Nigerian blogger Chippla (http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/05/need-to-amend-nigerian-constitution....) explains that there is more to the constitutional amendments in Nigeria than extending Obasanjo’s tenure from two to three years.

“By infusing an extension of the presidential term of office into the constitutional amendment, the administration of Mr. Obasanjo hijacked a very good exercise. Given that the so-called third term agenda (which appears to be practically dead) has come to overshadow the entire constitutional amendment debate, one is left wondering if the other amendments will go forward, should they receive the necessary backing of the national and provincial legislative assemblies.”

Chippla goes on to explain some of the main amendments such as direct allocation of funds to local governments, changes in citizenship for non-Nigerian men married to Nigerian women, recognition of other languages in government other than English and human rights although these do not include rights of homosexuals.

Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali (http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/log/5841271]Ayaan hirsi ali) is apparently on her way to the US to work for a conservative think tank called the American Enterprise Institute. She will be resigning her position as MP following a disclosure that she lied when applying for asylum from Somalia.

“Ms Hirsi Ali's quitting of Dutch politics and the Netherlands follows on from a television documentary, shown last week, which reported that she lied in the early 1990s about how she fled her native country, Somalia, in order to gain asylum in the Netherlands. Since the broadcast, there have been calls from various quarters for her to lose her Dutch passport.”

According to the blog report, Ms Ali herself has been at the forefront of legislating for stricter immigration laws particularly against those that lie to enter the Netherlands, which makes the supposed revelation an embarrassing one. She claims that it is open knowledge that she came via Kenya to the Netherlands and not directly from Somalia. This is quite common as many Somalis and Sudanese refugees first left for Kenyan refugee camps before coming to Europe.

Cyblug (http://abujacity.typepad.com/abuja_and_beyond/2006/05/the_language_of.html) takes issue with the language used by foreign media reports on the recent gas fire explosion that took place in Lagos in which 200 people were killed. For example. describing Lagos as a “dilapidated port city”.

“I would be the first to admit yes it is a ‘Dump’ but where is the need for adding this dilapidated bullshit in the mix, there are newer parts of Lagos that are not dilapidated and run down so why mention this at all? Baltimore City, (Maryland in the US) is a dilapidated port city but I never hear it being described as this in news reports.”

He also objects to people being called scavengers: “…someone drilling holes in oil pipelines to sell at a higher price by the border is not a scavenger. Call him vandal, a thief, an opportunist or as we say in Naija an oil bunkerer.”

Egyptian Chronicle (http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2006/05/image-is-powerful-than-10...) continues with reports on last Thursday’s “Bloody Thursday” when protestors were arrested in Cairo. She publishes a number of photos showing police brutality against the protestors.

“I was shocked at first because if you look carefully you will find that the officers and soldiers are spurning the young man who is wearing what can be considered the colours of the Egyptian flag…The first impression, the first thought that came to mind was ‘what those bastards were doing with our flag?’, then I noticed it was a human being , and after that I saw the pictures of the chase between the young man and the police ended in this scene, it turned out that the young man was wearing red t-shirt and black trousers, the white colour was the colour of this inside shirt.”

AfroBlog (http://afrorise.blogspot.com/2006/05/should-africa-look-to-latin-america...) responds to a BBC World “Have Your Say” programme question on whether Africa should look to Latin America, with reference to the socialist President of Venezuela and the newly elected Evo Morales of Bolivia.

“For Africa it would be ideal to learn from the experiences of Latin America but realistically newly independent nations in Africa have scarcely learned from the experiences of some of the first independent states in Africa, so how can we expect the continent as a whole to learn from the experiences of another continent and apply them? I think one of the major differences is the level of civic engagement in the political arena in Latin America and particularly when it comes to mass mobilization. These are the people who are electing presidents like Morales and Chavez.”

One Arab World (http://onearabworld.blog.com/716778/">One Arab World) comments on a new Egyptian law that gives security forces the power to arrest and detain people without charge. The government is defending the action by highlighting the need to prevent acts of terror.

“The Emergency Laws, an Egyptian version of the Patriot Act on steroids, are what some claim to be what stands between us and the terrorists and what others claim to be the main source of breading terrorists. Very little in the actual law is very shocking in this day and age of global terrorism (albeit it was implemented before it was internationally acceptable to impede basic rights in the pursuit of security). It is the implementation that is hair raising. The Emergency Laws are what everyone in the Egyptian Security Apparatus, from the Interior Minister on down, hides behind and justifies their actions with…The ‘far right’ everywhere have a strategic tendency to push draconian measures the population would normally shun during times of panic that typically ensue acts of terrorism. After Sinai this was inevitable.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected]