Monday, November 29, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman.

Making headlines:

African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe has criticised party members vying for positions within the organisation, saying that they are mostly the source of divisions.
His remarks came after President Jacob Zuma announced a national Cabinet reshuffle at end of October, with many provinces following suit.
Motlanthe reiterated the importance of unity, saying that ANC members should not view redeployment as a demotion. He said that members of the ANC must accept being deployed to any position. “It doesn't matter if you were once a leader of a province or a leader of the ANC at national level, if your next task is at local level, take that and accept that, and perform it to the best of your abilities," he said.

Sudan is boycotting an African Union- (AU-) European Union (EU) summit in Libya starting on Monday, in protest against EU pressure on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir not to attend.
Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and genocide in Sudan's Darfur province, a move that has isolated Sudan and confined the movements of the President to visits to friendly countries in the region. The EU backs The Hague-based ICC, while Sudan rejects the jurisdiction of the court and refuses to cooperate.
"Sudan considers the EU position on the President's participation in this summit as representative of the colonial mentality with which Europe still views Africa," a statement from Sudan’s Presidency said.
Sudan is likely to be disappointed that Libya, a supposed ally, did not take a stand similar to Egypt's and insist that Bashir attend the summit scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

South African President Jacob Zuma says that he has persuaded Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to start talking again to address the rifts in their power-sharing government. But he gave no details, and it was unclear whether progress had been made on the substance of their disagreements, many of them concerning Mugabe's refusal to consult with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party on key appointments.
Mugabe has already said that there is no need to extend the life of the coalition, which is up for review in February, and looks likely to call elections in mid-2011, without the new constitution that Zimbabwe's Western donors are asking for.
Zuma says that Mugabe and Tsvangirai have agreed to resume their weekly meetings, which stopped in October because of a row over appointments.

Also making headlines:

Voters in the Côte d’Ivoire await the outcome of a Presidential runoff, but reports of violence and accusations of voter intimidation have created an atmosphere of tension and fear.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni appeals for more international support to bolster the African Union force in Somalia, saying that the world does not take the Somali problem seriously.
And, opposition charges of ballot stuffing, bullying and dirty tricks clouded an Egyptian legislative election on Sunday.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.