Uganda Rural Community Support USA

The Republican Democratic and Social
party (the ruling PRDS party) won the municipal elections which took place
Friday in Mauritania.

According to the final results of the first round poll issued Saturday
evening by Interior Minister, Dah Ould Abdeljelil, the PRDS party won a
landslide victory in more than 180 out of 208 communes in the country.

The ruling party swept the polls in several rural communes where it had
o opposition. It also had a good showing in the communes of Kaedi and
Boghe, considered as strongholds of the opposition party, and Tidjikja
where the out-going mayor, dissatisfied with his eviction, stood as an
independent.

Elections were suspended in certain districts for massive fraud,
including Nouakchott where PRDS actually had a landslide victory.

Eight parties contested the elections, the fourth of its kind held in
the country since 1986. Some 30 independent candidates stood for election

A second round is expected next Friday in the communes where there were
no outright winers.

Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare begins
Sunday a two-day official visit to Algeria at the invitation of his
Algerian counterpart, Liamine Zeroual.

The visit is aimed to strengthen bilateral relations between the two
countries and to continue the dialogue the two neighbouring states have
always maintained, officials said in Algiers.

Konare is scheduled to hold talks with President Zeroual and several
members of the Algerian government on bilateral relations, regional and
international issues. The two sides will also exchange ideas about their
respective democratic reforms.

The two countries had already agreed on several points under the joint
commission cooperation which guides bilateral affairs, including trade,
higher education, scientific research and culture.

During President Konare’s last visit to Algeria in February 1998, the
two sides declared their intention to intensify cooperation in several
integrative sectors such as transportation, energy and cross-border trade.
This time, the highlight of Konare’s visit will be the signing of an accord
aimed at averting double taxation so as to boost trade relations.

The two countries intend to call a meeting of their joint commission of
cooperation so as to revive the joint border committee whose tasks is to
develop border regions.

A few years ago, the two governments collaborated in the repatriation
and resettlement of Tuareg refugees who had settled in southern Algeria,
after the signing of a national peace pact.

Algeria has backed the implementation of long-term development
programmes in northern Mali, so as to maintain stability and peace in the
desertic areas, where Tuaregs had been fighting for autonomy from Bamako.

Police continued the demolition of makeshift structures
yesterday in Monrovia.

Several medium businesses including restaurants and shops were affected.
Shop owners put the estimated cost of damages at nearly a hundred thousand
Liberian dollars. They said the police demolition squad took them by
surprise without prior notice to relocate their businesses. But a police
authority has rejected the claim. The police said those affected were given
warning to leave but ignored it. Police authorities said the demolition
exercise launched last year is intended to rid the city of makeshift
structures. The police claimed that these places served as hideouts for
suspected criminals.

* A Liberian legislator has questioned the possibility of achieving
democracy in Liberia. Sinoe County Senator Harrison Sleweon said democracy
will remain far-fetched when government continues to rely on traditional
chiefs and Zoes. Senator Sleweon said chiefs and Zoes have limited ideas on
basic human rights. He said traditional chiefs are not aware of the bill of
rights, universal suffrage as well as the new political order in promoting
democracy. Senator Sleweon said this should however not mean that tribal
leaders should not be consulted on state matters. Senator Sleweon made the
observation when he addressed students of Paynesville Central Academy
yesterday. He blamed what he called the slow growth of democracy in Liberia
on illiteracy and poverty. The Liberian legislator admonished students to
take their lessons seriously to better prepare themselves.

* More than one thousand Sierra Leonean refugees have arrived in
Guinea. The UN Refuge Agency says the refugees arrived in Kindia prefecture
between January seven and twenty-five. Kindia prefecture is about one
hundred fifty kilometers east of the capital Conakry. The UNHCR said many
of the refugees have fled the Makeni and Kamadwie areas in Northern Sierra
Leone. Rebels of the RUF attacked and burned the homes of the refugees
looting food supplies. The rebel attacks took place after they had been
pushed out of Freetown by ECOMOG. A UNHCR spokesman said another one
thousand Sierra Leonean refugees who had earlier arrived in Guinea are
staying at the Forecariah camp. Forecariah camp is about one thousand
kilometers from Conakry.

