UPDATE 2-UN food aid funds growing, but needs growing too

Reuters: [2008-05-06 23:56:00]

(Recasts, adds additional needs, U.S. funding; adds byline)

By Missy Ryan

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - The World Food Program, facing an unprecedented surge in the price of food it buys for the world's hungry, has secured about 60 percent of the extra funds it needs to cover planned aid donations this year, the head of the United Nations agency said on Tuesday.

"We put out an extra appeal for $755 million and we're about 60 percent of the way there," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said during a speech at a Washington think tank.

But the agency said it already has had to cut some of the food rations it provides, and its $755-million gap does not include new, emerging hunger needs that will require an additional $418 million to $430 million this year.

Sheeran, a former Bush administration official, said the world's food delivery system was "groaning under the strain of sky-rocketing demand, the soaring cost of inputs, depleted stocks, crop loss due to drought, floods and severe weather."

Higher global prices for basic foodstuffs such as bread, rice and milk may have brought on a crisis that could be the first truly globalized humanitarian emergency, she said.

World leaders are calling for urgent steps to ease the soaring costs, to create a larger cushion of food across harvests, and to diffuse the food panic that has triggered protests across the developing world.

"It is said that a hungry man is an angry man," Sheeran said. Global food prices jumped an annual 43 percent through March, according to the U.S. government.

The trend is believed to be deepening poverty, especially for food-importing nations like Nicaragua, pushing more people into hunger as buying power shrinks for food aid budgets.

Donor nations like Canada, Australia and Britain have stepped up pledges to help WFP cope with soaring costs. The United States, the world's largest food aid donor and WFP's top supporter, last month released 260,000 tonnes of wheat from an emergency crop trust.

Last week, President George W. Bush announced plans, which must be approved by Congress, to spend an additional $770 million on food aid and agriculture development in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

For countries where people spend up to three-quarters of their income on food, experts say time is of the essence.

The Bush administration already has requested $350 million in last-minute food aid funding for this fiscal year, a perennial addition to annual budgeted funds.

On Tuesday, Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives announced that they would try to add another $500 million for emergency food aid.

Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the money would be attached to a massive Iraq war funding bill that could be debated on the House floor on Thursday.

It was unclear if Bush would veto the spending bill if it contained too much spending that he did not call for.

The Bush administration also is seeking flexibility to buy more food overseas for aid programs, in hopes of making aid dollars go further. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by David Gregorio)

((missy.ryan@thomsonreuters.com; + 202-898-8376; Reuters Messaging: missy.ryan.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: USA FOODAID/WFP

Al Jazeera TV says hit by Morocco broadcast ban

Reuters: [2008-05-06 23:01:00]

DUBAI, May 6 (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities have banned Al Jazeera television from broadcasting a news programme focusing on north Africa from its studios in Morocco, the Qatar-based Arabic network said on Tuesday.

Authorities gave no reason for the ban against the nightly news broadcast, Al Jazeera said, adding that the programme would be aired from its main studios in the Qatari capital Doha.

The popular news network, which also launched an English-language channel in late 2006, has often drawn the ire of Middle Eastern governments as well as the United States over its coverage of the war in Iraq and providing a platform for opposition and human rights groups.

There was no immediate comments available from Moroccan authorities.

(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)

((Gulf newsroom))

Keywords: JAZEERA MOROCCO/BAN

UPDATE 4-Nigeria oil rebels pledge truce if Carter mediates

Reuters: [2008-05-06 22:14:00]

(Updates with Carter statement, paragraphs 3-5)

By Daniel Flynn

LAGOS, May 6 (Reuters) - Niger Delta rebels promised on Tuesday to halt attacks on the oil industry if the Nigerian government would allow former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to act as a mediator.

The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose campaign of violence helped lift oil prices to a new record on Tuesday, said Carter had accepted its offer to mediate in the conflict "on the condition that the Nigerian government and any other relevant stake holder invites him."

But the Carter Center, which speaks on behalf of the former president, said it was "premature" to say that Carter had accepted an invitation to mediate.

