AFCON 2013: Cameroon fails to qualifyongo (Agg: 2-5) - Burkina Faso 3-1 CAR (3-2)

TIndomitable Lions of Cameroon will be absent at the final phase of the African Cup of Nations tourney, AFCON 2013. Though they beat the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, 2-1 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, Sunday, October 14 2012, the team of Jean Paul Akono lost their qualification ticket on a 3-2 aggregate score, following their earlier dismal show in Praia, Cape Verde, September 8 2012, losing 0-2.

Despite a generally well prepared match, as initially noted by the head of the new technical bench for the Lions, Jean Paul Akono, the team captained by Samuel Fils Eto’o failed to deliver the expected magic – beat Cape Verde by three goals, without conceding any and jet their way to South Africa come January 2013.

Though the Lions opened the match in Yaoundé in a spirited manner, backed by the 12th player, the more than 50,000 thousand-man crowd that answered present in the Lions’ den, Mfandena, a spot kick for the Blue Sharks and Portuguese-based Heldon at the 10th minute of play, will bring them a lot of joy and optimism as it was beautifully slotted in. The Lions’ keeper, Carlos Idriss Kameni could not stop the damage. Still very hopeful, the Lions did their all to come back into the match, as Alexandre Song Billong, Jean II Makoun, Benoit Angbwa, Samuel Fils Eto’o and Achille Emana combined strategy and energy from the midfield to the attack line to get an equaliser.

This will come at the 25th minute thanks to Achille Emana, who gave a good account of himself. A determined Cape Verdean team, with a very youthful spirit will hold their own against the Lions for a one-all tie till the close of the first segment of the match.

In the second half of the game, the Lions multiplied efforts, style, energy and individual tactics, yet the situation will not evolve in their favour. On their part, the Blue Sharks gained confidence and saw themselves progressively getting into their first ever AFCON qualification.

Some changes will be made in the Cameroonian team, which saw Idrissou Mohamadou, donning jersey number 11 leave the green turf for the young and promising Fabrice Olinga, donning jersey number 7 and who trades his professional football skills in Malaga, Spain.

Subsequently, Achille Emana will leave his place for Vincent Aboubakar while Alexandre Song will be replaced for Joel Matip of Schalke O4 in Germany. These changes will bring some verve into the Lions’ attacking machinery but the goals to make the difference did not come.

At the 88th minute of the match, the dynamic Olinga in a good offensive move chipped in the second goal for Cameroon. What a motivation, which did not last for long as the Egyptian referee called the match to a close at the 92th minute. Hence, the Lions won the Blue Sharks in Yaoundé but will not be party to the African football fiesta, come January 2013 in the rainbow country, South Africa.

Observers of Cameroon football have been quick to note that the absence of adequate preparations from the beginning of competitions is part of the plethora of problems plaguing the game in the country.

Others hold that Cameroon lost her qualification for South Africa 2013 from the early matches, losing vital points to the Simbas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Libyan national team.

Some say the Sunday, October 14 2012 match against Cape Verde marks the end of a generation of players in the Cameroon national squad. The likes of Idrissou Mohamadou and Carlos Idriss Kameni.

Earlier this year, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in another painful experience missed out at the AFCON 2012 co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Other Results recorded and qualifications
• First leg scores in brackets
- Algeria 2-0 Libya (3-0)
- Ethiopia 2-0 Sudan (Agg: 5-5) Ethiopia go through on away goals and coming back to AFCON after 30 years of absence
- Cameroon 2-1 Cape Verde (Agg: 2-3)
- Angola 2-0 Zimbabwe (Agg: 3-3) Angola go through on away goals
- Niger 2-0 Guinea (Agg: 2-1)
- Togo 2-1 Gabon (Agg: 3-2)
- Guinea 2-1 DR Congo (Agg: 2-5)
- Burkina Faso 3-1 CAR (3-2)

Operation Somalia: The U.S., Ethiopia and now Kenya

Ethiopia did it five years ago, the Americans a while back. Now Kenya has rolled tanks and troops across its arid frontier into lawless Somalia, in another campaign to stamp out a rag-tag militia of Islamist rebels that has stoked terror throughout the region with threats of strikes.
The catalyst for Nairobi’s incursion was a series of kidnappings by Somali gunmen on its soil. A Frenchwoman was bundled off to Somalia from northern Kenya, while a British woman and two female aid workers from Spain, abducted from a refugee camp inside Kenya,  are also being held across the border.
The incidents caused concern over their impact on the country’s vital tourism industry, with Kenya’s forecast 100 billion shillings or revenue this year expected to falter. The likes of Britain and the United States have already issued warnings against travel to some parts of the country.
Kenyans have so far responded with bravado towards their government’s operation against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group. Local channels regularly show high approval ratings for the campaign, some as high as 98 percent.
“The issue of our security is non-negotiable,” one commentator told a TV station in the wake of the announcement. Another chipped in with:  ”We’ve been casual to the extent of endangering our national sovereignty.  Kenya has what it takes to get rid of this dangerous threat once and for all.”

