Brussels: Halal fast-food chain expanding

Brussels: Halal fast-food chain expanding Halal fast-food chain Tonton Chami already has two branches in Anderlecht and Brussels, and in 2011 will open a third in Molenbeek. Owner Saïd El Mourabit says he plans to open another five branches in Brussels, and by 2013 he wants to have at least 25 branches all over the country. El Mourabit told La Capitale that his success is due ot the fact that nobody else offers halal food. But, he says, his chain doesn't attract only Muslims. Source: brusselnieuws (Dutch)

 

Denmark: Ethnic bullying not a problem

Denmark: Ethnic bullying not a problem German children are harassed by their Muslim classmates, but principals and researchers in Denmark say the problem is much smaller there. According to the "Copenhagen barometer" (Københavnerbarometeret) study of schoolchildren in Copenhagen, Muslim immigrant children are more involved in bullying than Danish children, but there's no issues of general discrimination. In fact, non-Danish children are subjected to bullying more than Danish children, and the studies don't show who bullies who. The Exbus research group, which deals with bullying in school, says they don't see the German trend in Denmark, says Nina Hein, a Phd student and researcher of bullying. Hein says she knows a lot about bullying, but she never encountered this problem in Denmark, and its' not something they've discussed. Rådmandsgade School in Nørrebro, is one of the schools in Copenhagen with the highest percentage of New Danish students. They say bulling among students is an everyday occurence, but it's a problem they're dealing with, says school inspector Lise Egholm. Egholm says it happens, but she doesn't think it's very widespread. There were several situations where Danish boys were called 'potato Danes', but they dealt with the problem. The problem sometimes rears its ugly head, but they deal with it every day." (see also: Norway/Sweden: When the locals become a minority) She rejects the idea that there's general discrimination of Danish children, as is happening in Germany. She says that in Rådmandsgade school they spend 30 hours a week with the children on conduct, contact and well-being and there are four teachers who are trained in conflict management, so they have many resources to stop bullying, and there is not a lot of discrimination, though they have many black-haired children. In fact, she says the school is much better equipped to deal with bullying than schools without ethnic children. Source: Berlingske (Danish)

 

London: New Muslim paper to launch next year

London: New Muslim paper to launch next year Via the Guardian: A media company based in the Middle East is launching a London-based weekly newspaper aimed at Muslim people across the world. The paper, which is backed by the Pakistani pay-TV operator ARY Digital and will be able to tap its network of reporters covering south Asia, is earmarked to launch early in the new year. The paper, which does not yet have a name, will be edited by Burhan Wazir, a former deputy features editor at the Times who was named young journalist of the year in 1999. Wazir said the title, which will also be published in Pakistan and several Gulf states, will serve the Muslim diaspora in the countries where it is available. It will be a liberal title aimed at a young and relatively affluent readership aged between 20 and 45, including second- or third-generation British Muslims.

 

France: Brigitte Bardot to run for president

France: Brigitte Bardot to run for president Via Telegraph: Miss Bardot, once a screen icon now an animal rights campaigner, said she had been asked by the Ecology Alliance party to run for president in 2012. The party campaigns for animal rights and against the ritual slaughter of livestock by Muslims for halal meat. The 76-year old former star of And God Created Woman, who retired from acting in the 1970s, wants a law introduced ensuring animals are stunned before their throats are slit in keeping with Islamic teaching. In a letter to Mr Sarkozy, she told the president that "someone's voice is needed to defend animals as neither the Right nor the Left give a damn!". "Sarkozy took me for an imbecile by making promises he didn't keep," she added in a separate interview with the AP news agency. Nothing in Islamic teaching forbids animals being stunned before slaughter, she said. Miss Bardot has often been in the spotlight for her controversial views on immigration and homosexuality, receiving multiple convictions for racist and anti-gay remarks.

 

Netherlands: PM denies policies are anti-Islam

Netherlands: PM denies policies are anti-Islam Via RNW: Mr Wilders' Freedom Party isn't officially part of the new cabinet - they're supporting the government from parliament - but they've got an agenda and they're not afraid to push it. In this case, the issue being pushed is Wilders' ambition to combat the spread of Islam and, even as Mark Rutte was sworn in as prime minister, one of the senior figures in the Freedom Party, MEP Barry Madlener, said this cabinet's policies are meant to do just that. Prime Minister Rutte disagrees.   "I'm not focused on Islam. Which explains why the PVV [Wilders' Freedom Party, ed.] is not in government. We hold different views about the nature of Islam. But they have every right to present their arguments." Mr Rutte and his governing partners have agreed to disagree about their interpretation of immigration policy. But the policy itself has been agreed upon, and Geert Wilders helped write a lot of what is going to be implemented. His influence on the coalition's plans can be seen in particular in the new, much stricter immigration and integration policy. For example, family reunification will become more difficult, new Dutch passports will become conditional, and holders of double nationality can more easily lose their Dutch citizenship.

