Rare gorillas threatened by rebels
(CNN) -- The survival of several hundred rare gorillas is threatened by rebel fighters who have taken over the animals' sanctuary, a spokeswoman for the Virunga National Park said Tuesday.
The gorilla sector of the park "has been swallowed up in this conflict," said Samantha Newport, communications director for the refuge.
She fears for the animals' safety, not least because mountain gorillas do not always flee the sound of gunfire and mortars, she said.
"There are documented cases of the gorillas getting caught in the crossfire and getting killed," she said. "It's the chaos of war and they are right in the middle of it."
That leaves the situation "extremely precarious" for the critically endangered species, she said.
About 200 of the world's 700 known mountain gorillas lived in the park when rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's men took control of the gorilla section last year, Newport said. At least nine gorillas are known to have been killed in Virunga National Park last year.
There are no mountain gorillas in captivity, she added. "The mountain gorillas live in the wild. They don't reproduce in captivity."
Nkunda's fighters seized the headquarters of the park on October 26, park officials announced last month, a move park director Emmanuel de Merode called "unprecedented."
The seizure forced hundreds of rangers who normally monitor the gorillas to flee.
The rangers "track and monitor the mountain gorillas," freeing them from snares and intervening medically in life-threatening situations, Newport said. "It's really important to keep track on a daily basis."
That has been impossible for weeks, she said. "There has been a complete lack of knowledge about the gorillas for some time. Nkunda's forces control about 50 percent of the park, including the gorilla sector."
The gorilla section of the park lies in a strategically important area near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda, she explained.
Fighting between Congolese government soldiers and rebels led by Nkunda has displaced more than 250,000 people. That's in addition to roughly 800,000 who already had been driven from their homes, according to the United Nations.
On Sunday, even as there was fighting in North Kivu province, Nkunda met with Olusegun Obasanjo, the U.N. special envoy for the area.
"Laurent Nkunda engaged on two things in my presence: the respect of the ceasefire on the one hand and on the other, the maintenance of humanitarian corridors in order to give unconditional access to assist vulnerable populations," Obasanjo said following the meeting.
But Obasanjo said nobody could say for certain what Nkunda wanted to gain from his offensive.
Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Africa's oldest national park. It was formerly known as Albert National Park
Electoral commission approved
17/11/2008 12:07 - (SA)
Khartoum - Sudan's parliament on Monday approved an electoral commission, a crucial step towards scheduled national polls and a democratic transition laid out in peace arrangements after a 21-year civil war.
The nine-member commission, which will be headed by a former vice president of Sudan and political independent from the south, was passed overwhelmingly by 298 votes for and 12 votes against, said an AFP reporter.
Two women were also given positions on the commission.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed by north and south after a devastating two-decade civil war, calls for elections no later than 2009, although efforts to implement the accord have hit major delays.
The electoral law was approved by parliament on July 7, two and a half years late. The electoral commission should have been appointed within a month of its approval.
AFP (www.news24.com)
Africans elated by first black U.S. president
(CNN) -- Celebrations erupted in Barack Obama's ancestral home in Kenya and across Africa as the U.S. Democratic candidate made history by being elected America's first African-American president.
In the western Kenyan village of Kogelo, where Obama's father grew up, people partied in the streets. But the biggest party of all was at the house of Obama's grandmother, 86-year-old Sarah Obama, who could not resist doing a victory dance of her own.
Speaking in the local language, Sarah Obama said she planned to one day visit her now-world-famous grandson, whom she still calls "Barry." To a roar of laughter, she said she's afraid she may die of happiness when she sees him next.
In true African style, Kogelo villagers slaughtered a boar to give thanks for Obama's presidential win.
"We are going to have a feast and eat every single meal we have," Sarah Obama said with laughter.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the entire country was proud of Obama's presidential victory. He said the government declared Thursday a public holiday to celebrate the win, which he said offered hope for Kenya and the world.
"It gives them confidence in themselves that everything is achievable," Odinga told CNN.
"If somebody sets his mind to it, has the confidence and commitment, this is what Obama's victory really means -- not just to young Kenyans but to the youth all over the world -- (believing) in the ability of one to achieve what one sets out to do."
With a population of less than 1,000, Kogelo is a normally sleepy place that has found itself transformed by Obama's political success. Campaign posters shout Obama's name and vendors sell CDs of his speeches and T-shirts bearing his picture.
Obama has visited the village before. His first visit was in 1987, just after his father died. When he visited his grandmother in 2006, Obama already drew huge crowds.
