Nigerian police names two suspects believed to be responsible for bombings

Nigerian police has named two suspects, Chima Orlu and Ben Jessy, believed to be responsible for the Independence Day bombings in Abuja. Assistant Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Ojukwu said arrests were made, but gave no further details.

The police confirmed that 10 people were killed and 36 injured, including 11 policemen. Ojukwu said the blasts destroyed six vehicles, damaged 18 "and shattered the glasses of a hotel nearby". He said forensic experts were in the process of checking, "about a hundred vehicles trapped in the vicinity of the blasts to ascertain the make, composition and origin of the explosives", adding that as soon as the examination was over, "the vehicles will be released to their owners and the roads re-opened to normal traffic".

President Goodluck Jonathan said that those behind last Friday's [1st October] attacks will soon be "named and shamed,” before adding that the two suspects are most likely memebers of “a small terrorist group that resides outside Nigeria and was sponsored to carry out the evil act. We are on their trail and will ensure that until they are arrested and brought to book, we will not rest.”

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) was initially thought to be responsible for the attacks, but Jonathan no longer believes that to be the case. Speaking about the matter he said, "we have contacted members of Mend and they say they know nothing about it. Anybody that hides under the umbrella of Mend to carry out those acts will soon be exposed".

Source: All Africa

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

Brazil's presidential elections will go to second round

The Brazilian presidential elections will go to second round as Dilma Rousseff has failed to get 50 per cent of the votes required to secure an outright victory. As it currently stands Rousseff has 47 per cent of the votes, while Jose Serra has secured 33 per cent. The two will contest a run-off vote in four weeks' time.

It is believed that a strong result by the Green Party candidate, Marina Silva, who polled 19 per cent, may have hindered Rousseff's chances for a first-round win. President Lula's former cabinet chief, is the favoured successor to the President, who has completed two terms and cannot run for a third.

"We are warriors, and we are accustomed to challenges... We do well in second rounds," Rousseff said in a speech in Brasilia after the result was announced.

Dilma Rousseff was the front runner for much of the campaign, helped by Lula's support and widespread popularity. However, analysts believe that recent allegations of corruption may hinder her chances in the runoff.

Source: BBC News

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

Nigeria's celebrations disrupted by bombs

According to the latest reports from our sources in Nigeria, at least eight people have been killed in an explosion in the country's capital Abuja. Nigerian police have confirmed that the explosion was caused by car bombs outside the Justice Ministry.

Earlier in the day, militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) had issued a threat to target Nigeria's celebrations marking 50 years since independence from the UK.

In the message, Mend, who is demanding a fairer distribution of the country's oil revenues, said there was "nothing worth celebrating after 50 years of failure".

President Goodluck Jonathan, who was inspecting a guard of honour at the time, called the attack a "wicked act of desperation by criminals and murderers".

Most of Mend's leaders are observing a ceasefire and have already disassociated themselves from the attack, but a small faction within the group is discontented with the government's handling of an amnesty process in the Niger Delta. It is believed that this faction is behind the attack.

The two bombs went off about five minutes apart. Police said the bombs appeared timed to do most damage to those who responded to the first blast.

"There were more casualties at the second explosion because the first explosion drew crowds to the scene, which is close to the second explosion," said an unnamed intelligence officer.

President Jonathan is himself from the Niger Delta region and according to one senior rebel leader he is be the best person to solve the crisis in the Delta, as he understands its problems.

Source: BBC News

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

Kidnapped children released unharmed but kidnappings in the region are on the rise

Throughout the week there has been a huge public outcry about the kidnapping of 15 schoolchildren from Nigeria's south-eastern town of Aba. President Jonathan took charge, directing the new Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim and the heads of all other security agencies to collaborate in order to secure the immediate release of the children, condemning the kidnapping as “utterly callous and cruel”.

Fortunately, there was a happy ending to the story and on Friday 1st October, the children were rescued from a forest hideout in Ogwe-Asa by the security services. Police Commissioner Jonathan Johnson said that no arrests had been made and he was not aware that any ransom money had been paid. The children are in police custody and will be returned to their parents later today.

Around 5,000 extra soldiers have been deployed to the area to prevent the kidnappers from escaping and there are roadblocks in Aba city centre with many shops and businesses - which had shut down following the abduction fearing further attacks – remaining closed.

Kidnapping incidents in Abia State have risen sharply and the past few months have seen the targets shift from expatriates and wealthy public figures and their families, to ordinary citizens. Increased and improved security for the former has compelled kidnappers to resort to abducting ordinary middle class Nigerians who do not have such access to well-armed private security.

Until recently, kidnapping was largely confined to the Niger Delta militants who abducted expatriates as part of their campaign against the perceived injustice meted out by the government and the IOCs to indigent Niger Delta communities. Now, however, criminals in other parts of Nigeria have since largely abandoned armed robbery, which was the most prevalent criminal activity, and have taken to kidnapping instead, after observing the Niger Delta militants' success in obtaining more money from a single kidnapping incident than several robberies.