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Somalia surprise: Working govt, no gunfire

Somalia surprise: Working govt, no gunfire

Hargeisa, Somalia:  A new six-story office building will soon house a $1 billion-a-year business. The recently elected president has appointed smart people and won the admiration of the international community. Gunfire is nowhere to be heard.

All this seems too good to be true for the war-ravaged nation of Somalia. Yet Somalia this is, or more precisely Somaliland, a slice of the northern part of the country.

This former British colony joined Somalia a half-century ago but changed its mind in 1991 when the central government in Mogadishu collapsed and most of the rest of the country became mired in war.

The United States, the United Nations and other international players don't recognize Somaliland as a separate country, but they are now lavishing new money and attention on the region.


Somaliland officials say the international community has wasted too much time and money on Mogadishu and its string of failed governments. They say the struggling but democratically elected government in the north deserves support and can serve as a bulwark against spreading terrorism.

In bullet-riddled Mogadishu and in much of the rest of Somalia to the south, a hardline Islamist insurgency is in control and is threatening the central government's tiny hold on the country. To the north, across the narrow Gulf of Aden, lies Yemen, a hotspot for Islamist militancy.

"This is a country called Somaliland that is peaceful and democratic ... where the streets are full of uniformed children with book in hand going to school, not hooded, with guns, going to war," President Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo told a visiting delegation from the UN, EU, World Bank and African Development Bank earlier this week.

A six-story cement building dominates this city's skyline. Once completed, it will house the headquarters of a money transfer company that operates in 144 countries.

Yet Somaliland is bathed in poverty. Huts fashioned from scrap metal and wrapped in plastic sheeting dot the capital, crammed full of the internally displaced. Rusted cars are heaped in a jumble. Discarded plastic bags snag on cacti growing in the sandy ground. Goats and sheep wander the streets, seeking shade from the afternoon sun.

Since his June election, Silanyo has tapped Somaliland's diaspora to recruit US- and British-educated technocrats to run the country. He slashed the size of his Cabinet, instilling confidence in the international community about the way he will run Somaliland, an area the size of North Carolina with 3.5 million people.

The successful election and the new government's serious approach merit increased attention, said Mark Bowden, the top UN humanitarian representative for Somalia.

Somaliland became independent in 1960 before joining Somalia only days later. Because no country has yet recognized its 1991 declaration of re-independence, the world community sees it as part of Somalia. 

Business leaders at a trade fair in Hargeisa this week said the lack of recognition creates impediments to economic growth: No access to credit, high insurance rates on imported shipping, severely restricted ability to travel.

Despite the poverty and restrictions, the government has capable, educated leaders who are infusing the town with a can-do spirit. Dahabshiil, the money transfer company building the six-story headquarters, facilitates the transfer of $1 billion from Somaliland's overseas diaspora. And many of those diaspora's leaders are returning here.

Hussein Bulhan, a Harvard-educated former professor at Boston University, is the president of Hargeisa University. He believes the US should take notice and invest more.

"Following September 11, the focus has become fighting terrorism," said Bulhan. "Too much focus has been put into putting out fires instead of building the peace."

Johnnie Carson, the top US diplomat for Africa, announced last month that the US is trying a new, two-track approach to Somalia that will see continued support of the Mogadishu government but also direct engagement with Somaliland and neighboring Puntland, another autonomous region.

More American diplomats and aid workers will travel to Somaliland, Carson said. USAID, the US government aid arm, dedicated $7 million to Somaliland in fiscal year 2009. In 2010 that number is rising to $26 million.

"Where you have pockets of stability and pockets of people willing to actively contribute to develop the country as a whole, it just makes sense to develop their capacity," said a US Embassy spokesman in Kenya who was not allowed to be identified because of State Department rules.

