INTERNATIONAL
The Morung Express
Kenyans say they control mall, attackers say no NAIRObI, SEPtEmbER 24 (AP): Islamic militants who staged a deadly attack on a Kenya mall said Tuesday hostages are alive and their fighters are “still holding their ground,” calling into question Kenyan officials’ claims that they were in a final push. Explosions rang from the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi throughout the day, and the chatter of gunfire from inside the building could also be heard, despite the Kenyan government assurances of success. Fresh smoke also rose in the afternoon. As the fighting went on for a fourth day, Nairobi’s city morgue braced for the arrival of a large number of bodies of people killed, an official said. Earlier, the Kenyan Red Cross confirmed at least 62 people had been killed, but spokesman Abbas Gullet said it was still not known how many more may be dead inside the building. “It is certainly known that there are more casualties,” he said. A government official told The Associated Press that the morgue was preparing for up to an additional 60 bodies, though the official didn’t know an exact count. The government official insisted on anonymity so he would not face retribution from government officials. Three Kenyan soldiers have been killed and eight
others injured, the Kenyan Interior Ministry said Tuesday. A soldier emerging from the mall told the AP “we are finished,” but then conceded that government forces were still trying to secure the entire interior. He said troops were checking for explosives, and to see if they could find any survivors in certain areas including the mall’s movie theater and casino. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he was under orders not to speak to media. The al-Qaida-linked attackers gave a conflicting account of the mall conflict, using social media. “There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the mujahideen are still holding their ground,” said the Somali rebel group alShabab in a Twitter message considered to be genuine. It added that the hostages are “still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive.” But Kenyan police urged people to ignore “enemy... propaganda” and assured that the defense forces were continuing to “neutralize” the terrorist threat. “Troops now in mop up operations in the building, “ the police said on Twitter. A U.S. Embassy vehicle, identifiable by its numbered diplomatic license plate, arrived at the morgue on Tuesday. American offi-
cials have not confirmed the deaths of any U.S. citizens in the mall attack, but it appeared possible the Americans who visited the morgue — likely security officials with an agency like the FBI — could have been seeking information about one of the bodies inside. Al-Shabab, whose name means “The Youth” in Arabic, said the mall attack was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighboring Somalia. African Union forces pushed the al-Qaida-affiliated group out of Somalia’s capital in 2011. “You could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety,” the group Tweeted Tuesday. “Remove your forces from our country and peace will come.” While the government announced Sunday that “most” hostages had been released, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 were still being held by a band of attackers described as “a multinational collection from all over the world.” Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said “two or three Americans” and “one Brit” were among those who attacked the mall. She said in an interview with the PBS “NewsHour” program that the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab ori-
Relatives of Johnny Mutinda Musango, 48, weep after identifying his body at the city morgue in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday September 24. Musango was one of the victims of the Westgate Mall hostage siege. (AP Photo)
gin and lived “in Minnesota and one other place” in the U.S. The attacker from Britain was a woman who has “done this many times before,” Mohamed said. U.S. officials said they were looking into whether any Americans were involved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that the department had “no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities” of the attackers. Britain’s foreign office said it was aware of the foreign minister’s remarks, but would not confirm if a British woman was involved.
But al-Shabab, responding to a request from AP, denied that any women had attacked the mall. “We have an adequate number of young men who fully committed and ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Allah and for the sake of their religion, so there is no need for us to employ our sisters in the battlefield and thereby expose them to unnecessary risk. So these are just baseless rumours that have no substance,” said the alShabab press office in what is thought to be an authentic email address. Three attackers were killed in the fight-
ing Monday, Kenyan authorities said, and more than 10 suspects arrested. Al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said in an audio recording posted on a militant website that the attackers had been ordered to “take punitive action against the hostages” if force was used to try to rescue them. A Western security official in Nairobi who insisted on not being named to share information about the rescue operation said the only reason the siege hadn’t yet ended would be because hostages were still inside.
