South African police seized a shipment of guns they believe was bound for Somalia to be used against pirates in a possible violation of a U.N. arms embargo, authorities reported.
Eight assault rifles fitted with telescopic and silencing devices, two AK-47s, two shotguns and a revolver were confiscated from a home near the port city of Durban. Police had been tracking the shipment and four people — two South Africans and two foreigners — were arrested in the Dec. 23 raid and are out on bail, said South African police spokesman Vincent Mdunge.
Police are trying to determine whether a port official helped move the weapons. Mdunge would not disclose the two foreigners’ nationalities.
The seizure follows weeks of speculation over a controversial program, involving an ex-CIA deputy station chief and a former U.S. ambassador, to train and fund antipiracy forces in Somalia. Police in South Africa drew no link between the training program and the arms seizure.
Mdunge would not name the shippers, but said investigators believe that the weapons were being sent to Somalia for use against pirates. It was unclear whether the shippers had the proper permits to send the weapons to Somalia, Mdunge said, adding that he didn’t know where the weapons were shipped from and whether they were destined for a private company or the Somali government.
The anarchic country’s long coastline is dotted with havens of pirates who prey on vital shipping routes.
Those involved with the antipiracy program have refused to say who is funding it, other than that it is a Muslim country, but have repeatedly insisted no guns would be sent to Somalia in violation of the U.N. arms embargo.
Numerous Somali officials have identified Uganda-based Saracen International as the security contractor doing the training. But Bill Pelser, the chief executive of Saracen International, has denied his company is involved and says it is another company of the same name registered in Lebanon. Lebanese authorities say they have no record of such a company.
The four men detained in the raid are to appear in court on February 7, 2011.
IMPORTATION OF OVER AGED VEHICLES: Kenya Anti-graft Agency To Charge Minister Over Car Imports
The Attorney General has given the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) the green light to arrest and charge Cabinet minister, Henry Kosgey for abuse of office.
The decision by the AG was also confirmed by the KACC Director, Dr PLO Lumumba, who late last year said his anti-corruption organisation was investigating up to 80 politicians and top government officials in the intensified war against corruption.
‘I can confirm that we have just received a letter from the AG’s office advising us to charge the said minister’, Dr Lumumba told the Nation on phone on Monday, last week
The revelations of grand corruption involving the importation of vehicles aged more than eight years, stirred anger both in the public and private sector, prompting KACC to summon the minister to its Integrity House headquarters, for grilling, on November 3, last year.
After the grilling the minister told journalists he had been summoned to verify the import documents of 67 vehicles, which were more than eight years old, and which KRA officials seized.
A source at the AGs office said Attorney General, Amos Wako, agreed with the recommendations made by the KACC that Mr Kosgey had a case to answer over the vehicle importation scandal.
"He (the AG) as directed that Cabinet minister Henry Kosgey be arrested and charged with eight counts of abuse of office in relation to exemption he gave for the importation of motor vehicles more than 8 years old. Files containing instructions has been sent to KACC for action," the source told the Nation.
The source added that the AG made the decision after scrutinising the files on the said scandal, which were handed to him, last year, by the KACC officials.
It is alleged that Kosgey cleared the importation of hundreds of cars, which are more than eight years old, which is against the law. The vehicles were later detained by KRA owing to documentation queries.
Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni tabled a letter in Parliament signed by Kebs, showing that 454 vehicles over the mandatory age had been exempted and allowed into the country in the last six months.
However, defending himself in Parliament, Kosgey said he only allowed the importation of an old car belonging to his bodyguard’s friend.
The minister also dismissed calls from backbenchers to step aside, pending investigations.
"The question of my stepping aside does not arise. I am not ready to step aside. My visit to KACC (headquarters) is now public knowledge, " stated Mr Kosgey, who said he had no personal interest in the matter.
The minister’s bodyguard was later arrested in connection with the matter.
Water minister Charity Ngilu is also in the eye of the storm over alleged flawed procurement in the construction of dams and price inflations at her ministry.
Mrs Ngilu has, however, come out fighting, accusing cartels at the ministry of sabotaging her efforts to fight corruption. She has accused her former assistant, Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri, of fronting for some cartels.
If charged, Mr Kosgey is expected to step aside as minister.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission had earlier charged 12 people, including vehicle importers, clearing and forwarding agents, Kenya Bureau of Standards and Kenya Revenue Authority employees in connection with a racket in which vehicles of more than eight years were finding their way into the local market.
