Namibia Plans for Presidential Inauguration

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New Era (Windhoek)
January 26, 2005
By Surihe Gaomas

PREPARATIONS for the much anticipated inauguration of
President elect Hifikepunye Pohamba have begun, barely seven
weeks to D-day on March 21.

The inauguration ceremo-ny will take place at the same time
as the celebration of the country's 15 years of independence,
as well as the stepping down of founding President Sam
Nujoma.

Pohamba is expected to take over the baton from the incumbent
President Sam Nujoma, who has served three terms of office as
the country's first head of state.

At the very first meeting held last week, permanent
secretaries of various government ministries met at the Prime
Minister's Office to establish sub-committees. During the
meeting, the various government officers decided to establish
seven sub-committees, that fall under the National
Preparatory Committee (NPC). These include committees that
will deal with protocol and security and to be chaired by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the transport committee to fall
under the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication; the
entertainment committee that would be under the ambit of the
Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture.

Finance would be handled by Foreign Affairs and the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting has been tasked with
information and publicity. The Ministry of Regional and Local
Government and Housing would be responsible for catering.

Secretary to Cabinet Frans Kapofi chaired the meeting and
told New Era that this was just the beginning of the
preparations. The acting permanent secretary at the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting, Wilma Deetlefs said it was
too early to give an indication of what activities are being
planned for this watershed event since officials are
currently dealing with the preliminary work.

The seven committees have been tasked with drawing up
proposals on how to handle Namibia's 15th independence
celebrations on March 21 when a new era will be ushered in.

It is however government's policy that after every five
years, independence celebrations are primarily held in the
capital. In this regard, the regions are therefore invited by
government to become part of the celebrations in the capital.

The recent meeting was primarily geared towards setting the
tone for subsequent meetings. The next series of meetings
will be held every Wed-nesday starting tomorrow. The seven
technical committees are expected to hand in their
suggestions to the National Preparatory Committee at these
meetings.

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27 January 2005

CAIRO - The Sudanese air force bombed villagers in South
Darfur, the African Union reported. An international aid
organization said casualties were inflicted.

“It is a major cease-fire violation,� the senior AU political
officer for Sudan, Jean Baptiste Natama, said of the
bombardment near Shangil Tobaya, 65 kilometers (40 miles)
south of El Fasher.

Fighting in nearby districts of South Darfur last week caused
more than 9,000 people to flee their homes, a U.N. spokesman
said Wednesday.

“It has been confirmed that Hamada village was nearly totally
destroyed and that up to 105 civilians may have been killed,
with the majority of victims being women and children,�
spokesman George Somerwill told reporters at the UN offices
in Khartoum. He did not say whether rebel or pro-government
forces were responsible.

Darfur rebels have often accused the Sudanese government of
using its air force against civilians, and the state has
usually denied such charges. It is rare that aerial
bombardments are confirmed by the African Union, which has
about 1,400 cease-fire monitors and protection troops in the
western Sudan region.

Sudanese government officials could not be reached for
comment late Wednesday.

An air force Antonov dropped bombs outside the town of
Shangil Tobaya at about 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), the Khartoum-based
official of an NGO said in a phone interview.

Field workers of the same NGO in Shangil Tobaya saw the bombs
exploding on the ground and saw the Antonov circling
overhead, the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.

Natama said he intended to report the bombardment to the
African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa as well as the
African Union meeting of foreign ministers, which is due to
convene Thursday and Friday in Abuja, Nigeria.

The NGO official said his field workers reported about 25
people took refuge in Shangil Tobaya before and after the
bombardment as they were fleeing fighting outside the town.

Some of them were “war wounded,� the official said. He did
not have figures for the casualties.

The official said local people reported that Sudan Liberation
Army rebels have been fighting pro-government Janjaweed
militia and regular Sudanese troops in the area around
Shangil Tobaya for two weeks.

Previously, the NGO field workers had heard what sounded like
an aerial bombardment, but Wednesday was the first time they
actually saw one.

The parties to the conflict signed a cease-fire in April 2004
and a similar commitment in November, but the agreement has
been broken many times.

The Darfur conflict, which the United Nations describes as
the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, began in February 2003
when the Sudan Liberation Army and allied Justice and
Equality Movement took up arms against what they saw as years
of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of
African origin.

The government responded with a counter-insurgency campaign
in which the Janjaweed, an Arab militia, committed wide-scale
abuses against the African population. An estimated 1.8
million people have been displaced in the conflict.

Hardships including disease and malnutrition are believed to
have killed more than 70,000 of Darfur’s displaced people
since March 2004. But many more have been killed in fighting,
although no firm estimate of the direct toll of the war
exists.