UN climate experts stress solidity of new report
StOCKHOLm, SEPtEmbER 24 (AP): Seeking to dispel any doubts over the credibility of their work, U.N. climate experts called their latest report an unbiased and reliable assessment of global warming as they presented it Monday to officials from 110 governments for a final review. The landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to state with more confidence than its previous four assessments that global warming is mostly manmade. It’s also going to provide updated observations and projections of the changes happening in the climate system, from the melting of Arctic sea ice to the warming and acidification of oceans. Thomas Stocker, co-chair of the working group that wrote the report, said it has undergone multiple stages of review, with more than 50,000 comments considered by the authors. The final version is scheduled to be adopted at the end of an IPCC conference this
week in Stockholm. “I know of no other document that has undergone this scrutiny,” Stocker said as the meeting opened. “It stands out as a reliable and indispensable source of knowledge about climate change.” He said millions of measurements on land, at sea, in the air and from space underpinned what he called an “unprecedented and unbiased view of the state of the climate system.” The IPCC’s work to improve the world’s understanding of climate change won it the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 together with climate campaigner Al Gore. But a series of errors embarrassed the authors of its previous climate assessment, which was completed that same year. Among the most prominent was an incorrect statement that the glaciers in the Himalayas were melting faster than others and that they would disappear by 2035 — hundreds of years earlier than other information suggests. An independent review of the
In this July 19, 2007 file photo an iceberg melts off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. Scientists who are fine-tuning a landmark U.N. report on climate change are struggling to explain why global warming appears to have slowed down in the past 15 years even as greenhouse gas emissions keep rising. (AP File Photo)
U.N. climate panel in 2010 found that overall it has done a good job but needs more openness and regular changes in leadership. It also called for stronger enforcement of its reviews of research
Suu Kyi looks to Singapore as model - minus the materialism
SINGAPORE, SEPtEmbER 24 (REutERS): Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi cemented Singapore’s role as a major economic partner and model for her country on a five-day trip to the island, taking home what she said were valuable lessons on education policy and anti-graft measures. But her endorsement of the wealthy city-state came with a caveat - Myanmar could do without the materialistic and high-pressure society that has accompanied Singapore’s decades-long transformation from tropical backwater to economic powerhouse. “I want to learn a lot from the standards that Singapore has been able to achieve, but I wonder whether we don’t want something more for our country,” the Nobel Peace laureate told reporters on Monday evening as she prepared to return home. She added: “Perhaps Singapore could learn from us a more relaxed way of life.” Despite that reservation, Suu Kyi’s first visit to Singapore is seen as affirming Myanmar’s close ties with the city-state as it seeks investments and aims to tap technocratic expertise to help its transformation to democracy from dictatorship. Suu Kyi, 68, met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, chief executives from some of the world’s biggest companies, and visited Singapore’s successful anti-corruption bureau. She was able to see the fruits of the island’s success at two of its universities and also took in a Formula 1 race on Sunday. Suu Kyi, the daughter of the hero of the campaign for independence from Britain, has shifted from democracy icon to opposition boss in the country’s parliament after her party won a landslide in by-elections last year. She had been kept under house arrest for 15 out of 20 years after the junta ignored the results of a 1990 election won by her party. She said many
of her country’s people believe Singapore could provide them with the key planks of their development model as it grapples with huge challenges, ranging from decrepit infrastructure to ethnic violence. “A lot of Burmese look to Singapore when they think of economic reforms in our country because they see the success of Singapore, and many of our young people are getting their education here so these are the sectors where many of our people feel they can learn from,” she said, referring to Singapore’s education and anti-corruption policies in particular. Singapore was a major proponent of maintaining diplomatic relations and providing humanitarian aid to Myanmar under the military junta that was shunned and sanctioned by the West. In 2001, it established a centre in the commercial capital Yangon to provide education for public servants, giving them training in English, trade, finance and information technology. Now it is reaping the benefits of those close ties as the country of about 60 million opens up to investors after a quasicivilian government took power in 2011. Singapore Firms Leverage Close Ties Singapore trade agency International Enterprise (IE) opened an office in Yangon last year to help companies from the city-state invest in the country. Singapore is Myanmar’s third-largest trading partner, with trade between the two countries reaching S$1.8 billion in 2012. “Many Singaporean firms are certainly rushing into Myanmar with foreign investment rising sharply in recent months,” said Kevin McGahan, a political science lecturer at the National University of Singapore. Myanmar officials have also shown interest in transplanting Singapore’s bureaucratic and governance expertise.
