praag.co.za – Bladsy 1508 – aktueel, aktief, afrikaans! | issn 2409-1804

A burning smell enveloped the kitchen…

U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead.

A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy. The guards’ base, which remains unopened today, is just a small part of a $592 million project to build the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

The main builder of the sprawling, 21-building embassy is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co., a Middle Eastern firm that is already under Justice Department scrutiny over alleged labor abuses. First Kuwaiti also erected the guard base, prompting some State Department officials in Washington and Baghdad to worry that the problems exposed in the camp suggest trouble lurking ahead for the rest of the embassy complex.

The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.

All the food from the old guard camp — a collection of tents — had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.

"Poor quality construction . . . life safety issues . . . left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.

Such challenges with construction contracts inside the fortified enclave known as the Green Zone reflect the broader problems that have thwarted reconstruction efforts throughout war-torn Iraq.

The "fairly serious problems" noted in the cable indicate that First Kuwaiti’s work fails to meet basic safety standards, said an administration official who was not authorized to speak to the news media. But the State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), which oversees construction of the new embassy, has kept a "close hold" on the project, making it difficult for anyone else in the government to gauge progress. "We are suspecting we will find the same issues in the new embassy," resulting in months of delays, the official said.

The embassy cable prompted a stinging response from James L. Golden, OBO’s managing director for the embassy project. In a cable dated June 8, he berated personnel in Baghdad for sending their message over an open embassy system, rather than keeping the complaints in-house. He defended First Kuwaiti and accused the embassy and KBR — a Texas-based company that runs many facilities in Iraq and discovered the wiring problems — of making false claims to deflect attention from their own errors.

The guard base "has been constructed to the approved design specifications," Golden wrote, adding that "none of the issues raised in the cable has merit" and that "it appears [the embassy] and KBR simply do not want to operate the camp for other reasons."

KBR said its concerns were justified. "Safety remains KBR’s top priority," said Heather L. Browne, the firm’s director of corporate communications. "Our initial assessments determined that the issues identified were not linked to KBR’s work and in fact inspection reports from the [State Department] confirm that KBR was not responsible for the safety issues identified."

The tough exchanges between Baghdad and Washington reflect some of the tensions as the State Department rushes to complete the embassy this year. Originally, the new guard base — estimated to cost about $22 million — was due for completion in January, but deadlines were missed. OBO certified that the camp "meets and exceeds" its contract requirements in a letter signed April 14 and provided by First Kuwaiti. The new delay in moving the guards may affect plans to build temporary housing for maintenance workers and contractors hired to help run the new embassy, which is scheduled to be completed in the fall.

An embassy spokesman declined to comment, referring calls to Washington. Pat Kennedy, director of the State Department’s Office of Management Policy, said that the embassy cable was a "frank discussion" of its concerns but that the embassy now "is satisfied with the process we have put in place to address these issues." He said he was "not prepared to make the large leap" that concerns about the guard base might also apply to the larger embassy project.

Retired Maj. Gen. Charles E. Williams, the director of OBO, who was formerly with the Army Corps of Engineers, declined to be interviewed. "It is internal business," said his special assistant, Phyllis A. Patten-Breeding.

First Kuwaiti’s labor practices are already under investigation by the Justice Department amid allegations that foreign employees were brought into Iraq under false pretenses — such as being told that they were to work in Dubai — and then forbidden to leave because the company had confiscated their passports. First Kuwaiti has called those accusations "ludicrous."

Samir Ida, the company’s construction director, said that the guard base was completed to "all specifications." He provided an e-mail from an OBO official who described it as "one of the better built camps" in Iraq. "The U.S. Embassy is still in the process of being constructed, and while some work remains, First Kuwaiti has not been informed of any issues relating to substandard work," he added.

After the electrical problem was discovered and no quick fix seemed available, the embassy was forced to serve the guards MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) for several days until all the food could be moved back to the old housing, known as Camp Jackson, according to the embassy cable’s detailed account. The original plan was for the guards to wait only one or two weeks before the electrical issues were fixed.

But the problems mounted. The 252 prefabricated residential trailers, with either two or three rooms each, filled with formaldehyde fumes. The trailer manufacturer, a Saudi company called Red Sea Housing Services Co., confirmed to the embassy it had used the toxic chemical in preparing the housing. Red Sea told the embassy to keep the windows open and use charcoal in the rooms to absorb the odor, but "the fumes are still prevalent," the cable said.

The embassy cable noted that five people had been identified at various times as the project manager, and that it was all but impossible for embassy officials to obtain information from them, with no one seeming to be in charge. "Two of the project managers have had extremely limited previous project management experience," the cable said. A $500,000 project to install a fire-suppression system appeared to be proceeding without proper supervision, it added.

The saga did not end there, as recounted by the cable in 23 lengthy paragraphs that mixed outrage with dense bureaucratic language.

First, KBR and First Kuwaiti quickly began finger-pointing. KBR electricians determined that the electrical wiring was too small for the load required, but First Kuwaiti electricians — after initially concurring — began to balk at the assessment, the cable said.

