SAPA/AFP
24 November 2007
Botswana's government denied on Friday accusations it was preventing Bushmen from returning to their ancestral lands despite a court ruling last year granting them that right.
The Bushmen, who were evicted from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in 2002, have accused the government of refusing to transport them back, let them hunt or supply them with water.
"Every Bushman is free to go home. We have always made our stance clear," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Clifford Mariba. "Those who have opted to remain at their current settlements have remained behind to enjoy a wide range of social amenities offered by the government."
Mariba said Bushmen living in the reserve are "at liberty to make their own arrangements to bring in unlimited amounts of water", as the court decision does not compel the government to provide it.
He also said special game licences have been issued to the hunter-gatherers.
The Bushmen were evicted from the game reserve in 2002 and placed in six settlements just outside the CKGR, but more than 200 of them then took the government to court with the assistance of British NGO Survival International.
Their attempt to return to the reserve resulted in Botswana's longest court case to date, which ended last year when a judge ruled they were driven out of the Kalahari desert unlawfully.
The First People of the Kalahari (FPK), an NGO campaigning for the rights of the Bushmen, has previously threatened the government with a return to court if their latest demands are not met.
FPK spokesperson Roy Sesana could not be reached for comment after Friday's government statement.
Once numbering millions, roughly 100 000 Bushmen are left in Southern Africa, with almost half of them -- 48 000 -- in Botswana. Others are spread across Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
24 November, 2007
New US Ambassador in Luanda.
Angola Press
24 November 2007
The new US ambassador to Angola, Dan Mozena, arrived early Saturday afternoon in Luanda, to start his diplomatic mission in the country, following his investiture on November 19.
Dan Mozena and his wife received welcoming greetings from US-Angola embassy officials.
Appointed by US president, George Bush, on August 16 this year, Dan Mozena was confirmed by the US Senate in September.
He was sworn in as US Government representative to Angola on November 19, during a ceremony attended by the assistant secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, and the Angolan ambassador to USA, Josefina Pitra Diakité.
Dan Mozena will be the 6th diplomat at the head of the US mission to Angola, in replacement of Cynthia Efird, who has just ended her three years mandate in Angola.
A member of the US diplomatic services, Dan Mozena held the post of director of the Department for Southern Africa from 2004 to 2007, having led the relaunch of bilateral relations between his country and Angola.
He also held the post of counselling minister of his country’s embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, worked for the peacekeeping body for the Democratic Republic of Congo and assistant director for Southern Africa, during the transition of South Africa Apartheid regime.
24 November 2007
The new US ambassador to Angola, Dan Mozena, arrived early Saturday afternoon in Luanda, to start his diplomatic mission in the country, following his investiture on November 19.
Dan Mozena and his wife received welcoming greetings from US-Angola embassy officials.
Appointed by US president, George Bush, on August 16 this year, Dan Mozena was confirmed by the US Senate in September.
He was sworn in as US Government representative to Angola on November 19, during a ceremony attended by the assistant secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, and the Angolan ambassador to USA, Josefina Pitra Diakité.
Dan Mozena will be the 6th diplomat at the head of the US mission to Angola, in replacement of Cynthia Efird, who has just ended her three years mandate in Angola.
A member of the US diplomatic services, Dan Mozena held the post of director of the Department for Southern Africa from 2004 to 2007, having led the relaunch of bilateral relations between his country and Angola.
He also held the post of counselling minister of his country’s embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, worked for the peacekeeping body for the Democratic Republic of Congo and assistant director for Southern Africa, during the transition of South Africa Apartheid regime.
US knew Musharraf planned to institute emergency rule: report.
The Raw Story
23 November 2007
By John Byrne
The Bush Administration knew that Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf planned to institute emergency rule but did not act or speak out about the plan, according to officials with knowledge of the discussion who spoke anonymously in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
"In the days before the Nov. 3 announcement, the general's aides and advisers forewarned U.S. diplomats in a series of meetings in Islamabad, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials," the paper said.
Because the US response was "muted," Pakistan interpreted American silence as a green light to instituting martial law, quickly deposing an intransigent Supreme Court, which had ruled against the general in the past.
"One of Gen. Musharraf's closest advisers said U.S. criticism was muted, which some senior Pakistanis interpreted as a sign they could proceed," the Journal said. "'You don't like that option? You give us one,' the adviser says he told his American interlocutors. 'There were no good options.'"
A U.S. official "familiar with the discussions" told the paper the talks were part of "'intensive efforts' to dissuade Gen. Musharraf from declaring a state of emergency."
"There was never a green light," the U.S. official told the New York daily.
On Friday, Pakistan also denounced the Commonwealth's suspension of its membership -- the British-led organization of former colonies -- while an opposition party said its exiled leader was taking key steps to return to the emergency-ruled country.
The government condemned the banishment from the Commonwealth as "unreasonable and unjustified" and said the 53-nation body, composed mainly of Britain and its former colonies, had failed to appreciate Pakistan's "serious internal crisis" in demanding that it immediately restore democracy.
The Journal also provided background to the country's 2002 election, in which there were widespread claims of voter fraud and election tampering by the military.
"The Bush administration didn't raise a fuss, signaling to the military leader that Washington wasn't going to push him for democracy, a former CIA official said. "An ambitious U.S. aid program to reform Pakistan's political and education systems largely served to strengthen Islamabad's military and counterterrorism operations, say current and former U.S. officials."
Also Friday, Saudi Arabia signaled it might abet an opposition candidate's attempt to return to power.
The return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from Saudi Arabia could bolster opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ahead of Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.
Sharif's plan was announced Thursday hours after the Supreme Court, packed with pliant judges, swept away the last legal obstacles to Musharraf's new five-year term as president.
On Friday, the handpicked court also declared Musharraf's seizure of emergency powers was legal.
"All acts and actions taken are also validated," Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar said.
23 November 2007
By John Byrne
The Bush Administration knew that Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf planned to institute emergency rule but did not act or speak out about the plan, according to officials with knowledge of the discussion who spoke anonymously in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
"In the days before the Nov. 3 announcement, the general's aides and advisers forewarned U.S. diplomats in a series of meetings in Islamabad, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials," the paper said.
Because the US response was "muted," Pakistan interpreted American silence as a green light to instituting martial law, quickly deposing an intransigent Supreme Court, which had ruled against the general in the past.
"One of Gen. Musharraf's closest advisers said U.S. criticism was muted, which some senior Pakistanis interpreted as a sign they could proceed," the Journal said. "'You don't like that option? You give us one,' the adviser says he told his American interlocutors. 'There were no good options.'"
A U.S. official "familiar with the discussions" told the paper the talks were part of "'intensive efforts' to dissuade Gen. Musharraf from declaring a state of emergency."
"There was never a green light," the U.S. official told the New York daily.
On Friday, Pakistan also denounced the Commonwealth's suspension of its membership -- the British-led organization of former colonies -- while an opposition party said its exiled leader was taking key steps to return to the emergency-ruled country.
The government condemned the banishment from the Commonwealth as "unreasonable and unjustified" and said the 53-nation body, composed mainly of Britain and its former colonies, had failed to appreciate Pakistan's "serious internal crisis" in demanding that it immediately restore democracy.
The Journal also provided background to the country's 2002 election, in which there were widespread claims of voter fraud and election tampering by the military.
"The Bush administration didn't raise a fuss, signaling to the military leader that Washington wasn't going to push him for democracy, a former CIA official said. "An ambitious U.S. aid program to reform Pakistan's political and education systems largely served to strengthen Islamabad's military and counterterrorism operations, say current and former U.S. officials."
Also Friday, Saudi Arabia signaled it might abet an opposition candidate's attempt to return to power.
The return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from Saudi Arabia could bolster opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ahead of Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.
Sharif's plan was announced Thursday hours after the Supreme Court, packed with pliant judges, swept away the last legal obstacles to Musharraf's new five-year term as president.
On Friday, the handpicked court also declared Musharraf's seizure of emergency powers was legal.
"All acts and actions taken are also validated," Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar said.
Karadzic family homes raided.
The Independent
By Radul Radovanovic, Associated Press Writer
24 November 2007
European Union forces and NATO troops searched the homes of relatives of Bosnia's most-wanted war crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic, yesterday, looking for clues to his whereabouts, officials said.
Troops began simultaneous searches at 5am at the homes of Karadzic's wife, Ljiljana, his daughter, Sonja, and his son, Alexandar, who is called Sasha.
A few hours later, troops entered the premises of a local company called Petrol and searched the office of Sonja's husband, Branislav Jovicic. They also searched the home of Ranko Cicovic, who used to be Karadzic's driver.
"The aim is to find material or information relevant to the network of Radovan Karadzic," said Maj. David Fielder, a spokesman for the European Union Force, EUFOR, at the site.
During the search of Sonja's apartment, troops found some useful information — mostly "paper-based," but some of it electronic — that may help the search, Fielder said.
Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic lives in her sister's house in the wartime Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, 10 miles east of Sarajevo. Sonja and Alexandar live with their families in apartment buildings, also in Pale.
Bosnian Serb police officers were helping EUFOR and NATO troops at the various sites that were searched, Fielder said.
Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, and Ratko Mladic, his military commander, were indicted by the UN war Crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and other crimes, including the slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995. Both have eluded capture for the last 11 years thanks, NATO officials believe, to a network of supporters who finance and otherwise facilitating their hiding.
Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia, but there have been no hints about Karadzic's whereabouts for years.
Karadzic's home in Pale, as well as the homes of his children, have been raided many times. Documents and other material have been seized and his family members questioned. But none of those raids and interrogations resulted in Karadzic's arrest.
His crimes, and those of Mladic, are related to the Bosnia war, which took place between 1992 and 1995.
The government of the United States is offering $5 million for any information that could lead to the arrest of Karadzic, Mladic or two more suspects on the run, Stojan Zupljanin, a Bosnian Serb military leader, and Goran Hadzic, a political leader wanted for war crimes in Croatia.
By Radul Radovanovic, Associated Press Writer
24 November 2007
European Union forces and NATO troops searched the homes of relatives of Bosnia's most-wanted war crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic, yesterday, looking for clues to his whereabouts, officials said.
Troops began simultaneous searches at 5am at the homes of Karadzic's wife, Ljiljana, his daughter, Sonja, and his son, Alexandar, who is called Sasha.
A few hours later, troops entered the premises of a local company called Petrol and searched the office of Sonja's husband, Branislav Jovicic. They also searched the home of Ranko Cicovic, who used to be Karadzic's driver.
"The aim is to find material or information relevant to the network of Radovan Karadzic," said Maj. David Fielder, a spokesman for the European Union Force, EUFOR, at the site.
During the search of Sonja's apartment, troops found some useful information — mostly "paper-based," but some of it electronic — that may help the search, Fielder said.
Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic lives in her sister's house in the wartime Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, 10 miles east of Sarajevo. Sonja and Alexandar live with their families in apartment buildings, also in Pale.
Bosnian Serb police officers were helping EUFOR and NATO troops at the various sites that were searched, Fielder said.
Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, and Ratko Mladic, his military commander, were indicted by the UN war Crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and other crimes, including the slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995. Both have eluded capture for the last 11 years thanks, NATO officials believe, to a network of supporters who finance and otherwise facilitating their hiding.
Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia, but there have been no hints about Karadzic's whereabouts for years.
Karadzic's home in Pale, as well as the homes of his children, have been raided many times. Documents and other material have been seized and his family members questioned. But none of those raids and interrogations resulted in Karadzic's arrest.
His crimes, and those of Mladic, are related to the Bosnia war, which took place between 1992 and 1995.
The government of the United States is offering $5 million for any information that could lead to the arrest of Karadzic, Mladic or two more suspects on the run, Stojan Zupljanin, a Bosnian Serb military leader, and Goran Hadzic, a political leader wanted for war crimes in Croatia.
Beach Boys Accuse Soldiers.
FOROYAA Newspaper
23 November 2007
By Fabakary B. Ceesay and Bubacarr K. Sowe
Over a dozen young Gambians have complained bitterly over what they described as the humiliation they experienced in the hands of soldiers who frequently shave their hair.
They lamented that the soldiers have shaved the "dreadlocks" of more than 12 Rastafarians since the beginning of the tourists' season.
According to the beach boys, whenever soldiers arrest them, they always subject them (beach boys) to humiliation by forcing them to do what is referred to as "Monkey dance". They alleged that the soldiers always shave their hair when they are in their custody. They said most of them work at the beach either as restaurateurs, barkeepers or juice pressers. They pointed out that most of them have invested a lot of money on their hair and that some have not shaved their hair in the past years.
"It is very painful to lose your dreadlocks within an hour after several years of maintaining it," they lamented.
The Army spokesperson, Lieutenant Alagie Sanneh, said his men are not shaving people's dreadlocks at the beach "Even if they were doing it, it could have been their own initiative to discourage them from harassing the tourist," said Lieutenant Sanneh.
Lieutenant Sanneh said he knows the type of officers that are attached to the tourism area: .He said they will not shave people's "dreadlocks" without any reasons. Lieutenant Sanneh said instead of prosecuting them, they could use their own methods to discipline the boys. He said they have not yet prosecuted any suspect at the beach due to the fact that most of the principal witnesses are tourists who would leave the country before a case file is prepared for the suspect to appear in court. Sanneh said most of the boys are not working at the industry, but that they would do every thing possible to get working cards.
He sand most of them cannot even explain the nature of the work at the area. Lieutenant Sanneh said there are many dubious acts going on at the industry.
23 November 2007
By Fabakary B. Ceesay and Bubacarr K. Sowe
Over a dozen young Gambians have complained bitterly over what they described as the humiliation they experienced in the hands of soldiers who frequently shave their hair.
They lamented that the soldiers have shaved the "dreadlocks" of more than 12 Rastafarians since the beginning of the tourists' season.
According to the beach boys, whenever soldiers arrest them, they always subject them (beach boys) to humiliation by forcing them to do what is referred to as "Monkey dance". They alleged that the soldiers always shave their hair when they are in their custody. They said most of them work at the beach either as restaurateurs, barkeepers or juice pressers. They pointed out that most of them have invested a lot of money on their hair and that some have not shaved their hair in the past years.
"It is very painful to lose your dreadlocks within an hour after several years of maintaining it," they lamented.
The Army spokesperson, Lieutenant Alagie Sanneh, said his men are not shaving people's dreadlocks at the beach "Even if they were doing it, it could have been their own initiative to discourage them from harassing the tourist," said Lieutenant Sanneh.
Lieutenant Sanneh said he knows the type of officers that are attached to the tourism area: .He said they will not shave people's "dreadlocks" without any reasons. Lieutenant Sanneh said instead of prosecuting them, they could use their own methods to discipline the boys. He said they have not yet prosecuted any suspect at the beach due to the fact that most of the principal witnesses are tourists who would leave the country before a case file is prepared for the suspect to appear in court. Sanneh said most of the boys are not working at the industry, but that they would do every thing possible to get working cards.
He sand most of them cannot even explain the nature of the work at the area. Lieutenant Sanneh said there are many dubious acts going on at the industry.
Georgia's Saakashvili to run for president again.
Xinhua News Agency
24 November 2007
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili kicked off his election campaign Friday to run for a second term, reports reaching here said.
Georgia was facing "a moment of truth, a crucial moment for everyone," Saakashvili told a meeting of his ruling United National Movement party, attended by some 12,000 supporters at a stadium in Tbilisi.
On Thursday, Saakashvili's spokesman said the president will hand in his resignation Sunday to register as a candidate for an early presidential election set for Jan. 5. The parliament speaker will act as the head of state.
In a speech at the party congress, Saakashvili emphasized building close ties with the United States, as well as regaining control over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"On Jan. 5, we will have to answer the question: do we want the unification of our country, do we want to go forward in the future?" he said.
Saakashvili added that his government will raise pensions next month and will focus on improving living standard so that "every person, every family feels improvement."
On the Caucasus country's NATO membership, he reiterated his pledge to take Georgia into the alliance.
"In 2008, Georgia will become a full candidate for NATO membership, but the country needs stability for this," Saakashvili said.
On Nov. 7, Saakashvili declared a 15-day state of emergency in the capital Tbilisi following a week of demonstrations and a police crackdown on anti-government protestors.
Under the state of emergency, public rallies were banned and opposition media shut down.
Saakashvili, who lifted the state of emergency on Nov. 16 ahead of the schedule, said in a televised address to the nation that Georgia would antedate its presidential elections from autumn to Jan. 5 next year.
Under Georgia's law, an election has to be held no later than 45 days after the resignation of the president. Therefore, for the declared elections to take place on schedule the incumbent president has to resign before Nov. 26
The United National Movement will officially nominate Saakashvili as its candidate for the election after his resignation, said a party official.
24 November 2007
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili kicked off his election campaign Friday to run for a second term, reports reaching here said.
Georgia was facing "a moment of truth, a crucial moment for everyone," Saakashvili told a meeting of his ruling United National Movement party, attended by some 12,000 supporters at a stadium in Tbilisi.
On Thursday, Saakashvili's spokesman said the president will hand in his resignation Sunday to register as a candidate for an early presidential election set for Jan. 5. The parliament speaker will act as the head of state.
In a speech at the party congress, Saakashvili emphasized building close ties with the United States, as well as regaining control over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"On Jan. 5, we will have to answer the question: do we want the unification of our country, do we want to go forward in the future?" he said.
Saakashvili added that his government will raise pensions next month and will focus on improving living standard so that "every person, every family feels improvement."
On the Caucasus country's NATO membership, he reiterated his pledge to take Georgia into the alliance.
"In 2008, Georgia will become a full candidate for NATO membership, but the country needs stability for this," Saakashvili said.
On Nov. 7, Saakashvili declared a 15-day state of emergency in the capital Tbilisi following a week of demonstrations and a police crackdown on anti-government protestors.
Under the state of emergency, public rallies were banned and opposition media shut down.
Saakashvili, who lifted the state of emergency on Nov. 16 ahead of the schedule, said in a televised address to the nation that Georgia would antedate its presidential elections from autumn to Jan. 5 next year.
Under Georgia's law, an election has to be held no later than 45 days after the resignation of the president. Therefore, for the declared elections to take place on schedule the incumbent president has to resign before Nov. 26
The United National Movement will officially nominate Saakashvili as its candidate for the election after his resignation, said a party official.
Labor Party wins big in Australia.
24 November 2007
By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.
Labor Party head Kevin Rudd's pledges on global warming and Iraq move Australia sharply away from policies that had made Howard one of President Bush's staunchest allies.
