DTN News: Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASB) Is Holding Exercise In Djibouti

DTN News: Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASB) Is Holding Exercise In Djibouti

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) NAIROBI, Kenya - December 5, 2009: Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASB) is holding the exercise involving 1,500 troops - from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi, Comoros, Seychelles and Somalia. The aim is to build a proper African peacekeeping force which will be able to respond to wars or crisis throughout the continent and have the backing of major Western powers, as this is their first big exercise.

Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh (front L) arrives for the closing ceremony of the Field Training Service (FTS) in exercise Amani Carana by the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade in the Arta region of Djibouti, December 4, 2009.

Members of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASB) from Rwanda parade during the closing ceremony of the Field Training Service (FTS) in exercise Amani Carana in the Arta region of Djibouti, December 4, 2009.

Members of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade from Uganda queue to board a French tactical aircraft C160 Transall at the French Air Base 188 in Djibouti,

Members of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade from Rwanda parade during the closing ceremony of the Field Training Service (FTS) in exercise Amani Carana in the Arta region of Djibouti, December 4, 2009.

Members of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade from Somalia parade during the closing ceremony of the Field Training Service (FTS) in exercise Amani Carana in the Arta region of Djibouti, December 4, 2009. Members of the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade from Ethiopia parade during the closing ceremony of the Field Training Service (FTS) in exercise Amani Carana in the Arta region of Djibouti, December 4, 2009.

DTN News: African Largest Trading Bloc COMESA Kicks Off Summit In Zimbabwe

DTN News: African Largest Trading Bloc COMESA Kicks Off Summit In Zimbabwe

*Source: COMESA

(NSI News Source Info) VICTORIA FALLS - June 10, 2009: The 13th summit of Africa's largest trading group COMESA started in the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls on Sunday, with the long-anticipated official launch of a regional customs union topping the agenda. Madagascar's ousted President Mark Ravalomanana chats with Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on the second day of the two-day African trade summit Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in Victoria Falls on June 8, 2009. The group, consisting of 19 member countries, has passed a resolution to intervene in Madagascar's political problems to 're-establish constitutional order'. COMESA consists of Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It will be the second crucial step taken by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in its process of economic integration after the 19-member bloc established the first free trading area in Africa in 2000 The important move had been confirmed again by COMESA secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya before the summit.

The COMESA chief announced that the customs union will be launched next Monday when the summit came to an end. "The Common Tariff Nomenclature and the Common Customs Documentation (CCD) are in place and what remains is the COMESA Regional Policy still under negotiation," he had said.The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa - promoting regional economic integration through trade and investment.With its 19 member states, population of over 389 million and annual import bill of around US$32 billion with an export bill of US$82 billion COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external trading. Its area is impressive on the map of the African Continent covering a geographical area of 12 Million (sq km). Its achievements to date have been significant. See the comprehensive statistics At the opening ceremony of the summit, outgoing chairman of COMESA Authority, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki gave a report on progress made since the last summit in Nairobi in 2007, including the movement towards harmonization of policies between COMESA and the other economic blocs of the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community towards an African Economic Community. He said he was encouraged by the fact that intra-COMESA trade had 52 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up from three billion dollars the previous year.

"As we collectively position ourselves to ushering the next milestone on our regional agenda, let us also remain fully aware of the broader agenda on the integration of the African continent. It is necessary that we focus on the bigger picture by strengthening our relations with other regional blocs," Kibaki said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni thanked the Zimbabwean political leadership and people for coming up with an inclusive government and averting a potentially serious conflict. He also said COMESA should push for first world status and look at how it can take advantage of the current global economic crisis.

"We need to find how best we can survive and even how best we can take advantage of it," he said. Vice Chairman of African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha decried the fact that although Africa was represented at the last G20 summit, it was still to remove a stimulus package as pledged there. He stressed the need for Africa to consolidate its strategies with climate change, whose effects he said could affect the lives of its citizens.

The customs union aims to lift tariffs among member states while harmonizing barriers with third parties through the Common External Tariff, which the community's heads of state and government adopted in May 2007.

With the theme of "Consolidating Regional Integration through Value Addition, Trade and Food Security", the summit followed a meeting of the Council of Ministers from Tuesday to Thursday and talks of COMESA foreign ministers on Friday and Saturday. The summit, which had originally been set for last year, has been postponed twice.

The COMESA made a put-off decision first to allow the host country Zimbabwe to complete its electoral process which finally gave birth to the formation of an all inclusive government. The meeting was later postponed again as organizers took into account the need to begin the process of implementing the decisions of the summit of three trading blocs held in Uganda last year regarding the harmonization of Free Trade Areas and common external tariffs.

COMESA, headquartered in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, was formed in 1994 to replace its forerunner, the Preferential Trade Area. It enjoys an aggregate population of about 400 million and combined GDP of over 360 billion U.S. dollars.

India Denies Chinese Submarine Reports

India Denies Chinese Submarine Reports

(NSI News Source Info) February 6, 2009: Indian naval officials have denied media reports that Chinese warships forced an Indian submarine to surface in a stand-off in waters off Somalia. Reports in China said that after the submarine was detected by sonar, it was pursued by two Chinese destroyers and an anti-submarine helicopter. The Chinese ships had been on passage to take part in anti-piracy patrols. The two sides were reportedly trying to test each other's sonar systems for weaknesses. However, the Indian navy says none of its submarines was forced to surface in the area. "None of our submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden region as reported in a section of the Chinese media," a naval official told Indian reporters. Several Indian newspapers reported the allegations, and cited Indian naval sources as admitting their submarine had tracked the Chinese warships. "Every nation does it," one was quoted as saying. Chinese submarines surprised the US navy in October 2006, by successfully tracking the USS Kitty Hawk in the Pacific Ocean. Stand-off? Several versions of one report on the incident were circulating on Chinese websites this week, including Sina.com and QQ. These claimed that a tense stand-off occurred between Chinese warships and an Indian submarine on 15 January near the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, which separates Yemen and Djibouti, at the western end of the Gulf of Aden. The Chinese destroyers had picked up an unidentified submarine on their sonar, the reports said. The Chinese navy soon identified it as a 70m-long (230ft) vessel armed with 20 torpedoes. The Chinese reports said the Chinese ships had sent an anti-submarine helicopter to help track the submarine, which had tried to jam the Chinese warships' sonar system. But the two destroyers eventually cornered the submarine and forced it to surface, reports said. The Indian vessel then apparently left without further confrontation. Chinese media said the submarine had been trailing the Chinese ships since they had entered the Indian Ocean on the way to Somalia. But India has denied the reports, which have also not been carried by China's official news outlets, Xinhua and the China Daily. There were more than 100 pirate attacks in 2008 in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, in what is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. An EU anti-piracy task force set up in December was the first such naval operation of its kind. India, Iran, the US and China are among other nations with naval forces off Somalia.