Somali President Sheikh Sharif

Islamist militants who spearheaded a bloody insurgency in Somalia have declared war on the Horn of Africa country's new president, even as a global council of Islamic scholars issued a document supporting him, as was reported by Garowe online.

Sheikh Hassan Yakub, spokesman for the Al Shabaab rulers in the port of Kismayo, 500km south of the capital Mogadishu, said the war will continue until Islamic law is restored across Somalia.

Sheikh Hassan Yakub, Al Shabaab spokesman in Kismayo said, "Sheikh Sharif declared jihad in 2006 and now he chose America over Islam."  He accused Sheikh Sharif of choosing the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) constitution instead of the Qur'an, the source of Islamic teachings and jurisprudence.

Zimbabwe Power Sharing Deal Reached At Last?

The jury is still out in Zimbabwe about how effective the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, will be in the role of prime minister as was reported by IRIN.

According to the power-sharing deal signed on 15 September 2008, which will begin to be implemented on 11 February 2009, when Tsvangirai is inaugurated as prime minister, Robert Mugabe will remain president.

In terms of the deal, executive powers and authority will be shared by the president, prime minister and cabinet. Wellington Chibhebhe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), told IRIN that a casual glance at the power-sharing pact only gave the MDC "administrative work".

Botswana Stock Market Plunge ahead of Budget Speech

Small individual investors who have become increasingly risk averse in the wake of the global financial crisis continued to drag down the mainstream index at the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) last week despite improved trades in mainly financial stocks as Mmegi reports.

For the week ended January 30, which was the last trading day of the month, the DCI shed 1.21 percent to close at 6,801.7 points but the FCI added 0.14 percent to 1,168.92 points, lifted by gains by IamGold.

On the other hand, for the whole month of January, the DCI shed 3.32 percent, while the FCI dropped 1.93 percent. Analyst Gary Juma said in the weekly report from Motswedi Securities that looking ahead, they expect activity to remain depressed on the local bourse in the short term as most investors wait on the sidelines.

Nigeria Militants Threaten to Launch Attack on February 14

The Daily Trust has reported that Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) and the Patriotic Force (PF) led by militant leader, Ateke Tom has threatened to cripple oil exploration activities in the Niger Delta region and has issued a February 14, 2009 deadline to oil majors operating in Nigeria to vacate the region. At the expiration of the February 14 deadline, the militants said fighters would attack facilities of oil companies in the region, naming Shell, Agip, Intel, the NLNG and ALSCON as the companies' installations would be targets.

The militants accused the companies of supporting and aiding the military to carry out attacks on their camps in the region. An on-line statement made available to journalists in Port-Harcourt yesterday by spokesman for the NDV and PF, Mr. Tamunokuro Ebitari said the militant group was launching the zero exploration because the Federal Government had chosen the path of force and not dialogue in resolving the crisis in the Niger Delta. Ebitari said the special military Joint Task Force (JTF) in Rivers State had continued to launch unprovoked attacks on its locations, the latest being the gun fight between the military and the militants at the weekend.