Rudd has named global warming as his top priority, and his signing of the Kyoto Protocol will leave the U.S. as the only industrialized country not to have joined it.
Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.
Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor far in front after more than 70 percent of the ballots had been counted — with 53 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 percent for Howard's coalition.
Using those figures, an Australian Broadcasting Corp. analysis showed that Labor would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament — a clear majority.
It was an embarrassing end to the career of Howard, Australia's second-longest serving leader.
As little as a year ago, Howard had appeared almost unassailable. But on Saturday he was in real danger of becoming only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to lose his own seat in Parliament.
Howard took full blame for the drubbing handed to his center-right coalition.
"I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election campaign," Howard said in his concession speech in Sydney.
A new government is unlikely to mean a fundamental change in Australia's close alliance with the United States — its most important security partner — or its growing economic and political ties with Asia.
At home, Rudd has pledged to govern as an "economic conservative," while pouring money into schools and universities. He will curtail sweeping industrial reforms laws that were perceived to hand bosses too much power, turning many working voters against Howard.
"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history."
In his concession speech, Howard announced he had phoned Rudd to congratulate him on "a very emphatic victory."
The change from Howard to Rudd also marks a generational shift for Australia.
Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, urged voters to support him because Howard, 68, was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.
Howard campaigned on his economic management, arguing that his government was mostly responsible for 17 years of unbroken growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australia's coal and other minerals, and that Rudd could not be trusted to maintain prosperous times.
Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team — including him — has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star — Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett — a television journalist and former union officials.
But analysts say his foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.
Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered.
Howard's four straight election victories since 1996 made him one of Australia's most successful politicians. He refused to stand down before this election — even after being urged to do by some party colleagues.
By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.
Labor Party head Kevin Rudd's pledges on global warming and Iraq move Australia sharply away from policies that had made Howard one of President Bush's staunchest allies.
Rudd has named global warming as his top priority, and his signing of the Kyoto Protocol will leave the U.S. as the only industrialized country not to have joined it.
Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.
Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor far in front after more than 70 percent of the ballots had been counted — with 53 percent of the vote compared to 46.7 percent for Howard's coalition.
Using those figures, an Australian Broadcasting Corp. analysis showed that Labor would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament — a clear majority.
It was an embarrassing end to the career of Howard, Australia's second-longest serving leader.
As little as a year ago, Howard had appeared almost unassailable. But on Saturday he was in real danger of becoming only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to lose his own seat in Parliament.
Howard took full blame for the drubbing handed to his center-right coalition.
"I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election campaign," Howard said in his concession speech in Sydney.
A new government is unlikely to mean a fundamental change in Australia's close alliance with the United States — its most important security partner — or its growing economic and political ties with Asia.
At home, Rudd has pledged to govern as an "economic conservative," while pouring money into schools and universities. He will curtail sweeping industrial reforms laws that were perceived to hand bosses too much power, turning many working voters against Howard.
"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history."
In his concession speech, Howard announced he had phoned Rudd to congratulate him on "a very emphatic victory."
The change from Howard to Rudd also marks a generational shift for Australia.
Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, urged voters to support him because Howard, 68, was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.
Howard campaigned on his economic management, arguing that his government was mostly responsible for 17 years of unbroken growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australia's coal and other minerals, and that Rudd could not be trusted to maintain prosperous times.
Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team — including him — has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star — Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett — a television journalist and former union officials.
But analysts say his foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.
Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered.
Howard's four straight election victories since 1996 made him one of Australia's most successful politicians. He refused to stand down before this election — even after being urged to do by some party colleagues.
TWO ICTR OFFICIALS ARE CANDIDATES FOR ICC REGISTRAR.
Hirondelle News Agency
23 November 2007
The election campaign of the future registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to which two ICTR officials are in the contest, will enter a new stage during the Assembly of States Parties, which will be held from 30 November to December 14 in New York.
During their sixth session, since the opening of the Court on 1 July 2002, the 105 states having ratified the Statute of Rome will have to put forth "recommendations" on the ten candidatures among the 97 selected by the presidency of the Court at the beginning of October.
The name of the future registrar, who will have to be elected in secret vote by the majority of the judges, will only be known in the first quarter 2008. Elected on 24 June 2003, the French magistrate Bruno Cathala did Wish for another five-year mandate.
Among the candidates, two are from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The current registrar, Adama Dieng, who could appear among the outsiders; and the chief of prosecution, Sylvana Arbia.
In his letter of candidature, Registrar Adama Dieng writes that "it is with my thorough knowledge of the management of an institution whose solidness is not to be proved anymore, combined with my long experience with unique qualifications and abilities perfectly adapted to the requirements of such a position, which I base myself to propose with abnegation and humility my services to the representatives of the states parties".
The former general registrar of the Supreme Court of Senegal and former secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists estimates that at "a time when the Court, confronted with the challenges of globalization, is at a crossroads, the modest artisan which I am, strong of his experience and because of his stature, will only be able to contribute to guaranteeing the serenity and the reinforcement of the conquests realized by the Court during the first years of its existence".
Among the ten candidates for the position of registrar of the Court, four are women, including Sylvana Arbia, chief of prosecution at the office of the prosecutor of the ICTR, who estimates that "the future depends on the capacity of the institution to benefit from the experience of the ad hoc tribunals. In this respect, the eight years that I spent at the ICTR should allow for a smooth transition".
"My thorough knowledge of all the legal procedures should favour the set up of external as well as internal relation plans capable of leading to the instauration of modern and effective modes of co-operation between the institutions and the States and external organizations", she affirms.
As experience, Sylvana Arbia specifies having directed the prosecution in the Butare trial, which should be known as the worst managed trial in the history of international justice. Opened on 11 June 2001, it is still not finished. But the prosecutor does not regret anything with 59 witnesses called to the stand and 212 days of testimonies.
The eight other candidates are Briton Chetwynd Richard, on duty in the Solomon Islands during the coup d'état of June 2000; Italian Annunziata Ciaravolo, former anti-mafia prosecutor of Milan and former international judge in Kosovo; John Hocking, an Australian lawyer currently associate registrar at the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Pastor Borgonon, from Spain, current assistant registrar of the court of first instance of the European Community; Kalyani Pillay, director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa, German Judge Klaus Rackwitz, consultant with the ICC; Indian Rowed Rao Sankuthripati, director at the World Intellectual Property Organization; and Markus Zimmer, a Swiss-American, former head of the ICTY administration.
Whoever the elected candidate, the future registrar of the Court will be confronted with two major dossiers: the conference of states parties on the revision of the statute, which must be held during the summer of 2009; and the setting up of the future offices of the Court.
23 November 2007
The election campaign of the future registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to which two ICTR officials are in the contest, will enter a new stage during the Assembly of States Parties, which will be held from 30 November to December 14 in New York.
During their sixth session, since the opening of the Court on 1 July 2002, the 105 states having ratified the Statute of Rome will have to put forth "recommendations" on the ten candidatures among the 97 selected by the presidency of the Court at the beginning of October.
The name of the future registrar, who will have to be elected in secret vote by the majority of the judges, will only be known in the first quarter 2008. Elected on 24 June 2003, the French magistrate Bruno Cathala did Wish for another five-year mandate.
Among the candidates, two are from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The current registrar, Adama Dieng, who could appear among the outsiders; and the chief of prosecution, Sylvana Arbia.
In his letter of candidature, Registrar Adama Dieng writes that "it is with my thorough knowledge of the management of an institution whose solidness is not to be proved anymore, combined with my long experience with unique qualifications and abilities perfectly adapted to the requirements of such a position, which I base myself to propose with abnegation and humility my services to the representatives of the states parties".
The former general registrar of the Supreme Court of Senegal and former secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists estimates that at "a time when the Court, confronted with the challenges of globalization, is at a crossroads, the modest artisan which I am, strong of his experience and because of his stature, will only be able to contribute to guaranteeing the serenity and the reinforcement of the conquests realized by the Court during the first years of its existence".
Among the ten candidates for the position of registrar of the Court, four are women, including Sylvana Arbia, chief of prosecution at the office of the prosecutor of the ICTR, who estimates that "the future depends on the capacity of the institution to benefit from the experience of the ad hoc tribunals. In this respect, the eight years that I spent at the ICTR should allow for a smooth transition".
"My thorough knowledge of all the legal procedures should favour the set up of external as well as internal relation plans capable of leading to the instauration of modern and effective modes of co-operation between the institutions and the States and external organizations", she affirms.
As experience, Sylvana Arbia specifies having directed the prosecution in the Butare trial, which should be known as the worst managed trial in the history of international justice. Opened on 11 June 2001, it is still not finished. But the prosecutor does not regret anything with 59 witnesses called to the stand and 212 days of testimonies.
The eight other candidates are Briton Chetwynd Richard, on duty in the Solomon Islands during the coup d'état of June 2000; Italian Annunziata Ciaravolo, former anti-mafia prosecutor of Milan and former international judge in Kosovo; John Hocking, an Australian lawyer currently associate registrar at the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Pastor Borgonon, from Spain, current assistant registrar of the court of first instance of the European Community; Kalyani Pillay, director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa, German Judge Klaus Rackwitz, consultant with the ICC; Indian Rowed Rao Sankuthripati, director at the World Intellectual Property Organization; and Markus Zimmer, a Swiss-American, former head of the ICTY administration.
Whoever the elected candidate, the future registrar of the Court will be confronted with two major dossiers: the conference of states parties on the revision of the statute, which must be held during the summer of 2009; and the setting up of the future offices of the Court.
CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS ON THE FIGHT AGAINST IMPUNITY.
Hirondelle News Agency
23 November 2007
A conference on the fight against impunity in the area of the Great Lakes, still unstable, thirteen years after, by the political and military consequences of the Tutsi genocide in 1994 in Rwanda, will be held Monday in Brussels in the buildings of the European Parliament on the initiative of the European Network for Central Africa (EurAc).
Titled: “The Fight Against Impunity as a Condition for a Lasting Peace", this conference is held as "the area is facing a turbulent time", explains Kris Berwouts, the director of EurAc, a network which gathers forty-six NGOs active in central Africa and originating from twelve European countries.
It is a new phase for these countries "after the Burundian and Congolese elections which have just put an end to a transitional period", he adds; referring to the elections to the presidency of Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi in August 2005 and of Joseph Kabila in November 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"It thus becomes important to manage the crimes of the past to consolidate peace and safety which are not yet acquired in certain parts of the region", estimates Mr. Berwouts.
"To manage the crimes of the past": a step which can be supported by mechanisms known as of "transitional justice". Canadian Mark Freeman, director of the Brussels office of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), an NGO founded in 2000 and present in twenty-eight countries, will detail in his presentation on Monday the "concepts and instruments" of this justice.
Transitional justice, a recent concept in the field of international relations, explores the legal and non-legal answers allowing societies in political transition to assume and exceed a heritage of crimes committed against human rights.
Three other speakers will develop, for their part, "an aspect of the problems of impunity in each of the three country of the region".
The historian Alison Des Forges, known for her work of reference on the Rwandan genocide ("No Witness Must Survive", report for the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch published in 1999) and expert at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), will analyze "the gacaca experiment in Rwanda".
The gacacas are popular courts derived from traditional village community courts. They were reactivated by Rwanda in order to compensate, for certain categories of crimes, with ordinary courts blocked because of the great number of persons accused of participating in the 1994 genocide.
Charles Ndayiziga, of the Alert and Conflict Prevention Center (CENAP), an ONG created in 1992 in Burundi, will intervene, for his part, on "the fight against impunity in the reforms of the security sector in Burundi", through the formation of the Burundian national police force.
The final presenter, Marie-Noël Cikuru, who worked in Goma (eastern DRC) for Women for Women International, an NGO that has worked since 1993 to improve the condition of women in conflict and post-conflict situations, will speak about "impunity in the violence committed against women and children in DRC".
23 November 2007
A conference on the fight against impunity in the area of the Great Lakes, still unstable, thirteen years after, by the political and military consequences of the Tutsi genocide in 1994 in Rwanda, will be held Monday in Brussels in the buildings of the European Parliament on the initiative of the European Network for Central Africa (EurAc).
Titled: “The Fight Against Impunity as a Condition for a Lasting Peace", this conference is held as "the area is facing a turbulent time", explains Kris Berwouts, the director of EurAc, a network which gathers forty-six NGOs active in central Africa and originating from twelve European countries.
It is a new phase for these countries "after the Burundian and Congolese elections which have just put an end to a transitional period", he adds; referring to the elections to the presidency of Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi in August 2005 and of Joseph Kabila in November 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"It thus becomes important to manage the crimes of the past to consolidate peace and safety which are not yet acquired in certain parts of the region", estimates Mr. Berwouts.
"To manage the crimes of the past": a step which can be supported by mechanisms known as of "transitional justice". Canadian Mark Freeman, director of the Brussels office of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), an NGO founded in 2000 and present in twenty-eight countries, will detail in his presentation on Monday the "concepts and instruments" of this justice.
Transitional justice, a recent concept in the field of international relations, explores the legal and non-legal answers allowing societies in political transition to assume and exceed a heritage of crimes committed against human rights.
Three other speakers will develop, for their part, "an aspect of the problems of impunity in each of the three country of the region".
The historian Alison Des Forges, known for her work of reference on the Rwandan genocide ("No Witness Must Survive", report for the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch published in 1999) and expert at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), will analyze "the gacaca experiment in Rwanda".
The gacacas are popular courts derived from traditional village community courts. They were reactivated by Rwanda in order to compensate, for certain categories of crimes, with ordinary courts blocked because of the great number of persons accused of participating in the 1994 genocide.
Charles Ndayiziga, of the Alert and Conflict Prevention Center (CENAP), an ONG created in 1992 in Burundi, will intervene, for his part, on "the fight against impunity in the reforms of the security sector in Burundi", through the formation of the Burundian national police force.
The final presenter, Marie-Noël Cikuru, who worked in Goma (eastern DRC) for Women for Women International, an NGO that has worked since 1993 to improve the condition of women in conflict and post-conflict situations, will speak about "impunity in the violence committed against women and children in DRC".
THE ARCHIVES MUST BE "AS ACCESSIBLE AS POSSIBLE" (GOLDSTONE).
Hirondelle News Agency
23 November 2007
The archives of the two tribunals will have to be as accessible as possible for the populations concerned, those of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. But I will also add for the rest of the world, researchers, historians", affirmed to the Hirondelle agency Judge Richard Goldstone interviewed by telephone.
The South African judge was in charge of a study on the future and the accessibility of these documents in view of the end of the activity of these two ad hoc tribunals. Proposals must be given to the Security Council, supervising organization of the two tribunals, by the end of February 2008. Hardly more talkative, the first prosecutor of the two tribunals specified that "the public documents will have to be accessible on the Internet".
Under the seal of anonymity, a lawyer questions himself: "It is necessary to take the question of the archives to its origin. To whom belong the documents of the ad hoc tribunals? ". If the documents belong to the United Nations, their contents nevertheless constitute a part of the history of Rwanda or of the former Yugoslavia.
To the various questions of the problem of the future of the archives of the two ad hoc tribunals, is added a more sensitive, and eminently political, aspect. "There exists an important attachment in regards to the original documents which is quite comprehensible", estimates this lawyer. The possibility of making the archives accessible on Internet seems acquired. But the question of the storage and the safeguarding of the thousands of exhibits and tens of thousands of hours of video recording remain outstanding.
In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, three nongovernmental organizations have allied themselves and assert the valuable documents. On Rwanda’s side, the government has for a long time engaged the offensive. As of December 2006, before the United Nations Security Council, the representative of Rwanda, Joseph Nsengimana, estimated that the completion strategy of the tribunals "must include the transfer of all the documents and archives of the tribunal to the Rwandan government, which plans the creation of a genocide prevention and sensibilization center, to honour the memory of the victims and to promote justice, national reconciliation and the respect of human rights".
In June 2007, before the same institution, the prosecutor general of Rwanda repeated the message. "These documents are a great part of the recent history of the country and are of capital importance for civic policies and reconciliation", explained Martin Ngoga. "We hope that nobody will oppose, on the matter, the limited means of Rwanda", he added.
However, it is the argument that New York could finally use to oppose the former Yugoslavia or to the Rwandan authorities: that of means. How to preserve the documents? Where to store this documentation? How to ensure the protection of the witnesses, while supporting the access of the documents? The archives of the two tribunals represent several thousands of meters of documents - the measuring rod of archivists - and the member elect will have to store them, preserve them and make them available. The Hague, which hosts the ICTY, the appeal chamber as well as the ICC and sees itself as the capital of international justice, is also a candidate.
The department of judicial affairs of the United Nations is also working on the subject. It is within this framework that was set up the Consultative Committee in charge of the study on the archives of the two tribunals. The first hearings have just begun, and a mission is underway in Arusha and must now go to Rwanda.
23 November 2007
The archives of the two tribunals will have to be as accessible as possible for the populations concerned, those of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. But I will also add for the rest of the world, researchers, historians", affirmed to the Hirondelle agency Judge Richard Goldstone interviewed by telephone.
The South African judge was in charge of a study on the future and the accessibility of these documents in view of the end of the activity of these two ad hoc tribunals. Proposals must be given to the Security Council, supervising organization of the two tribunals, by the end of February 2008. Hardly more talkative, the first prosecutor of the two tribunals specified that "the public documents will have to be accessible on the Internet".
Under the seal of anonymity, a lawyer questions himself: "It is necessary to take the question of the archives to its origin. To whom belong the documents of the ad hoc tribunals? ". If the documents belong to the United Nations, their contents nevertheless constitute a part of the history of Rwanda or of the former Yugoslavia.
To the various questions of the problem of the future of the archives of the two ad hoc tribunals, is added a more sensitive, and eminently political, aspect. "There exists an important attachment in regards to the original documents which is quite comprehensible", estimates this lawyer. The possibility of making the archives accessible on Internet seems acquired. But the question of the storage and the safeguarding of the thousands of exhibits and tens of thousands of hours of video recording remain outstanding.
In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, three nongovernmental organizations have allied themselves and assert the valuable documents. On Rwanda’s side, the government has for a long time engaged the offensive. As of December 2006, before the United Nations Security Council, the representative of Rwanda, Joseph Nsengimana, estimated that the completion strategy of the tribunals "must include the transfer of all the documents and archives of the tribunal to the Rwandan government, which plans the creation of a genocide prevention and sensibilization center, to honour the memory of the victims and to promote justice, national reconciliation and the respect of human rights".