Bowden, the UN official, said Somaliland gets about $80 million to $100 million a year in aid money, but that the number could double.
Somaliland's trade fair highlighted the region's soap makers, tile makers and university offerings. Saeed Odugheal, 40, grew up in Britain but now owns a water bottling company here.

"Somaliland is Africa's best kept secret," he said. "What I want to see is a hell of a lot more development money. People talk about creating a democracy. This is a democracy. It's only right to support a country like that."

Carson said the US will not recognize Somaliland as independent because the African Union will not do so. Somaliland Foreign Minister Mohamed A Omar acknowledged that the AU is afraid that if Somaliland is recognized, other regions might clamor for the same. But he said Somaliland's situation is unique.

"We are not starting a new nation. We have been a nation before," said Omar, who holds a doctorate in political science from Britain's University of Birmingham. "We voluntarily joined with Somalia in 1960. We are withdrawing from that union."

Omar said the region would like to share intelligence with the West and receive more direct security aid, adding that the region has a strong record of fighting piracy and terrorism. Hargeisa was hit by a suicide bomb attack in 2008.

"Somaliland has been attacked by terrorists not only because they hate us, what I think what they are attacking is the principles and values we stand for, which is democracy," Omar said. "These are universal values that have been attacked. We need universal support and universal defense in order to defend those values."

Somaliland's minister of mining, energy and water resources traded a six-figure job in Los Angeles for his new role. He said without $40 million in repairs, Hergeisa's water system could collapse. The minister, Hussein Abdi Dualeh, urged the international community to switch its focus from Mogadishu to Somaliland.

"The aid we get here won't be torn up by shrapnel," he said.

NDTV

PAKISTAN: BAN CALLS ON WORLD TO SPEED UP FUNDING FOR $2 BILLION FLOOD APPEAL

PAKISTAN: BAN CALLS ON WORLD TO SPEED UP FUNDING FOR $2 BILLION FLOOD APPEAL
New York, Oct 15 2010  2:10PM
The $2 billion appeal for aid for Pakistani flood victims, the largest-ever launched by the United Nations and its partners for a natural disaster, is just 34 per cent funded, and Secretary-General Ban Ki–moon today called for a generous and swift international response.

The appeal was launched a month ago, more than quadrupling the original $460 million sought in August as the full scope of the floods became clear.

The disaster has claimed some 2,000 lives, exposing over 20 million others to homelessness, malnutrition, risks of epidemics and loss of livelihood as the waters steamrolled down from north to south, damaging or destroying nearly 1.9 million homes and devastating at least 160,000 square kilometres.

"I continue to urge the international community to respond generously and swiftly to urgent relief and recovery needs, as well as to reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts," Mr. Ban told a ministerial meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan, a forum set up on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual meeting in 2008.

"I look forward to the presentation by the Government of its national reconstruction and development plan," he added in his <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=4856">message, delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, to the event in Brussels.

Nearly $690 million has come in so far, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/">OCHA) spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said at a news briefing in Geneva, underscoring that much remains to be received and warning that the crisis is far from being over.

She noted that returns in the hard-hit southern Sindh province included some 386,000 people out of 1.4 million living in camps and informal settlements, but that many people remained trapped by stagnant flood waters and required urgent support.

There are also reports of people returning home and facing secondary displacement as a result of a lack of clean water sources and access to basic services, and the situation in Sindh remains of great concern, with food, shelter, drinking water, medication and hygiene urgently needed, she added.

Ms. Byrs also drew attention to the situation in the northern Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province where a winter contingency plan is being developed under the leadership of provincial authorities with support from OCHA.  An interagency security and rapid needs assessment mission is also underway in South Waziristan to ascertain the feasibility of returns.

UN World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) spokesman Paul Garwood told the briefing that increasing numbers of acute respiratory infections cases have been seen in northern Pakistan, particularly in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Punjab, while concerns persists over malaria in Baluchistan.

Local authorities, UN agencies and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners are making strong efforts to respond to these threats through public awareness campaigns and stockpiling medicines in hospitals. So far, WHO and health providers, including the Government, have treated more than 7 million patients since 29 July for a range of conditions mainly diarrhoea, malaria, acute respiratory infections and skin diseases.

In his message to the Brussels meeting today, Mr. Ban reaffirmed UN support for the Friends process, which provides a comprehensive framework for reviewing progress across the political, strategic and reform agenda.