Isn’t that what the Ethiopians said in late 2006?
After repeated threats of jihad against the predominantly Christian nation, Addis Ababa wasted little time in deploying thousands of highly-trained and battle-ready troops to Somalia against the Islamic Courts Union, the precursor to today’s al Shabaab.
It routed them quickly and the group’s leaders retreated to exile, giving way to the much more militant and aggressive al Shabaab. Addis Ababa then found itself bogged down in near-daily bouts of urban warfare and finally withdrew two years later citing mounting costs and a lack of regional will to sort out the situation.
Al Shabaab have since controlled large swathes of southern Somalia against the internationally-backed government’s control of the capital.
Ethiopia’s ill-fated mission followed a U.S. foray in late 1993. In a bid to capture clan leaders who were trampling on the humanitarian relief following the downfall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Washington sent soldiers to enforce a U.N.mission.
The operation ended in disaster. Two Black Hawk  choppers were shot down and 18 servicemen killed.  The bodies of several soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu and a hasty withdrawal followed.

Though Kenyan troops have already encroached inside Somalia on a number of occasions and are well-trained and supplied, questions remain over how they will cope with a potential guerrilla war against fighters hardened on years of skirmishes in the remote region.
With Kenya keeping a tight lid on details of the operation, the media is asking what the desired end game is.  Initially, there was speculation that Kenya wanted to secure a buffer zone along its long, porous frontier with Somalia.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said on Thursday the aim was only to dismantle al Shabaab’s network and leave, not spending an hour longer than necessary in Somalia.
Kenyan soldiers may well find themselves in a different scenario to that of Ethiopia.
Ethiopian troops were at the vanguard of the fight against Somalia’s Islamist militants. In this case, an African Union force of 9,000 has more or less secured Mogadishu, Western allies are providing Kenya with technical support and Somali government troops and allied militias are fighting alongside the east African country.
Will Kenya ultimately prove its doubters wrong and secure gains that have eluded its peers? Or will this be another ill-fated operation that will end up in an embarrassing withdrawal?

UN chief wants Italy's Prodi as envoy to troubled Sahel

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Friday he wants former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi to be his envoy to the troubled Sahel region, where West African states seek U.N. backing for military intervention in Mali.
"I would like to inform you of my intention to appoint Mr. Romano Prodi (Italy) as my Special Envoy for the Sahel," Ban said in a letter to the 15-nation council, obtained by Reuters.
"Mr. Prodi has a long and distinguished career in government and international diplomacy as a consensus-builder, having served as Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission for several years," he wrote to the president of the council, Guatemalan U.N. Ambassador Gert Rosenthal.
Rosenthal informed fellow council members in an accompanying letter that he would acknowledge Ban's decision to appoint Prodi if no objections were presented to him by Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).
Mali descended into chaos in March when soldiers toppled the president, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels to seize two-thirds of the country. But Islamist extremists, some al Qaeda allies, hijacked the revolt in the north.
The conflict in Mali has also exacerbated a deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in the turbulent Sahel region - a belt of land spanning nearly a dozen of the world's poorest countries on the southern rim of the Sahara - where millions are on the brink of starvation due to drought.
West Africa's regional body, ECOWAS, has mapped out a three- phase operation to help Malian troops recapture the north, and Mali's interim leader, Dioncounda Traore, asked the Security Council earlier this month to authorize the force.
Council diplomats say ECOWAS needs to present a more coherent and comprehensive plan for military intervention in Mali before they authorize it.
French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said on Thursday that he would shortly circulate a resolution to energize the African response. It would not yet authorize a military intervention by an international force, but would instead set a deadline for ECOWAS and the African Union to provide the Security Council with details of the operation.
ECOWAS has intervened militarily in past African conflicts, including the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ivory Coast reopens Ghana borders

Ivory Coast is to reopen its land and maritime borders with Ghana, more than two weeks after they were shut following a deadly cross-border attack. Ivorian Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi said both countries had tightened security along the border "with the aim of stopping all incursions." Several people died when gunmen attacked an Ivorian army checkpoint in the border town of Noe on 21 September.

Officials blamed exiled supporters of ousted President Laurent Gbagbo.