In June 2007, before the same institution, the prosecutor general of Rwanda repeated the message. "These documents are a great part of the recent history of the country and are of capital importance for civic policies and reconciliation", explained Martin Ngoga. "We hope that nobody will oppose, on the matter, the limited means of Rwanda", he added.
However, it is the argument that New York could finally use to oppose the former Yugoslavia or to the Rwandan authorities: that of means. How to preserve the documents? Where to store this documentation? How to ensure the protection of the witnesses, while supporting the access of the documents? The archives of the two tribunals represent several thousands of meters of documents - the measuring rod of archivists - and the member elect will have to store them, preserve them and make them available. The Hague, which hosts the ICTY, the appeal chamber as well as the ICC and sees itself as the capital of international justice, is also a candidate.
The department of judicial affairs of the United Nations is also working on the subject. It is within this framework that was set up the Consultative Committee in charge of the study on the archives of the two tribunals. The first hearings have just begun, and a mission is underway in Arusha and must now go to Rwanda.
ICTR/WEEKLY SUMMARY - ABBOT MUNYESHYAKA AND FORMER PREFECT BUCYIBARUTA WILL BE TRIED IN FRANCE.
Hirondelle News Agency
23 November 2007
Abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, priest at the Holy Family parish in Kigali in 1994, and the former prefect of Gikongoro (south-western Rwanda), Laurent Bucyibaruta, will be tried in France for genocide, decided this week the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The judges thus granted a motion filed by the prosecutor on 12 June within the framework of the ICTR completion strategy in December 2008. According to this strategy, the trials which will not be finished by this date will be transferred to competent national courts. Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta have lived in France for several years. In 2005, they were indicted by the ICTR.
In justifying its decision, the ICTR estimated that France was able to try the two men and had jurisdiction. It moreover made sure that, in the event of possible a guilty verdict, the defendants do not risk the death penalty because France abolished it in 1981. The judges also declared themselves convinced that French courts present all the guarantees for a fair trial.
The decision quotes the independence of French courts, the respect of the principle of the presumption of innocence, the obligation for a defendant to be assisted by a lawyer, the right to be tried within a reasonable delay, the right to question or to have questioned the witnesses as well as that of appeal, if necessary. The ICTR also said that it is convinced that adequate measures for the protection of witnesses will be taken.
As for the proceedings, the ICTR held this week proceedings in four cases: Butare, Zigiranyirazo, Military II and Karemera.
Butare, from the name of the southern area of the country, is the oldest trial in progress. Started in 2001, it involves six defendants. It is the fifth of them, the former mayor of Ngoma, Joseph Kanyabashi, who is currently presenting his defence. This week Kanyabashi was defended by his wife Bernadette and the Belgian researcher Filip Reyntjens. Law professor at the University of Antwerp, and former professor at the National University of Rwanda (UNR), Reyntjens supported that the authority of the mayor of Ngoma had been diluted during the genocide. "Nothing indicates that Kanyabashi approved the massacres of Tutsis. If not, I would not be here before you" to testify for him, declared Reyntjens, who estimates that the official authorities were shorted circuited by "parallel forces".
In the case of Protais Zigiranyirazo, former prefect of Ruhengeri (northern Rwanda), a brother-in-law of former President Juvénal Habyarimana, the ICTR refused to receive as evidence a letter attributed to an accused that died in Belgium, Juvénal Uwilingiyimana, former director of the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks (ROTNP). The admission into evidence of this letter, dated 5 November 2005, had been requested by the defence. In this controversial letter, Uwilingiyimana accused investigators of the office of the prosecutor of the ICTR of having tried, by threats and intimidations, to obtain from him false allegations against Zigiranyirazo and other ICTR accused, which the office of the prosecutor has always denied.
In the Karemera case, the chamber authorized the prosecutor to appeal its decision to exclude testimony from two experts: the French sociologist Andre Guichaoua and the American historian Alison Des Forges. Edouard Karemera was vice-president of the former presidential party in 1994. He is accused alongside two of his colleagues in the direction of the party. Started in September 2005, the trial is still at the prosecution phase.
In Military II, it is the defence which is calling witnesses. Started in September 2004, the case involves four officers. It is the first of them, General Augustin Bizimungu, former chief of staff of the Rwandan army, who is presenting his defence. He should call his last witness in mid-December; if the infighting between the defence teams and the prosecution does not prevent it.
Next week, the arrival of the appeal chamber, usually based in The Hague, will begin the week’s activities in Arusha. The judges will examine Monday the appeal of Father Athanase Seromba; then Tuesday, they will render their judgment in the appeal of Aloys Simba. On Wednesday, they will hear Lieutenant Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi; then Thursday, they will deliver their judgment in the media trial.
23 November 2007
Abbot Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, priest at the Holy Family parish in Kigali in 1994, and the former prefect of Gikongoro (south-western Rwanda), Laurent Bucyibaruta, will be tried in France for genocide, decided this week the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The judges thus granted a motion filed by the prosecutor on 12 June within the framework of the ICTR completion strategy in December 2008. According to this strategy, the trials which will not be finished by this date will be transferred to competent national courts. Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta have lived in France for several years. In 2005, they were indicted by the ICTR.
In justifying its decision, the ICTR estimated that France was able to try the two men and had jurisdiction. It moreover made sure that, in the event of possible a guilty verdict, the defendants do not risk the death penalty because France abolished it in 1981. The judges also declared themselves convinced that French courts present all the guarantees for a fair trial.
The decision quotes the independence of French courts, the respect of the principle of the presumption of innocence, the obligation for a defendant to be assisted by a lawyer, the right to be tried within a reasonable delay, the right to question or to have questioned the witnesses as well as that of appeal, if necessary. The ICTR also said that it is convinced that adequate measures for the protection of witnesses will be taken.
As for the proceedings, the ICTR held this week proceedings in four cases: Butare, Zigiranyirazo, Military II and Karemera.
Butare, from the name of the southern area of the country, is the oldest trial in progress. Started in 2001, it involves six defendants. It is the fifth of them, the former mayor of Ngoma, Joseph Kanyabashi, who is currently presenting his defence. This week Kanyabashi was defended by his wife Bernadette and the Belgian researcher Filip Reyntjens. Law professor at the University of Antwerp, and former professor at the National University of Rwanda (UNR), Reyntjens supported that the authority of the mayor of Ngoma had been diluted during the genocide. "Nothing indicates that Kanyabashi approved the massacres of Tutsis. If not, I would not be here before you" to testify for him, declared Reyntjens, who estimates that the official authorities were shorted circuited by "parallel forces".
In the case of Protais Zigiranyirazo, former prefect of Ruhengeri (northern Rwanda), a brother-in-law of former President Juvénal Habyarimana, the ICTR refused to receive as evidence a letter attributed to an accused that died in Belgium, Juvénal Uwilingiyimana, former director of the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks (ROTNP). The admission into evidence of this letter, dated 5 November 2005, had been requested by the defence. In this controversial letter, Uwilingiyimana accused investigators of the office of the prosecutor of the ICTR of having tried, by threats and intimidations, to obtain from him false allegations against Zigiranyirazo and other ICTR accused, which the office of the prosecutor has always denied.
In the Karemera case, the chamber authorized the prosecutor to appeal its decision to exclude testimony from two experts: the French sociologist Andre Guichaoua and the American historian Alison Des Forges. Edouard Karemera was vice-president of the former presidential party in 1994. He is accused alongside two of his colleagues in the direction of the party. Started in September 2005, the trial is still at the prosecution phase.
In Military II, it is the defence which is calling witnesses. Started in September 2004, the case involves four officers. It is the first of them, General Augustin Bizimungu, former chief of staff of the Rwandan army, who is presenting his defence. He should call his last witness in mid-December; if the infighting between the defence teams and the prosecution does not prevent it.
Next week, the arrival of the appeal chamber, usually based in The Hague, will begin the week’s activities in Arusha. The judges will examine Monday the appeal of Father Athanase Seromba; then Tuesday, they will render their judgment in the appeal of Aloys Simba. On Wednesday, they will hear Lieutenant Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi; then Thursday, they will deliver their judgment in the media trial.
Sudan leader rules out non-African troops in Darfur.
Reuters
24 November 2007
Sudan's president on Friday said he would not accept non-African troops in a combined United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, apart from Chinese and Pakistani technical units already committed.
It was the strongest public statement yet of Sudan's resistance to outside involvement in the war-torn region -- a stance that many in the U.N. see as a delaying tactic to undermine the peacekeeping mission.
The 26,000 "hybrid" U.N and AU peacekeepers are supposed to start operating in Darfur from January and bring security to its people after more than 4-1/2 years of conflict.
At a news conference, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said his original agreement with the AU and the U.N. was for a force made up of African troops, backed up from logistics and technical units from the UN.
Speaking through a translator, Bashir said: "When they told us that they wanted to bring other troops from other countries, we rejected them."
Offers from all other non-African countries, apart from China and Pakistan, had also come in "too late", after Sudan had signed its agreement with the U.N. and the AU over the force.
"These Swedish and Norwegian troops are not acceptable. We shall not accept them," said Bashir.
Speaking about a proposed Thai infantry battalion, Bashir added: "Even if there is a shortage of troops from the African continent, we are not going to accept those people. Because we were not consulted about it."
NO BLUE HELMETS?
Bashir said the incoming peacekeepers would have to be led by an African wearing an African Union helmet. It had been widely expected that the peacekeepers would switch to blue UN helmets in January when they replace a struggling 7,000-strong AU force currently on the ground.
If Sudan sticks to its refusal, it would rule out a special forces unit offered by Nepal and a force of camel-mounted fighters that the U.N. has reportedly asked India to supply.
UN negotiators say they have not yet had any concrete refusal from Sudan on non-African troops, just a constant request for more technical discussions. But Bashir's speech was a clear rejection of further outside involvement.
Bashir denied that Sudan was setting out to delay the deployment of the hybrid operation.
"The ones who are hindering the process are those who are trying to impose their agenda on us. If there is any delay in the issue it is from the United Nations and those who are standing behind the United Nations," he said.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno last week warned the peacekeeping force could fail unless Sudan relaxed its opposition to non-African troops and the international community came up with more specialized units.
No country has yet offered ground transport equipment which is needed, or met a U.N. request for 18 transport helicopters and six attack helicopters.
The U.N. said 135 Chinese army engineers were due to fly to South Darfur's capital Nyala early on Saturday to start building bridges and other infrastructure in preparation for the arrival of the hybrid force.
(Writing by Andrew Heavens, editing by Andrew Roche)
24 November 2007
Sudan's president on Friday said he would not accept non-African troops in a combined United Nations/African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, apart from Chinese and Pakistani technical units already committed.
It was the strongest public statement yet of Sudan's resistance to outside involvement in the war-torn region -- a stance that many in the U.N. see as a delaying tactic to undermine the peacekeeping mission.
The 26,000 "hybrid" U.N and AU peacekeepers are supposed to start operating in Darfur from January and bring security to its people after more than 4-1/2 years of conflict.
At a news conference, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said his original agreement with the AU and the U.N. was for a force made up of African troops, backed up from logistics and technical units from the UN.
Speaking through a translator, Bashir said: "When they told us that they wanted to bring other troops from other countries, we rejected them."
Offers from all other non-African countries, apart from China and Pakistan, had also come in "too late", after Sudan had signed its agreement with the U.N. and the AU over the force.
"These Swedish and Norwegian troops are not acceptable. We shall not accept them," said Bashir.
Speaking about a proposed Thai infantry battalion, Bashir added: "Even if there is a shortage of troops from the African continent, we are not going to accept those people. Because we were not consulted about it."
NO BLUE HELMETS?
Bashir said the incoming peacekeepers would have to be led by an African wearing an African Union helmet. It had been widely expected that the peacekeepers would switch to blue UN helmets in January when they replace a struggling 7,000-strong AU force currently on the ground.
If Sudan sticks to its refusal, it would rule out a special forces unit offered by Nepal and a force of camel-mounted fighters that the U.N. has reportedly asked India to supply.
UN negotiators say they have not yet had any concrete refusal from Sudan on non-African troops, just a constant request for more technical discussions. But Bashir's speech was a clear rejection of further outside involvement.
Bashir denied that Sudan was setting out to delay the deployment of the hybrid operation.
"The ones who are hindering the process are those who are trying to impose their agenda on us. If there is any delay in the issue it is from the United Nations and those who are standing behind the United Nations," he said.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno last week warned the peacekeeping force could fail unless Sudan relaxed its opposition to non-African troops and the international community came up with more specialized units.
No country has yet offered ground transport equipment which is needed, or met a U.N. request for 18 transport helicopters and six attack helicopters.
The U.N. said 135 Chinese army engineers were due to fly to South Darfur's capital Nyala early on Saturday to start building bridges and other infrastructure in preparation for the arrival of the hybrid force.
(Writing by Andrew Heavens, editing by Andrew Roche)
Update on the Situation in North Kivu.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A reporter from Digital Congo asked General Gaye and General Kayembe at a recent press conference, "What happened in Rutshuru?" (referring to the recent attack) They were told that information wasn't available at that time. This reminded me of several people who once asked me what happened in Bukavu in 2004. It was, in part, their unanswered questions that inspired me to write my book that included that event. I am again inspired to provide an answer where MONUC and the FARDC will not publicly provide one.
Last week, on the anniversary of the destruction of Mugunga camp by AFDL-CZ and RPA forces (with logistical help from other countries), which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent women and children. General Nkunda, contrary to what he says, attacked Mugunga again in part as an act to inflict terror on the Congolese displaced who resided there and also to disloge the FARDC from a highground position nearby and a second column, believed to be Rwandan soldiers, advanced towards Goma. Several civilians were killed as were soldiers in the ensuing firefight with the FARDC, which drove General Nkunda's forces back.
Prior to this attack, an attack condemned as a war crime by a MONUC spokesperson, General Nkunda was in Gisenyi, Rwanda on November 10th and 11th and attended church services there on Nov. 11th. He also visited with some family members who were relocated to Rwanda for safety reasons. His family, along with the families of many CNDP members, were relocated to Rwanda during the first week of September 2007.
Following the attack on Mugunga, General Nkunda's men positioned themselves on the edge of Virunga Park along the Goma-Rutshuru axis and began hit-and-run attacks on vehicles travelling up the road. Then, a few days ago, despite a Congolese Government agreement to disarm the FDLR, General Nkunda ordered Col. Makenga (a relative of his) to attack an FARDC base just outside Rutshuru town during an advance from Rukoro. A group of Rwandan Defense Force soldiers were sent to aid him and killed 7 border guards near Rumangabo. They also attacked Runyoni to capture the strategic hills overlooking the area. The fighting was much more widespread than the media reported. Contrary to FARDC statements, the RDF/CNDP forces were able to occupy Rutshuru. Just as they did when General Nkunda's forces took Sake earlier this year, MONUC negotiated their withdrawal after threatening to use full force in concert with the FARDC, but the attacks along the road continued. This was coupled with the CNDP's intermittent blockage of aid convoys travelling to Kitchanga.
The attack on Rutshuru coincided with a public announcement that the Lueshe mine, which was previously occupied and exploited by General Nkunda and his men, was now officially contracting out to a consortum of companies that included one firm owned by a current ally of the Kinshasa Government in an alliance made out of necessity against their common adversary. They are also allied with former North Kivu Governor Eugene Serufuli, currently a major enemy of General Nkunda. Rutshutu town is located relatively close to the mine itself.
Following the attack, MONUC announced they were going to disarm General Nkunda's men by force in a joint operation with the FARDC. In classic fashion, General Nkunda launched a preemptive attack yesterday to take high ground positions over the main road north from Goma and they also attacked Rugari and the border post of Bukima on the edge of Virunga Park to secure a corridor for RDF soldiers and supplies. The latest word is that the FARDC pushed them out Rugari, but General Nkunda's men still occupy the hills over the town. Fighters withdrew from Bukima and the area is quiet for the time being.
This latest attack is the most recent in this recurring situation. The fact the Rwandan Defense Forces again illegally invaded the Congo on General Nkunda's behalf showes the doublespeak of President Kagame when he declared to the press from the onging Commonwealth summit that the Congo was no threat to Rwanda's prosperity.
In the meantime, MONUC officials continue to publicly avoid or in some cases deny what everyone knows: that General Nkunda is directly aided by Rwanda. We are not talking about passive lack of border control or allowing him to 'recruit' in Rwandan territory; we are talking about coordination and active cooperation with elements of the Rwandan state army. MONUC damages their own crediblility with this stance with each passing day they continue this course. In some cases, it has raised suspicions about whose 'side' MONUC is on and and eroded the trust of the Congolese people. General Nkunda has capitalized on these fears by spreading his own anti-MONUC propaganda, worsening the situation in the Kivus. Additionally, it is in stark contrast to some MONUC officials' positions stated in private, both in the military and (to a lesser degree)the civilian sectors. I respectfully call for MONUC officials to end this practice and publicly level with the Congolese people and the international community the scope of the crisis in North Kivu.
The disarmament of FOCA, ex-LDF forces and the Mai-Mai, in addition to General Nkunda's soldiers, is a necessary step to restore peace, but the international community has yet to publicly address the issue of how to ensure these RDF cross-border incoursions will end. The proposed joint border verification team will do little to curb the issue unless objective monitors who will enforce the agreement on all sides and parties are deployed. Additionally, it must be stated that the safety of innocent Tutsi civilians in the Congo must be insured. In the optomistic and hypothetical event General Nkunda is disarmed, the "negative forces" are disarmed, and the safety of all ethnic groups in North Kivu is accomplished, then Rwanda will have the opportunity to show if they truely desire peace in the region because the reason stated by Kigali for supporting General Nkunda's stated ideology (see below) will be removed, and there will be no reason for any continued fighting or illegal cross-border raids.
Note: General Nkunda's 'ideology' as stated here refers to his claims that he is fighting to protect the Congolese Tutsi.
A reporter from Digital Congo asked General Gaye and General Kayembe at a recent press conference, "What happened in Rutshuru?" (referring to the recent attack) They were told that information wasn't available at that time. This reminded me of several people who once asked me what happened in Bukavu in 2004. It was, in part, their unanswered questions that inspired me to write my book that included that event. I am again inspired to provide an answer where MONUC and the FARDC will not publicly provide one.
Last week, on the anniversary of the destruction of Mugunga camp by AFDL-CZ and RPA forces (with logistical help from other countries), which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent women and children. General Nkunda, contrary to what he says, attacked Mugunga again in part as an act to inflict terror on the Congolese displaced who resided there and also to disloge the FARDC from a highground position nearby and a second column, believed to be Rwandan soldiers, advanced towards Goma. Several civilians were killed as were soldiers in the ensuing firefight with the FARDC, which drove General Nkunda's forces back.
