Color Daily Africa

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Guinea's injured military leader is calling on his supporters to back plans for a transitional government.

In his first public comments since being shot in the head six weeks ago, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara called for calm and national unity in the pursuit of a transitional government and democratic elections in June.
Captain Camara says ethnic prejudices in human relations and politics are detrimental to building democracy. He says he fully supports plans for a transitional government announced last week by acting leader Defense Minister Sekouba Konate.
Key parts of that plan - including foreign military observers and a ban on soldiers running for office - have previously been rejected by Captain Camara's allies, leading some to suggest that he has been forced into this plan, in part, because of his poor health.
Captain Camara says the plan announced last week was not imposed on him or on the people of Guinea and offers a quick way out of the political crisis that began when he took power in a coup 13 months ago.
There had been concern that Captain Camara's return to Conakry could lead to further violence.
Captain Camara says he knows that some supporters are demonstrating for his return. He wants them to go back to work in peace because, he says, he will be with them soon.
Captain Camara says his health is greatly improved and his life is out of danger. But to continue that improvement, he needs to rest. Captain Camara says he is free to recover wherever he likes, though for the time being he will remain in Burkina Faso.
Captain Camara says Guinea's military should set aside personal considerations and ethnicity because there is nothing to gain from further confrontation.
He was shot December 3 by the former chief of the presidential guard, who says Captain Camara was trying to blame him for the killing of opposition demonstrators in September. A United Nations inquiry into that violence says there are sufficient grounds for presuming that Captain Camara has direct criminal responsibility for that killing.

The regionally-backed transition plan calls for a 101-member interim authority run by General Konate and a prime minister chosen by the opposition coalition of political parties, civil society groups, and trade unions. That coalition has nominated both civil society spokesman Jean-Marie Dore and labor leader Hadja Rabiatou Sérah Diallo. General Konate now decides who will be the new prime minister.

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Officials in Senegal have been swift to offer their country's aid to help Haiti, but some Senegalese question elements of the proposal.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade announced the country will donate $1 million in emergency aid to help Haiti, in addition to offering land to Haitians who want to relocate to Senegal.
A local karate instructor, Ibrahima Sane, thinks it is a good idea to offer aid and temporary refuge to Haitians who want to come to West Africa. But, he says, he does not agree with offering them land.
Sane says offering them land is encouraging them to stay permanently. Days after last week's earthquake in Haiti left hundreds of thousands homeless, Wade said any Haitian who wanted to move to the West African country would be offered land.
Wade's spokesman called it an offer of repatriation, and he recalled Haitians ancestral ties to Africa. Moustapha Konte, who works for the Regional Council of Dakar, says it is natural to share solidarity with Haitians because they share great-great-grandparents with Africans.
Konte added that Wade is a Pan-African, who believes in a united Africa, so he is not surprised at the president's declaration of solidarity with Haitians.
They have been confronted with a bad situation, said Konte. They would be welcome here.
Wade said the amount and location of the land depended on how many Haitians arrived, but it would be a fertile parcel - not in the sub-Saharan country's desert areas.
Senegal's Mining Minister also announced that Senegal will hold a telethon to help Haitians.
Despite Senegal's relative stability in West Africa, unemployment is high and basic infrastructure such as electricity poses daily obstacles for the population.

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A record ransom payment has secured the release of a massive oil tanker seized in November by Somali pirates. Piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia nearly doubled in 2009 from the previous year.

The Maran Centaurus was the second-largest vessel ever captured and was carrying an estimated 2 million barrels of oil.
The pirates claim they received $5.5 million for the ship's freedom, but a separate figure places the amount dropped on the ship at $7 million. Both are believed to exceed any previous figure paid to the Somali sea bandits.
Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program says others involved in securing the deal also reportedly took home a significant sum.
"Later we came to learn that they paid about $7 million, which was dropped on the ship, and $2 million was taken a separate way. I think that $2 million went maybe to the translators and others," he said.

The Greek-flagged vessel had onboard 28 mostly Filipino and Greek crew members who are reported to be safe and in good condition as the ship is escorted to safe harbor.
The record haul has stoked divisions within the competing piracy gangs in the northern Somali area. Armed helicopters reportedly had to fend off surrounding speed boats who were attempting to take control of the ship prior to the drop-off.
The situation is reportedly tense onshore where the pirates are still haggling over the demanded cuts on the payment. Regional watchdog group Ecoterra International says a couple pirates were killed in a gun battle as the cash was being brought ashore.
The number of sea attacks globally are on the rise, driven by the growing audacity and capacity of the Somali piracy business, which accounts for more than half of all pirate activity worldwide.
Poverty, lawlessness, and local grievances over exploited fishing waters fueled the rise of the now-lucrative domestic industry, the massive rewards of which are reported to be causing whirlwinds within Somalia's strong clan-based traditional culture.
The Horn of Africa nation has been without a functioning central government for nearly 20 years.
The freed ship was only slightly smaller than the Sirius Star, which was hijacked in November 2008. That vessel was released two months later after a reported ransom of $3 million.
The sums demanded by the bandits have sharply risen as each negotiated settlement creates a new precedent for payment.
The cargo aboard the Maran Centaurus is worth an estimated $150 million

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The U.S. human rights monitoring group Freedom House says Africa ranks as the "bleakest" region in a bleak year in terms of political rights and civil liberties in 2009. But positive developments did take place in one country, often cited as among the world's least free.

Freedom House Research Director Arch Puddington says Africa fared very poorly in its latest survey.
"This past year, the year 2009, Africa declined more than any other region in the world. There were a total of 16 countries in Africa that showed declines and the number of improvements was considerably smaller than that," he said.
Coups, constitutional changes to extend presidential terms, repression, poor governance and a lack of the rule of law marked many parts of Africa last year.
Puddington says the data Freedom House collected is worrisome because erosions of freedom were recorded in what had been reform-minded countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique, and regional heavyweights like Nigeria and Kenya as well as in some of the lowest ranked countries like Guinea, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Despite massive United Nations and international foreign assistance, Puddington says the Democratic Republic of Congo remains in very bad shape in terms of freedom.
"We have seen very little evidence of improvement there. This past year, there were many threats against journalists. There were threats against opposition political candidates. We did not see things moving in the right direction," he said.
According to Puddington, a rare spot of improvement was often-derided Zimbabwe.
"This past year, we did see evidence of improvement. We saw the coalition government," said Puddington "It is not terribly successful, but there have been some positive developments. There is less violence. There is less violence against the political opposition. You have got a sitting parliament now that is dominated by the political opposition. You have got Morgan Tsvangirai as the number two man in the government. So all these things do lead to improvements in their political rights situation and we hope they can build on those in the future."
But Puddington cautions that Zimbabwe remains one of the world's most repressive countries. And according to the Freedom House survey, it has more company on the African continent than in recent years.