MEND Accuse Angola Of Torturing Detained Leader

Less than twenty four hours after releasing sever hostages who were kidnapped two days ago, Nigerian rebel group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta is accusing the Angolan government of torturing one of its leaders, Henry Okah who has been detained in Angola since September this year without charges.

A MEND source who spoke with the Times of Nigeria from Angola said Henry (Okah) was woken up at night and put in chains then forcefully dragged into a truck and taken to an unknown location. He was able to communicate from the faeces invested pit he was thrown into.”

The MEND source said that the group is holding the Nigerian government responsible for Okah’s torture.

“We will hold the Nigerian government responsible for anything that happens to Henry. It is the Nigerian government that is responsible for his predicament. He has not done anything illegal in Angolan and has not been charged with any offence by the country.”

“This is a clear violation of his human rights and we are calling on all those interested in peace in Niger Delta and the whole of Nigeria to prevail on Yar’Adua and his government to see that justice is done. Henry must be set free or charged to court in Angola if he has indeed committed any crime against the laws of the country.”

“What has the Angolans convicted him of to warrant such a treatment?”

MEND said it believes that the first email that came out claiming responsibility for the attack on Shell EA fields was put out by the Nigerian government to incriminate Okah.

“We are now beginning to fear that that fake email statement which emphasised on attacking Angolan interest was made up by the government.”

MEND Frees 7 Hostages

Seven oil workers who were kidnapped from an offshore oil field in the Niger Delta were released Monday after two days in captivity, according to their captors, Movement fro the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) and police sources. MEND said the release was due to the intervention of Henry Okah who is being held in Angola.

An email from Jomo Gbomo to the media dissociated MEND from an earlier statement signed by a group claiming to be MEND.

“Firstly, we want to dissociate ourselves from the statement purported to have been issued from MEND and signed by one Don Pedro regarding the current attack on the Shell EA fields.”

The foreign hostages are British, Croatian and South African. Shell originally reported that the South African was Russian.

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) hereby confirm that the raid on the EA oil fields operated by Shell and the capture of seven (7) oil workers was indeed carried out by its gallant fighters on Saturday, October 20, 2007 in Bayelsa state of Nigeria.

“This attack was not about any single individual, but in furtherance of our pledge to resume attacks and abductions in pursuance of our objective which is the complete control of our natural resources as outlined in our statement of September 23, 2007.

“Rather than negotiate along these lines, the government and oil majors have chosen to employ the services of thugs and corrupt politicians who want to line their personal pockets, to cause confusion and sabotage the aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta.

“The hostages have been released due to the personal intervention of Henry Okah, but the attacks will continue so that the government will realise that for real peace to prevail, justice must be addressed. We have just shown that the presence of the military in oil facilities does not deter an attack.” The email signed by Jomo Gbomo concluded.

The Niger Delta has been the scene of frequent disputes between oil companies and communities who have for years demanded a greater share of the wealth in Africa’s largest crude producer. The region remains desperately poor despite its great natural bounty.

About 100 foreign workers have been kidnapped this year.

The government of President Umaru Yar’Adua has stepped up efforts to calm the region, and violence has waned since he took power May 29. The latest attacks could set back plans for formal talks between the government and the main armed groups.

Standing Tall – Coach Yemi Tella Gone Too Soon

Coach Yemi Tella (Member Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) was bigger than life in a subtle un-annoying way.

Coaching in a country where braggadocio and ego is oft an unfortunate job requirement, he was a very much appreciated difference and a total class act. To all who came under his tutelage – from the snot nosed kids in Agege to the Eaglets in and out of Camp – Coach Tella was a friend first, a teacher second and a trainer third and this is why his death at age 56 on Sunday is extra painful to the myriad of young players which he helped shape their character as well as to the millions of Nigerian fans to which he restored national pride and brought unimaginable joy.

From the dusty pock marked fields that crisscross Lagos where he first tought carriage and instilled confidence to hundreds of boys eager to soak up his abundant knowledge, to the Spartan classrooms of the National Institute of Sports where his voice demanded respect all heads this morning remain bent in grief and hearts suffocated in pain.

Right from the gates when he took charge of the World and African Champion Golden Eaglets we all knew this was a special marriage that would work. The NFA brass were so elated in the product they saw taking shape that they stayed amazingly out of his way and when responding to the praise heaped upon the U20 team in Canada by the football pundits and press, they simply smiled and said knowingly “ wait till you see our junior team”.

Compared almost unimaginably to the Eagles of 1994 by all who watched their controlled fury on the field, Tella served notice in Togo to Africa and the rest of the World that his unselfish grounded team would be something to remember. With the abundance of talent he had Tella created a no frills delegation that basked in his unflinching but humble confidence. He never doubted their ability and moments after lifting the African Cup he smugly announced that Nigeria would win the World cup.

