Monday February 7, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said that at least 400 000 people registered to vote on the first voter registration weekend held ahead of the 2011 local government elections. IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said that total figures from the voter registration weekend would be available on Wednesday, but that she expected the figures to increase.
She said that historically more people registered on the second day of voter registration weekends. She added that during Saturday and up until Sunday morning, the IEC's website had more than 97 000 visits and that the IEC received 197 000 SMSs from people checking whether they were registered to vote. A further 13 000 registration status enquiries were made to the IEC's tollfree line.

The United Nations (UN) on Sunday drove home the warning from Western nations that a transition to democracy in Egypt should not be rushed to avoid worsening the crisis and destabilising the entire Middle East. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon backed up calls at a security conference in Munich from the US and Europe for a rapid change of power in Egypt followed by a more sedate transition through to democracy and eventually free elections. Ban told reporters that he had urged authorities in Cairo "to make the necessary changes and reforms as soon as possible”.

Sudan's President has promised a future of freedom and open government in a strikingly conciliatory speech following a week of small protests in Sudan and an uprising in neighbouring Egypt. Omar Hassan al-Bashir's address to supporters on the outskirts of Khartoum was short on detail and made only a passing reference to the recent unrest but was notable for its disarming rhetoric. "We open the door for freedom. We have nothing to fear from freedom... Freedom is guaranteed by the constitution," Bashir told the crowd. “Anybody who wants to make chaos, we will deal with him according to the law. Our doors and our hearts and our hands are open without fear," he added.

Also making headlines:
Voters in Cape Verde cast their ballots in a Parliamentary election on Sunday that is likely to be dominated by the two parties that have exchanged power over the last two decades in the island nation.
Ugandan police said that they believe terrorists are targeting Kampala before the national elections this month, the latest in a series of threats since twin bombs killed 79 people in the capital last year.
And, Egypt tried to get the nation back to work on Sunday with banks reopening, and the Vice President, Omar Suleiman, held unprecedented talks with a banned Islamist group and other opponents about their demand that President Hosni Mubarak quit.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today