"The Carter Center's correspondence with MEND emphasized that President Carter would seriously consider undertaking a mission if he were formally invited by all relevant stakeholders in the Niger Delta conflict," said a statement by the center, which is based in Atlanta.

"In addition to MEND, this would include the Federal Government of Nigeria and others whose interests would have to be represented in such a negotiation," it said.

MEND's campaign of violence has cut output in Africa's largest oil producer by around a fifth. It publicly approached Carter earlier this year to act as a negotiator.

"We are ready to call off all hostilities and hold a temporary cease-fire in honor of President Carter should the Nigerian government accept President Carter's initiative," MEND said in an e-mailed statement.

"However, if as expected, the government fails to seize on this new opportunity for peace, our actions will continue to speak volumes beyond the Nigerian shores."

Carter failed in a previous attempt to mediate in the Delta in 1999 and is familiar to many senior members of the different militant factions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack could not confirm Carter's potential mediation role but said there were already "mechanisms" in place to deal with political grievances in the Niger Delta.

"We believe the Nigerian government should also avail itself to those mechanisms," said McCormack who indicated some irritation with Carter's diplomatic role there.

The State Department strongly opposed Carter's recent meetings with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and advised the former president against seeing them.

OIL JITTERS

The bombing of a Royal Dutch Shell flowstation in the southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa on Saturday -- which caused little damage to oil infrastructure -- marked MEND's fifth strike in just over a month. The attacks are expected to worsen with the trial of militant leader Henry Okah beginning next month, analysts say.

Oil hit a record high of $122 a barrel, lifted by fears of fresh militant strikes in Nigeria, supply concerns in Iran and a forecast from Goldman Sachs that it may hit $200 a barrel due to lagging supply growth.

MEND has accused Nigerian authorities of mistreating Okah, who was deported from Angola in February, and denying him access to his lawyers.

"There is definitely a link to the Henry Okah trial in the resurgent violence," said one security analyst in Nigeria. "How it develops will depend on how they treat Okah and the final decision at the trial."

The militant group, which is split between a number of different factions, dismissed the stalled Niger Delta Summit organized by President Umaru Yar'Adua in an effort to bring peace to the vast, lawless swampland. It said it would not attend a meeting later this year in the capital Abuja.

"The Niger Delta Summit is failing because the government is talking to the wrong people," said Rolake Akinola, senior analyst for West Africa at Control Risks.

"It is a problem of Yar'Adua's leadership style." (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http:/africa.reuters.com/ )

(Additional reporting by Matthew Bigg in Atlanta) (Editing by Chris Wilson) ((daniel.flynn@reuters.com; +221 864 5076; Reuters messaging: daniel.flynn.reuters.com@reuters.net, Dakar Newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) Keywords: NIGERIA REBELS/

UPDATE 9-Oil rockets to record $122 on dollar, supply worry

Reuters: [2008-05-06 21:31:00]

(Updates prices)

By Matthew Robinson

NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - Oil shot to a record above $122 a barrel on Tuesday on supply worries and the weak dollar, extending a rally that has doubled prices over the past year and has some experts forecasting a potential spike to $200.

U.S. crude <CLc1> settled up $1.87 at $121.84 a barrel after touching a record $122.73 earlier. London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained $2.32 to $120.31 a barrel, after hitting a record $120.99.

Rising tensions with Iran, after the world's No. 4 oil producer refused to accept inspections of its nuclear program that the West fears could be linked to weapons, stirred supply concerns from the OPEC nation. [ID:nL05474341]

Nigerian disruptions from militant attacks and a strike have also underpinned prices since late April, adding to gains that have sent prices for oil up about six-fold since 2002 as part of a wider commodity surge. [ID:nL06909102].

Growing demand from emerging markets like China has supported the oil rally, as supplies struggle to keep pace, with further strength for dollar-denominated commodities coming from the slumping greenback.

"Demand from China and India, the falling dollar making oil an inflation hedge, speculation, OPEC supply restraints, supply threats in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria and refinery bottlenecks in the United States (are pushing up crude)," John Kilduff, senior vice president at MF Goldman, wrote in a research note.