Prior to this attack, an attack condemned as a war crime by a MONUC spokesperson, General Nkunda was in Gisenyi, Rwanda on November 10th and 11th and attended church services there on Nov. 11th. He also visited with some family members who were relocated to Rwanda for safety reasons. His family, along with the families of many CNDP members, were relocated to Rwanda during the first week of September 2007.
Following the attack on Mugunga, General Nkunda's men positioned themselves on the edge of Virunga Park along the Goma-Rutshuru axis and began hit-and-run attacks on vehicles travelling up the road. Then, a few days ago, despite a Congolese Government agreement to disarm the FDLR, General Nkunda ordered Col. Makenga (a relative of his) to attack an FARDC base just outside Rutshuru town during an advance from Rukoro. A group of Rwandan Defense Force soldiers were sent to aid him and killed 7 border guards near Rumangabo. They also attacked Runyoni to capture the strategic hills overlooking the area. The fighting was much more widespread than the media reported. Contrary to FARDC statements, the RDF/CNDP forces were able to occupy Rutshuru. Just as they did when General Nkunda's forces took Sake earlier this year, MONUC negotiated their withdrawal after threatening to use full force in concert with the FARDC, but the attacks along the road continued. This was coupled with the CNDP's intermittent blockage of aid convoys travelling to Kitchanga.
The attack on Rutshuru coincided with a public announcement that the Lueshe mine, which was previously occupied and exploited by General Nkunda and his men, was now officially contracting out to a consortum of companies that included one firm owned by a current ally of the Kinshasa Government in an alliance made out of necessity against their common adversary. They are also allied with former North Kivu Governor Eugene Serufuli, currently a major enemy of General Nkunda. Rutshutu town is located relatively close to the mine itself.
Following the attack, MONUC announced they were going to disarm General Nkunda's men by force in a joint operation with the FARDC. In classic fashion, General Nkunda launched a preemptive attack yesterday to take high ground positions over the main road north from Goma and they also attacked Rugari and the border post of Bukima on the edge of Virunga Park to secure a corridor for RDF soldiers and supplies. The latest word is that the FARDC pushed them out Rugari, but General Nkunda's men still occupy the hills over the town. Fighters withdrew from Bukima and the area is quiet for the time being.
This latest attack is the most recent in this recurring situation. The fact the Rwandan Defense Forces again illegally invaded the Congo on General Nkunda's behalf showes the doublespeak of President Kagame when he declared to the press from the onging Commonwealth summit that the Congo was no threat to Rwanda's prosperity.
In the meantime, MONUC officials continue to publicly avoid or in some cases deny what everyone knows: that General Nkunda is directly aided by Rwanda. We are not talking about passive lack of border control or allowing him to 'recruit' in Rwandan territory; we are talking about coordination and active cooperation with elements of the Rwandan state army. MONUC damages their own crediblility with this stance with each passing day they continue this course. In some cases, it has raised suspicions about whose 'side' MONUC is on and and eroded the trust of the Congolese people. General Nkunda has capitalized on these fears by spreading his own anti-MONUC propaganda, worsening the situation in the Kivus. Additionally, it is in stark contrast to some MONUC officials' positions stated in private, both in the military and (to a lesser degree)the civilian sectors. I respectfully call for MONUC officials to end this practice and publicly level with the Congolese people and the international community the scope of the crisis in North Kivu.
The disarmament of FOCA, ex-LDF forces and the Mai-Mai, in addition to General Nkunda's soldiers, is a necessary step to restore peace, but the international community has yet to publicly address the issue of how to ensure these RDF cross-border incoursions will end. The proposed joint border verification team will do little to curb the issue unless objective monitors who will enforce the agreement on all sides and parties are deployed. Additionally, it must be stated that the safety of innocent Tutsi civilians in the Congo must be insured. In the optomistic and hypothetical event General Nkunda is disarmed, the "negative forces" are disarmed, and the safety of all ethnic groups in North Kivu is accomplished, then Rwanda will have the opportunity to show if they truely desire peace in the region because the reason stated by Kigali for supporting General Nkunda's stated ideology (see below) will be removed, and there will be no reason for any continued fighting or illegal cross-border raids.
Note: General Nkunda's 'ideology' as stated here refers to his claims that he is fighting to protect the Congolese Tutsi.
23 November, 2007
THE ICTR DIVESTITURE DECISIONS DID NOT ARRIVE IN TIME IN FRANCE.
Hirondelle News Agency
22 November 2007
In spite of the divestiture by the ICTR to the benefit of France in the cases of Wenceslas Munyeshyeka and Laurent Bucyibaruta, the Court of Appeal of Paris differed Wednesday to 12 December the examination of the transfer request of the two men because it did not received in time the originals of the announced documents.
Only an electronic sending has an effect cautioned the Court of Appeal of Paris of these decisions whereas an original document is necessary.
"We can reasonably think that this decision will lead to the ipso facto dropping of the transfer request to the ICTR", declared Wednesday in the hearing Jean-Charles Lecompte, the prosecuting attorney at the Court of Appeal of Paris. The ICTR decisions are dated 20 November.
In June 2006, France and the ICTR signed an agreement making it possible for the international tribunal to transfer to France certain cases to be tried there, including those concerning Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta.
On 26 September 2007, the Court of Appeal of Paris had asked the ICTR to communicate documents to it before coming to a conclusion about the transfer request of the two men. These documents having not arrived "in time", the court ordered Wednesday the deferral of the case.
The investigation chamber requested from the ICTR originals or certified documents of its transfer requests and wished that the prosecution of the international tribunal confirm or deny "the existence and current relevance" of its divestiture request to the benefit of France to try the two men.
In France, the two men are also subject of prosecution initiated by survivors of the genocide. Wencelas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta were respectively indicted in 1995 and 2000 for crimes against humanity and genocide. First arrested in July 2007 at the request of the ICTR, they were released. A second warrant, issued in September, led to their arrest and their release a few days later by the investigation chamber of the Court of Appeal of Paris.
The two men are from now on the responsibility of French justice, but the charges pronounced against them have not been specified yet. Already the subject in 1995 of an international arrest warrant, Munyeshyeka had been exonerated by a decision of the Court of Appeal. The prosecution tried again in 1998 after a decision by the final court of appeal.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal of Paris rejected Wednesday the release request of the Rwandan Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, accused by the ICTR of having taken part in the 1994 genocide. Last week, the Court of Appeal of Paris authorized his transfer to the ICTR, which must complete its first instance trials by the end of 2008. An appeal to the final court of appeal was filed.
22 November 2007
In spite of the divestiture by the ICTR to the benefit of France in the cases of Wenceslas Munyeshyeka and Laurent Bucyibaruta, the Court of Appeal of Paris differed Wednesday to 12 December the examination of the transfer request of the two men because it did not received in time the originals of the announced documents.
Only an electronic sending has an effect cautioned the Court of Appeal of Paris of these decisions whereas an original document is necessary.
"We can reasonably think that this decision will lead to the ipso facto dropping of the transfer request to the ICTR", declared Wednesday in the hearing Jean-Charles Lecompte, the prosecuting attorney at the Court of Appeal of Paris. The ICTR decisions are dated 20 November.
In June 2006, France and the ICTR signed an agreement making it possible for the international tribunal to transfer to France certain cases to be tried there, including those concerning Munyeshyaka and Bucyibaruta.
On 26 September 2007, the Court of Appeal of Paris had asked the ICTR to communicate documents to it before coming to a conclusion about the transfer request of the two men. These documents having not arrived "in time", the court ordered Wednesday the deferral of the case.
The investigation chamber requested from the ICTR originals or certified documents of its transfer requests and wished that the prosecution of the international tribunal confirm or deny "the existence and current relevance" of its divestiture request to the benefit of France to try the two men.
In France, the two men are also subject of prosecution initiated by survivors of the genocide. Wencelas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta were respectively indicted in 1995 and 2000 for crimes against humanity and genocide. First arrested in July 2007 at the request of the ICTR, they were released. A second warrant, issued in September, led to their arrest and their release a few days later by the investigation chamber of the Court of Appeal of Paris.
The two men are from now on the responsibility of French justice, but the charges pronounced against them have not been specified yet. Already the subject in 1995 of an international arrest warrant, Munyeshyeka had been exonerated by a decision of the Court of Appeal. The prosecution tried again in 1998 after a decision by the final court of appeal.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal of Paris rejected Wednesday the release request of the Rwandan Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, accused by the ICTR of having taken part in the 1994 genocide. Last week, the Court of Appeal of Paris authorized his transfer to the ICTR, which must complete its first instance trials by the end of 2008. An appeal to the final court of appeal was filed.
S Leone to boost diamond trade.
News 24
23 November 2007
Sierra Leone plans to introduce new laws on diamond trading to boost earnings by ensuring most of its stones are polished before being shipped out, say government officials.
President Ernest Bai Koroma, who won an election in September on a promise to tackle corruption and heal divisions in the war-torn country, said the new policy would be put before parliament "as soon as possible".
Koroma said: "We have not benefited as much as we should have from our mineral resources and that is why we are going to ... put in place a mining policy that will ensure that we move away from having low returns."
He declined to elaborate what the policy would entail or whether it would mean banning or imposing quotas on the export of raw stones.
But a Koroma aide working on government mining policy said: "The idea is to get finished products exported after treating them there ... legislation is inevitable."
Sierra Leone 'working hard'
This would also create work for thousands of jobless people, said Koroma, who was in Kampala for Friday's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
"It will not only add value but it will enhance employment opportunities," said Bai Koroma.
Sierra Leone was working hard to rebuild its economy and repair its image after a 1991-2002 war for control of its diamond fields, one of the most brutal in African history.
Despite the country's mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, rutile and bauxite, around three-quarters of Sierra Leoneans lived below the poverty line. The government said this was because so many diamonds were smuggled out.
On Wednesday, Sierra Leone banned the export of mineral samples in an effort to stop smuggling, disappointing the diamond industry, which argued that the west African nation lacked adequate technology.
At the end of October, Minister of Mines Alhaji Abubakar Jalloh said he would review all mining contracts to clean-up corruption and cheating and increase the percentage of revenues that stay in Sierra Leone.
Under a scheme sponsored by the British government's development arm, foreign experts were trying to help the administration overhaul its mining sector.
The UK-led Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aimed to ensure government and mining companies publish all transactions between them, was encouraging Sierra Leone to join.
Editor's Note: Unless an overhaul on corruption is forthcoming in Sierra Leone, most of these measures will be worthless because a few Leones might get you a forged certificate and when 75% of the people live in abject poverty and unemployment is rampant (as mentioned above), it isn't a surprise someone would accept money to allow a few diamonds to be smuggled so their family can eat. Reforming the diamond industry in Sierra Leone is not enough in the long run. Poverty and a lack of stable employment must be tackled as well and corruption must be curbed.
23 November 2007
Sierra Leone plans to introduce new laws on diamond trading to boost earnings by ensuring most of its stones are polished before being shipped out, say government officials.
President Ernest Bai Koroma, who won an election in September on a promise to tackle corruption and heal divisions in the war-torn country, said the new policy would be put before parliament "as soon as possible".
Koroma said: "We have not benefited as much as we should have from our mineral resources and that is why we are going to ... put in place a mining policy that will ensure that we move away from having low returns."
He declined to elaborate what the policy would entail or whether it would mean banning or imposing quotas on the export of raw stones.
But a Koroma aide working on government mining policy said: "The idea is to get finished products exported after treating them there ... legislation is inevitable."
Sierra Leone 'working hard'
This would also create work for thousands of jobless people, said Koroma, who was in Kampala for Friday's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
"It will not only add value but it will enhance employment opportunities," said Bai Koroma.
Sierra Leone was working hard to rebuild its economy and repair its image after a 1991-2002 war for control of its diamond fields, one of the most brutal in African history.
Despite the country's mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, rutile and bauxite, around three-quarters of Sierra Leoneans lived below the poverty line. The government said this was because so many diamonds were smuggled out.
On Wednesday, Sierra Leone banned the export of mineral samples in an effort to stop smuggling, disappointing the diamond industry, which argued that the west African nation lacked adequate technology.
At the end of October, Minister of Mines Alhaji Abubakar Jalloh said he would review all mining contracts to clean-up corruption and cheating and increase the percentage of revenues that stay in Sierra Leone.
Under a scheme sponsored by the British government's development arm, foreign experts were trying to help the administration overhaul its mining sector.
The UK-led Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aimed to ensure government and mining companies publish all transactions between them, was encouraging Sierra Leone to join.
Editor's Note: Unless an overhaul on corruption is forthcoming in Sierra Leone, most of these measures will be worthless because a few Leones might get you a forged certificate and when 75% of the people live in abject poverty and unemployment is rampant (as mentioned above), it isn't a surprise someone would accept money to allow a few diamonds to be smuggled so their family can eat. Reforming the diamond industry in Sierra Leone is not enough in the long run. Poverty and a lack of stable employment must be tackled as well and corruption must be curbed.
North Kivu: New Clashes Rugari Area.
MISNA
23 November 2007
Fighting is underway in the Rugari area, around 35km north-east of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Local sources referred to MISNA that the fighting erupted yesterday evening at around 7:00p.m in the hills surrounding the town and, after a suspension, resumed this morning at around 8:00a.m. The fighting is once again between militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese regular armed forces (FARDC). After heavy fighting that broke out on Wednesday in the town of Rutshuru (50km north of Goma), the United Nations mission in DR-Congo (MONUC), which provides logistic support to the regular forces, yesterday announced the beginning of a phase of military operations to disarm Nkunda’s men by force. Contrasting tolls of the fighting in Rusthuru were released in the past hours: according to FARDC General Kayembe Mbandakulu, 18 militants were killed, while five soldiers died on the same day in fighting in the area.
Sources close to Nkunda’s rebellion instead refer that fifty some solders were killed in Kalengera and Rutshuru-centre. There are no independent estimates for the moment. North Kivu, particularly the Rutshuru and Masisi territories, has been theatre since the end of August to fighting between soldiers (at least 20,000 deployed in the area) and Nkunda’s men (an estimated 4,000), but also actions of other armed groups (Mayi-Mayi and FDLR). The persisting insecurity and instability in the region along the borders with Rwanda and Uganda has caused a humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands (750,000 based on some estimates).
23 November 2007
Fighting is underway in the Rugari area, around 35km north-east of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Local sources referred to MISNA that the fighting erupted yesterday evening at around 7:00p.m in the hills surrounding the town and, after a suspension, resumed this morning at around 8:00a.m. The fighting is once again between militants loyal to the pro-Rwandan renegade general Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese regular armed forces (FARDC). After heavy fighting that broke out on Wednesday in the town of Rutshuru (50km north of Goma), the United Nations mission in DR-Congo (MONUC), which provides logistic support to the regular forces, yesterday announced the beginning of a phase of military operations to disarm Nkunda’s men by force. Contrasting tolls of the fighting in Rusthuru were released in the past hours: according to FARDC General Kayembe Mbandakulu, 18 militants were killed, while five soldiers died on the same day in fighting in the area.
Sources close to Nkunda’s rebellion instead refer that fifty some solders were killed in Kalengera and Rutshuru-centre. There are no independent estimates for the moment. North Kivu, particularly the Rutshuru and Masisi territories, has been theatre since the end of August to fighting between soldiers (at least 20,000 deployed in the area) and Nkunda’s men (an estimated 4,000), but also actions of other armed groups (Mayi-Mayi and FDLR). The persisting insecurity and instability in the region along the borders with Rwanda and Uganda has caused a humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands (750,000 based on some estimates).
Range Resources team chased out of Puntland town.
Garowe Online
23 November 2007
A team representing an Australian exploration firm was chased out of a town in Somalia where they planned to collect rock samples earlier this week, informed sources tell Garowe Online.
The team representing Range Resources, Ltd., traveled to Buru, a village approximately 60km east of the port of Bossaso, the commercial hub of Somalia's semiautonomous state of Puntland.
Range inked a controversial exploration agreement with the Puntland government in 2005, but the implementation of that deal has been hampered by local resistance and delays.
Sources in Buru village confirmed to Garowe Online that local clan fighters took up arms and prevented the Range team from collecting the samples.
One local elder said the Range team was "warned before" not to come to Buru village. But the team came anyway to collect rocks and other samples destined for scientific testing.
The Range team was routed out of town by the militias, with unconfirmed reports stating that the militias took away some of the team's equipment as they retreated back to Bossaso.
This is not the first time Range officials have faced violence from local communities. In early 2006, Range scientists protected by Puntland soldiers were attacked several times in Sanaag region by local fighters, leading to at least 10 deaths.
But this new development comes at a time Puntland President Mohamud "Adde" Muse is involved in a political feud with his minister of fisheries and marine resources, Mr. Said Mohamed Rage, who belongs to the local clan in Buru village.
The details are not fully clear yet, but the ongoing feud between President Muse and Minister Rage is rooted in a fisheries agreement the Puntland government signed in June with Yemen, according to our sources.
Meanwhile, a senior delegation from Africa Oil Corp. arrived in the capital of Puntland, Garowe, yesterday where they met with the Puntland leader and local elders.
Canada-based Africa Oil, formerly Canmex Minerals, signed a farm-in deal with Range Resources, giving Africa Oil an 80% stake in the Puntland exploration project.
The company's executives have stated that they plan to begin drilling for oil in Puntland's Nogal basin, where Garowe is located.
Many locals in Puntland wonder why the Muse administration continues to push forward its ambitious exploration project, especially in light of the situation in Las Anod where the outbreak of a major clan war is feared between Puntland and the breakaway region of Somaliland.
23 November 2007
A team representing an Australian exploration firm was chased out of a town in Somalia where they planned to collect rock samples earlier this week, informed sources tell Garowe Online.
The team representing Range Resources, Ltd., traveled to Buru, a village approximately 60km east of the port of Bossaso, the commercial hub of Somalia's semiautonomous state of Puntland.
Range inked a controversial exploration agreement with the Puntland government in 2005, but the implementation of that deal has been hampered by local resistance and delays.
Sources in Buru village confirmed to Garowe Online that local clan fighters took up arms and prevented the Range team from collecting the samples.
One local elder said the Range team was "warned before" not to come to Buru village. But the team came anyway to collect rocks and other samples destined for scientific testing.
The Range team was routed out of town by the militias, with unconfirmed reports stating that the militias took away some of the team's equipment as they retreated back to Bossaso.