* The Elections Commission has begun releasing results of the Margibi
County elections. The results announced yesterday put the senatorial
candidate of the National Patriotic Party in the lead with sixty-four
percent of votes counted. Mr. George Kpenneh is the NPP senatorial
candidate vying against Mr. William Sawyer of the Unity Party. The results
represent votes cast at eighty-seven centers in five districts in upper
Margibi. The commission suspended the counting of ballots from one hundred
fifteen centers due to the absence of the representative of the Unity
Party. The commission said total votes counted so far from upper Margibi is
seven thousand ninety. No results have yet been announced for the municipal
and chieftaincy elections. The official date for the announcement of all
results by ECOM is February five.

* An aid agency is warning of the shortage of safe drinking water in
Sierra Leone. Action Contre La Faim said there is a serious problem of
latrines and uncollected corpses in the city. The agency warns that these
could cause a possible outbreak of cholera in the capital, Freetown. ACF
said the situation is more serious in areas where displaced people are
seeking shelter. An ACF assessment team which visited the area also raised
concerns about the security situation in the city. The agency said security
in the city remained uncertain. At the same time, an ACF nutritional center
has been moved from Kissy to a secure place in western Freetown. The ACF
said some fifty severely malnourished children are being fed at the center.

* NOTE FOR EDITORS: Star Radio is staffed by Liberian journalists and
managed by the Swiss NGO Fondation Hirondelle with financing from the U.S.
Agency for International Development through the International Foundation
for Election Systems. Non-commercial redistribution is allowed, providing
that the source is quoted and no editing other than reformatting is made.

STAR radio, Sekou Toure Avenue, Mamba point, Monrovia, Liberia. Tel:
(+231) 226820 Fax:(+231) 227360; E-mail:star@liberia.net. Fondation
Hirondelle 3, rue Traversiere 1018 Lausanne, Suisse Tel: (+4121) 647 2805
Fax: (+41 21) 647 4469; E-mail: info@hirondelle.org; Visit our World Wide
Web site: www.hirondelle.org

Mwamba RFC will today hold their annual general meeting from 2
pm at the Nairobi Railway Club. During the meeting, a club committee for
the new season will be elected and a programme for the year released.

Chairman David Mshila said that training at Mwamba has picked up. “We
have enough numbers to put out Kenya Cup and Eric Shirley Shield sides but
we still welcome new players.”

Enthusiasm at the Black Shirts’ camp, he said, is back at the top and
their seriousness will be seen on the pitch.

Kenya prop Michael Mwangi is coaching the outfit which includes
ex-international No.8 Manuel Okoth who is back after a year’s lay-off.

Impala RFC have a new committee to run the affairs of the club. They are
Benjamin Adeya, Emman Lubembe, Shadrack Odhiambo and Geoff Radier.

The previous committee which was headed by David Lukalo stepped down. At
the moment, Impala has an average of 25 players training on Tuesdays,
Thursdays from 5 pm and on Saturday from 3 pm.

Kenya Harlequin FC have attracted several new players. They are Peter
Goto and David Ngugi previously with the United States International
University, Richard Otuombe from Kenyatta University’s Blak Blad, Grant
Ochieng’ from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology among
others.

Every session has 45-plus players. The captain will be selected after
the Quins’ special general meeting in mid-February.

Currently, the team is coached by Ham Onsando and Joe Muniafu.

The Kenya Rugby Coaches Association has been formed. Some of the pioneer
members at their first meeting last week are Mumo Musembi, Michael Mwangi,
Max Muniafu, Michael Otieno, Edwin Obuya, Bill Githinji and Stuart Urquhart.

Elsewhere, the Safari Sevens tournament director, Dan Mugo may step down
from the position, sources say.

Mugo is said to be unhappy with the organisers.

Faru RFC have resumed training at the Parklands Sports Club, James
Mwangi, the club’s general manager has said. Training is on Tuesday and
Thursday from 5 pm.

The club is planning a tour to Moshi and Arusha in February. Mwangi
confirmed that the team will take part in all tournaments.