According to KACC, the vehicle importation racket has resulted in Kenyans paying high prices for the cars believing that they were less than eight years, while in actual sense some were more than 10 years old.
The racketeers targeted top-of-the-range vehicles including Toyota Prados, Land Cruisers and Pajeros, which they later sold to influential businessmen and politicians.
…As Cameroon Introduces New Clearance Procedure For Used Vehicles
The Minister of Trade issued a press release yesterday outlining documents needed for the issue of an import declaration. The Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana issued a press release yesterday, January 5, 2011 announcing the implementation of a new procedure for obtaining declarations for imported used vehicles at the one-stop shop for external trade operations situated at the port of Douala.
The new procedure that will go operational as from January 10, 2011, will be implemented within the framework of the Ministry’s programme to facilitate external trade operations.
According to a source at the Ministry of Trade, the overall objective of the new procedure is to reduce the clearance time for used vehicles at the port of Douala as well as harmonise the procedures of all administrations involved in the one-stop-shop.
The new procedure for obtaining an import declaration involves the submission by importer of documents such as a purchase receipt for the used vehicle; a taxpayer’s card and a photocopy of the importer’s national identity card or passport.
The documents are scanned and the electronic copies forwarded to other administrations such as the customs services by electronic means. The file is transmitted and treated electronically through all the services while the importer can ensure traceability through the one-stop-shop’s website until he is called to collect his clearance documents, if approved. "This new electronic process will reduce clearance delays and contacts between importers and agents," said the source.
The importation of used vehicles from Europe and the United States of America is a growing business in Cameroon. After the economic crisis of the eighties, devaluation of the CFA Franc and reduction in civil servants’ salaries in the nineties, Cameroonians with lowered purchasing powers reduced their demand for brand new vehicles in favour of used vehicles that cost cheaper.
Recent figures from the customs services show that the importation of used vehicles is on the rise. It increased from 13,000 vehicles in 2007 to 16,000 in 2008. In 2009, more than 20,000 used vehicles were imported generating over FCFA 56 billion in customs revenue. At the 2010 mid-term evaluation, the customs services projected the importation of 30,000 used vehicles to generate over FCFA 70 billion.
In very significant ways, this imported used vehicle business is dominating the formal car business sector selling brand new cars. Figures from the National Institute of Statistics indicate that car dealers sold 2,936 new vehicles in 2006, 3,748 in 2007, 4,321 in 2008 and 3,451 in 2009.
The dominance of used vehicle business could also be explained by increasing demand from neighbouring countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic. Due to this increasing trend and importers’ complaints about delays in port clearance, the new procedure, that is essentially electronic, comes at the right time because prior to the institution of the one-stop-shop, the minimum port clearance time for vehicles was about one week.
Container Handling: Shanghai Overtakes Singapore
Shanghai has overtaken Singapore as the world’s biggest container port for the first time in 2010, handling 29.05 million TEU according to government officials.
Shanghai port handled about 500,000 TEU more than Singapore in 2010.
The economic recovery and the boost from the World Expo helped increase the city’s container and cargo throughput.
Shanghai’s cargo throughput hit about 650 million tonnes in 2010, compared to 590 million tonnes of cargo in 2009.
178 Years After, Argentina Recaptures Falkland Islands
Argentina reaffirmed its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands Monday, 178 years after losing the disputed territory to Britain.
“Argentina once again reaffirms the imprescriptible sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime area,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement also denounced Britain’s oil exploration near the archipelago, which Britain calls the Falkland Islands. “The UK continues to perform unilateral activities in the area, including illegal activities to exploit natural resources and performing military exercises,” it said.
Those actions constitute “a violation to the sailing security norms laid by the International Maritime Organization,” the statement said.
The statement said British forces “occupied” the archipelago on Jan. 3, 1833 and “evacuated by force its inhabitants and the Argentine authorities, which were legitimately established there.”
In 1982, Argentina’s military junta attempted to take back the islands by force, prompting a short but bloody war that left 649 Argentine and 255 British troops dead.
When the two countries mended ties in 1990, they agreed to put aside the issue of Malvinas sovereignty, agreeing only to handle “practical” issues.
But tensions escalated last year over Britain’s oil exploration and carrying out of military tests in the disputed archipelago.
The ministry dismissed London’s move as an obstacle to the development of ties between the two countries and to the provisional bilateral understanding reached after the war.
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