay for a doctor and buy her medicines,' Graciela said. Her mother, speaking from her home where a picture of the Sacred Heart is one of the few decorations on the walls, said: 'She is a good, loving girl. I beg people to help her because things should not have gone this far.' Graciela, who started work as an office cleaner when she was eight, has been bombarded with criticism and hate mail. Stones have been thrown at her windows and threats to burn down the family house have been pushed under the door. Television presenter Pamela Vertiz, Peru's Jerry Springer, criticised her saying that the nation's reputation was at stake. 'Have you thought about how people would look at Peru if other young girls followed your example?' Vertiz said. 'This is not the way to do it, Graciela. You have good hands and legs to work with. This is no way to earn money.' An MP, Mercedes Cabanillas, said: 'This shows that there is a crisis of values in this country. She should get a job and not sell her body!' The teenager, who wants to study and work in the tourist industry, told Spain's El Mundo newspaper: 'I got thousands of emails, most using words I would not dare repeat. But nobody offered a solution for my family.' She added: 'I think virginity exists in the mind, not really in a little membrane.' Now an offer by a businessman to pay for her studies has helped Graciela to put her sale on hold. 'I realised if I carried on, the animals round here would end up giving my mother a heart attack.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 == Beauty salons fuel trade in aborted babies Racketeers pay Ukraine women to sell foetuses to quack clinics for £10,000 courses of 'anti-ageing' jabsTom Parfitt in KievSunday April 17, 2005 Observer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1461654,00.htmlAborted foetuses from girls and young women are being exported from Ukraine for use in illegal beauty treatments costing thousands of pounds, The Observer can reveal. The foetuses are cryogenically frozen and sold to clinics offering 'youth injections', claiming to rejuvenate skin and cure a raft of diseases. It is thought that women in the former Soviet republic are being paid £100 a time to persuade them to have abortions and allow their foetuses to be used in treatments. Most of the foetuses are sold in Russia for up to £5,000 each. Some are paid extra to have abortions late in their pregnancy. Border guards stopped a train entering Russia from Ukraine last week and arrested a 'mule' carrying 25 frozen foetuses hidden in two vacuum flasks. The man said he had bought them from a medical research centre. Ukrainian law allows an aborted human foetus to be passed to research institutes if the woman involved consents and her anonymity is protected. But police say staff at state health institutions are selling them to private clinics offering illegal therapy. 'It is extremely difficult to detect this because there are corrupt agreements between respected doctors and academics,' said one senior officer. Beauty salons in Moscow that buy the aborted material to provide 'foetal therapy' are flourishing, despite a Russian ban on all commercial treatments using human cells other than bone marrow. The salons offer injections of stem cells, the undivided cells present in embryos that can adapt into any kind of tissue, although they are still at the trial stage worldwide. Sergei Shorobogatko, a former Kiev policeman who is investigating the trade, said abortion clinics in the poor eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv are selling foetuses - often untested for viruses such as Aids - without permission. Abortions performed more than 12 weeks into a pregnancy are restricted in Ukraine. Older foetuses fetch extra because their curative powers are thought to be greater. 'When a doctor wants a foetus [to sell], he tells a
RE: [Ugnet] How Mbeki Declined Backing Obasanjo's Third Term Bid
If only President Mbeki could stop dictator Museveni from doing the same (from Third Term) in Uganda. But Mbeki's record has been so dismall -- hehas been such a dismall failure in AFRICA. y From: Owor Kipenji [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: ugandanet@kym.net To: ugandanet@kym.net, [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Ugnet] How Mbeki Declined Backing Obasanjo's Third Term Bid Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 14:28:20 +0100 (BST) How Mbeki Declined Backing Obasanjo's Third Term Bid Laolu Akande New-York Exclusive report Sunday, April 17, 2005 http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article07 After President Olusegun Obasanjo openly stated that he is under pressure to run for a third term amid rumors speculating on such plans, more details are beginning to emerge on the international dimensions of the move. Diplomatic sources have disclosed to The Guardian on Sunday that Obasanjo had sought the understanding of the South African President Thabo Mbeki in case he has to stay in power for some more time in order to successfully complete his reform agenda. The sources, some of whom are very close to Mbeki, explained that Mbeki had hinted back to Obasanjo that such a move would be contrary to the spirit of good governance which both of them have been championing. It was revealed that Mbeki had played a critical role in 2003, when formidable forces in the PDP, including a good number of PDP Governors had planned to ensure that Obasanjo was not nominated for a second term. Mbeki as the diplomats recalled to The Guardian had met several of the PDP Governors and other critical political forces in the country including former military president Ibrahim Babangida and urged them to support Obasanjo for a second term. According to the diplomats, Mbeki had argued that it would be a disgrace for Obasanjo-a leading African leader at the forefront of efforts to reshape Africa and inspire international confidence-not to be nominated by his party for reelection when he is known to be interested in a second term. Although it was not clear how much of Mbeki's persuasion swayed support for Obasanjo who was eventually nominated by his party, but the sources said Mbeki came thought as a friendly international backer for Obasanjo going up to the 2003 election. The diplomats, some of which were aware of the meetings Mbeki held with some of the Nigerian politicians, and other who said Mbeki narrated the events to them personally disclosed that many of the politicians that Mbeki spoke with including IBB, had warned him that he-Mbeki-knew so little about Obasanjo. But Mbeki had asked that Obasanjo be given a benefit of the doubt. This was why according to the diplomats that Mbeki himself was surprised that Obasanjo even considered and encouraged certain elements who wanted him to take a third term. Mbeki was said to have categorically informed Obasanjo that he could not possibly support such a move to back Obasanjo for a third term. Speaking last month in Berlin, Germany, Obasanjo himself revealed that he is indeed under pressure to run for a third term. Although the president did not reveal the names of those mounting the pressure he did say he was not interested. Obasanjo had been invited by members of the German-African Association to deliver a lecture on: Nigeria: A strong emerging economy? In the question and answer session, President Obasanjo confirmed rife speculations about a third term ambition. Said Obasanjo: They keep worrying me, maybe you should stay a little longer...But I believe our transition will not be complete without transiting from government to government and from one personality to another? But diplomats warned that it is in line with Obasanjo's public service record that he is always succumbing to external pressure to serve, just like he did when he took over power from Murtala and when he agreed to stand election for presidency in 1999 after he had publicly stated that he was not interested. The Guardian was told that one of the reasons driving a third term for Obasanjo is the feeling among his closest advisers that his first term may indeed have been completely wasted in terms of confronting the major issues facing the country, especially the reform agenda. Obasanjo is said to be of the view that it is now that his quest to reform and halt the slide in the nation, is beginning to gather momentum and to sustain such a momentum more time would be needed lest the zeal is quenched by a new regime that would not share the same agenda. But Mbeki's refusal so far to play along is said to be a major setback, even though a tougher hurdle is said to await Obasanjo regarding the attitude of other leading nations like the US, UK and the European Union. A State Dept source had once explained to The Guardian that the US was still awaiting the transfer of power from one particular president to another before Nigeria can be really considered as a stable civilian regime. And until Obasanjo