"Reform is crucial for strengthening peace and stability in the border areas and in preventing future conflict," he said. "I continue to urge the international community to support Pakistan's efforts to implement the recommendations of the Post Crisis Needs Assessment exercise.

"The United Nations will also stand with Pakistan in facing the challenge of violent extremism and in furthering the democratic transformation of the country. Accountable, civilian-led democracy is critical for the stability of Pakistan, the region and the wider world."

Newly Appointed Prime Minister of Somalia is US Citizen

Newly Appointed Prime Minister of Somalia is US Citizen

Mike Onyiego | VOA Nairobi15 October 2010

In an attempt to strengthen Somalia's fractious transitional government, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Thursday appointed 48-year-old American-Somali Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as the country's new Prime Minister. 

The president praised the experience of Mohamed, also known as Farmaajo, and expressed confidence in his ability take up the difficult post. 

If approved by the Somali Parliament, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed will replace former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who resigned three weeks ago after a bitter power-struggle with the president. 

Late Thursday Mohamed thanked the president for the appointment and pledged to work closely with him and parliament to tackle problems facing the beleaguered government.  But there are many in Somalia who doubt whether Mohamed is up to the task.

Mohamed is a U.S. citizen who has lived in New York State for more than 20 years. Before becoming an American citizen, he was a Somali diplomat and worked in the country's Washington embassy from 1986 until 1991. Mohamed holds a Master's Degree in political science and was teaching at the Erie Community College in the city of Buffalo when President Ahmed selected him to be the next prime minister. 

Mohamed's nomination has come as a surprise to many in Somalia and some Mogadishu residents said they believe the appointment to be the result of pressure from the government of the United States. 

The U.S. State Department has not issued a statement regarding Mohamed's nomination, but officials have privately dismissed claims of U.S. involvement in the decision as "ridiculous." 

Mohamed will be responsible for bringing stability to a country that has been without a functioning government for more than 20 years. The weak transitional government controls only parts of the capital, Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, unidentified gunmen abducted a Somali man and a British aid worker who was consulting for the London-based organization Save the Children. The two were taken from the town of Adado, near Galkayo in central Somalia. Adado is home to various gangs and pirate groups and control of the area has been disputed by al-Qaida-linked rebels al-Shabaab and sufi militia Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama'a. 

The hostages were reportedly moved from Adado after Ahlu Sunna forces took control of the town early Friday.  No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and it is not known where the victims are. 

Aspects of Islamic Faith - Mourning for deceased relatives

Aspects of Islamic Faith - : Mourning for deceased relatives

By ADIL SALAHI

 

Different communities have different traditions with regard to mourning for close relatives and friends. Some are very strict, while others are not. However, a period of mourning is acceptable in most societies. Mourning is mostly associated with women and traditions impose certain behavior on women mourners. Islam has much to say on this matter.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, a woman faced a very difficult period of time when her husband died. She was expected to wear her worst clothes, stay in terrible accommodation, refrain from taking a bath, cleaning herself or clipping her nails for a full year. When she came out, she looked horrible. Islam put an end to all such cruel traditions. As usual, Islam respects human nature, recognizes people’s feelings and sets its own rules that steer a middle way.

 

Umm Habeebah, a wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him), quotes the Prophet as saying: “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in God and the Last day to mourn for a deceased person for more than three days, except for her husband, in which case she mourns for four months and ten days”. (Related by Al-Bukhari).

What is meant by ‘mourning’ in this context is that a woman refrains from wearing makeup, fine clothes, and attending to her appearance in a way that is socially recognized as consistent with situations of happiness and joy. When a relative or a close person, a neighbour or a friend dies, a woman is unlikely to be interested in her appearance. Her grief takes over. The closer the relative is, the longer such grief lasts. In this hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) makes clear that a woman must not observe mourning traditions for more than three days, even though the deceased be her child, brother, sister or parent. Three days are enough to express one’s grief in a changed appearance. After that, a woman must not show any physical indications of that grief. She must reflect her acceptance of God’s will as He is the one who grants life and deals death.

 

The Prophet makes clear that a longer period of mourning is inconsistent with faith. Hence, he speaks of ‘a woman who believes in God and the Last Day’, i.e. a woman who knows that she is accountable for her deeds before God on the Day of Judgement. This is not to do with her grief for the loss of a loved one, but with the physical expression of that grief.