High oil prices have hit U.S. refiners' profit margins, prompting some to trim runs, but stoking supply concerns as the world's biggest oil consumer heads into the summer driving season. Speculators have also poured cash into commodities as a hedge against inflation since September.

The mounting supply problems and strong demand from emerging economies prompted Goldman Sachs to forecast oil could reach $200 a barrel within the next two years.[ID:nL06914488]

"We believe the current energy crisis may be coming to a head, as a lack of adequate supply growth is becoming apparent," Goldman said in the note.

"In our view, a gradual rally in prices is likely to be longer lasting than a sharp, sudden spike."

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to talk with officials from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia about the effects of high fuel prices on the U.S. economy on his trip to the world's top exporter later this month. [ID:nN05395646]

Bush has called on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise output to help bring down prices, but the cartel has blamed high prices on speculators and insists markets are well-supplied.

Rising costs as well as wider problems with the economy have hurt U.S. fuel demand, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration cutting its forecast for U.S. demand by 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter and 100,000 bpd in the third quarter. [ID:nN06489554]

A weekly U.S. government report on fuel inventories due out Wednesday is expected to show a 1.6 million barrel build in crude supplies, an 800,000 barrel rise in distillate inventories and a 100,000 barrel decline in gasoline stocks, according to a Reuters poll. [EIA/S] (Reporting by Matthew Robinson, Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New York, Jane Merriman in London, Baizhen Chua in Singapore, editing by Matthew Lewis) ((matthew.robinson@thomsonreuters.com: + 1 646 223 6052; Reuters Messaging: matthew.robinson.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS OIL

UPDATE 1-UN seeks urgent access to Darfur bombing victims

Reuters: [2008-05-06 21:15:00]

(Adds worst wounded moved out by car)

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM, May 6 (Reuters) - The top U.N. humanitarian official in Sudan on Tuesday called for immediate access to those wounded in a government bombing attack on a school and busy marketplace in North Darfur, which killed 12 people.

Around 30 wounded, mostly women and children, have been waiting for help since the bomb attack on Sunday. No help has arrived because of logistical difficulties and denial of access by authorities, according to witnesses and aid sources.

The attack killed 12, including six children, a teacher at the school told Reuters by telephone. Earlier reports had a figure of 13 killed.

"I am deeply perturbed by the reported bombings of a school, water installations and a market where civilians, especially women and children are present," Sudan's U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Ameerah Haq said in a statement.

"It is essential that we have immediate humanitarian access to the affected populations in order to provide humanitarian assistance and medical evacuation."

Haq is in Norway where donor nations are meeting Sudanese officials to pledge money to rebuild Sudan after decades of multiple civil wars.

If the death toll from the attack is confirmed, it would be the single deadliest bombing raid in many years in Darfur.

Mokhtar Mohamed, a teacher at the school in Shegeg Karo, said they had been told many times that U.N. planes were coming to evacuate the wounded but no help had arrived late on Tuesday.

"They said the government had stopped any planes coming to Shegeg Karo this morning," he said.

EVACUATE WOUNDED

One aid source in Darfur also told Reuters the government had not allowed planes to fly in on Tuesday. Sudan's army did not answer calls seeking comment.

The U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force said the government gave clearance to evacuate the wounded on Tuesday morning but did not elaborate why no flight went in.

Another teacher at the school, al-Fadil Mohamed, told Reuters they had sent seven injured to Chad by car and four others to a nearby town where they should meet the Red Cross the following day.

"The Red Cross said they would come to meet us there," he said.

The U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) urged the parties to the conflict to take all necessary measures to protect children.

"Children are to be afforded special protection during military operations and ...every effort must be made to ensure that schools, health centers...are considered as zones of peace, UNICEF said in a statement on the bombing raids.

Medical care, even in the state capitals of Darfur, is basic and it is practically non-existent in remote rural areas like Shegeg Karo.

International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in five years of revolt in Darfur. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term Khartoum rejects and European governments are reluctant to use.

Sudan blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at about 10,000. (Editing by Robert Woodward) ((opheera.mcdoom@reuters.com, Khartoum newsroom; +249 912 167 378))

Keywords: SUDAN DARFUR/WOUNDED