Uganda Telecom launches solar mobile phones In September, Uganda Telecom released a mobile telephone which can be charged using solar energy. According to The Monitor, a Ugandan daily, many mobile phone users in rural areas have so far had to travel some distance to charge their phones at a cost of about 20 eurocents. The new phone has an in-built solar panel and is expected to cost less than € 30. It should allow up to twelve hours of talk-time after an hour of exposure to the sun. According to Uganda Telecom, 30 % of the country’s 30 million people use mobile telephones, and 80 % of users live in rural areas where the majority do not have access to electricity. The Chinese company ZTE is the manufacturer of the solar handset. (cir)

IMF to sell gold The International Monetary Fund (IMF) intends to sell a total of 403.3 tonnes of gold (about 12 % of its total gold reserves). In late September, the gold’s value was about $ 13 billion. According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Fund plans to invest the proceeds in safe, interest-bearing securities. The IMF wants to offer the gold to governments in the first instance, and not sell it all at one time, so as not to disrupt the gold market. Media reports say that China, India and Russia have already expressed interest. These three countries have so far mainly invested their reserves in US dollars. The IMF is planning to grant loans with the proceeds. In April last year, the IMF had decided in principle to sell gold in order to become less depending on its lending revenue. (cir)

Judge in the dock Baltasar Garzón, a Spanish investigating judge with an international profile, is himself facing charges of wrongdoing. The right-wing group “Manos Limpias” accuses the 53-year-old judge of perverting the course of justice. Last year, Garzón had started investigating fascist repression during the Spanish civil war and the General Francisco Franco’s ensuing dictatorship (1939 to 1975), arguing that crimes against humanity had been committed. He stopped the investigation shortly afterwards, pointing out that the perpetrators are no longer alive. In his inquiry report, however, he noted that 100,000 murdered opponents of the dictator are still interred in mass graves. The Spanish government has so far failed to call for the exhumation of Franco victims. Garzón, who has been an investigating judge for Spain's National court for 21 years, is also currently investigating individuals accused of being responsible for torture in the US detention facility Guantánamo Bay. (cir)

Local lawyer gets top job in Sierra Leone The Special Court for Sierra Leone now has its first local prosecutor. Appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, lawyer Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara from Sierra Leone took up the post of acting prosecutor in early September. Kamara joined the prosecutor's office in 2004 and became deputy prosecutor last year. The Special Court is an independent judicial body set up to try those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law during Sierra Leone’s civil war. (cir)

Paying for toxic waste In the worst toxic waste affair in recent years, the European company Trafigura is offering to pay compensations to victims. In August 2006, Trafigura had arranged the shipment of some 500 tons of toxic waste to Côte d’Ivoire and engaged a subcontractor, Compagnie Tommy, to dump it in open landfills around the capital Abidjan. In the wake of this operation, at least 16 people died, and thousands were poisoned. The long-term effects are still unknown. Trafigura is offering to pay a compensation of $ 1,546 each to 30,000 people, but the company denies any liability. A spokesman for the victims told the BBC he considers the figure too low, not even enough to cover medical expenses. There is no categorical evidence connecting the deaths to illegally dumped toxic waste, but a recent UN report considers the case proven. In 2007, Trafiguras already paid $ 200 million to the Ivorian government as “victim’s compensation”. According to media reports, the government disbursed a quarter of the money to the families of the 16 dead. (cir)