Opposition MP renews veiled attack on party leadership

Samia Nkrumah, the opposition CPP's outspoken MP for Jomoro, has warned that the party will continue to struggle if it does not elect “credible and transparent” leaders, a veiled attack on Paa Kwesi Nduom, the party's lacklustre presidential candidate in 2008.

Daughter of Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah, Samia Nkrumah accused the current CPP leadership of failing to inspire confidence and losing touch with core party activists.

Nkrumah, who is contesting the CPP's chairmanship position, said the party needs fresh faces and a radically different approach.

“We need to move away from negative campaigning and focus on issues. We need that approach in politics. We need to rise above the pettiness and not be concerned with personality and maligning each other, but just focus on the work on the ground,” she said.

Nduom, however, has played down rumours of disunity within the party ranks.

He says that the current problems facing the CPP are “minor” compared to the crises that characterised both the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of their respective party congresses.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Sea Trucks gets Hyundai contract

The Sea Trucks Group has announced a contract award from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for Total in Nigeria. The project comprises the charter of a DP3

accommodation support vessel and associated services for 430 company personnel at the USAN FPSO, located 100km offshore Nigeria inwater depths of 750 m to support the mooring, hook-up, commissioning, and start-up activities of the FPSO.

One of Sea Trucks' DP3 offshore construction/ accommodation vessels, with fleet number Jascon 30, will be used for the project with a new custom-built portable accommodation block installed on deck to provide extra facilities for 184 people. After Akpo in Nigeria and Girassol and Pazflor in Angola this is the fourth accommodation services project the group will execute for Total.

The work is expected to start at the end of July and to continue for a minimum of nine months with options to extend.

For more news and expert analysis about Nigeria, please see Nigeria Focus and Nigeria Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Security situation in Iraq worse than a year ago

A new report issued by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Junior shows that the security situation in Iraq is more dangerous than it was a year ago.

The news comes as the US military prepares to withdraw its troops. Speaking about the situation, Bowen noted that the killing of US soldiers and Iraqi officials has risen, along with the number of attacks in Baghdad.

The remaineder 47,000 US troops are expected to withdraw from Iraq by the end of the year, despite fears that Iraqi security forces may not be able to cope.

In his quarterly report to the Congress, Bowen concluded that “Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work… It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago."

The report cited the deaths of 15 US soldiers in June, one of the most violent month for the US military in two years, but also said more Iraqi officials had been assassinated in the past few months than in any other recent period. The report noted that while the US and Iraqi security forces have subdued the threat from the Sunni based insurgency, Shi'a militias are believed to have become more active.

Additionally, the report said the north-eastern province of Diyala, bordering Iran, was "very unstable" with frequent bombings resulting in very high death tolls.

Sources: BBC News, Reuters, Bloomberg

For more news and expert analysis about Iraq, please see Iraq Focus.

Vietnam and US sign military co-operation agreement

The US navy released a statement saying US and Vietnam have signed a co-operation agreement in Hanoi, paving way for a future military relationship. The statement said, the two countries will work together on health, setting the stage for exchanges and research collaboration in military medicine.

The new agreement marks the first formal military co-operation between the former foes since the neutralisation of diplomatic relations in 1995. The Navy's Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr said the agreement was not politically motivated but based on prospective future collaboration on health issues.

Robinson explained: “Medicine and medical research are universal languages that all countries and cultures understand. Diseases affect us all in the same way…By working together in areas such as infectious disease research, we not only help each other, we help the world meet these global health challenges."

The US is expanding military co-operation with the Southeast Asian nation despite concerns over Vietnam's human rights record. In fact, in recent months, a number of US lawmakers have urged President Barack Obama's administration to improve relations with Vietnam contingent on improvements in human rights.

Sources: AFP, The Australian

For more news and expert analysis about Vietnam, please see Vietnam Focus.

Egypt: Mubarak's trial venue changed

Egyptian officials have announced that deposed president Hosni Mubarak's trial will not be held at a Cairo convention centre, due to unspecified security reasons. The trial, set to commence on Wednesday 3rd August, will now be held at a police academy further from the city centre.

Mubarak has been under arrest at a hospital in the coastal resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh since April. There has been speculation about his failing health, including fears about cancer. It has most recently been reported that Mubarak is refusing to eat solids and is looking very gaunt. These reports have not been verified by an independent source.

The former president is charged with corruption and ordering the killing of protesters before he was toppled in February.

President of Appeals Court Abdel Aziz Omar said Mubarak's trial was being moved "because it is difficult to guarantee the protection of the other place".

Speaking to MENA news agency, Assistant Justice Minister Mohammed Munie said the police academy auditorium where the trial will now take place can hold 600 people. He added that an enclosure for the defendants has already been installed.

Sources: BBC News, Bloomberg, The Guardian

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

Libyan rebel commander Abdel Fattah Younes' killed

On Saturday 30th July, rebel minister Ali Tarhouni announced that Libyan rebel commander Gen Abdel Fattah Younes was killed by suspected members of an Islamist group, Obaida Ibn Jarrah.

Younes, who defected in February, had been loyal to Qadhafi since the 1969 coup, which brought the Libyan Leader to power.

Following news of Younes' death and NATO's latest air campaign which bombed Libyan state TV transmitters, Qadhafi delivered another characteristically defiant statement saying: “The will of the Libyan people is stronger than Crusader aggression." He also vowed to "never to abandon" the fight against the rebels and the Western forces.

It is thought that Younes was killed by militants working alongside the rebels, but it remains possible that his death may have been carried out by people working for the Qadhafi regime. The exact culprits responsible for the death of Qadhafi's former interior minister are yet to be determined by the National Transitional Council (NTC), which is investigating the incident.

An unnamed TNC official said Younes' death was "regrettable but containable". He added: "This is not a revolution based on one man…It is based on six million people."

This latest mishap will compound growing doubts about the armed opposition, its ability to govern, fight as a united front and about the power of Islamist factions. Qadhafi's government in Tripoli has repeatedly warned the West that the rebels may have links with various Al-Qa'ida groups, and although there is no concrete evidence of this, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the murder of Younes was "a nice slap [in] the face of the British” after it officially recognised the council in Benghazi as the government of Libya. He added that the TNC was not capable of capturing or governing Libya because it coundn't even “protect its own commander of the army."

Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.

Nigerian government keen to enter negotiations with Boko Haram

Following a number of bombings and attacks across Nigeria, the government says it is keen to begin peace negotiations with Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The government stipulated that it would open talks with the group and report back on progress by 16th August.

There has been no official response to the statement by Boko Harm. The militant group, based in northern Nigeria, is fighting to overthrow the government and turn Nigeria into an Islamic State.

The group, based in Maiduguri, has been responsible for a number of bombings and shooting across Nigeria. The recent resurgence in militant activity comes after a relatively peaceful interval, following a Boko Haram uprising across a number of states in 2009.

In the statement released by the Nigerian government, President Goodluck Janathan appointed seven people, including the ministers of defence and labour, to a negotiation committee. He said the committee's role would be to act "as a liaison between the federal government ... and Boko Haram and to initiate negotiations with the sect".

The statement added that the panel, to be inaugurated on Tuesday 2nd August, would also work with Nigeria's national security adviser to ensure that security forces acted with every "professionalism".

Sources: BBC News, Reuters, AFP

For more news and expert analysis about Nigeria, please see Nigeria Focus and Nigeria Politics & Security.