He never strayed from that prediction and while the usual experts wondered loudly about his tactics first against France and then questioned his use of the long ball against Columbia, his wards never let him down and rewarded his confidence in them by locking their eyes on the prize and refusing to fail. He was without a doubt the wind in their sails and it was almost as if they knew that they would only have one more opportunity to role the dice for him. This explains why they wept as if they had lost a parent when they lost to Brazil in the pre tourney Final game. Though the tears initially were unending and flowed like the River Niger in the rainy season, they only stopped when Tella already weakened by those evil cancerous cells ravaging his lungs and now attacking his lymph nodes called for a huddle right there on the pitch and led the team in prayer rededicating themselves to God and country.

They would never loose again and would continue to roll double sixes not just for Nigeria and more importantly for them for Tella.

Last month, in addition to the open check given regarding his health care by the FGN he was awarded the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic medal for his achievement, by the Nigerian president Umar Yar’Adua and despite being the 3^rd Nigerian Coach to mentor a World Champion behind Sebastian Broderick and Fanny Amun he instantly crept into our hearts and attained a place only reserved for family and good friends.

Coach Tellah had become both.

According to the NFA secretary-general, Bolaji Ojo-Oba, a planned friendly match between the local based Super Eagles and the national under-17 side will still go ahead on Wednesday and will be dedicated to the coach. I am willing to be that there won’t be one dray eye in the Stadium.

Good bye kind Sir you will be forever missed.

By Iwedi Ojinmah for the Times of Nigeria

Niger Delta Task Force Commander Sacked!

The head of the military task force deployed to the restive Niger Delta oil region, Brig-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, has been removed. The Pan Africa News Agency (PANA) reports that military sources on Monday said that Ngubane was re-deployed to the Army Training and Doctrine Command in the central city of Minna and replaced with Col. Nanven Rintip.No reason was given for the changes, which were effected at the weekend. Ngubane took over as head of the task force, which is protecting oil installations and ensuring the security of oil workers, in April 2006.After a brief lull, militants and criminals in the region have recently renewed attacks on facilities and abduction of foreign and local workers as well as their families. At the weekend, three expatriate and four Nigerian employees of Shell were kidnapped from an offshore oilfield after militants in 30 speed boats attacked the facility.

Mozambique ex-leader wins prize

Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano has won the first Mo Ibrahim prize rewarding a retired African head of state for excellence in leadership.

Mr Chissano, who is credited with bringing peace to Mozambique, had been seen as a frontrunner for the prize.

The prize, announced by former UN head Kofi Annan, is worth $5m (£2.5m) over 10 years, and then $200,000 a year.

Mobile phone millionaire Mo Ibrahim is funding the project in the hope it will help improve governments’ performance.

The Sudanese businessman also hopes it will increase Africa’s self-sufficiency and bring a day when the continent’s people no longer need to live on aid.

Mr Annan chaired the panel that awarded the first edition of the prize, billed as the largest of its kind.

“It is (for) his role in leading Mozambique from conflict to peace and democracy that Chissano has made his most outstanding contribution,” Mr Annan said after announcing the winner.

“This remarkable reconciliation between opponents provides a shining example to the rest of the world and is testament to both his strength of character and his leadership,” he said.

After winning independence from Portugal in 1975 Mozambique suffered a civil war that lasted until 1992.

Wider role

Mr Chissano was the country’s president from 1986 to 2005. He also served as chairman of the African Union in 2003 and 2004, and has worked as a UN envoy.

Mr Annan praised Mr Chissano’s role at home and more widely in Africa.

“His decision not to seek a third presidential term reinforced Mozambique’s democratic maturity and demonstrated that institutions and the democratic process were more important than personalities,” he said.

“He was a powerful voice for Africa on the international stage and played an important role in pushing debt relief up the agenda.”

Mr Chissano is something as a rarity in Africa as a leader who has left office with his reputation intact, says BBC southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles.

The panel of judges also included the former Irish President, Mary Robinson, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and the head of the Organisation of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Sali.

They assessed the relative merits of 13 African former heads of state, all of whom left power in the past three years.

Among these at least six took power by staging coups.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Globacom Overtakes MTN S’Africa Market Share

