Ethiopia arrests minister, 11 others over corruption
ADDIS ABABA | Sat May 11, 2013 10:27am EDT
(Reuters) - Ethiopian police have arrested a minister and 11 other people on
corruption charges, an official and state media said on Saturday, in the
country's most high-profile swoop against graft for more than a decade.
Businesses in the region regularly complain of corruption as an obstacle to
their work. Transparency International ranked Ethiopia 113 out of 176
nations worldwide in its 2012 perception of corruption index, where No. 1 is
considered least corrupt.
That ranking puts Ethiopia above most nations in the Horn of Africa and east
Africa regions, although Rwanda is ranked 50.
Melaku Fenta, a senior ruling party member and director general of the
revenue and customs authority with the rank of minister, was arrested on
Friday alongside two other officials from the authority, government
spokesman Shimeles Kemal said.
"They were under investigation on suspicion of corrupt practices," Shimeles
told Reuters, without giving details.
The spokesman said there were further arrests as well but did not give a
total. The state news agency reported 12 arrests overall. Independently,
newspapers said the arrests included a prominent businessman and customs
employees outside the capital.
Global Financial Integrity last year said Addis Ababa lost $11.7 billion in
outflows of illegal funds in the past decade.
Melaku is the most high profile suspect to be arrested on corruption charges
since Siye Abraha, a former defense minister who was released in 2007 after
six years behind bars. However, he was already out of government when
arrested.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Edmund Blair/Mark Heinrich)
Sudan says South Sudan helped rebels attacking major town
KHARTOUM | Sat May 11, 2013 6:44pm EDT
(Reuters) - Sudan accused South Sudan of having supported rebels who
launched a major assault two weeks ago, warning this could derail recent oil
and security agreements between the African neighbors, state media said on
Saturday.
The two countries agreed in March to resume cross-border oil flows and end
tension that has plagued them since South Sudan's secession in 2011.
Since then ties have improved with Sudan receiving last week the first oil
exports from the landlocked South, which had shut down its production in
January 2012 in a dispute over pipeline fees.
But in a new setback, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services
(NISS) said South Sudan had helped rebels who two weeks ago attacked the
central city of Um Rawaba. It was the worst assault since a raid on Khartoum
in 2008.
"The support for the (rebel) forces ... included fuel supplies and the
opening of military hospitals in the South to receive wounded Sudanese
rebels," SUNA said, quoting NISS.
South Sudan also had recently supported rebels from the western region of
Darfur and two border states with vehicles, SUNA said, adding South Sudan
also has provided weapons, ammunition and training at several camps in its
Unity state to form a "another force" to send into Sudan.
"NISS has confirmed that Juba has supported rebels against Khartoum since
the cooperation agreement (to resume oil flows)," SUNA said.
South Sudan also had issued emergency travel documents for wounded rebels to
receive medical treatment in some African countries and hosted some of their
leaders in the capital Juba, SUNA said.
The security services "urged the South's government to stop any involvement
in support of Sudanese rebels which threatens the implementation of all
cooperation deals between Khartoum and Juba," SUNA said.
REBEL ALLIANCE
There was no immediate comment from Juba, which has long denied it was
supporting rebels on Sudanese territory.
Khartoum had since the March deal stopped accusing Juba of backing any
rebels but mistrust runs deep between the two sides, which fought one of
Africa's longest civil wars before a 2005 peace deal.
The Um Rawaba attack, a normally placid commercial hub, was conducted by an
alliance of three rebel groups from Darfur, scene of a decade-long rebellion
of non-Arab tribes, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North
(SPLM-North).
The SPLM-North is made up of fighters who sided with the south during civil
war and ended up with southern secession in Sudan. They complain like the
Darfur rebels of marginalization in a country controlled by an Arab elite in
Khartoum.
Sudan and South Sudan came close to war in April 2012 when border skirmishes
broke out over oil exports fees, rebel support and disputed territory.
Under international pressure, both agreed in March to set up a buffer zone
on both sides of their border, a condition for Sudan to allow through South
Sudan's oil exports.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Bill Trott)
