Nigerians can sue US drugs firm

Nigerian families can sue the Pfizer drugs giant in the US over its alleged role in the deaths of children, a US appeals court has ruled.
The decision overturns a ruling by a lower court that the case must be heard in Nigeria.
Pfizer is accused of killing 11 children and injuring 181 others when an antibiotic was tested on them during a meningitis epidemic in 1996.
Pfizer denies the claims, saying they were victims of the outbreak.

The epidemic killed 12,000 children in Nigeria in six months.
The families say that Pfizer tested out an oral antibiotic called Trovan on some 200 ill children in hospital in Kano, without first getting the consent of their parents.
They say the drug killed 11 children and caused blindness, deformities and brain damage in others.
Their original law suit had been dismissed on the grounds that it could not be pursued under the Alien Tort Statute, an old law allowing foreigners to sue in the US courts.
But the Second Circuit US Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the statute could be used.
Peter Safirstein, a lawyer for the Nigerians, said the ruling was "very, very important".
Pfizer has always maintained that the tests were carried out with the approval of the Nigerian government and that the children's parents were fully informed.
In a statement, the company said it had great sympathy for those affected by the epidemic but that "all clinical evidence points to the fact that any deaths or injuries were the direct result of the illness, and not the treatment provided to patients in the Pfizer study".
Pfizer said it remained "confident that it will prevail".

General Nkunda extradition to DR Congo

DR Congo seeks Nkunda extradition

The Democratic Republic of Congo has asked for the extradition of rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda after his capture by neighbouring Rwanda.

Read the article:What is your reaction to the arrest? What viable defense could the rebel General put up for himself? ... feel free to take this whichever direction you please.

Gen Nkunda, who has led an ethnic Tutsi rebellion in the east since 2004, is wanted for atrocities allegedly committed by forces under his command.

His arrest has been welcomed by the UN envoy to DR Congo.

The UN's refugee agency has expressed alarm at moves to disarm a different rebel group - of ethnic Hutus.

Gen Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda, after fleeing attempts to arrest him in eastern DR Congo by a joint military force from both countries.

Correspondents say that it would appear that intense diplomacy has led to a deal under which DR Congo is letting Rwanda take action against its enemies - the Hutu rebels based in DR Congo - in return for taking out Gen Nkunda.

If both groups are neutralised, peace in the region would become a realistic prospect.

Some 4,000 Rwandan troops have entered DR Congo this week.

The BBC's Thomas Fessy reports from the key east DR Congolese city of Goma that there is a sense of relief among residents there, who feel the war is nearing an end.

About-turn

Rwandan army spokesperson Major Jules Rutaremara told the BBC that General Nkunda was being held by Rwandan forces in Rubavu district in western Rwanda, close to the border with the DR Congo.

DR Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende confirmed his country wanted to extradite the rebel leader.

"He is Congolese," said. "He committed his crimes in Congo."

Rwanda has not yet said whether it will hand over its former ally.

Human rights group have accused Gen Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) - and also government forces - of numerous killings, rapes and torture.

Some 250,000 people fled their homes in North Kivu province when Gen Nkunda led an offensive towards the end of last year.

The UN recently accused Rwanda of backing Gen Nkunda.

A Tutsi like Rwanda's leaders, he had guarded their western flank against attacks from the Hutu forces who fled there after the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

But in mid-November Rwanda shifted its position, announcing it would work with the Congolese to destroy the Hutu rebels.

Refugee fears

The UN envoy, Nigerian former President Olusegun Obasanjo, told the BBC he welcomed Gen Nkunda's arrest but said more work had to be done to end all conflict in the region.

"The problem of DRC is that you end something and then another ugly atmosphere rears its ugly head," he said.

"This time we need to uproot everything, root, trunk and stem. And that is why our own mediation effort should not come to end, because our responsibility goes beyond even the eastern DRC, it covers the whole of the Great Lakes region."

In a statement, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it viewed "with some concern" a military build-up in North Kivu.

The joint Congolese and Rwandan operation is now expected to try to forcibly disarm the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu militia, some of whose leaders are accused of involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

"Drawing from our past experience in this region, we fear that these operations could create new and massive displacement of the civilian population," the UNHCR said.

It pointed out that there were already about 850,000 internally displaced people in the province.