The 1998/99 racing season enters its 18th week today this
afternoon at Ngong. There were five races until the Outspan Maiden was
divided into division one and two bringing the total number to six.

A total of 47 horses, divided into those six races, will be in action
from 2pm, with the Nyeri Handicap over 1,400m, an open handicap race for
three-year-olds being the top rated race of the day.

It has attracted five runners who will be led out by Albertini who will
be in the control of Steve Njuguna.

Albertini, has however been given the top weight of 67 kilos though
going by his performance last time out, Albertini is still capable of
beating the others like Wakiihuri and Coopers Creek among others.

But before that, there will be the Muranga handicap over 2060m for
horses rated 19 to 30 in the handicaps, and here Geyser though with 60
kilos, is likely to start as the hot favourite.

Bonnie Lad with D. Tanui on, is also expected to lead the others home in
the Embu Handicap over 2400m.

SELECTION:

2.00-Sinqwe (Tiwi0

2.30-Bonnie Lad (Chat Show)

3.00-Geyser (En Avant)

3.30-Albertini (Wakiihuri)

4.00-Lady Clare (Siana springs)

4.30-Arrowwood (Heaven Sent).

What some some regard as sport, others take personally,
seriously or professionally. Therefore, that feeling of studiously,
meticulously and laboriously trying to complete a puzzle to make ends meet,
becomes empty when a final part of the code is missing.

Meaning? Take any race. The ground, distance, handicap rating, jockey,
overall current form of the trainer, and the wearing or removal of blinkers.

Those statistics can all be fitted into place. But being unaware of
something as vital as a tongue strap, can leave one crucial piece short of
completing the progression.

A tongue strap is an aid, like blinkers, which can have a dramatic
effect on horses because, as the term signifies, some tongues hang out,
cause suffocation, or always go the wrong side of the bit. Just last month
in the UK, three different horses produced marked improvement for having
their tongues tied down (it also helps breathing).

Very few punters were privy to the information beforehand because, under
Jockey Club policy, the news only has to be declared 45 minutes ahead of a
race.

Not by way of a public address system or noticeboard, by-the-way, simply
a casual runners’ sheet. Tongue straps are experimental but one likes to
know all the ingredients of one’s choices before filling out respective forms.

However, tongue straps carry no guarantee of permanence. They can easily
come off during a race, so the point is, at least the punter is informed.

Four time world cross-country champion, Paul
Tergat, was beaten to the second place Saturday in Nairobi by fellow
soldier Paul Koech during the local Armed Forces campionships held at Ngong
Race Course near the Kenyan capital.

Koech clocked 36:04.0 minutes to retain the title for the second year
running while Tergat was timed 36:17.0. Tom Nyariki came third in 36:22.0
while Kiptum Muigei was fourth in 36:28.0.

The four had exchanged the lead during the first two laps. Koech broke
away during the third lap, opening a 50-meter gap betwen him and the three
challengers.

Tergat on the other hand had to wait until the last lap to break away
from his comptriots thus settling for the second place.

He later told newsmen that he arrived home from the US three days ago
and had not settled.

“I will revenge during the national championships and (also) the
by Ghion Hagos, PANA Staff Correspondent February,” he said.

Countries bidding to host the 2006 World Cup have
been warned by FIFA that they would be struck off the list if they stepped
out of line with football’s governing body’s new guidelines on campaigning.

This weekend, national associations in Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria
and South Africa - along with those in Brazil, England and Germany - are
studying the rules that will govern their campaigns to host world
football’s showcase.

According to FIFA’s director of communications, Keith Cooper, the move
is not a knee-jerk reaction to the bribery scandal that has rocked the
International Olympic Committee.

Some of the IOC’s members, the majority from Africa, have been accused
of taking backhanders to vote in favour of cities bidding to host the
Olympics.

Cooper said, however, that the guidelines had been drawn up before the
IOC case, adding that they were meant to protect FIFA’s executive members
from harassment.

“The 24 executive members got fed up in the run-up to the 2002 bid with
being dogged everywhere they turned,” he was quoted as saying in an
interview with the British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph.