By Thisday

Second national operator (SNO), Globacom Limited, has overtaken MTN South Africa in a new ranking of the Top 10 mobile network operators straddling the African and Middle Eastern telecoms market.
Glo Mobile, the mobile business unit of the SNO and a late entrant into the Nigerian telecoms market that launched service two years after local rivals, MTN Nigeria, owned by South Africa’s MTN Group; Celtel Nigeria, owned by Kuwaiti’s Zain Group (former MTC Group) and Mtel, the mobile subsidiary of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, owned by Transnational Corporation (Transcorp). Glo Mobile is also setting its eyes on the continent’s top telecoms market spot.
According to market survey featuring the latest ranking of Top 10 Operators in the Mid-East and Africa market released by Mobile World, the Nigerian company is a player to watch having achieved the distinction of entering the league of top players in Africa and the Middle East within its relatively short period of market entry.
Significantly, Globacom clinched the fifth place with subscriber numbers that peaked at 13.95 million and market share of 37.3 per cent at the end of the second quarter of 2007 to overtake the MTN South Africa, launched 13 years ago (June 1994) and which recorded the sixth position with 13.4 million subscribers within the period under review.
According to the report authors, “the fourth and fifth placed operators in the region are both from Nigeria, a country with nearly twice the population of Iran. Both have around 14 million customers today, which put them both within striking distance of the top spot. Admittedly, competition is more fierce in the African country, but MTN Nigeria ( 14.0m customers, 37.6 per cent market share) and Globacom (13.95m and 37.3 per cent) are way out ahead of their two competitors.”
It adds further that, “MTN South Africa had a quiet time in Q2 2007, with just 0.21 million net additions, to take its total to 13.4 million. This was the second smallest gain of any company on this list and as a result, it has dropped one place this quarter to sixth place.”
Additionally, Globacom’s coming is also a warning signal to the local operation of the MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, which took the fourth position with a subscriber base of 14 million and market share 37.6 per cent as the authors of the report have noted that if the SNO’s growth is sustained, MTN, “may well lose the top spot in Nigeria to its newer rival.”
This comes just as Chief Operating Officer, Globacom, Mohammed Jameel, announced that the company’s subscriber base has peaked at 15 million, closing the mobile market gap.
Jameel who disclosed this at a media briefing also disclosed that the company has introduced 0705 number series to drive its current bid for market leadership complemented by the network expansion to support 30 million users by the end of the year.
He adds that Globacom’s current expansion plans will see the addition of over 150 base stations each week across the country to increase the base station to 750 by the end of the year citing that, “the equipment for achieving this phenomenal growth is already in the country.”
Beyond Nigeria, the Mobile World market ranking reports that the mobile markets in Middle East and Africa seemed to slow down in the second quarter of 2007.
“Indeed, we have to go back four years, to the second quarter of 2003, to find its equal. In both periods, the market grew by 8.0%, but while this implied fewer than 5 million new connections in 2003, in 2007, it meant 24 million. Looking across the markets what we see is that most of the fastest growing businesses were in Africa, rather than the Middle East, where markets are characterised by much higher penetration rates.
The ten largest companies in the region account for 43.2% of the region’s customers, marginally down quarter on quarter. The list contains the same names as it did in the last quarter, but there have been a couple of changes in positioning.”
South Africa ‘s Vodacom led the ranking with a total of 21.95 million, equivalent to a regional market share of just over 6.6 per cent.
TCI, the Telecommunica-tions Company of Iran, one of the few countries in the Middle East region that can be considered under-developed – penetration, at 29%, is below that in neighbouring Iraq where mobile telephony was only introduced four years ago.
TCI made 1.86 million new connections in the quarter (an 11.7% growth rate) to reach a total of 17.8 million customers. Logic suggests that as Iran’s population is materially higher than South Africa’s (69m against 44m) TCI must inevitably overtake Vodacom. But if that happens, TCI may not enjoy regional leadership for anywhere near as long as Vodacom has
STC, the largest operator in Saudi Arabia, is sandwiched between TCI and the Nigerian companies. It closed the quarter with 15.5 million connections, after a gain of just 0.2 million. We can anticipate another growth spurt in the current quarter, due partly to the impact on demand of Ramadan and partly because STC faces the prospect of a third competitor in the shape of Kuwait’s MTC.
MTN South Africa had a quiet time in Q2 2007, with just 0.21 million net additions, to take its total to 13.4 million. This was the second smallest gain of any company on this list and as a result, it has dropped one place this quarter to sixth place.
The four remaining companies in the ranking are all in North Africa . Orascom’s Algerian subsidiary connected a further 0.7 million new customers to end the quarter just shy of the 12 million mark. However, it seems likely to lose this place next quarter to Mobinil, the France Telecom/Orascom venture in Egypt, which closed with 11.90 million customers, having added 1.2 million new connections between March and June. Mobinil and its Vodafone Egypt rival are both piling on customers in an attempt to minimise the impact of the third entrant in the market, a consortium headed by Kuwait’s Etisalat. Vodafone Egypt is in fact the tenth largest business in the region, having added even more customers than Mobinil, to take its total to just under 11 million. Maroc Telecom separates the two, taking ninth place with 11.7 million.
According to Mobile World, “all ten of these operators now have over ten million customers. However, it would be wrong to think that this is where the story ends. The spread of mobile ownership across the region is such that as at the end of June, there were over 60 separate networks with one million or more customers. Between these two statistics, come others. The top 15 operators all have more than five million – numbers eleven to 15 being respectively Algeria Telecom Mobile, V-Mobile in Nigeria, Safaricom Kenya, Mobily in Saudi Arabia and Etisalat. The top 30 all have more than 2.5 million customers in fact and as the accompanying piece on the region’s major operators shows, a large majority of these businesses are owned by one of just eight or nine multinational groupings.”