Then KBR raised new concerns about the grounding and electrical feeds into the facility.

The embassy cable noted that there had been at least four fires in dining facilities in Iraq blamed on similar problems. At a May 16 meeting, officials showed photos indicating fire hazards in the dining hall’s wiring that were so serious that the few guards who had moved into the base’s new residential housing were sent back to Camp Jackson.

"It was unknown as to whether similar wiring was present in the residential trailers," the cable said.

At the meeting, KBR representatives began to express unease about their responsibility and liability in operating and maintaining the base’s electrical system. On May 24, OBO declared that the wiring problem had been fixed, but KBR conducted an inspection a day later and said the problems remained. KBR found that the reworked wiring "is still substandard," the cable said. The embassy also said that it believes it has discovered counterfeit wiring, labeled as 10mm when it was actually 6mm.

Meanwhile, on May 18, OBO unexpectedly informed the embassy that it would soon stop maintaining the power stations and water-treatment facilities at the new guard base. The embassy protested that it had limited staff to operate the equipment, which needs to be in operation constantly to avoid costly repairs. First Kuwaiti provided only "minimal spare parts" for the power generators and "less than minimal spare parts" for the water-treatment plant, the cable said.

Finally, on May 25, a KBR hazardous-materials expert discovered that all 10 generators had developed leaks. The fuel tanks were installed without corrosion protection or leak detectors, and fuel had begun to saturate the soil around the tanks. The cable said that Teflon tape designed for water pipes had been used on the fuel tanks, and that such tape "will dissolve on contact with diesel fuel." KBR refused to operate the power generators unless its liability was waived.

The result, the cable concluded, is that the guards will continue to stay in "tents and deplorable living conditions." Officials now say that the guard base will not be ready until Aug. 1.

белое сухое вино цена Лобановский

Feces and urine rained from the ceilings

A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.

The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country’s security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."

"This is the most essential civil security project in the country — and it’s a failure," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office created by Congress. "The Baghdad police academy is a disaster."

Bowen’s office plans to release a 21-page report Thursday detailing the most alarming problems with the facility.

Even in a $21 billion reconstruction effort that has been marred by cases of corruption and fraud, failures in training and housing Iraq’s security forces are particularly significant because of their effect on what the U.S. military has called its primary mission here: to prepare Iraqi police and soldiers so that Americans can depart.

Federal investigators said the inspector general’s findings raise serious questions about whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed to exercise effective oversight over the Baghdad Police College or reconstruction programs across Iraq, despite charging taxpayers management fees of at least 4.5 percent of total project costs. The Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that it has initiated a wide-ranging investigation of the police academy project.

The report serves as the latest indictment of Parsons Corp., the U.S. construction giant that was awarded about $1 billion for a variety of reconstruction projects across Iraq. After chronicling previous Parsons failures to properly build health clinics, prisons and hospitals, Bowen said he now plans to conduct an audit of every Parsons project.

"The truth needs to be told about what we didn’t get for our dollar from Parsons," Bowen said.

A spokeswoman for Parsons said the company had not seen the inspector general’s report.

The Coalition Provisional Authority hired Parsons in 2004 to transform the Baghdad Police College, a ramshackle collection of 1930s buildings, into a modern facility whose training capacity would expand from 1,500 recruits to at least 4,000. The contract called for the firm to remake the campus by building, among other things, eight three-story student barracks, classroom buildings and a central laundry facility.

As top U.S. military commanders declared 2006 "the year of the police," in an acknowledgment of their critical role in allowing for any withdrawal of American troops, officials highlighted the Baghdad Police College as one of their success stories.

"This facility has definitely been a top priority," Lt. Col. Joel Holtrop of the Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division Project and Contracting Office said in a July news release. "It’s a very exciting time as the cadets move into the new structures."

Complaints about the new facilities, however, began pouring in two weeks after the recruits arrived at the end of May, a Corps of Engineers official said.

The most serious problem was substandard plumbing that caused waste from toilets on the second and third floors to cascade throughout the building. A light fixture in one room stopped working because it was filled with urine and fecal matter. The waste threatened the integrity of load-bearing slabs, federal investigators concluded.

"When we walked down the halls, the Iraqis came running up and said, ‘Please help us. Please do something about this,’ " Bowen recalled.

Phillip A. Galeoto, director of the Baghdad Police College, wrote an Aug. 16 memo that catalogued at least 20 problems: shower and bathroom fixtures that leaked from the first day of occupancy, concrete and tile floors that heaved more than two inches off the ground, water rushing down hallways and stairwells because of improper slopes or drains in bathrooms, classroom buildings with foundation problems that caused structures to sink.

Galeoto noted that one entire building and five floors in others had to be shuttered for repairs, limiting the capacity of the college by up to 800 recruits. His memo, too, pointed out that the urine and feces flowed throughout the building and, sometimes, onto occupants of the barracks.