and adoption of a conflict of interest policy. IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri told The Associated Press on Monday that he hopes the review has helped enhance
the panel’s credibility. “Our processes were found to be very strong. Very good. Very effective,” he said. “But you know we have been in existence for 20-odd years and therefore it was time for us to get a second opinion on how we could improve ourselves. And I’m sure we’ve done very well in implementing the recommendations.” The report being completed in Stockholm deals with the physical science aspects of the climate system and is the first of a fourpart assessment that covers several aspects of global warming. Earlier Monday, Pachauri told delegates in Stockholm that the latest report marks “a new milestone in the understanding of climate change.” He said the fact that 60 percent of the authors were new to the IPCC process “show the inclusivity and openness” of the U.N.-sponsored panel “and the emphasis we place on new knowledge and expertise and fresh perspectives and approaches.”
NOTICE INVITING TENDERS MILITARY ENGINEER SERVICES HQ 137 Works Engineers, C/O 99 APO on behalf of President of India invites applications from eligible enlisted Contractors of MES and enlisted/unenlisted Contractors working with other Govt. Departments meeting eligibility criteria for selection of Contractors for issue of tender of under mentioned work:Name of work
SPECIAL REPAIR/RENEWAL/REPLACEMENT OF STEEL FURNITURE AGAINST CONDEMNED OFF FURNITURE AT RANGAPAHAR MILITARY STATION. Estimated cost of work : Rs. 27.00 Lakhs (Rupees twenty seven lakhs only) Completion period : 06 (SIX) Months Amount of earnest money : Rs. 54,000/- in the shape of Call Deposit receipt of the contractors not enfrom any Scheduled Bank. BGB not acceptable listed with MES Cost of tender : Rs. 500.00 in the shape of DD/Bankers cheque from any Scheduled Bank in favour of GE 868 EWS Last date of receipt of Ap- : 28 Sep 2013 plications Eligibility Criteria (a) For : Class: `D' Category: d (i) MES Enlisted Contractors (b) For other Contractors : Meeting enlistment criteria of MES with regard to having satisfactorily, completed requisite value of works, Annual turn over, Working Capital, Fixed Assets, no recovery outstanding in any Govt. Deptt, Security clearance etc. Date of issue of tender : On or after 30 Sep 2013 Date of receipt of tender : 30 Oct 2013 upto 1200 hours or as mention on tender Documents.
Note: 1. Applications not accompanied by requisite value of DD/Bankers Cheque towards Cost of Tender shall not be considered for issue of tender. 2. Contractors not enlisted with MES will be required to enclosed necessary documents to prove their eligibility as given above including Affidavit for no recovery outstanding. 3. In case of rejection of application for issue of tender, the applicant shall be refunded the cost of tender. However, contractor may appeal to next higher Engineer Authority i.e CE Shillong Zone for rejection of his application for issue of tender whose decision shall .be final and binding. However contractor shall not be entitled to any compensation what so ever for non issue of tender. 4. The above details are also available on MES website. www.mes.gov.in. and Indian Trade Journal. Full Notice of tender IAFW-2162 & Enlistment criteria is available in all office of MES and also on MES website.