“Whichever bus they got on, whatever shop they entered, there was a
Japanese or a Korean waiting and they decided they didn’t want to go
through that again.”

For example, Cooper said, FIFA vice-president David Wills of Scotland
and executive member Lennart Johannsen from Sweden complained about “how
many phone calls they had received from these guys and how they were
followed everywhere. It was getting them down.”

He added: “It was decided then we should try to do something to curtail
that. I was given the job of drafting the recommendations and, on the
advice of Sepp Blatter [FIFA president], the first people I turned to were
the IOC.”

According to The Sunday Telegraph, the guidelines urge national
associations not to spend money on time-consuming publicity campaign but on
ensuring that facilities were up to standard.

They were also told not to invite FIFA members to visit them in
connection with their bids, or to travel to committee members’ countries to
present their case for hosting the tournament.

Last week, the African Football Confederation failed to agree on one
bidder from Africa, but many observers believe that South Africa has the
best chance of bringing the World Cup to the continent for the first time.

Nile Breweries’ offer to fund Cranes’ Africa Nations Cup
training is good news. It was revealed Friday that the brewers are ready to
finance training as an initial step to full sponsorship of the national
soccer side . The amount involved is yet to be disclosed but sources close
to the Njeru brewers have hinted that the offer is handsome.

The offer comes in the wake of recent promises to Uganda’s most popular
sport. Cellular phone dealers Celtel last year promised local soccer giants
Express sh 200m, shortly after South African army combat manufacturers AT&T
handing army side Simba sh 14m and a trip to South Africa.

The offers point to the right trend. Modern sports is all about
corporate sponsorship.

Sports has become too expensive a venture for third world countries
hence its need for support from the private business sector. Businesses
like Nile Breweries should thus be commended.

That Nile Breweries are also Super Division soccer league sponsors, a
rare show of sportsmanship that should be emulated by more private
businesses. The brewers last season pumped sh 100m into the premier league,
a figure they are likely to double this season.

But businesses also stand to benefit from sports sponsorship through
diverse advertising mileage because sports, moreso soccer, is a crowd
puller. People also tend to want to associate with businesses that have a
soft spot for sports.

A clear example is Gulf Petroleum Company (GAPCO), which enjoyed soccer
fans’ goodwill long after it had withdrawn support from Express. Potential
sponsors are however usually discouraged by harsh government taxes.

Sports financiers in other countries are rewarded with tax reliefs that
boost continued private sector support for sports, which is not a top
priority in third world governments.

In an unprecedented move, seven major donors and countries
presented strongly worded protests to the acting minister of foreign
affairs, Nathan Shamuyarira, on Friday, complaining about the recent action
by Zimbabwean military authorities against two of The Standard’s
journalists, and an apparent deterioration in were Australia, Canada, the
European Union (EU), Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Germany and the United States.

One of the protesting bodies, the EU, which represents the bulk of the
western European countries, said the recent torture of this newspaper’s
journalists had done serious damage to the image of Zimbabwe.

“The EU hopes that the government of Zimbabwe will be able to restore
confidence in the consistency of its approach to human rights, respect of
the rule of law and court decisions, and to the role of the army in a
democratic state.”

The union added that human rights, including freedom of the press, were
common values shared by the EU and Zimbabwe. “The EU therefore, has with
great concern taken note of the recent action of Zimbabwean military
authorities against two journalists of the newspaper.”

The EU said it was worried about the detention of civilians by the army
and the threat to an independent judiciary by the rejection of a court
order by an agency of the Zimbabwe government.

Above all, the EU said, it was concerned about “the alleged violation of
human rights by the use of torture, which cannot be justified under any
circumstances”.

The Standard’s editor, Mark Chavunduka, and chief writer, Ray Choto
recently told the world about their ordeal at the hands of military police
and members of the CIO during their unlawful detention.

The journalists said they were subjected to severe torture, including
water suffocation and electric shocks to their genitals. Although the
minister of defence, Moven Mahachi, has dismissed the charges as “lies”,
medical reports have confirmed they were definitely tortured.