UN Secretary-General to visit Morocco and France Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is heading to Morocco later this week to address the opening session of the World Policy Conference 2010. The conference, which opens Friday, is being organized by the French Institute of International Relations. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday that Ban will also meet King Mohammed VI and the UN country team in Rabat. Al-Qaida in North Africa seen as key Europe threat While Europe's latest terror threat stems from militants in Pakistan, a potentially greater menace lies just across the Mediterranean: Well-organized and financed Islamic terrorists from al-Qaida's North African offshoot. Over the last month alone, the group has been accused of seizing five French nationals and two Africans from a mining town in Niger, part of its effort to make millions by kidnapping Europeans and getting ransoms. It is also blamed for a truck bombing last Saturday in Algeria that left five soldiers dead. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb effectively rules a wide, lawless swath of the Sahara and is trying to overthrow Algeria's government. It's active online and media-savvy, and has the globally recognized al-Qaida brand name. It has also sparked arrests in Spain and France. GFH's $3bn Tunisia project will become a gateway for $15bn trade between EU and Africa The Bahrain-based Islamic investment banking major, Gulf Finance House (GFH), and the Tunisian government have announced the launch of a $3 billion North Africa's first offshore financial center as part of Tunis Financial Harbor. The mixed use waterfront development will provide the physical infrastructure for the planned offshore financial center. GFH in a statement said the landmark project Tunis Financial Harbor would offer a bridge between the $15 billion EU trade bloc, Tunisia's own dynamic economy and rapidly developing North African and sub-Saharan economies. Libyan telecom to roll out fibre cable in Zambia Libya's LAP Green Networks will lay a fibre optic cable across Zambia in the next two years as part of its 600 billion kwacha investment to upgrade the network of its Zambian unit, an executive said on Monday. LAP Green in June bought a 75 percent stake in Zamtel, the southern African nation's only fixed-line operator, for $257 million. UN Seeks More Security For Workers In Sudan After Abduction A day after unidentified gunmen kidnapped an employee of United Nations, U.N. envoys called on the Sudanese government to take more efforts for the security of their aid workers and peacekeepers. The UNAMID delegation met North Darfur state Governor Othman Mohammed Yusef Kibir and expressed concerns about renewed clashes between rebels and government troops. Britain's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant also voiced concern about the abduction of one of UNAMID employees, who was kidnapped from his residence on Thursday. BM
