Friday 16 January 2009

brokering a global deal


This is my local, Mexican Grill in Down town -Silverspring


Eti safari bar ya wa kenya washington .Kuna Nyama choma, we acha tuu

Ngudu ,jamaa na marafiki







Interviews
These extended conversations with those who know or have closely observed Obama yield an understanding of who he is and what made him run.
David Axelrod... Chief strategist, Obama campaign
Cassandra Butts... Harvard Law classmate; Obama adviser
Tom Daschle... Former Senate Majority Leader, 2001-2003
Mark Halperin... Time magazine; co-author, The Way to Win
Ryan Lizza... Washington correspondent for The New Yorker.
Pete Rouse... Chief of staff to Sen. Obama
David Mendell... Author, Obama: From Promise to Power



Analysis
Views and observations on Obama's nature and character, political skills, how he's dealt with adversity and what's shaped him -- drawn from the dozens of interviews conducted for The Choice 2008 and for Dreams of Obama.



Dear Comrade,
This is a reminder of your special invite to the FDC UK Chapter's General Meeting [GM].
Venue: Beckton Community Centre, East Ham Manor Way, Beckton, E6 5NG
Date: Saturday 17th January 2009 from 4.00pm – 8.00pm.
Entrance: Only £5 contribution towards Hall hire charges
The GM will among other things:
Raise funds for the UK Chapter and for the Delegates Conference;
Assess the UK Chapter's performance & adopt priorities/work plan for the incoming Chapter Executive;
Elect new office bearers for FDC UK Chapter Executive;
Elect FDC UK Chapter delegates to the Delegates conference in Uganda scheduled for February 11th -13th;
Discuss and agree on the contents of our Chapter report to the Delegates Conference;
Re-launch the sale of FDC membership cards
Come and enjoy free sizzling bites, music and snacks. Drinks will be on sale. Feel free to forward this leaflet to as many people as you possibly can.
Directions: If you are traveling by DLR alight at Cyprus Station.Turn left on to East Ham Manor Way, the center will be on your right. Buses: 101, 366, 474, stop infront of the centre. Buses:300, 262,173, 376 alight at Beckton ASDA, turn right, walk past the Thomas Cribb Funeral directors, at Round-about turn right, then immediately left and follow East Ham Manor Way until you reach Windsor Primary School on your right and the center will be on your adjacent left.
Please note: Only card holding members will be eligible to vote or stand for election. So you are strongly encouraged to buy a membership card and get the opportunity to participate in shaping the future of our beloved county. Membership cards cost £25 (Plastic), & £15 for the (laminated paper) version. Please call Desmond now on 07984600478 to order a plastic card or just carry cash and buy the laminated paper version on the day.
With your generous support, We together, as a people, can and will build a free, fully democratic & prosperous Uganda under "One Uganda, One People"

R.S.V.P: Charles-07888999079, Desmond -07984600478 and Stella: 07903802053


National News
Friday 9 January 2009 15:22 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (National)Change of Her Majesty's High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania
Ms Diane Corner has been appointed Her Majesty's High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania in succession to Mr Philip Parham, who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Ms Corner will take up her appointment during February 2009.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Full Name: Ms Diane Louise Corner Married to: Peter Timothy Stocker Children: Four daughters
September 2008 Acting High Commissioner, Freetown May 2008 Secondment to Catlin Underwriting Agencies

2005 - 2008 FCO, PRISM Programme Director, then Shared Services Programme Director
2004 - 2005 Cabinet Office, Chief Assessor, Civil Service Selection Board
2003 - 2004 FCO, Head of Employment Policy Department
2001 - 2003 Harare, Counsellor and Deputy High Commissioner 2000 Rome, Senior Course, NATO Defence College
1998 - 2000 FCO, Deputy Head, OSCE/Council of Europe Department 1994 - 1998 Berlin, Deputy Head of British Embassy Office
1991 - 1993 On secondment to Cabinet Office
1989 - 1991 FCO, First Secretary, Central and South Africa Department 1988 New York, Conference Support Officer
1985 - 1988 Kuala Lumpur, Second Secretary Chancery 1982 - 1985 FCO
FCO Press Office: 020 7008 3100 Website: http://www.fco.gov.uk/news
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=PressR&id=11914876
Press Office, Downing Street (West), London SW1A 2AL
COI ref 169421P