"This is not a complete list," he wrote, but rather a snapshot of "issues we are confronted with on a daily basis (as recent as the last hour) by the incomplete and/or poor work left behind by these builders."

The Parsons contract, which eventually totaled at least $75 million, was terminated May 31 "due to cost overruns, schedule slippage, and sub-standard quality," according to a Sept. 4 internal military memo. But rather than fire the Pasadena, Calif.-based company for cause, the contract was halted for "the government’s convenience."

Col. Michael Herman — deputy commander of the Gulf Region Division of the Corps of Engineers, which was supposed to oversee the project — said the Iraqi subcontractors hired by Parsons were being forced to fix the building problems as part of their warranty work, at no cost to taxpayers. He said four of the eight barracks have been repaired.

The U.S. military initially agreed to take a Washington Post reporter on a tour of the facility Wednesday to examine the construction issues, but the trip was postponed Tuesday night. Federal investigators who visited the academy last week, though, expressed concerns about the structural integrity of the buildings and worries that fecal residue could cause a typhoid outbreak or other health crisis.

"They may have to demolish everything they built," said Robert DeShurley, a senior engineer with the inspector general’s office. "The buildings are falling down as they sit."

Herman said that he doubted that was the case but that he plans to hire an architecture and engineering firm to examine the facility. He also plans to investigate concerns raised by the inspector general’s office that the Army Corps of Engineers did not properly respond to construction problems highlighted in quality-control reports.

Inside the inspector general’s office in Baghdad on a recent blistering afternoon, several federal investigators expressed amazement that such construction blunders could be concentrated in one project. Even in Iraq, they said, failure on this magnitude is unusual. When asked how the problems at the police college compared with other projects they had inspected, the answers came swiftly.

"This is significant," said Jon E. Novak, a senior adviser in the office.

"It’s catastrophic," DeShurley added.

Bowen said: "It’s the worst."

Britse kleuter in Nigeri? ontvoer

‘n Britse dogtertjie van drie jaar is Donderdagoggend in Port Harcourt, oliehoofstad, in die suide van Nigerië ontvoer. Die ontvoering het onthutsing en emosie veroorsaak onder buitelanders wat hulself in Nigerië bevind. Die ontvoerders van die klein Margaret Hill het reeds met haar vader Michael Hill in verbinding getree. Dit is nie duidelik of daar ‘n losprys gevra is nie.

Hulle het ‘n paar uur ná haar ontvoering laat weet dat die dogtertjie "gesond en veilig" is. ‘n Werknemer by ‘n oliemaatskappy wat die ontvoering voor die Educare International School gadegeslaan het, het aan die pers vertel wat gebeur het. "Die bende was in ‘n Toyota wat die Jeep Isuzu op ‘n afstand gevolg het. Skielik het hulle die voertuig afgesper en probeer om die deure oop te ruk, maar dit was gesluit."

"Toe breek hulle een van die vensters met die outomatiese wapens waarmee hulle gewapen was en gryp letterlik die kleuter deur die opening. Daarna het hulle vinnig spore gemaak sonder om ‘n skoot te skiet," vertel hy. ‘n Westerse diplomaat het Donderdag gemeen dat dit "baie ernstig is as hulle nou begin om kinders te teiken." Die kleuterskool bedien hoofsaaklik buitelandse kinders tussen die ouderdomme van 1 en 6.

Aan die einde van Mei is nog ‘n kind met ‘n oppasser en bestuurder ontvoer. Die nasionaliteit van die kind is nie bekend gemaak nie. Die vrylating het blykbaar vier dae later geskied. Dit is nie bekend of ‘n losprys geëis is nie.

Londen het die "onmiddellike vrylating" van die Hill-dogtertjie geëis asook dat haar "veiligheid verseker word". Die Foreign Office het ook op 8 Junie ‘n versoek gerig aan alle burgers om die gebied te verlaat. "Ons weet nie wie haar ontvoer het nie. Ons is in verbinding met die ouers en ons help hulle waar ons kan," het ‘n woorvoerder gesê.

"Die situasie in die state Bayelsa, Delta en Rivers is onveilig," lui die verklaring. Praktiese raad is om "nie snags en met dagbreek te bestuur nie, vermy openbare plekke in Port Harcourt waar buitelanders saamkom. Dit sluit kroeë en restaurante in." Sedert 2006 is daar reeds 180 buitelanders ontvoer in die Nigerdelta.

Sedert 2006 is altesaam 31 Britte ontvoer en een is gedood nadat die Nigeriese owerhede probeer het om die ontvoerde met geweld te bevry. Die meeste word egter na ‘n paar dae of hoogstens ‘n paar weke ongeskonde vrygelaat. Terwyl die Nigeriese regering en die multinasionale oliemaatskappye heftig ontken dat hulle ‘n losprys betaal, is dit alombekend dat dit ‘n manier is vir die ontvoerders om ‘n inkomste te genereer.

