Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa has dismissed media reports that tribalism and violence has rocked the ruling Movement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) party ahead of its Eastern Province conference slated for next January.
Dr. Mwansa said what was obtaining on the ground was stiff competition among the people wishing to contest positions in the party in Eastern Province.
Responding to questions from Journalists in Lusaka today, Dr. Mwansa said the MMD was resolving the process of candidacy.
He cited positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman as those being looked at.
“There is no tribalism in MMD in Eastern Province. There is only stiff competition for persons vying for party position at provincial levels,” he said.
The Minister said the MMD was very strong in the East and no amount of violence would disrupt it from holding free and fair elections in that province.
The Eastern Province conference is expected to be opened by President Rupiah Banda next year. The Provincial conferences were deferred to next year to allow party members celebrate the Christmas and New Year festivals.
The spokesman of the Armed Forces, Al-Sawarmi Khalid Saad, announced that the Armed Forces Friday evening attacked the alliance of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan People's Liberation Movement - Menawi faction at Shangli Tobaya area, South Darfur State leaving 40 persons dead, seized four military vehicles and a big number of equipment.
The Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reports that he said that the Armed Force has killed the field commander of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement Mohanmed Osman Janjawid, adding that two soldiers of the Armed Forces have been martyred and 13 men were wounded in the fighting.
Lt. Col. Al-Sawarmi said that the Armed Forces were pursuing the fleeing rebels of the alliance.
He said that this battle represented the first experiment of the rebel alliance which moved from an area southern of the border of 1956, adding that this rebel alliance was still based in Bori town in Bahral-Ghazal State.
China will bring its overall money supply to a normal level with a range of policy tools next year as the government shifts monetary policy from "moderately loose" to "prudent", the central bank said Friday in a statement on its website, citing Deputy Governor Hu Xiaolian.
Hu, a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said at a meeting with bankers that China needs a shift to a prudent monetary policy to rein in rising consumer prices and curb asset bubbles.
State News Agency, Xinhua reports that China is facing tremendous inflationary pressures, with the country's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, accelerated to a 28-month high in November of 5.1 percent.
"The major task for next year's monetary policy will be normalising money supplies," she said, noting that the growth in money supply, mostly measured by M2, or the broad money supply, should be slowed from the pace during the implementation of a moderately loose policy.
The Chinese government should maintain a "reasonable and moderate" credit growth next year that is in line with the country's goal in economic development and inflation control.
New yuan-denominated loans in China stood at 7.45 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of this year - just shy of the government's full-year target of 7.5-trillion-yuan.
Hu said with the global financial crisis having eased from its peak and China's stabilised economic momentum, the country is able to maintain a steady and relatively rapid economic growth with a prudent monetary policy.
Hu stressed that China is facing pressure due to ample liquidity from home and abroad, and for the next phase, the Chinese government will work on liquidity controls with a range of policy tools, including open market operations and adjustment in interest rates and reserve requirement ratios.
She highlighted the use of the differential reserve requirement ratio to supplement regular policy tools, which could guide banks to lend "reasonably, moderately and steadily" and boost risk controls in the financial system.
China increased interest rates by 0.25 percentage points in October and hiked the bank reserve requirement ratio six times this year to 18.5 percent and 19 percent for some large commercial banks in a move to curb lending amid accelerating inflation.
Nigeria has ordered the immediate evacuation of families of diplomats serving in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, to Accra, the capital city of Ghana.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Odein Ajumogobia said this in a statement in Abuja.
He said the development, was due to the escalation of tension and clashes between supporters of President -Elect Alassane Outarra,and incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
"In line with the extant policy on the safety of the lives of Nigerian diplomats in crisis-torn posts, the families of officers serving in the Nigerian mission in Abidjan have been moved to Accra-Ghana," Ajumogobia said.
The minister added that the Nigerian Mission in Abidjan remained open but the operations of the mission have been reduced to essential services.
Gbagbo and Outarra were each sworn in as president after the recent elections in which the electoral body declared the later winner, but the Constitutional Court said Gbagbo won.
The development has been condemned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations, the African Union and the international community, all of whom have asked Gbagbo to vacate office for Outarra or face international isolation.
The United States has since imposed a travel ban on Gbagbo, his relatives and supporters.
The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has appealed to Government to speedily release funds meant for voter registration, to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to enable it carry out the exercise.
FODEP Information Officer MacDonald Chipenzi said the delayed release of funds to the Electoral Commission of Zambia may have incalculable consequences on the ongoing voter registration exercise in the districts as many registration officers may be demotivated to conduct the programme.
Mr Chipenzi urged Government to honour its obligation by releasing the funds timely to the Commission especially that the said funds were budgeted for.
Mr Chipenzi told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that there was need for Government to promptly mobilise funds for the Commission to conduct a comprehensive voter registration exercise.
The FODEP Information Officer further asked Government to pay the money it owed the electoral body in the previous two exercises and allocate enough resources for its operations.
He also prodded Government to listen to the cries of the Commission for enhanced voter registration exercise and inclusive elections in the country by addressing some of the pressing issues at the Commission such as delayed release of funds for the Voter Registration Exercise.
Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba says Christmas is a time for generosity and good tidings.
In a statement to Namibia Press Agency NAMPA)yesterday, the president said Christmas is a time for families, friends and communities to come together and share in the spirit of togetherness and to celebrate the common values that holds the social fabric together.
President Pohamba also said that Christmas is also a time during which parents, guardians and all adults should continue to teach the youth about the importance of caring for others, sharing with those who are less fortune than themselves, as well as the need to build an ethical society based on the rule of law, tolerance, self-respect and mutual respect.
Mr Pohamba added that adults must continue to inculcate these values in all the young people because that would guarantee a more secure future for Namibia.
The Namibian Head of State wished a speedy recovery to all the citizens who, due to diseases and illness, are confined or bedridden in their homes, in hospitals and in rehabilitation centres.
President Pohamba also paid tribute to the thousands of Namibians who are engaged in essential duties and are, therefore, unable to spend Christmas Day with their families.
He thanked them and commended them for their dedication to the service of the nation and fellow citizens.