Exclusive online policy launch: Friday 1.30 pm
In a UK politics first, David Cameron will launch a policy exclusively online at http://news.conservatives.com/a/hBJb7tKBGs$N0B7bdFeBqLHHJtY/cons12 tomorrow (Friday) at 1.30pm. Tune in to watch him unveil plans to create a low carbon economy in Britain.
He will be interviewed by the leading environmental journalist Geoffrey Lean and will also answer questions about the environment from you, the viewers, via email, live chat and Twitter.
The event will last around 30 minutes -
find out more about how to submit your question here.



Dear ayoub,
The celebration of the 56th Presidential Inaugural won't begin on Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. It will begin with a Whistle Stop Tour on Saturday, January 17th.The Whistle Stop makes its final stop in Baltimore on Saturday afternoon, and we want you to be there.Join thousands of local residents at War Memorial Plaza near the Inner Harbor to wish the Obama and Biden families well on their way to the capital. The event is free and open to the public.Location:War Memorial Plaza101 N. Gay St.Baltimore, MDThe public entrance is located at the corner of Guilford and Baltimore Streets. Doors open on Saturday, January 17th, at 1:00 p.m. The event will begin at 4:15 p.m. Sharing Abraham Lincoln's faith in America's resilience, the President-elect and Vice President-elect are retracing his journey to the White House. The Whistle Stop Tour marks the final leg of a journey that began at the Old State Capitol in Illinois and continues on to an open, accessible inauguration. The event in Baltimore will be no exception. To attend, we ask only one thing: please deliver a can of food to a drop off location at Camden Yards. We will deliver the cans to a Baltimore food bank. It's a simple act that will do a lot of good for someone in the community.Join us in Baltimore on Saturday. Help us begin the work of renewing America.
Thank you,
The Presidential Inaugural Committee P.S. -- To stay connected to events throughout Inauguration Weekend, text SERVE to 56333.



















Brokering a global deal

An ODI event with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change (APGOOD), the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group (APPCCG) and DFIDPart of the Climate change and international development series

13.00-14.30, Monday 26 JanuaryPalace of Westminster
Speakers:
Yvo de Boer
Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
Joan Ruddock M P
Parliamentary under-secretary of state, DECC
Chair:
Colin Challen MP
Chair, All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group
The UNFCCC meeting at Poznan in December 2008 was an interim conference between the Bali conference (which generated the Bali Action Plan in 2007) and Copenhagen in December 2009, where an agreement on a post 2012 climate change regime will be sought. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC and Joan Ruddock MP, Minister for Climate Change will discuss the current status of negotiations after Poznan and look at the critical challenges to be faced over the next year, focussing on the implications for developing countries and the poor.
Find out more: http://www.odi.org.uk/go?where=eu-090113-cc
















