‘n Dag tevore is vyf buitelanders ontvoer, almal in die oliebedryf werksaam. Die onderneming by wie hulle in diens is, Lone Star Drilling, was besig om vir die Shell-oliemaatskappy te boor. Die aanhoudende ontvoerings het Shell en Total genoop om die gesinne van hul werknemers te ontruim en hul aktiwiteite af te skaal. Nigerië se olieproduksie het met 25% as gevolg daarvan gedaal.

магазин игрушка лобановский депутат

McBride wys sy ware kleure

Robert McBride

Lede van die SAPS het klagtes van intimidasie teen Ekurhuleni-metropolisiebeamptes ingedien na aanleiding van ’n insident wat Woensdag in Boksburg plaasgevind het. Superintendent Eugene Opperman van die SAPS het die nuus gister bekend gemaak.

Patrick Johnston, een van drie geskorste Ekurhuleni-metropolisiebeamptes, is Woensdag deur kollegas van die pad afgetrek omdat sy voertuig getinte ruite gehad het. Hy het Stanley Segathevan, ook ’n geskorste metropolisieman, gebel en sy kollega het op die toneel aangekom om hom by te staan. ’n Rusie het ontstaan en polisiehulp is deur Johnston ontbied. McBride het ook op die toneel aangekom. Die twee geskorste beamptes is uiteindelik gearresteer op klagtes dat hulle ingemeng het met die uitvoering van hul kollegas se pligte en hulle sou verset het.

Toe die polisie op die toneel verskyn, was McBride woedend. Hy het die polisielede gevloek en hulle na bewering “bobbejane en stukke k.k” genoem. Hy het verder sy metrolede opdrag gegee om te skiet indien enige van die polisielede aan hulle wapens sou raak.

Die saak teen Johnston en Segathevan is gister deur die Boksburg-hof uitgegooi weens “’n gebrek aan bewyse.” Die twee beamptes wil egter vandag ’n interdik teen McBride bekom aangesien hulle vir hul lewens vrees, ná doodsdreigemente deur McBride.

Op 21 Desember verlede jaar was Robert McBride, hoof van die Ekurhuleni-metropolisie, in ’n motorongeluk op die R51 naby Centurion betrokke. Hy was op pad terug van ’n jaareindfunksie.

Getuies op die toneel het aan koerante vertel dat McBride dronk was. Hy het hierdie bewering ten sterkste ontken. Dieselfde getuies het beweer dat hulle deur Ekurhuleni-metropolisiebeamptes aangerand is, in ’n poging om hulle te intimideer.

Stanley Segathevan, Patrick Johnstone en Ithumeleng Koko het McBride vinnig van die toneel verwyder sonder om korrekte prosedures te volg. Geen bloedtoetse is uitgevoer nie. Ná die insident het McBride en die drie beamptes egter ’n uitval gehad. Die drie het later ’n verslag by die Nasionale Vervolgingsgesag ingedien wat skynbaar verdoemende getuienis oor die insident van 21 Desember bevat. Die Nasionale Vervolgingsgesag moet nog besluit of McBride vervolg behoort te word vir roekelose bestuur en wou nie die inhoud van die verslag bekend maak nie.

remeza

Wes-Afrika sukkel ekonomies

‘n Kwynende aanvraag

‘n Swak groeikoers, duur brandstof en ‘n krisis in die katoenbedryf veroorsaak dat die agt lande wat aan die ekonomiese en monetêre liggaam UEMOA (Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine) in Wes-Afrika behoort, dit maar moeilik het. Hulle gaan genoodsaak word om hervormings aan te pak vanweë die toestande waaronder hulle tans gebuk gaan.

Verlede jaar het die groeikoers getuimel na 3,2%, twee punte onder dié van swart Afrika. In 2005 was die koers maar 4% wat ook nie genoeg is om van die armste lande ter wêreld soos Mali, Niger en Burkina Fasso, uit hul benarde posisie te lig nie. Daar is 80 miljoen mense in die UEMOA-gemeenskap, waarvan die Ivoorkus die swaargewig is. Die land worstel tans met ‘n moeilike vredesproses.

Die groeikoers in die BBP van die Gemeenskap word hierdie jaar op slegs 4% geraam. ‘n Swak prestasie wat die Wes-Afrikaanse Sentrale Bank in Dakar toeskryf aan die "skok" in die petrolprys. Die Ivoorkus beskik self oor oliebronne. Die "dalende uitvoerinkomste van grondstowwe", dws katoen, het volgens die Bank die probleem vererger.

Die Bank beweer ook dat "buitelandse skokke die delikate ekonomiese strukture" van die hoofbronne wat groei voortbring "ten nadele strek". Net twee lande, Benin (van 2,9% na 3,6%) en Togo ( van 0,8% na 1,5%) kon effense stygings toon terwyl die Ivoorkus gestagneer het met 1,8% en Senegal van 5,5% na 3,1% gedaal het. Niger is die ergste geraak met ‘n daling van 7% na 3,5%.

