Ethiopia: AU Extends Executive Head’s Mandate

Addis Ababa--The African Union has extended the mandate of its executive arm Chief Jean Ping following an election in which he was closely challenged by South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, stagnated.
The vote comes as the bloc’s summit gathered at the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to discuss broadening trade within the continent and tackle matters of conflict experienced in recent past.
Incumbent head of the Commission Gabon’s Ping who has been at the helm of the Commission since 2008 sought another term against South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Dlamini-Zuma, but failed to secure a required two-thirds majority following a tight contest.
"We have decided to prolong the mandate of the current commission until the next summit in Lilongwe, Malawi in June”, said the newly elected chairman of the continental body, Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi on Tuesday at the end of the two-day summit.
Boni Yayi was elected to head the 54-member bloc on Sunday, a rotating post held for one year, taking over from Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The 18th summit assembled at its sleek new $200 million headquarters sponsored by China, which vowed continued support and collaboration with the continent.
According to the AU sources Ping prevailed against Dlamini-Zuma in the first three rounds with 28 votes to 25, 27 to26 and 29 to 24. Under AU rules Dlamini-Zuma was forced to pull out in the fourth round, leaving Ping to run alone but still failed to secure the necessary votes.
Analysts say that the vote which was preceded by intense campaigning has revealed fault lines between the English-and French-speaking Africa, but the bloc chairman insists that the continent is united and that there is hope that it will continue to be united.
Dlamini-Zuma, 62, former wife of President Jacob Zuma had launched a tough campaign, with backing from the 15-member Southern African Development Community- SADC, against a confident Ping who was counting on support from francophone west and central African countries

South Africa’s delegation at the summit broke into jubilation after the deadlocked vote, which Pretoria said will field the same candidate again for the post.  Analysts warn that her failure to win might suggest opposition to South Africa, a key country in the bloc, from holding the agenda-setting post, but on the other hand seems a good sign for gender politics in a position never held by a woman.
Speculations are that there have been negotiations between Ping and Dlamini-Zuma for one of them to stand aside. Ping’s performance has been criticised especially in recent crises on the continent following a year that saw post election chaos in Ivory Coast, as well as the Arab Spring revolutions.
 
Mogadishu, Somalia

Somalia: Al-Shabab Bans Red Cross Aid Operations
Somalia’s dreaded al-Shabab militant group has banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from conducting emergency relief operations in regions of the country it controls.
In a statement released Monday, the Islamist militants said it had decided to fully terminate the contract after the ICRC had “falsely accused the mujahideen [al-Shabab] of hindering food distribution,” claiming also that the organisation had been handing out outdated food.
The armed group asserts that the ICRC had “betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population” and said per cent of food it had inspected in ICRC warehouses was unfit for human consumption, and had since destroyed nearly 2000 tonnes of the “expired” rations.
The Al-Shabab controls swathes in central and southern Somalia, regions declared by the UN to be under worst humanitarian crisis, following a devastating famine in the Horn of Africa region that has affected nearly 10 million people, according to the WFP.
The ICRC, one of the few aid groups working in Somalia, earlier this month had suspended its food distributions to nearly 1.1 million people in southern and central Somalia after the militant group had blocked its supply routes, leaving out only emergency care and water programmes.
Last November the Al-Qaeda linked group banned operations of 16 international aid agencies ordering them to close and leave, in what it termed as were engaged in activities deemed detrimental to attainment of an Islamic state, leaving only two; the now-banned ICRC and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders).

The United Kingdom is expected to host next month’s London Somalia conference expected to convene up to forty governments, the UN and regional blocs including the African Union in efforts to resolve the seemingly never-ending Somali conflict.
Somalia has had no functional government since ousting of dictatorial leader Siad Barre in 1991. Al-Shabab has been fighting to topple the UN-backed transitional government since 2007, in its growing influence, with much of its target being the capital, Mogadishu.
The once feared al-Shabab has in the recent past been seen to be losing out on its control following recent deaths of its two top influential commanders, killed by the Kenyan troops. Kenya launched a military incursion into Somalia in October last year to pursue the Islamic group it says was responsible for a spate of kidnappings on its territory.
Several foreigners have been abducted from Kenya and taken to Somalia by the Al-Shabab, dealing a major blow to Kenya’s tourism industry.