Davp 10102/11/1285/1314
Wednesday 25 September 2013
Dimapur
9
28.5 mn conflict hit children denied education: UN uNItEd NAtIONS, SEPtEmbER 24 (IANS): A total of 28.5 million children in conflict-plagued countries are being denied an education, leaders from governments and international organisations said at the UN General Assembly here. “We must make an intentional and deliberate turn from past policy responses to humanitarian crises where education has typically been underfunded,” Xinhua cited Gordon Brown, the United Nations special envoy for Global Education, as saying Monday at a meeting of “Education Cannot Wait”. “Today, with nearly one million Syrian refugee children, we have the opportunity to take immediate action and demonstrate that we can not only prioritise, but deliver on the promise of education for all.” More than half of the world’s 57 million primaryschool-age children who are out of school live in countries scarred by war and conflict, compared to 42 percent in 2008. Conflicts, fighting and displacement in Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have largely contributed to this increase, according to Save the Children. Education should never be the cost of conflict, Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund, said. “Education cannot wait for battles to end ... or disasters to be averted ... or funding to be available. Education cannot wait .. . because children cannot wait,” Lake said. Alice Albright, chief executive officer of the Global Partnership for Education, said that education in emergency situations is severely underfunded, accounting for only 1.4 percent of humanitarian aid. She proposed doubling the amount and improving coordination among governments, donors and humanitarian agencies. “We all have a duty to the children of the world, to deliver good quality education regardless of the hostile conditions under which they live,” said Tove Romsaas Wang, the chief executive officer of Save the Children Norway. The leaders also agreed that education must play a central role in any post-2015 development plan. AMENDMENT NO.02 TO NIT DATED 01 AUG 2013 (TENDER NO 13 OF 2013-14) Name of work: SUPPLY AND STACKING OF STONE METAL 53 MM,STONE CHIPS 22.4MM FOR BUSG WORK AND STONE CHIPS 13.20MM,STONE CHIPS 11.20MM,SAND AND FIREWOOD FOR EXECUTION OF RE-SURFACING WORK (2013-14) BETWEEN KM 22.00 TO KM 60.00 ON ROAD MARIANI-MOKOKCHUNG UNDER 100 RCC/15 BRTF ROAD SECTOR PROJECT SEWAK IN THE STATE OF NAGALAND. 1. Reference this HQ NIT No. 8158/NIT/2013-14/10/E8 dated 01 Aug 2013 and amendment No. 01 issued for said NIT vide this HQ letter No. 8158/ NIT/AMDT-01/2013-14/E8 dated 21 Aug 2013. 2. Following amendment may please be carried out in the NIT/Amendment issued vide this HQ letter under reference:FOR
Para Tender documents may be downloaded from BRO website 2 of www.bro.gov.in on or after 14 Sep 2013 and printout is to be NIT taken of A4 size paper. It is advisable that the downloaded tender document is preferably printed through laser printer only. Submission of photo copy of tender is not permitted. Tender documents downloaded from BR0 Website shall be accompanied with cost of documents, failing to which tender documents shall he summarily rejected. READ -do- Tender documents may be downloaded from BRO website www.bro.gov.in on or after 25 Sep 2013 and printout is to be taken of A4 size paper. It is advisable that the downloaded tender document is preferably printed through laser printer only. Submission of photo copy of tender is not permitted. Tender documents downloaded from BR0 Website shall be accompanied with cost of documents, failing to which tender documents shall he summarily rejected FOR Para Tender (in full) either downloaded from BRO web site or pur9 of chased from BR0 will be received by HQ 15 BRTF (GREF), NIT Pin-930 015, C/O 99 APO so as to reach this office on or before 05 Oct 2013 at 1200 Hrs. Part-I (Unpriced Bid) will be opened on 05 Oct 2013 after 1200 Hrs and Part-II (Priced Bid) shall be opened after 1200 hrs on 12 Oct 2013. READ -do- Tender (in full) either downloaded from BRO web site or purchased from BR0 will be received by HQ 15 BRTF (GREF), Pin-930 015, C/O 99 APO so as to reach this office on or before 17 Oct 2013 at 1200 Hrs. Part-I (Unpriced Bid) will be opened on 17 Oct 2013 after 1200 Hrs and Part-II (Priced Bid) shall be opened after 1200 hrs on 25 Oct 2013. 3. All other terms and conditions of the NIT will remain unchanged. 4. This amendment shall form part of the tender documents. 8158/NIT/AMDT-02/2013-2014/10/E8 SW Headquarters For Accepting Officer 15 Borders Roads Task Force 14 Sep 2013 C/O 99 APO Davp 37102/11/0406/1314