Besides his grandmother, Kogelo is also home to Obama's uncle, Said Obama; aunt, Hawa Auma; and half-brother, Malik Obama, who says he speaks regularly to his sibling.
Thousands of people have been posting messages on CNN blogs congratulating Obama and America after the Democrat's victory over Republican rival John McCain.
Yvonne Okwara, from Kenya, wrote: "Obama's win is so personal to so many of us, it continues to amaze me. One thing America has taught us today is that true democracy never dies."
Basimane Bogopa, from Botswana, added: "Americans have shown once again, why they are world leaders. Obama's victory has shown me that the American dream is real, you just have to dream. My heart is filled with joy."
Many Africans believe an Obama presidency will help the impoverished continent. His victory is likely to seal America's reputation in the minds of many Africans as a land of opportunity.
And for South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, the election of America's first is a symbol of hope.
"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," Mandela said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.
Zimbabweans in remote area eat termites to survive
MHANGURA, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days.
Rebecca Chipika, a child of 9, prods a stick into a termite mound to draw out insects. She sweeps them into a bag for her family's evening meal.
These scenes from a food catastrophe are unfolding in Doma, a district of rural Zimbabwe where journalists rarely venture. It's a stronghold of President Robert Mugabe's party and his enforcers and informants are everywhere.
At a school for villagers visited by The Associated Press, enrollment is down to four pupils from 20. The teachers still willing to work in this once thriving farming and mining district 160 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Harare, the capital, say parents pay them in corn, cooking oil, goats or chickens. One trip by bus to the nearest bank to draw their government salaries costs more than teachers earn in a month.
Meanwhile, the country is in political paralysis following disputed elections in March. A power-sharing deal signed two months ago has stalled over the allocation of ministries between Mugabe's party and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
Shingirayi Chiyamite is a trader from Harare who brings household goods to the countryside to barter for crops. He says a 12-inch bar of laundry soap exchanges for 22 pounds of corn. He crisscrosses the land in search of the few villages that have corn to spare, hauls his purchases to the highway and hitchhikes back to the city. Some of the corn will feed his family, the rest he sells. He is constantly on the move.
"If you rest, you starve," he says.
Information is almost as scarce as food. Survival is the obsession.
Cell phones operate only sporadically. State radio has not been received since the district relay beacon broke down eight months ago.
Mhangura, a town of about 3,000 people, has had no running water for months. Power outages happen daily because of a lack of cash to maintain utilities. People walk about three miles to a dam to fill pails or gasoline cans.
Some of the scarce water is used to embalm the dead in wet sand, a centuries-old African tradition to preserve a body until family members gather for the burial.
"There's nothing here. People are dying of illness and hunger. Burial parties are going out every day," said Michael Zava, a trader in Mhangura.
The hospital that serves the district is closed, and so is its small morgue, so there's no way of telling how many are dying, Zava said. Children's hair is discoloring, a sign of malnutrition. Adults are wizened and dressed in rags -- they have no cash for new clothes.
Zava said he has seen villagers plucking undigested corn kernels from cow dung to wash and eat. A slaughtered goat is eaten down to everything but hooves, bones and teeth. Crickets, cicadas and beetles also can make a meal.
The food crisis began after 2000, when Mugabe launched an often violent campaign to seize white-owned farms and give them to veterans of his guerrilla war against white rule over the former British colony.
Officials from Mugabe's party toured the Doma district recently and told the new farm owners that the government could not supply their needs. People were advised to make do with what seed they had left, and with animal manure for fertilizer.
Ordinarily, after harvest the cotton fields are burned to protect the next year's crop from disease. Not this year. People couldn't afford to buy new seeds, and were hoping to get another season out of last year's crop. Instead, the crops came up diseased.
Pasture has been burned by poachers to scare rabbits and rodents into traps. Deer are being hunted for food, and lions from remote parts of the Doma region and Chenanga nature reserve are killing cattle, donkeys and goats, villagers said.
Jackals, baboons and goats compete with villagers for roots and wild fruits.
The wild guava season is over and matamba, a hard orange-like fruit, cannot safely be eaten until ripe. Villagers pick the fruit and cover it with donkey or cow dung, leaving it in the sun to hasten ripening.
Katy Phiri, the grandmother collecting corn kernels, said she put her trust in God.
"There's nothing else I can do," she said. "I have never gone this hungry before."
After eight years of research, two South African developed HIV vaccines are to become the first African vaccines to undergo human clinical trials in the United States.
The South African Aids Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), which is a programme of the Medical Research Council (MRC) and is supported by the South African government, announced that the first phase of safety trials will begin in Boston, USA this week. 