Die landbou- en die energiesektor in die Gemeenskap het enorme subsidies en oordragte opgeslurp, die hoogste wat dit nog ooit was in die afgelope tien jaar. Nietemin hoop die Bank dat katoen sal herstel en dat grondboontjie-uitvoere Senegal sal help nadat die nodige herstrukturering onderneem is. Die chemiese bedryf in Senegal, die grootste werkverskaffer, se skuldlas het die land ‘n gevoelige knou toegedien.

Russia wins 2014 Winter Olympics

Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi was awarded the 2014 Olympics on Wednesday, rewarding President Vladimir Putin and taking the Winter Games to his country for the first time.

Sochi defeated the South Korean city of Pyeongchang in the final round of a vote by the International Olympic Committee.

The Austrian resort of Salzburg was eliminated in the first round of the secret ballot, setting up the decisive head-to-head contest between Sochi and Pyeongchang. The vote totals were not immediately released.

The result was a triumph for Putin, who put his international prestige on the line by coming to Guatemala to lobby IOC members and lead Sochi’s final formal presentation to the assembly. Putin had left by the time the result was announced.

Ninety-seven IOC members were eligible to vote in the first round. Members from bidding countries are ineligible to vote as long as their cities remain in contention. With Salzburg out, 100 delegates were eligible in the second round.

Russia, an Olympic power which has won 293 Winter Games medals, has never hosted the Winter Games. That was a strong point in Sochi’s favor with the IOC, which likes to spread the Olympics to new host countries. Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Games, which were hit by the U.S.-led boycott following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Sochi bid won out over the appeals of its rivals — Salzburg, presenting itself as a safe, no-risk winter sports mecca at the heart of Europe with world-class venues already in place; and Pyeongchang, offering the potential for peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula and promoting winter sports in Asia.

Putin’s government has pledged US$12 billion (€8.8 billion) to develop Sochi into a world-class winter sports complex linking the palm-lined Black Sea coast — the so-called "Russian Riviera" — to the soaring Caucasus mountains nearby.

Putin emphasized his commitment by making a rare formal presentation in English to the IOC. He praised Sochi’s natural setting, saying, "On the seashore you can enjoy a fine spring day, but up in the mountains, it’s winter … a real snow is guaranteed."

Although nearly all the venues will have to be newly built, Putin assured, "We guarantee the Olympic cluster in Sochi will be completed on time."

"No traffic jams, I promise," he said with a smile.

Noting that athletes would have a short walk to their venues, Putin said, "Five minutes’ walking distance, not bad."

It was the second straight first-round defeat for Salzburg, which also mounted a failed bid for the 2010 Winter Games, which went to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Austrians were squeezed out by the political and economic might of the Russian and Korean bids.

wedding combs for

Russians threaten to counter US shield

Russia could site cruise missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, if the US goes ahead with plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe, Russia’s first deputy prime minister warned on Wednesday.

The televised comments by Sergei Ivanov – a possible successor to President Vladimir Putin – came two days after Mr Putin proposed using a new radar station being built in southern Russia in place of a planned US radar in the Czech Republic. The proposal was made during informal talks with US president George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“If our proposal is accepted, then the need will disappear for us to place … new weapons, including missiles, in the European part of the country, including Kaliningrad, to counter those threats that … will appear if the decision is taken to place the missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic,” Mr Ivanov said.

His comments, during a visit to Uzbekistan, appeared calculated to reinforce Mr Putin’s repeated warnings of a new arms race in Europe if the central European missile shield plan is implemented.

They continued Russia’s carrot-and-stick approach to Washington’s plans. Mr Putin warned last month that Moscow would once again target Europe with nuclear missiles if the US shield went ahead. He later proposed at the G8 summit that a former Soviet early warning radar in Azerbaijan be used as a substitute for the planned Czech radar.

The Pentagon welcomed the proposal – it was already considering trying to place a forward radar in the Caucasus – but made clear it could not replace the powerful tracking radar it wants to place in the Czech Republic.

Russian analysts and media had referred to missiles possibly being deployed in Kaliningrad after Mr Ivanov watched a test of a high-precision cruise missile for its existing Iskander missile system in May – on the same day Moscow tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile. But Mr Ivanov’s words were the first time the threat had been made explicitly by a senior official.

Kaliningrad has remained heavily militarised since the Soviet era. It already houses Russian Tochka missiles, though these are shorter range than the Iskander.

“[Cruise missiles] in Kaliningrad would be a direct military threat to Poland and Germany,” said Ivan Safranchuk, an analyst at the World Security Institute.

Mr Ivanov suggested the latest Russian proposals on co-operation could defuse the missile defence issue. But it was unclear whether Mr Putin’s proposal on a southern Russian radar station referred to the powerful tracking radar, which the US says is crucial because of its precision tracking which helps interceptors lock on to incoming missiles, or just another early warning radar.

Formerly the German-speaking region of East Prussia, Kaliningrad became part of the Soviet Union after 1945. In the cold war it was a military base and closed to outsiders. After the break-up of the USSR in 1991, Kaliningrad became an enclave cut off from Russia.