The only exception is the case of a woman who loses her husband. It is well known that when a man dies, his wife must observe a waiting period of four months and ten days when she cannot marry anyone else, unless she is pregnant when her waiting period lasts until she gives birth. This Hadith makes clear that such a widow observes mourning for the duration of her waiting period. Scholars make clear that mourning is not a duty in the case of relatives and friends, even though its period is only for three days. However, it is a duty in the case of a husband. His widow must observe such mourning for four months and ten days. She is allowed to go out for her essential business and to clean herself, take a bath at any time, etc.

 

A question arises in the case of a pregnant widow who gives birth within a few days or a few weeks after her husband’s death? Should she continue her mourning after her waiting period has expired upon delivery? How about the one who gives birth after six, seven or even nine months? Scholars have linked the allowed period of mourning with the waiting period. When the waiting period is over, so is mourning, regardless of whether the waiting period is shorter or longer than the normal duration of four months and ten days.

 

Germany: Three universities to get departments of Islamic studies

Germany: Three universities to get departments of Islamic studies Via Expatica: Germany announced Thursday it would establish and help fund departments for Islamic studies at three universities, a move aimed at assisting the integration of its four million Muslims. The centres, designed to educate a new generation of imams and students of Islam, will be based at the universities of Tuebingen, Muenster and Osnabrueck, Education Minister Annette Schavan said at a news conference. "The new centres will not only create an outstanding framework for better theological debate in our universities. We also want to contribute to making the four million Muslims in Germany feel more at home," added the minister.

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Germany: 58% want to 'seriously limit' practice of Islam

Germany: 58% want to 'seriously limit' practice of Islam Via The Local: The acrid immigration debate sparked this summer by former Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin has apparently had an effect on the German public. A poll released on Wednesday showed that one-tenth want a "Führer," while one-quarter admitted to strong xenophobic attitudes – up from one-fifth in 2008. The poll, presented in Berlin by the Friedrich Ebert foundation for political education (FES), showed that xenophobic views are taking a greater hold among the German public than previously. The 10 percent who wanted a "Führer" said that this person should "govern with a hard hand for the good of Germany" and believed a dictatorship to be a "better form of government." (...) Anti-Islam views were particularly strong in the FES poll, which surveyed 2,400 Germans aged between 14 and 90. Just over 58 percent said that "religious practice for Muslims in Germany should be seriously limited," and that number rose to 75.7 percent for people from former East Germany. The study is available here (PDF, in German). 55.4% can understand that some people think Arabs are unpleasant, compared with 44.2% in 2003. There was no significant difference between East and West. This opinion was held by 53.7% of those who oppose the extreme-right worldview and by 73.8% of those who support it. 58.4% said that religious practice for Muslims should be significantly restricted, 53.9% in the West, 75.7% in the East. This opinion was held by 55.5% of those who oppose the extreme-right worldview, and by 89.5% of those who support it.

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France: MPs vote to strip immigrant criminals of citizenship

France: MPs vote to strip immigrant criminals of citizenship Via Expatica: Lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill to strip foreign-born criminals of their French nationality and expel EU citizens for certain crimes, part of President Nicolas Sarkozy's law and order crackdown. Members of the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, passed the measure after a first reading by 294 votes to 239 in a vote overshadowed by mass strikes and demonstrations against Sarkozy's pensions reforms. The law would strip French nationality from foreigners who had acquired citizenship and who were convicted of violent crimes against police and other officials. This punishment currently applies only to terrorism charges.

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YEMENI CHILDREN HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL THANKS TO UN-SUPPORTED CAMPAIGN

YEMENI CHILDREN HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL THANKS TO UN-SUPPORTED CAMPAIGN

An estimated half a million children in Yemen, including some from refugee and internally displaced families and other conflict-affected youngsters, are headed back to classrooms as part of a major campaign organized by the education ministry, United Nations agencies and their partners.

The UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) is also supporting the Yemeni health ministry to carry out a six-day campaign to immunize 1.7 million women of child-bearing age against tetanus. The campaign, which started on Sunday in 14 governorates, will last until Thursday.

Both the back-to-school and immunization campaigns, supported by UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR), Save the Children, CHF International and other partners,      aim to contribute to progress towards reaching the poverty reduction and social development targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (<"http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">MDGs) for Yemen by the 2015 deadline.

More than a quarter of all school-age children in Yemen do not attend school. The problem is more acute in Sa'ada, Amran and Hajjah governorates, where the majority of school-age children are out of school as a result of a protracted conflict between the Government and al-Houthi rebels.