Ivory Coast responded by closing land, air and sea borders with Ghana but restarted flights between the two countries a few days later.

The border closure has blocked the main transport route along the Gulf of Guinea, stretching from Ivory Coast to Nigeria.

In a statement broadcast on state TV, Paul Koffi Koffi said: "President Alassane Ouattara decided that from Monday at seven in the morning the land and sea borders will reopen."

After a contested election in 2010, Mr Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to President Ouattara, who eventually ousted his rival with the help of former rebel forces, the UN and former colonial power France.

Mr Gbagbo is currently in The Hague, awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

However, many of his supporters are living in exile across the border in Ghana and have been blamed for a string of attacks in Ivory Coast.

Ghana has promised to help investigate the attacks.

SA: Inquiry into mine shooting beginsA judicial commission of inquiry into the fatal August shootings of 34 striking miners at the Marikana mine is due to begin. The inquiry was set up by South African President Jacob Zuma. The investigation will determine the roles played by the police, the management of the platinum mine, Lonmin, the unions and government. South africa police It will also look into the conduct of any individuals or groupings in promoting conflict and confrontation. The commission, which consists of a three-member panel, led by retired Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ian Farlam, is expected to complete its analysis within four months. It must submit its final report within a month of finishing its investigation. A total of 46 people died in the violent protests which took place during weeks of unrest at the platinum mine. The 16 August killings were the most deadly police action since the end of apartheid in 1994. The proceedings will be held at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, near the scene of the shooting and 62 miles (100km) north-west of Johannesburg. There are plans to set up giant screens in Marikana, close to the scene of the shootings, to allow relatives and friends to follow proceedings closely. The BBC's Milton Nkosi, in Johannesburg, says that video footage of the police shooting at the striking miners, which shocked the world, may be used as evidence during the hearings. Late last month, striking miners at the Marikana mine agreed to return to work after accepting a pay rise of up to 22%. But tens of thousands of others miners have refused to work in a wave of strikes throughout South Africa since the violence at the mine.

A judicial commission of inquiry into the fatal August shootings of 34 striking miners at the Marikana mine is due to begin. The inquiry was set up by South African President Jacob Zuma. The investigation will determine the roles played by the police, the management of the platinum mine, Lonmin, the unions and government.

It will also look into the conduct of any individuals or groupings in promoting conflict and confrontation.

The commission, which consists of a three-member panel, led by retired Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ian Farlam, is expected to complete its analysis within four months.

It must submit its final report within a month of finishing its investigation.

A total of 46 people died in the violent protests which took place during weeks of unrest at the platinum mine.

The 16 August killings were the most deadly police action since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The proceedings will be held at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, near the scene of the shooting and 62 miles (100km) north-west of Johannesburg.

There are plans to set up giant screens in Marikana, close to the scene of the shootings, to allow relatives and friends to follow proceedings closely.

The BBC's Milton Nkosi, in Johannesburg, says that video footage of the police shooting at the striking miners, which shocked the world, may be used as evidence during the hearings.

Late last month, striking miners at the Marikana mine agreed to return to work after accepting a pay rise of up to 22%.

But tens of thousands of others miners have refused to work in a wave of strikes throughout South Africa since the violence at the mine.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe hints at March election

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe wants to hold elections in March 2013 with a referendum on a new constitution this November, court papers reveal. His long-time rivals in the Movement for Democratic Change have condemned this timetable as "unrealistic". The two sides are unable to agree on a draft constitution, which is supposed to be in place before the new election. Until now, Mr Mugabe, 88, has always insisted that the elections should be held this year.

The MDC, led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, backed by South African mediators, insists that a new constitution is in place before the new polls to ensure they are free and fair.


President Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, denies accusations that previous elections were rigged in his favour.

Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the previous election, in 2008, citing systematic attacks on his supporters by the army and pro-Mugabe militias.

With the uncertainty pushing Zimbabwe's economy into freefall, the pair then agreed to form a power-sharing government.

Mr Mugabe's proposed election timetable was included in court papers in a case about when to hold by-elections.

The Supreme Court had ordered that by-elections for several vacant parliamentary seats be held by 1 October. However the president has appealed against the ruling, saying it would cost too much money when wider elections are expected soon.

This is by no means a fixed date for Zimbabwe's long-awaited elections, but it is a sign of growing urgency, according to the BBC.

But it was immediately rejected by MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora.

"The date for the election, especially, is unilateral, unrealistic and has no scientific or legal basis," he told the AFP news agency.

Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai would be expected to face each other in the poll, which is supposed to be held by next year.