This is not the first time Range officials have faced violence from local communities. In early 2006, Range scientists protected by Puntland soldiers were attacked several times in Sanaag region by local fighters, leading to at least 10 deaths.
But this new development comes at a time Puntland President Mohamud "Adde" Muse is involved in a political feud with his minister of fisheries and marine resources, Mr. Said Mohamed Rage, who belongs to the local clan in Buru village.
The details are not fully clear yet, but the ongoing feud between President Muse and Minister Rage is rooted in a fisheries agreement the Puntland government signed in June with Yemen, according to our sources.
Meanwhile, a senior delegation from Africa Oil Corp. arrived in the capital of Puntland, Garowe, yesterday where they met with the Puntland leader and local elders.
Canada-based Africa Oil, formerly Canmex Minerals, signed a farm-in deal with Range Resources, giving Africa Oil an 80% stake in the Puntland exploration project.
The company's executives have stated that they plan to begin drilling for oil in Puntland's Nogal basin, where Garowe is located.
Many locals in Puntland wonder why the Muse administration continues to push forward its ambitious exploration project, especially in light of the situation in Las Anod where the outbreak of a major clan war is feared between Puntland and the breakaway region of Somaliland.
European Union force in Bosnia extended.
Associated Press
By EDITH M. LEDERER.
23 November 2007
The U.N. Security Council Wednesday extended the European Union's peacekeeping force in Bosnia for a year, citing the Balkan nation's "very limited progress" towards EU membership and its failure to implement key reforms.
The resolution adopted unanimously by the council had a markedly downbeat tone compared to last year's resolution, which welcomed "tangible signs" of Bosnia's progress toward joining the 27-nation European bloc.
Twelve years after a peace agreement ended a bitterly divisive 3 1/2-year war, the council reminded the country's Muslims, Serbs and Croats that they have "the primary responsibility for the further successful implementation" of the 1995 agreement signed in Dayton, Ohio.
But it noted that the coutry "has made very limited progress towards the European Union, and in particular, towards the conclusion of a Stabilization and Association Agreement."
Bosnia was ravaged by Europe's worst fighting since World War II from 1992-95, in which 260,000 people were killed and 1.8 million were turned into refugees. The country is in turmoil again because the Dayton agreement divided Bosnia into two mini-states — a Bosnian Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation — and the Bosnian Serbs are resisting efforts to unite the country as the EU is demanding.
International efforts to unite the country have been supported by the Muslim-Croat federation, which would like to see Bosnia enter the EU as a unified country. Bosnian Serbs are asking that their mini-state — Republika Srpska — remain as autonomous as possible, and they have rejected EU demands to integrate the separate police forces in the two mini-states, putting the country's progress toward EU membership on hold.
The council reiterated its call for Bosnian authorities "to implement in full their undertakings" as confirmed on Oct. 31 by the Peace Implementation Council, which comprises more than 40 countries and international organizations who oversee the peace conditions that followed the Bosnian war.
European Union defense ministers expressed concern on Monday about political tensions and pledged to maintain the EU's 2,500 peacekeepers in Bosnia.
The Security Council resolution welcomes the EU's intention to maintain the EU military operation and authorizes the force, known as EUFOR, for a further 12 months starting Wednesday. It also welcomes NATO's decision to continue to maintain a headquarters in Bosnia.
By EDITH M. LEDERER.
23 November 2007
The U.N. Security Council Wednesday extended the European Union's peacekeeping force in Bosnia for a year, citing the Balkan nation's "very limited progress" towards EU membership and its failure to implement key reforms.
The resolution adopted unanimously by the council had a markedly downbeat tone compared to last year's resolution, which welcomed "tangible signs" of Bosnia's progress toward joining the 27-nation European bloc.
Twelve years after a peace agreement ended a bitterly divisive 3 1/2-year war, the council reminded the country's Muslims, Serbs and Croats that they have "the primary responsibility for the further successful implementation" of the 1995 agreement signed in Dayton, Ohio.
But it noted that the coutry "has made very limited progress towards the European Union, and in particular, towards the conclusion of a Stabilization and Association Agreement."
Bosnia was ravaged by Europe's worst fighting since World War II from 1992-95, in which 260,000 people were killed and 1.8 million were turned into refugees. The country is in turmoil again because the Dayton agreement divided Bosnia into two mini-states — a Bosnian Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation — and the Bosnian Serbs are resisting efforts to unite the country as the EU is demanding.
International efforts to unite the country have been supported by the Muslim-Croat federation, which would like to see Bosnia enter the EU as a unified country. Bosnian Serbs are asking that their mini-state — Republika Srpska — remain as autonomous as possible, and they have rejected EU demands to integrate the separate police forces in the two mini-states, putting the country's progress toward EU membership on hold.
The council reiterated its call for Bosnian authorities "to implement in full their undertakings" as confirmed on Oct. 31 by the Peace Implementation Council, which comprises more than 40 countries and international organizations who oversee the peace conditions that followed the Bosnian war.
European Union defense ministers expressed concern on Monday about political tensions and pledged to maintain the EU's 2,500 peacekeepers in Bosnia.
The Security Council resolution welcomes the EU's intention to maintain the EU military operation and authorizes the force, known as EUFOR, for a further 12 months starting Wednesday. It also welcomes NATO's decision to continue to maintain a headquarters in Bosnia.
German company invests in South African oil and gas operations.
All Africa
5 November 2007
A German manufacturing company has invested about $30-mm (approx R 284 mm) which forms part of a R 1.7 bn investment pledge into the South African oil and gas operations.
German manufacturing company MAN Ferrostaal has opened South Africa's first fabrication yard for oil and gas platforms at Saldanha Bay near Cape Town, positioning the country to take advantage of booming energy operations along Africa's west coast. This commitment is part of an offset deal brokered between the South African government and the company, which has built three new U-206 submarines for the South African Navy.
At the official opening of the yard, MAN Ferrostaal Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mitscherlich emphasised the great local added value in realising the project.
"Three-quarters of all firms commissioned were South African companies and half of all expenditure went to companies which promote the interests of South Africa's black population," Mt Mitscherlich said. Over 900 people from the Western Cape Region were involved in the nine-month construction period, with nearly all material used in the construction of the yard coming from South Africa.
Saldanha Bay, situated about 60 nautical miles north-west of Cape Town, is the deepest and largest natural port in southern Africa, and it is intended that the platform fabrication yard will meet the increasing demand for production platforms triggered by the growing West African oil and gas industry. Complete offshore platforms, as well as components for offshore platforms such as bridges, outriggers, decks, mantles and submarine infrastructure, will be constructed at the 220,000 sq metre complex.
Until now, offshore oil and gas platforms used in West Africa have been manufactured solely in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and south-east Asia, and capacity constraints meant lead times of up to seven years. The new production site at Saldanha Bay will reduce lead times and towing times for platforms to a fraction of the time currently required.
MAN Ferrostaal believes that the sharp increase in oil prices will lead to increased demand for production platforms, and is currently in talks to construct a second site for the repair and maintenance of oil platforms in Cape Town. Both projects are of great social importance for South Africa, in addition to their economic significance, as they will lead to the creation of approximately 12,000 new jobs.
"Due to the very positive feedback from the international oil industry, a capacity increase is already being planned for the complex in Saldanha Bay," MAN Ferrostaal said.
5 November 2007
A German manufacturing company has invested about $30-mm (approx R 284 mm) which forms part of a R 1.7 bn investment pledge into the South African oil and gas operations.
German manufacturing company MAN Ferrostaal has opened South Africa's first fabrication yard for oil and gas platforms at Saldanha Bay near Cape Town, positioning the country to take advantage of booming energy operations along Africa's west coast. This commitment is part of an offset deal brokered between the South African government and the company, which has built three new U-206 submarines for the South African Navy.
At the official opening of the yard, MAN Ferrostaal Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mitscherlich emphasised the great local added value in realising the project.
"Three-quarters of all firms commissioned were South African companies and half of all expenditure went to companies which promote the interests of South Africa's black population," Mt Mitscherlich said. Over 900 people from the Western Cape Region were involved in the nine-month construction period, with nearly all material used in the construction of the yard coming from South Africa.
Saldanha Bay, situated about 60 nautical miles north-west of Cape Town, is the deepest and largest natural port in southern Africa, and it is intended that the platform fabrication yard will meet the increasing demand for production platforms triggered by the growing West African oil and gas industry. Complete offshore platforms, as well as components for offshore platforms such as bridges, outriggers, decks, mantles and submarine infrastructure, will be constructed at the 220,000 sq metre complex.
Until now, offshore oil and gas platforms used in West Africa have been manufactured solely in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and south-east Asia, and capacity constraints meant lead times of up to seven years. The new production site at Saldanha Bay will reduce lead times and towing times for platforms to a fraction of the time currently required.
MAN Ferrostaal believes that the sharp increase in oil prices will lead to increased demand for production platforms, and is currently in talks to construct a second site for the repair and maintenance of oil platforms in Cape Town. Both projects are of great social importance for South Africa, in addition to their economic significance, as they will lead to the creation of approximately 12,000 new jobs.
"Due to the very positive feedback from the international oil industry, a capacity increase is already being planned for the complex in Saldanha Bay," MAN Ferrostaal said.
PetroSA awards contract for oil refinery to KBR.
All Africa
30 October 2007
PetroSA has put in motion its plan to build a R 39 bn crude oil refinery in the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) in Port Elizabeth by awarding a contract for the pre-feasibility study for the project.
South Africa's national oil company and operator of the world's first gas-to-liquid refinery at Mossel Bay, has awarded the contract to the international engineering firm, Kellogg Brown & Root International (KBR).
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Cape Town, PetroSA's Vice-President New Ventures -- Midstream Jorn Falbe explained that the pre-feasibility study focused on determining the economic optimum configuration for the refinery. These include the crude oil type and costs, the required product slate, prices and specifications and taking the capital and operating costs into consideration.
Thereafter the project will move on to the feasibility phase, which will define the engineering scope of the refinery. PetroSA said that the pre-feasibility study was expected to take about sixmonths to complete and that it would be conducted out of the KBR offices in Houston, United States of America (USA), offices.
The proposed crude oil refinery, called Project Mthombo, is expected to come on stream in 2014/2015 and to produce more than 200,000 barrels of fuel per day. PetroSA explained that KBR had a well-established track record in developing downstream projects in the oil industry and had access to global resources and expertise in crude oil refining.
The firm is currently involved with several major international refinery projects in different stages of completion, which are of a similar capacity and processing similar crude oils considered for Project Mthombo by PetroSA, the oil company added.
Mr Falbe also said PetroSA was using the project to develop the skills pool in South Africa. Several promising candidates have been selected from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and will be assigned to KBR for the duration of the study.
"The development of these engineers, who are essential for the successful construction and operation of the refinery, is part of a well-defined strategy by PetroSA in anticipation of future needs," added Mr Falbe.
PetroSA said the awarding of the contract to KBR was linked to PetroSA's strong belief that complementary partnerships would be required to realise a project of that size and nature; to mitigate any project related risk and to ensure the success of the project.
"Project Mthombo underpins South Africa's security of energy supply and reduces South Africa's dependency on imported automotive fuels.”
“Project Mthombo, which is nominally sized for 200,000 barrels of fuel per day to satisfy the South African demand, could be expanded to allow for exports or other growth opportunities and could be integrated with downstream Petro-Chemical opportunities," explained PetroSA.
The announcement by PetroSA that it was investigating the possibility of building a project at Coega had been warmly received by the Coega Development Corporation. Thespokesperson for the Coega Development Corporation Ongama Mtimka said then that the announcement "reiterates our position that the Coega IDZ is a viable business proposition.
"There are other potential investors who have shown interest in a crude oil refinery in the Coega IDZ," he said. The Coega project is a multi-billion-rand industrial development complex and deepwater port in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.
Editor's Note: For recall, KBR was previously the chief subsidiary of Halliburton.
30 October 2007
PetroSA has put in motion its plan to build a R 39 bn crude oil refinery in the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) in Port Elizabeth by awarding a contract for the pre-feasibility study for the project.
South Africa's national oil company and operator of the world's first gas-to-liquid refinery at Mossel Bay, has awarded the contract to the international engineering firm, Kellogg Brown & Root International (KBR).
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Cape Town, PetroSA's Vice-President New Ventures -- Midstream Jorn Falbe explained that the pre-feasibility study focused on determining the economic optimum configuration for the refinery. These include the crude oil type and costs, the required product slate, prices and specifications and taking the capital and operating costs into consideration.
Thereafter the project will move on to the feasibility phase, which will define the engineering scope of the refinery. PetroSA said that the pre-feasibility study was expected to take about sixmonths to complete and that it would be conducted out of the KBR offices in Houston, United States of America (USA), offices.
The proposed crude oil refinery, called Project Mthombo, is expected to come on stream in 2014/2015 and to produce more than 200,000 barrels of fuel per day. PetroSA explained that KBR had a well-established track record in developing downstream projects in the oil industry and had access to global resources and expertise in crude oil refining.
The firm is currently involved with several major international refinery projects in different stages of completion, which are of a similar capacity and processing similar crude oils considered for Project Mthombo by PetroSA, the oil company added.
Mr Falbe also said PetroSA was using the project to develop the skills pool in South Africa. Several promising candidates have been selected from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and will be assigned to KBR for the duration of the study.
"The development of these engineers, who are essential for the successful construction and operation of the refinery, is part of a well-defined strategy by PetroSA in anticipation of future needs," added Mr Falbe.
PetroSA said the awarding of the contract to KBR was linked to PetroSA's strong belief that complementary partnerships would be required to realise a project of that size and nature; to mitigate any project related risk and to ensure the success of the project.
"Project Mthombo underpins South Africa's security of energy supply and reduces South Africa's dependency on imported automotive fuels.”
“Project Mthombo, which is nominally sized for 200,000 barrels of fuel per day to satisfy the South African demand, could be expanded to allow for exports or other growth opportunities and could be integrated with downstream Petro-Chemical opportunities," explained PetroSA.
The announcement by PetroSA that it was investigating the possibility of building a project at Coega had been warmly received by the Coega Development Corporation. Thespokesperson for the Coega Development Corporation Ongama Mtimka said then that the announcement "reiterates our position that the Coega IDZ is a viable business proposition.
"There are other potential investors who have shown interest in a crude oil refinery in the Coega IDZ," he said. The Coega project is a multi-billion-rand industrial development complex and deepwater port in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.
Editor's Note: For recall, KBR was previously the chief subsidiary of Halliburton.
Galsi and Snam sign MoU for new pipeline from Algeria to Italy.
Rigzone
7 November 2007
Galsi and Snam Rete Gas signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of the Algerian Minister for Energy, Mr Chakib Khelil, and the Italian Minister for Economic Development, Mr Pierluigi Bersani, for the construction of the Italian section of the new import pipeline from Algeria to Italy via Sardinia.
The project involves an international offshore section of the pipeline, which will run from the Algerian coast to Southern Sardinia (near Cagliari) where it will link up with the Italian section. This will include an inland section across Sardinia to Olbia and another offshore section to Tuscany (near Piombino) where the new pipeline will interconnect with the national transportation network.
Overall, the pipeline will be roughly 900 km long, approximately 600 km of which will be offshore. It will be laid at a maximum depth of approximately 2,800 meters between Algeria and Sardinia. Its initial transportation capacity will be 8 bn cm per year and it is planned to come onstream in 2012.
Agreements signed with Sonatrach on November 15th, attended by Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the President of Algeria, and Romano Prodi, Italian Premier, Edison (the key Italian player in the project) and Enel have already assured the supply of 2 bn cm of gas a year each once the pipeline is operational. Hera Trading has negotiated supply of a further 1 bn cm. The other 3 bn cm will be sold by Sonatrach, including through sales to other operators.
The signed memorandum of understanding relates to the Italian section of the pipeline: Galsi, owned by Sonatrach (38 %), Edison (16 %), Enel (13.5 %), Wintershall (9 %), Hera (10 %), and Regione Sardegna (10 %), will be responsible for the engineering work and for obtaining the relevant permits and main authorizations while Snam Rete Gas will be in charge of the construction and subsequent management of the transportation activities.
This project demonstrates the two companies' commitment to investing large amounts to develop one of the most important natural gassupply projects in Italy.
The memorandum is also strategically important to the opening up of the Italian and European gas markets, as it will allow the import and sale of natural gas along a new pipeline and enable new operators to enter the Italian market.
"The Galsi pipeline is of strategic interest to Italy and with a capacity of 8 bn cm per year, will significantly increase the availability of gas for the country while at the same time ensuring the greater continuity of supplies", said Roberto Poti, chairman of Galsi and Executive Vice President Corporate Business Development of Edison. "The agreement… represents a fundamental step forward for the project's execution, which will also benefit from the definition of the relevant regulatory framework by Algeria and Italy in the next few weeks".
Mohamed Yousfi, CEO of Galsi said, "The agreement… by Snam Rete Gas and Galsi is proof of their tangible commitment to the construction of a new direct line between Algeria and Italy. It will strengthen themore than 30 year relationship between Sonatrach and the Italian companies, which shows their firm intention to meet the rising demand for natural gas in Europe".
Snam Rete Gas CEO Carlo Malacarne said, "Snam Rete Gas's involvement in this project demonstrates its proactive commitment to encouraging all new import projects as soon as the requisites for their effective implementation are in place".
Galsi is carrying out the detailed engineering part of the project and, specifically, the survey of the sea floor of the two offshore sections in order to confirm their route.
7 November 2007
Galsi and Snam Rete Gas signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of the Algerian Minister for Energy, Mr Chakib Khelil, and the Italian Minister for Economic Development, Mr Pierluigi Bersani, for the construction of the Italian section of the new import pipeline from Algeria to Italy via Sardinia.
The project involves an international offshore section of the pipeline, which will run from the Algerian coast to Southern Sardinia (near Cagliari) where it will link up with the Italian section. This will include an inland section across Sardinia to Olbia and another offshore section to Tuscany (near Piombino) where the new pipeline will interconnect with the national transportation network.
Overall, the pipeline will be roughly 900 km long, approximately 600 km of which will be offshore. It will be laid at a maximum depth of approximately 2,800 meters between Algeria and Sardinia. Its initial transportation capacity will be 8 bn cm per year and it is planned to come onstream in 2012.
Agreements signed with Sonatrach on November 15th, attended by Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the President of Algeria, and Romano Prodi, Italian Premier, Edison (the key Italian player in the project) and Enel have already assured the supply of 2 bn cm of gas a year each once the pipeline is operational. Hera Trading has negotiated supply of a further 1 bn cm. The other 3 bn cm will be sold by Sonatrach, including through sales to other operators.