"Education is one of the most critical contributions to peacebuilding," said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Representative in Yemen. "Many children in Yemen have been deprived of education for too long because of the conflict, and we welcome the commitment from all sides to actively contribute to the success of this campaign."

During the past decade, Yemen has improved under-five and maternal mortality indicators, one of the many MDG targets. Significant challenges, however, remain. Coverage of tetanus immunization for women of child-bearing age, for example, is still only 20 per cent.

"As we count down to the 2015 deadline for the MDGs, we have fallen far short of our commitments and promises to the children of this country," Mr. Cappelaere said.

"There is an urgent need for the Government and development partners to accelerate efforts and increase investment in order to meet our MDG targets and make a real difference in the lives of the children and women of Yemen."

Sudan president warns of new civil war

Sudan president warns of new civil war

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attends the opening of the second Arab-African summit in the coastal town of Sirte, Libya. (EPA)


By ANDREW HEAVENS | REUTERS

Published: Oct 10, 2010 21:03 Updated: Oct 10, 2010 21:03

KHARTOUM: Sudan's president accused former civil war foes in the south of going back on the terms of a peace deal, warning a worse conflict could erupt if the sides did not settle disputes before a referendum on secession.

The comments from President Omar Bashir, reported on state media, raised the stakes in a war of words between Khartoum and the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), five years after the sides ended decades of conflict with an accord.

In three months' time, that peace deal is supposed to come to a climax with a referendum giving the people of the oil-producing south the right to decide whether to declare independence or stay part of Sudan.

Bashir told a conference in Sirte, Libya, he regretted the fact that SPLM leader and south Sudan President Salva Kiir had recently publicly come out for separation. This was against the terms of the 2005 peace deal which said both northern and southern leaders should try to make unity "attractive" to southerners before the vote, Suna news agency reported.

Bashir said he was still committed to holding the vote but both sides first had to settle differences over the position of their shared border and how to share out oil revenues, debt and Nile river water.

"He (Bashir) said a new conflict between the north and south will ensue if there was a failure to address these issues before the referendum and that such a conflict could be more dangerous than the one that took place before the peace agreement," said Suna, reporting on the speech which Bashir gave on Saturday.

Bashir spoke as envoys from the UN Security Council wrapped up a visit to Sudan aimed at pressing both sides to hold the vote on time and avert a new civil war.

Any renewal of conflict in Africa's largest country could spill into the nine countries that border Sudan -- Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya and Egypt -- threatening the region's economic success stories and complicating existing conflicts and allegiances.

Diplomats with the UN mission said Kiir last week asked them to deploy peacekeepers and set up a buffer zone along the tense north-south border before the vote.

Kiir, who is also first vice president of all of Sudan, angered Khartoum when he said he would not vote for unity in the referendum during a speech to supporters in the southern capital Juba earlier this month.

One of his senior aides later told Reuters Kiir had not meant to indicate his personal voting preferences but just wanted to point out that the north had failed to make unity attractive to the southern voter.

Northern and southern leaders have been locked in negotiations for months on issues including how they would share out oil revenues after the vote. Most of Sudan's oil is found in the south but runs through the north's pipelines and port to get to market.

The SPLM has insisted lack of progress in the talks should not be used as an excuse to delay the scheduled start of the referendum on Jan. 9, 2011.

Germany: "We have been practising Islamic law for years, and that is a good thing"

Germany: "We have been practising Islamic law for years, and that is a good thing"

 

Via The Local: A leading law professor has contradicted Chancellor Angela Merkel's statement that Sharia law was not practiced in Germany, saying a variety of Sharia-based rulings were being made all the time. "We have been practising Islamic law for years, and that is a good thing," Hilmar Krüger, professor for foreign private law at Cologne University, told Der Spiegel magazine. Family and inheritance rulings were often made according to Sharia law, he said, listing a range of examples. Women who are in polygamous marriages legal in their countries of origin can make claims of their husbands in Germany regardless of the fact that their marriages would not be lawful here. They can claim maintenance from their husbands and a share of an eventual inheritance, said Krüger. German judges often refer to Sharia, as the Federal Social Court in Kassel did a few years ago when it supported the claim of a second wife for a share of her dead husband's pension payments, which his first wife wanted to keep all to herself. The judge ruled they should share the pension. (more)

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