Abia State's Governor Theodore Orji has said that he is at his wits' end and at a loss as to how to stop the growing menace of kidnapping, especially because his offer of unconditional amnesty to stop their criminal activities yielded no results and has now been withdrawn. The Federal Government may soon have to declare a state of emergency in Abia State - especially in view of the forthcoming elections. It is currently unlikely that elections can be held there if the kidnappings go unchecked, because both politicians and the electorate are afraid of the menace of kidnappers and, therefore, there has been little or no election campaign activity in the State.

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

© 2010 Menas Associates

Egyptian authorities release Hamas top security official

On 24th September, the Egyptian authorities released Mohammed Dabbesh, a top security official of the Palestinian Hamas movement. He had been held for 10 days for what the state media in Egypt termed weapons smuggling into the Israeli-occupied Gaza strip. The detention would have signalled to Hamas that they are not free to act independently of Egypt.

Egypt is very wary of the Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) authorities ruling the Gaza strip, because of its close spiritual and other links with the Muslim Brotherhood. It has traditionally backed the secular leadership of Fatah which controls the West Bank. However, Egypt has historic and other reasons for its interest in the Gaza strip. Egypt administered the Gaza strip between 1948 and its seizure by Israel in the 1967 war. And Egypt shares a border with Gaza, though not with the West Bank.

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

© 2010 Menas Associates

Kazakhmys invests in expanding coal plant to meet rising power demand

London-listed Kazakhmys has pledged to invest some $400 million in expanding productionfrom the Ekibastuz coal-fired power plant in the Pavlodar oblast to meet rising power demand in Kazakhstan. The company, which owns a 50 per cent stake in the plant, plans to raise output from Ekibastuz to 3,500MW by end-2014,accelerating its long-term investment programme by some 12 months. The other 50 per cent stake in the plant is owned by state holding company Samruk-Kazyna, which purchased its equity from Kazakhmys in March for $681 million.

Ekibastuz is currently producing around 2,500MW from five out of eight turbines, and the plan is for the other three turbines to be put back into operation, nudging production back towards its previous level of 4,000MW. One of the three is now being upgraded, with work on a second due to kick off soon. Kazakhmys supplies around 80 per cent of its electricity output to the Kazakh grid, with the remainder sent north to Russia. Average electricity tariffs rose more than 60 per cent in the first half of the year compared to H1 2009.

It's been a good year so far for Kazakhmys, which reported an 11 per cent rise in first-half profits compared to last year, on the back of higher prices for its copper sales. In January-June, Kazakhmys recorded a net income of $574 million, with revenues rising over 35 per cent to $1.52 billion. In addition to its copper and electricity interests, Kazakhmys owns a 26 per cent interest in its rival London-listed mining firm ENRC, which was the focus of a Kazakhmys takeover approach more than two years ago. The company also has zinc and gold assets in Kazakhstan and is involved in low-level oil and gas exploration. Kazakhmys is part-owned by the Kazakh government, which is represented on the board by Daulet Yergozhin, head of the tax committee at the ministry of finance.

For more news and expert analysis about the Caspian region, please see Caspian Focus.

© 2010 Menas Associates

The murder of Merzouk

Around 4:00 a.m. on 12th August, a Tuareg known as Merzouk, whose proper name was Sidi Mohamed ag Chérif, was executed by kidnappers, believed to be members of AQIM, in the Tigharghar mountains of northeastern Mali. Media speculation focused on two assumed motives. One is that it was revenge for his involvement in an attack on the (GSPC)/AQIM emir Mokhtar ben Mokhtar (MBM) in 2006 in which Mokhtar's right-hand man was killed. The other is that he was found to be carrying documents from an unspecified Western embassy in Bamako and was therefore presumably a spy.

The most authoritative account is given on the local Kidal.info website. From this account, it is evident that Merzouk had led a chequered and dangerous life as a Tuareg rebel, a guide to the Malian customs service (with the rank of lieutenant), and an agent for Mali's state security service. He also had a long history of association with MBM, the GSPC, and AQIM. However, one thing not mentioned is that Merzouk, according to another reliable local source, was in regular communication with the US embassy in Bamako. It is therefore possible that he was perceived by AQIM as a spy for the infidel.

Kidal.info mentions that shortly before Merzouk was kidnapped and assassinated, a young friend of his had been captured in Tigharghar by AQIM on suspicion of spying for Merzouk. This tallies with information from Menas sources in the region, namely that Merzouk had given one of his 'cousins' (i.e., close relations) a motorbike and satellite phone and sent him into Tigharghar to get information for him.

The young man's captors ordered him to call Merzouk and to arrange to meet him, whereupon he was kidnapped and then killed. It is therefore quite conceivable that Merzouk was killed by AQIM both for spying on them and for having identified and tracked down several of their members for crimes, such as theft, committed in Mali. However, informed opinion within Algeria is suggesting that his death may have been ordered by the DRS, either because Merzouk, like Lamana Ould Bou before him, had discovered its role in AQIM or as a warning to the Americans that if they want information on the region and AQIM, they must approach the DRS and not try to operate independently.

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.