The signed memorandum of understanding relates to the Italian section of the pipeline: Galsi, owned by Sonatrach (38 %), Edison (16 %), Enel (13.5 %), Wintershall (9 %), Hera (10 %), and Regione Sardegna (10 %), will be responsible for the engineering work and for obtaining the relevant permits and main authorizations while Snam Rete Gas will be in charge of the construction and subsequent management of the transportation activities.
This project demonstrates the two companies' commitment to investing large amounts to develop one of the most important natural gassupply projects in Italy.
The memorandum is also strategically important to the opening up of the Italian and European gas markets, as it will allow the import and sale of natural gas along a new pipeline and enable new operators to enter the Italian market.
"The Galsi pipeline is of strategic interest to Italy and with a capacity of 8 bn cm per year, will significantly increase the availability of gas for the country while at the same time ensuring the greater continuity of supplies", said Roberto Poti, chairman of Galsi and Executive Vice President Corporate Business Development of Edison. "The agreement… represents a fundamental step forward for the project's execution, which will also benefit from the definition of the relevant regulatory framework by Algeria and Italy in the next few weeks".
Mohamed Yousfi, CEO of Galsi said, "The agreement… by Snam Rete Gas and Galsi is proof of their tangible commitment to the construction of a new direct line between Algeria and Italy. It will strengthen themore than 30 year relationship between Sonatrach and the Italian companies, which shows their firm intention to meet the rising demand for natural gas in Europe".
Snam Rete Gas CEO Carlo Malacarne said, "Snam Rete Gas's involvement in this project demonstrates its proactive commitment to encouraging all new import projects as soon as the requisites for their effective implementation are in place".
Galsi is carrying out the detailed engineering part of the project and, specifically, the survey of the sea floor of the two offshore sections in order to confirm their route.
Sudan reluctant to join OPEC.
Dow Jones Newswire
29 October 2007
Sudan, Africa's fifth-largest holder of oil reserves, is reluctant to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the group seeks to expand its membership among emerging African states, an official said.
"Once you join OPEC you are considered a rich nation and this may put some burden on Sudan," Omer Mohamed Kheir, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Energy & Mining told from his office in Khartoum.
OPEC, which pumps 40% of the world's oil, is growing its membership as it seeks a greater share of worldwide supply. The 12-member group admitted Angola last year and is expected to approve the membership of Ecuador at the heads-of-state meeting in Riyadh.
Sudanese officials had held talks with OPEC last year about the possibility of joining the cartel, which helps set world oil prices by adjusting the amount of crude its members supply to the market.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for December delivery traded at $ 93.01 a barrel. Oil is trading at new records amid concern over OPEC supply, geopolitics and refinery shortages. At present Sudan, Africa's largest country, produces about 515,000 bpd of crude oil, much of which is processed in its Khartoum and West Kordofan refineries, according to Kheir.
"Our production is not much and we need our oil resources for our own development," Kheir said.
At current levels Sudan would be OPEC's smallest producer. Sudan's current reserves are estimated at 5 bn barrels but the government expects the number to increase, Kheir confirmed.
"From the geological information and technical data we have we expect to discover more oil. It's difficult to say how much until we start drilling but we are exploring and we are expecting a lot more," Kheir said. He added if no more oil was discovered in the next couple of years production would still remain around the 500,000 bpd mark.
New refinery
Kheir said, Sudan's oldest oil refinery will be brought back into production and become the country's major oilprocessor by 2009.
"We are now cooperating with Malaysia's Petronas to build a new refinery in Port Sudan incorporating the old refinery to produce an extra 175,000 bpd," he said.
The Port Sudan Refinery, which was commissioned in 1964, is expected to start operations by mid to late 2009. In 2005, the government and Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, signed a $ 1 bn contract to build a 100,000 bpd plant in Port Sudan. About 100,000 bpd are processed in the Khartoum Refinery and 15,000 bpd in the Al Obeid Refinery.
Sudan produces three main types of crude including the sweet, light Nile Blend found both in the North and south of the country and heavier low sulphur crudes Dar and Fula. About 50% of Sudanese oil is Nile Blend which is popular in China and can fetch up to $ 80 a barrel.
Darfur threat
Kheir dismissed concerns about security of oil facilities and oil workers after Darfur rebels attacked installations and kidnapped oil workers.
"Sudan is very big and there are certain areas where we have some security problems but more than 90% of the country is safe," he said. Two foreign oil workers were taken hostage but "no one was killed according to my own information," Kheir said.
Hostility is brewing in Sudan towards foreign oil workers, who now account for about 20% of the industry's workforce, as prices in the country rise for basic services and housing.
Sudan's oil industry may fall victim to the violence in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting government forces since 2003 in a bitter campaign.
29 October 2007
Sudan, Africa's fifth-largest holder of oil reserves, is reluctant to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the group seeks to expand its membership among emerging African states, an official said.
"Once you join OPEC you are considered a rich nation and this may put some burden on Sudan," Omer Mohamed Kheir, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Energy & Mining told from his office in Khartoum.
OPEC, which pumps 40% of the world's oil, is growing its membership as it seeks a greater share of worldwide supply. The 12-member group admitted Angola last year and is expected to approve the membership of Ecuador at the heads-of-state meeting in Riyadh.
Sudanese officials had held talks with OPEC last year about the possibility of joining the cartel, which helps set world oil prices by adjusting the amount of crude its members supply to the market.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for December delivery traded at $ 93.01 a barrel. Oil is trading at new records amid concern over OPEC supply, geopolitics and refinery shortages. At present Sudan, Africa's largest country, produces about 515,000 bpd of crude oil, much of which is processed in its Khartoum and West Kordofan refineries, according to Kheir.
"Our production is not much and we need our oil resources for our own development," Kheir said.
At current levels Sudan would be OPEC's smallest producer. Sudan's current reserves are estimated at 5 bn barrels but the government expects the number to increase, Kheir confirmed.
"From the geological information and technical data we have we expect to discover more oil. It's difficult to say how much until we start drilling but we are exploring and we are expecting a lot more," Kheir said. He added if no more oil was discovered in the next couple of years production would still remain around the 500,000 bpd mark.
New refinery
Kheir said, Sudan's oldest oil refinery will be brought back into production and become the country's major oilprocessor by 2009.
"We are now cooperating with Malaysia's Petronas to build a new refinery in Port Sudan incorporating the old refinery to produce an extra 175,000 bpd," he said.
The Port Sudan Refinery, which was commissioned in 1964, is expected to start operations by mid to late 2009. In 2005, the government and Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, signed a $ 1 bn contract to build a 100,000 bpd plant in Port Sudan. About 100,000 bpd are processed in the Khartoum Refinery and 15,000 bpd in the Al Obeid Refinery.
Sudan produces three main types of crude including the sweet, light Nile Blend found both in the North and south of the country and heavier low sulphur crudes Dar and Fula. About 50% of Sudanese oil is Nile Blend which is popular in China and can fetch up to $ 80 a barrel.
Darfur threat
Kheir dismissed concerns about security of oil facilities and oil workers after Darfur rebels attacked installations and kidnapped oil workers.
"Sudan is very big and there are certain areas where we have some security problems but more than 90% of the country is safe," he said. Two foreign oil workers were taken hostage but "no one was killed according to my own information," Kheir said.
Hostility is brewing in Sudan towards foreign oil workers, who now account for about 20% of the industry's workforce, as prices in the country rise for basic services and housing.
Sudan's oil industry may fall victim to the violence in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting government forces since 2003 in a bitter campaign.
Three Darfur ex-rebels seized by own armed wing.
Reuters
23 November 2007
Three senior members of a former Darfur rebel faction were seized by armed members of their own group, a spokesman from the deeply fractured organisation said on Thursday.
Minni Minawi The three high-ranking officials in the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) were taken late on Wednesday close to the central Khartoum house of their faction’s leader Minni Arcua Minnawi — the only rebel to sign a peace deal with Khartoum in 2006.
The armed group handed the men over to Sudanese security services who released them without charge Thursday morning, said al-Tayyib Khamis, spokesman for the SLM Minnawi.
The incident underlined the deeply ingrained divisions in Khartoum’s only official partner among the splintering insurgent groups in Darfur.
"We deeply regret this incident," faction spokesman al-Tayyib Khamis told Reuters. "This is as a result of differences and disputes within SLM’s ranks."
He said a group of men from SLM Minnawi’s armed wing seized the group’s security director Abass Ibrahim, its deputy director of security and intelligence al-Faddil Altijani and its head of operations Al-Sadig Yousif. The men were arrested as they walked to a meeting with their leader, he added.
Khamis said the armed group believed the three had been getting too close to both Sudan’s government, and to rival rebel factions in war-torn Darfur. "They were accused of following a doctrine of double standards."
Minnawi himself was unavailable for comment.
His faction was the only one of three negotiating rebel groups to sign the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement with Khartoum. The movement then became part of the government and Minnawi became a senior assistant to the Sudanese president.
SLM members unhappy with Minnawi’s decision splintered into a string of breakaway rebel groups. Minnawi’s faction has also suffered a number of defections in the months since the signing of the 2006 deal.
Editor's Note: In is important to note that the splintering in the SLM has largely occurred along ethnic lines between the Fur and Minnawi's Zaghawa, the same ethnicity as Chadian President Idris Deby.
23 November 2007
Three senior members of a former Darfur rebel faction were seized by armed members of their own group, a spokesman from the deeply fractured organisation said on Thursday.
Minni Minawi The three high-ranking officials in the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) were taken late on Wednesday close to the central Khartoum house of their faction’s leader Minni Arcua Minnawi — the only rebel to sign a peace deal with Khartoum in 2006.
The armed group handed the men over to Sudanese security services who released them without charge Thursday morning, said al-Tayyib Khamis, spokesman for the SLM Minnawi.
The incident underlined the deeply ingrained divisions in Khartoum’s only official partner among the splintering insurgent groups in Darfur.
"We deeply regret this incident," faction spokesman al-Tayyib Khamis told Reuters. "This is as a result of differences and disputes within SLM’s ranks."
He said a group of men from SLM Minnawi’s armed wing seized the group’s security director Abass Ibrahim, its deputy director of security and intelligence al-Faddil Altijani and its head of operations Al-Sadig Yousif. The men were arrested as they walked to a meeting with their leader, he added.
Khamis said the armed group believed the three had been getting too close to both Sudan’s government, and to rival rebel factions in war-torn Darfur. "They were accused of following a doctrine of double standards."
Minnawi himself was unavailable for comment.
His faction was the only one of three negotiating rebel groups to sign the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement with Khartoum. The movement then became part of the government and Minnawi became a senior assistant to the Sudanese president.
SLM members unhappy with Minnawi’s decision splintered into a string of breakaway rebel groups. Minnawi’s faction has also suffered a number of defections in the months since the signing of the 2006 deal.
Editor's Note: In is important to note that the splintering in the SLM has largely occurred along ethnic lines between the Fur and Minnawi's Zaghawa, the same ethnicity as Chadian President Idris Deby.
US pledges $100 million annually to Ethiopia.
Sudan Tribune
23 November 2007
The US will pledged over $100 million annually to Ethiopia for development projects across the country.
The US is one of the leading aid donors to Ethiopia along with the UK, Canada and Ireland.
The director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Ethiopia, Glenn Anders, said the money will be used to assist US agencies in Ethiopia as well as other developmental programs in Ethiopia.
The main target of the aid is the safety net program aimed at lifting up some 8 million people living in poverty primarily farmers in different regions of Ethiopia.
“The safety net program has played an important role in bringing positive change to life states of thousands of Ethiopians” Anders said.
The components of the program includes ensuring food security, supplying food relief, fostering agricultural products and training people to be self-reliant.
23 November 2007
The US will pledged over $100 million annually to Ethiopia for development projects across the country.
The US is one of the leading aid donors to Ethiopia along with the UK, Canada and Ireland.
The director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Ethiopia, Glenn Anders, said the money will be used to assist US agencies in Ethiopia as well as other developmental programs in Ethiopia.
The main target of the aid is the safety net program aimed at lifting up some 8 million people living in poverty primarily farmers in different regions of Ethiopia.
“The safety net program has played an important role in bringing positive change to life states of thousands of Ethiopians” Anders said.
The components of the program includes ensuring food security, supplying food relief, fostering agricultural products and training people to be self-reliant.
Chain of Command of the Genocide Differs From the Official Flowchart - Reyntjens.
Hirondelle News Agency
22 November 2007
A Belgian expert-witness, Filip Reyntjens, called Thursday, at the end of his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), not to confuse the official flow chart of the Rwandan state in 1994 with the chain of command of the genocide.
"The real flow chart of the genocide is not the same as the official flow chart", supported professor Reyntjens, explaining why in 1994, the génocidaire forces could "clearly short circuit" the official authority. According to him, it is not because subordinates committed crimes that their leaders, civil or military, are inevitably guilty.
A law professor at the University of Antwerp, and former professor at the National University of Rwanda (NUR), Reyntjens testified as an expert for the defence of the former mayor of Ngoma, Joseph Kanyabashi, whom he knew in Butare, in southern Rwanda.
National place of knowledge, centre of importance of the Ngoma commune, the town of Butare, main city of the prefecture of the same name, held other important establishments such as the School of Warrant Officers (ESO) and the Rwandan Company of Matches (SORWAL).
In the opinion of the expert, these structures put all their weight on all the sectors of life in the region and their officials, often from other parts of the country, constituted "parallel forces", "competing powers" which, in reality, escaped from the effective control of Mayor Kanyabashi.
He supported that the authority of the mayor of Ngoma had been further diluted during the genocide. "Nothing indicates that Kanyabashi approved the massacres of Tutsis. If not, I would not be here before you" to testify for him, added Reyntjens. An expert-witness in many prosecution cases since the beginning of the tribunal, Reyntjens announced, in January 2005, the suspension of his collaboration with the prosecution as long as no member of the RPF would be indicted by this tribunal.
Kanyabashi is on trial alongside the former Minister for the Family and Women's Development, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, an alleged former militia leader, Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, the former prefects of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo, and another former mayor.
Indicted for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, all six have pleaded not guilty, but with very divergent lines of defence which often degenerates, before the judges, in sharp confrontations which the prosecutor silently enjoys when he does not incite them by siding with one or the other of the accused in the conflict.
This trial, which is the oldest and undoubtedly also the most expensive of the history of the ICTR, opened in June 2001.
Kanyabashi's defence will be followed by that of the former mayor of Muganza, Elie Ndayambaje, who is still waiting to call his witnesses.
22 November 2007
A Belgian expert-witness, Filip Reyntjens, called Thursday, at the end of his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), not to confuse the official flow chart of the Rwandan state in 1994 with the chain of command of the genocide.
"The real flow chart of the genocide is not the same as the official flow chart", supported professor Reyntjens, explaining why in 1994, the génocidaire forces could "clearly short circuit" the official authority. According to him, it is not because subordinates committed crimes that their leaders, civil or military, are inevitably guilty.
A law professor at the University of Antwerp, and former professor at the National University of Rwanda (NUR), Reyntjens testified as an expert for the defence of the former mayor of Ngoma, Joseph Kanyabashi, whom he knew in Butare, in southern Rwanda.
National place of knowledge, centre of importance of the Ngoma commune, the town of Butare, main city of the prefecture of the same name, held other important establishments such as the School of Warrant Officers (ESO) and the Rwandan Company of Matches (SORWAL).
In the opinion of the expert, these structures put all their weight on all the sectors of life in the region and their officials, often from other parts of the country, constituted "parallel forces", "competing powers" which, in reality, escaped from the effective control of Mayor Kanyabashi.
He supported that the authority of the mayor of Ngoma had been further diluted during the genocide. "Nothing indicates that Kanyabashi approved the massacres of Tutsis. If not, I would not be here before you" to testify for him, added Reyntjens. An expert-witness in many prosecution cases since the beginning of the tribunal, Reyntjens announced, in January 2005, the suspension of his collaboration with the prosecution as long as no member of the RPF would be indicted by this tribunal.
Kanyabashi is on trial alongside the former Minister for the Family and Women's Development, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, an alleged former militia leader, Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, the former prefects of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo, and another former mayor.
Indicted for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, all six have pleaded not guilty, but with very divergent lines of defence which often degenerates, before the judges, in sharp confrontations which the prosecutor silently enjoys when he does not incite them by siding with one or the other of the accused in the conflict.
This trial, which is the oldest and undoubtedly also the most expensive of the history of the ICTR, opened in June 2001.
Kanyabashi's defence will be followed by that of the former mayor of Muganza, Elie Ndayambaje, who is still waiting to call his witnesses.
Rwanda's genocide courts under increasing pressure.
The Age
By Daniel Pepper
24 November 2007
RUMBLING thunder shakes the windowpanes of an ad hoc courtroom on the outskirts of town as an impatient judge berates a man accused of genocide.
The judge, Immanuel Ngiruwera, one of six, prods the accused to confess. The word inyangamugaya, "those with integrity" in the local language, is splashed on sashes draped across each judge's shoulder.
"Don't give us a long speech," says judge Ngiruwera, a shop owner with a primary school education. The accused, Jean-Pierre Bigwaneza, is trying to give a full account of where he was in 1994. "Just tell us the names of those you killed."
As heavy rains beat down, men, women and children in this bare, packed courtroom sit silently on simple, long wooden benches straining to hear the words of Bigwaneza, charged with being a member of an execution squad. "I did not kill. I was around the killers, but I did not kill anyone myself," Bigwaneza says.
Another judge, Gloriose Mukagashumba, one of three women on the bench, tells him: "At one point we'll decide what to do with you, and it could be very bad. So once again I recommend that you tell the truth."
Even though the court is not part of Rwanda's main justice system, these six judges — unpaid community volunteers with no previous legal experience — could hand down a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The court is part of a system of justice called Gacaca (ga-cha-cha) or "justice on the grass", which draws on Rwanda's tradition of village justice.
The head of the government's national Gacaca authority, Domitilla Mukantaganzwa says that "the challenge is the size of the work, and the fact is that in many cases survivors are very few".
She says there are 12,103 courts in Rwanda. "You can't say that Gacaca is going to have a 100% success rate, but even if it is 85% that is big."
But human rights groups complain that the system is falling far short of any reasonable benchmark. The Gacaca system was established by the Government in 2001 to try the roughly 818,000 people accused of participating with Hutu extremists in the 1994 genocide that left nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead in the space of about 100 days.