Ugandan LRA are agents of forces who are against South Sudan's peace agreement

The following report from Sudan Radio Service in Malakal says that the current LRA attacks in Western Equatoria State are aimed at derailing the implementation of Southern Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and that the LRA are agents of people who would like the party and the government to fail and the CPA not be implemented. And one of the ways it can fail is to prevent the holding of elections in Western Equatoria and in Southern Sudan. Although the source of the report is unverifiable, I am posting it here because its contents make more sense to me than any other report I have read on why Joseph Kony and his group of terrorists continue to be so well trained and equipped while remaining free to be on the rampage for the past 20 years. As noted here a few days ago,
Kony's Ugandan LRA is a well-ordered fighting force, whose senior officers have been trained by Sudan, Iran and Iraq.However, looking at it in another way, the LRA sure is a convenient bogeyman to blame for the handiwork of other bandits and so-called janjaweed. One thing's for sure, we don't know half of what is really going on behind the scenes. Even after the past five years, reporters still aren't getting to the root of who is behind the rebel groups in Sudan and Chad. Sudan reminds me of America's old Wild West in the days of cowboys and indians and gold diggers all fighting to stake a claim on the gold in them there hills. Never mind the poor natives who get in the way. Not to mention the Aborigines in Australia. Bah. Such is life. Very sad. WES Official Claims LRA is an Agent of Anti-CPA Forces Report from Sudan Radio (Malakal) 12 January 2009:
Western Equatoria State political advisor Paul Tambua claims that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels are agents of forces who are against the CPA.Tambua told Sudan Radio Service in Malakal last week that the current LRA attacks in Western Equatoria State were aimed at derailing the implementation of CPA in the region.[Paul Tambua]: “The LRA are there, they are agents of other bodies who would like to interfere with the CPA, who would like to see to it that the implementation of CPA fails. And one of the ways it can fail is to prevent the holding of elections in Western Equatoria and not only in Western Equatoria but in Southern Sudan. So these are agents of people who would like the party and the government to fail and the CPA not be implemented.” He said the Government of southern Sudan will not allow the forces behind LRA operations to ruin the CPA. However, Tambua did not mention which forces he says are behind the LRA operations in south Sudan.Meanwhile, the security advisor in Western Equatoria state, Jasmine Samuel, said the current situation in the state is very bad.She said the LRA attacks on people of Western Equatoria State have created fear among the population and has paralyzed the movement of vehicles and people in the state.The two officials called on the GOSS to increase the number of soldiers and provide logistical support to protect civilians in the area. Jasmine also called upon the people of Western Equatoria to help the government by giving information to the authorities about the movements of LRA rebels in the area.- - -UGANDAN COMMANDER OF OPERATION LIGHTNING THUNDER IN DR CONGO ADVISES CRITICS OF THE MILITARY OFFENSIVE TO WAIT FOR PHOTOS THAT SHOW THE RECENT SUCCESSESPeter Eichstaedt, author of First Kill Your Family, has a neat round up of news on the LRA in his latest blog post today. For future reference, here is a copy:
Rampage or runaways? More conflicting information, or perhaps non-information, is coming out of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as Uganda's army pursues the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.In a story written by Henry Mukasa, the government-owned daily, New Vision, quotes Gen. Patrick Kankiriho as claiming to have "engaged" forces led by the LRA's deputy, Okot Odhiambo, 30km north of Doruma on Monday.That would put them right on the border with South Sudan, or even in that country, and he claims that two were killed and two were captured two."Speaking from Dungu, the general said that now eight LRA fighters have been captured and 38 killed since the offensive was launched on December 14, 2008. Over 21 rebels have surrendered to the allies in various parts of Congo and South Sudan and nine captives were rescued.“We have reached a stage of ‘search and destroy’ for fighters and rescue for captives. We rescue the abductees and the combatants who want to fight us, we engage them,” Kankiriho explained.The commander said after the battle, two sub-machine guns, four full magazines, two empty magazines and two Sudanese uniforms were recovered.In another battle on Sunday, Kankiriho said four rebels were killed south of Lagoro. One was captured, two women rescued north of Doruma, while another rebel surrendered with his gun at Yambio in Sudan.Kankiriho explained that the joint forces had tightened their noose around Kony and his scattered fighters in the vast and densely- forested Garamba National Park in Congo.“You think he is asking for ceasefire for nothing? The man is under immense pressure. Big, big pressure. We shall get him,” he stressed.Despite this tough talk, the UN is reporting a different side of the story.Reuters news agency says that the UN now puts the total civilian dead at the hands of the LRA at 537, since the Dec. 14th attack on LRA camps in northeastern DRC.Another 408 people had been kidnapped by the rebels, according to UN High Commission on Refugees, and more than 104,000 people are thought to have been forced from their homes into the bush by the violence."The displaced population is in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items. The area, which by itself poses immense logistical challenges due to the lack of roads or their poor condition, remains highly volatile," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in a statement in Geneva.As most are wondering, what has happened to LRA leader Joseph Kony, the self-proclaimed prophet and spirit medium?The Ugandan general refused to say, arguing that this would pre-empt army action drive the Kony further underground. He advised the critics of the military offensive to wait for photographs that show the recent successes.The New Vision also reported that the Central African Republic (CAR) began deploying more troops on its border with Congo to guard against incursions by the LRA.Kankiriho said the group was composed of families of rebel commanders and a few fighters guarding them, led by Odhiambo, who is reportedly wounded.