Mynhuis steek SEB-vennoot in die pad

Thuthukile Skweyiya

Wescoal het hulle voorsitster, Thuthukile Skweyiya, afgedank op grond van gebrek aan prestasie. Hulle soek tans na ’n ander swartekonomiesebemagtigingsvennoot. Skweyiya, vrou van minister Zola Skweyiya, Thembeka Tulwana en Johannes Nieman is nie meer lede van die Wescoal-raad nie. Al drie is lede van die SEB Fikza-konsortium. Skewyiya is verder ook voorsitter van Wesizwe Platinum.

Die oorblywende Wescoal-direkteure het Fikza se belange ter waarde van R13 miljoen teruggekoop en is tans op soek na ’n nuwe SEB-vennoot. Volgens Andre Boje, uitvoerende bestuurder van Wescoal, het hulle Fikza-vennote nie hul woord gestand gedoen deur transaksies te beding wat Wescoal in staat sou stel om hul eie steenkoolmyne in bedryf te stel nie. “Ons is op soek na mense wat kan bydra en bereid is om hulle hande vuil te maak.” Wescoal verkoop ongeveer 1,2 miljoen ton steenkool per jaar wat by derde partye aangekoop word.

Skweyiya het aan die einde van 2003 na Suid-Afrika teruggekeer toe haar kontrak as ambassadeur in Frankryk verstryk het. Sy en haar man was verlede jaar in die nuus toe dit op die lappe gekom het dat Sandi Majali van Imvume Management R65 000 aan die egpaar “geleen het“ om verbeteringe aan hulle woning in Waterkloofrif aan te bring. Dit het gebeur vier weke nadat Majali se ander maatskappy, It Lynx, by Zola Skweyiya daarop aangedring het dat die minister werk maak van hulle R400 miljoen-tender. Mev Skweyiya was verder aan die einde van 2005 deel van die uitgelese groepie wat saam met Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in die Verenigde Arabiese Emirate gaan vakansie hou het. Die besoek het die belastingbetaler R700 000 uit die sak gejaag.

In April vanjaar het Bisichi Mining vir Sipho Dube en Duku Mogoai gevra om die raad van die groep se Black Wattle-maatskappy te verlaat. Hulle het verder die transaksie gekanselleer ingevolge waarvan die twee SEB-vennote ’n aandeel van 37,5% in Black Wattle gehad het. Dube is tans besig met regsaksie teen Bisichi.

Александр Фильчаков

Nqakula gaan n?rens

Nqakula bly

Charles Nqakula, minister van veiligheid en sekuriteit, het gister ’n vergadering van Johannesburgse sakelui toegespreek. Hy het dit duidelik gemaak dat hy geen planne het om te bedank nie.

Dit volg op die bekendmaking van misdaadstatistiek gister en Afriforum se beroep op die minister om te bedank in die lig van die toename in moord, rooftogte en kapings. “Diegene wat sê ek moet bedank, moet eerder kyk na wat húlle doen in die geveg teen misdaad. “Ek gaan voort om antwoorde te soek op die probleme wat ons ondervind,“ het Nqakula gesê.

Eergister het die minister tydens ’n perskonferensie verklaar dat hy geen verband sien tussen misdaad en die Wêreldbekertoernooi van 2010 nie. “As daar ’n groot bedreiging is vir hierdie toernooi, vertel ons, want ons wil dit hanteer. Is daar ’n bom wat by die stadion sal afgaan?“

Jackie Selebi, omstrede polisiekommissaris, het by die minister aangesluit en opgemerk dat hy nie snags wakker lê “met 2010 op my voorkop nie.” Tydens dieselfde perskonferensie het Nqakula egter erken dat die toename in rooftogte “’n vernietigende impak het op die psige van die nasie” en het hy die gewelddadige aspek van misdaad as “ontstellend en onaanvaarbaar” bestempel.

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Joernalis aangerand omdat hy Kabila verfilm

‘n Kongolese joernalis is Saterdag in Kisangani, in die noorde van die DRK "met geweld" aangerand omdat hy die motorkade van President Joseph Kabila verfilm het. Dit is deur die organisasie wat homself vir die beskerming van joernaliste beywer, JED (Joernaliste in Gevaar), bekend gemaak.

In ‘n persverklaring wat AFP ontvang het, het dié nie-regeringsorganisasie "sterk beswaar aangeteken teen die aanranding van Ernest Mukuli" werksaam by die Amani radio- en tv-sender (RTA). Die sender is die eiendom van die Katolieke Kerk in Kisangani. Kabila was Saterdag in die geweste om ‘n militêre optog ter viering van die land se 47ste onafhanklikheidswording by te woon.

Die nuusman is deur vyf mans in siviele drag aangerand. Hulle het "omtrent 13:00 die stasie se ateljees binnegestorm op soek na ‘n joernalis wat hulle op die balkon van die gebou waarin die stasie gehuisves word, opgemerk het en wat besig was (…) net ná die optog, om die president van die Republiek te voet, omring deur massas mense, op film vas te lê.