Gacaca courts operate more informally than regular courts, with more emphasis on community participation. Shops are forced to shut on the days that Gacaca courts are in session and each member of the locality is expected to attend. Any community member can speak. Activists and dissidents have complained that the courts are full of unqualified judges, using their positions to settle scores and intimidate rivals.
But now Rwanda's Government wants to wrap up the process by early next year, even as 50,000 people remain to go through the Gacaca court system. Trying that many people in a matter of weeks is setting human rights groups both inside and outside Rwanda on edge, and they are becoming increasingly vocal.
Zarir Merat, head of mission for Advocates Sans Frontieres, or Lawyers Without Borders, says one of the main issues is the lack of a legal framework available for victims of RPF killings. The RPF is the former rebel army widely credited with stopping the genocide but also accused of killing Hutus along the way; its head is now the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
Like others, Mr Merat is concerned that the system is going too fast, to the point where "justice is being sacrificed".
According to his figures, until the beginning of April there were 100,507 judgements with 18,930 acquittals in the Gacaca system, a roughly 80% conviction rate.
Jean-Leonard Rugambage, 35, a journalist in the capital Kigali, recalls the day in September 2005 when he was arrested and imprisoned for 10 months after writing an investigative feature about corrupt judges in the Gacaca courts. "In principle Gacaca is a good thing," says Rugambage. "But in practice there are many problems. Many authorities influence Gacaca — the police, army, politicians. The Gacaca judges have the power to do anything they want."
By Daniel Pepper
24 November 2007
RUMBLING thunder shakes the windowpanes of an ad hoc courtroom on the outskirts of town as an impatient judge berates a man accused of genocide.
The judge, Immanuel Ngiruwera, one of six, prods the accused to confess. The word inyangamugaya, "those with integrity" in the local language, is splashed on sashes draped across each judge's shoulder.
"Don't give us a long speech," says judge Ngiruwera, a shop owner with a primary school education. The accused, Jean-Pierre Bigwaneza, is trying to give a full account of where he was in 1994. "Just tell us the names of those you killed."
As heavy rains beat down, men, women and children in this bare, packed courtroom sit silently on simple, long wooden benches straining to hear the words of Bigwaneza, charged with being a member of an execution squad. "I did not kill. I was around the killers, but I did not kill anyone myself," Bigwaneza says.
Another judge, Gloriose Mukagashumba, one of three women on the bench, tells him: "At one point we'll decide what to do with you, and it could be very bad. So once again I recommend that you tell the truth."
Even though the court is not part of Rwanda's main justice system, these six judges — unpaid community volunteers with no previous legal experience — could hand down a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The court is part of a system of justice called Gacaca (ga-cha-cha) or "justice on the grass", which draws on Rwanda's tradition of village justice.
The head of the government's national Gacaca authority, Domitilla Mukantaganzwa says that "the challenge is the size of the work, and the fact is that in many cases survivors are very few".
She says there are 12,103 courts in Rwanda. "You can't say that Gacaca is going to have a 100% success rate, but even if it is 85% that is big."
But human rights groups complain that the system is falling far short of any reasonable benchmark. The Gacaca system was established by the Government in 2001 to try the roughly 818,000 people accused of participating with Hutu extremists in the 1994 genocide that left nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead in the space of about 100 days.
Gacaca courts operate more informally than regular courts, with more emphasis on community participation. Shops are forced to shut on the days that Gacaca courts are in session and each member of the locality is expected to attend. Any community member can speak. Activists and dissidents have complained that the courts are full of unqualified judges, using their positions to settle scores and intimidate rivals.
But now Rwanda's Government wants to wrap up the process by early next year, even as 50,000 people remain to go through the Gacaca court system. Trying that many people in a matter of weeks is setting human rights groups both inside and outside Rwanda on edge, and they are becoming increasingly vocal.
Zarir Merat, head of mission for Advocates Sans Frontieres, or Lawyers Without Borders, says one of the main issues is the lack of a legal framework available for victims of RPF killings. The RPF is the former rebel army widely credited with stopping the genocide but also accused of killing Hutus along the way; its head is now the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
Like others, Mr Merat is concerned that the system is going too fast, to the point where "justice is being sacrificed".
According to his figures, until the beginning of April there were 100,507 judgements with 18,930 acquittals in the Gacaca system, a roughly 80% conviction rate.
Jean-Leonard Rugambage, 35, a journalist in the capital Kigali, recalls the day in September 2005 when he was arrested and imprisoned for 10 months after writing an investigative feature about corrupt judges in the Gacaca courts. "In principle Gacaca is a good thing," says Rugambage. "But in practice there are many problems. Many authorities influence Gacaca — the police, army, politicians. The Gacaca judges have the power to do anything they want."
"We believe LRA deputy still alive" – South Sudan government.
IRIN
22 November 2007
The government of South Sudan believes that the deputy leader of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Vincent Otti, is still alive but being held in house detention, Vice President Riak Machar said.
"I talked to [LRA leader] Joseph Kony a week ago and asked him about the rumours that Otti may be sick or in jail or dead," Machar told IRIN in Juba, capital of South Sudan, on 22 November. "In his words, his forces and the forces of his second-in-command had a conflict, but Otti is alive."
"I asked him: Is Otti in jail? He said: No, he is not in jail but he is alive. I think Otti is under house detention," he added.
Rumours about Otti's whereabouts have persisted for over a month. Analysts believe his death would set back an ongoing peace process aimed at ending more than two decades of insurgency which has displaced more than 2 million people from their homes.
Since talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA started in Juba in July 2006, Otti emerged as a moderate among the rebel ranks. He has been the link between the mediators, northern Ugandan leaders and the rebels.
Along with Kony and three other LRA commanders, including Okot Odhiambo, who has been appointed as the rebels' new deputy leader, Otti faces indictment from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Local leaders in northern Uganda and the rebels have called for the indictments to be dropped, but the ICC insists they must be upheld.
Ugandan media reports and army officials say Otti was arrested in October and killed in early November. On 22 November, the government-owned New Vision newspaper quoted LRA fighters who had surrendered as confirming Otti's death.
"I have no reason to doubt Kony's word because he is on board and committed to the peace process," insisted Machar, who is the talks mediator. "In any case, I am meeting him [Kony] soon - before the 6 December consultative meeting."
The meeting is expected to bring together hundreds of local leaders from areas that were affected by the insurgency, as well as observers, mediators and other stakeholders to discuss the next steps in the protracted northern Uganda peace process. It is expected to take place in Ri-Kwangba, near the Sudan-DRC border where Kony is camped.
Ahead of the talks, representatives of the rebels have been touring northern Uganda to consult local people and victims of the conflict. They have also met Ugandan leaders including President Yoweri Museveni.
"The consultation that is going on is a major boost to the (peace) process," Machar explained. "It is a major psychological break through for the LRA and for the Uganda government."
Humanitarian workers in Juba said the process raised hopes that the conflict could end soon. "I am more optimistic today than I was at the beginning," David Gressly, UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan said.
"The reports from the consultations are very good – a prelude to further talks," he told IRIN in Juba. "The process is not yet irreversible, but it is moving in the right direction."
According to Machar, delegates for Ri-Kwangba meeting will be chosen during the consultations. After that meeting, the government and LRA representatives are due to return to Juba to prepare to resume talks.
22 November 2007
The government of South Sudan believes that the deputy leader of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Vincent Otti, is still alive but being held in house detention, Vice President Riak Machar said.
"I talked to [LRA leader] Joseph Kony a week ago and asked him about the rumours that Otti may be sick or in jail or dead," Machar told IRIN in Juba, capital of South Sudan, on 22 November. "In his words, his forces and the forces of his second-in-command had a conflict, but Otti is alive."
"I asked him: Is Otti in jail? He said: No, he is not in jail but he is alive. I think Otti is under house detention," he added.
Rumours about Otti's whereabouts have persisted for over a month. Analysts believe his death would set back an ongoing peace process aimed at ending more than two decades of insurgency which has displaced more than 2 million people from their homes.
Since talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA started in Juba in July 2006, Otti emerged as a moderate among the rebel ranks. He has been the link between the mediators, northern Ugandan leaders and the rebels.
Along with Kony and three other LRA commanders, including Okot Odhiambo, who has been appointed as the rebels' new deputy leader, Otti faces indictment from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Local leaders in northern Uganda and the rebels have called for the indictments to be dropped, but the ICC insists they must be upheld.
Ugandan media reports and army officials say Otti was arrested in October and killed in early November. On 22 November, the government-owned New Vision newspaper quoted LRA fighters who had surrendered as confirming Otti's death.
"I have no reason to doubt Kony's word because he is on board and committed to the peace process," insisted Machar, who is the talks mediator. "In any case, I am meeting him [Kony] soon - before the 6 December consultative meeting."
The meeting is expected to bring together hundreds of local leaders from areas that were affected by the insurgency, as well as observers, mediators and other stakeholders to discuss the next steps in the protracted northern Uganda peace process. It is expected to take place in Ri-Kwangba, near the Sudan-DRC border where Kony is camped.
Ahead of the talks, representatives of the rebels have been touring northern Uganda to consult local people and victims of the conflict. They have also met Ugandan leaders including President Yoweri Museveni.
"The consultation that is going on is a major boost to the (peace) process," Machar explained. "It is a major psychological break through for the LRA and for the Uganda government."
Humanitarian workers in Juba said the process raised hopes that the conflict could end soon. "I am more optimistic today than I was at the beginning," David Gressly, UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Sudan said.
"The reports from the consultations are very good – a prelude to further talks," he told IRIN in Juba. "The process is not yet irreversible, but it is moving in the right direction."
According to Machar, delegates for Ri-Kwangba meeting will be chosen during the consultations. After that meeting, the government and LRA representatives are due to return to Juba to prepare to resume talks.
Chinese group wins rights to Afghan copper.
Financial Times
By Jon Boone in Kabul and Geoff Dyer
November 21 2007
A state-owned Chinese company has won the right to develop a large copper deposit in Afghanistan after agreeing to invest $3bn (€2.02bn, £1.45bn) in the project, the Afghan mines minister yesterday announced .
The deal is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history and will give China Metallurgical Group (MCC) the right to extract high-quality copper from the Aynak copper field near Kabul.
The company will pay the Afghan government $400m a year to exploit what some geologists think could be the world's biggest copper deposit.
"This is the biggest investment in Afghanistan's history and 10,000 people will be employed to work there," said Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's mines minister.
"We estimate there are 13m tonnes of copper present," said Mr Adel. The minister said that figure might rise to 20m tonnes. At today's prices the value of the copper would be $30bn, according to some estimates.
Years of war in Afghanistan have ensured that the deposit has remained largely untouched since Soviet geologists surveyed the field in 1979.
Enormous obstacles need to be overcome before the site, which lacks either power or transport links, can be properly exploited.
MCC will first have to build a power station to run power to the mine and find coal deposits to fuel the power station. Excess electricity from the station will power Kabul, which, at present, enjoys only a few hours of electricity a day.
The Chinese offer beat four other shortlisted bids -Strikeforce, part of Russia's Basic Element Group, the London-based Kazakhmys Consortium, Hunter Dickinson of Canada and US copper mining firm, Phelps Dodge. The $3bn bid surprised some analysts in Kabul who were expecting the tender to go for less than $2bn.
The high-profile Aynak deal has been seen as a litmus test of how the country deals with the international mining industry. Concerns were raised by the World Bank about the bidding process, which had been ongoing for more than two years. Yesterday, the bank said it was broadly happy with the way the process had been conducted.
MCC is one of the largest state-owned companies in China, with activities ranging from engineering and property to pulp and paper and mining.
The group, which made net profits of more than Rmb3bn ($404m, £196m, €273m) in 2006, says it has invested $1bn in overseas mining operations in countries including Brazil and Pakistan and in resources ranging from iron ore and copper to gold and nickel. Its largest division is in equipment manufacturing, where it is one of the world leaders in manufacturing machinery for steel plants.
According to reports in the Chinese media, MCC bid for the contract in Afghanistan in collaboration with two other Chinese mining groups, Jiangxi Copper, the biggest copper producer in the country, and Zijin Mining Group, China's leading gold mining company.
By Jon Boone in Kabul and Geoff Dyer
November 21 2007
A state-owned Chinese company has won the right to develop a large copper deposit in Afghanistan after agreeing to invest $3bn (€2.02bn, £1.45bn) in the project, the Afghan mines minister yesterday announced .
The deal is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history and will give China Metallurgical Group (MCC) the right to extract high-quality copper from the Aynak copper field near Kabul.
The company will pay the Afghan government $400m a year to exploit what some geologists think could be the world's biggest copper deposit.
"This is the biggest investment in Afghanistan's history and 10,000 people will be employed to work there," said Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's mines minister.
"We estimate there are 13m tonnes of copper present," said Mr Adel. The minister said that figure might rise to 20m tonnes. At today's prices the value of the copper would be $30bn, according to some estimates.
Years of war in Afghanistan have ensured that the deposit has remained largely untouched since Soviet geologists surveyed the field in 1979.
Enormous obstacles need to be overcome before the site, which lacks either power or transport links, can be properly exploited.
MCC will first have to build a power station to run power to the mine and find coal deposits to fuel the power station. Excess electricity from the station will power Kabul, which, at present, enjoys only a few hours of electricity a day.
The Chinese offer beat four other shortlisted bids -Strikeforce, part of Russia's Basic Element Group, the London-based Kazakhmys Consortium, Hunter Dickinson of Canada and US copper mining firm, Phelps Dodge. The $3bn bid surprised some analysts in Kabul who were expecting the tender to go for less than $2bn.
The high-profile Aynak deal has been seen as a litmus test of how the country deals with the international mining industry. Concerns were raised by the World Bank about the bidding process, which had been ongoing for more than two years. Yesterday, the bank said it was broadly happy with the way the process had been conducted.
MCC is one of the largest state-owned companies in China, with activities ranging from engineering and property to pulp and paper and mining.
The group, which made net profits of more than Rmb3bn ($404m, £196m, €273m) in 2006, says it has invested $1bn in overseas mining operations in countries including Brazil and Pakistan and in resources ranging from iron ore and copper to gold and nickel. Its largest division is in equipment manufacturing, where it is one of the world leaders in manufacturing machinery for steel plants.
According to reports in the Chinese media, MCC bid for the contract in Afghanistan in collaboration with two other Chinese mining groups, Jiangxi Copper, the biggest copper producer in the country, and Zijin Mining Group, China's leading gold mining company.
Rwanda, "Shake Hands with the Devil". General Dallaire's film fails "Reality Check."
by Robin Philpot
Global Research
November 22, 2007
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7400
During elections, the media like to do “fact checks” or “reality checks”. The exercise should be applied to all historical films. Especially when the people concerned proclaim it “the film of record”.
That is how Canadian Liberal Party Senator Romeo Dallaire appointed for life described his recent film Shake Hands with the Devil based on his book with the same title. His film sorely fails any serious fact check.
Let’s begin with the end. If you waited until all the credits scroll by, you will see it is copyrighted ©Dallaireproductions. It means two things: 1) Senator Dallaire incorporated a film company so as to get a cut of the profits; 2) he approved every single comma in the script.
That means that he also approved another line in credits. As with other historical films, Shake Hands with the Devil has a “everybody lived happily ever after” in the credits. In Dallaire’s film, you read: “Since July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has governed Rwanda in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Nothing could be further from the truth! And everybody knows it.
When Rwandan prisons have been overflowing with some 80,000 prisoners for more than a decade without trial and without clear charges, you cannot talk about “forgiveness and reconciliation”. You cannot talk of “forgiveness and reconciliation” when you know about the murderous war that the Kagame regime inflicted and continues to inflict on the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996. Nor when you think of the many massacres and selected assassinations carried out by the Rwandan army and its agents in Rwanda, in other African countries and elsewhere in the world. Nor can you talk about “forgiveness and reconciliation” when you think of the cold-blooded assassination of Quebec priests Claude Simard and Guy Pinard by RPF agents. Fathers Simard and Pinard were eliminated respectively in October 1994 and February 1997 – Pinard while he was celebrating mass just as Archbishop was assassinate – because they dared to denounce crimes committed by Paul Kagame and the Rwandan army.
That sentence in the credits shows the current bias of Senator Dallaire in favour of the Kigali regime. In that he is acting coherently with his behaviour during his stay in Rwanda in 1993 and 1994. Shake Hands with the Devil is thus a film of propaganda in favour of a regime that is highly contested in central Africa and elsewhere in the world. Now to the film.
It abounds with factual errors. Dallaire offers three cases that supposedly prove that there was a planned genocide in Rwanda: 1) killings to the south of the demilitarized zone that are carefully attributed to militias close to the former government; 2) the famous Jean-Pierre who is supposed to have been the source of the fax Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker dubbed the “genocide fax” (January 11, 1994); 3) a sentence put in the mouth of Belgian Colonel Luc Marchal who says that Theoneste Bagosora, deputy Defence Minister, had declared that all the Tutsis had to be eliminated.
Three stories about real events, and three stories that are completely false.
Killings to the south of the demilitarized zone. In the film Dallaire and his assistant and villagers are seen investigating bodies found in November 1993. It is let on that the people were killed by agents of pro-government parties and not by the RPF. In fact, Senator Dallaire and his assistant Beardsley are the only people who defend this point. It has never been brought or defended in court anywhere in the world. What’s more, Abdul Ruzibiza, a former comrade in arms of Paul Kagame and lieutenant in the Rwandan Patriotic Army who defected, contradicts Dallaire on this point. In his book published in French in 2005, he explains that the RPF committed these massacres, he names the people who did it and why the RPF did it. On page 208 of his book Rwanda L’histoire secrete he explains that these incursions by the Rwandan Patriotic Front were aimed at getting people excited, destabilizing the country to show how weak the government was, and to give the RPF justification to take power by force.
The film devotes a good 15 minutes to “Jean-Pierre” whose real name is Abubakar Turatzinze. The scene shows a man telling a UN official of lists to eliminate people and the arms hidden that would make it possible to eliminate them in no time. This story has been around the world but it as proven to be totally false. This has come out clearly through sworn testimony and evidence produced at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha. The man operated like a double agent, having contacts with RPF intelligence services and with government and pro-government people. The story became important because of Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, who in turn was being fed by his brother-in-law, Jamie Rubin, Secretary of State Albright’s main mover and shaker. The people who know what happened then, the people who actually met Abubakar Turatzinze (Jean-Pierre), say that there was no truth behind it. Despite these proven facts, Dallaire persists in repeating the story.
The third so-called proof of planning is a statement given to Luc Marchal. Colonel Luc Marchal reported to Dallaire and headed the Belgian troops in Kigali in 1994. Whereas the film has that Luc Marchal telling Dallaire him that Bagosora claimed that the only solution was to eliminate all the Tutsis. Marchal has never witnessed to this effect, neither in Arusha, nor in Belgium, nor in the book he published in 2000. On this point, Mr. Marchal says the event took place, but that Bagosora had said to both Marchal and Dallaire, who was also there, that Rwandans would not be able to get along as long as the RPF and its army continued to exist. That is completely different from what Dallaire tells us in the film. What is more, Luc Marchal has publicly asked Dallaire since 2004 to join him in demanding an international neutral inquiry into the April 6 shooting down the plane that was bringing former President Habyarimana back to Kigali. Dallaire never answered that call.
Three events supposedly proving that a genocide was planned, and all three are false. It is also useful is good to pit Dallaire’s film against his own statements. On September 14, 1994, he took part in an important French-language television program in Montréal. Dallaire was just back from Rwanda. When asked a question about a plan to exterminate Tutsis, here’s how he answered.
“The plan was more political. The aim was to eliminate the coalition of moderates….. I think that the excesses that we saw were beyond people’s ability to plan and organize. There was a process to destroy the political elements in the moderate camp. There was a breakdown and hysteria absolutely…. But nobody could have foreseen or planned the magnitude of the destruction we saw.” (Note: people who understand French can listen to these excerpts on the Montreal CIBL community radio web site http://cibl1015.com/node/52742 ).
That is how Dallaire spoke when he just got back. “Nobody could have planned it all”. Who to believe, General Dallaire two weeks after he gets back, or Liberal Senator Dallaire in a Hollywood-style feature film made 13 years later.
During the same program, he explained his understanding of genocide in response to a young Rwandan student who had details and wanted to know if Dallaire believed that there were a lot of Hutus as well as Tutsis who were killed.
Dallaire: “I would say there was a genocide, but a genocide of a national political nature, and it was not purely ethnic in nature, which resulted in the death of many many Hutus and as well as many Tutsis.”
So a “genocide” that was political in nature, not only ethnic. Many Hutus and many Tutsis. If you say that today you get accused of revisionism and negationism. But they are Senator Dallaire’s own words.
A principle in the study of history maintains that you should always trust sources closest to the events. They are less likely to have been bended, warped and distorted by the pressure of foreign policy and official history. That principle should be respected regarding Dallaire.
In another scene right out of a John Wayne film, Dallaire talks on the phone to UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. He decides to hold the line, refusing to leave even though, back in those cushy New York offices, people are calling for withdrawal.
Most likely, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who I interviewed twice, never spoke to Dallaire. The film makes him look as though he is the “International Community” deciding to leave Dallaire the hero to fend for himself. The fact is that Boutros-Ghali made it very clear who that nameless “International Community” really was. In his book and in interviews he made it very clear.
Boutros-Ghali: “The Rwandan genocide is 100% US responsibility…. The United States, with the energetic support of Great Britain, did everything they could to prevent the UN from sending troops to Rwanda to stop the fighting. And they suceeeded”.
Dallaire uses an old trick. He talks about some vague nameless international committee, blaming everybody, which is the equivalent of blaming nobody. In that, he is lying and deceiving us because according to Boutros-Ghali who had to deal with US and UK representatives in the Security Council, we know who the culprits were.
Dallaire also gives himself the great role in that story. However, in September 1994, he sang a totally different song. In that program, Dallaire boasted about having recommended the withdrawal of the troops. “I took part in the decision to withdraw the troops… I recommended that they leave”.
The same goes for his attacks on France who led a UN backed humanitarian intervention in Rwanda called Opération Turquoise, deployed on June 22, 1994. Attacks on France run well in English Canada, in England and in the United States. But here is what Dallaire wrote to his superiors about the French operation Turquoise in a letter dated July 4, 1994.
“I wish to commend the states for the swift action they have taken in response to the Security Council resolution 929 to put in place the operation code name “Operation-Turquoise”, designed to achieve the humanitarian objectives of the UN in Rwanda. … It is beginning to emerge that even at this rather early stage of its deployment, this operation has started to generate a positive impact by responding effectively to the humanitarian needs of civilians at risk inside Rwanda where the operation has deployed and begun to work.”
He can shout and scream now about iniquitous France, but at the time he did nothing but commend France. On this point, people should start asking the French what they think happened instead of saying that our appointed Liberal Senator speaks the gospel only. At a recent forum in France, the French General Jean-Claude Lafourcade who headed the Operation Turquoise in Rwanda and Congo in 1994 was asked about his relations with the UN troops and the commander Romeo Dallaire. He answered in a straightforward manner. He said, “Romeo Dallaire was a “général de salon” which could be translated as an operetta general. He added: “I quickly realized how partial he was in favour of the RPF.” He later insisted that “Dallaire was incompetent” and that for “efficiency and safety reasons” he would never have put the troops under Dallaire.
Shake Hands with the Devil is a factually inaccurate hagiographic autobiography. A hagiography is the life of a saint. But in this case it is the life of a saint, but written by the saint himself.
It makes Romeo Dallaire into a international hero, but only in Canada. It is time for serious reporters to realize that they have allowed the wool to be pulled over their eyes, and in turn have pulled the wool over our eyes.
Robin Philpot is a Montréal writer. His most recent book in French is entitled “Rwanda: crimes, mensonges et étouffement de la vérité” (Rwanda: crimes, lies and cover-ups), Les Intouchables, 2007. He can be reached at rphilpot@sympatico.ca. His 2004 book Rwanda 1994: Colonialism dies hard is posted in English and in German at www.taylor-report.com.
Global Research
November 22, 2007
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7400
During elections, the media like to do “fact checks” or “reality checks”. The exercise should be applied to all historical films. Especially when the people concerned proclaim it “the film of record”.
That is how Canadian Liberal Party Senator Romeo Dallaire appointed for life described his recent film Shake Hands with the Devil based on his book with the same title. His film sorely fails any serious fact check.
Let’s begin with the end. If you waited until all the credits scroll by, you will see it is copyrighted ©Dallaireproductions. It means two things: 1) Senator Dallaire incorporated a film company so as to get a cut of the profits; 2) he approved every single comma in the script.
That means that he also approved another line in credits. As with other historical films, Shake Hands with the Devil has a “everybody lived happily ever after” in the credits. In Dallaire’s film, you read: “Since July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has governed Rwanda in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Nothing could be further from the truth! And everybody knows it.
When Rwandan prisons have been overflowing with some 80,000 prisoners for more than a decade without trial and without clear charges, you cannot talk about “forgiveness and reconciliation”. You cannot talk of “forgiveness and reconciliation” when you know about the murderous war that the Kagame regime inflicted and continues to inflict on the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996. Nor when you think of the many massacres and selected assassinations carried out by the Rwandan army and its agents in Rwanda, in other African countries and elsewhere in the world. Nor can you talk about “forgiveness and reconciliation” when you think of the cold-blooded assassination of Quebec priests Claude Simard and Guy Pinard by RPF agents. Fathers Simard and Pinard were eliminated respectively in October 1994 and February 1997 – Pinard while he was celebrating mass just as Archbishop was assassinate – because they dared to denounce crimes committed by Paul Kagame and the Rwandan army.
That sentence in the credits shows the current bias of Senator Dallaire in favour of the Kigali regime. In that he is acting coherently with his behaviour during his stay in Rwanda in 1993 and 1994. Shake Hands with the Devil is thus a film of propaganda in favour of a regime that is highly contested in central Africa and elsewhere in the world. Now to the film.
It abounds with factual errors. Dallaire offers three cases that supposedly prove that there was a planned genocide in Rwanda: 1) killings to the south of the demilitarized zone that are carefully attributed to militias close to the former government; 2) the famous Jean-Pierre who is supposed to have been the source of the fax Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker dubbed the “genocide fax” (January 11, 1994); 3) a sentence put in the mouth of Belgian Colonel Luc Marchal who says that Theoneste Bagosora, deputy Defence Minister, had declared that all the Tutsis had to be eliminated.
Three stories about real events, and three stories that are completely false.
Killings to the south of the demilitarized zone. In the film Dallaire and his assistant and villagers are seen investigating bodies found in November 1993. It is let on that the people were killed by agents of pro-government parties and not by the RPF. In fact, Senator Dallaire and his assistant Beardsley are the only people who defend this point. It has never been brought or defended in court anywhere in the world. What’s more, Abdul Ruzibiza, a former comrade in arms of Paul Kagame and lieutenant in the Rwandan Patriotic Army who defected, contradicts Dallaire on this point. In his book published in French in 2005, he explains that the RPF committed these massacres, he names the people who did it and why the RPF did it. On page 208 of his book Rwanda L’histoire secrete he explains that these incursions by the Rwandan Patriotic Front were aimed at getting people excited, destabilizing the country to show how weak the government was, and to give the RPF justification to take power by force.
The film devotes a good 15 minutes to “Jean-Pierre” whose real name is Abubakar Turatzinze. The scene shows a man telling a UN official of lists to eliminate people and the arms hidden that would make it possible to eliminate them in no time. This story has been around the world but it as proven to be totally false. This has come out clearly through sworn testimony and evidence produced at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha. The man operated like a double agent, having contacts with RPF intelligence services and with government and pro-government people. The story became important because of Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, who in turn was being fed by his brother-in-law, Jamie Rubin, Secretary of State Albright’s main mover and shaker. The people who know what happened then, the people who actually met Abubakar Turatzinze (Jean-Pierre), say that there was no truth behind it. Despite these proven facts, Dallaire persists in repeating the story.
The third so-called proof of planning is a statement given to Luc Marchal. Colonel Luc Marchal reported to Dallaire and headed the Belgian troops in Kigali in 1994. Whereas the film has that Luc Marchal telling Dallaire him that Bagosora claimed that the only solution was to eliminate all the Tutsis. Marchal has never witnessed to this effect, neither in Arusha, nor in Belgium, nor in the book he published in 2000. On this point, Mr. Marchal says the event took place, but that Bagosora had said to both Marchal and Dallaire, who was also there, that Rwandans would not be able to get along as long as the RPF and its army continued to exist. That is completely different from what Dallaire tells us in the film. What is more, Luc Marchal has publicly asked Dallaire since 2004 to join him in demanding an international neutral inquiry into the April 6 shooting down the plane that was bringing former President Habyarimana back to Kigali. Dallaire never answered that call.
Three events supposedly proving that a genocide was planned, and all three are false. It is also useful is good to pit Dallaire’s film against his own statements. On September 14, 1994, he took part in an important French-language television program in Montréal. Dallaire was just back from Rwanda. When asked a question about a plan to exterminate Tutsis, here’s how he answered.
“The plan was more political. The aim was to eliminate the coalition of moderates….. I think that the excesses that we saw were beyond people’s ability to plan and organize. There was a process to destroy the political elements in the moderate camp. There was a breakdown and hysteria absolutely…. But nobody could have foreseen or planned the magnitude of the destruction we saw.” (Note: people who understand French can listen to these excerpts on the Montreal CIBL community radio web site http://cibl1015.com/node/52742 ).
That is how Dallaire spoke when he just got back. “Nobody could have planned it all”. Who to believe, General Dallaire two weeks after he gets back, or Liberal Senator Dallaire in a Hollywood-style feature film made 13 years later.
During the same program, he explained his understanding of genocide in response to a young Rwandan student who had details and wanted to know if Dallaire believed that there were a lot of Hutus as well as Tutsis who were killed.
Dallaire: “I would say there was a genocide, but a genocide of a national political nature, and it was not purely ethnic in nature, which resulted in the death of many many Hutus and as well as many Tutsis.”
So a “genocide” that was political in nature, not only ethnic. Many Hutus and many Tutsis. If you say that today you get accused of revisionism and negationism. But they are Senator Dallaire’s own words.
A principle in the study of history maintains that you should always trust sources closest to the events. They are less likely to have been bended, warped and distorted by the pressure of foreign policy and official history. That principle should be respected regarding Dallaire.
In another scene right out of a John Wayne film, Dallaire talks on the phone to UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. He decides to hold the line, refusing to leave even though, back in those cushy New York offices, people are calling for withdrawal.
Most likely, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who I interviewed twice, never spoke to Dallaire. The film makes him look as though he is the “International Community” deciding to leave Dallaire the hero to fend for himself. The fact is that Boutros-Ghali made it very clear who that nameless “International Community” really was. In his book and in interviews he made it very clear.
Boutros-Ghali: “The Rwandan genocide is 100% US responsibility…. The United States, with the energetic support of Great Britain, did everything they could to prevent the UN from sending troops to Rwanda to stop the fighting. And they suceeeded”.
Dallaire uses an old trick. He talks about some vague nameless international committee, blaming everybody, which is the equivalent of blaming nobody. In that, he is lying and deceiving us because according to Boutros-Ghali who had to deal with US and UK representatives in the Security Council, we know who the culprits were.
Dallaire also gives himself the great role in that story. However, in September 1994, he sang a totally different song. In that program, Dallaire boasted about having recommended the withdrawal of the troops. “I took part in the decision to withdraw the troops… I recommended that they leave”.
The same goes for his attacks on France who led a UN backed humanitarian intervention in Rwanda called Opération Turquoise, deployed on June 22, 1994. Attacks on France run well in English Canada, in England and in the United States. But here is what Dallaire wrote to his superiors about the French operation Turquoise in a letter dated July 4, 1994.
“I wish to commend the states for the swift action they have taken in response to the Security Council resolution 929 to put in place the operation code name “Operation-Turquoise”, designed to achieve the humanitarian objectives of the UN in Rwanda. … It is beginning to emerge that even at this rather early stage of its deployment, this operation has started to generate a positive impact by responding effectively to the humanitarian needs of civilians at risk inside Rwanda where the operation has deployed and begun to work.”
He can shout and scream now about iniquitous France, but at the time he did nothing but commend France. On this point, people should start asking the French what they think happened instead of saying that our appointed Liberal Senator speaks the gospel only. At a recent forum in France, the French General Jean-Claude Lafourcade who headed the Operation Turquoise in Rwanda and Congo in 1994 was asked about his relations with the UN troops and the commander Romeo Dallaire. He answered in a straightforward manner. He said, “Romeo Dallaire was a “général de salon” which could be translated as an operetta general. He added: “I quickly realized how partial he was in favour of the RPF.” He later insisted that “Dallaire was incompetent” and that for “efficiency and safety reasons” he would never have put the troops under Dallaire.
Shake Hands with the Devil is a factually inaccurate hagiographic autobiography. A hagiography is the life of a saint. But in this case it is the life of a saint, but written by the saint himself.
It makes Romeo Dallaire into a international hero, but only in Canada. It is time for serious reporters to realize that they have allowed the wool to be pulled over their eyes, and in turn have pulled the wool over our eyes.
Robin Philpot is a Montréal writer. His most recent book in French is entitled “Rwanda: crimes, mensonges et étouffement de la vérité” (Rwanda: crimes, lies and cover-ups), Les Intouchables, 2007. He can be reached at rphilpot@sympatico.ca. His 2004 book Rwanda 1994: Colonialism dies hard is posted in English and in German at www.taylor-report.com.
22 November, 2007
THE GACACA TRIALS COULD CONTINUE IN 2008 (OFFICIAL).
Hirondelle News Agency
21 November 2007
The Rwandan semi-traditional courts, Gacacas, charged with trying the suspects of the genocide could continue their work in 2008, reported an official source.
Started in 2002, the trials were initially to end in December 2007, according to the scheduling of the National Service of Gacaca Courts (SNJG).
"We are more bound by quality than by the race", declared last week in Kigali the executive secretary of the SNJG, Domitille Mukantaganzwa; addressing herself to a group of journalists from the Great Lakes region which followed a training session organized by the Hirondelle Foundation.
The Gacaca official indicated that certain courts had ended their trials but that others "will require an extension of one or several months". According to Mrs. Mukantaganzwa, 95% of the suspects classified in the category of executants have already been tried. The 5% that remain are those who asked for the revision of their judgments or the cases which were examined following new information, she specified.
Approximately half a million people were categorized as executants, explained Mrs. Mukantaganzwa. The executive secretary of the SNJG also noted that Gacacas had already tried 82% of the individuals who committed looting. They are 308 000 in total.
Mrs. Mukantaganzwa said that she was satisfied with the assessment of the Gacacas, but she added that "there are many challenges". "In several corners, in particular in the west where there were very few victims, people keep silent", she said. It took several sensibilization sessions to persuade them to testify, according to her.
"Gacacas contribute to the revelation of the truth on what occurred, which decreases suspicions and reduces globalisation", estimated Mrs. Mukantaganzwa. "They allow people to express themselves, to confess, plead guilty, to ask for forgiveness", she added. "People are sorry, the victims forgive, it is the pillar of reconciliation", concluded the executive secretary of the SNJG.
21 November 2007
The Rwandan semi-traditional courts, Gacacas, charged with trying the suspects of the genocide could continue their work in 2008, reported an official source.
Started in 2002, the trials were initially to end in December 2007, according to the scheduling of the National Service of Gacaca Courts (SNJG).
"We are more bound by quality than by the race", declared last week in Kigali the executive secretary of the SNJG, Domitille Mukantaganzwa; addressing herself to a group of journalists from the Great Lakes region which followed a training session organized by the Hirondelle Foundation.
The Gacaca official indicated that certain courts had ended their trials but that others "will require an extension of one or several months". According to Mrs. Mukantaganzwa, 95% of the suspects classified in the category of executants have already been tried. The 5% that remain are those who asked for the revision of their judgments or the cases which were examined following new information, she specified.
Approximately half a million people were categorized as executants, explained Mrs. Mukantaganzwa. The executive secretary of the SNJG also noted that Gacacas had already tried 82% of the individuals who committed looting. They are 308 000 in total.
Mrs. Mukantaganzwa said that she was satisfied with the assessment of the Gacacas, but she added that "there are many challenges". "In several corners, in particular in the west where there were very few victims, people keep silent", she said. It took several sensibilization sessions to persuade them to testify, according to her.
"Gacacas contribute to the revelation of the truth on what occurred, which decreases suspicions and reduces globalisation", estimated Mrs. Mukantaganzwa. "They allow people to express themselves, to confess, plead guilty, to ask for forgiveness", she added. "People are sorry, the victims forgive, it is the pillar of reconciliation", concluded the executive secretary of the SNJG.
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