Volgens die ongelukkige slagoffer het sy aanvallers by die hoofkantoor van RTA aangekom "met ‘n jeep van die Republikeinse Wag (GR)". Hulle het hom met die vuiste bygedam vóór sy kollegas voordat hulle sy televisiekamera gekonfiskeer het, het hy aan JED vertel.

Ernest Mukuli het ook gesê dat hy een van sy aanvallers herken het omdat hy hom tydens die optog opgemerk het terwyl hy besig was met die verfilming. Die Republikeinse Wag het alle betrokkenheid by die voorval ontken en gesuggereer dat die betrokke agente vir ‘n ander diens optree.

JED het die regering gevra om die skuldiges aan die pen te laat ry en ‘n beroep op instellings gedoen om "deur hul optrede hul verbintenis aan demokrasie en vryheid van spraak te bewys." Die organisasie het voorts gesê dit raak al hoe moeiliker vir nuusmense om in sekere lande alledaagse tonele te verfilm sonder dat ‘n klomp veiligheidsdienste op die persoon toesak en ‘n perskaart vereis."

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Portugal invites Mugabe

Jose Socrates, Portugal’s prime minister, on Monday launched his country’s presidency of the European Union and immediately flew to Africa, in a clear sign that he wants to boost political and economic ties between the two continents.

High on his agenda will be development, cooperation in tackling illegal migration and European economic interests in Africa, which are increasingly facing tough competition from China.

Mr Socrates intends to hold the first EU-Africa summit in seven years in Lisbon in December, but on Monday came under fire for refusing to exclude Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president from the guest list.

Glenys Kinnock, a British Labour member of the European parliament, said the meeting could offer Mr Mugabe a chance to “gloat and strut” while his people suffered at home”.

But Mr Socrates, speaking at the official launch of Portugal’s six-month presidency of the EU, said that while Europe would continue to take a tough bilateral line with Mr Mugabe’s regime, it had to develop better ties with the African Union as a whole.

“Appropriate diplomatic formulae will be found,” he said, after talks with the European Commission in the northern city of Porto. He said it was an “error for Europe” not to hold a formal dialogue with Africa.

On Monday Mr Socrates flew to Accra, the capital of Ghana, for talks with African Union leaders. He was accompanied by José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, who made his name as a Portuguese minister negotiating a peace agreement in the Angolan civil war.

Growing Chinese involvement in Africa, combined with the increasing competition for its natural resources, has spurred the EU to reconsider its approach.

Last week it unveiled a new “partnership of equals” with the continent, a recognition that it can shop around for aid and trading partners.

“Europe has a different perspective on Africa than a decade ago,” the paper says, an implicit recognition that its lecturing on human rights and corruption will have to be toned down.

“There is a much greater choice for African countries and organisations, but also for the private sector and civil society, to engage with international partners.”

In spite of the focus on Africa, Mr Socrates could have problems closer to home, particularly in dealing with Nicolas Sarkozy, French president.

Mr Socrates urged Mr Sarkozy to honour French commitments to run a balanced budget by 2010, part of a general eurozone drive to restore order to public finances.

“It is very important for the single currency and the system for people to stick to their budgetary commitments,” he said.

Mr Socrates will also try to head off Mr Sarkozy’s initiative to have a debate on the future borders of Europe, part of a French campaign to permanently exclude Turkey from the EU.

Mr Barroso meanwhile repeated calls for Poland not to reopen the painful compromise on a new EU reform treaty, the legal details of which are supposed to be wrapped in time for a summit in Lisbon in October.

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Geen datum vir Afrika-integrasie nie

Wade, Ghadaffi gesels

Die afgelope AU-beraad, gewy aan die integrasie van Afrika, het Dinsdag ten einde geloop sonder dat daar op ‘n datum besluit is vir die totstandkoming van ‘n Afrikaregering. Dit is in ‘n finale verklaring in Akkra bekend gemaak.

Die projek om die Verenigde State van Afrika op die been te bring, gedryf deur Libië, is nou verwys na vier Kommissies wat aan die "volgende algemene vergadering verslag sal doen en die nodige aanbevelings sal maak" het John Kuofor aan die einde van die drie dae wat die beraad geduur het, gesê.

Daar was geen eenstemmigheid oor die oprigting van ‘n Verenigde State van Afrika nie en afgevaardigdes was verdeel oor die idee van 15 portefeuljes wat die Libiese leier, Ghadaffi, voorgestel het wat verdediging, buitelandse sake en buitelandse handel omvat.

"Ons gaan nie die of daardie [Unie] kopieër soos die VSA of die EU nie, maar iets wat […] vir ons kontinent reg is," het die president van Ghana, Kuofor, verklaar. Een van die kommissies wat aangestel is, "sal die bande tussen nasionale regerings en ‘n unie-regering" bekyk en die "impak op die daarstelling van soewereiniteit" op state ondersoek.

Twee ander sal konsentreer op die "padkaart en datumspertye vir gemeenskaplike regering" en ook hoe dit gefinansier sal word. Die oorspronklike idee van ‘n gemeenskaplike Afrika het gekom van Kwame Nkrumah en daarom is die AU-Beraad in Akkra gehou. Ghana vier vanjaar hul vyftigste herdenking van onafhanklikheid. Daar word pertinent na Nkruma se visie in die finale Verklaring verwys.

Thabo Mbeki, wat verantwoordelik was vir die skepping van die AU tydens ‘n byeenkoms in Durban, 2002, was egter minder as optimisties oor die nuwe planne en het die wens uitgespreek dat die AU tyd gegee moet word om "ryper" te word. Mbeki is ‘n voorstander van streeksintegrasie en nie algehele integrasie nie. Die huidige AU-voorsitter, Alpha Oumar Konare, was daarenteen van mening dat konflik in die Horing van Afrika en elders net deur ‘n pan-Afrikanistiese visie opgelos sal word.

Afrika se ministers het ook aangekondig dat ‘n ontwikkelingsfonds, die Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund, opgerig gaan word. "Dit is ‘n fonds deur Afrikane wat tot die voordeel van Afrikane sal strek," het Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma gesê. Daar word gehoop om langtandbeleggers oor te haal om meer in Afrika te belê.

Japan setzt auf Atomkraft

Im Rahmen der weltweiten Klimaschutzpläne will Japan die friedliche Nutzung der Atomenergie fördern und sich als führender Exporteur von Nukleartechnik am Weltmarkt etablieren. Dies erklärte kürzlich Shunsuke Kondo, Vorsitzender der japanischen Atomenergiekommission, in Tokio. „Japan hilft Entwicklungsländern, die notwendige Infrastruktur für die Einführung der Atomenergie einzuführen“, sagte Kondo.

Hintergrund des Eifers ist Japans Klimaschutzplan „Cool Earth 50“, mit dem Ministerpräsident Shinzo Abe die Kohlendioxid-Emissionen bis 2050 halbieren will. Der Ausbau der Atomkraft ist darin ein wichtiger Eckpfeiler. Kommissionschef Kondo hofft daher, dass Japans Kraftwerksbauer globale Allianzen eingehen, um besser auf den neuen Märkten konkurrieren zu können.

Die Regierung und die Industrie ziehen dabei kräftig an einem Strang. Japans führende Kraftwerksbauer haben sich bereits für den Kampf mit ihrem Hauptrivalen Areva aus Frankreich gestärkt. Toshiba kaufte im Herbst 2006 den US-Rivalen Westinghouse und hat vorigen Monat einen Großauftrag in den USA ergattert. Hitachi hat mit General Electric die gemeinsame Entwicklung von Siedewasserreaktoren vereinbart. Und Ministerpräsident Shinzo Abe verpflichtete sich bei seinem Amerika-Besuch Ende April zu einer globalen Kampagne zur friedlichen Nutzung der Atomenergie. Nach Medienberichten soll die Initiative auf neue Brennstoff- und Reaktortechniken setzen, die in Japan entwickelt werden und sich schwerer zum Atombombenbau nutzen lassen.

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Bismarck se agter-agterkleinkind sterf onnatuurlike dood

Ná die dood van Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen, een van die agter-agterkleinkinders van die Duitse Rykskanselier Otto von Bismarck, gons dit in Londen dat die oorsaak van sy skielike afsterwe moontlik ‘n dwelmoordosis mag wees. Die Graaf was 44 jaar oud.

Langs die lyk het die polisie se ondoersoekbeamptes allerlei gereedskap gevind wat daarop dui dat die Graaf heroïensugtig was en aan ‘n oordosis gesterf het. Dit is Woensdag deur die Bild-koerant bekendgemaak. Die uitgesproke homoseksuele afstammeling van die luisterryke Kanselier was al meermale op die voorblaaie van die Britse pers, ook vanweë sy voorliefde vir wilde Londense partytjies.

‘n Woordvoerder van die Fürstlich von Bismarckschen Verwaltung (Vorstelike Bismarckse Administrasie) in Friedrichsruh in Schleswig-Holstein het gesê dat die oorledene al verskeie jare lank aan epilepsie ly en daarvoor behandel word. Die Britse owerhede het aangedui dat ‘n lykskouing gedoen sal word om die oorsaak van dood te bepaal en ‘n geregtelike ondersoek sal waarskynlik binnekort volg.

Die woordvoerder in Friedrichsruh het bygevoeg dat die familie diep geraak is deur die tragedie. Die begrafnis sal net deur sy naaste familie bygewoon word. Daar sal ook geen verdere aankondigings aan die pers gemaak word nie. Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen het as finansiële bestuurder in Londen gewerk.

Volgens Scotland Yard is Bismarck Maandagmiddag in sy woning in die luukse voorstad Chelsea oorlede. In dieselfde huis was daar verlede jaar ook ‘n voorval toe ‘n kuiergas van die huis se dakterras na benede gestort het terwyl ‘n partytjie aan die gang was. Die Graaf was glo nie betrokke by die man se dood nie.

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